Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp are just 90 minutes away from their first final in their short relationship, the Reds face Stoke City in the second leg of the League Cup and have a slender 1-0 advantage over Mark Hughes’ side which they got thanks to a Jordon Ibe goal at the Britannia.
The Reds played in an incredible 5-4 win over Norwich during the weekend and that left Jurgen Klopp with a lot to think about as well as contemplating about how to deal with Liverpool’s porous defence and how not to celebrate and get his glasses broken.
Liverpool were fortunate to actually get the win, they did play some decent football but Stoke City will not have a defence as generous as Norwich’s and the Potters will be smarting from the 3-0 loss suffered at the hands of Leicester City.
In fact playing away at Liverpool could prove beneficial for Stoke as they would be looking to get at least one goal to push the tie into extra time and with Liverpool not having the nous to defend well, this could be the game where the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan and Marko Arnautovic could shine.
However, this isn’t the Stoke that aimlessly lumps balls high into the air and hopes for knockdowns, this Stoke plays a different brand of football but playing route one stuff should be their way of breaking down a Liverpool team that cannot deal with set-pieces or balls swung into the penalty box.
Jurgen Klopp would already have a few selection headaches at the moment, as soon as one player makes a return, another goes off injured. The good news for Liverpool fans is that Dejan Lovren, who has increasingly looked like the defender he was at Southampton is fit again and should play a role in the second leg against Stoke but their right-back Nathaniel Clyne has picked up and injury and could be out for this tie.
This opens the door for the return of Jon Flanagan; the 23-year-old played a part in the FA Cup game against Exeter and should be making his return to the first team in this crucial tie. Another change that Klopp should make is playing Danny Ward who should play in goal in place of Simon Mignolet after he made a name for himself during his loan at Scottish club Aberdeen. He certainly would be a better option that Adam Bogdan who hasn’t impressed with the chances he has been provided.
Klopp should also be thinking of dropping Kolo Toure, who was horrendous against Norwich and also drop the likes of Alberto Moreno and Lucas Leiva, both having had poor games. The likes of Brad Smith, Cameron Brannagan and Joao Teixeira should start for the Reds since the trio impressed in the FA Cup win over Exeter.
The big question that probably would be asked is what to do with Christian Benteke? The Belgian hasn’t started in the games against Norwich or Manchester United, he should get a start against Stoke City which would mean that Roberto Firmino gets to play a withdrawn role and James Milner starts in midfield rather than in attack.
Liverpool would probably be without their captain Jordan Henderson as he was taken off during the win over Norwich and would have to rely extra on Emre Can, who hopefully does turn up for this game after having gone missing for large chunks of the last Premier League tie.
Jurgen Klopp has a great chance of providing some success to Liverpool this season with the cups and he should take the League Cup seriously, this could be Liverpool’s only real chance of silverware this season and winning this would mean guaranteed participation in Europe next season, even if it is the Europa League.