Lewis Steele names Liverpool quintet who simply ‘must play’ against Eintracht Frankfurt tonight

Lewis Steele has named several Liverpool players who he wants to see on the pitch against Eintracht Frankfurt tonight as the Reds seek to snap their prolonged losing streak.

It was a month ago tomorrow that Arne Slot’s side last recorded a victory (against Southampton in the Carabao Cup), and preparations for their upcoming fixture were hampered by a lengthy delay to their flight to Germany due to technical issues with the aircraft on which they were scheduled to travel.

The 47-year-old has tinkered with his starting XI in recent games to try and inspire a turnaround in form, but to no avail as of yet, and there’s set to be further changes to the team for the match at Deutsche Bank Park.

Steele makes the case for Liverpool quintet

Taking to X on Wednesday morning, Steele mentioned five members of Slot’s squad who he feels ‘must play’ against Eintracht, along with posing the question as to who starts in attack.

He posted: ‘It’s the most interesting XI of the season for #LFC tonight. Surely Ekitike / Jones / Robertson / Frimpong / Wirtz must play. Chiesa deserves a chance too. Does he completely change it or play Salah/Isak to get their confidence against a poor defence (24 goals against in 9 games)?’

Plenty of positions up for grabs in Liverpool’s starting XI

Given the scope for line-up changes and the necessity for squad rotation with only a three-day turnaround to the Brentford fixture at the weekend, there’s a case to be made for all the names mentioned by Steele to feature in some capacity tonight.

It wouldn’t come as a huge surprise if Slot were to change both of his full-backs to start Robertson and Frimpong, while the absence of Ryan Gravenberch through injury could leave a void in midfield for Jones to fill.

Alternatively, Dominik Szoboszlai might be deployed alongside Alexis Mac Allister in the middle of the park, creating an opening for Wirtz to come back into the starting XI after having to be content with substitute outings against Chelsea and Manchester United.

As Liverpool’s top scorer this term, Ekitike will feel that he deserves a chance to start against his former club tonight, but would that be alongside or instead of Isak, whose slow launch to his Reds career continued with a subdued performance on Sunday?

Steele’s championing of a place for Chiesa may well be echoed by many LFC fans, and the Italian must be thinking that he’s worthy of a runout given that so many of our forwards have been below their best recently.

We don’t envisage Slot throwing him in from the start for such a crucial fixture, considering that he’s only been on from the first whistle once all season, but if we’re in need of a goal with 20-25 minutes to go, it’d seem foolish not to call upon our number 14.

With so many positions seemingly up for grabs, the Liverpool team sheet will make for compelling reading when it’s revealed at 6:45pm UK time this evening.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Manchester United press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:

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