Liverpool will face a busy spell from now until the World Cup with 13 fixtures in 43 days – will their squad hold up?
With the WC in Qatar beginning on the 20th of November, club football will see one of its busiest schedules of all time thanks to the strange nature of a winter WC.
For clubs with injuries and smaller squads its clear that this will be a testing period – take Liverpool for example, they’ve suffered badly with injuries already and have a lot of players at differing stages of recovery and match fitness as a result.
Given that the Reds will play, on average, every 3.3 games it will be be a tricky spell for a squad with players that do suffer a lot of small injuries – how will they hold up from now until the break?
Liverpool play 13 games between October 1 and November 12.
An absolutely massive period awaits 👊 pic.twitter.com/lMst2Gd1zY
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) September 22, 2022
Injury issues and key dates
For Liverpool, it’s absolutely paramount that they can turn out their best starting eleven week in, week out as their full first team is still right up there as one of the very best in Europe.
Plus, all of thier players have been carefully chosen for this side to perform a certain role and after four years of near enough the same lineup and formation, it’s a delicate eco-system and it needs all of it’s key components to be fully successful.
It also makes a difference having quality alternatives, but it’s something Liverpool lack at right back, in central midfield and in the wide attacking areas. An injury to Mohamed Salah or Trent Alexander-Arnold or Fabinho could be detrimental.
They’re still waiting for the likes of Ibrahima Konate, Arthur Melo, Andy Robertson and Jordan Henderson to all get back to full match fitness but it seems all of them will be available sometime after the international break ends.
We know how this squad can pick up little injuries on a regular basis and it’s unlikely the likes of Thiago will be able to play every single game which means Jurgen Klopp will have to rotate for games where some key players may not be needed.
There’s also the idea that some players will be playing not to get injured within the final games before the WC. With Liverpool playing four games in 12 days in November, it’s likely certain players will look to minimise the risk of getting injured to ensure they make it to the WC.
However, given that the likes of Thiago, Luis Diaz and Salah will not be going to the WC for example, they can be pushed harder given they have that break when the tournament begins.
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In terms of key dates, their next competitive match is Brighton at Anfield, then they welcome Rangers in the Champions League, as part of a Group double header in back-to-back weeks with the Scottish giants.
In between those two games is an away trip to the in-form Arsenal side currently sitting top of the table in the Premier League.
Manchester City visit Anfield on October 16th, before travelling to Ajax on the 26th October.
Then November sees four games in 12 days including Napoli (H) Spurs (A) Derby (H) and their final game before the players head off on international duty is Southampton (H) on Saturday 12th November. Busy times, indeed.
