The Reds Short of Striking Options for Visit of Man City | OneFootball

It is fair to say that Manchester City being found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges that the Premier League laid at their door in the February of 2023 has been the main talking point of the last week.

Liverpool fans are perhaps even more keen than most others to talk about it, given the fact that the Reds were the ones to suffer the most at the hands of the Abu Dhabi-funded football club. That news, though, has meant that a looming injury crisis for Liverpool has not gained the attention that it might otherwise have done.

Isak & Gakpo Doubts

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Whilst I would love the idea that both Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo decided to feign an injury in order to get back to the AXA and work with Andoni Iraola during this elongated international break, the reality of the matter is that both players seem to have picked up genuine issues whilst away with Sweden and the Netherlands respectively. The injury to Isak was referred to as being ‘minor’, allowing the striker to head back to Liverpool in order to undergo some assessments prior to the Premier League getting back underway next weekend.

Gakpo, meanwhile, suffered an ankle injury and underwent scans whilst still away with the Netherlands, which were reported as showing that he’s likely to be sidelined for ‘a number of weeks’. It is a cruel blow to a player who has started this campaign brilliantly, after being disappointing last season and almost being sold to Manchester City in the summer. It also means that the Reds are looking short of options in an attacking sense as we gear up for the visit of Enzo Maresca’s side, currently embroiled in the aforementioned controversy.

What We Might Do

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Presuming that Isak and Gakpo are both out for the visit of City, it leaves Iraola with some decisions to make. Although we have all been impressed with the work rate displayed by Lewis Koumas whenever he’s made it onto the pitch, it would be a huge ask for him to suddenly be leading the line against the team top of the league, populated with players signed via ill-gotten gains. Bradley Barcola has impressed in the small dispatches that we’ve seen of him, but he hasn’t yet got onto the scoresheet in his few appearances.

Meanwhile, Florian Wirtz continues to struggle to make an impact in the way that Liverpool would have been hoping for, which won’t be helped by the players he’s developed relationships with being out injured. Jayden Danns may well be fit enough to come in and is certainly confident enough to believe that he can do a job against City, but otherwise out options are limited. Whatever happens, it feels important that we’re able to emerge from the encounter with our biggest rivals of recent years with all three points.