Liverpool FC Thread #144:- 2017-18 PL Campaign

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Liverpool history since 1892.
Liverpool FC having won 18 league titles and 5 European Cups.
The club was formed on March 15 1892 and plays home games at Anfield.
18 League Titles, 5 European Cups, 7 FA Cups, 8 League Cups, 3 UEFA Cups, 3 European Super Cups, 15 Charity Shields, 3 FA Youth Cup.

We are known as Liverpool, The Reds, The Red Army, The Kops or Kopites.

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Fixtures

August 2017

Sat 12th 19:30 English Premier League Watford Away

Wed 16th 02:30 Champions League Play-Off Hoffenheim Away

Sat 19th 22:00 English Premier League Crystal Palace Home

Thu 24th 02:45 Champions League Play-Off Hoffenheim Home

Sun 27th 23:00 English Premier League Arsenal Home

September 2017

Sat 9th 19:30 English Premier League Manchester City Away

Sat 16th 22:00 English Premier League Burnley Home

Sun 24th 00:30 English Premier League Leicester City Away

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Battle of Coutinho

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A trip to Vicarage Road to kick off our 2017-18 #PL campaign.

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Philippe Coutinho is not available for Saturday's Premier League opener against Watford.

The Liverpool No.10 has been out of training for a week due to a back injury, meaning he will miss the trip to Vicarage Road and remains a doubt for Tuesday’s Champions League play-off first leg at Hoffenheim.

“He has back problems and was not in training since last Friday,” Jürgen Klopp explained at his pre-match press conference.

“So no, he is not available and is also a doubt – if he is not available for Saturday – for Tuesday, unfortunately.”

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Jürgen Klopp has confirmed Daniel Sturridge will miss Saturday's Premier League opener at Watford, but is set to come back into contention for next week's trip to Hoffenheim.

The striker is currently recovering from a thigh injury sustained during the Audi Cup clash with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena last week.

However, Klopp has revealed Sturridge was ‘close’ to being involved in the squad for Vicarage Road tomorrow and will likely be ready to travel to Germany for the Champions League play-off first leg early next week.

The manager told his pre-Watford press conference at Melwood: “Daniel had a fantastic pre-season, but it was a little thing.

“He is close – he was already close for this weekend, but now for Tuesday it is pretty sure he is ready.”

Sturridge is one of four players Klopp won’t be able to call upon as Liverpool open their 2017-18 Premier League campaign.

Philippe Coutinho (back), Adam Lallana (thigh) and Nathaniel Clyne (back) are also ruled out.

Klopp continued: “Adam Lallana had this injury which is really unlucky for all of us. Clyney had a problem from the first day and now Phil with the back, so that makes it four players and that’s not too cool but now I have to make hard decisions because a few players really showed up in pre-season.

“Even [though] they are young and they have to prove their quality in the Premier League and all that stuff, that’s clear but even now I have to make hard decisions. But I could go into the season with this squad, that’s no problem – that’s what we will do and then we will see what happens by the 31st.”

Elsewhere, Jordan Henderson will return to the squad having sat out last weekend’s final pre-season friendly against Athletic Club due to illness.

“It was only not to go with any risk in Dublin,” explained Klopp. “The Doc told me he was not 100 per cent so we left him at home, but he was part of all sessions and was all good.”

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Mohamed Salah will provide Liverpool's attack with a new dimension this season, Jürgen Klopp feels.

Egypt international forward Salah, who moved to Anfield from AS Roma in June, enjoyed an impressive pre-season with his new club, scoring four times in six friendly appearances for the Reds.

With the No.11 in line to make his competitive debut for Liverpool in Saturday’s Premier League opener against Watford, Klopp offered an insight into what he expects Salah to bring to his team in the coming campaign.

“First of all, what everybody can see - all his skills. Speed and technical ability, finishing ability, a lot of things. He really showed up from the first day,” the boss told reporters on the eve of the trip to Vicarage Road.

“A few of these skills are really natural, that makes it easier for him to involve them in the game. I spoke to him a few times, of course, but not in the early part of pre-season. I didn’t immediately start telling him what I want to see from him in play, then we could talk about what I saw and it was really good.*

“A lot of things, in how we defend and how we need him to be involved in different situations [he will learn], but offensively it’s natural - that’s really cool and we want to keep that, that’s how it is.”

Salah’s blistering pace has been evident throughout pre-season, and Klopp explained how this particular attribute will make his team more potent going forward.*

“It makes us more difficult to defend [against] because speed is the most difficult-to-defend thing in football, because it creates spaces for all the rest. Just the threat of speed opens spaces in different areas and we need to use them, for sure,” he said.

“It’s not about giving him the ball [and saying] run and do something, it’s about what happens when he’s running, what happens to the formation of the opponent: ‘Can we play the ball there? Or should we use the space he creates with this run?’

“That makes football, for us, more interesting because there’s different gaps and actually when Sadio’s on the pitch [too] then we have it on two wings, if you want, and that’s another good thing.*

“So it’s how we try to develop now our game and hopefully we can see it already at Watford.”