Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has blamed Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp for the injury crisis at the Merseyside club.

The Reds lost Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren to hamstring injuries in the 1-0 League Cup semi-final win over Stoke City on Tuesday night and now have 11 players out with injuries.

"That is him (Klopp) asking his players to play a high tempo pressing game from the top end," said Allardyce.

"It's great that the players have been able to carry it out but I think it has kicked in now.

"I don't think Jurgen has realised just how ferocious our league is at this period of time and because he has asked for that extra high energy, that extra 10 yards, these lads are fatiguing now with so many games in such a short period of time and are picking up these muscle strains.

"They are highly trained athletes more than ever before, and they become more susceptible to injuries by the amount of work they do in a game now."