Well, that’s not quite true.
We’re now down to one left back. Which, depending how long Tsimikas is out for, is going to push Robertson further into the red.
I know it’s not really the bigger point, because we’re all playing Tsimikas tonight - but we’d did add another injury to the list.
Most of JK’s frustration seemed to be the fact we were being picked for televised games with insufficient recovery time. I think he accepts it’s a compressed season with little time between games but took issue with the scheduling which meant we were playing 3 games in less than 6 days, something we will be doing again next week.
The average age of the team was 24 years old. It wasn’t a 1st team eleven by any stretch.
I’d argue Henderson, Firmino, Mane Fabinho and Robertson don’t need to be anywhere near that fixture.
Salah and Trent should be doing a half each.
Or Manchester United.
Surely you mean horse shit.
Damn. I’m going to have to change my code now.
I was surprised by the amount of top players we gave significant minutes to, given all the injuries and need to get some rest into them.
I get the point about the game to the Fulham game though, but I agree with Mascot, that the team selection will probably be thrown back in his face. The media are sharpening their knives as we speak, and I don’t like that.
I think there is an extremely fine line between match fitness and getting enough rest. We have been notoriously slow as a team over recent years after a break while at the same time purring along when games come thick and fast against all common consensus. It’s a bit strange but it has been happening and that does trickle down to the individual level I’m sure.
All of Salah, Trent, Fab and Henderson have spent time on sidelines recently and giving them minutes in a match situation is probably more beneficial than leaving them at home or dragging them all the way to just sit on a freezing cold bench. Salah in particular is someone who needs to stay sharp; there has been this major debate about him and Mané for a while but he is still our most potent weapon and the sharper we keep him the better it is. Jota also has not been ever present this season despite his stellar start and neither has Bobby.
The only two I think should not have been used is Mané and Andy but Klopps hand was forced a bit by the injury. The management team have all the info about every player readily available so I am pretty sure the benefit of playing who played outweighed any concerns about their fitness.
Apparently none got injured 
No review from @cynicaloldgit 
But @JU97ICE did a nice analysis
Fulham next.
Maybe he was looking ahead to the next round? I don’t know…just speculating. He could have wanted to guarantee that we took top place in the group so that we’re drawn against somewhat less potent teams in the Round of 16 (when fixtures would again be congested). Before the match last night we were on 10 points and Atalanta was on 8 so it wasn’t a sure thing that we’d end up on top.
Glad Kelleher played ahead of Adrian in this dead rubber match, as needs as many opportunities as possible.
TAA and Keita needed minutes to get back up to speed.
Salah for whole match was a head scratcher, but it seems to me that Klopp will probably play 3 out of Mane, Mo, Bobby, and Jota in the prem games. Jota came off the bench in the last game, so maybe Salah will do likewise against Fulham.
Second half with the two young centrebacks there was a good test for them, and the less said about VAR the better.
We had 12 points. Top spot was assured already. Midtjylland were bottom and couldn’t rise any further. A perfect example of a dead rubber match.
Oh right you are…duh…messed up the maths. Yeah in light of that playing so many senior players is really strange. Maybe he feared a thrashing.
To be fair the only injury we do have is a guy who would have played anyhow, hopefully Milner isn’t too long now, can’t be considering it’s a hamstring and he isn’t one to disappear for a decade like others.
I think I’d have played the two returnees for 70, Salah and Jota for a half and Robbo, Mane and Hendo nowhere near it. Fabinho was probably played correctly and I agree Kelleher needs to keep on a roll in my view.
I think that might help Kelleher a bit having to mix and match with defenders as I expect at some point Nat Phillips will be back in, I thought he may play Fulham but likelihood now is that he plays Palace away.
Is this the new anti-EU you?
Something that appears to have gone under the radar? Tyler and co are dicks but you can’t deny they know their stuff and they would certainly have mentioned this yesterday whereas the commentator we did have, while certainly being less offensive to our sensibilities, was pretty clueless.
Mo is now our record Champions League scorer and has surpassed Gerrard in that regard. Well in, Mo:
Do you think that Clarkson kid should be getting some minutes from now on???
On the odd team selection, given there was nothing riding on the match, I would actually be baffled if some sports scientist hadn’t told JK who could/couldn’t play and for how long.
I’d bet a lot of money no ‘sporting’ decisions were made last night (maybe at the very end), rather, they were all conditioning and/or development decisions.
They’re not all wearing bras with GPS monitors just for shits and giggles…