Brendan Rodgers is expected to keep faith with youngsters Jordon Ibe and Joe Gomez for Sunday’s Premier League opener against Stoke City – with Alberto Moreno and Roberto Firmino likely to miss out.
According to the Liverpool Echo, Gomez will start at left-back after an impressive pre-season campaign, something which plunges Moreno’s future at the club into yet more doubt.
The struggling Spaniard, who endured a mixed first season at Anfield, has been tentatively linked with a move away from the club (via the Daily Express), and losing his place in the side won’t help ease such fears.
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Meanwhile, Ibe is likely to get the nod ahead of summer signing Firmino. The Brazilian has little more than an hour of pre-season football under his belt and is not thought to be ready for a starting role.
What remains to be decided is whether Ibe will start alongside both Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho. Brendan Rodgers has, in the past, preferred to use a 4-3-3 formation with a defensive midfielder – meaning one of those two players would miss out. However, he could also included all three players by utilising the 4-2-3-1 system that he played in Helsinki last weekend.
Ibe, 19, and Gomez, 18, have both done enough over the last month to suggest that they can more than hold their own in the first-team, so let’s hope that Rodgers sees sense and does indeed stick with the young pair.