Steve Nicol has suggested that Arne Slot could make one alteration to the Liverpool starting XI for tonight’s Champions League clash against Bayer Leverkusen which might surprise a lot of Reds fans.
The home side will be aiming to preserve their 100% record in the competition when they welcome Xabi Alonso’s team to Anfield, and they were handed a boost in Monday when Ibrahima Konate trained with the squad despite going off injured in the weekend win over Brighton.
However, the former LFC defender believes that the France international might be omitted from the starting line-up against the Bundesliga champions in favour of Jarell Quansah.
Looking ahead to the match on ESPN FC, Nicol said: “Liverpool have been giving chances away at home in particular. I think of Boniface and Wirtz and Frimpong, and I think are they going to pass up the chances that other sides haven’t taken at Anfield recently?
“I think Liverpool will score a couple of goals and I don’t think Konate will play either. It’s probably going to be Quansah who, to be quite honest, has been struggling recently. That’s why I’ve gone for 2-2.”
Quansah has enjoyed a tremendous rise from academy hopeful to fixed first-team presence over the past 15 months, but fortune hasn’t favoured him since Slot took over from Jurgen Klopp.
The 21-year-old was substituted at half-time in Liverpool’s opening day win over Ipswich in August, while he had an unfortunate role to play in both of Brighton’s goals in the Reds’ 3-2 Carabao Cup win at the Amex Stadium last week.
When Konate went off against the Seagulls on Saturday, it was Joe Gomez to whom the head coach turned as a substitute, and the long-serving defender justified that call by putting in an outstanding performance in the second-half turnaround.
We’d start the Frenchman if he’s fit to feature, but if Slot decides to give him a breather tonight, the display that his replacement at the weekend put in would make him the logical choice to partner Virgil van Dijk at centre-back.
Quansah certainly doesn’t deserve to be marginalised entirely, but based on how recent matches have gone for the defence overall, Gomez would appear to be the safer alternative to our number 5 at the moment.
It’d be a bold and perhaps surprising call from the Liverpool boss to recall the 21-year-old after his difficulties on the south coast last week.
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