Jürgen Klopp has confirmed that goalkeeper Loris Karius will continue in goal for his side in their upcoming Premier League match at Swansea City.
The summer signing from German Bundesliga club Mainz made his first start for the Reds last week, in their EFL Cup tie at Derby County. Karius was largely unoccupied at Pride Park Stadium, keeping a clean-sheet, and has since gone on to make his Premier League debut in Liverpool’s 5-1 win over Hull City.
Klopp confirmed on Monday that he spoke to both Karius and fellow ‘keeper Simon Mignolet, letting them know that the young German will retain his spot in the first team for the second time.
“He can play against Swansea again, I already spoke to the goalkeepers, they know it,” he said, according to Liverpool’s official website.
“We had a game at Derby, what can I do? He did not have 500 balls, just two or three balls. Against Hull, I’m not sure, not too many balls.
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“Of course, to understand how a player reacts in situations you need the games. We don’t have the games in the week so we do it on the weekend and then at a specific point we can make a decision because I know the goalkeeper position is different than the centre-half position, for example. I know this and I respect this, so we’ll see.”
Up until the match against Derby, Mignolet had been the first-choice goalkeeper, largely due to the fact that Karius had injured his hand. Klopp has praised the Belgian for his response to being dropped and also insisted that his door remains open should the former Sunderland man have any queries.
He added: “Simon is one of the best professionals we have. Like I said a few times, before the game there is only the decision. After the game if someone wants to talk about it we can talk about it, but before the game nothing else than the game.
“If he wants to talk we can talk, there’s no problem, but it will not be a problem because I know him. We cannot promise line-up positions. We can only say we made decisions, use them.”
It’s certainly a big decision by the boss and perhaps one that the fans have been calling for a long while now. Karius’ ability hasn’t been tested thus far but when it does, a good response will surely make it hard for Mignolet to return to the first team.
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