Liverpool Boss Klopp Dismisses Claims of 'Weakened Side' in Carabao Cup Ahead of Leicester Clash

Jurgen Klopp has scoffed at suggestions that playing a weakened side in the Carabao Cup means Liverpool are not taking the competition seriously.

The Liverpool boss told the Liverpool Echo that he was not throwing in the towel by not playing a full-strength side against Premier League club Leicester City on Tuesday.

Klopp is expected to ring the changes for his side's third round clash with the Foxes, with the likes of Marko Grujic, Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke all expected to start.

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Klopp, though, refuted claims that he was saving his big guns for more prestigious tournaments such as England's top flight and UEFA's Champions League and stated that his squad was big enough to fight on four fronts.

He said: “From today's perspective yes, we have the resources, but we will see how it is again in January.

“What is my alternative - go to Leicester with a white flag and tell them if they want to go to the semi-finals in January then do it because we don't want to be part of it?

“We have had a few different line-ups and everything has been good in this competition in the last few years when we went to the final and semi-final.

“At one point we didn't have the opportunity to line up with the strongest side and a lot of England legends said I didn't respect the cup competitions, which is obviously not so nice.

“But in this moment we have the squad to play in different competitions and to go as far as possible. That is the plan.”

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The German gaffer also offered a clue as to whether he would be dipping into the transfer market in January, and that it would depend on how many competitions the Reds were still a part of in four months' time.

He added: “No player who is involved tomorrow is involved because I hope we go out of this competition. We are going there to win the game.

“The competition is good. The final was good when we played there. The semi-final against Southampton last year was for us the wrong possible moment, that's true, but we couldn’t change that.

“We will see how we are in January but at this moment I feel quite comfortable to use the players and bring players into different games.”