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Let’s not play with a tortured metaphor about buses in the south of England.
Liverpool have a hole in the center of their back. Three major central halves are injured. Virgil van Dijk is injured. Joel Matip is injured. Fabinho is now injured. The midfielder-turned-defender injured his hamstring in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Midtjylland in the Champions League on Tuesday night, a fact made by Klopp in his post-match press conference, though the severity is still unknown. “Losing Fabinho was exactly the last thing we needed,” Klopp said.
Rhys Williams looked calm and collected when he went into action in Fabinho’s absence. But will Jürgen Klopp persist for the remainder of the season, a season in which Liverpool will look to retain the Premier League title and win the Champions League, with Williams as their central defender option due to injury, a player who does not takes six months? Did you play soccer outside of the league?
Can not. Fabinho’s injury is a real problem. It may or may not be out for a decent length of time (hamstring injuries are always unknown) but it’s as much a concern for what it stands for: how fragile the team is at the rear. If you lose an additional defender alongside Virgil van Dijk, there is a huge gap.
Right now it’s Fabinho. Next week it could be Joe Gomez. And always, always, It will be Joel Matip.
When available, the Matip-Gomez partnership will be fine. As Joel Rabinowitz has argued on these pages before, Matip and Gomez would make an excellent center-back pair in any of the other Premier League contenders, a one-two combination that is only equaled by one or two sides in the league, and Gomez and Matip are surrounded by senior lieutenants (Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Andy Robertson).
But Matip is notoriously unreliable. Having him is like having Deliveroo so that your order is correct. When it’s good and in song, it’s brilliant; but most of the time you are left with a feeling of coldness and disappointment.
There are other options. In a short sample size, Rhys Williams has been outstanding. Nothing has seemed too fast, physically or mentally. There is peace and security in your game. In truth, there is a borderline arrogance to the ball, but it is good arrogance, a i belong arrogance.
However, expecting a player to make such a leap and maintain his current consistency, week after week, with two games in one week is a big question. Coaching with the first-team squad will help Williams catch up in the Premier League, but, as with all young players, it will take time for him to grasp the subtleties that come with sailing in two games. -Weekly schedule.
Another out-of-the-ordinary option is to slip Andy Robertson to CB and Kostas Tsimikas on the left-back, if only in small, single doses. . Robertson has played on the left side of three defenders for Scotland. That works quite well in Liverpool’s preparation phase, with Klopp’s team often starting the game with a back-three, with all six generally falling between center-backs or on the right-hand side when center-backs slide.
But Klopp should choose another option: slide Jordan Henderson to the center half. Henderson went against Midtjylland at halftime in what felt like a predetermined play to share the minutes. He took a rattle in the first half, but David Lynch reported midway through that Henderson had not taken a hit.
It’s also possible that Klopp knocked out Henderson, one of only two solid-to-good players in the first half, as a precautionary measure ahead of the weekend’s game against West Ham.
Henderson has positioned himself as a central defender before in an emergency; he lined up alongside Virgil van Dijk in the Club World Cup final against Sao Paulo last season. He understood Klopp’s system, on and off possession, as well as anyone. He regularly kicks off the game by sliding to the right side of the back three, and he has all the attributes (game reading, defensive awareness, distribution, tenacity, communication skills) to make a solid enough action. I work while Klopp’s team strays until Fabinho can get back into the fold.
Henderson has always switched roles for Klopp. Like Gini Wijnaldum, Henderson has been the best all-around player. What does the team need to do for us to win? It has served as a box-to-box prowler, tempo maker, deep creator, and emergency option on the back.
It’s time for Klopp to return to that last option, at least until the club can consider long-term support options in January. Williams should be allowed to develop on his own timeline, not be pushed into a team that has genuine aspirations to win a league and a continental double.
Rather than worrying about Williams’ inexperience or Matip’s injury history, Klopp should give up the job to his ever-reliable captain.
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