As we head into the weekend match with Brentford, not knowing if Isak, Gakpo, or Szoboszlai will be available, it would be understandable if the Liverpool faithful were feeling a tad apprehensive. The loss to City (“we know what you are…”) hurt more than usual due to the fallout from the Premier League investigation and the realisation that we should have had at least two more league championships to celebrate in the recent past. Add an awful performance by referee Chris Kavanagh, and who could fault a Liverpool fan for wanting another international break asap.
And then we went to LASK. That’s right, LASK, champions of Austria, a proverbial banana peel waiting to be stepped on by a young Liverpool squad. But instead of slipping up in Linz, the kids showed us the vast potential of this current edition of the Reds. This side was the third youngest in Liverpool’s Champions League history (Opta). Despite this inexperience, the starting eleven set a record for most shots ever (19) by an away team in the first half of a match in the competition (Opta). Lewis Koumas became the youngest Liverpool player to have a goal and an assist in a Champions League game, besting Steven Gerrard’s record by 109 days (Opta), while eighteen-year-old Rio Ngumoha showed that he is growing into a real threat on the right as well as the left. Bradley Barcola showed his class with the first hat-trick of his career, while nineteen-year-old Trey Nyoni displayed poise that belied his age in front of a strong centre pairing that included an impressive performance from twenty-one-year-old Jeremy Jacquet.
But all of this was achieved against weaker opposition than the Reds usually face in the Premier League and in the latter stages of the Champions League. So, why the reason for optimism?
Well, looking ahead to January, and assuming that the players currently injured stay on pace for recovery, Andoni Iraola will have some very difficult choices to make when choosing a starting eleven. Up front he will have to settle on a starting three from a list that could include Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo, Bradley Barcola, Hugo Ekitike, Victor Munoz, Rio Ngumoha, and Lewis Koumas. At the back, Virgil Van Dijk, Jeremy Jacquet, Ronald Araujo, Giovanni Leoni, Conor Bradley, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Kostas Tsimikas and Joe Gomez could all be available. His midfield choices will include Wirtz, Szoboszlai, MacAllister, Nyoni, Gravenberch… You get the picture. And if, as we hope, the Reds are still active in three if not four competitions, Iraola will be able to field a strong eleven every game.
For now, Iraola’s challenge is to keep Liverpool alive in as many competitions as possible until January with the limited squad at his disposal. Based on what we saw this week, especially in Austria, there is reason to feel hopeful that Iraola’s Reds will meet the challenge. The payoff will be a selection headache for the manager in the new year that most of his Premier League peers would kill to have.
