Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Mick Hucknall, Tony Bellew, Curly Watts, Noddy HolderLIVERPOOLI write this as the South American World Cup Qualifiers kick off, the sign in this modern age that the end of the International Break is nigh, and the real football can begin again. The Reds can be more than satisfied with their start to the season, 10 points from a possible 12 from an opening quartet of fixtures leaves us 3rd in the table. Only goal difference has us behind a rejuvenated Spurs. Only [redacted] leaves us 2 points behind plucky early season pace setters Manchester City (it’ll never last).
Whereas international breaks last season felt like they gave us respite, this season there’s a frustration that it could break up early season momentum. Our awesome foursome of South Americans will arrive back at some point late on Thursday. Not ideal with an early kick off away from home on Saturday to come.
As a result, will we see some changes in the front three? Diaz and Nunez have started the season well, but while they’ve crossed the Atlantic, both Jota and Gakpo have been scoring goals for their countries much closer to home. Mo will surely start, the rest is more likely to come down to fitness and fatigue rather than anything too tactical. Frankly whoever starts, we should be able to put out an inform and hungry front three.
The promising signs for this season is that whoever plays behind them, should be able to give them a platform to work their magic. Mac Allister and Szoboszlai have slotted in superbly, and look like they’ve been here for years already. Endo has shown signs of adding some solidity if needed, and might relish an opportunity to play a match with ten team mates around him. Will we see new signing Ryan Gravenberch? Possibly, but probably not from the start, although his pulling out of the Netherlands U21 squad is a promising sign that he’s fully committed to getting to grips to life in a Klopp midfield sooner rather than later. The young and hungry trio of Jones, Elliott and Bajcetic are itching for opportunities and who knows, we may even have the old grand master Thiago available for this one. Given our much publicised woes in midfield last season, that’s an embarrassment of riches to choose from.
The defence is this season’s area of concern, not helped by Van Dijk’s additional suspension (watch this weekend’s games for similar signs of dissent going unpunished) plus injury scares to Konate and Trent. Without wanting to strike some panic, last seasons 0-3 defeat at Molyneux came with a centre back pairing of *drum roll* Matip and Gomez. Fear not, if the injuries don’t clear up we might need Joe at right back and might see young Quansah play at centre back.
Behind them all we’ll surely see all round 11th best keeper in the world, and male model Alisson Becker. He might be tired from his flight home, but he will surely play.
Predicted Line Up:
Alisson
Alexander-Arnold. Matip. Gomez. Robertson
Endo
Szoboszlai. Jones
Salah. Nunez. Jota
WOLVESOdd side. Their days of a side who could consistently trouble the top 6 under Nuno seem to have gone. They struggle for goals. However they do have a number of good ball carriers that can cause problems if we’re not switched on. They’ve started this season in mixed form, beating relegation favourites Everton but losing to Man United, Brighton and Crystal Palace. They’ve had moments in those defeats that suggest they won’t lie down. And in Craig Dawson they have the sort of needly fucker who always seem to score against us. Like a mid 90s Leicester centre back.
Regularly Liverpool tipped Matheus Nunes has departed for the dull lights and bad traffic of East Manchester. Raul Jiminez and Adana Traore left for Fulham in a two-for-one deal and star midfielder Ruben Neves opted for early retirement. They do have a smattering of talented players though who will keep us on our toes, particularly Pedro Neto and Cunna.
Predicted Line Up:
Sa
Semedo. Dawson. Kilman. Ait-Nouri
Sarabia. Joao Gomes. Lemina. Neto
Cunha. Fabio Silva
SUMMARYThe early kick off, injury doubts and late arrivals back from South America all make this a bit tighter to predict than might otherwise be the case. We seem to have our mojo back but this will be a real test of what we can expect this season. A win here puts us top of the table, for a couple of hours at least, and tells us we mean business. Dropped points will have us looking back at the pack around us.
We won here in the Cup last season thanks to a Harvey Goalbanger, but the 0-3 defeat in February was the lowest point in a season that had its fair share of them. A real low point that saw us 2 down inside 12 minutes and a midfield that was walked through time and again, despite us having ditched Fabinho and Henderson. It looks like we’ve rectified some of those issues but we’ll need to work hard to prove it.
Prediction - a hard fought 2-1. With a match winning intervention off the bench.
