Jurgen Klopp could call on overlooked Liverpool player to solve defensive crisis against Man City
Liverpool could be without Ibrahima Konate for Sunday’s standoff with Manchester City at Anfield
It’s been a long way from ideal week for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool – even in the wake of sentencing Officers to their joint-heaviest loss in the Bosses League on Wednesday – as the injury gives that hampered the club’s initial season desires have returned.
As the posthumous of Sunday’s loss to Arsenal started on Monday morning, it was uncovered that Luis Diaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold would both be set briefly uninvolved after supporting knee and lower leg wounds individually at the Emirates. For the defender, he ought to be back before the month’s end as his issue isn’t accepted to be essentially as terrible as at first dreaded, yet Diaz won’t make a return until after the World Cup as his conflict with Thomas Partey late in the main half is supposed to save him down and out for somewhere in the range of eight and ten weeks.
What’s more, on the off chance that that wasn’t harming enough, on Tuesday evening the Reds’ physical issue burdens were exasperated further when it was laid out that Joel Matip had experienced a calf injury during the 3-2 loss to Mikel Arteta’s side and would thusly likewise miss the end of the week’s conflict with Manchester City. Indeed, even by then, the Liverpool manager would have been scratching his head and pausing his breathing in front of the Residents’ visit to Merseyside on Sunday.
Be that as it may, any head-scratching or breath-holding would have escalated on Friday evening when Ibrahima Konate was missing from Liverpool’s second-day recuperation preparing at the AXA Center. Having begun, and intrigued, during Wednesday’s 7-1 triumph over the Gers, the Frenchman would have been perhaps the earliest name on the teamsheet nearly four days after the fact, yet it presently appears to be like the Reds manager will be compelled to fiddle with a brief cautious unit rather as he resolves how to turn out to be only the subsequent Premier League side to stop the free-scoring Erling Haaland from tracking down the rear of the net.
One silver lining for Liverpool however is the way that the Frenchman’s circumstance doesn’t show up as awful as introductory reports, with the Reverberation understanding that he was not booked to prepare on Friday evening, and on Saturday evening Anfield sources would not administer him out of Sunday’s conflict. Yet, if he neglects to conquer what is probably going to be a late wellness test, how should Klopp arrange on Sunday evening against the Premier League’s in-structure side?
The consideration of involvement – Milner, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson
The most probable option for Klopp will be to bring James Milner into the beginning XI. With Joe Gomez recently set to get approval at right-back, facing Phil Foden, after Alexander-Arnold’s physical issue last end of the week, Gomez will most likely now move along the guarded transport line to accomplice Virgil van Dijk at focus back.
Milner began the comparing apparatus last October after Alexander-Arnold had gotten an abductor injury in the days before the challenge. While the different sides shared the riches on that event because of a late, diverted strike from Kevin de Bruyne, the 36-year-old got through a sweltering evening toward Foden and Joao Cancelo on City’s left-hand side as he neglected to stay aware of the force of the elegant undertaking.
Foden sacked the Residents’ most memorable balancer of the evening as he planned his run into the crate flawlessly and coolly bored his work past Alisson Becker into the furthest corner. Facing the 22-year-old the entire evening, Milner battled as he was confined against the City man and his evening might have ostensibly been finished rashly when he ought to have accepted his walking orders briefly bookable hostile on Bernardo Silva in the last part.
And keeping in mind that the former City midfielder will without a doubt bring experience and the genuinely necessary major game nous to the table if he somehow managed to be named in the beginning XI at 3:30pm on Sunday, it seems like his long stretches of playing a featuring job in such a groundbreaking apparatus are behind him and Klopp ought to consequently look for arrangements from somewhere else.
Out from the blue – Gomez, Phillips, Van Dijk, Robertson
One more choice to rescue the Liverpool manager of the protective emergency is to hand Nat Phillips his second beginning of the time, close by Van Dijk. Phillips hasn’t highlighted since beginning the Reds’ most memorable home game of the time, a 1-1 draw against Precious stone Castle. Nonetheless, the 25-year-old was removed following 63 minutes, minutes after Liverpool had offset Wilfried Zaha’s opener because of a preeminent Luis Diaz strike.
The Reds looked undeniably more guaranteed in protection and a more prominent danger proceeding after Gomez had replaced Phillips close by the Dutch goliath, with the former Bolton man looking fairly flimsy under lock and key and not offering a similar recuperation pace as his English partner when Castle hoped to get Klopp’s side out on the break.
Confronting Manchester City at Anfield would be something else altogether for Phillips, particularly facing the game’s most in-structure striker, Haaland. Moreover, with Van Dijk and Phillips having just arranged close by each other once beforehand, it would feel like an all-powerful gamble from Klopp if he somehow managed to toss the 25-year-old into the terminating line in a low-on-certainty protective unit.
A trump card yell – Gomez, Fabinho, Van Dijk, Robertson
Having battled for structure since experiencing a hamstring injury against Aston Manor at Estate Park in May, Fabinho has wound up all through the Reds’ beginning XI lately as his manager has hoped to consolidate the experience of Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara with the young people of Harvey Elliott.
Notwithstanding, Konate’s physical issue could hand the Brazilian a way back into the crease, but in a position he would rush to name as a less-leaned toward one. Klopp could endure with Gomez at right-back after his great showcase in Glasgow in midweek, leaving an empty situation close by Van Dijk for Fabinho to exploit.
It’s a position Fabinho has played all the more habitually during his time in Ligue 1 with Monaco, be that as it may, he likewise got through a concise spell in the Reds’ backline during the 2020/21 season as Gomez, Van Dijk and Matip endured season-finishing wounds. Preceding the Dutchman’s upper leg tendon injury in October 2020, Fabinho and Van Dijk dazzled close by each other in September as a cautious pair during a 2-0 triumph at Stamford Extension.
Gloating a newly marked Timo Werner, the former Monaco man showed a staggering perusing of the game to impede the Chelsea striker and guarantee he and his team-mates persevered through a disappointing evening in the last third as they shot an empty shell before goal.
Additionally, if the Liverpool manager wanted to surprise the City boss altogether he could spring a surprise and deploy Fabinho at right-back, given that it is a position he played frequently with Monaco and Brazil before announcing himself as one of the best holding midfielders in the European game. However, having not played the position at club level since his move to Anfield in 2018, it would feel like another almighty risk for the Liverpool manager to take against such slick opposition.
