Jurgen Klopp has vowed that Liverpool will cope without Philippe Coutinho as the playmaker faces a potential six-week spell on the sidelines.
Coutinho is not likely to feature again for the Reds until the start of 2017 after suffering ankle ligament damage during a 2-0 win over Sunderland last weekend.
With a run of Premier League fixtures next month which includes a New Year’s Eve encounter with title rivals Manchester City, the Brazilian’s absence could not have been worse timed.
But Klopp insists that Liverpool will prove that they are capable of holding their own over the festive period without the mercurial on-field presence of Coutinho.
He said: “Phil Coutinho is a really good football player.
“If we cannot use him for the next few days or weeks, each team in the world would feel it [too]. That’s how it is.
“Of course right now I can say there’s no excuse for anything.
“Phil, as good as he is, cannot decide games by himself even though it looks sometimes like this because he takes the ball, does a little bit of dribbling and al that stuff.
“It’s really a team performance what we created and he’s a very important part of this team, absolutely, but now, of course, we can handle it.
“It’s not the best thing I can imagine that I dreamed about and said ‘It’s a good idea that we can show we can play without Phil’.
“But it was clear that if he’s not in then we have to show and we will show it.
“How we see now, Phil is not in [the team], Adam (Lallana) is close but not in, Daniel (Sturridge) is close but not in.
“They are all quality players and of course we miss them but we don’t look for excuses.
“We only want to perform and play football. I think the way we play is possible without them but it would be better when they would be all fit.”