Jurgen Klopp has made three changes in personnel to Liverpool’s starting line-up for the FA Cup visit to Manchester United, with one of those making way being described as an ‘intriguing’ call.
The returns of Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz were all expected after the trio were among the substitutes against Sparta Prague on Thursday night, although the captain’s recall sees a domino effect in defence as Joe Gomez moves to right-back, with Conor Bradley dropping to the bench.
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Paul Gorst was reacting to the team news on the Liverpool Echo‘s live matchday blog (14:39), stating: “No [Ibrahima] Konate then, as anticipated but Gomez over Bradley is an intriguing one.
“Does Klopp want to have a bit more solidity down that side? Or maybe he’s just picking Gomez based on the outstanding form he’s been in for months.”
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Coming into today’s match, the composition of the back four always promised to be the main talking point of Liverpool’s starting XI, and so it’s proven.
Despite Konate being ruled out through injury, it speaks to the luxury of defensive options that Klopp can call upon that he’d readily omit the thriving Bradley in order to keep Gomez in the team. It’s also a tremendous show of faith in Jarell Quansah, who keeps his place at centre-back alongside Van Dijk.
The 26-year-old will be tasked with shackling Marcus Rashford, who despite a largely quiet season has scored in his last two games and has netted six times against us previously (Transfermarkt).
More often than not, the German gets it spot-on with his team selections. Let’s hope that proves to be the case again today.