Jurgen Klopp has discussed the decision he faces in choosing between Liverpool forwards Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo.
Nunez has started each of the last four Premier League games and has been productive for the Reds this season, with eight goal involvements from seven starts in the league.
Gakpo was the favoured choice at centre-forward after signing from PSV in January and provided a reminder of his qualities with a brace against LASK in the Europa League on Thursday.
Asked at his pre-Fulham press conference whether he now faced a selection headache, Klopp said: “It is not about that. The boys don’t have to convince me in the games. We don’t rotate. This is my squad, this is my team and they play. If somebody is not extremely awful in shape and you think, ‘My god, what is going on with him?!’ – and that didn’t happen for a long, long time – then we just decide for the game and these kind of things.
“This is the most intense period in world football coming up now, that’s how it is, for all the teams by the way. So, they all will play. We already have Diogo [Jota] not in and that’s not helpful, so yes, we have to share these kind of minutes with different players and they have to perform, not always 90, sometimes less, but 60 or 70 and then full throttle. That’s how it is.
“Darwin is in a top moment and that didn’t change, super-important for us. That he didn’t start [on Thursday] has nothing to do with anything else. Now Cody scored twice, fantastic. Does that mean he has to play the next five games in a row? Other players score as well.
“It is not about that and Cody doesn’t expect [that] now because of that. They have to score, that’s the job, that’s what they want, but it is not that I have sleepless nights now and don’t know who to start. It’s not that much a choice, to be honest.”
