Liverpool head into a difficult away trip at Brentford with the squad stretched, the midfield thinner than ideal and the attack still waiting on key names. The one piece of good news is that Andoni Iraola has not ruled out a return for Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo, even if he is clearly offering no guarantees.
That matters. Liverpool looked underpowered in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, a game that exposed what happens when three frontline options disappear at once. Szoboszlai, Isak and Gakpo were all absent again in midweek, when Liverpool beat LASK Linz 6-3 in the Champions League, but the manager’s language before the Brentford match was noticeably less definitive.
Iraola said: “It’s early for us to say, we still have to train tomorrow.
“Obviously they were not ready for yesterday night, so we have to wait and see. I think it is still very early but, the same way I said that they were not available for the previous games, I leave the chance open this time, yes.”
Szoboszlai, Isak and Gakpo latest
The three injuries have arrived in inconvenient fashion. Isak and Gakpo picked up their issues on international duty, thigh and ankle respectively. Szoboszlai’s case is more frustrating from Liverpool’s point of view. He came back from Hungary duty appearing fine, then missed the City defeat with a hamstring problem.
Photo: IMAGO
That leaves Brentford preparing for a Liverpool side who may still be without one of their most influential midfielders and two important attacking options. It also leaves Iraola balancing optimism with realism, which is fair enough. There is no point pretending players are ready when they are not, and no point ruling them out too early if there is still one more training session to get through.
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If Szoboszlai does not make it, Liverpool have a more obvious issue in midfield because Ryan Gravenberch is suspended. His sending off against City, two yellow cards and…
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