Not assuming anything, mate. Anyone who has watched Taki against us in last year’s CL and in his recent appearances for us will have seen that his work rate and technique are both phenomenal. I would have no qualms whatsoever about starting him in “the Firmino role”, even ahead of Firmino himself.
The other point is that leaving the front three to start all the time is effectively telling the backup players that no matter how well they are performing they will never start in the big games. That could impact on players joining us in the future.
Bobby played well against Chelsea to be fair with him. He had a key role in Mané’s first goal and was lively overall. I think he’ll go from strength to strength now. That’s the good thing when you have players like Minamino and Jota who can play that role to push him to his best level.
I saw a stat yesterday that Gomez and VvD paired together average a 101 pt season. It’s incredible the flak Gomez gets. Yes, he’s been below his best for the last few months but him and Virgil are still an incredible partnership. It’s worth remembering that Virgil has also been below his best over this period and perhaps neithers form helps the other. Still the best CB pairing in the league though, even when they’re off their games. Hopefully they’ll raise their levels soon though because we’re currently too loose for my liking and that’s a recipe for dropping points.
I think we’ll have way too much for Arsenal. How are they going to stop us pinning them in their half? Their midfield is levels below ours. Their full backs are going to be redundant as attacking threats. I can see our front three isolating Gabriel on the ball and seeing how he copes under pressure.
That will force them to go long looking for Aubameyang which will hopefully be food and drink to Virgil and Gomez (or even Fabinho given his showing against Werner last week).
If Henderson isn’t fit to start then I’m going with German Red’s team in the OP:
In regards to Minamino pushing for a start in the big games:
Yeah if Bobby doesn’t play up to his best then in a few weeks I think we may see Taki get introduced in some of the PL games against bottom half opposition.
Hopefully Bobby (and the front three in general) realises that isn’t merely Divock Origi on the bench behind them in the pecking order anymore. Now we’ve got some proper players waiting in the wings, ready to take over if anyone drops off.
You love to see it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in my whole time as an LFC fan.
Main question is whether Fabinho or Gomez partner Virgil. I guess there’s a chance Jones could be pushing Keita or Wijnaldum for a starting spot as well. Maybe Klopp will want Milner’s experience in there?
So it’s basically between Gomez and Keita who starts on the bench, we have two options.
Possibly also Koumetio on the bench instead of Tsimikas. Or even Shaqiri on the bench instead of Jota, although that depends if/how much we even count on him.
Thursday October 1
19:45 BST
Anfield
Sky Sports