Jurgen Klopp has explained that he dropped Loris Karius from Liverpool's starting line-up for Wednesday's trip to Middlesbrough as he does not want to "push him".

The 23-year-old goalkeeper lost his place to Simon Mignolet after making high-profile errors against Bournemouth and West Ham United in recent weeks.

Karius’ displays were criticised by Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, with the former claiming that the Germany Under-21 international was simply "not good enough".

Having named Karius among the substitutes for the trip to the Riverside Stadium, Klopp said: “There was a lot of talk around this position in the last few weeks.

“There’s no reason for pushing Loris through this situation because he’s a much better goalkeeper than what he showed for example in the last game.

“There’s no reason to push, especially when you have a keeper like Simon who is training at a high level.”

Liverpool January transfer targets Show all 7 1 /7 Liverpool January transfer targets Liverpool January transfer targets Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) The Merseyside club failed with an £11m bid for the 18-year-old striker in the summer, but may try their hand at signing him again this January. Pulisic is one of Europe's most highly-rated teenagers, having already made his international debut for the United States. Getty Liverpool January transfer targets Virgil van Dijk (Southampton) It would not be a transfer window without Liverpool being linked with somebody from Southampton. This time it's Van Dijk, who has emerged as one of the Premier League's best centre-halves since arriving on the south coast from Celtic. Getty Liverpool January transfer targets Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen) Jurgen Klopp is reportedly keen to strengthen his defence and the Bayer Leverkusen centre-back would be a good addition for the Reds. The German Tah is only 20 years of age but has impressed for both club and country this season. Getty Liverpool January transfer targets Paul-Georges Ntep (Rennes) The left-midfielder’s deal at Rennes expires at the end of the season and so he will be free to sign a pre-contract in January. A strong dribbler of the ball, Ntep has been made two appearances for France. Getty Liverpool January transfer targets Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon) Seeing as Roberto Firmino is not a natural no. 9 and Daniel Sturridge has fallen out of favour, Liverpool have been linked with several strikers including French forward Alexandre Lacazette. The Lyon striker is quick, explosive and has already reached double figures this season. Getty Liverpool January transfer targets Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao) The Athletic Bilbao youngster signed a new contract in January with a release clause of €50m, but the rumours linking him with Anfield have not died down. The 22-year-old would certainly fit in with Jurgen Klopp’s style of play. Getty Liverpool January transfer targets Mahmoud Dahoud (Borussia Monchengladbach) Jurgen Klopp has long admired the Germany under-21 midfielder, who plies his trade with Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany. Klopp will have to do battle with former club Dortmund to sign the German, while Italian giants Juventus are also interested. Getty

Klopp was expected to retain Karius’ services having given a vociferous defence of his goalkeeper and questioned Neville’s criticism during a pre-match press conference on Monday.

“The pundits, former players most of them, forgot completely how it felt when they got criticised,” the Liverpool manager said.

“Especially the Neville brothers; the one who was the manager he obviously should know that too much criticism never helps.”



“But he is not interested in helping a Liverpool player, I can imagine, but that makes the things he says not make more sense.