A look at how Liverpool may line up when they are visited by Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday night
There will be ‘narrative’ aplenty when Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen visit Anfield for Liverpool’s fourth Champions League fixture of the season on Tuesday night.
Alonso, of course, was many people’s early pick to succeed Jurgen Klopp when the former manager announced his decision to step down back in January but with 13 wins from 15 games, few are doubting Arne Slot isn’t the right man in the hot-seat just now at Anfield.
And with a perfect record so far in the revamped European Cup, moving up to 12 points will go a long way towards securing a place in the knockout stages, with the Reds currently level on points with leaders Aston Villa in the new format of the Champions League.
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With Alisson Becker still nursing that hamstring issue, Caoimhin Kelleher will retain his place in goal but a fresh issue for Slot to deal with surrounds the availability of an in-form Ibrahima Konate. The defender was withdrawn at half time of the weekend’s win over Brighton with an issue that was unspecified by Slot after the game.
The centre-back was holding his left arm and wrist area when he walked off the pitch after appearing to be stood on by Virgil van Dijk during the melee at a first-half corner. Slot was evasive when asked in his post-match press conference, saying: “We don’t know yet.
“He is in a lot of pain but he hasn’t been to the hospital yet and maybe it is not even necessary to go to the hospital. It is always difficult to judge an injury in the first hour or first 10 minutes after a game when it has happened.”
As the ECHO reported on Sunday, it is hoped that Konate will be cleared to return, avoiding the need for a reshuffle at centre-back. Joe Gomez, however, may be recalled after his excellent performance alongside Van Dijk in the second half turnaround against Brighton.
The key situation is the ongoing one at left-back. Kostas Tsimikas and Andy Robertson have been regularly rotated this season, although Slot did try to explain that the Scotland captain remains the No.1 in that position on Friday.
“I think his current situation is what you can expect if a player misses out on pre-season and a new manager comes in, so you miss quite a lot,” said the Liverpool head coach. “And then when you start to play, maybe he thinks a bit too much because there are not so many things different but in some situations we ask for a bit different positioning from a left full-back.”
In midfield, it’s likely a case of ‘as you were’ although with Aston Villa to come on Saturday evening, the Premier League leaders’ engine room could see a minor tweak for the visit of the Bundesliga champions in the form of Curtis Jones. The Liverpool-born midfielder was excellent off the bench against Brighton and he could be asked to step in for one of either Alexis Mac Allister or Dominik Szoboszlai.
Wataru Endo helped see out things as a substitute on Saturday after a Carabao Cup start on Wednesday night against the same team but it’s unlikely the Japan captain will be required to start the game, while Harvey Elliott continues to recover from a foot fracture.
Diogo Jota’s rib injury means Darwin Nunez will once more be entrusted to lead the line with Mohamed Salah stationed off the right, as standard. Like the problem of deciding on the merits of Robertson and Tsimikas, Slot will also have to weigh up naming either Luis Diaz or Cody Gakpo in the team for this one.
Both players are having good seasons in their own right but with three goals in a few days against Brighton, Slot might just opt for Gakpo, even if that would make it three starts in six days for the Netherlands international. If that is too heavy a workload at this stage, then Diaz might just get the nod. It’s a welcome problem to have.
Decisions, decisions then for a coach who is getting a lot more right than wrong in his first few months on Merseyside.
