From what I have seen of their pre-season games so far, Liverpool have lined up a 4-3-3 formation, so Brendan Rodgers will likely stick to that, albeit with different personnel.
I would personally have preferred they go 4-4-2 diamond but, with just a single friendly match to come, that’s looking very unlikely.
Given this, this would be the likely first choice lineup for Gameweek 1 at Stoke:
—————————Mignolet
–Clyne———–Skrtel———-Sakho———Moreno
—————————–Lucas
———Milner—————————–Henderson
———–Firmino———————Coutinho
—————————Benteke
Notes
- Joe Gomez has started some friendly matches at left-back ahead of Alberto Moreno but I still think Moreno will likely be first choice. Also, Dejan Lovren has already made a couple of errors already in pre-season: I’d hope that realises that he’s suspect and opt for Sakho alongside Martin Skrtel. Nathaniel Clyne, Skrtel and Simon Mignolet pick themselves.
- It looks a straight fight for the deep-lying midfield role between Lucas and Emre Can. The latter has so far missed the entire pre-season after his U21 commitments, so I would expect Lucas to start initially. James Milner and Jordan Henderson look assured of starts.
- As for the front three, two out of three were signed for a lot of money, while Philippe Coutinho was arguably Liverpool’s best performer last season, so they look destined to be first-choice. However, none of them have figured in pre-season to this point, so Jordan Ibe and Adam Lallana are both firmly in the frame at the Britannia, while Divock Origi could also be considered. Lazar Markovic, Mario Balotelli and even Danny Ings will likely find themselves down the pecking order – if not for the Stoke game, certainly as the season progresses.
- In a 4-3-3 like this, Roberto Firmino and Coutinho, the supposed wide players, both love to drift inside, so the full-backs would have to do a lot of running, as will Henderson and Milner.
Fantasy options
- Defence – Sakho at 5.0 is enticing. Clyne is the route for more attacking potential.
- Midfield – all bar Lucas will be options at some part of the season. But with Coutinho/Firmino probably not starting at Stoke, Henderson and Milner are the best of the lot – good options at 7.0.
- Forward – Christian Benteke should be up there with Diego Costa, Harry Kane and Wayne Rooney as top second striker options, and a little more budget friendly. Also he looks to be a decent placeholder for Sergio Aguero for the first two outings, which offer decent fixtures.
