LIVERPOOL VS. FULHAM
| Tuesday, September 15th |
League Cup | Anfield
8PM BST/3PM EST
Tottenham are in a strange, strange place. They’ve fought relegation over the past two seasons, but did win a trophy in the mix of it all. They have a new manager who has presided over exciting and imaginative football at previous clubs, but they’ve yet to score a goal against Premier League opposition this season (they scored five to progress past Charlton 5-1 in the last round of this competition).
Their xG trend suggests they were
perhaps due a goal in at least one of their Premier League games thus far, but it must be said that their attack has not been brave thus far: they don’t look like they have the confidence to build to a goal, but look like they want to snatch any chances given. Liverpool have at times been a team that’s too easy to play against this season, and there’s this feeling of dread in my chest around what happens if it starts poorly Tuesday and Tottenham are given encouragement. Liverpool should have too much for Spurs, but it certainly depends on which version of Liverpool shows up.
Spurs failing to win any of their opening four and losing two of them means their attention already has to be on the Premier League over the League Cup even at such an early stage. They’re liable to make more changes than Liverpool for complicated reasons, which could infuse them with a bit more confidence, but should also mean that Liverpool, on paper, will be the stronger side. This potential rotation also means we’re unlikely to see a start for the returning Andy Robertson, who is a major reason we struggle to see positives in any left back who happens to be in front of us. He should get a great reception, but hopefully he doesn’t hurt us.
Destiny Udogie is fit to return for Spurs and will likely take Robertson’s place, but new signing Sandro Tonali — who has been a tough player to face for Liverpool at Newcastle in the past — is out with a knock. Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski remain sidelined as well. Luca Williams-Barnett will face a late fitness test.
In major news given his propensity to score (largely meaningless) goals against Liverpool, Richarlison will not be available for Spurs on Tuesday.
In his pre-match comments, Roberto de Zerbi did seem to suggest rotation, saying he would like to play “with the same attitude and spirit” as in the Premier League regardless of his eventual options for the starting XI, especially in defense.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-2-3-1)
Mamardashvili; Frimpong, Gomez, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Nyoni, Mac Allister; Barcola, Gakpo; Koumas
There’s a widespread desire to rotate in every way possible due to the relative thinness of the squad and crowdedness of the schedule, but Liverpool have drawn a Premier League side here — albeit a struggling one — and cannot really afford to lose. Though Andoni Iraola has signaled that there will certainly be some rotation, with Giorgi Mamardashvili in goal and Joe Gomez stated as fit and available, this early in a new manager’s project we might see the boss err on the side of rhythm over rest.
Retaining just enough experience and injecting as much resilient youth as possible seems the way to go in this period where Liverpool seem better on paper than they’ve ever looked on grass. The Reds have some exciting players, but they’re not playing together consistently at the level we need yet. As such, I think it may be too much of a risk at this point in the project to enact wholesale rotation and risk going out so early in a winnable competition.
As it always is at this stage in the competition, any win is enough, and Iraola’s challenge is to figure out how to get there.
I know I personally would like to see a start for Trey Nyoni at the very least, and it’s likely we’ll see Lewis Koumas, who has been injected off the bench a number of times, from the start. There at least are two young options we can feel largely confident in. With rotation in the back five, we might lean toward asking the Liverpool captain to go again here, and any of the fullback options are believable here. Asking players who aren’t quite instilling confidence to play in a rotated team is its own challenge, of course: players lacking in confidence in a new system might not impress more away from what we could call a first choice XI. Equally, Tottenham are themselves not coming into this one filled with confidence.
There are a lot of decisions to be made in midfield and attack, and a mix of experience and youth might be the answer. Alexis Mac Allister was rested from the start against Fulham, and it might be useful to see how he plays alongside someone like Nyoni. Given how Liverpool have been trying to play, adding Dominik Szoboszlai as a third in the center of the pitch might help with stability overall but detract from overall development of the system…so do we start Florian Wirtz in a changed side? But what about Wataru Endō in with Nyoni as two sixes and Mac Allister in as the 10? What about a Ryan Gravenberch paired with Nyoni behind Wirtz? More questions than answers, and many arguments. (Should there be no Virgil Van Dijk, I’d err toward stability, it must be said.)
I personally would lean toward Nyoni and Mac Allister or Gravenberch behind Wirtz, and then one “senior” attacker in the front three, perhaps Cody Gakpo pending his fitness. I would like to see Víctor Muñoz go again, as he was arguably the most pleasing performer in a dour 0-0 at the weekend.
This means a rest for Alexander Isak, Bradley Barcola, and Rio Ngumoha, which would itself remove many of the chances for the type of passing Liverpool will hope to develop. In that case, sending Gakpo to the right again and giving Barcola the start in this one might be a shout. I do not want to see Ngumoha have a go on the right in a changed side.
All this is to say that there are many, many choices despite the clear limitations of the schedule. Pending fitness, however, I think at this point in Iraola’s tenure fielding a side that can continue developing a system with a solid chance of winning would do more for the side than resting the maximum amount of players. That said, it would be lovely to see a cameo from Jayden Danns…
Finally, it is also worth being said that Liverpool have three straight home games, which should mitigate some of the challenges of the schedule. The ask to go again is always a challenge, but it’s not as if these players are being asked to travel to a distant Champions League away after a Premier League match on the south coast here, and that should matter.
The Managers Have Their Say
Andoni Iraola: “It’s not about ranking. The competition is a different competition. I’m sure if you ask probably, you’d prefer to win the Champions League game or a Premier League game, but there is no guarantee that if you rotate or rest, that you are going to win the next one. We want to win the game, we want to play well. That’s what we’re going to try to do tomorrow.”
Roberto de Zerbi: “We have the qualities enough to score goals and we had the good enough chances to score on Saturday. We didn’t take the best decisions but the quality of the players is there for me.”
The Officials
Referee: Andrew Madley Assistants: Wade Smith and Richard West Fourth Official: Andrew Kitchen
The competition will definitely have VAR in the final, and in every round where it is available in all participating grounds.
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