Former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland believes that new signing Loris Karius needs to be thrown in at the deep end against Chelsea on Friday night if he is indeed Jurgen Klopp’s first choice keeper.
The German has been sidelined for the opening matches of the season with a broken hand; an injury he sustained in a pre-season match against the same opposition back in July, and Kirkland believes you can’t ease goalkeepers into playing Premier League football. He told the 5times podcast:
“You can’t be eased in at a club like Liverpool. The best thing is to get out there and get playing. I’m looking forward to seeing him. I would have thrown Karius in last Saturday. If he was brought in as No 1 and he’s training and ready then throw him in. You can’t really build up to games in the Premier League. The rumours are that he’s been told he’s the No 1 and if those rumours are true then he has to play.
With Karius’s injury, Simon Mignolet has been given the opportunity to re-establish himself as number one. Kirkland also criticised the Belgian keeper for passing out from the back and giving the ball to Lucas in a difficult position which led to Leicester’s Jamie Vardy scoring. In all fairness though, it would be very harsh to criticise the keeper when Lucas was the one who inexplicably passed the ball across the goal line for the England international to score.
In any case, we will know more about who Klopp sees as his number one choice when the teams for the Chelsea match are named on Friday.
