It could be easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater after Leeds United’s Crystal Palace collapse on Sunday. The emotional reaction after an experience as harrowing as that is to shun anything connected to it.
If you were asked at 4.30pm on Sunday which team you would pick for Liverpool’s visit, you wouldn't have been likely to say 11 changes, but there’s a good bet you were weighing up five or six. With some time to simmer down and reflect on the weekend’s events, it’s easier to remember how impressive the first half was on the back of last week’s Nottingham Forest win.
Javi Gracia, who has cut a calm and methodical figure since arriving, does not seem the type to bring about sweeping changes, especially after eight days between matches. There were calls from him for learning from Sunday’s mistakes.
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Illan Meslier looks safe between the sticks, along with Robin Koch at the heart of defence. Luke Ayling has continued to stand out as a problem in the last few games.
Week by week it has proved difficult for Ayling to deliver the performances necessary to keep danger at bay down his flank, but Gracia has stood by the vice-captain. It’s hard to ascertain whether the head coach will finally cave, but it feels like Rasmus Kristensen’s turn.
Liam Cooper’s figure looms large on the bench and Max Wober has a huge claim to start if he’s fit, but Pascal Struijk has been solid since coming into the line-up. Junior Firpo will have one of the toughest assignments of the season in facing Mohamed Salah, but there’s nothing to suggest he will be chopped.
Marc Roca and Weston McKennie were two of those who best summed up the crash in form between Tuesday’s peak and Sunday’s trough. The dearth of alternatives should keep them in the side, but there may be the addition of Jack Harrison in the centre to make a midfield three.
Harrison did well in there against Arsenal and, given Liverpool’s strengths, it would be not be a shock to see Harrison shuffled in there again. That would push Leeds into a 4-3-3 with Patrick Bamford, fresh from a goal, leading the line.
Luis Sinisterra was among the first taken off on Sunday, but he should have enough credit in the bank from the Forest win to continue. Meanwhile, Wilfried Gnonto could edge out Brenden Aaronson on the other flank with Harrison stationed further back.
Possible XI: Meslier; Kristensen, Koch, Struijk, Firpo; McKennie, Roca, Harrison; Sinisterra, Bamford, Gnonto.
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