Klopp on Keita, Lallana and defensive lineup against Wolves

Jurgen Klopp has spoken on the reason why Naby Keita has spent so much time on the Liverpool bench of late ahead of the Reds’ match against Wolves tonight in the FA Cup.

The boss also revealed that Adam Lallana is in “outstanding” shape and expects him to contribute in the coming games.

Klopp spoke to LiverpoolFC.com about the Wolves clash, his midfield options, and who Liverpool’s centre-back pairing is likely to be when the Reds line up tonight.

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BURY, ENGLAND – JULY 14: Naby Keita of Liverpool reacts during a pre-season friendly match between Bury and Liverpool at Gigg Lane on July 14, 2018 in Bury, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

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“With Naby, and I spoke to him, everything is fine and I am completely happy,” Klopp said of Keita. “Could he be a bit more confident in the games? Yes. Is he exactly the player [he was] in his best time at Leipzig? No, but he’s still adapting, that’s how it is.

“But everybody saw it how brilliant he played in the first part [of the season]. Tottenham was a fantastic game of him without thinking too much, and then we made a change I think around the PSG game and the boys have to deal with it. Then a little injury here, a little injury there and it was kind of a little setback.

“But he is a fantastic player and I’m really happy to have him here. It’s so good and I am really looking forward to our common future because see if you see it every day, wow, there is so much to come and so much influence he can have on each game, so that’s all good.

“I can tell you [the Wolves game] is a good opportunity for all the players. We can talk about all the players then Wolves know my complete line-up! I said already two [Simon Mignolet and Alberto Moreno], so you can make of it what you want. It’s pretty clear if we make changes who will come in.”

BIRKENHEAD, ENGLAND – JULY 10: Adam Lallana of Liverpool battles with Jay Harris of Tranmere Rovers during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Tranmere Rovers and Liverpool at Prenton Park on July 11, 2018 in Birkenhead, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

Turning his attentions to Lallana, Klopp explained: “Adam is actually in outstanding shape – I said it a few times maybe, but it’s unbelievable in training. So we have to say it was close in the last game: ‘Do we start him or not?’ and stuff like this.

“It’s really, really good and it’s like always in life, if you learn from your experiences… you cannot learn too much from being injured and stuff like that, but how is your mood?

“Adam is a player who always wants to play. He would play four games a day if possible just from his desire to play football. He is really, I would say in the moment, in the best moment since I know him, just like as a person he is fantastic. He will have a big part of our season I am really sure and that’s cool.”

Finally, the manager elaborated a little on who Liverpool’s centre-backs are likely to be tonight, and what the priorities are for the Reds.

“To be creative,” said Klopp. “Or we play the two [Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk] again, we will see. If not, then we have to be creative. We will see what we do, but we cannot, we will not sign a centre-half for one game or whatever, that will not happen.

“Joe and Joel look good – obviously not good enough for Monday, not good enough I would say for the game after that, for Brighton, [but] hopefully then they are at least in full team training. I think for Joel it would be possible, for Joe at least there’s a little hope that it can be the same, so we will see. Joe had a good day, a very good day [on Friday], so that’s good.”

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Source: anfieldhq.com