Liverpool faced a crisis when Klopp made six substitutions against Wolves
Liverpool returned to action against Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday, but there were six notable absences from Thursday’s training session amid fears of an injury crisis at Anfield. Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara, Darwin Nunez, Alexis MacAllister, Stefan Bajcetic and Luis Diaz did not participate. Not pictured with the rest of the squad who underwent pre-match training at the AXA Training Centre.
Mac Allister, Bajcetic and Diaz are likely to be rested as there has been a tight turnaround following their international commitments and there have been no reported fitness concerns for the trio. However, the other three absentees have struggled with injuries in recent weeks. Nunez was substituted at half-time in Uruguay’s 2-1 loss against Ecuador, with head coach Marcelo Bielsa citing muscle problems as the reason for his early departure. Meanwhile, Alexander-Arnold continues to struggle with the hamstring problem that ruled him out. Gareth Southgate’s 25-man England squad for the matches against Ukraine and Scotland. Thiago is sidelined with a long-term hip injury that required surgery and is expected to be out for some time. Jurgen Klopp recently revealed that the Spaniard suffered a “setback” in his recovery and was given a longer than expected rest.
Aleksander-Arnold was not in training
Trent Alexander-Arnold did not take part in training despite reporting to Kirkby
“Curtis [Jones] is fully back in training, Thiago is not,” Klopp told reporters on September 1. “Thiago had a small setback. [He] started training with the team and he had a small setback, so we had to slow down there. “It’s not cool for him, it’s not cool for us, but it’s the way he is. Thiago will naturally use the international break to gain momentum. Hopefully that will be enough.”
Despite Klopp’s insistence that he will return to action after the international break, Thiago did not take part in today’s first team training session. In more positive news for Liverpool fans, Ibrahima Konate is back and expected to compete with Wolves for a starting place. This is particularly important as Joe Gomez will likely have to replace Alexander-Arnold right at the back. Curtis Jones has also just started training with the full team.