Klopp urges authorities to work together after Lallana injury

REUTERS - England's soccer authorities should come together with the Premier League, the clubs and broadcasters to plan the country's fixtures, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has said in the wake of midfielder Adam Lallana's injury on international duty.

Lallana, who will miss the Merseyside derby against Everton on Saturday, suffered a thigh injury during England's 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Lithuania at Wembley last weekend.

England also played a friendly international with Germany on Wednesday, 72 hours after Liverpool's high-octane league clash against Manchester City. Lallana played more than an hour for England in Dortmund and the full 90 minutes against Lithuania.

"It's hard for us to lose a player like Adam for four weeks, which could be eight games - it's a lot," Klopp told Sky Sports.

"We all have to start to work much better together: the FA, Premier League, television and the clubs because we're trying to sell the best product."

The German coach said he did not blame Gareth Southgate for playing Lallana in both games, because the England manager was under pressure to name his best eleven in his first two games as a full-time coach.

"I don't blame anybody for this, especially not Gareth Southgate - I like him, we've had a few meetings," Klopp added.

"If he had left Lallana out against Germany, the press would have asked 'do you want to win?'"

Liverpool are fourth in the league and four points clear of rivals Manchester United, who have two games in hand, in the race for Champions League qualification.

Klopp's side host seventh-placed Everton in the league on Saturday and 11th-placed Bournemouth four days later.

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)