“It’s time…” – Andoni Iraola urged to make unprecedented team selection for Man City showdown
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Andoni Iraola has been advised to hand one Liverpool player their first Premier League start in this afternoon’s blockbuster showdown at home to Manchester City.
Following the extended international break, the Reds resume their season with a true grudge match against a club who’ve recently been found guilty of 114 breaches of the English top flight’s financial rules.
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With Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak ruled out through injury, the Basque will be forced to make some alterations to his attack for today’s fixture, and that could also require a reshuffle elsewhere on the pitch.
Iraola urged to make bold team selection v Man City
In an article for the Liverpool Echo, Ian Doyle made the case for Iraola to make the bold call to start Trey Nyoni in a Premier League fixture for the first time.
The journalist wrote: ‘Dominik Szoboszlai will be needed a bit further upfield in the number 10 role, which means Alexis Mac Allister needs a partner at the base of midfield, and it’s time for Trey Nyoni to make his first Premier League start ahead of Ryan Gravenberch.’
(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
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Will Iraola play Nyoni from the start today?
Last month, we at Empire of the Kopmade the case for Iraola to give Nyoni a well-deserved place in the starting XI, having excelled in the Carabao Cup win over Tottenham at Anfield in September.
Such is Liverpool’s faith in the 19-year-old that, when Curtis Jones was sold to Inter Milan in the summer, the club’s preference was to promote the teenager from within rather than spending money on signing a midfield replacement.
All nine of his Premier League outings so far have come as a substitute, including three in the opening weeks of this campaign, so it’d be a bold move by the Reds’ head coach to give him his first top-flight start against the hitherto 100% league leaders on an occasion as highly charged as this.
It wouldn’t be wholly unprecedented at Liverpool – Trent Alexander-Arnold was handed his full Premier League debut away to Manchester United nearly 10 years ago – and it’d be a significant show of faith in Nyoni off the back of some fine recent displays.
We think that Iraola might favour the greater experience of Gravenberch for today’s fixture, but we wouldn’t put it beyond the Basque to give the hugely gifted 19-year-old a golden opportunity to make a massive leap forward by throwing him in from the start against Man City.
The team news will be most compelling when it’s announced 75 minutes before kick-off.