Jurgen Klopp has shared an eight-word hint regarding his prospective team selection for Liverpool’s Europa League clash against Toulouse on Thursday night.
The Reds have a 100% record in the group stage so far despite using the tournament as an opportunity to field drastically altered line-ups, with 11 and nine changes in personnel for the LASK and Union Saint-Gilloise games respectively from the preceding Premier League matches.
It’s duly expected that the starting XI tomorrow will look decidedly different from the Merseyside derby last weekend, and the manager has given an early clue in Wednesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference.
When asked about the likelihood of a much-changed line-up against Toulouse, Klopp replied (via Liverpool Echo): “We will make some changes – not too many”.
With five days (and a few hours) between the Everton and Toulouse matches, those who started last weekend should be relatively fresh for tomorrow night, but games against Nottingham Forest (Sunday) and Bournemouth (Wednesday) will surely see Klopp try to utilise his squad as widely as possible.
Caoimhin Kelleher will likely come in for Alisson Becker, having missed the Union SG game due to injury, while Jarell Quansah and/or Joel Matip could be deployed in central defence.
Curtis Jones is still suspended in the Premier League so he seems very likely to start, while Harvey Elliott and Wataru Endo may also be pushing for inclusion.
Having only been a substitute in the Merseyside derby, Darwin Nunez could be selected to lead the line tomorrow night, even with Cody Gakpo available once more following his recent knee injury.
If Klopp seeks to fully explore his squad depth, there could even be an appearance at left-back for Luke Chambers, should the manager opt to rest Kostas Tsimikas amid the absence of Andy Robertson, whose surgery on a shoulder injury has thankfully gone well.
We can again expect to see a much-changed Liverpool line-up for the Europa League, but the number and identity of the changes could be harder to predict correctly. In any case, we trust that the boss will go with the team he feels is strong enough to preserve our perfect start to the group stage.
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️
Preview: Liverpool vs. Toulouse – Team news and prediction. For further details click on link.