Jurgen Klopp is confident Liverpool can perform without star man Sadio Mane after his injury on international duty with Senegal.
Mane has been in fine form at the start of this season, scoring three goals in five Premier League games, but he is now sidelined for up to six weeks with a hamstring problem.
Liverpool have had to cope without Mane on numerous occasions throughout 2017 - with the African Cup of Nations in January and a suspension after a red card against Manchester City slowing his momentum this term - and Klopp expects them to do so again, starting against Manchester United on Saturday.
When told in his pre-match news conference that Liverpool have taken 23 points from their last 10 games without Mane, Klopp replied: "So we don't need Sadio? Thank god.
"We can obviously play football without Sadio because we have already had to do this a lot of times - much more often that we wanted.
"He's a player of the highest quality - we know this - and it was very unlucky. We can play without him, even if we would love to have him in the line-up."
Klopp: "We can play without him even if we would love to have him in the line-up. That's how it is." October 13, 2017
He added, to the club's official website: "Things like this happen. If you look around the world, a lot of players in this international break got injured.
"You always hope that nothing will happen but, as long as they are not around, we don't know exactly what happens. It's quite difficult to get in touch with all the different FAs and all that stuff like this.
"I had a chat immediately after the game with Sadio, how I always do with the boys. It was not clear it would be that serious, but he said 'I feel something in my hamstring', so it was clear it would be at least close for the United game - and now we know it's much longer.
"That's not cool, but we have to deal with it – how we always have to do."
Klopp confirmed there had been no further fitness concerns during the break and he is hopeful Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino will be available to face United despite their late return from Brazil.
"They had a long flight, but it was pretty comfortable I'm sure," he grinned. "I can imagine because I saw the price!"
