Merry Christmas and happy festive period everybody! Ahead of his side’s home match against Newcastle United on Boxing Day, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp revealed the reason for forward Mohamed Salah’s slow start to the 2018-19 season. The Egyptian was still feeling the effects of the severe shoulder injury he sustained due to the controversial challenge made on him by Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos.
“He is young enough to involve a lot more things in his game. It’s not just speed, it’s not just finishing, it’s keeping the ball,” said Klopp at a news conference on Monday.
“But you need your body for that and that was the only problem with Mo at the beginning of the season. Part of his body was still not perfect. If you work in an office and your shoulder is not 100 percent, it’s OK. If you are a professional football player, it just takes 10-15 percent away.”
“He’s still a world class player but we knew we had to wait until the moment when everything was fine again.”
Salah may not start in this one, but it’s not due to health concerns. The German, like every manager this time of year, will need to do some squad rotation in order to keep everybody fresh. This series has seen 46 meeting in the Premier League all time, with Liverpool taking 25 matches, Newcastle 11, and 10 draws.
The Bank Liverpool FC Starting XI Prediction vs AFC Bournemouth (4-3-3)
Forwards: Sadio Mane, Daniel Sturridge, Xherdan Shaqiri
Midfielders: Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum
Back line: Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno
Goalkeeper: Alisson
Liverpool FC vs Newcastle United FYIs
Kick-off: 3pm (BST), 10am (EST) Wednesday December 26, Anfield
Google Result Probability: Liverpool win- 83%, Draw 12%, Newcastle win- 5%
Odds via Sport Pesa: Liverpool win 4/25, draw 27/4, Newcastle 17/1
Injury Report: go to this link
Jurgen Klopp Preview Press Conference Video:
Prediction: Liverpool 1, Newcastle 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.