Penultimate league match Tuesday night and while our heads may tell us not to confuse the possible with the likely, our hearts scream out that as long as we have a chance at winning the league we must go for it.
Certainly the way City's defence looked in the first half and parts of the second, give a glimmer of hope for the massive upset that Villa beating City would undoubtedly be. That to me is the most tangible hope of the impossible happening.
Of course that won't matter if we don't do the business in this game. The team is definitely feeling the effects of such a crowded fixture list (Tuesday will be our 14th game in 46 days), not to mention going 120 minutes in the Cup final on Saturday. We've seen Fabinho, Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk leave matches with knocks and Jürgen has already said none of these will play Tuesday (although he is optimistic each of them can play in the Champions League final and maybe even vs. Wolves on the weekend.
Beyond that, there must be some question as the involvement from the beginning of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago and Sadio Mane, but then you start to get into some serious doubt as to the quality of the starting XI should all of these players be left on the bench. Some of the guys who might come in, thinking Harvey Elliott, Alex Oxlaide-CHamberlin, Divock Origi, have scarely played in recent matches. So Jürgen will have some difficult calls to make as he contemplates picking a side that can win. Southampton hasn't played in 10 days, btw.
Klopp is quoted here from the official site about the choices:
On choosing a line-up to face Saints so soon after the efforts at Wembley, the manager said: “What I can promise and definitely say is we will line up a team only for one reason: to try to win the game at Southampton. As difficult as it is. Because that obviously is the job to do.
“We have to see who is able to help. The 30 extra minutes [at Wembley] made a big difference, but we have to see.”
Klopp added: “They are pretty much sleeping on the massage beds, they are constantly here, the boys try to make everything happen.
“If that would happen now in the first week of the season we would talk differently, this was now game 60, so we have to be really careful, that’s clear. We don’t finish the season [at Southampton], that’s not our last game of the season, that would again be different.
“When did Southampton have their last game? It was 10 days. So, it’s completely different. OK, they might lack a little bit of rhythm, but if we make changes we lose that advantage of having rhythm as well.
“They’re completely fresh and we cannot go there and fall into this game like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on here?’
“Imagine we go there with 10 players, or eight players, who played 120 minutes [on Saturday]. That makes no sense, so that’s why we have to make changes. I don’t know how many, we will see and I will talk to the players, obviously, but that’s tough.”
Let's see what the latest chapter in this wonder season has to offer us as Liverpool supporters.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2022 06:53:55 pm by RedPuppy »
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