Jurgen Klopp has to pick his XI to face Brentford today. It will almost certainly see him make decisions he won’t like.
Facing Brentford should be one of the more routine games of Liverpool’s season. They’re a newly promoted side, after all, and the Reds will be huge favourites to take three points.
And yet, Klopp will struggle to pick his starting XI today. Not for the nice reasons like ‘too many good players to choose from’ but because the fixture list will define it.
Picking an XI for a one-off game is simple but Liverpool can’t behave like that. They’ve got to manage their squad carefully – especially with injuries all over the place.
The centre-backs, of course, are all still on the recovery path after serious issues last season. Roberto Firmino isn’t entirely fit up front, either.
Then there’s midfield. Harvey Elliott is out long-term and now Thiago and Naby Keita join him on the sidelines. That leaves the Reds quite short in the middle – we went over their six remaining options here.
Again, if this were just about Brentford, there’s still a wonderful XI to pick. Especially after Klopp rested most of the first-team against Norwich in midweek.
But Liverpool face Porto on Tuesday. That’s a massive game in a very tough Champions League group. Winning in Portugal would be a great step towards progression.
So Klopp can rest players vs Brentford and go all-out at Porto, right? Maybe ask few to play back-to-back 90s? It’s not that easy.
The game after Porto is at home to Manchester City next Sunday. That makes things very difficult as it’s undoubtedly one of the most important games of the season.
It will define how Klopp uses his squad. Jordan Henderson rarely plays back-to-back 90s but certainly never three games in a week.
He didn’t start against Leeds United for that very reason before facing both AC Milan and Crystal Palace from kick-off. That’s why we’re not sure he starts against Brentford.
But Liverpool are short in midfield. Can Curtis Jones and James Milner beat Burnley either side of Fabinho? And does that mean the Brazilian plays all three games?
The same questions are there up top and at centre-back. Can Virgil van Dijk play all three? Can either Joel Matip or Joe Gomez? Klopp will have to pick and choose who plays when.
And while we’re sure Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have the fitness levels for three games in a week, it would mean they’re not 100% for the City clash.
Perhaps Divock Origi stars at Brentford, then. Possibly Takumi Minamino after his brace against Norwich.
The point is, Klopp will have to sacrifice playing his strongest lineup somewhere here. We don’t see any way around that and he’ll hate doing it – Liverpool’s strength is primarily in consistency but they’ll lack it here.
We think it makes the most sense to rotate heavily against Brentford but it depends on Klopp’s thinking around player fitness. It’ll certainly be a controversial decision to many, no matter what he does.
Rest vs Brentford and risk dropping points. Go full strength and he probably should have rested for City. We don’t envy him.
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