Liverpool were tested ahead of their Premier League clash with Newcastle United on Friday afternoon.
Jurgen Klopp gave his men two days off after beating Burnley 2-0 on Boxing Day. The Reds returned to the AXA Training Center after Arsenal lost 2-0 at home to West Ham United.
Liverpool now aim to get 2024 off to the perfect start as they welcome Newcastle to Anfield on New Year’s Day. . The Magpies have struggled recently, winning just one of their previous seven games, but showed their quality last season when they knocked out the Reds in the Champions League qualifying stages. Klopp hopes Alexis McAllister will return from injury.
The Argentina international has missed the last six games after injuring his knee in the 2-0 win over Sheffield United earlier this month.
It’s a positive sign that McAllister is back in training and could be on the bench once he gets the go-ahead from the medical team. “Maka, we’ll see what he can do today,” Klopp said in his pre-match press conference. If he can participate in team training. No decision has been made yet, it is too early and there are no documents. Or maybe it’s here, but I haven’t seen it yet. So we’ll see.” Mac Allister, Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and many other youngsters were invited to the session to collaborate, one of whom was Bobby Clarke.
The midfielder moved from Newcastle to Liverpool for £1.5m in the summer of 2021, aged 16.Clarke, the son of former Magpies midfielder Lee, is highly regarded by Klopp and his coaching staff. The England youth international made his Premier League debut in a 9-0 win over Bournemouth in August 2022 before beating Derby County in the Carabao Cup. Clarke has been sidelined this season with a wrist injury. They can be split in the Europa League group stage for certain periods and limited playing time.
Clarke bounced back from a setback to lead Liverpool Under-21s to the title in a 2-1 win over Chelsea earlier this month. He also played for Klopp in the 1–1 draw with Arsenal and in the 5–1 Carabao Cup win against West Ham. – And he signed a new long-term contract four days before Christmas. “We brought in Ben Doak and you will see for the first time how ‘brutal’ he is,” Klopp said after last season’s 3-1 win at Aston Villa.
“We have other people,” Klopp said. “Bobby Clarke is another big name in England and the youngster is also a very good player so the future looks bright.” Conor Bradley, Luke Chambers, Callum Scanlan, James McConnell, Tom Hill, Cade Gordon and Lewis Koumas were other young talents who trained with the first team ahead of the Newcastle game.
