Klopp will have to make a few difficult decisions for this game.
First, selecting the CB pair. I think Van Dijk will start, but who will he be partnered with? So far it has always been Matip and I don't think many of us have been overly impressed so far. West Brom was an overall defensive horror show, but even in the quiet game against Huddersfield Matip managed to lose a couple of duels near the end that he had no right to lose. In some way playing with VVD freed Joel up to move up and get involved in building attacking moves more and he's been somewhat better on that front, but defensively there has been no visible improvement. Time to switch horses?
If Klopp decides it's time for the switch, then Lovren of all people is probably the most logical choice right now. After his one-man horror-show away at Spurs, he has been largely good and at times excellent. Besides, there is a chance that playing with Van Dijk might relieve some burden of leadership from him, which is where he usually gets himself into trouble. I always maintained that Lovren can be a good defender if he only has to do his job and nothing more; in theory he can be a good partner for a more talented defender. Personally, I would give Lovren a chance to redeem himself against Spurs. Klavan also deserves a chance to show what he can do alongside Van Dijk, but I'm not sure Spurs in the right game for it, especially as VVD would have to switch over to the right to accommodate him.
Second big decision will be selecting the overall shape of the team, particularly as it relates to midfield. We were severely punished for trying to play our usual attacking 4-3-3 at Spurs last time around; on Wednesday United were similarly punished for starting with only one defensively-minded midfielder in Matic – he was totally overwhelmed in midfield and sometimes just stood there frozen because there were too many players making runs around him to even try to cover everybody. I'm sure Klopp will have learned from these mistakes – the only way to effectively defend against Spurs front 4 is with a solid back 6, which includes 2 disciplined sitting midfielders (this would also free up Robertson to attack more, which could be key for us at the other end of the pitch). I think it will be very small margins that decide which 2 out of the trio of Can, Henderson and Wijnaldum will start; probably Can should be the first pick given his great performances against Man City and Huddersfield (even though he was shit in the 2 games in between), after that it will be about whether Klopp prioritizes ball retention (Wijnaldum) or penetration (Henderson).
Third key to the game will be finding a way to take advantage of any potential small weakness in Spurs' defense. Pochettino is a conservative manager who keeps fine-tuning his chosen system rather than experiment more boldly as Klopp or Guardiola does; as a result of all this fine-tuning his team appears very solidly put together with no glaring weaknesses (in contrast to let's say Arsenal) but the downside is that they are rather predictable. Klopp will need to come up with a very specific plan of attack, for instance looking to exploit a tiny bit of space between fullbacks and CBs or trying to "isolate" a specific attacker against a specific defender basketball-style – let's say Salah on Vertonghen. I'm pretty sure Oxlade-Chamberlain will play in addition to the usual front 3, perhaps reprising his role of what I call "false 10," which he did so well against City. Or even more interesting would be to give Salah a completely free role a la Messi, while fixing the other 3 attacking players to positions: Mane on the right, Ox on the left, Firmino in the middle interchanging with Salah. I'm not sure Pochettino would know what do to with that. Robertson will need to be well protected by Van Dijk and midfielders, because him having the freedom to attack down the left will be key to whether we can press the Spurs shape back and play with a sense of advantage. It will be a close game and these kinds of small details will prove decisive.
