Andoni Iraola will be hoping to kick-start his Liverpool reign when Manchester City visit Anfield on Sunday, but first the Basque must find answers to these key questions... The recent international break has not been kind to Iraola, with key men Alexander Isak [thigh], Cody Gakpo [ankle] and Jeremy Jacquet [hamstring] having all returned early to the AXA Training Centre with injury. "Jeremey has trained yesterday [Thursday] and he is good to go and I expect him to be available," said Iraola in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "Cody and Alex have not trained yesterday, we put images of the session yesterday, we are not hiding! We still have a couple of days, but I think it is going to be tough." The Basque will give a further update on the trio's fitness in his pre-match press conference on Friday, but at this stage it would be high unlikely to see all three feature at Anfield this weekend, meaning an untimely change of personnel will be required in both defence and attack. That could lead to a rare start at the back for Joe Gomez, with Ronald Araujo shifting across to partner Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the defence, or vice-versa, or Jeremie Frimpong may get the nod at right back.
Meanwhile, Gakpo and Isak's absence in attack would be a massive blow, especially given the understanding the duo have developed so far and it would also leave a huge hole to fill in the No 9 role were the Sweden striker to be ruled out after his impressive start to the campaign that has seen him score four times in the Premier League already. All of which could mean Lewis Koumas, 21, deputising for Isak, with Hugo Ekitike still months away from recovering from his ruptured Achilles. Liverpool now face a tricky run of seven games in three different competitions over the course of the next three weeks that will test both the players' fitness levels, as well as Iraola's own ability to rotate and manage their workloads.
That fixture list includes a daunting trip to take on in-form Brentford, followed by home games with high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion and champions Arsenal in the league, either side of Chelsea visiting Anfield in the League Cup. Iraola has so far only had to prepare for one league game after a Champions League encounter and it is revealing it was the underwhelming goalless home draw against winless Fulham that came just three days on from an energy-sapping win over Atletico Madrid. How the Basque navigates this period - and remember he never had to contend with such a packed schedule while at Bournemouth - could be key to how the his side fare during this run, something the Reds boss is all too well aware of.
"We still have to get ready because the schedule that we have now, it's very difficult," he said. "We are playing against top-four teams and then in between Champions League and then in between Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and everything in two, three days. "So we have to get ready because this next month, after this break, it's going be very demanding for us." The elephant in Liverpool's room continues to be £116m signing Florian Wirtz and even more so after the German's latest anonymous display at Bournemouth just prior to the international break.
"That was one of the poorest I've ever seen him in a Liverpool shirt," said Jamie Carragher of Wirtz's performance at the Vitality on the Jamie Carragher Podcast. "I think going forward Iraola's got a decision to make here. Wirtz wouldn't be in my Liverpool team.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
