Exeter City vs Liverpool preview: Jordon Ibe joins Reds injury list as manager Jurgen Klopp fears FA Cup shock
Manager says he will not select anyone who has played regularly in last five games as he wants to keep core of squad fresh for Premier League
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Liverpool will intensify their efforts to bring in Neven Subotic or Andrea Ranocchia after Jürgen Klopp warned they may be the victims of an FA Cup shock at Exeter as Jordon Ibe became the seventh squad member to suffer a hamstring complaint.
Kolo Touré’s breakdown with cramp in Tuesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final at Stoke cost Liverpool their last fit centre-half. Ibe complained of discomfort after that game and will not travel to Devon, where Klopp will be without 13 players. The Liverpool manager is interested in Subotic, whom he worked with at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund. Ranocchia, who captained Internazionale last season, is available for around £6.5m. However, even if a quick deal could be struck, neither man is match-fit as both have fallen out of favour at their clubs.
Klopp said he will not select anyone who has played regularly in their last five games as he wants to keep the core of the squad fresh for the league matches with Arsenal and Manchester United, although he was aware of the risk. “Nobody is interested in why shocks happen,” he said. “United lost at Milton Keynes with a weakened team a few years ago but no one talked about why they had those players in their team.
“They only look at the name of the club and say: ‘How can this happen?’ The team that plays at Exeter will want to win 100 per cent but it will not be a team that has played together very often. It is a chance for Exeter and they have to take it.”
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