Jason McAteer has called for Arne Slot to tweak his formation from Liverpool’s weekend win over Fulham when they host Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield on Tuesday night.
The Dutchman’s 3-5-2 setup in the first leg of the Champions League final didn’t work as the Reds were fortunate to escape with nothing heavier than a 2-0 defeat, and the head coach reverted to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 against the Cottagers on Saturday.
There has been a huge clamour for Rio Ngumoha to start against PSG after his eye-catching display at the weekend, although McAteer has advocated for another tactical tweak to accommodate a different LFC forward.
Speaking on ‘The Reaction’ on The Official Liverpool FC Podcast, the former Reds midfielder urged Slot to start both Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak at centre-forward, with the latter having made two substitute appearances since his return from a broken leg over the past week.
The ex-Republic of Ireland international said: “What would I be doing? I’d go all-out. I would go Isak and Ekitike, two up top. I don’t think they [PSG] would expect that. I’d go two up top.”
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With Liverpool needing to overturn a 2-0 deficit on Tuesday night, is there a case to be made for Slot starting both of his senior centre-forwards at Anfield?
Isak and Ekitike have started together just twice since joining the Reds last summer, although both of those instances came in impressive away wins in the Champions League (5-1 against Eintracht Frankfurt in October, 1-0 over Inter Milan in December).
Taking that into account, we can very much see why McAteer has called for the duo to play from the start tomorrow night, but will the head coach heed the 54-year-old’s pleas?
It seems unlikely that Isak will be thrown in from the get-go when he’s still just getting back up to speed after nearly four months out; and if Liverpool play with two centre-forwards against PSG, could that make it harder to incorporate Ngumoha and Mo Salah out wide after both scored on Saturday?
We fully agree with McAteer that the Reds have no option but to go for it tomorrow night, but we don’t think the Swedish striker will play from the start just yet. Perhaps he may get the entire second half if we still need a goal or two at the interval.
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I agree we have to go all out. I’d rather go out fighting than with a 0-0 or 1-1 score line. Etitike, ISAK and MO up front, Slob, Mac and Grav in midfield, VVD, Konate, Frimpong, Kerkez at the back.
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