WHEN Jurgen Klopp names his Liverpool side today, it could be one of the weakest he has picked all season.
And I’m sure the irony of it coming in the Carabao Cup final, with the first trophy of the season up for grabs, won’t be lost on him, either.
In recent seasons Klopp, to his credit, has been one of the few bosses who treats the domestic cup competitions with respect.
It hasn’t always been that way, for sure. Like a lot of overseas managers, I don’t think he totally ‘got’ their importance in the English game.
But certainly for the last half of his time at Anfield, that’s not something you could accuse him of.
Whatever he did in the early years, these days you never see him filling the team with reserves and kids, then spouting all that rubbish about wanting to give everyone a game.
Whatever the competition and whatever the opposition, Klopp sends out a ‘proper’ side.
When he can, at least. So it goes without saying he’d love to do the same at Wembley.
Sadly for him, there’s no chance of that thanks to an injury list touching double figures — against a Chelsea side which has finally started to show a bit of form as well.
I know the Premier League rules everything these days but I’ll still never understand why managers don’t try to win every trophy they can.
Even those who know they’re never going to win the title but never going to go down either still write off the cup competitions. Why
You can never beat the feeling of winning a final. You try telling any fan it’s not important. There’s nothing like it, whatever rubbish people come out with.
Maybe that’s something Klopp himself didn’t get his head round at first, when you look at some of his sides early on. But he does now.
Yes, he may use them to give youngsters the odd chance but the nucleus of his Liverpool cup sides are always filled with his best players.
What a pity, then, that so many of them are struggling for today, because everyone at Anfield is desperate to make Jurgen’s final season at Anfield a memorable one.
But I must admit, while I can’t see them winning four trophies, for all they’re still in with a shot, I fancy them to just about edge it today, even without a few of their big names.
Those who have come in are doing well — like Conor Bradley — and the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson are fit again and hitting top form.
Incidentally, while everyone’s talking about Klopp leaving in the summer, I’d be surprised if it isn’t Mo Salah’s final season at Liverpool as well.
He’ll have 12 months left on his contract, it’s the last chance of getting big money and, with a new manager next season, I do think it all points to him leaving this summer.
So, there’s another extra incentive today . . . and assuming Salah is fit enough to start, there’s your likeliest matchwinner.
Mind you, I do think it will be very close, possibly going to penalties. That’s how finals between these two tend to end up.
I must admit I’d love to see Mauricio Pochettino win a trophy as well, especially after that ridiculous and horrible situation with Thiago Silva and his wife, Isabelle recently.
Poch was having a difficult time as it was, and then he had the missus of his main man and one of the world’s great players tweeting about it being time for change . . . beyond belief!
You can say what you like, but that relationship — player and manager, not wife! — will never be the same again.
Pochettino is a good man and that will have hurt him a lot. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard.
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It was a bold move to leave Thiago out for the FA Cup game at Aston Villa but Chelsea got a result and turned in another good performance without him by drawing at Manchester City.
So he’s come through that in one piece, Chelsea are starting to pick up a bit and they will certainly go to Wembley a lot more confident than they would a few weeks ago.
But if you twisted my arm, I’d still just about fancy Liverpool to edge it, even with their injuries . . . although it will be close.
