Boss: There'll be no problem with Lovren return
Jürgen Klopp is in no doubt Dejan Lovren will step up to the challenge of standing in for the injured Mamadou Sakho – starting at Manchester City on Saturday.
The Croatia centre-back is expected to partner Martin Skrtel at the heart of the Reds defence at the Etihad and the manager is anticipating he will slot seamlessly into his rearguard.
Klopp said: “With Dejan, there will be absolutely no problem. These two guys [Skrtel and Lovren] are healthy and everything is good.
“Dejan has done a really good job since I’ve come in here.
“I saw his first game for Liverpool - it was against Dortmund when we lost by four. He was brilliant on this day.
“As long as these two guys are feeling good we don’t have a big problem. Mamadou is not 20 weeks out, it will be earlier than that so that’s good for us too.”
Meanwhile, Klopp admits he is eager to continue to assess his squad in fine detail before deciding whether to dip into the transfer market for reinforcements.
“We will have the possibilities to change some things in January and in the summer,” said the German.
“But in this moment we have made no decisions because we don’t have to make them yet.
“We have time and we will see what is possible and what is not possible. We will see what’s necessary and what’s not necessary - that’s how we work.
“To make a final judgement on the players here I need much more time. But the players know that at one point in the season you have to make a decision about them.
“We are at a time when they can collect positive arguments and say: ‘okay, we want to work together’. I don’t need to say this to them, they know it. In this moment we have made no decisions so I have time to judge.”