Jurgen Klopp was absolutely loathe to use it as an excuse. But there was no escaping the basic fact Liverpool were missing an awful lot of players when they slumped to Premier League defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Even among those who were available, many were significantly below their physical peak whether due to carrying knocks or feeling the effects of having to play a third top-flight game in less than a week.
"It was intense, three games, six days and limited squad," said Klopp afterwards. "It was clear we would not fly through this game. We knew it would be a difficult game. We played on Saturday and Wednesday and the last three games were in six days. In our situation that's the worst that can happen."
