Last night, Jurgen Klopp faced a barrage of supporter criticism for replacing Coutinho with Joel Matip on the hour mark.
The decision was made because our Brazilian playmaker was sick, but fans still couldn’t understand why he didn’t bring on Daniel Sturridge or another attacker in his place.
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It turns out that Sturridge wasn’t fit enough for 30 minutes, which begs the question: why was on the bench at all?
“When we took Phil [Coutinho] off on 60-something minutes, it was too early for Daniel [Sturridge] in this intense game,” he told the official website.
Could Sturridge really not have done half an hour? An England international with a phenomenal goalscoring record… Yes, he’s injury prone, but he’s not actually made of glass as some would suggest…
Matip didn’t start the game because he got injured against Everton a few days previous, but he was still fit enough for half an hour.
As it is, it’s just another example of Liverpool throwing points away against poor sides.
If we fail to make the Champions League, without any European football this season, we’ve got only ourselves to blame.