Presenting opportunity for irregular faces to earn a regular starting berth hasn’t always been the primary approach for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, but if this year brings version 2.0 of his Anfield teams, not every new position is yet filled.
The majority are, of course, barring injury and unexpected absences; the former has meant Kostas Tsimikas is the go-to left-back for the rest of the year due to Andy Robertson’s injury, while the latter means Luis Diaz cannot be seen as a first-team option for the foreseeable future.
With the Reds going well in three competitions and with a very reasonable fixture list through to the international break, it has been a chance for the boss to make alterations without compromising the team’s ability to pick up victories - and, thus, for several players to stake their claims for a place in the lineup they otherwise might not have had.
There remain three more matches for Liverpool before the next two-week international break; given the first game back is away to rivals Manchester City, Klopp will simply play what he believes is his strongest, most in-form and tactically prepared XI to go up against the reigning champions. In turn that means there are three more auditions for perhaps just two spots to be won, two spots in what will - from that point until the next enforced change - be seen as the strongest, best and go-to team.
The first comes in midfield, the second in attack; both of them can arguably be described as Klopp having a choice between tried and familiar - if not perenially trusted - and his new-signed Dutch duo.
There’s a wider, exponential effect from the two decisions too on how good Liverpool can be; not just individually but also cumulatively as it means an entirely reconstructed left flank once Tsimikas is factored in - full-back, left-sided No.8 midfielder and left-sided forward. The cohesion and off-the-ball reactivity will be as vital for Klopp’s choice as their in-possession impact over the next few weeks.
It’s worth noting again the more offensive role, to begin with. Diaz would be a nailed-on starter from the left side, but the ongoing situation from his father being kidnapped means it’s not just pointless, but also heartless, to speculate when he might play football again. There’s no way to know when he may be rescued, much less what state of mind Diaz himself might be in anyway; as such he must effectively be discounted as an option for now as the club continue to support him in whatever way they can off the field.
Given Darwin Nunez’s run of five goals in six games for club and country and an ever-improving impact on team performances, it leaves Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo battling it out for the third attacking spot alongside the Uruguayan and Mohamed Salah.
Both can play left, both can rove centrally; Jota has become ever more of a predatory poacher at Anfield, less mobile and rapid since a serious calf injury last season, not always diligent in possession but a menace in the box who has unerring positional instincts. Hard work remains, but the industry isn’t always allied to technical certainty.
Gakpo, meanwhile, has shown flashes of brilliance and ability to both link outside the box and finish inside it, but his game still lacks something of the aggression, speed and consistency that marked out the forwards who preceded him. The January signing has 11 goals in 37 outings in red, neither stellar nor absolutely reliable but still a profile that could come good from a team perspective and an individual who offers exceptional ball-carrying and shooting ability from range, albeit - so far - fleetingly.
Choosing between them in any given game might be more about the requirements of the team defensively as much as offensively, while there’s still the option of playing either one as the No.9 and pushing Nunez left at times. In any case, neither has definitively shown the consistency this season to make themselves undroppable, nor the relentlessness off the bench to be a certain game-changer. Gakpo has a goal or assist every 110 minutes this season; Jota every 120. His, in fact, are only goals, having played the equivalent of around a game and a half more than his Dutch teammate. In terms of the City match, it could be as simple as who hits a run of form in the next couple of weeks...and who avoids injury or fatigue on international duty.
Behind them is perhaps the more pivotal decision, the more intriguing one too.
Curtis Jones deservedly started the campaign with a run in the team and some very good performances, but a three-match suspension paved the way for Ryan Gravenberch to come into the XI twice in the league as well as continuing his role as Europa League starter. The favourable run the Reds faced running up to the international break has seen them win all four so far, with the Dutch midfielder starting three.
Powerful cameos, silky technique and a couple of goals have quickly endeared him to supporters at Liverpool, but the 21-year-old is still getting up to speed in fitness and tactical terms and his impressive showings have been moments, rather than matches. Gravenberch has yet to complete a full 90 and has had spells in games where he sees more of a watching brief than a controlling one, a natural consequence of being a new face in a reconstructed team perhaps, but one he still needs improvement on.
It is Jones who has given Liverpool that control and diligence, not just this season but stretching back to the start of last year’s improvement: he came into the lineup at Chelsea in April, played the last 11 league games and lost none of them. The 11 prior to that featured five defeats and only four victories as Champions League hopes fell by the wayside. The Scouser has been assertive, progressive and incrementally improving himself, a notable upgrade in the centre of the park on last year’s mixed, muddled mess.
Consistency isn’t just performances, though, it’s availability too - and Jones has already missed half of the league games so far this term.
And so to Luton Town, in the Premier League’s bottom three and without a win since they last faced a Merseyside opponent, before Toulouse away in the Europa League and a home clash with Brentford bring the Reds to the mid-November break.
Klopp must have Liverpool in their ideal shape by then, with the unknown quantity of international games still to navigate but with a first-choice plan already in mind for the biggest game of the season thereafter. And beyond a first-choice gameplan, perhaps, his actual first-choice 11.
