Liverpool vs Genk: It’s the Champions League but Jurgen Klopp must rotate
It might be a Champions League game on Wednesday but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp must rotate his side against Genk or face trouble further down the line.
We’re about to hit a period of peak traffic for the Reds as they face the Belgians in between fixtures against big hitters Tottenham and Arsenal (in the Carabao Cup) before playing Aston Villa and Manchester City before and after the next European game.
In the next 20 days Liverpool will have seven games, which barely gives the squad time to recover before they’re catapulted into the next contest. The Man Utd and Genk fixtures require travel, but there is light at the end of the tunnel with a run of four Anfield games in the five after Wednesday.
Fringe midfielders players like Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can expect to see their involvement increased, while Jurgen Klopp will need to find a way to ease the burden on the front three and give Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi and Rhian Brewster some minutes.
The Arsenal game may only be in the League Cup by Klopp will want to team to remain competitive across the full season and will see the fixture as a way of testing the water with underused players against good opposition.
In that respect, Adam Lallana may get a run out as well as Dejan Lovren and Joe Gomez. This season is a long one and there are some important fixtures just over the horizon. That City clash may go some way to determining how the Premier League shapes up by the end of the season while the Napoli Champions League game could be vital for qualification out of the group.
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Keeping the players fresh after Utd will be an important start and rotation could begin on Wednesday. Yes it’s a European game and nobody is suggesting Klopp does a Brendan Rodgers, but players like Keita or Oxlade-Chamberlain should be good enough to come into the side and get a win against Genk.