Andoni Iraola has already confirmed one change to the Liverpool starting XI for the Carabao Cup fixture against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
The Reds have a third match at Anfield in the space of seven days in a third different competition, having beaten Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last Wednesday and then spluttered to a goalless Premier League draw at home to Fulham at the weekend.
It’s widely expected that, given the tight turnaround between games and the domestic cup generally being seen as the lowest priority at this stage of the season, the Basque will make numerous line-up changes for tomorrow night.
Iraola spoke to the media on Monday lunchtime ahead of the Spurs match, and he was asked if he’ll change his goalkeeper for the Carabao Cup tie.
The 44-year-old replied (via Liverpool Echo): “Yes. Alisson is proven and he is playing very well. I rate Giorgi [Mamardashvili] very highly, I know him from his years in Spain. We tried to sign him for Bournemouth before I came here. He is a very good goalkeeper. He is going to start tomorrow.”
Mamardashvili will have known privately that he was coming to Anfield as Alisson’s deputy and that he’d need to make the most of any opportunities given to him.
Injury problems for our number 1 meant that the Georgian made 20 appearances in his first season on Merseyside but he didn’t always convince, with 34 goals conceded in those games and only three clean sheets recorded (Transfermarkt).
The recent signing of Belgian stopper Lucca Brughmans for 2027 is set to add further competition in the goalkeeping department, and the 25-year-old may even find himself fighting to be above the teenager in the Liverpool pecking order from next term.
Mamardashvili has proven capable of pulling off excellent saves for the Reds when required, but doubts remain over his ball distribution, and he won’t want the ignominy of being the first goalkeeper to concede a goal to Spurs in a poor start to the season for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
Tomorrow night, hopefully we’ll see the qualities from the Georgian which prompted LFC to sign him and had Iraola wanting to bring him to Bournemouth previously.
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He’s good enough to not only be at Anfield in the first place but step up to be our number 1 for next season and onwards when Alisson leaves, which he will. We, the fans, should give him our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for his service and brilliance for our club and finally enjoy him for the rest of this season. YNWA
He can’t pass the ball out of defence. He’s not good enough.
Probable team v spurs. 1 mamardashvili 2 frimpong 3 Ronald araujo 4 Gomez 5 tsimikas 6 Endo 7 Nyoni 8 gravenberch 9 Rio ngumoha 10 Munoz 11 koumas
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