Jurgen Klopp has addressed the topic of whether he will select his matchday teams for Europa League group games by looking inside the Liverpool academy.
The 56-year-old is set to rotate his starting lineup extensively for the group games throughout the autumn as a result of the Reds’ participation in Europe’s secondary club championship and the resulting regularity of Thursday-Sunday schedule.
During the first team’s preseason schedule in Germany and Singapore, the manager offered a number of young players playing time, however he was evasive when asked how much the upcoming generation will be utilized on the European stage.
If there will be children engaged, it will depend on their maturity level at the time, Klopp said in a statement to TNT Sports. Although there is genuine talent, the work is not adventurous.
“I believe we should have enough players, and that’s basically the plan, to field a top squad on Thursday and Sunday if we are not hit by an injury problem.
“After that, we’ll decide how to form a squad. To be honest, I hadn’t given it much thought yet. In football, long-term plans of this nature are completely useless because they can be abandoned for any reason almost immediately after being created.
“We’ll see, but our children are good. When you have all these kids in training, that is the advantage of the international break. Boys who are 16 years old who are really talented and good were present.
According to Klopp’s remarks, he seems willing to give academy players a go in the Europa League if he thinks they’re ready for it and if the circumstances are right for Liverpool.
The ideal outcome for the Reds would be to win the group with one game remaining and take first place, which would allow the manager to rest his starting players for the away game against Union Saint-Gilloise in a hectic December and give the young players experience in a first-team setting.
Ben Doak and Jarell Quansah have already participated in the Premier League this season, so they will probably be used frequently in Europe, while other standouts like Melkamu Frauendorf, Bobby Clark, and James McConnell received preseason playing time.
It might also be the ideal situation for Klopp to give Kaide Gordon another chance if Liverpool manages to advance from the group stage with games remaining. Gordon had occasionally played for the first team before his pelvic injury nightmare.
Of course, as the manager acknowledged, the composition of his squad can suddenly be thrown asunder by unforeseen events such as injuries, while he’s also acknowledged that he’s not going to toss academy players into a European game purely for the sake of it.
In an ideal world, the Reds will get the job done nice and early so that the German has the scope to give the likes of Doak, Quansah, McConnell, Clark et al a few runouts in the Europa League and keep the first-team stalwarts fresh for Premier League action.