Liverpool

Liverpool: Reporter suggests ‘fresh’ man to start

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Image for Liverpool: Reporter suggests ‘fresh’ man to start

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side are still very much in the race for the Premier League title after their 2-2 draw with Manchester City and The Athletic reporter Simon Hughes suggests ‘fresh’ players will be very important for their challenge. 

The Reds were held to a point after their latest battle with the league leaders as the Citizens sit just one point ahead of Liverpool at the top of the league with both having seven games to go. The game was described as a ‘classic’ that ‘lived up to the hype’ as neither team could find a winner.

The result leaves the run-in for the title very interesting, as any sort of slip-up could cost either team the title and the bragging rights over their rivals. This has led to speculation over who will start for Liverpool during the final stretch of the season, most recently with journalist Hughes claiming it could be an unlikely hero that steps up for Klopp’s men.

Speaking on The Red Agenda podcast, Hughes stated that it could be Roberto Firmino who comes into the starting lineup towards the end of the campaign.

He said: “Do you play Jota, who’s reliable and going to score goals, or do you play Firmino, who at this stage of the season, is actually potentially going to be quite fresh because he hasn’t played quite as much.

“I would imagine the manager is going to use him quite cleverly over the next couple of weeks because he could prove to be a really important player, Firmino. You know, when he’s fresh and he’s prepared for a match, he’s still very difficult to stop. So it’d be interesting to see how he would rotate it.”

TIF Thoughts on Firmino starting…

While Firmino has been a huge factor in Liverpool’s recent successes in the Premier League and Champions League, they have perfectly nurtured and developed Diogo Jota into the perfect middle man in their frontline.

The Portuguese forward has racked up an impressive 21 goals in all competitions for the Merseyside team, and apart from Mohamed Salah, has arguably been their player of the season. He also has also impressed with his underlying numbers, with 2.4 shots, one key pass, 0.8 dribbles per game as well as a 76.1% pass accuracy (WhoScored), and has looked every bit like the future for Liverpool’s attack.

On the other hand, Firmino has featured far less often and come off the bench for Klopp on numerous occasions but has produced still at a decent level. He currently has nine goals and four assists with 1.2 shots, 0.7 key passes, and 0.7 dribbles per game (WhoScored).

Klopp will need to use the majority of his squad during the run-in as they still have seven league games along with an FA Cup semi-final against Man City and Champions League games left to play. Firmino will find game time in this squad and will most likely start in some important games, so finding the right balance with the Brazilian and Portuguese forwards is going to be essential.

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