Steve Clarke has appeared to hint at how long Liverpool might be without Andy Robertson due to his shoulder injury.
The Reds left-back was forced out of Scotland’s 2-0 defeat in Spain last Thursday and is set to be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Although no formal timeline has yet been placed on how long he’ll be out of action, the 29-year-old’s national team coach may have given some indication judging by comments he made ahead of their friendly against France on Tuesday night.
When asked whether Robertson would be back for Scotland’s final two Euro 2024 qualifiers in mid-November, Clarke replied (via Liverpool Echo): “If he’s fit for next month, it’s great. If he’s not fit for next month then hopefully he’ll be fit as soon as possible for his club.”
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Clarke seems hopeful of having his captain back for the double header against Georgia and Norway in a month’s time, although he also seemed open to the possibility of Robertson missing those two games.
On that basis, it seems eminently possible that the 29-year-old could miss Liverpool’s seven matches in the intervening period, including the Merseyside derby on Saturday and the two Europa League clashes against Toulouse.
If the Scotland skipper is fit enough to represent his country next month, though, it’d offer Jurgen Klopp a huge boost ahead of our first match following that international break, the visit to Manchester City on 25 November.
In the meantime, the Reds look set to depend on Kostas Tsimikas to fill the left-back role, with Neil Jones suggesting that 19-year-old Luke Chambers could possibly start in Europe or the Carabao Cup during Robertson’s time in the treatment room.
Whoever is trusted in that position will need to step up so that the Scotsman’s absence isn’t too damaging to Liverpool’s early season momentum, which had been checked by the dropped points to Tottenham and Brighton.