Issues for Klopp and Frank
Kicking off at their outgoing manager’s least-favourite time slot, this time handy with Luton to face in midweek, Liverpool top the division at the cost of a considerable injury list. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai are the headline absences, both players likely to miss next week’s Carabao Cup final. A recent flu outbreak was similarly unhelpful to Jürgen Klopp, who comes up against a manager in Thomas Frank who is one of the outsiders to succeed him, even if Xabi Alonso’s coronation seems a fait accompli after Bayer Leverkusen’s feats last week against Bayern Munich. Frank, on significantly lesser resources, has been the charismatic frontman of a similar regime in west London, his team’s foundations built on athleticism and metrics. That this season’s wobbles have come as a surprise reflects the strides Frank, a manager who shares Klopp’s qualities of being both wildly passionate and tenderly holistic, has taken Brentford on. John Brewin
