Jurgen Klopp has said he does not know when Daniel Sturridge will be fit after ruling the Liverpool striker out of the next two games against West Ham United and Leicester City.
Sturridge has played only 106 minutes under Klopp and would have been on course to feature against Slaven Bilic's team in the FA Cup fourth round had he trained without interruption this week. That has not been possible, with the 26-year-old continuing to suffer setbacks during his rehabilitation programme, and the Liverpool manager admits he has no idea when the England international will return. Sturridge has been unavailable for 54.8 per cent of his time at Liverpool so far, missing 615 days out of 1,122 on Merseyside.
Klopp said: “He is still working. Sometimes it is better, sometimes it is a bit worse because of other issues. That is all. He has done a lot of sessions in the last few weeks but it is always interrupted with a few breaks. He needs consistency in the sessions and that’s what we try to do. His injury history means this is normal. It is not coincidence.
“Some things are not right if you are injured that often. We have to be really sensitive with all the information we get. He could do a lot of sessions in the last few weeks, but like I said they have always been interrupted with a few different issues where we always have to see and wait on what happens. That is how it is. There is no doubt that he is a very, very good player but at this moment he is not available so we don’t have to talk too much about him. He is not here. He cannot play tomorrow for sure, not against Leicester (in the Premier League next Tuesday) and I don’t know what happens after Leicester to be honest.”
The Liverpool manager revealed his players ran a total of 156kms in the Capital One Cup semi-final win over Stoke City - the highest tally of his managerial career for a 120 minute game. With that in mind, and given the impact of injuries on his resources in recent weeks, Klopp will repeat his approach against Exeter City and field another young side against West Ham.
Klopp, who is expected to start with a central defensive pairing of Dejan Lovren and Steven Caulker, said: "It will be another young side, but it depends on what you mean by young, though. It will be a different team to the last game, for sure. We have no other choice. We want to go to a final but after Stoke, it's West Ham, then Leicester. We have to make a few changes but only because I want to win the game. When I think of the Exeter game at Anfield it was great. The boys who come in will give everything. They will always be fighting and I love that attitude."
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