---
title: "Klopp confirms Benteke and Firmino absence"
canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/articles/klopp-confirms-benteke-firmino-absence/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ben Smith"
section: "Articles"
published: "2015-10-15T12:29:23Z"
modified: "2015-10-15T12:43:26Z"
---

# Klopp confirms Benteke and Firmino absence

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp [has confirmed](https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jurgen-klopp-press-conference-tottenham-10257055) that forwards Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke will not take part in Saturday’s fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.

The German held his first pre-match news conference at Melwood on Thursday, and when asked about the duo, who cost more than £60m between them, Klopp said: “They are back on the pitch, not team training, and they’re getting better.

> I don’t know when they will get back to full team training, hopefully next week, but when they do we need to see if they are ready to play.

“For sure, not Saturday, and I don’t think Thursday. For next Sunday, ask me next week!”

The 48-year-old is wary of the threat that the weekend’s opponents possess, but insists he knows how he wants the Liverpool team to operate.

![Alex Livesey/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readliverpoolfc.com/readliverpoolfc/2015/10/4919570821.jpg)

“We play against a very good [Premier League](https://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/topics/premier-league/) team in Spurs,” said the Reds’ boss. “They are fine tuned.

“We know how they want to play. I know how I want to play.

> At the end it is only football. Now we have to open our chests, run and fight and shoot. We have to play like our best dream.

“I want to see more braveness. I want to see fun in their eyes. I want to see that they like what they do.”

The former Dortmund manager also discussed the issues that having players away on international duty has caused, as well as the season-ending injury that Joe Gomez [suffered in midweek](https://readliverpoolfc.com/2015/10/14/joe-gomez-could-miss-the-rest-of-the-season/).

“We’ve had some problems,” he said. “The players were with the national teams. It’s a little bit different because I don’t know so much about the players. You’re always nervous.

![Trond Tandberg/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readliverpoolfc.com/readliverpoolfc/2015/10/487245280.jpg)

“We didn’t have perfect information in the case of young gun Gomez.

> What a wonderful young boy Gomez is. He has done his ACL. Now we have to wait. He will have surgery. This is his home.

Spurs have finished above Liverpool in the Premier League in five of the last six Premier League seasons, but the Reds have [had the better of the North Londoners](https://readliverpoolfc.com/2015/10/14/last-four-meetingsbeatings-spurs/) when the two sides have met in recent seasons.

A win for the Anfield club in Klopp’s first game in the dugout would lift them above Mauricio Pochettino’s men in the table, but a defeat for Liverpool would likely result in them dropping into the bottom half.