Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves didn’t start the season very well at all and dropped points early on including a 4-0 defeat against West Ham. Since then though they have tightened up at the back and have started to string a few good results together which has moved them up the table and they now sit just four points behind Liverpool in seventh place. They will provide a stiff challenge especially as we are still missing some of our best players and played in midweek against Ajax. We have though had a longer than usual rest between the games and TAA and Keita have resumed training and both will be in contention for a starting place with Ox apparently not far behind either.
Wolves will be without one of their star players following Jimenez ‘s sickening clash of heads with Luiz in last weekend’s game against Arsenal which left him with a fractured skull. Unfortunately for us, they are not overly reliant on one player these days. Just off the top of my head they have Coady, Traore and Neto any one of which would make a useful addition to the Liverpool squad. Perhaps this is the ideal opportunity for Klopp and Edwards to do a bit of window shopping before Christmas with one eye on the January sales.
Klopp has hit the headlines lately with ex Manu players Neville and Ferdinand suggesting he is using these arguments to distract from the injury issues at the club and also to gain an advantage for Liverpool. Klopp has hit back saying “don’t judge me by your own standards!”. The first issue is five subs and whilst i believe Klopp is genuinely concerned about protecting players he must also see that it would benefit the bigger clubs who they will generally have a better quality bench and not just a flat pack from IKEA. The second issue is match scheduling and touches on the same issue of looking after players. Again Klopp has a point but his aim might be a little off in blaming the TV companies. They are in a competitive business and signed up to an expensive deal which allowed them to select the matches they want to show. It is not for them to look at it from a club’s perspective and it is perfectly understandable that they would choose to show a Liverpool game over one featuring a much less well supported and much less attractive bunch of thugs like, say, Everton. These issues need to be looked at in the round to include the scheduling and frequency of International games and the clubs also need to look at their lucrative pre season tours.
After Kelleher’s performance in the week I am pretty sure he will keep his place against Wolves. I think TAA might also start with the possibility of either bringing on Williams later in the game or moving Hendo there and bringing on Keita or Jones in midfield. I am also assuming Klopp will attack the game with a front four and try to put Wolves on the back paw. Team: Kelleher, TAA, Fab, Matip, Robbo, Gini, Hendo, Jota, Mane, Firmino, Salah.
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