Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain will not be present in the Liverpool lineup for a majority of the season. Klopp’s strengthened numbers could form some deadly combos.
Liverpool midfielder Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain is set to miss a majority of the 2018-19 season. The multiple ligament damages he sustained in the Champions League semifinal against Roma still lingers as he will miss 12 months total. Having been out for around three months already, Chamberlain could return as early as April 2019. Jurgen Klopp will be hoping the Reds will be challenging for an EPL title and the UCL once again by that time.
Chamberlain was regularly featured in Klopp’s first team during the 2017-18 campaign. He played in central midfield alongside Jordan Henderson and James Milner. When he missed the Champions League final, Giorgio Wijnaldum played in his right-center midfield position and had an okay performance.
"For Ox this coming season will be about focusing on recovery and rehab"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 18, 2018
Jurgan Klopp has confirmed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is likely to miss the vast majority of the 2018-19 season pic.twitter.com/ElaIWw9ktT
Liverpool has splashed a lot of cash this transfer window and Klopp can create some deadly lineups to make up for the Ox, who played in 42 games in all competitions last season. Let’s take a look at two combinations that can interchange.
The offensive 4-3-3
To keep things realistic, we will stick to a 4-3-3 formation. Klopp’s favorite formation has a lot of freedom with the midfielders. If he is in the mood to score goals and play attacking, he could have three totally new midfielders to the ones he played last season. The goalkeeper and defense will stay the same in Klopp’s first-team.
Alisson Becker instantly becomes Liverpool’s starting goalkeeper. Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk are the centerbacks with Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold as the left and right backs, respectively. With Mane, Firmino, and Salah up top, Klopp could make it more offensive by playing Naby Keita, Wijnaldum, and Xherdan Shaqiri in midfield.
Shaqiri is a natural winger, but no way is he replacing Mo Salah as Liverpool’s new right-winger. Shaqiri will be too uncomfortable playing deep. In this formation, Keita can play deeper since he has defensive skills and you can have Wijnaldum and Shaqiri as attacking midfielders. The other way to do this is putting Fabinho deep and Keita and Shaqiri in the attacking positions. The team switches to a 4-1-2-3 in this system and has a lot of flexibility.
The defensive 4-3-3
Klopp could be thinking that going attacking with the lineup is too risky. Mane, Firmino, and Salah get the job done up-top already and Liverpool could bolster their defenses by playing a more defensive midfield. The key to this is Fabinho.
https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1020059048392110080
Fabinho is instantly a starter in this team and will play the deeper role that Jordan Henderson played last season. This line-up that B/R Football made seems like the most likely in Klopp’s book. Henderson can start to play a more advanced role with Naby Keita joining the three in midfield. In this scenario, you bolster your defense in the middle of the park.
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Opposing teams will have trouble winning 50/50 balls in midfield, giving the front-three even more chances to score and the fans at the Kop more chances to sing “Salah, do do do do”. Chamberlain is an absence for sure. He was an important piece of the team on their Champions League run. Luckily, his absence won’t cost the Reds points with incredible midfield replacements coming to Anfield. Liverpool next plays against Dortmund on Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina in the ICC.