Ahead of Liverpool’s clash against Newcastle, Jurgen Klopp gave an update on Ibrahima Konate‘s injury – and it isn’t exactly good news.
Having been labeled an injury “doubt” by Klopp in his pre-game news conference, Konate was not included for the matchday squad.
He will return during the international break, Klopp said on the Premier League’s international broadcast. Serious enough but not overly so.
Perhaps a chance for [Aston] Villa, however I anticipate his return following the international break.
This indicates that his next appearance in a red shirt will probably be on September 16 against Wolves. In theory, it also prevents him from being called up for international duty, which will speed up his recuperation.
Against Newcastle, Joel Matip replaced the Frenchman as he joined Virgil van Dijk for the first time this season, and Andy Robertson finished bottom of the table while Liverpool had the ball.
Matip has played in this position before but doesn’t look very comfortable taking on the large spaces he needs.
Wataru Endo is starting his first game in midfield for Liverpool and on Sky Sports Klopp said:
“Everything we did in training, Wataru looked good so obviously he’s going to start today.”
Klopp added:
“Diogo [Jota] couldn’t practice yesterday. We had a really important training session from a tactical perspective, he had a cold or something, which some players have this week, which means he can’t train.
