KLOPP and CHANGE
Liverpool boss has so many superstars in his squad he doesn’t know who to leave out
HE likes his football to be heavy metal but Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are more like Bob Dylan right now.
The times they are a changin’. When Liverpool arrive at Manchester City for today’s Premier League clash it won’t just be Etihad boss Pep Guardiola agonising over which mindblowingly-expensive player to leave out of his squad altogether.
The talent on show for Liverpool will include a forward line probably more potent than any in the Premier League right now...as they proved to devastating effect against Arsenal a fortnight ago.
Sadio Mane, a scorer in each of his past four matches, at times looks unplayable and with Brazilian star Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah forms a front trio which looks menacing every time Liverpool attack
They are why Klopp can afford to leave out such a talent as Philippe Coutinho, along with Daniel Sturridge (right), injured Adam Lallana, and Wales wonder kid Ben Woodburn.
For Klopp, it is a great problem to have and shows just how far Liverpool have come in the past year. He said: “It is a situation you don’t have too often and of course there will be hard decisions about the squad and the line-up.
“If the players left out are angry with me, I can accept this.”
Coutinho and new signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were valued at an eyewatering £170million when the transfer window closed on August 31...and it would have been much more had the former Arsenal man not reached the final year of his contract.
Coutinho is not even in the squad today, while Oxlade-Chamberlain may make the bench but at best will play a cameo role.
Such selection riches were unthinkable a couple of seasons ago when even Jose Enrique and Steven Caulker got a game!
For Klopp (below) it is another sign that his Liverpool team are going places – one that was underlined in the transfer window when the Ox and £50m man Naby Keita chose Anfield ahead of bigger rivals.
Oxlade-Chamberlain turned down champions Chelsea and Klopp can only read the positives from that. “Yes, all the players we were allowed to speak to were really positive. It was very clear the image of this club has changed a little bit,” he said.
“Last year it was already very good but now we can say we are in the Champions League. But I don’t think it was just about the Champions League, it was more about the project we are on.
“Naby has no idea if we will be playing in the Champions League next season because in England it is always difficult to qualify and yet still he has signed. He did not ask about the Champions League – he wanted to be part of the club.
“With Ox it was similar. He wants to develop and, with all his talent and skills, he has space to develop.”