Jürgen Klopp has ruled out signing another central defender in the January transfer window.
The Reds are blessed to have remarkably good depth in the key defensive post and despite some injuries of late, the manager is sure he can offset their loss.
Joel Matip who had been the incumbent alongside Virgil Van Dijk has missed the last six weeks with a knee injury.
Such is the depth in that position, that current English international Joe Gomez has struggled for game-time in his natural position due to the consistent form of Matip and more recently Dejan Lovren.
The Croatian came off in the first half against Bournemouth but travelled with the squad for the all-important final Champions League group clash against Red Bull Salzburg this evening.
The Echo reported Klopp speaking on the matter:
“How can you be short of centre halves when you have four centre halves plus Fabinho?
“Only Fabinho is injured, Matip is injured and Dejan Lovren had a problem, yes.
“ We will not sign a centre half because of injuries - that is the world outside who thinks we are short and we have to do it - but afterwards we would have six centre halves and that wouldn’t make a lot of sense.
“And you need quality.
"You can’t have just somebody [for the sake of it] - I am somebody, I am tall, not quick, but I look like a centre half at least.
The manager dispelled any doubts on the fitness of Lovren.
“Yes I am absolutely concerned [about injuries], but Lovren is not injured. It was a little bit of cramp, and the right moment to take him off, but it is cool, everybody is fine.
We spoke about squad depth, but we had 16 adult players against Everton, 14 adult players against Bournemouth - it’s not that we think we have no clue how to make a squad at the moment.
“How can I tell the boys they are not involved in the squad?
"We have no problem, there is nobody there I have to explain it to. But yes it is all good, but not perfect."
Klopp also touched on the current status of Adam Lallana, Fabinho and Matip.
“ Adam is not coming (to Salzburg) but will be back in training on Thursday.
“Under pressure we probably could have used him, but we didn’t want to make pressure.
"How I said, it’s a small thing.
But the news seems more uncertain in regards to the Brazilian midfielder and Cameroon international defender.
“The only thing that is clear at this stage is that neither will play a part over the hectic festive period.
“There is no pressure from my side.
“It’s clear they will not be in before Christmas - not this year, actually.
“So why should we ask every five seconds if there’s some improvement or not?
“I know everybody involved is doing whatever they can.
“There will be a moment when somebody comes to me and tells me, ‘One week for him, two weeks for him’ and I’ll start telling you."
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