Liverpool will have the chance to do something about the disappointing draw against Tottenham this weekend when they take on Southampton. However, it won’t be an easy tie considering the Saints are at home and recently ended a run of terrible results with a win over West Bromwich Albion.
I know, a win against the bottom dwellers doesn’t really mean much, but a side like Southampton, who have a history with Liverpool for player departures, will want to make a statement.
What could potentially hurt Liverpool, even more, is they have an important Champions League tie against Porto coming up, so Klopp might have to rotate his squad.
While defensively the team has continued to perform badly, the offensive input has taken a hit after Coutinho’s departure. Liverpool came undone against West Brom in the FA Cup as they couldn’t breach the Baggies low-block without Coutinho’s creativity while his ability and composure on the ball was missed against Spurs.
Of course, there’s no point discussing the Brazilian now that he isn’t at the club, but not replacing him has already hurt Liverpool. One possible replacement who is at the club – Adam Lallana — has had an indifferent season.
Adam Lallana’s luck with injuries and form could be a massive setback
At this stage last season, Lallana was in good form as Liverpool were starting to bounce back from a dull January. His performance against Tottenham last February was a far-cry from the one against the Spurs u23 side earlier this week as he was sent off in the 63rd minute.
So far this season, Lallana has started just one league game as he has struggled to get his fitness up. You can’t really blame him as he’s had terrible luck with injuries, but it just shows that Liverpool should have been better prepared.
Jordan Henderson has just returned from an injury, so playing him thrice in the span of two weeks doesn’t sound logical. That means Klopp has limited options in Gini Wijnaldum, Emre Can James Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Of them, however, no one can really unlock a defence.
Klopp would have liked to rest Sadio Mane or Mo Salah as they’ve played a lot of games, but they’ll lose the cutting edge either of the duo is rested. The Liverpool bench looks paper-thin on quality as Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke can’t be expected to change things even against teams like Southampton, let alone Porto.