Midfield Injuries

[Ne Moe Imya]

Bit of an injury crisis here in our midfield, and given that the topic is being discussed in various threads I thought it might be easier to make one thread to cover it.

 

Assuming Oxlade-Chamberlain is out for the rest of this season (and very possibly a big chunk of next season if it indeed is his ACL), that's a big loss. Add in Can and Lallana and we're down to 3 fit senior midfielders as it stands: Milner, Henderson, and Wijnaldum.

 

Obviously the priority going forward will be the return leg against Roma and then the CL final if we can finish them off.

 

A few questions, then, from me: 

 

- how close is Lallana to being back?

- seen something on Twitter about Grujic being able to come back once the Championship is finished, assuming Cardiff aren't in the playoffs. Is that true? And when would that be? Is he eligible for the CL B-list, meaning we could register him and have him in the squad for the CL final if we get there?

- what's going on with Woodburn? He was injured in March, but has been on the bench a few times since for the first team and then started for the U23s once. Will he be an option in league games to save our three fit senior players' legs?

- anyone heard anything about Emre? I remember there were a few whispers he could be back by the time the CL final is held. That would be a big boost if he was fully fit to play, even if it was just off the bench.

[Paulie Dangerously]

TAA can play in midfield, Gomez RB.  

Anyone in the yoof any good?

[alles ist gut]

Grujic isn't eligible for the UEFA List B; he was on List A before his loan, and of course cannot now be put back - there's no provision for injury emergency registrations, except for goalies.

[Ne Moe Imya]

TAA can play in midfield, Gomez RB.  

Anyone in the yoof any good?

 

Of course, I forgot about that!

 

That is actually probably the most like-for-like sub we could make for Oxlade-Chamberlain. Just move TAA into his spot, or even possibly put him at the 6 and move Hendo forward (though the latter option would be a lot of pressure for a young player).

 

As for youth midfielders, Woodburn is by far the closest to ready for the first team. I think we may be hearing a decent amount about Curtis Jones in a year or two, but he's not nearly ready yet, even if we're just talking about padding the squad against Brighton or Stoke to give some others a rest. Most of the best youth midfielders are out on loan (Grujic, Ejaria, Ojo, Chirivella, Allan).

[Kevin D]

It would look even worse if we hadn't been dumped out of both domestic cups, so early. We have been very lucky with injuries, this year, and need to get bodies in the summer.

[joe_fishfish]

Wonder if Klopp is thinking about 4-2-3-1 if we lose another midfielder, bringing Ings in. We saw Bobby go wide left in the second half against City. Ings is pretty flexible, he could slot in out wide, up top or off Salah without much of an issue.

[ZonkoVille77]

I'd play this against Stoke, really do need our best lads firing for next week.

 

Karius

Clyne VVD Gomez Klavan

Gini Hendo Moreno

Ings Solanke Mané

 

Rest Bobby, TAA, Robbo & Milner. Lovern gets the day off to think about his life choices.

 

I'd like to Salah play so he can beat that Big Chinned dribbling gimp Kane to the Golden Boot, but he should really be rested.

If he plays, take him off early if possible, although that hasn't exactly gone well for us.

[JustTosh]

We’re definitely on scratch now. The back 4 is OK, but we can’t have another injury in midfield or attack.

 

Good thing is we’ve only got 5 games left. If we do our job on Saturday we may rest players in two of the remaining 5 as well.

Walking on an edge now, but we can still field a top side.

 

Would like to see Woodburn getting some action. The little we've seen from him has been ace.

[aws]

We'll go strong on Saturday as we can't risk a loss. Win that one and get past Roma and then we can really think about resting players.

[sir roger]

Best case scenario is beat Stoke, Chelsea slip up & leaves the Chelsea & Brighton matches as dead rubbers, leaving only 2 other games ( see what I did there ) to worry about.

 

Can't see TAA in mids on Saturday with him being required at RB on Wednesday.

 

I sometimes wonder if you can overthink it & maybe should go near full strength against Stoke and worry about the rest later.

[KMD7]

We really have to beat Stoke on Saturday.  Can't see Chelsea slipping up again

[Baltar]

Absolute barebones in midfield now. Lallana, Can, Ox are guys that would play every week in most other teams in the league. Losing all 3 for the rest of the season is a massive blow. Just have to hope and pray our 3 remaining fit midfielders stay injury free to the end.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Best Stoke get through Roma and play the reserves against Chelsea. Beat Brighton beat Real/ Bayern, beat your chest, beat an egg, beat the clock. The beat goes on.

[Dr Nowt]

Have advocated Trent in midfield with Clyne at right-back before, but losing him from right-back for the second leg and potential final would feel crushing now, given how he’s made the role his own and how important he’s become to the way we play.

 

Our squad is the proverbial short blanket Rafa used to talk about. Agree with aws, we just have to suck it up and play our best side for now. Given the squad we started the season with, and especially post-Coutinho, we’ve done incredibly well on the pitch.

 

How we are going to buy about 4 midfielders of the relevant quality this summer (Can going, Lallana a perma-crock, if Chamberlain has done his ACL, physically not getting him back on the pitch for 6 or so months will be nothing compared to the further 6-9 before we find out if he’s even the same player anymore), fuck knows.

[Dr Nowt]

Best Stoke get through Roma and play the reserves against Chelsea. Beat Brighton beat Real/ Bayern, beat your chest, beat an egg, beat the clock. The beat goes on.

Emergency...calling Dr Beat.

[Beno]

What about the yellow card situation should we get through.

Aren't Milner and Henderson on yellows from last night and will be banned should they pick up another on Wednesday?

[magicrat]

What about the yellow card situation should we get through.

Aren't Milner and Henderson on yellows from last night and will be banned should they pick up another on Wednesday?

 

Only a red card in the semis would disqualify a player from the final.  

[eeyore]

Despite Woolster being a knobhead, we don't need to beat Stoke.

 

We only need to draw against Stoke, would make the last game against Brighton a bit nervy but still I think I'd rather run the risk of resting players against Stoke and going in hard on Brighton on final day.

[magicrat]

Despite Woolster being a knobhead, we don't need to beat Stoke.

 

We only need to draw against Stoke, would make the last game against Brighton a bit nervy but still I think I'd rather run the risk of resting players against Stoke and going in hard on Brighton on final day.

 

We need to win Saturday, Who the hell wants a last match nail biter if it can be avoided

[eeyore]

We need to win Saturday, Who the hell wants a last match nail biter if it can be avoided

Nail biter against Brighton at home full strength?

[G Richards]

Win on Saturday and take it from there. I don’t want a ridiculously weak team against Stoke, but there should be enough on the pitch to get the job done.

 

We are patching the side up a bit now. Not enough depth, which of course we all knew, but now we are at the sharp end of the season it’s being felt more.

 

I would get Woodburn in the midfield against Stoke, assuming he’s fit.

[G Richards]

PS - of course we should beat Brighton last game of the season, however...

 

It would be foolish to add layers of unnecessary pressure on that game if we can prevent it! To be only one bad result away from finishing outside the top four, with no chance to respond as it’s the last game, would be crazy.

 

Play a strong enough team against Stoke, get the win, then take it from there.

[Hades]

It would look even worse if we hadn't been dumped out of both domestic cups, so early. We have been very lucky with injuries, this year, and need to get bodies in the summer.

Would you risk, what we have, now, for success in the domestic cups?

[magicrat]

Nail biter against Brighton at home full strength?

 

a) we may nit be at full strength

b) expect the unexpected and prepare, IE beat Stoke

[magicrat]

a) we may nit be at full strength

B) expect the unexpected and prepare, IE beat Stoke

 

Apology for the emoji . Fat fingers and an ancient keyboard