Boss: 'Big chance' Karius comes in against Plymouth
Loris Karius is likely to start Liverpool's FA Cup tie against Plymouth Argyle, with Jürgen Klopp pleased by the goalkeeper's reaction to being out of the team.
The German has not featured for the Reds since the Premier League clash with West Ham United on December 11, when the manager took the decision to restore Simon Mignolet.
But Karius’ application in training has not wavered and the 23-year-old is in line to be involved this weekend as Klopp’s men begin their campaign in the competition.
“Big chance,” said the boss, when asked whether the ‘keeper will play.
“[He has] trained outstandingly good. It’s good to see. It’s difficult to speak about things like this in public, because you make all of these things big stories – that’s a little bit of the problem.
“But, how we said before, we cannot ignore the pressure you make. That’s how it is. We have to cope with it, we have to deal with it and that’s why we made the change.
“I was sure Loris would benefit from this step back, if you want, or step aside or whatever.
“Simon has done a really outstandingly good job for us since he has been playing again. Loris forces him to train on the highest level because we have two really good goalkeepers. So, it was good for him.”
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Klopp also admitted there is likely to be rotation elsewhere in his team – and the younger players in his squad are in contention to be handed a chance to impress against the Pilgrims.
“It makes absolute sense,” he said.
“But it’s then, of course, not because of the last game [but] maybe the next game in this case. So, yes, pretty sure we will see a few fresh legs on the pitch, I would say.
“[If you] look at our squad, pretty much all of them who have not been involved that much in the last few games are pretty young. So when we want to rotate, it’s logical [they could feature].”