Klopp reveals small setbacks for Sturridge as striker's return is delayed
The German says the England international has not been able to train for enough consecutive sessions after enduring a few little niggles
Jurgen Klopp revealed Daniel Sturridge has suffered a few small setbacks as Liverpool put him through a mini pre-season to enhance his strength and energy.
The striker has not featured since the
defeat to Newcastle at the start of December. He came off the bench in
that encounter as the Reds eased him back into action, but picked up a
hamstring strain.
Sturridge worked through that issue, and instead of the
club rushing him back into action, it was decided it would be best to
build his resistance with an intensive fitness routine.
However, the 26-year-old has not been
able to complete enough consecutive sessions to enter Klopp’s thinking
due to a few little niggles.
"Maybe you get the feeling that everyday
we train with Daniel and say ‘more, more, more’ and he gets fitter and
fitter and fitter but in the end I say he’s not ready and I wait. But,
it’s not like this," the manager explained at Melwood.
"Daniel has had some
problems in these weeks, not serious but he couldn’t train and couldn’t
make the next session. We then have to wait a day for the muscle to heal
and things - just how a pre-season can be.
"It’s a pre-season without games so it
shouldn’t happen too much, but some little things happened and we have
to handle this so it’s not been a row of sessions and now we can say
‘go’. I’ll be the first to pick him when he is available, I will never
hold him back or things like this.
"I have not done it before and I will not do it in future. Because he didn’t have one session with the team this week, which is the usual plan, he is not available."
"I have not done it before and I will not do it in future. Because he didn’t have one session with the team this week, which is the usual plan, he is not available."
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Given Liverpool have posted their worst ever goal return in the league after 20 games,
it would be tempting for Klopp to expedite Sturridge’s return, but the
German insists these are the situations the club have to be the most
patient in.
He said: "What Daniel has to do in this
moment is hard work of course, to be prepared for the things we make in a
football game but he had his last complete pre-season in 2011 or 2013 -
a long time ago!
"In pre-season, we load our body with
strength, with energy, with all the things we need for the games, so now
we are trying to fill him with these things. It would be easy for me to
say ‘come on, let’s try. We don’t score enough goals, let’s see what
happens.’
“But that is where we have to be patient.”
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