Liverpool assistant Peter Krawietz has claimed he can’t reveal the ‘exact numbers’ regarding the number of positive COVID cases amongst the squad but he remains hopeful that Jurgen Klopp will return to the dugout for tomorrow’s FA Cup clash with Shrewsbury.
The Reds have had a difficult week after they were forced to close their training ground and then had Thursday night’s EFL Cup clash with Arsenal postponed as a result of a lack of player availability.
“I can’t tell you exact numbers. We have a squad and a team, we will try to win the game,” the German told the press (via Football365).
“We hope [Jurgen] will be involved. He is fine. He has to do tests as well, we hope.
“Joel Matip joined training yesterday again but we have to see whether he is available or not
“We had a few Covid cases with U23s, some are back now and we can choose a team that is able to follow our football way. We want to play a proper game tomorrow, compact, aggressive, attacking, playing good football.”
The club’s AXA Training Centre was closed earlier this week as a result of mounting COVID cases amongst the squad.
Krawietz insisted that the Reds have tried their best to maintain fitness levels.
“We came into a situation which was too difficult for all of us – we had to shut the training ground down. We always try to play and win our games, but this situation become too difficult to deal with.
“The training ground being shut means no one could come here. We tried to stay in contact with our players during this period – just like we did in lockdown. Everyone is on their own and thanks to our great working department, we were able to find solutions for the players.
“Some could go for a run outside. For those who couldn’t go outside, we tried to give them a programme.”
Tomorrow’s line-up is expected to be a very inexperienced one – but what an opportunity for some of our youngsters to show what they’re made of.