Jurgen Klopp defends Dejan Lovren and offers thoughts on senior Liverpool debut for Rhian Brewster

Jurgen Klopp has provided an impassioned defence of embattled Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren, but claims now is not the correct time to be discussing a potential senior debut for England youth star Rhian Brewster.

Centre-back Lovren has been subject to widespread criticism this week after another wretched outing against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley in which he was substituted in the 31st minute after committing two defensive mistakes that led to Spurs goals.

Klopp himself was initially critical of the Croatian international and his vulnerable team's general approach to defending after that heavy defeat, stating that he could have performed better in his trainers.

However, he has since claimed that he would "never let down" either Lovren or oft-maligned goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and refused to confirm if the duo would be dropped for Saturday's visit of a Huddersfield Town side managed by best friend and former Borussia Dortmund colleague David Wagner to Anfield.

Addressing the issue again during his pre-match press conference on Friday, Klopp insisted Lovren had trained well at Melwood despite it not being the nicest week of his life and claimed that he had the same if not more positive things to think about the player now.

He also said that exaggerated coverage of his struggles was like "watching an accident and there are people standing around with smartphones instead of helping." He also gave short shrift to midweek stories that Lovren had deleted all mention of Liverpool from his Instagram account, remarking that social media is already "difficult enough to handle".

"Look, I don't wish one of you to make a mistake that is discussed in public, you cannot even imagine, you have not even an idea how it feels," Klopp said, adding that people do not become better or worse from simply making a mistake in a football match. "The boys are in the first case still human beings."

He added: "But yes, everything is OK. Dejan had a good training week, we will see what we will do tomorrow line-up wise, but it's not about the last game it's about the next game, the Huddersfield game, what we think will be the best line-up. That's all."

Klopp inevitably discussed Brewster after the teenage striker fired England's Under-17 team to the World Cup final in Kolkata with back-to-back hat-tricks against the United States and Brazil, urging caution with regards to the mounting hype but conceding that such exploits made it "quite difficult to keep it a secret".

Under-23 regular Brewster, the U17 World Cup's top scorer with seven goals to his name before Saturday's final against Spain, impressed while training with Liverpool's senior team last season and was an unused substitute for the Premier League defeat to Crystal Palace in April.

However, Klopp was quick to pump the breaks on any speculation regarding an imminent first-team promotion for the 17-year-old, stressing the need to "sort the present and build circumstances" where the likes of Brewster, Ben Woodburn, Dominic Solanke and Harry Wilson can all progress.

"In training, 100 per cent he was already [in the picture] - he showed up already," he said. "But it's really not the moment to talk about [a senior debut], he doesn't expect this.

"We had a little chat after the last game [for England] and it was funny [because] I told him to save the number and he said, 'I will, for sure'. Maybe that's the first step. But I knew him before, he was in training very often already, but it makes not too much sense to be always in first-team training and be playing in other teams.

"You have to be part of the team where you are playing as well. It's all good, the future's bright, we are responsible, he is responsible and unfortunately you as well, that's the deal."