Liverpool vs Paris Saint-Germain is undoubtedly the stand-out fixture in the Champions League this week as last season’s finalists go head-to-head with one of the early-season favourites for the competition.
In many ways, this game looks perfectly winnable for the Reds as they come into the game in fine form, full of confidence in this competition from last season’s run, and with PSG arriving at Anfield with possibly as many as five players missing, according to our friends over at Empire of the Kop.
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Still, Liverpool can’t get too confident playing against such quality opposition, who will pose a big threat to the way Jurgen Klopp likes his sides to play.
We’ve put together four of the biggest questions the German tactician has to answer if he is to get a result tonight…
1) How to play without Roberto Firmino?
Likely to be out with an eye injury after that nasty clash with Jan Vertonghen in the win over Tottenham, Roberto Firmino is a big loss for Liverpool that cannot be underestimated.
The Brazil international has really made that centre-forward spot his own in the last couple of seasons, becoming arguably one of the most improved players in the Premier League as he’s nailed the false-9 position with his intelligence, work-rate, creativity and added goal threat as time’s gone on.
Without him to bring Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane into play, Klopp has a tricky decision to make that involves majorly changing the way his side functions…
He can either go for the simple option of replacing Firmino with Daniel Sturridge up front, but the 29-year-old is much more of an out-and-out striker who’s less likely to be able to put in as much running or drop deep to link play the way Firmino does.
Either that, or we did see Klopp use Xherdan Shaqiri up front on one or two occasions in pre-season. This seems too big a gamble for a game of this magnitude, though in many ways it seems workable due to his skill-set being fairly similar to Firmino’s – just without the same level of goal threat.
Salah or Mane could perhaps take a more central spot and another wide-player come in, but at this point it’s a very big change from what Liverpool are used to in what is generally a hugely effective attack that you wouldn’t exactly what to tinker with more than is necessary.
2) Where will the width come from?
Another big part of how Liverpool play is using the incredible pace, box-to-box energy and quality delivery from full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson.
The duo almost play like wingers when LFC are up against lesser opponents, but it’ll be hard for them to get forward nearly as much against a team like PSG, who’ll have Neymar and Kylian Mbappe waiting to break if they lose the ball up field.
Liverpool may hope to allow PSG a lot of the ball and hit them on the break, in which case there may be more opportunities for the full-backs to attack spaces in behind Neymar and Mbappe.
In general, though, Liverpool will most likely also need a bit more from other areas on the pitch, which could lead to Mane and Salah having to hog the touchline a little more than they’re used to, which in turn eliminates another goal threat.
3) Naby Keita or Jordan Henderson?
PSG could be without both Marco Verratti and Adrien Rabiot tonight, giving Liverpool a real opportunity to find holes in the French giants’ midfield.
That could, in theory, be dream territory for the attack-minded Naby Keita to exploit – and it is big games like this the Guinea international was presumably brought to the club for.
However, given the tendency to bring the full-backs into attack, Liverpool might opt for more defensive cover from central midfield, which maybe rules Keita out, meaning more of a role for the defensive-minded Jordan Henderson, or even Fabinho if Klopp fancies the highly risky strategy of handing the Brazilian his debut tonight.
Henderson does his job in front of the defence well and keeps things simple and tidy in possession. That can sometimes haunt Liverpool against better sides as they’ve lacked the craft to break down top teams. Tonight Klopp has the difficult challenge of deciding which is the bigger priority for his team.
4) Can they maintain their high-energy approach?
In comparison to Liverpool, PSG have a much easier time of things domestically and, absent players aside, will probably go into tonight’s game in better shape than the Reds.
The Ligue 1 champions have enjoyed mostly comfortably wins against opponents like Caen, Guingamp, Angers, Nimes and Saint-Etienne before tonight – scoring 17 goals in five league games so far this season.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have had to grind out wins against Tottenham and Leicester City recently, and even had to scrape past Crystal Palace and Brighton.
The Premier League is far more demanding than the French top flight, and that is precisely the kind of thing that can come into play even this early on in the season with the fixtures coming thick and fast at the weekends and then midweek.
Liverpool also lack the same depth in their squad that PSG enjoy, so are relying on many of the same tired players domestically and in Europe.
Tonight they’ll clearly have to hope the super-human energy levels of the likes of James Milner can come through for them.