It’s been a great few days for the Reds with a win in the Carabao Cup and the team into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. But with injuries starting to bite, can Liverpool’s youngsters keep the wins coming while more established stars work their way back to fitness?
A day to remember for Jürgen Klopp ❤️#EFL | #CarabaoCupFinal
— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) February 25, 2024
Jurgen Klopp’s delight at the performances of his young players can’t be hidden. But the reality is, if he is to leave Liverpool with a quadruple or even a treble, he will need to get some established stars back and keep them fit.
The inexperienced folks will only take the team so far. It’s the more established names like Mohamed Salah who win the big competitions. And if Liverpool are to win the Premier League, the Egyptian will need to remain fit for the rest of the season.
Liverpool is in the running for more trophies
At the moment, the bookmakers see Liverpool as one of the betting favourites. In the latest football betting odds to win the Premier League, Manchester City lead the way at 5/6. City are still most people’s football betting tips to win the title again. Liverpool is second in the betting with a price of 23/10, showing that the bookmakers still see the Reds winning the title as a real possibility.
Faith in Liverpool remains strong. Even after the FA Cup quarter-final draw, the Reds are still second favourites to win the cup for the ninth time. And in total trophies betting, Liverpool are 22/1 to add the Premier League, Europa League, and FA Cup to the Carabao.
To put those odds into perspective, Manchester City are 12/1 to win the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup. But the bookmakers would be factoring the strength of City’s squad into those odds.
Huge loss
One of the biggest losses over the past few days has been the injury to Diogo Jota. The word is that the Portuguese is likely to be missing for a couple of months. So he might be back in time for the final push. How match-sharp Jota will be is debatable, though.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on injury list.
“Diogo Jota knee issue, ruled out — with him it will take more than a month”.
“Alisson with a muscle injury, ruled out”.
“Curtis with a bone ligament issue, ruled out”.
“Trent and Szoboszlai, not ready yet”. pic.twitter.com/EMPKbKnZrY
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 20, 2024
He seemed to take a bit of time to get back to match fitness after his setbacks earlier in the season. So the injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the club or the player. Jota was flying at the time. In his six games before the Brentford match, he had scored five and assisted three.
Jota even found time to register an assist before he left the pitch injured against the Bees. Such was the form of Jota, Salah’s AFCON absence was barely even noticed.
Time for experience
But with Jota now out for a few weeks, maybe even the rest of the season, the more experienced players need to step up. Luis Diaz has been in good form lately, particularly at Anfield, where he has found the net regularly in recent weeks.
The Columbian will need to be at his best, as will Mohamed Salah.
The youngsters will serve the club well in the future and are still likely to feature more this season. But when it comes to the crunch matches, there is no substitute for experience. And in those big moments, it will be a time for the likes of Salah to come to the fore to help give Klopp the send-off he deserves.
