Conor Bradley is currently grieving the death of his father. The Northern Irishman is only 20-years-old, which is far too young to lose a dad and our thoughts are of course with him.
It’s quite poignant that one of his dad’s last memories would have been watching Bradley’s sublime performance in the 4-1 victory over Chelsea; a game in which the fullback notified the world of his talent with a goal and two assists. Joe Bradley would have died a very proud man.
His son did however return to training this week which suggests he may be available for the tricky away tie with Brentford on Saturday lunchtime.
Trent Alexander-Arnold hasn’t trained, so Jurgen Klopp will pick either Bradley, Joe Gomez (who himself has been absent with flu but should be fine) or the wildcard option of Curtis Jones at right-back.
Jones played there versus Burnley in the second-half after Trent left the field injured and did a surprisingly good job linking play and overlapping Harvey Elliott.
Bradley though would be my choice…
His breakthrough game came in the 2-1 home victory over Fulham in the EFL Cup semi-final first-leg on January 10th, and after that Man of the Match performance, he went from strength to strength. Brilliant against Bournemouth, Fulham again and Norwich, Bradley put the cherry on top of his meteoric rise with the iconic outing v Chelsea. It wasn’t just one of the performances of the season; it was one of the best right-back performances I’ve ever seen.
He’s very, very fast. Bradley can hug the touchline, overlap, dribble and even run beyond opposition backlines, as he did for his goal v Chelsea. The lazy analysis has called him a Trent-regen, but he’s much more like a right-footed and younger Andy Robertson. Quick, feisty, never-say-die and smart in tight situations, with a wicked cross from deep.
Nobody was very good against Arsenal, but we genuinely missed his speed. Trent is obviously wonderful, but he’s not someone who’ll ever get on the end of the pass – he’s the one playing it. He cuts in from right-back and performs as a deep-lying playmaker. Trent is a magician on the ball and occasionally not good enough of of it – like many midfielders who possess his world-class technical qualities.
When Trent is back, he’s not going to want to be a rotation player, and fair enough. Before his injury, he was arguably the Premier League Player of the Season, saving us against Fulham and Manchester City to name but a few standout performances. But it would be a mistake to use Bradley only as a substitute when he was impacting games from the start so brilliantly.
The obvious answer is to allow Trent to play in midfield and use Bradley as a more traditional, running fullback – not the quarterback Trent is.
Trent though shouldn’t play as a no.6 without a defensively-minded player alongside him. This would be too risky on turnovers and in stopping counter-attacks, where Trent is weak. But he could thrive in a double-pivot with Wataru Endo or Alexis Mac Allister, enabling Curtis Jones or Dom Szoboszlai more freedom ahead of them.
If Trent is to anchor the midfield on his own, he’ll need his no.8s either side to play very narrow and non-expansively. There would be just too many empty spaces otherwise.
In fact, it’s probably a conundrum for the next manager (Xabi Alonso?) more than Klopp, who is unlikely to make drastic changes before the end of the season – and will focus on a game by game basis.
His replacement though has the best years of both Bradley and Trent ahead of them.
Alonso currently plays a 3-4-2-1 formation with running wing-backs more akin to Bradley than Trent. There’s no doubt though that Trent could slip into the centre of the midfield in a double-pivot, with a partner beside him, knowing there are three defenders behind him, should the Spaniard take the helm.
This would also suit Gomez, who could perfectly play on the right of the back-three.
But that’s probably looking too far ahead considering we’ve got a quadruple to win and three must-win-points to secure on Saturday.
Bradley will have all the support and love of his team-mates and the fanbase following his horrible news and I fully back him to hit the ground running, although if the player himself decides he needs more time, then he obviously won’t be rushed by the management.
My team for Brentford on Saturday: Alisson; Bradley, Van Dijk, Konate, Robertson; Endo, Mac Allister, Jones; Salah, Nunez, Jota.