Jurgen Klopp press conference: Fixture congestion, Robertson injury, training absences
By Mitch Wilks
Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool are gearing up for their first Premier League outing in almost a month when they host Brighton on Saturday.
The Reds sit eighth in the Premier League table after picking up nine points from their opening six games, and a win would only pull them to within a point of the Seagulls who sit fourth heading into the weekend.
Klopp spoke about Trent Alexander-Arnold and his situation within the England squad at length in the presser, but also touched on plenty of other intriguing topics. Here's what else he had to say.
Team news
Which players are unavailable for the game against Brighton?
"Some are still out, that's Andy Robertson, that's Curtis Jones, that's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, that's Naby Keita. Definitely these four [are out].
"Calvin [Ramsay] is training but not ready to play."
What is the latest on Andy Robertson's injury?
"Robertson is doing really good so he's not out too long. He's already been out too long if you want but now it was the international break, so that helped in his case a little bit.
"He's out on the pitch running, which is a good sign. I don't know if it will be next week or the week after, I don't know."
What is the latest on Calvin Ramsay?
"He had this issue with the back. We know much more about him as a boy now. Really good.
"He just needs to train, train, train and he will probably play for the Under-21s and he can get a game there because we play now all the time, that's fine."
Are Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez available for selection?
"Diaz and Jota? Yes, they came back from the international duty and it's how it always is [after] a long flight, I didn't see them yet, I have heard they are good.
"Darwin, [missing training] was a precaution after the games, same for Diogo, that's it I think."
Fixture congestion
What impact will the World Cup have on club football?
"I don't know how the World Cup will affect the Premier League.
"The boys come back and play a week later. Usually you relax 2-3 weeks then go again.
If you are in the final, you have two days. It's a really long season."
"I don't think it's a good idea, but that's how it is."
How will Liverpool deal with the upcoming break?
"For us the next six weeks are very important.
"We didn't have the start we wanted. For explainable and unexplainable reasons. That's now gone. Here we go, collect points back."
How has the gap between games affected the squad?
"To have games in hand is not cool but we can't change it.
"The majority of my players played. We didn't play but they did. They should be fine. We never look for excuses. This isn't the moment to think about that.
"Thank god the last game we played against Ajax was a good game. If it had been Napoli, it wouldn't be a good international break."
Brighton
How will Brighton fare with Roberto De Zerbi?
"Brighton did extremely well before and now they have a really exciting new manager.
They have a really brave coach. He's really influential, his football idea suits Brighton."
"We don't know what to expect other than really good team."