In the aftermath of their 1-1 draw at the hands of Crystal Palace, Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has jokingly claimed that his team has been cursed by a ‘witch’.
The Reds have had a frustrating start to the season. They had picked up a few injuries before the start of the season. They have had a few more, causing several key players to be ruled out of their match against Palace.
Joel Matip had suffered a groin injury during training. Roberto Firmino also missed the contest as a precaution. The rest of their injury list is dangerously large.
Diego Jota, Thiago Alcantara, Ibrahima Konate, Caoimhin Kelleher, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones and Calvin Ramsay are all out due to long-term injuries. Meanwhile, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Kostas Tsimikas were all only fit enough on the bench.
The stalemate against Palace leaves Liverpool winless in their first two fixtures of the 2022/23 season. In its aftermath, Klopp likened his side’s injury crisis to that of a team cursed by a supernatural being.
What did Jürgen Klopp say?
In the post-game conference, Klopp spoke to reporters:
“The week was crazy; I have experienced a lot of weeks but that was like we had a witch in the building. Honestly, like every day somebody else pulled out [of training] for the craziest reasons,”
“[Joel] will be two weeks. We will see with that. In the end, Joey didn’t start. Nat [Phillips] did really well, I have to say, but Joey didn’t start because he only trained yesterday again. At the start of the week, [he had] a little issue.
“Bobby couldn’t make it. Hendo this morning, we got the information there was a little concern about something if he plays too long, so he didn’t play that long. That’s the situation. It was not too cool, but then the game we made of it I really liked it – I really liked the game. That’s how it is.
“We want to fight and I saw that a lot, and we played really good stuff. So, a lot of good performances and I liked it, but that’s it now. We drew, let’s carry on.”
Injuries were not the only source of Klopp’s woes and new Liverpool boy, Darwin Nunez was sent off with a red card after he headbutted Palace’s Joachim Andersen.
A heroic solo run by Luis Diaz allowed the Reds to salvage a draw. However, Nunez is set to miss out on Liverpool’s fixtures against Manchester United, Bournemouth and Newcastle United before likely returning for the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on September 3.
