The Hard Tackle brings you a roundup of some of the major news articles regarding Premier League side Liverpool FC.
Summer signing Joel Matip recently provided an update regarding his injury to Liverpool’s official site, saying that he is slowly getting better and hopes to get back to training in the next few days.
The 25-year-old last featured for Jurgen Klopp’s side against West Ham United in December and has missed their last 5 games. With 12 Premier League appearances and 14 in all competitions this campaign, he was a permanent fixture in Klopp’s first XI prior to his injury.
In that time, fellow summer acquisition Ragnar Klavan has featured alongside Dejan Lovren and while he has provided able back up, it is unlikely the Estonian will be able to hold on to his place upon Matip’s return.
However, Jurgen Klopp would welcome such a selection headache as they look to keep up with Chelsea in the title race.
According to the Liverpool Echo, the German also believes that youngster Pedro Chirivella, who signed from Valencia in the summer of 2013 would likely benefit from going out on loan and getting some regular minutes under his belt to help further his development.
Liverpool are sending the 19-year-old Spaniard to Eredivisie side Go Ahead Eagles on loan for the remainder of the current campaign. The Deventer based side, who are currently at the bottom of the Eredivisie and battling for survival, are only 2 points away from safety.
Klopp is reported to be a fan of the young midfielder, who has impressed as a part of their reserve side this term, having missed the start of the season through injury. The 19-year-old debuted for the Reds in 2015 and would go on to make 5 appearances in total after Klopp took over.
Privileged goalkeeping situation?
Former Reds shot-stopper David James believes that Liverpool are in a ‘privileged position’ to have the likes of Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius in their ranks. As per ESPN, the former England international said that his former side are lucky to have 2 keepers of their quality.
Both Karius and Mignolet have come under fire this season for mistakes and performances which haven’t been up to the mark. Karius was the first choice after returning from injury, but after 10 Premier League appearances so far, he has lost his place to Simon Mignolet.
The 46-year-old James empathized with Karius, saying that he knew how it felt, before adding that in Klopp, Karius had a vocal and honest manager which he never had and that would help him understand his mistakes and avoid failure.
Karius was brought in to be the replacement for Belgian international Simon Mignolet, who had been coming under a lot of criticism in recent seasons for his costly mistakes. But due to Karius’ difficult start to life in England, the 28-year-old has returned to the starting lineup.
The former England international went on to defend Mignolet, saying that his performances were not as bad as critics made them out to be. He said that 2 of the 3 goals conceded were penalties and the Belgian had also kept 3 clean sheets in his last 5 games.
He went on to raise questions about their training, saying: “My concern prior to Mignolet coming back in was that both goalkeepers were making similar kinds of mistakes, and that makes you wonder if it is something they are picking up on the training field.
“But those mistakes seem to have stopped and Liverpool now have two top-drawer goalkeepers,” he said.
“That is a much better situation than having one great goalkeeper and one who doesn’t feel like he wants to be there. So many clubs don’t have that back-up, so Liverpool are in a privileged position in that respect.”
