Okay, so first things first, this was partly inspired by the free Anfield Wrap podcast that just came out, so if you've heard that, yes, I robbed some of this, however, it basically backed up my own thoughts about this, which has been bugging me so far this season a bit.
You'll have heard me constantly bang on about how tired some of our players are so far this season, I won't also bang on about the reasons here, (I'm sure some of you will bring them up in discourse after this) I think we all know them, but suffice to say, many of our key players haven't had what we'd normally say was a proper rest period in between seasons for far too long, & at the start of this season Klopp has barely rested players.
It's clear why, it's literally "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", we keep winning, & we know how vital every three points are this season.
Now we have a situation we probably didn't predict, in that City have dropped points. Now, had City not done that, I'd have fully expected to see Klopp start resting/rotating players in all the games before the City game, & then go full strength for the City game.
Now that we're in this situation, I think we may well see Klopp roll the dice, going full strength for every league game up to City, to keep the pressure on them & try to keep or even open up this points lead.
Then, should he decide to try to do the same until after Christmas, that wouldn't surprise me either, try to repeat a feat similar to what City did in 17/18, & run away with the league.
There are some massive issues with this though, the front three look leggy, really leggy, mentally tired & (just as importantly IMO) the full-backs run marathons every match & if they're not on form, we struggle massively as it makes us way too easy to defend against. The midfield should be ok for a while, as it's the one area we can tinker with a bit without it having a huge effect on our play. Then we have the World Club Championship, which I'd love to see us send the ressies & kids, but in reality, I see little chance of that, unfortunately.
What do you guys think? Worth the gamble, or try to rotate some players in, maybe change formation to make the most of Shaqiri & rest a forward each game like towards the start of last season?
You'll have heard me constantly bang on about how tired some of our players are so far this season, I won't also bang on about the reasons here, (I'm sure some of you will bring them up in discourse after this) I think we all know them, but suffice to say, many of our key players haven't had what we'd normally say was a proper rest period in between seasons for far too long, & at the start of this season Klopp has barely rested players.
It's clear why, it's literally "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", we keep winning, & we know how vital every three points are this season.
Now we have a situation we probably didn't predict, in that City have dropped points. Now, had City not done that, I'd have fully expected to see Klopp start resting/rotating players in all the games before the City game, & then go full strength for the City game.
Now that we're in this situation, I think we may well see Klopp roll the dice, going full strength for every league game up to City, to keep the pressure on them & try to keep or even open up this points lead.
Then, should he decide to try to do the same until after Christmas, that wouldn't surprise me either, try to repeat a feat similar to what City did in 17/18, & run away with the league.
There are some massive issues with this though, the front three look leggy, really leggy, mentally tired & (just as importantly IMO) the full-backs run marathons every match & if they're not on form, we struggle massively as it makes us way too easy to defend against. The midfield should be ok for a while, as it's the one area we can tinker with a bit without it having a huge effect on our play. Then we have the World Club Championship, which I'd love to see us send the ressies & kids, but in reality, I see little chance of that, unfortunately.
What do you guys think? Worth the gamble, or try to rotate some players in, maybe change formation to make the most of Shaqiri & rest a forward each game like towards the start of last season?