Nathaniel Clyne, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana and Bobby Duncan weren’t with the Liverpool squad that trained at Fenway Park on Saturday, according to the Liverpool Echo.
The national newspaper claim that Oxlade-Chamberlain was absent as he was following his own specialist training programme, while Lallana and Duncan were training away from the main group due to missing the loss against Borussia Dortmund with minor knocks.
The Liverpool Echo reported that Clyne missed Saturday’s training session as he suffered a blow to his right leg on Friday night during the clash with the German giants.
OPINION
The Liverpool Echo stress that there is no suggestion Oxlade-Chamberlain has had an injury setback, and that’s good news. The 25-year-old spent 349 days on the sidelines with injury, across his 2017/18 and 2018/19 campaign, so it’s no wonder the Reds are being careful regarding his fitness (Source: Transfermarkt). Oxlade-Chamberlain, who averaged a rating of 6.88 across his 35 league outings in his 2017/18 campaign (Source: WhoScored), has the potential to be a big player for Jurgen Klopp in the upcoming campaign, and as a result, needs to be carefully managed. The 25-year-old has so far scored five goals and assisted eight in his Liverpool career and will no doubt be aiming to add to his tally sooner rather than later. As for the other absentees, Liverpool fans won’t sweat. Promising youngster Duncan previously dismissed the idea that his potential knock was anything to be worried about on Twitter, while the Reds have proven they can cope without Lallana as it’s not his first injury, to say the least. As for Clyne, he’s not expected to be important to the first-team in the coming season, given he was so surplus requirements last season that he was loaned out to Bournemouth.
