Jurgen Klopp has claimed that James Milner can replace the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool this weekend.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference via Liverpool FC on YouTube (6mins), the boss confirmed that Trent would miss tomorrow’s game.
“Trent is out with hamstring, he cannot be part of England as well. Not good news, we’ll see how long that takes,” said Klopp.
Not good news at all, Jurgen. Alexander-Arnold is one of the absolute key men for Liverpool. If he is still to be missing when The Reds return from the international break, it will be an enormous blow.
Coping without Trent
But Klopp is still confident that his team can cope without the mercurial right-back. Asked who would come in for Trent, Klopp gave two options.
“We will see how it will take. Of course to replace Trent is difficult but possible. We have Milly when he’s not ill anymore, we have Joe [Gomez],” said the 54-year-old (14mins 45secs).
“Theoretically we can change systems as well, these kind of things, so we have a couple of options.”
Whilst accepting that Alexander-Arnold is near irreplaceable for the team, Klopp was full of praise for the way Milner has interpreted the role in the past.
“If you have a look in the past when Milly has to step in, he did incredibly well. Incredibly well,” said the manager. “He just has to be available and then that’s fine.”
Managing against Man City
Some may scoff at the idea of Milner stepping in for Alexander-Arnold. But Klopp is right to highlight him as an option.
It could be that Liverpool’s number 66 is now missing for The Reds’ potentially title-defining trip to the Etihad in April. It may seem to be an impossibility that Liverpool can get a result there without their most creative player.
But Trent was actually missing for Liverpool’s last game against City – the 2-2 draw at Anfield in October. The right-back was injured that day, so in stepped the ever-green Milner.
It’s true that the vice-captain had a difficult afternoon up against Phil Foden and could have even been sent off for two yellow card offences. He was also brought off on 76 minutes that day.
But by and large he managed and Liverpool secured a decent point. Although a win would put Liverpool in the driving seat, the same result at the Etihad would also be a welcome one.
Milner has been one of Klopp’s most trusted players during his time at Anfield. It could be that the 36-year-old is now asked to do a job out of position one last time before his contract runs out in the summer.
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