Thursday 11 May 2017

Klopp can't gamble on liverpool youngstars as Origi struggles again in Mane absence

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If Liverpool beat West Ham and Middlesbrough, they will qualify for next season's Champions League. 

On paper that doesn't look so tough, as the Hammers have struggled at home all season and Boro have already been relegated.

Worryingly, Liverpool's results without the sidelined Sadio Mane do little to suggest the Reds will secure the six points they will probably require.
Early in the year, Mane missed eight games and only appeared as a second half substitute in a ninth due to his participation in the African Nations Cup. Liverpool were desperately poor without him and that horrific spell ended their title hopes and saw them eliminated from two cups.
Things improved following his return but since the Senegal man suffered a season ending injury against Everton on April 1, Liverpool have slumped again, throwing their top four place into doubt.
Results haven't been as catastrophic as they were in January, but you can put that down to some very fine margins, such as Simon Mignolet's two world class saves at Stoke, another brilliant stop at West Brom and the crossbar coming to the rescue in stoppage time at Watford.
Liverpool took nine points from those three away games, but it could so easily have been two. By contrast, in the three home games they've played in that period they took just two points from nine. Of course using the same logic, that could easily have been better as Liverpool had chances to win all of those games. The point is that when Mane is absent, every game seems to be on a knife edge. Lessons should have been learned from January and yet Liverpool still have no solution to life without Mane.
Divock Origi is a big part of the problem. His form has been indifferent for most of the season and although he has still chipped in with 10 goals, when he's not finding the net he isn't contributing much and even when he is scoring, the team doesn't function as fluidly as it does when Roberto Firmino is leading the line.
Losing Mane hurts Liverpool not just because of what he brings to the team but also because of the negative impact it has on Firmino, who usually then has to play out of position.
So what should Jurgen Klopp have done? He tried moving Adam Lallana into the front three, which at least allowed Firmino to remain central. Unfortunately, that meant a lack of pace in attack while also weakening a midfield in which Lallana had been performing brilliantly. Besides, Lallana has missed several weeks through injury.
Daniel Sturridge wasn't really a solution due to his long standing fitness concerns, so Klopp hitched his wagon to Origi. Had the youngster performed the way he did in a brief but spectacular spell late last season, perhaps Liverpool could have coped better without Mane, but by continuing to select Origi and shunting Firmino out wide to accommodate him, Klopp has weakened two positions.
In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better to keep Firmino where he was and have a look at Ben Woodburn or Harry Wilson on the right. It's too late for that now, as it would be a huge gamble to throw in an untested youngster with only two "must win" games remaining. Had Klopp done it months ago when the pressure wasn't quite as intense, however, things might have been different.
Woodburn was handed a start at Stoke and had to be replaced at half-time having looked a little out of his depth, but he was hardly helped by Klopp's bizarre experimental team selection and formation that day. We are yet to see Liverpool's youngest ever goalscorer play in a strong lineup, so it's impossible to judge him fairly.
Then there's Wilson, who plays the Mane role for Liverpool's Under-23 side and has been their star man this year, finding the net 28 times while also producing countless assists. It's puzzling, then, that his only first team opportunity was a lively late cameo against Plymouth Argyle.
Klopp has not been shy in giving youth a chance yet Wilson has been repeatedly overlooked, regardless of how eye-catching his displays have been at U23 level. Presumably he isn't quite ready for the step up, yet it's hard to envisage how Liverpool's attack could have looked any less unbalanced with either of Woodburn or Wilson playing on the right, freeing up Firmino to operate where he is most effective.
With just two games left this is not a time for experimenting or for throwing kids in at the deep end, yet it would also be a risk for Klopp to continue sending out the same group of players who have repeatedly struggled without Mane.
Klopp has put tremendous faith in Origi but the young Belgian has so far not justified it. With Sturridge presumably still not ready to play a full 90 minutes, Klopp appears to have little alternative but to continue to roll the dice with Origi and hope he delivers. Liverpool's entire season could depend on it.

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