Tag: Stefan Bajcetic

Before Toulouse, three players from Liverpool were injured, and there will be an update on Curtis Jones.

After a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road against Luton, Liverpool disappointed London. Many predicted that Jürgen Klopp’s team would easily defeat the North London team and take all three points, but the home team outplayed Liverpool and disappointed them. Luis Díaz’s goal for Liverpool in the final seconds of play sealed a draw.

Liverpool is currently three points behind Manchester City, the league leaders, in third place in the Premier League standings. The two teams will square off at the end of the month, and fireworks are always guaranteed when these two get together.

A long list of injuries to many of Klopp’s key players hindered Liverpool’s season last year. But this season is different; although the infirmary isn’t as full as it was a year ago, the German team still lacks a few players.

Here is the most recent injury report prior to Thursday, November 9’s Europa League match against Toulouse. Due to his suspension against Brentford this weekend, Alexis Mac Allister is expected to play in Europe during the middle of the workweek.

Stefan Bajčetić and Thiago Alcântara

After extended injuries, neither Thiago Alcântara nor Stefan Bajčetić have returned to training for Liverpool. In a recent statement, Klopp said that the Spaniard won’t return to action until early in 2024.

According to Klopp, “it’s an ongoing thing and we cannot put any kind of pressure on there as well,” on November 3. “We expect him to be back — and I would say probably the start of the New Year.” In late April, Thiago made his Liverpool debut in a 2-1 victory over West Ham.

Regarding Bajčetic, Klopp concurs that the player won’t be making a quick comeback to the field; patience is the key. “We are unsure of his expected return date.

Once more, it’s one of these things with Stefan. Although everyone could see Stefan’s amazing quality, potential, and talent—what a player!—the physique was not yet prepared, according to Klopp.

Curtis Jones and Andy Robertson

During his national duty for Scotland in the Euro 2024 qualifier against Spain, the player sustained an injury. During the encounter, Robertson had to be hauled off after landing awkwardly on his shoulder. At this point, Klopp is unsure of how long the 29-year-old will be sidelined following surgery to fix the damage.

“Robbo had surgery and [it] all went well, as good as it could be, so the recovery starts after he wakes up,” Klopp stated on the 25th of October. “I believe it took place this morning. That is all. The first stage is completed, which is wonderful, even though we have no idea how long it will take or anything else.”

Luke Chambers started the Europa League match against Toulouse, but Kostas Tsimikas has been a regular stand-in for Robertson at left back. Calum Scanlon is an additional youthful alternative that may be considered.

Due to a “minor fitness issue,” Jones was unable to play in the Luton match. As of right now, it is unknown if he will be available for the Toulouse match. Klopp might give an update during his press conference, but it’s unlikely that he will be absent for very long as he could play in at least one of this week’s games.

Jürgen Klopp will be happy with Liverpool’s strong start to the season. However, the Reds have more in store, including the return of a few players.

Already in the new season, Liverpool has had a very successful start.
Juergen Klopp’s team could have been leading the Premier League table if a few things had gone differently in the VAR hub during the Spurs match.

Furthermore, even after receiving four red cards already and winning some difficult matches, this is still the case.

Before an enticing trip to Manchester City, the next four games—Everton, Nottingham Forest, Luton, and Brentford—all appear winnable.

Liverpool appears to be in a much better position this season than it was the previous one, even though there is still a long way to go.
This is largely due to Klopp’s summertime midfield makeover.

Liverpool has added two more midfielders to their roster, Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajčetić, to go along with new additions Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endō, and Ryan Gravenberch. The Spanish duo has mostly suffered injuries thus far.

As a matter of fact, Thiago has not played a minute this season, and Bajčetić has been carefully managed following a season-ending injury that kept him out for nearly half a year.
Before the international break, Klopp stated that both players were getting closer to making a return.

Although, for obvious reasons, neither player should be depended upon excessively, it would be a huge advantage for Liverpool to occasionally insert both into its lineup.

Last season, Bajčetić demonstrated his potential at the senior level, and Thiago, despite his frequent injuries, is a fantastic midfield player.

Despite being healthy the entire season, Harvey Elliott didn’t start until against Brighton, where the midfield appeared unbalanced without Curtis Jones.

However, Elliott hasn’t exactly been let loose yet either; we’ve only really seen tidbits of his true nature.

It is quite possible that in the upcoming months, he will play a bigger role as a rotation player in the Carabao Cup and Europa League and a very good option to have off the bench.

If he continues to have success in his cameos, there will be more opportunities to use him at the Amex Stadium, where he will be much more effective against weaker opponents.

Conor Bradley is yet another young talent that has missed time due to injury.
Though Joe Gomez is more effective when he plays in the center, Bradley may not be the first choice.

Instead of replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gomez could be able to play more centers.

This would give Klopp additional defensive options to choose from, allowing Liverpool to rotate more easily for the upcoming non-Premier League games, where winning is still crucial for the season overall.

As he gets back into action, Bradley might be able to fulfill his goal of watching the Europa League games throughout the summer.

In actuality, Liverpool is the team in the nation with the most depth, especially when it comes to attack.

Although it was expensive to lose Diogo Jota (suspension) and Cody Gakpo (injury) for the Brighton match, Liverpool would rarely be without more than one attacker if they fielded Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz, and Darwin Núñez.

In contrast, Jack Grealish and Jérémy Doku are not as dependable as the goal-scoring options available to Klopp, and Manchester City has suffered without Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne.
Every attacker for Liverpool poses a serious risk.

Even though not every player in Liverpool’s deep squad will be available and fit at any given time in the main, this is a benefit that will become more and more apparent as the season goes on.

The real depth of talent the Reds possess will only become more evident as players like Thiago get back to full health.

Now that Chelsea is coming up, Liverpool needs to start planning itsteam carefully. That might depend more on Thiago’s return than it does on transfer activity.

There hasn’t been any substantial Liverpool transfer news since Fabinho and Jordan Henderson’s departures were made official. The lack of new defensive midfielders has led to an urgent need for one, but otherwise things have been eerily quiet.

Of course, there has been the widely reported pursuit of Roméo Lavia, but one week out from the start of Liverpool’s Premier League campaign, that has not yet resulted in anything. At this point, Jürgen Klopp must start preparing for the Chelsea game without a new hire in the Fabinho position.

It’s possible that a deal will be reached in the next seven days, either for Lavia or for someone else, but Klopp’s sudden inclusion of a new player without even a week’s worth of training would be highly unusual. Additionally, it wouldn’t be very beneficial. He must look internally for the solutions.

The closest thing to recent transfer news Liverpool has had is two players who might (infuriatingly) be characterized as “like new signings,” so perhaps they hold the key. Both Thiago and Stefan Bajeti were scheduled to resume full team training yesterday, according to David Lynch’s report for This is Anfield, and either of them could legitimately be considered for the starting number six position against Chelsea.

This pair will undoubtedly have limited training experience because they have missed the entirety of preseason, much like any new transfer addition. However, unlike a genuine new signing, they at least are aware of Klopp’s system’s requirements.

They would be preferable to the Curtis Jones solution overall. Considering his attacking tendencies, the academy graduate has performed admirably, but it is obvious that he lacks Fabinho’s ability to break up counterattacks. He is only effective as a deep controller when Liverpool is certain it will win the match.

Overall, Thiago must win, provided he is healthy. Contrary to popular belief, he contributes defensively more than enough; he just needs to break the habit of losing his possessions in dangerous areas. In contrast to Bajeti, he also brings a seasoned perspective, providing some stability in a midfield for Liverpool that has undergone significant change.

After all, he’ll probably be paired with the new Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai team, which has a $122 million (£96 million/€111 million) budget. When they both started together for the first time against Bayern Munich, they both made an impression and have since displayed encouraging signs of assimilating into Klopp’s preferred strategy. They are able to offer Thiago the urgent protection he needs up front, and they are free to move forward with the veteran’s support in their rear.

But that doesn’t mean Liverpool can afford to put off its search for a new center-midfielder until after their match against Chelsea. While Klopp may not be looking for a starter for the first game, he still needs to integrate a new specialist number six as soon as possible, and the ideal situation would still see Lavia signed prior to the start of the season.

He should ideally be prepared to start the match against Chelsea on the bench and possibly enter at the end. However, the Thiago option at least ensures that Liverpool won’t be held to ransom in the days leading up to the start of the new season because the ideal midfield for that match will now be composed of players already at Klopp’s disposal.

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold; Konaté; Van Dijk; Robertson; Thiago; Mac Allister; Szoboszlai; Jota; Gakpo; Salah; could be a lineup against Chelsea.