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After Sunday night’s disappointing draw at home to West Brom, Liverpool will travel to Newcastle tonight for a game that has suddenly risen to prominence.
Jürgen Klopp will hope that his team will win again. And while Liverpool are a comfortable favorite, Klopp will have some areas of concern: Newcastle’s speed at halftime; the slow second half of his own team; the hole in the center of the back. Newcastle allow more passes per defensive action than any other team in the league, according to Understat. Klopp’s team will have plenty of ball, and after Sunday’s tepid display, they’ll need to find a creative spark to break Steve Bruce’s side.
Klopp will have to balance his need to win the match with managing his team’s long-term fitness. Naby Keita and Joel Matip are out on hitting. Will Rhys Williams start at center back? Nat Phillips? What about Jordan Henderson, given the amount of possession Liverpool is expected to have? And Thiago Alcantara and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? Will any of them be included in the first XI?
This is what our writers are waiting for.
Mark Wakefield: Thiago Time
I am absolutely desperate to see Thiago in the Liverpool jersey once again, like every other fan I imagine. It seems cruel that we have this world-class midfielder on the club’s books, but we haven’t been able to use him because a reckless challenge in the Merseyside derby caused him to get injured in recent months.
Midfield looked pretty disjointed against West Brom on Sunday, so you’d like to think that Klopp will turn things around in the middle of the park somehow. That could well mean we’ll see Thiago, but I’d also like to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain give him a chance early on.
But the big question really is who will be Fabinho’s teammate in center. Matip’s injury is more frustrating than personally troubling. He just can’t stay in shape for long periods of time, and when the club already has injuries in that department, this is the last thing that was needed.
We saw the good and the bad with Rhys Williams when he came to the team at the weekend. Very strong in the air and comfortable on the ball, but lacks rhythm, which when facing someone like Allan Saint-Maximim is a concern.
Having said that, Nat Phillips isn’t the fastest either, so whichever option is chosen, there will be an element of risk. But both have proven their worth before and hopefully whoever is selected will do so again.
Oliver Connolly: a wild card in the starting lineup
It’s safe to assume Newcastle will arrive at St. James Park with a similar game plan to the one West Brom brought to Anfield: sit down; keep things tight; channel the game widely where possible; double; and then unroll and break on the counterattack.
Liverpool’s difficulty in breaking through the West Brom bloc had a lot to do with the movement’s mundaneity. The team was not short of ideas, but there was no overwhelming creative spark. Something was needed to change the flow of the match, that something, as it turned out, as it always seems to be, was not Divock Origi.
Given Newcastle’s short response time and projected plan, we could see a wild card in Klopp’s lineup. Maybe it’s time to reintroduce Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and his hustle and bustle style and cornering vigor in the first XI to bring some blast to midfield. Or maybe it’s Xherdan Shaqiri, who is always capable of an individual magical moment.
As obnoxious as it is to break up the Jordan Henderson-Gini Wijnaldum-Curtis Jones trio, I prefer Oxlade-Chamberlain.
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