Harvey Elliott sends 'not a kid' message to Jürgen Klopp as Liverpool gets triple injury boost

Liverpool has conducted its Atalanta pre-match press conference. The manager was joined by Harvey Elliott, and they both fielded questions.

What's happened?

Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp would have been met by some strong words if he was tuning into Elliott's section of the press conference, with the midfielder respectfully but firmly setting out his stall for a starting spot. But competition for places is only going up, with the manager confirming some good injury news.

What's been said?

"I want to be the player walking out, rather than coming on," said Elliott. "That's doesn't mean I'm not grateful for coming on the pitch, I'm very grateful for every opportunity that I get in a Liverpool shirt, but for me it's about for kicking on for myself and cementing my spot in the team.

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"I'm not a kid anymore, I'm a man, I'm growing up quickly, I feel like I need to take responsibilities into my own hands. If that means knocking on the gaffer's door, it's going to have to happen. But at the same time I do need to wait for my opportunities, I do need to be patient."

Then Klopp was up. He gave a long-awaited injury update on Diogo Jota, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Stefan Bajčetić and Alisson:

"We will have to see [if they can feature tomorrow]. Obviously we didn't rush the boys. That means they did a lot of training. It sounds like especially Diogo and Trent worked as a group for two, three weeks, could do proper training. Looked very good yesterday, to be honest.

"Stefan is a little bit different because he was out for a lot longer. It makes sense to give him a game with the U21s and let's see how he deals with that. That's not the plan with the other three. We need to see how we involve them, how we use them. That we need them is clear, but we need them in the best possible shape.

"For tomorrow, didn't make a decision yet. Alisson is not back in full training yet.

"The likes of Jota, Ali, Trent, you usually think first day they can step on the training ground we have to play them. We've probably had those situations in the last few years and it's never really healthy. They need time to get up to speed again.

"They are the most happy we are still in the situation we are in. If they are now ready to go, it's perfect timing.

"We now play Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, so we will need the boys. It's not about who can play all the games, the young boys who stepped in and played the roles, they couldn't have played all the games [either]. We need all the players, always quality on the pitch because we need to win pretty much all the games. That's good news, I cannot see anything negative in it. They need time and hopefully we can give them that time."

What does it mean?

Elliott has arguably had his most impressive season in a Liverpool shirt, despite finding starts harder to come by. He made a decisive difference once more against Manchester United, at least salvaging a point by winning a late penalty.

Ultimately, he didn't say anything Klopp won't have known already, and in a maximum of 12 games' time it will be a new manager Elliott needs to convince. But he's certainly moving closer to being a regular starter.