Liverpool legend provided his opinion about the on-going injury problems as Jurgen Klopp battles a difficult situation at the back.
Liverpool needs to buckle-up with the injury crisis of Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho according to John Barnes. The Reds legend though insisted that the club focuses on the players on the field instead of the ones that are in rehabilitation.
This is not surprising enough, as back in the 1980s, Liverpool followed a similar procedure to sustain the position in English football. Evidently, the players who could not help the team were sidelined until they were fully fit to play. The main reason behind this strategy was to not lose focus from the winning habit.
Subsequently, Barnes is advising to adopt a similar attitude at the current stage. This is because of a series of injuries for Jurgen Klopp to deal with.
A traditional method.
The former Liverpool man told BonusCodeBets: “Losing a player like Virgil van Dijk is a huge loss for Liverpool. But it depends on how much the team focuses on losing him for this season.”
Consequently, this was after injuries sustained by Van Dijk and recently, Fabinho.
“If they spend too much time thinking about playing without him, then it will naturally become a negative factor.
“I remember when I was playing, whenever big players got injured it was always the Liverpool philosophy that the team is the most important thing. Which is something that Jurgen Klopp has brought back.
“If a big player got injured, no matter who they were, the staff didn’t even speak to him. Which may sound cruel but that’s just how it was.
“I say this with love and with affection for all the staff, at Liverpool the whole philosophy was no matter who you are. If you’re injured then you can’t help the team to win the game on Saturday so they don’t focus on you at all.
“I found it so strange when I first went to Liverpool because I remember my first injury. And I’m doing really well and all of a sudden, they do not talk to you.
“This must be the attitude that the club takes with Van Dijk. If they focus too much on his injury, it can affect the players. And it will become a big deal that he isn’t playing. We of course miss him and rate him very highly. But he’s not around and we need to deal with that.”
Although, Liverpool has managed to find a solution for the defense-crisis following three back-to-back wins since Van Dijk’s injury.
“It is too early to say whether Liverpool should look to bring in a new center-back in the January transfer window. As it has only been three games without Virgil van Dijk and the team hasn’t lost yet,” Barnes added.
“If it comes to January and the team hasn’t conceded many goals and has won every game. Then we won’t need to bring in a new defender. We will have to see how Liverpool get on before jumping to conclusions that we need a new center half.”
Liverpool will face a tough challenge ahead of their West Ham clash in the Premier League on the weekend.
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