It may only be one game, but Liverpool have shown early signs that they are more than well-equipped to deal with Mohamed Salah’s departure to AFCON.
Still challenging for silverware on all four fronts, Liverpool will be without their top goal scorer for at least four Premier League and Carabao Cup fixtures.
The nerves heading into Sunday’s FA Cup third-round fixture with Arsenal were further agitated when Virgil Van Dijk was a late exclusion from the side owing to illness.
Along with Van Dijk and Salah, Liverpool were also without Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Wataru Endo, Kostas Tsimikas, Stefan Bajcetic and Ben Doak. Quite the list, with Trent Alexander-Arnold another name added after picking up a knee injury that sees him ruled out for three weeks.
After being dominated in the first half against Arsenal, Jurgen Klopp tactically tweaked his side and not for the first time this season looked to the bench for a reprieve.
Ryan Gravenberch’s introduction added much-needed energy to Liverpool’s midfield and duped the young Dutchman Martin Ødegaard to win the free-kick that led to Liverpool’s opener.
Diogo Jota came on to revitalise Liverpool’s front three, with an ineffective Darwin Nunez shifting to the left and Jota going up top. Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners and demonstrated once more the impact that their substitutes are having off the bench.
It’s been an emblem of this Liverpool side all season. We’ve seen it with Harvey Elliot’s 91st- minute winner off the bench at Crystal Palace and the win over Newcastle earlier in the season in which- when down to ten men after Van Dijk’s dismissal- Klopp handed Jarrell Quansah his senior debut.
The young Englishman rose to the occasion, so much so that he is now a first-team regular, starting alongside MOTM Ibrahima Konaté at the Emirates and delivering another professional performance.
Every passing game highlights the fantastic work being done by Liverpool’s academy director Alex Inglethorpe, with 10 academy players included in the matchday squad against Arsenal.
Liverpool have been linked with a move with a centre-half since Joel Matip’s season-ending injury, but Ingelthorpe may have saved the club £50 million by playing a leading role in the emergence of Quansah.
In the win at the Emirates, Klopp showed again how he’s not afraid to make bold decisions. With the game poised at 0-0 and in the balance, Liverpool took off Elliot and Curtis Jones for 20-year-old Conor Bradley and 18-year-old Bobby Clark.
Both excelled in doubling up on Gabriel Martinelli and allowing Trent Alexander-Arnold to move further into midfield.
Klopp’s preference for coaching and developing players he has at his disposal rather than splashing the cash has certainly been a hallmark of the German’s era at the club.
Just because Mohamed Salah has left for a brief period and injuries have blighted the squad, Klopp will not panic and, at least this season, he has seemingly always found a solution hidden somewhere in the squad.
