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Virgil van Dijk is out of contract at the end of the season. We need his experience but it looks like this will probably be his last season at Liverpool.
It seems to be going well for him, playing alongside Jeremy Jacquet. He’s more manoeuvrable than Konate. He seems to fit better alongside Van Dijk than Konate did.
And alongside him on the other side, you’ve got Ronald Araujo. He’s added stability defensively. Going forward he might be a little limited but defensively, his experience will be massive against City.
To have our best chance against them, we’ve got to get a clean sheet really - especially looking at what we might have available upfront. Hopefully they prove me wrong. But those three in defence, they have bonded really well.
READ MORE: Liverpool have already found their summer transfer hit as £47m January question emerges
READ MORE: How Liverpool could line-up vs Man City as Andoni Iraola faces enforced changes after double blow
There is still a long way to go this season. Araujo has started really well and his experience shows. Let’s hope he stays away from injury for the whole season. Then you’re looking at that £47m purchase option and it certainly becomes viable.
But you know what I’d do? I’d be looking to bring back Jarell Quansah. There’s a £56m buyback option on him and, for me, it’s a no-brainer.
Next season, if Virgil goes, you’re looking at it and we could have Araujo, Jacquet, Leoni and Quansah. That’s four great options.
Arne Slot didn’t fancy Quansah after that first game of the season against Ipswich. It showed as he didn’t really play him, didn’t really fancy him. But he’s proved Arne wrong.
He’s gone to Leverkusen and is doing really well. He’s playing well for England. For me, you need four really good centre-halves.
Giovanni Leoni, look, he's coming back from serious injury. From the little of him we’ve seen, he looks good, he looks really good. The early signs were good.
And it's a no-brainer to get Quansah back next year. Absolutely, 100%. 100%, man. As long as he wants to come. He’s a Warrington lad. I hope he’s a Liverpudlian. And if that’s the case, there’s no reason not to go and get him.
Liverpool has the buyback. If they want him, they have to go and get him. And then next year, centre-halves-wise, we’d be really solid.
And that’s despite Virgil going after all his years of service he's given us. There has been a question mark in the position since Joel Matip went. I wasn't a big big fan of Konate.
But now it’s like when you sow a seed, you start to see some nice roses growing. You think, "Oh, this could be a nice flower garden, this."
But I think to get that, I think bringing back Quansah would be a wise move.
And then if Virgil goes, we’re talking about the possible next captain. Szoboszlai’s obviously a contender but what about Araujo? He’s been captain for Barcelona. I know he’s just come to the club but he’s so experienced. He could be an option too.
Florian Wirtz has to step up - especially after striker injuries
It’s been a mixed international break for Andoni Iraola. Looking on from afar, a number of his Liverpool players have seemed to do pretty well.
A fair few of them have been scoring goals. Virgil van Dijk got his 100th cap, Florian Wirtz has captained Germany. But looking ahead to the Man City game, the main thing you can’t escape from a Reds perspective is the injury scares.
We just have to hope that Cody Gakpo or Alexander Isak are fit to lead the line. Because if they’re not, we could struggle.
Obviously there will be a lot of noise around them, but they’re a team in form and it’s going to be really tough - especially if we don’t have one of Gakpo or Isak.
The one thing that will help us is the atmosphere. I think it's going to be red hot. I’m sure the crowd will turn up and we want to keep our unbeaten run going.
But without one of them playing up front it could be a bit of a struggle, to be honest. We’d have to see which way Iraola would go if it came to it.
We all like young Lewis Koumas and what he brings to the table. But a game of that magnitude, for such a young lad… It'd be nice if he could go in there and do really well, but it'd be really tough for him.
Who else have we got? He could play Florian Wirtz up there. We’ve played without a striker against Man City once before and it worked well.
He’s had an okay international break but it’s not just the form. He has to deal with the situation, the pressure. The media’s on top of him but he’s putting himself under pressure too.
He's a really good player. And we need him now. We need him really to push us to the heights where we need to be, to fight against Arsenal and whoever else ends up up there.
That we’re having this discussion though about attacking options, it shows you the situation we’re in with regards to the squad. It’s not the strongest.
We have been a bit unlucky, to be honest. Ekitike, Gakpo, and Isak potentially all out. I don't know, to be honest, if Munoz can play there, if Wirtz can play there, Ngumoha, Barcola… I really don't know. I don't know.
It is an enigma. Let's hope Isak is just precautionary because he felt a twinge in his thigh, and he could be all right. That's all we can hope for.
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