It’d be easy for Liverpool fans to feel despondent over the spate of injury worries ravaging the squad right now, but Neil Jones has sounded a positive note worth heeding.
The Times‘ Paul Joyce reported today that Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones will miss the Carabao Cup final next weekend after both limped out of the win over Brentford on Saturday, with the Portugal attacker set to be ruled out for as long as two months.
However, speaking to EOTK Insider, Neil Jones pointed out that the Reds have coped with multiple injury problems already this season to sit top of the Premier League nearly two-thirds of the way through the campaign.
The journalist outlined: “They’ll [injured players] be missed, but Liverpool have shown all season that they have the squad depth to cope. Look before the [Brentford] game when the Alisson Becker news came out, then Caoimhin Kelleher played really well.
“People said Liverpool wouldn’t cope without Trent Alexander-Arnold and then Conor Bradley stepped up to the point that when Trent came back people said he possibly shouldn’t come straight back in. You’ve seen it at the start of the season with Joel Matip getting injured and Jarell Quansah filling in.
“I don’t have any doubts over the capability of this Liverpool squad to handle injuries, but you would want to see the best possible news for Jota and Jones. I don’t think it will be great news for Jota in particular.
“You do want to avoid too many more because there does come a point where you can’t take any more absences, but I don’t think Liverpool are there yet.”
Jones makes a fair point in saying that every time a seemingly calamitous barrier has been placed in front of Liverpool in the form of a significant injury, they’ve found a way around it by someone else stepping up commendably.
Kelleher, Bradley and Quansah are three standout examples, along with Joe Gomez deputising brilliantly at left-back when Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas were sidelined, and Jota effortlessly filling the void left by Mo Salah’s absence over the past month.
It’s that squad depth which has enabled the Reds to remain on course for a potential quadruple this deep into the season, but as the journalist rightly says, the tipping point in terms of injuries at Anfield can’t be far away.
Nor does it help that we play eight matches between now and 17 March, a period which is set to have fans grimacing every time a player stays down for more than a couple of seconds.
If Liverpool can see out the next month with their Europa League and FA Cup hopes still intact, and remaining top of the Premier League, the squad will have done a remarkable job, considering how many injury absences are afflicting us at the moment.