Saturday 12 December 2015 18:20, UK
Jurgen Klopp admits he is getting tired of discussing the fitness of striker Daniel Sturridge but says he has no plans to reinforce his attacking line.
Sturridge suffered a hamstring injury after coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute during the 2-0 defeat at Newcastle on Sunday.
But speaking ahead of Sunday's visit of West Brom, Reds boss Klopp insisted he is not on the lookout for another striker, despite Sturridge's ongoing injury problems and the unavailability of fellow forward Danny Ings, who is sidelined with a knee injury.
"We can't talk about it every week," the Liverpool manager said. "We have to train with him and make sessions with him when he's prepared.
"At the moment he's training on aerobic things which is important to give him a better base than before. That's been Daniel's history. All we can do is to train and give him more resistance with the intensity of football.
"We have [Christian] Benteke, [Divock] Origi and [Roberto] Firmino. We also have Ingsy, but he's not available at the moment.
"It's a situation I can work with. And if you take a new player, a striker, who can help you immediately, and then when the day comes and Daniel is back in the race and maybe better than before, more confident, fitter than before, then we would sit here and talk about all the problems we have with all these players that are not playing and so on.
"So I am not like this, sorry."
Klopp expects Jordon Ibe to be fit to return to the Liverpool squad on Sunday after the winger missed the 0-0 Europa League draw at Sion on Thursday due to illness.
Klopp also gave positive updates on the fitness of defenders Mamadou Sakho and Jon Flanagan, who could both return for the Reds over the festive period.
"Mama has trained now," Klopp said of the Frenchman. "He had his first session with the team yesterday and if nothing happens, he has to go on and carry on with training. That's what he needs now.
"There are no more issues with the knee and everything is okay, now he has to work to be a real option for us. Next week for sure, he will be available if nothing more happens."
When asked whether 22-year-old full-back Flanagan - who has not featured for the Reds since the final game of 2013-14 season - was back in full training, Klopp replied: "No, but close to - that's the best news.
"I think in his situation he should train parts of normal sessions next week and I'm really looking forward to it because I like this player.
"He had a bad, bad time. Hopefully it's over and now he can start doing what he likes most. It is for us, very good but of course he needs time."
