How Jurgen Klopp turned injuries into major positives this season

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Liverpool have had some troubling injuries this season but Jurgen Klopp somehow turned them into positives.

Think back to late November. Fabinho picks up an injury against Napoli and Joel Matip is out until New Year. That’s two of Liverpool’s Champions League-winning XI missing for a difficult month.

Then, in early December, Dejan Lovren goes off with an injury and is gone for the month.

Suddenly Liverpool, a team who were struggling to keep clean sheets as it was, were short at the back. Their second and third-choice centre-halves were out, with Joe Gomez having to step up. There were plenty of doubts about his ability.

Jordan Henderson, a player Liverpool had deliberately moved away from the holding role, would now have to fill in there once again. Quite a step down from arguably the world’s best holding player in Fabinho.

With their first-choice defence, Liverpool kept two clean-sheets by the start of December (and another in the League Cup v MK Dons). Up stepped two players shrouded with doubt and, quite amazingly, Liverpool have kept eight in a little over a month.

It barely even makes sense but, somehow, Klopp had the Reds running even better with second-choice options. Fourth-choice, in Gomez’s case.

So here we are in early January. Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 13 points with a game in hand. They won the Club World Cup and progressed to the FA Cup fourth-round.

Instead of hurting Liverpool, the injuries have left them in a superior position. Now, Gomez looks like a top-class defender and will surely continue to play. Fabinho probably shouldn’t get in ahead of Henderson, either – the Liverpool captain is playing some of the best football of his career.

And these are good things. Liverpool are in such a good situation that Matip and Fabinho, two of the best players of 2019, are doubts for the starting XI. The team’s elite options have shot up in both areas thanks to something that should have derailed a season.

That’s only because of how incredibly well Klopp handled the injuries at Liverpool. Few managers – possibly none – could have turned such a negative into an overwhelming positive.