Jurgen Klopp praises Liverpool coaches as Dejan Lovren nears return

Jurgen Klopp has praised Liverpool’s fitness coaches for the progress made by Dejan Lovren in his recovery from a pelvis injury sustained at the World Cup.

The Croatian defender returned to full team training on Wednesday having missed the start of the season after playing through the pain to take his country to the tournament’s final in Russia this summer.

And, though Lovren won’t be available for this weekend’s meeting with Southampton at Anfield, Klopp is delighted with the speed of his recuperation.

“Dejan is close. He looks really fit [and] did a lactate test last week so fitness-wise he is - for his situation - on a really okay level,” he said.

“That’s good, so good work from the fitness department. We will see. He is not for the squad for the weekend, of course, but we will see how soon we can try to involve him again.”

Klopp also expects to be without Dominic Solanke (concussion), Divock Origi (ankle) and Adam Lallana (groin) for the visit of Mark Hughes’ team.

But the German says all three players should be back in the fold soon enough, with none of them facing particularly serious problems.

He added: “Dom trains today, first time after his concussion. Divock tried yesterday but still when he changes direction is aware of [the injury] so we don’t have to put pressure on that. I think, maybe, Sunday [will be] his first session with the team.

“Adam gets closer and closer. He’s still doing his rehab work but out on the pitch and all that stuff so he is not too far away from the team, for sure.”

One man who is certain to be back in contention for a starting berth, however, is Roberto Firmino.

The Brazilian was named as a substitute for Tuesday’s Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, but emerged from the bench to replace the scorer of the opening goal - Daniel Sturridge - and went on to net the winning goal.

Asked about the selection conundrum he now faces up front, Klopp replied: “Did I speak a lot about line-ups here in the past? I don’t think so.

“There’s obviously no reason to think about Bobby, it’s about how we could line up in general differently. Could they play together? Yes, of course.

“It was just positive, the impact Daniel had. It was an intense game, it was a fantastic game to be honest, and that’s the best news.

“Now we know a lot more about that and more games will come, so it’s good to know about that.

“That’s why I was so pleased with the performance because it’s always easy - and sometimes it’s the truth as well - a player says, ‘I play but I don’t have the rhythm’.

“But he had minutes before that and a lot of good sessions and so he had rhythm and played really well so that’s good.

“How I said, a lot of games to come and these two boys can play together as well, they did in the past by the way and they can do it again.”

The Reds boss also spoke about the recent progress made by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has begun kicking a ball again as he steps up his recovery from a serious knee issue.

“Ox is a different situation but it’s so nice to have Ox around,” Klopp continued.

“I had a long injury in my career and the first month you take it somehow and then you think, ‘That’s really boring and it’s not exactly why I wanted to play football’. He had, for sure, moments like this, but he’s such a positive [person].

“We are really waiting for him without making pressure on him and we know that it will take a long time but he will always be a very important part of the squad because of the guy he is.

“I have said it a few times, I knew he was a good footballer when we signed him but I could never have imagined what an outstanding person he is.

“He’s a big miss for us but he is around most of the time and so is still working on the good atmosphere in and around the team.”