Good to see you back POP
I'm sure the usual Christmas/New Year madness (which ultimately caught up to Klopp's team in the form of 2 games in less than 48 hours last season, culminating in a 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the beginning of a wretched January that knocked Liverpool out of the title race) figured into the manager's thoughts on Sunday. By the time they've battled Everton again in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, Liverpool will have played 7 games in 24 days. If they are to have any chance of negotiating that run of fixtures successfully, the club's resident Brazilian magicians will need to be fully fit and firing on all cylinders, hence the manager choosing not to start them at the weekend.
Which is not to say Klopp was "right" with his team selection on Sunday necessarily, or his decision to take Salah off early. As he said himself to the bastard offspring of Geoff Shreeves after the game, his job is to make decisions before he knows whether they're correct. Having said that, it certainly isn't hindsight to say he took a risk which obviously didn't pay off with a win. Solanke did ok but the team missed Firmino's presence for reasons that went far beyond a goal threat, while the midfield sorely lacked the influence of a Coutinho or Lallana. Creativity was at slightly more of a premium than usual, although Everton certainly played their part in that, and given that the game against Spartak was effectively over after 20 minutes it's probably reasonable to wonder why key players weren't withdrawn early last Wednesday night if fitness was likely to be an issue for Sunday.
Having said that, a black-and-white narrative that Klopp's team selection was responsible for Liverpool dropping 2 points against Everton would be simplistic nonsense. If Mané squares that ball to the 3 players in red shirts queuing up for a tap-in to his right just before half-time, then the home side likely runs out very easy winners indeed (which is to say nothing of the laughable penalty decision). The danger inherent in the lineup selected was that Liverpool would play badly and struggle to create enough, but that was never the case on Sunday.
So with all of that said and the insane festive fixture list now well and truly underway, I would expect more changes tomorrow night. Any or all of Wijnaldum, Can, Coutinho, Alexander-Arnold and Firmino could start. Mané (against Chelsea), Henderson and Salah (both against Stoke) have all been rested recently, so no one is a guaranteed starter and it really depends on what Klopp is seeing both in training from his own squad and what he expects the opponents to bring.
West Brom are potentially capable of frustrating the home side: they suffered a narrow 1-2 loss at Anfield last season, and Pardew's last two visits to Anfield saw him claim 3-1 and 2-1 wins with Crystal Palace over Rodgers and Klopp respectively. Dropping Coutinho and Firmino and starting Solanke against Everton spoke of Klopp expecting that team to be good enough to beat what was in front of it (as in, good enough to beat Everton), and it would have been had it not been for a dubious penalty decision. I doubt it'll be any different tomorrow night against a team currently sitting 18th, so I wouldn't necessarily expect Coutinho, Mané, Salah and Firmino to all start.
My main fear, as it was in August, is that the fall-off from the primary creative sparks to their back-ups remains too steep for comfort, and perhaps too steep to withstand frequent rotation without dropping points. Klopp's team is obviously built to attack, and any success Liverpool enjoy this season will likely be based on their ability to carve openings and score goals. The defensive issues are to a large extent a function of Klopp's system — a back four and goalkeeper of varying levels of experience and competence with only one player (usually Henderson) protecting in front will never be altogether frugal, but as long as the attack fires the results tend to come.
That's the quandry Klopp will face over the next few weeks — provided Lallana comes back into contention soon and the squad maintains something approaching a clean bill of health, you would expect one (or both) of him and Coutinho to start, either together or interchangeably, and that's great. My fear is that the likes of Can, Wijnaldum, Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain don't provide the level of creative reinforcement required when those players are unavailable, either injured or being rested, and that potentially hamstrings a team not geared towards grinding out narrow victories. Oxlade-Chamberlain in particular, given his price-tag and reported desire to play centrally, could really do with stepping up over the next month. I thought he was tidy against Everton without ever imposing himself on the game, but if you're deputising for Coutinho you need to be more than tidy.
Tomorrow night should be fine, the subsequent away dates at Bournemouth and Arsenal will be far trickier.
