It’s hard to remember much about last season, especially for Liverpool supporters who have written the 2020/21 campaign off as the true pandemic season, lost in time just like their centre-backs were lost to injury.
So it’s even harder to recall that Jurgen Klopp’s side were top of the table on Christmas Day last season. It was a time before the injuries really set in and the collapse kicked in - winning just four of their 13 league games after Christmas, losing eight.
Liverpool won't be top of the table again as you tuck into your turkey this year, and while last season won’t be repeated, there is a New Year concern on the horizon with the Africa Cup of Nations.
As things stand at the time of writing, Liverpool still don’t know whether they will have Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita available for the title clash with Chelsea less than a fortnight away at Stamford Bridge on January 2.
Talks between the Merseysiders and the respective national FAs of Egypt, Senegal and Guinea are ongoing, with Klopp saying recently that he was “an optimistic person… but it’s not written in stone and not completely in our hands."
What Liverpool do know is that they will be without the African trio for league games against Brentford and Crystal Palace – plus FA Cup third and fourth-round fixtures.
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There's a somewhat 'winter break' at the end of January/start of February, and that might explain why Klopp has been keen to play these games even with covid absences, instead of them being rearranged for during a time when Salah and Mane are absent.
The Afcon final takes place on February 6, meaning that even if two of the three make that final, all should be back available for the league game against Leicester City on February 10.
But to be losing Salah and Mane, who have 31 goals and 10 assists between them already this season is, of course, a major blow for Klopp’s side.
So what are the options?
1. Sign an attacker – early!
Liverpool have been linked with a host of attacking options, most notably RB Salzburg’s latest wonderkid, Karim Adeyemi. Any January move for the highly-touted teenager seems highly unlikely, though.
Other attacking players on the Reds’ radar include West Ham’s Jarred Bowen, Leeds’ Raphina, Belgian winger Jeremy Doku, and Lille’s Jonathan David.
Klopp, though, has often stated how he doesn’t sign a player for a month (during AFCON), and any new signing at Liverpool is rarely put straight into the team.
“You cannot always have the perfect solution,” acknowledged Klopp last week. “In this case we are far away from being the perfect solution without these players but we knew it and we now we have to deal with it.”
Signing a player might be an option, but it’s not one that Liverpool or Klopp are likely to pursue. The only way it would happen is if someone else were to leave; perhaps Divock Origi while his price tag is high and Liverpool then opting to bring in a different style of attacker for the future.
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2. The existing options
First off, without Mane and Salah, Roberto Firmino is the one remaining from the Reds’ successful triumvirate of the last four years. The Brazilian has been sidelined since October with a hamstring injury but is now back in full training - just in time to be up to full match fitness in January.
Expect Firmino to be carefully managed until the AFCON begins, with a League Cup quarter-final against Leicester City next week likely his first start back.
In Firmino’s absence, Diogo Jota has really enjoyed a solid run in the team and the Portuguese will move back to his left side role with Firmino central, therefore replacing Mane directly.
Jota and Firmino aren’t exactly bad options, but it’s on the other side, replacing Salah that’s the hardest.
Next in the forward pecking order would be Divock Origi, but he plays either centrally or on the left - where Firmino and Jota are better quality options. How an attack of those three would line up may require Jota shifting to an unfamiliar right side role.
Then there’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has actually played the ‘false 9’ role once recently in Jota’s absence, having been prepared for the role in pre-season. The 28-year-old used to play on the right of a three for Arsenal, but has proven ineffective there during his time at Anfield, better suited as the attacking midfielder in Klopp’s system.
And finally, there’s Takumi Minamino, who could operate anywhere across the front three, but has struggled to make either role really his strength since joining the club almost two years ago.
Check out the Liverpool 2021/22 range here
3. The Harvey and Gordon curveballs
There is, though, two other options that could arrive for Klopp should Harvey Elliott continue his speedy recovery from ankle surgery, or fellow teenager Kaide Gordon impress sufficiently.
Liverpool would prefer not to rush the prodigious Elliott back to action, but he is due to be back in team training in January.
And the right forward role is exactly where Elliott made his name, playing there 32 times during the impressive loan spell at Blackburn last season, netting five goals and assisting nine.
Indeed, when Klopp began using the former Fulham youngster in midfield during pre-season it was a surprise, and even more so when he actually started the Reds’ first four league games of the season in the right midfield role.
Gordon, meanwhile, a year younger than Elliott at just 17, has been fast-tracked since his move from Derby County last winter. He could get a chance in the FA Cup against Shrewsbury in the first game without Salah and Mane, and should he take that then perhaps he could end up forcing his way into the reckoning for the two league games.
The upshot
Firstly, we expect Salah and Mane to be available for that Chelsea game. Thereafter, realistically, the options are Firmino and Jota plus one of Origi or Oxlade-Chamberlain. Is it perfect? No. Klopp knows this.
“Whoever will play in the period when the three boys are not here, we will have a plan, and gives us a chance to win a football game,” he says.
“Can we play exactly the same kind of football? Probably not – but who cares? Then we play the football we are able to play then. We are quite confident we will find solutions.”
Of course, there is one other possible outcome… that the tournament is cancelled due to ongoing issues in the host country, Cameroon, and the pandemic. Maybe the solutions won’t be required after all.
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