With Diogo Jota having suffered a minor concern during Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Wolves the prior weekend, Jurgen Klopp opted to start Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain up top as a false-nine.
It’s a position that the 28-year-old seems far from comfortable operating in, with a number of fans noting their dissatisfaction with his performance thus far.
As things stand, the scoreline is level at Anfield despite Jurgen Klopp’s men applying a great deal of pressure against Aston Villa.
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To be completely fair to the former Arsenal star, it’s hardly his best position for Liverpool, with him having supplied a variety of encouraging performances further back in midfield.
Ideally, it’s a game we could have done with having Bobby Firmino available for to drag defenders out of position and create space for our wide men to exploit.
Jota does remain an option Klopp can rely upon from the bench, with super sub Divock Origi likewise available for action should the German feel the clash is one crying out for his involvement.
With Manchester City having secured three points at home to Wolves, of course, it remains critical that we get a result against Steven Gerrard’s men to keep the pressure on at the top of the table.
You can catch some of the fan reaction below:
Need Jota. Ox still not used to false 9
— ꦄꦝꦶꦠꦾꦦꦿꦱ꧀ꦠꦮ (@Aditya_Pras) December 11, 2021
Get Ox off
— Chris D’Fer (@ChrisDFer) December 11, 2021
Ox in that first half: pic.twitter.com/A4FCaITy51
— Anz (@FPL_FireBall) December 11, 2021
That referee is just awful. Ox is bad and only passes the ball when he wishes. We need to score. Hopefully bobby and diego are not out for long#LFC
— Seniorita samia (@SamiaSeniorita) December 11, 2021
Ox as a false 9 isn’t working and it’s not Ox fault. Missing presence of an extra player in the box.
— Wahome (@Homes19LFC) December 11, 2021