Liverpool, lest we forget, started last season pretty slowly too. So their slightly patchy form this autumn shouldn’t be too much of a worry right now. But time will tell whether all the new signings have compensated for the loss of Luis.
What Liverpool don’t need, in relation to this challenge, is to lose their next best striker Daniel Sturridge. We had hoped that he would be available for the derby at the weekend. But the thigh injury, sustained on England duty, kept him out of that game and has precluded him from travelling with the squad for The Champions League tie with Basel on Wednesday.
Liverpool can simply count their blessings that the draw – Real Madrid apart – has been decent to them. They scraped through their first game and those three points have taken the pressure off to some extent. But Basel are no pushovers and The Reds will certainly want to take something from the game. A draw would be satisfactory at this stage, but Liverpool should be going there for a win, despite the injuries. With a double header against the big boys to come, Brendan Rodgers’s side will want to take maximum points from the others.
Apart from Sturridge, the other notable absentee from the travelling party was Mamadou Sakho who is clearly now paying for throwing his toys out of the pram at the weekend. Despite his power and pace he may now find a route back to the first team permanently blocked by Skrtel and Lovren.
Other than that Liverpool can name a pretty similar line up to the one which so nearly took the points at the weekend.
Here’s our strongest XI (fitness permitting) for an eminently winnable game – IF Liverpool start playing with the sort of tempo that we saw so regularly last season.
Reds fans: let’s have your thoughts
