Poll If Trent can't make it...

[Frogfish]

Suddenly, our right side looks very weak, with Mo and Trent out.

Just watch everyone else bomb our right flank now.

Au Contraire it strengthens us defensively so teams will now have to think of something else other than kicking long to where Trent isn't. We lose him in attack which is a big loss but if we can't beat Watford without him then WTF are we doing at the top of the table.

He'll be back soon after so we can kick on after Gomez helps us get a result at City.

 

[Frogfish]

Yep, possibly till 19th so missing CL quarter legs too. Huge blow if true, worth giving Gomez a go above anyone else. Worth dropping Fabinho in there???
But then we would miss him in midfield.

Probably the only position where there is a massive gap in quality between starter and subs..

Absolutely fucking not ! Jesus Christ have you been on the Ket?!

 

[rubans]

Absolutely fucking not ! Jesus Christ have you been on the Ket?!

All I’m saying is that he can play there and he’s currently rumoured to be out for 4 weeks according to some reports. He’s our main play maker, 16 assists. There’s s lot of games in between that.

 

[The Nomad]

Is there a recall option on Neco?

 

[MomoWASright]

No

 

[Buddha]

Two years ago I’d have said Milner, but his legs are defo on the way out and Foden has him for breakfast last time.

So my vote goes to Henderson. He’s got the best right foot delivery out of the other options, has the engine and aggression to play the position well, and has already proven his defensive nous last season when deputising brilliantly at CB.

Besides, I’d like to see a Fabs / Thiago / Naby pressing machine midfield against City.

 

[Markeh]

Two years ago I’d have said Milner, but his legs are defo on the way out and Foden has him for breakfast last time.

So my vote goes to Henderson. He’s got the best right foot delivery out of the other options, has the engine and aggression to play the position well, and has already proven his defensive nous last season when deputising brilliantly at CB.

Besides, I’d like to see a Fabs / Thiago / Naby pressing machine midfield against City.

I like this idea. Also interested in the tsimikas possibility with City playing right footers on the left and Kostas possibly being half decent coming inside for a shot.

 

[Red Bird]

Two years ago I’d have said Milner, but his legs are defo on the way out and Foden has him for breakfast last time.

So my vote goes to Henderson. He’s got the best right foot delivery out of the other options, has the engine and aggression to play the position well, and has already proven his defensive nous last season when deputising brilliantly at CB.

Besides, I’d like to see a Fabs / Thiago / Naby pressing machine midfield against City.

Don’t play midfielders in defence, please. We’ve enough experience of that type of tinkering significantly weakening us elsewhere where it mattered just as well.

Just play a defender there. We have done good ones, too.

 

[Buddha]

Don’t play midfielders in defence, please. We’ve enough experience of that type of tinkering significantly weakening us elsewhere where it mattered just as well.

Just play a defender there. We have done good ones, too.

Thing is, I imagine he’s excellent defensively at right back (like Milner used to be) and would mitigate some of the loss of Trent’s delivery.

And…to answer your point…I don’t (for this game at least) think he’s the right choice for our midfield three against City - so no significant weakening in midfield either.

 

[rurikbird]

I like Tsimikas and would have no concerns about him at LB if Robbo were unavailable, but I'm never a fan of tinkering with players' positions anyway and would especially not do it against Citeh.

You know that’s exactly what Rafa would have done.

 

[Alan Hardaker]

Has to be Gomez. Milly would give the odd foul away. Tsimikas could do a job there and he could put over the odd inswinger cutting in on the left side but I think the boss has great faith in Joe.

It's a blow losing Trent but Joe is at least as good,if not better,defensively.

 

[Woland]

You know that’s exactly what Rafa would have done.

WWWWDWWDDD

 

[dmishra]

It's not an easy choice, but I'd go with Milner.

To win the title, we need to beat City. To beat City, we need to play at our best. Which means doing all the things we're good at. High-line, pressing high and through the center, attacking overloads in the wide areas.

We can't do that without two full-backs pushing high. Milner is the best bet at mirroring Trent's attacking patterns, and is of course a very competent crosser.

Gomez struggles going forward. He doesn't have the technique to link up on the overloads and is a bad crosser.

Now of course the trouble with Milner is that his recovery pace is very bad these days, and we'd be susceptible to the ball behind him all game, but that's just a risk we'll have to live with I suppose.

Klopp rarely takes half measures, and I can't see him doing it for this game. Whenever we do beat City, it's when we out-press and outgun them. We can't win playing defensively against them anyway - Klopp's never done that.

 

[rurikbird]

It's not an easy choice, but I'd go with Milner.

To win the title, we need to beat City. To beat City, we need to play at our best. Which means doing all the things we're good at. High-line, pressing high and through the center, attacking overloads in the wide areas.

We can't do that without two full-backs pushing high. Milner is the best bet at mirroring Trent's attacking patterns, and is of course a very competent crosser.

Gomez struggles going forward. He doesn't have the technique to link up on the overloads and is a bad crosser.

Now of course the trouble with Milner is that his recovery pace is very bad these days, and we'd be susceptible to the ball behind him all game, but that's just a risk we'll have to live with I suppose.

Klopp rarely takes half measures, and I can't see him doing it for this game. Whenever we do beat City, it's when we out-press and outgun them. We can't win playing defensively against them anyway - Klopp's never done that.

We might have to end up playing both Millie and Gomez if Trent is not fit – don't think Milner will last more than 60 minutes at the kind of tempo and intensity this game will be played at and he'll almost certainly will have picked up a yellow card by then. Question is, if Milner starts and needs to be replaced after 60 minutes, but we still need a goal at that point – do you still bring Gomez on? Klopp might need to devise a different tactical solution, like a 3 CB system (possibly one of the midfielders dropping into defence) and someone like Elliott or Mane playing at wing-back.

 

[keniget]

Henderson or Ox are probably our best options if minimizing the disruption to the team is the aim.

Ox would be ideal as it leaves Henderson available for the midfield but he hasn't had much game time recently. Perhaps it'd be worth giving him some game time at RB prior to City.

 

[rurikbird]

Henderson or Ox are probably our best options if minimizing the disruption to the team is the aim.

Ox would be ideal as it leaves Henderson available for the midfield but he hasn't had much game time recently. Perhaps it'd be worth giving him some game time at RB prior to City.

I think Klopp simply doesn't trust Ox defensively – there was never any attempt to play him further back and I don't think there is any serious consideration of using him there vs City. I'm more curious why Klopp never tried Hendo in that position as his skill-set seems to match Trent's most closely among various other options. But yeah – I agree with @dmishra, it will probably be Milner to start the game and then Gomez could be a defensive option later on.

 

[MomoWASright]

Milner should’ve been sent off at home against city. Absolutely no way I’d play him there again. The fume mention that almost as much as the bus.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

I think some of you missed the last City match. Foden absolutely tormented Milner all afternoon until he was put out of his misery.

Not in a million years would I play Milner again against City at RB. No chance.

 

[rurikbird]

I think some of you missed the last City match. Foden absolutely tormented Milner all afternoon until he was put out of his misery.

Not in a million years would I play Milner again against City at RB. No chance.

I think midfield, not Milner was the big problem in that game. We lost the midfield battle decisively in that first half – every other problem was downstream from that.

Like this infamous Bernardo Silva play – yes, Foden gets a shot on goal from Milner's side. But the problem was the 3-4 players who let one fucker run in circles around them before making the pass. That quite obviously should have never been allowed.

 

[Hansern]

According to Joyce, Trent has set the City game as a target. He'll be ready to play.

 

[Frogfish]

I think some of you missed the last City match. Foden absolutely tormented Milner all afternoon until he was put out of his misery.

Not in a million years would I play Milner again against City at RB. No chance.

Milner should’ve been sent off at home against city. Absolutely no way I’d play him there again. The fume mention that almost as much as the bus.

Totally agree with these two posts. I have absolutely no idea what some people here are smoking. Whatever Milner can contribute to the attack will be utterly pointless if he is getting destroyed time after time (as he will be) by Foden, Grealish or Sterling. Leading to pulling Hendo / Fabs who whoever out of position in the centre opening up more avenues of attack.

Having Gomez there gives us a much better (though of course not 100%) chance of holding off any attacks initiated down that side, especially with his pace. As well as a better defender for corners / set pieces and it's highly unlikely he'd give away as many FKs as Millie.

It's not as if he is completely useless going forward either. He isn't.

 

[Frogfish]

I think midfield, not Milner was the big problem in that game. We lost the midfield battle decisively in that first half – every other problem was downstream from that.

Like this infamous Bernardo Silva play – yes, Foden gets a shot on goal from Milner's side. But the problem was the 3-4 players who let one fucker run in circles around them before making the pass. That quite obviously should have never been allowed.

I've no idea why you posted that mate ! Instead of watching Silva watch Millie - comprehensively beaten for pace by Foden who left him for dead when he went (despite Millie glancing at him time after time).

 

[dmishra]

Henderson or Ox are probably our best options if minimizing the disruption to the team is the aim.

Ox would be ideal as it leaves Henderson available for the midfield but he hasn't had much game time recently. Perhaps it'd be worth giving him some game time at RB prior to City.

Actually, Henderson is probably the best solution all things considered. I don't know if Klopp will remove him from midfield. I wouldn't mind it actually - his influence in midfield has waned a bit this year, but I think he'd play RB pretty well.

 

[rurikbird]

I've no idea why you posted that mate ! Instead of watching Silva watch Millie - comprehensively beaten for pace by Foden who left him for dead when he went (despite Millie glancing at him time after time).

Seriously Froggy – you watch this clip and think Milly is the biggest culprit? There is nothing Trent or Gomez would be able to do differently in that situation, maybe a faster defender would have gotten a step closer to Foden, but wouldn't be able to prevent a shot anyway.

I know it's just one clip and there were other situations in the game where Milner did make mistakes – but so did Trent on numerous occasions. Count how many times Milner got done by Foden vs how many time Trent got bypassed by Martinelli just the other day – I think it's going to be about the same. Yet we learn to accept that defensive weakness because we all know what Trent brings at the other end of the pitch (17 assists already!); we shouldn't apply a different standard to Milner.

 

[Frogfish]

Seriously Froggy – you watch this clip and think Milly is the biggest culprit? There is nothing Trent or Gomez would be able to do differently in that situation, maybe a faster defender would have gotten a step closer to Foden, but wouldn't be able to prevent a shot anyway.

I know it's just one clip and there were other situations in the game where Milner did make mistakes – but so did Trent on numerous occasions. Count how many times Milner got done by Foden vs how many time Trent got bypassed by Martinelli just the other day – I think it's going to be about the same. Yet we learn to accept that defensive weakness because we all know what Trent brings at the other end of the pitch (17 assists already!); we shouldn't apply a different standard to Milner.

I didn't say he was the biggest culprit ... or anything like it, in that clip. I just said watch Millie (and his lack of pace). IMHO there is no way we should start Millie over Gomez when considering City's three options for that slot.

Millie was roasted last time out vs Foden. What makes anyone think it would be any different this time? Why start a midfielder who is slower, gives away multiple FKs and unlikely to last the 90 mins anyway, over a pacy defender who does well at RB? In place of Trent surely we should pick a man for his undoubtedly better principal skill (defending) over one who, dubiously, has better attacking skills (Milner) but undoubtedly inferior defending skills?

Also I don't get your comparison with Trent (the world's foremost attacking FB - which Milner won't come anywhere close to emulating). This debate is who fills Trent's slot IF he's not available. He's not in the discussion.

Hopefully Trent is back in time though !

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

Can't believe we're having this silly argument.

Millie is 36. Foden's 21.

Even if you disregard the age factor, while Milner may be blessed with endurance and fitness, pace is certainly not his greatest strength. And it was so bleeding obvious in the last City match, that Milner couldn't hand Foden down that right flank.

It's like comparing apples with oranges ffs.

 

[Tinto]

City's left hand side is a worry even if we had TAA. Grealish drifts out there to combine with Foden. Then there's Cancelo as well.

Hendo will need to work doubly hard to help out whoever is right back that day.

Is there any argument we play Konate for his extra athleticism over Matip's better reading of the game?

 

[Judge Jules]

Against some teams yes, but not these IMO.

 

[bluebell]

Could Keita play at RB?

 

[MomoWASright]

He’s too brain dead for that.