Jurgen Klopp must decide on three key areas to find strongest Liverpool XI

Gakpo, meanwhile, has shown flashes of brilliance and ability to both link outside the box and finish inside it, but his game still lacks something of the aggression, speed and consistency that marked out the forwards who preceded him. The January signing has 11 goals in 37 outings in red, neither stellar nor absolutely reliable but still a profile that could come good from a team perspective and an individual who offers exceptional ball-carrying and shooting ability from range, albeit – so far – fleetingly.

Choosing between them in any given game might be more about the requirements of the team defensively as much as offensively, while there’s still the option of playing either one as the No.9 and pushing Nunez left at times. In any case, neither has definitively shown the consistency this season to make themselves undroppable, nor the relentlessness off the bench to be a certain game-changer. Gakpo has a goal or assist every 110 minutes this season; Jota every 120. His, in fact, are only goals, having played the equivalent of around a game and a half more than his Dutch teammate. In terms of the City match, it could be as simple as who hits a run of form in the next couple of weeks…and who avoids injury or fatigue on international duty.

Behind them is perhaps the more pivotal decision, the more intriguing one too.

Curtis Jones deservedly started the campaign with a run in the team and some very good performances, but a three-match suspension paved the way for Ryan Gravenberch to come into the XI twice in the league as well as continuing his role as Europa League starter. The favourable run the Reds faced running up to the international break has seen them win all four so far, with the Dutch midfielder starting three.

Powerful cameos, silky technique and a couple of goals have quickly endeared him to supporters at Liverpool, but the 21-year-old is still getting up to speed in fitness and tactical terms and his impressive showings have been moments, rather than matches. Gravenberch has yet to complete a full 90 and has had spells in games where he sees more of a watching brief than a controlling one, a natural consequence of being a new face in a reconstructed team perhaps, but one he still needs improvement on.

It is Jones who has given Liverpool that control and diligence, not just this season but stretching back to the start of last year’s improvement: he came into the lineup at Chelsea in April, played the last 11 league games and lost none of them. The 11 prior to that featured five defeats and only four victories as Champions League hopes fell by the wayside. The Scouser has been assertive, progressive and incrementally improving himself, a notable upgrade in the centre of the park on last year’s mixed, muddled mess.

Consistency isn’t just performances, though, it’s availability too – and Jones has already missed half of the league games so far this term.

And so to Luton Town, in the Premier League’s bottom three and without a win since they last faced a Merseyside opponent, before Toulouse away in the Europa League and a home clash with Brentford bring the Reds to the mid-November break.

Klopp must have Liverpool in their ideal shape by then, with the unknown quantity of international games still to navigate but with a first-choice plan already in mind for the biggest game of the season thereafter. And beyond a first-choice gameplan, perhaps, his actual first-choice 11.

Source: Read Full Article