1. The natives arranged their forces in three ranks.
Union Saint-Ciloise made three changes to their starting line-up from their last game, in which they drew a goalless draw with Lyon at the end of November.
With Charles van Hout suspended, Matthias Rasmussen was replaced by Noah Sadiki on the pitch alongside Lazare Amani, while at attacker Gustav Nielsen stole his starting position from Kevin Rodriguez.
2. Swan uses child labour
Liverpool manager Klopp has named 22-year-old midfielder Curtis Jones to captain a squad full of young players, and has captained 30-year-old Japan midfielder Wataru Endo, the oldest of the starting XI.
Meanwhile, the Reds reduced the squad to nine players in total, with only Jarrel Kwanza and Endo likely to start regularly, compared to the league game in which they beat Crystal Palace 2-1.
From this list, Liverpool’s average squad age in this competition is 22 years and 156 days, the youngest squad age in European football. The club’s second youngest average age in all competitions excluding academy teams.
3. Kelleher is busy.
It is natural that Kevin Kelleher will have a lot of work to do in this game, as the home side still have a chance to finish second and Liverpool fielded a youth team that made the game inferior to St Silois. The Reds will have more possession. But they were unable to progress and cause trouble in the opposition’s end zone.
Because of this, the Irish goalkeeper had to help save and keep the team’s score. And he did well a couple of times. But in the end, they couldn’t get away with a mistake by Jones in midfield, conceding a goal to Mohamed Amura in the 32nd minute, which allowed him to curl the ball and give St. Cyll a chance. Lois fought back.
However, a team that excels at scoring goals, Liverpool pulled the score back with Kwanza’s decisive strike, his first goal for the club. It was the Reds’ 2,000th goal of the Klopp era, counting all competitions.
In the end though, a brilliant and sustained attack from the home side saw Cameron Burtas strike in the 43rd minute to put them back 2-1 up.
At the end of the first half, the Red Machines managed to dominate the ball with only 71:29%, but were ineffective in penetrating dangerous areas and the home team passed the ball to 8:1 shot opportunities behind Saint-Chillois. Entered over 4-1 times in the frame.
4. Go to the next round, but don’t give up.
Klopp immediately adjusted the game by pairing the struggling Endo with Ibrahima Konate, with Ryan Grafenberg and Joe Gomes wearing the armband in place of Jones. But with both full-backs young players, defense is still a problem as St-Siloise provide attacking opportunities all the time.
However, from the overall picture, it must be considered that the Swan kids wore a fighting spirit and did not fare badly against the home team, despite their inferior tactics. The score remained 2-1 until extra-time, when Kelleher ran in to take a corner kick when nothing was needed, indicating that the Red Machine were not about to waste. An easy fail record too. If they reach the knockout round of this cup first.
After 90 minutes, Liverpool still had a better ratio of 69:31%, but their goal chances were 15-4 less than the home team’s, including sending the ball low into the box 6-3 times. Klopp sends Tarr on. Win Nunez, who replaced the ineffective Ben Toke in the 63rd minute, could not avoid defeat as the hosts went 3-1 close with a goal from Puertas Chao. Handballed and confiscated it.
5. Guess Klopp’s heart in the red hot game.
After returning from Belgium, Liverpool will play a torrid game against Manchester United this Sunday, which is certainly more important than the game with Union St-Chilois, which cannot be compared due to the position of the Red Devils. The open time this time is a chance for the Red Machine to grab the three points and maintain their position.
Meanwhile, if you want to take an early guess at Klopp’s military formation, there are certainly four stars who will not be traveling with the squad in midweek, including Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnault. Old, Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah will compete for Manchester United. As real players.
Key players such as Luis Diaz and Dominik Soboslai will also return to the starting XI, while Kostas Simikas is likely to remain at left back.
As for Nunes, even though he still squandered chances, he didn’t quit. But he is also expected to be in action this Sunday after Klopp sent him on to stretch his squad with Union Saint-Cilois due to Cody Kakpo, who played the entire game on Thursday. And if they perform poorly, they may have to sit out again.
Ultimately, the hardest position to predict will be number six, especially if Alexis MacAllister can’t recover from injury in time. Including Van Dijk’s partner, who could be suspended after playing only half of the Europa League group stage games. But it also falls into the area of brotherly love, with Kwanzaa feeling sorry for the younger as he gains confidence and Klopp could start three games in a row depending on whether he’s new or old. But at the same time, we will have to wait and see if the French national team’s center half is fully fit or not. Also, Kwanza has been inefficient in controlling the area as he let the Belgian football team in the last game. Slip into the penalty area.
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