Jurgen Klopp already knew he would be without up to 13 senior players, and he revealed ahead of the FA Cup clash against Southampton that he was dealt further issues through illness.
The Reds’ injury list is extensive and not something you want to look at for too long.
Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez are still unavailable, while both Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo were casualties from Sunday’s League Cup win.
The expectation is Endo will only miss Wednesday’s match, but Klopp was then left to curse illness which claimed Andy Robertson and may limit Alexis Mac Allister‘s minutes from the bench.
“We tried to recover and find a team for tonight. [We had] a couple of problems added on,” Klopp explained to ITV. “Ryan [Gravenberch] was clear. Endo cannot play.
“Robbo got ill and Macca was ill yesterday, he came back this morning. We’ll see how long he can do.”
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The left-back did not make the matchday squad despite being spotted with the team earlier in the day, with Kostas Tsimikas taking his place in a strong backline.
Mac Allister, meanwhile, is among the substitutes, which includes a number of academy players – but if he can take any part remains to be seen.
With a league fixture to come on Saturday, it is no surprise that Klopp made six changes for the visit of Southampton.
Three of those, in the end, were enforced, but it would not be surprising to see the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Harvey Elliott taken off early to ensure they are not played into the ground after 120 minutes on Sunday.
And it is a special evening for 18-year-old Lewis Koumas, who makes his debut for Liverpool after three previous appearances in the matchday squad.
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