Liverpool are down to just two fit centre-backs with manager Jurgen Klopp confirming that Dejan Lovren is out injured and he cannot put a timescale on the player's return.
The Croatian international was forced out of the Reds last Premier League game, a 3-0 win at Bournemouth last Saturday, 40 minutes into the contest but returned to start their 2-0 Champions League victory in Salzburg on Tuesday only to be withdrawn on 53 minutes.
When asked Lovren's availability for Saturday's home match against Watford, Klopp said: “Out. He'll be back before my contract ends obviously.
“No, he's out. Muscle. This time more serious than last time.
“Look, we have problems.
“We don't have a time frame.”
Asked about being down to just two fit centre-backs ( Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez ), Klopp admitted it was a difficult situation.
He said: “It's a concern, you can imagine. It's not the first time we've had a situation like this, last year I think Fabinho played one game at centre-half but he's injured too.
“It's not too cool. At the moment we have two.
“We should take care. Pack them in cotton wool, ask them what they want to do in training and say 'are you ready?'
“Apart from that we have to be creative.
“We have the kids of course with Ki Jana ( Hoever ) and Sepp ( van den Berg ).
“We have defensive-minded midfielders, there are different systems where you can use other kinds of defenders as well.
“That's how it is. At this moment I have a lot of ideas but I hope for most of them I don't have to use them to be honest.”
