sport news Jurgen Klopp wants Liverpool to be 'rock solid' to cope without Mohamed Salah ...

Jurgen Klopp demands Liverpool are 'rock solid' defensively in a bid to minimise the impact of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane's AFCON absences as the Reds go to Crystal Palace hoping to take advantage of Man City's draw Liverpool have kept three consecutive clean sheets in all competitions Jurgen Klopp wants Reds to remain solid at the back over the next few weeks Liverpool has so far not felt the absence of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane Win against Crystal Palace would cut gap to Manchester City to nine points

By Joe Bernstein for The Mail on Sunday

Published: 22:30 GMT, 22 January 2022 | Updated: 23:28 GMT, 22 January 2022

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has ordered his team to keep things ‘rock solid’ at the back in order to handle the absence of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane at the African Cup of Nations.

Worries about how Liverpool would cope without their star forwards have eased with three clean sheets in a row ahead of today’s trip to Crystal Palace.

The Reds followed up last Sunday’s 3-0 victory at home to Brentford by beating Arsenal 2-0 to reach the EFL Cup Final.

Jurgen Klopp has urged Liverpool to remain focused on keeping clean sheets

Klopp, famous for his front-foot philosophy, now admits to a slight change in emphasis.

‘When you lose key players for tournaments, the solution isn’t that you will be flying in the next game and score five or six,’ he said.

‘You have to adapt and in our case, it was 100 per cent clear that we needed to be rock solid.

‘We have