Football
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Adam Lallana: Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool training is not cause of injuries

Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has said manager Jurgen Klopp's training regime is not to blame for the spate of hamstring problems that has brought injuries to crisis levels at Anfield.

Playmaker Philippe Coutinho and defender Dejan Lovren both succumbed to hamstring issues in the 1-0 Capital One Cup semifinal win at Stoke on Tuesday.

Klopp now has a total of 11 first-team players unavailable -- including six either with or recovering from hamstring injuries -- and the German has said that is likely to force him into the transfer market.

He currently only has one fit centre-back in Kolo Toure, who gave his manager a scare with a late bout of cramp at the Britannia Stadium.

There has been much conjecture about whether the introduction of Klopp's gegenpressing style has led to the injuries -- former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness said it was time for the manager to consider modifying training -- but Lallana rejected that idea.

The England international said: "We have had a change of manager this season. When that happens, lads look to impress more and give more.

"But I don't think these injuries have got anything to do with any changes to our training.

"We've had so many games recently that we've mainly been doing recovery sessions between games, so it's not as if the training has been really intensive. You can't blame that.

"Sometimes you are just unlucky with injuries, and we've had a lot of bad luck recently."

He said it was "a big blow" to lose Coutinho and Lovren as Liverpool embark on a packed fixture schedule that begins with an FA Cup tie at League Two Exeter on Friday.

But he added: "We'll all stick together. I'm sure the lads who are out will be working extra hard to get back fit."

Klopp has already pointed out his team are doing more recovery sessions than training because of the fixture congestion, and the gradual drain of resources has put additional strain on the remaining fit players.

"The problem is if all the players in this moment had no injuries in preseason they are still in the race and can cope with this intensity, but they have had little things and had no chance to recover," he said.

"We have no break, no chance to recover, but we can't wave the white flag. We have to get on with it and see."

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