Jurgen Klopp has a painful decision to make
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has a really painful decision to make after Jordan Henderson limped off against Everton in the Premier League.
It’s been a painful week. The loss against Everton was painful. It was painful to see Henderson limp off before half-time in a Merseyside derby that ended in defeat.
The performance of the front three was painful. Liverpool’s lack of cutting edge was painful. Pain. Have I made my point yet?
Liverpool. Pain.
Don’t hold your breath, because it could get worse. There could be more layers of anguish and agony and all the things that make you tear your hair out.
And if anyone is tearing their hair out, you can guarantee that it’s Jurgen Klopp and his coaching staff. This team have barely had a settled centre-back combination since the early days of the campaign, remember those?
Those were good times when Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez and Joel Matip still had working legs and could run about, kick things well and make the team.
With the injury to Henderson and Fabinho’s continued fitness struggles, Klopp is going to have to make a painful decision about who to start with Ozan Kabak against Sheffield United at the end of the month.
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Can Liverpool risk Ben Davies?
Kabak won’t start against the Blades because he’s the best man for the job, rather he’s the only man for the job. Klopp could choose to pick Rhys Williams, Nat Phillips or new man Ben Davies against the league’s worst attack.
The trio are hardly the most decorated defensive names to be in line to start a Premier League match for Liverpool. Williams and Phillips have top-flight experience and have impressed in isolation – while the transfer of Davies signals that he’s been brought in to play instead of those two Academy lads.
But in the middle of this poor run of form, Liverpool are desperate for a win. Can Klopp risk a new partnership of Kabak and Davies, who have been at the club for less than a month, in a game that is suddenly a banana skin waiting to happen?
It’s a painful decision for sure.