Topic: LFC Squad - World Cup Break

[gazzalfc]

Obviously we're desperate for a reset and rethink during the World Cup break so lets see what players Klopp will have to work with

Definitely not going

GK - Adrian, Kelleher

DEF - Matip (retired from Cameroon squad), Robertson, Ramsay, Tsimikas, Nat Phillips, Bajcetic, Chambers

Midfield - Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Elliott, Clark, Arthur (depending on fitness)

Striker - Salah, Diaz (depending on fitness)

Question marks

Trent (because Southgate is a c*nt)
Gomez (depends on if his Leeds game hasn't bombed his chances)
Konate (depends on fitness)
Carvalho (with Jota out he is now in with a shout in Portugal)
Jota (obviously out but doesn't sound like a season ender)
Thiago (didn't make the Spain squad for the Nations League but still has a chance)

So there can be a squad that could be cobbled out of that.

So first thing. Do we give those players a break? Recharge and come back after the world cup or do they treat it like a Pre-Season? Can we work with that squad? Work on a system that gets the most out of those players so that going into the Villa game on 26th December we use that spine with a mix of those come back early from Qatar?

I guess what I'm saying is that if we went into Villa with this team

Kelleher

Milner, Matip, Gomez/Konate, Robertson

Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones,

Elliott Salah, Diaz

But working to a system that they spend the entire world cup working on, would you panic?

[reddebs]

Can't we do both?

Couple of weeks off for those not struggling with fitness then in for a mini pre season.

It's a 6wk break isn't it?

[Mister Flip Flop]

Honestly though Scotland had qualified up until yesterday so great that Robbo is getting a rest.

[El Lobo]

I think you can move Konate and Carvalho to definitely not going, France and Portugal are stacked in those positions. And Gomez hasn't played for England for over two years, again feels pretty unlikely he'll go. Thiago feels unlikely too considering he rarely plays. So I think potentially you could be looking at only Alisson, Trent, VVD, Hendo, Fab and Nunez going and only Alisson, VVD and Nunez playing a significant amount. And Trent/Fab will be interesting to see if they even get into the squad.

[killer-heels]

Just give them all a 6 week break and turn up a couple of days before Boxing Day. Jurgen should get a 4 week break. The rest of the coaching staff and medical team no break and told to work their arses off to find out what went wrong.

[Too early for flapjacks?]

If you ignore the League Cup 4th round, we have 43 days between games. Using the rule of 2 days of training required for every day off, the players not going to the world cup will probably get around 2 weeks off. So it might look something like this:

Sat 12 Nov: Southampton
Sun 13 Nov – Sun 27 Nov: Holiday
Mon 28 Nov – 4 Dec: 1 week training at Kirkby
Mon 5 Dec – 18 Dec: 2 week training camp in Dubai with a friendly or two
Mon 19 Dec - 25 Dec: Training at Kirkby and assuming we beat Derby, League Cup 4th round on Tue/Wed 20/21 December
Monday 26 December: Aston Villa

I would think that where possible we'll try to give a week off to those players who go to the world cup so those that that get knocked out at the group stages will join us in Dubai and be ready for Aston Villa. In terms of the players, it looks like this:

Didn’t qualify: Kelleher, Ramsay, Robertson, Tsimikas, Keita, Salah, Diaz
Retired/probably not selected/injured: Adrian, Konate, Matip, Gomez, Phillips, Milner, Arthur, Thiago, Jones, Ox, Elliott, Carvalho, Jota,
Likely to go: Alisson, Trent, van Djik, Fabinho, Henderson, Nunez, Firmino

We have a decent contingent of players who won't be going away. So the gap might turn out to be very valuable to Klopp. There is probably enough regulars there from day 1 that allows Klopp to do some meaningfully work on shape, patterns of play, pressing traps, etc. It’s also going to be another great opportunity for a couple of youngsters to train in a strong group. Could see something like the following on the training pitch emulating the 1st eleven vs 2nd eleven matches that we do before game day.


                              Kelleher


Ramsay          Konate          Matip          Robertson


              Keita          Milner          Thiago


              Elliott          Salah          Diaz




                               Adrian


Mabaya          Phillips          Gomez          Tsimikas


                  Ox          Bajcetic          Jones


             Clark          Cannonier          Carvalho

[Fromola]

No fan of Southgate but i'd happily buy him a pint if he doesn't select any of our lads, although Henderson will go and Trent will probably get in as right backs keep getting injured. Gomez possibly.

Same with Enrique and Thiago.

[sminp]

I’m pretty certain Trent will go. Both James and Walker are out I think so that only leaves Trippier and Trent.

[RedSince86]

I’m pretty certain Trent will go. Both James and Walker are out I think so that only leaves Trippier and Trent.

Walker is back in training now.

I hope Trent doesn't go, he could do with a month's rest, mentally and physically.

[redgriffin73]

Mo is doing some punditry for BeIn Sports so I assume he must know he's getting some holiday time to do that in.

[Samie]

Our training camp for non world cup players is in Dubai anyway. I reckon it will be a bit more relaxed than a full on pre season tour.

[newterp]

Our training camp for non world cup players is in Dubai anyway. I reckon it will be a bit more relaxed than a full on pre season tour.

I hope we schedule back to back games. 

[keyop]

The timing couldn't be better for us, and after our hit and miss season so far, this is the perfect opportunity to address all the issues of rest, fitness, shape, mentality, and tactics.

If this were a normal season, Jurgen would bite your hand off for a 6 weeks reset opportunity, so we've really got to make this count.

It's so disappointing we're not closer to the top of the table, as this was the ideal leveller to beat City this season. They're likely to have most of their best players at the WC: Ederson, Cancelo, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Ake, Dias, De Bruyne, Silva, Grealish, Philips, Gundogan, Foden and Alvarez. Not only is that a lot of players going  (in teams that could go far), but it leaves very few back in Manchester to prepare for the 2nd half of the season.

It's a huge advantage we've been granted this season, and whilst many have written the title off long ago, this is our chance to properly address our injuries, fatigue, mental focus, and to rediscover some of the form that almost won us the quadruple just 5 short months ago.

[El Lobo]

Likely to go: Firmino

Brazil have played 15 games since the Copa America and he hasn't played a minute (only in the squad twice). So seems unlikely.

I think Spain, Portugal and Uruguay have announced their 'big' squad and have included Thiago, Carvalho and Nunez so it'll be interesting to see who actually gets in over the next week or so.

[Wabaloolah]

When do the squads need to be finalised by?

[Too early for flapjacks?]

Brazil have played 15 games since the Copa America and he hasn't played a minute (only in the squad twice). So seems unlikely.

I think Spain, Portugal and Uruguay have announced their 'big' squad and have included Thiago, Carvalho and Nunez so it'll be interesting to see who actually gets in over the next week or so.

Injuries and form means he didn't get much of a look in last year but with his return to fitness/upturn in form this year, combined with the fact he made the most recent squad, suggests he's in with a shot. But agree it's certainly not a given.

[kavah]

^ the Man City and Napoli games mean Bobby goes to the WC. That’s how they pick the squad

[Nobby Reserve]

The timing couldn't be better for us, and after our hit and miss season so far, this is the perfect opportunity to address all the issues of rest, fitness, shape, mentality, and tactics.

If this were a normal season, Jurgen would bite your hand off for a 6 weeks reset opportunity, so we've really got to make this count.

It's so disappointing we're not closer to the top of the table

Those last two defeats against the cellar-dwellers so costly; win those and we'd be tucked in with the chasing pack.

[Fromola]

Injuries and form means he didn't get much of a look in last year but with his return to fitness/upturn in form this year, combined with the fact he made the most recent squad, suggests he's in with a shot. But agree it's certainly not a given.

Concern with Bobby is if he's really raised it this season hoping to make what would be his last World Cup. If he goes it could be like Salah post-afcon burnout and no Minamino/Origi to manage minutes more.

[Too early for flapjacks?]

Concern with Bobby is if he's really raised it this season hoping to make what would be his last World Cup. If he goes it could be like Salah post-afcon burnout and no Minamino/Origi to manage minutes more.

I'm guessing Firmino would largely sit on the bench opposed to Salah who was playing 120 minutes every couple of days.

[killer-heels]

Quite a few players are going down with injuries, I guess its about the same as always, but now with a big issue of them missing world cup's. I wonder if that will affect the intensity with only a couple of weeks left.

[Dave McCoy]

I think the more interesting thing will be who's actually motivated to play after the World Cup and who's not. You'd assume those that aren't even going won't have that much of an issue with it but I think since this has never happened before there's going to be a lot of things happening that weren't expected. In the past anybody that got off to a slow start after playing in the summer still had the rest of the season to get back into form. Now? There's still 2/3rds of the season to go but games will be coming thick and fast to get it completed on time.

[Fromola]

I think the more interesting thing will be who's actually motivated to play after the World Cup and who's not. You'd assume those that aren't even going won't have that much of an issue with it but I think since this has never happened before there's going to be a lot of things happening that weren't expected. In the past anybody that got off to a slow start after playing in the summer still had the rest of the season to get back into form. Now? There's still 2/3rds of the season to go but games will be coming thick and fast to get it completed on time.

It's like post-afcon. It didn't bother Mane (the lift of winning it as well) but Mo was physically/mentally affected the rest of the season.

Plenty of players who go the distance will struggle when they come back.

Quite a few players are going down with injuries, I guess its about the same as always, but now with a big issue of them missing world cup's. I wonder if that will affect the intensity with only a couple of weeks left.

I'd imagine very few players going to the World Cup will be involved in the League Cup next week and the last round of league matches will be lacking usual intensity from some.

[TepidT2O]

I think Gomez will go to the World Cup.  He can play in a two and a three, and can cover both full back positions…

[ScouserAtHeart]

Good thing we're having a shit season, I'm looking forward to taking a break from football for a few weeks.

Imagine if we were having a season like 2018/19 or 2019/20. It'd be hell

[Fromola]

Good thing we're having a shit season, I'm looking forward to taking a break from football for a few weeks.

Imagine if we were having a season like 2018/19 or 2019/20. It'd be hell

Just hoping as few of ours get called up as possible and we can get a good reset.

["21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!]

Hope Hendo, TAA and Gomez don't get called up.

[rob1966]

Good thing we're having a shit season, I'm looking forward to taking a break from football for a few weeks.

Imagine if we were having a season like 2018/19 or 2019/20. It'd be hell

I'm hoping we have a nice little reset and then win every game after the restart. We're quite capable of pulling off a run like that.

[Garlicbread]

Hope Hendo, TAA and Gomez don't get called up.

Have a suspecion all 3 will. Probably won't play much though. Hendo will probably be a late sub in a lot of games, but thats it.

[SamLad]

His main role will be to continue tapping up Jude.

[Garlicbread]

His main role will be to continue tapping up Jude.

And Declan Rice apparently... 

["21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!]

And Declan Rice apparently... 

😵😵

[killer-heels]

Hope Hendo, TAA and Gomez don't get called up.

Gomez wont but Henderson is nailed on and so is Trent following Reece James’ injury.

[anandg_lfc]

We will have the following players training with us.

GK : Adrian, Kelleher, Davies
Defenders : Robertson, Konate, Matip, Gomez, Ramsay, Tsimikas
Midfield : Thiago. Elliott, Carvalho , Milner, Bajcetic, Jones , Ox
Forwards : Salah, Diaz, Jota

[Samie]

Konate might go now. Varane is out.

[reddebs]

Gomez wont but Henderson is nailed on and so is Trent following Reece James’ injury.

I read today James reckons he'll be fit to go after all.

[Fromola]

Konate might go now. Varane is out.

We can't catch a break.

["21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!]

Gomez wont but Henderson is nailed on and so is Trent following Reece James’ injury.

Don't understand why they need Hendo. They have the next Xavi - Declan Rice, Bellingham, Foden, Mason Mount etc. Enough CMs for a tournament.

[Garlicbread]

https://twitter.com/brunoandrd/status/1589525449885253633

Alisson, Fabinho and Firmino seemingly all in the 26 man squad.

[killer-heels]

Don't understand why they need Hendo. They have the next Xavi - Declan Rice, Bellingham, Foden, Mason Mount etc. Enough CMs for a tournament.

Foden will play in the front three and they play 3 midfielders anyway.