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Both Liverpool and Manchester United find themselves with a bit of a sticky situation in defence for this Sunday’s huge game at Anfield, but who can exploit the situation better than the other?
What’s the word, then?
The Red Devils will be without Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Victor Lindelof for the trip to Merseyside, leaving them with just Eric Bailly and Phil Jones as their only two recognised senior centre-backs who will be fit for the game.
Worryingly, however, the pair have just seven starts between them in the Premier League this season and showed their rustiness in the Champions League on Wednesday night, as United crashed to a 2-1 defeat against Valencia. Both players looked clumsy and calamitous, with Jones at fault for what turned out to be the winning goal as he directed the ball into his own net.
As a result of this, Jurgen Klopp must adapt his tactics for the game in order to take full advantage of the predicament United find themselves in, and to get one over on Jose Mourinho.
What can Liverpool do to exploit the issues?
Despite their own injury crisis at the back, in which all of Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold are missing, the Reds are better equipped to deal with their defensive problems and so should focus on how they can hurt the opposition.
Klopp has slightly adapted his usual 4-3-3 formation this season into more of a 4-2-3-1 system, in which Mohamed Salah plays as a central striker with Roberto Firmino in behind him as an attacking midfielder or second striker.
Whilst that tactic is an effective one, as well as an easily interchangeable one mid-game should the situation require it, the former Borussia Dortmund boss should target Jones as a weak link and get his forwards to surround the shaky 26-year-old.
To do this, Klopp should reinstall Firmino as a centre-forward alongside Salah, as opposed to behind him, and get his wingers in Sadio Mane and Xherdan Shaqiri – in this case – to play as inverted forwards in a 4-2-2-2 shape.
You may be thinking that this would be overly attacking and leave Liverpool’s backline vulnerable. If Klopp starts Fabinho alongside Gini Wijnaldum at the base of the midfield, however, this would solidify the spine of the team and give the aforementioned attackers to freedom to penetrate.
If he does this, the pressure on the former Blackburn defender will be relentless, given that the Premier League leaders play their usual high-pressing system – this could well be the biggest embarrassment of Jones’ United career, and there have been a lot of them.
