Gerrard backs Klopp's decision to drop van Dijk

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Bengaluru, February 1: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp raised many eyebrows when he dropped the club's most expensive player and world's most expensive defender Virgil van Dijk against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday (January 30) night.

However, Liverpool won the game convincingly and kept a much-needed clean sheet meaning that Klopp's decision did not come back to haunt him.

According to Liverpool legend turned TV pundit Steven Gerrard, this was just a safety first move from Klopp as he wanted to keep van Dijk fresh for the weekend against Spurs.

"Well he is fit," Gerrard said. "The manager said it's rotation. You can understand it, he's had a lot of time out injured, he's come to a new club, he's still settling in.

"He probably doesn't want to risk him for three games in a week in case he does get a big injury and is out for a big chunk of the season."

"You can understand it but from a fans point of view, they'll be on the way to the game thinking '£75m, we want him playing every game, we want him there', especially after a couple of bad results, you want your talisman in your starting XI.

"But from a manager's point of view you have to protect players some times of the season. I think these players are getting used to this, he's been doing this for quite a while now in terms of making three or four changes for every game."

Virgil van Dijk has had a troublesome time with injuries since last year and Klopp taking extra care of him is quite understandable.

Liverpool have an important game against Tottenham Hotspurs on Sunday which might decide their top-four fate and van Dijk is likely to start the game and will be much fresher.