With Jordan Henderson set not to return to the fold until after the international break, thanks to his hamstring injury, and Fabio Carvalho likely also ruled out of Liverpool’s Champions League opener, the main temptation for Jurgen Klopp will be looking for experience from James. Milner to reinforce his midfield.
History tells us that this is exactly the plan of action the German will take on Wednesday when the Reds visit the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
However, if the former Borussia Dortmund tactician has been paying close attention to previous meetings with Napoli, he will be fully aware of the need to overturn a difficult record against the Italian team away from home.
A possible absence of Victor Osimhen and a relative slump defensively following the absence of Kalidou Koulibaly will certainly be factors in our favour, although they certainly should not be relied upon if we hope to record a victory in Italy.
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To that end, Klopp may be well advised to make a gamble of sorts by starting a more technical trader alongside Fabinho and Harvey Elliott in the middle of the park.
Thiago Alcantara would be our first choice had the Spaniard returned from injury less recently, which leaves room for the addition of Arthur Melo, for whom we have an option to buy worth £32.3m (spread over two seasons) – to potentially debut with the club.
Releasing a player who is not fit for the match will understandably represent a gamble bordering on negligence in some quarters, though we can hardly afford to allow another slow start to leave Liverpool struggling to buy into a draw that is slowly slipping away from them. .
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Including a player capable of giving us a similar level of control that we enjoyed when our number 6 was in full swing for us would provide Jurgen Klopp with the building blocks needed for his team to thrive in Napoli.
While the defensive improvements from the Merseyside derby must be seen as a huge advantage, we simply cannot afford to continue a lackluster display in midfield in the vain hope that our veteran midfielder will provide us with anything more than a solid and reliable start.
No doubt, it’s not certain we can get a midfield masterclass from Arthur so soon after his switch from Serie A, though surely such a roll of the dice against an opponent the Brazilian will be even more familiar with. Is his new teammates worth it in an attempt to get more than just another loss against Gli Azzurri?
The decision belongs to Jurgen Klopp.
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