The Reds recently announced a 16-man squad for today’s friendly against HJK in Helsinki. The squad includes a mix of youth and experience, with the remaining members of the first-team likely to feature in the game against Swindon Town on Sunday afternoon.
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In the list below, we take a look at how Liverpool are likely to line-up in Finland…
GK) Simon Mignolet
There are very few question marks over the Belgian’s spot in the team these days. However, it’s important that he gets to grips communicating with what looks likely to be his back four come the opening day of the season.
RB) Nathaniel Clyne
Letting Andre Wisdom go out on loan was a big statement of intent from Brendan Rodgers. With little in the way of back-up, Clyne could be playing an awful lot of football this season, and he’ll want to get it right from the outset.
LB) Joe Gomez
Being included in what looks to be the more senior squad will come as a huge boost to Gomez’s confidence. The young Englishman looks like he could be a real contender to displace Moreno in the team for the Stoke game.
CB) Martin Skrtel
He hasn’t looked comfortable alongside the Croatian in pre-season thus far and he’ll want to put in a stronger performance here. The Slovakian still needs to justify his new contract and prove why we all wanted him to stay.
CB) Dejan Lovren
Could this be a final chance for him, or is this merely the latest indication that Rodgers sees something in him that the rest of us are struggling to spot? Either way, he could desperately do with a confident performance here.
CM) James Milner
With no room for Lucas, Can or Allen in the squad, we’ve gone for a 4-2-3-1 formation. This will allow Milner and Henderson to occupy slightly deeper roles, where they will be looking to show off their passing abilities in full.
CM) Jordan Henderson
The captain is no stranger to being moved around the Liverpool midfield. It will though be interesting to see how he and Milner adjust to not having someone covering behind them, should this indeed prove to be our line-up.
RW) Jordon Ibe
Arguably the stand-out performer in our pre-season campaign thus far. His goal against the Malaysia XI last time out was a joy to behold. If he can continue that sort of form then it’ll be hard to deny him a start against Stoke.
AM) Adam Lallana
Another player who did his reputation and standing among the Liverpool fans no harm at all in the Far East. A good performance here could make him very hard to drop for the start of the season, despite Firmino’s presence.
LW) Philippe Coutinho
It’ll be good to see the Brazilian back with his senior teammates, a couple of months on from his last appearance in the side – not counting a run out for the Under-21s against Porto last week. Let’s hope he can build on last year.
ST) Danny Ings
It will likely be either Ings or Origi leading the line, rather than both. If that does prove to be the case, we’d like to see the Burnley man given the nod, who based on the games so far is far more likely to feature against Stoke.
Our thoughts on the five substitutes on the next page…
Subs:
1) Ryan Fulton
With Adam Bogdan likely to go and get a full ninety minutes under his belt against Swindon, it falls to the youngster to make up the numbers here. It would be a surprise if he got any game-time, but you never know.
2) Joe Maguire
Maguire has a couple of promising run-outs during pre-season and it’s hard to begrudge him his place here. Considering our current lack of depth in the full-back positions he might yet be called upon later this season.
3) Pedro Chirivella
The young midfielder only got on the pitch for a matter of second in the Far East. He’ll be hoping for slightly more of a chance to show what he can do here, particularly as he’s the only natural holding player in the squad.
4) Ryan Kent
Like his teammate, Kent only had one brief run-out during the tour. He’s a highly rated young winger and will look to get on in place of either Ibe, Lallana or Coutinho at some stage during the game. A big opportunity for him.
5) Divock Origi
The only senior name among the substitutes. The Belgian was slightly underwhelming in the last couple of tour games and he’ll want to make a statement with his performance in this one, hopefully by scoring a goal.
