We got a hint at Jurgen Klopp’s plan vs Porto tonight as Liverpool Under 19s put out a squad in the UEFA Youth League. The Reds have a strange task at hand.
Liverpool have nothing riding on the game against Porto tonight – other than money for winning it. They’re already through in the group, though, and as winners. Win, lose or draw – it’s not going to affect anything.
And yet it appears Jurgen Klopp will name a strong team. We got a suggestion at that after the second game against Atletico Madrid, mind, as he said he didn’t want to rotate too much.
“Forget that because we already qualified but all the rest is exactly like it was before,” said Klopp, per Liverpoolfc.com.
“It is a Champions League game, the next one is at home, the game after that is at the San Siro and I’ve never played there, so I’m really excited about that.”
And we took that into account with our predicted lineup (although, we did completely forget about the obscure rule that prevents Kaide Gordon from playing). But there was always a chance that Klopp used the game to hand experience to certain youngsters.
We named three here, given a game with nothing riding on it seems kind of perfect.
Liverpool Under 19s’ squad vs Porto on Wednesday, however, suggests that’s not the plan.
Liverpool plan to go strong vs Porto
Liverpool Under 19s smashed Porto 4-0 this evening. It means a win over AC Milan in their final fixture gives them qualification from a difficult UEFA Youth League group.
Their squad also gives us a real idea of the senior side’s plan tonight. Conor Bradley and Owen Beck both started the game – two players we thought could get a game at Anfield. They won’t even be on the bench, though. That, above all, suggests Liverpool will go strong this evening.
One absentee is Tyler Morton, however. We think he could even start at Anfield and it appears he’ll certainly make the squad. At the very least, we expect to see one bright prospect get a game, then.
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