01 Jul 2021 11:21:41
Hello I've read on here that Van Dijk and Gomez are a little while off first team and also we are looking to sell Phillips.

Who is expected to play CB when the season starts? Obviously Konate has been brought in but Matip surely isn't fit. Which leaves us with Williams or once again resorting to using Hendo or Fab.

Surely keeping Phillips would be advantageous to keep not just for his performances but also being homegrown. Just interested to hear your thoughts. Many thanks.

{Ed002's Note - Phillips is for sale.}

1.) 01 Jul 2021
01 Jul 2021 11:50:23
As Ed002 said, and you also have to consider 2 key factors:

1) The player may want first team football, fair play to him if he does, rather than staying at Liverpool on the off chance someone gets injured.

2) We may need the money to fund purchases for other positions (I'm sure we do! ) .

2.) 01 Jul 2021
01 Jul 2021 13:05:29
We should know by the 12th what stage Virg is at. i think he'll be ready for opening day.

3.) 01 Jul 2021
01 Jul 2021 13:41:15
As I stated I'm aware Phillips is up for sale but who will partner Konate in the event he is sold?

R. Williams, Henderson, Fabinho or are our 3 CB's looking to be ready? (which has already been commented on here that they are not as they have to relearn how to run etc. ) Will Davies be involved?

4.) 01 Jul 2021
01 Jul 2021 14:13:55
Imo Phillips should be convinced to stay and matip should be moved on. Matip and Gomez are two of the more unreliable players we have in terms of injuries, why would we keep them both and move on the most reliable defender we have? Phillips will most probably start the season, since vvd and Gomez aren’t expected to be ready for the start of the season, so he will be playing first team football for the foreseeable future, alongside konate I assume. We have to see how vvd and Gomez return, and we have to see how well konate and Phillips do, maybe Phillips ends up being the better CB out of the two and is the better option for partnering vvd. The need to generate sales, should be done through players we’ve priced out of moves time and time again, in the likes of grujic, Wilson, origi, Shaqiri, I think the likes of Keita and matip need to be moved on also, those players would generate decent fees. But we have some obsession with injury prone players.

{Ed002's Note - Klopp wants Phillips sold, it is not the player looking for a move. Konate is the Gomez replacement. If he and VVD are not fit for the start of the season then Matip will start with Konate and the club has plenty of cover if needed in Davies, Koumetio, Fabinho, Henderson if need be.}

5.) 01 Jul 2021
01 Jul 2021 14:55:15
The Eds have said VVD and Gomez may not be match fit, not that they won’t be rehabilitated. The only way to get match fit is to play matches. So it will be VVD. The Eds have also said they’re likely to pick up niggles for a few months. So when VVD picks up a niggle, it will be Gomez partnering Konate.

6.) 01 Jul 2021
01 Jul 2021 15:01:34
Hitmonjim, Matip will be ready to start next to Konate IF he is not injured rolling out of bed on Opening Day.

7.) 01 Jul 2021
01 Jul 2021 16:03:31
Matip will probably put his hamstring out pulling his socks up. That boy is made out of crisps. This feels somewhat like Groundhog Day going into a season with three injury prone centre backs and one coming back from serious long term injury.