Preview: LFC v. Cardiff City (FA Cup)

1. Harvey Elliott is BACK.  Klopp has all but indicated that Harvey will start this match.
2.  Thiago is BACK from his hip injury, although he did have a chest infection and missed at least one day of training this week. I doubt that he will start Sunday, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s on the bench and gets a bit of playing time.
3. Naby Keïta had a very good tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations before Guinea was knocked out in the Round of 16.  He returned to England healthy.
4. Divock Origi is BACK.
5. Sadio Mané and Mo Salah are playing against one another in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday. They are both expected to be back in England before LFC’s next Premier League match, on Thursday, Feb. 10 against Leicester City.
6. Last, but certainly not least, new surprise signee Luis Díaz (from Porto and Colombia) has arrived at the LFC training facility, participated in training, and should (at least) be on the bench Sunday.

Now, the games come thick and fast, as the Reds bounce from one competition to the next.

For me, the FA Cup should now be the LOWEST priority of the four.  Yes, it’s a bit more prestigious than the Carabao Cup. But, we’re already in the final of that one, and that means that the Carabao Cup remains our best chance of winning a trophy this season. Let’s win it.  Thus, the FA Cup falls down the ladder to the bottom.

This particular match finds us at Anfield against Cardiff City.  That club was in the Premier League as recently as 2019, but now finds itself sitting just above the relegation zone in the Championship, in 20th place (out of 24 teams). I don’t know anything else about the current version of their team, but I nonetheless can predict with great confidence that they will come to Anfield and park as stout a bus as they can.

If the squad remains as healthy as it currently seems (it won’t, but hopefully it will be close…), predicting Klopp’s lineup for the rest of the season will be a lot more difficult than it usually is. For this particular match, I think Klopp may try to work in some of his first-choice players to try to get them in rhythm, since they haven’t played in a couple of weeks. On the other hand, with so many matches coming up in so many competitions, and with the FA Cup at or near the bottom of the priority list, there’s strong reason to sit our most important players.  My guess is that we will see a mix, but that most of our top players (who are not still in Africa) will be on the bench to start.

I would expect the bench to include Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is now even more clearly the least replaceable player on the team.  We sent Neco Williams on loan for the rest of the season to Fulham, while we were negotiating with Fulham to get 19-year-old starlet Fabio Carvalho. The Carvalho deal was struck very late on transfer day, but the medical and paperwork were not submitted before the deadline.  Reports indicate that LFC are confident that Carvalho will sign in the summer, which would create no harm at all, given that the deal with Fulham would have had LFC loaning him back to Fulham for the remainder of this season even if the deal had been completed on Jan. 31.

With Neco now gone for the rest of this season, the backup right back situation is a bit more cloudy. So, who will start in TAA’s spot, if I’m right that it’s not Trent himself? My guess is that it will be youngster Conor Bradley. He’s already played in several domestic cup matches this season, and he’s looked pretty good.  He’s an attacking-style fullback, in a similar style to Trent himself.  The other options are Joe Gomez, who’s not a decent attacker, and James Milner.

I’ll be very interested to see who starts this one in midfield. I hope he leaves Fabinho and Henderson out of the starting lineup.  If that happens, then I would expect Tyler Morton to start as the defensive midfielder (#6).  As for the remaining two spots, I believe Harvey Elliott will probably be one of them (though he could instead start in Mo Salah’s spot on the right side of the forward line).  If I’m right about Elliott starting in midfield, that leaves the left-sided central midfield position available for one of: Keïta, CuJo, Thiago, AOC, or Milner.  My guess is it will be Milner, but none of the others would be a huge shock.

The forward line is also difficult to call.  I doubt that Luis Díaz will start, because he will have only participated in one or two training sessions with the team.  He’s a lightning-fast wide forward right out of the Jürgen Klopp playbook. He is right-footed, but typically plays left wing and cuts inside. His speed and dribbling skills are world-class, and he’s also a very good finisher. Because we dominated Porto in both CL matches in the group stage this season, I had forgotten how good Díaz was against us.  He will need to improve his linkup play and passing, but I have little doubt that the coaching staff will help him do that. He will obviously also have to learn his pressing responsibilities in our system, which will take some time. But Díaz is a great acquisition. Many folks think he’s been the best player in Portugal this season, and that league is full of really good players. The club now has more leverage in its negotiations to extend Sadio Mané’s contract. Perhaps more importantly for the short-term, Sadio now has some real competition, which I believe will generate a significant reaction from him.  I’m betting on Mané having a kickass second half of the season.

Back to the lineup.  I think Díaz is likely to play, but probably come off the bench. We get five substitutes in this competition (and in every competition OTHER than the Premier League).  I’ll guess that Minamino starts on the left side Sunday.  Origi, Firmino, and Jota are all candidates to start as the center forward. I’ll guess that it’s Firmino. Origi could start with Firmino and Jota coming into this game in the second half, or one of Firmino/Jota may play the first half while the other plays the second.  On the right, I’ll guess AOC, though it could be Kaide Gordon or Harvey Elliott.

At the back, I think Tsimikas and Kelleher are near locks to start.  VVD and/or Matip might start to get some rhythm, but I’ll guess that it will be Gomez and Konaté.  We’ve already talked about right back.

So, my guess is, with right back Conor Bradley and DM Tyler Morton:

Whoever starts, it’s unlikely to be a group that’s ever played together before in a competitive match. And, it’s been a while since many of these guys have played at all. I don’t expect a whole lot of fluency. But, I also expect some of our big guns to come off the bench in the second half. We’re at Anfield, and the competition is pretty weak.

The Reds should have a relatively easy time of it, at least once they get that first goal to go in. If that still hasn’t happened after the first 70 minutes, then we could have a problem.

LFC 3 – Cardiff City 0