Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp frustrated with Gareth Southagte's use of Jordan Henderson with England
Henderson will captain Liverpool against Manchester United at Anfield on Saturday
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Your support makes all the difference.Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, has criticised Gareth Southgate’s handling of Jordan Henderson after the midfielder was selected for England’s dead rubber World Cup qualifier against Lithuania last week.
Henderson, who will captain his club against Manchester United at Anfield on Saturday, played the full 90 minutes for Gareth Southgate’s side on an artificial surface at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius in a routine 1-0 win.
England had already reached next summer’s tournament in Russia three days earlier, beating Slovenia at Wembley, and Henderson has struggled in recent years with a persistent heel injury.
“England played a friendly game on an artificial surface, it was a qualification game but they had already qualified,” Klopp said. “I was not happy that Hendo was on the pitch to be honest, with the problems he's had in the past.
“I thought it made no sense, but we cannot be involved in this. They all make their own decisions. No manager of a national team asked me so far before a game: 'How would you line up?'”
"We watch it, we wait until they come back and we take what we get."
Klopp also revealed that the Croatian FA heeded Liverpool’s advice when it came to Dejan Lovren, who has carried a back problem over the course of the last month.
Lovren, who revealed that he has needed to take medication before games in order to play since the start of September, was left out of Croatia’s 1-1 draw with Greece on his club’s recommendation, then returned to play in a 2-0 win over Ukraine on Tuesday.
Klopp expects Lovren to be available for United’s visit on Saturday but claimed that the defender’s back issues could cause more problems in the near future.
“We told him and the Croatian FA that it would really make sense and they left him out of the first game because he needed a few days rest. In this moment, it looks like it was enough.
“It was no problem yesterday, no problem the day before yesterday, I don't know how it will be in a few days but at the moment everything is good.”
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