Jürgen Klopp has told Loris Karius to "close his ears" to external criticism following the Liverpool goalkeeper's costly error at Bournemouth.
The 23-year-old, who replaced Simon Mignolet as Klopp’s first-choice keeper earlier this season, was culpable for Nathan Ake’s last-gasp winner on Sunday when Liverpool blew a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3. Karius’s overall performance at Bournemouth attracted criticism, with the former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher among those yet to be convinced by the €5.6 million summer signing from Mainz.
Klopp concedes there is no straightforward path for the development of a young goalkeeper – Karius was making only his ninth Premier League start last weekend – but believes his compatriot must ignore criticism to continue his improvement at Liverpool.
“I heard the criticism was very harsh. When we analysed the game I found eight players who could have defended the goal before Loris was involved,” the Liverpool manager said. “He made a mistake too. Even the best goalkeepers in the world still make mistakes. We know we have to deal with pressure. There is no perfect recipe for development but close your ears helps a lot. I am quite good at this actually. Hopefully he can adapt to my skills.”
No timescale
Joel Matip, who missed the Bournemouth defeat, and Sadio Mané, who exited with an ankle problem, are both expected to be fit for West Ham United's visit to Anfield on Sunday. But Klopp admitted there is no timescale on Daniel Sturridge's return from a calf injury, although the Merseyside derby at Everton on December 19th is a possibility.
“I have no idea when he will be back,” said Klopp. “Until now he didn’t train. He wasn’t 100 per cent yesterday but he will be on the pitch today but that means starting the work. He won’t be with the team. That is the life of football. You cannot force things like this. It is not important what the name of the player is or the quality of the player, you have to wait until they are back and sometimes you have to wait a little bit longer because you decide then what we had in the past was better. A few days training would be nice before we start them again.
“He is not in training with the team at the moment so we don’t have to think about him for the team with West Ham and Middlesbrough but maybe then. What’s the game after Middlesbrough? Everton? Oh!”
Guardian Service
