Liverpool have been backed to navigate their current injury crisis by one former Manchester City player.
The Reds currently sit top of the Premier League, one point ahead of the defending champions with both having played the same number of matches, but have been ravaged by a series of body blows which leave Jurgen Klopp with plenty to ponder in terms of selecting his forthcoming line-ups.
However, Shaun Wright-Phillips is confident that the Merseysiders still have enough strength in depth to cope with the spate of absences, given how some players have stepped up when given their opportunities this season.
Speaking on the Kelly & Wrighty show (via premierleague.com), the 42-year-old said: “They’ve got enough to rotate, I think personally, if you use the team well. You’ll have to taper the way you train, of course, but they’ve done it before with less of a squad, with just the [starting] 11 and maybe two or three [others].
“As long as those injuries aren’t six/seven weeks or longer, I think they’ll be fine in terms of squad management.”
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Wright-Phillips makes a fair point in proclaiming that, injuries aside, Liverpool have a stronger squad now than during their last quadruple bid in 2021/22, when they lifted both domestic cups and came up minimally short in the Premier League and Champions League.
However, at no point in that campaign did the Reds have to navigate a casualty list quite as extensive as their current one, and you get a sense that they’re near breaking point when it comes to how many more body blows they can absorb.
As it stands, we should get Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and hopefully Curtis Jones back before long, and their returns would leave our squad depth looking far rosier.
The ever-present danger is that, even if they all come back, new names could be added to the injury list, or those poised to return could incur fresh setbacks.
The likes of Jarell Quansah and Conor Bradley have shown that dependable options can emerge for Klopp over the coming weeks, backing Wright-Phillips’ argument about Liverpool being able to cope.
Now is the time for those who mightn’t have had many opportunities this season to answer the call and give the manager food for thought when the stricken regulars are back to full fitness.
#Ep102 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones
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