Once the international break and its mind-numbing two weeks' worth of action wraps up, Liverpool are faced with taking part in three different competitions in one week. That'll be terrific from a viewing standpoint or just the worst, like everything else but remarkably difficult for the players, who'll have trips to Sunderland and Norwich as bookends of matches in the Europa League, Premier League, and League Cup that take place on September 20th, September 23rd, and September 26th respectively.
That's a heavy load for any squad, particularly with the amount of travel involved, and for Liverpool it's even more daunting considering the lack of experienced and reliable depth available. Brendan Rodgers spoke of the ill effects of consecutive matches in a short period of time after the Arsenal loss; this is essentially that plus another match, with two rounds of international action recently finished for many of those in the first team and a couple of other Premier League matches to polish things off on each end.
So maybe it's not entirely surprising that the Europa League squad Liverpool released yesterday includes a few of the names many have been clamoring for, and a few that are somewhat unexpected. Suso and Dani Pacheco, both of whom were omitted from the first two rounds' squad, are included, as is newboy Samed Yesil, who was confirmed the morning of deadline day and had approximately ten minutes of senior squad action to his name prior to joining Liverpool from Sami Hyypia's Bayer Leverkusen.
Being named in the squad certainly doesn't guarantee appearances, but with the aforementioned fixtures coming thick and fast after the World Cup qualifiers, I'd be surprised if we don't see at least one of the three names mentioned get a few minutes in either continental or domestic competition. Caution and patience will be needed, of course, but it's not as though Rodgers has much respite once September's flurry ends October starts with two matches in six days, and November and December promise the same punishing run of matches that the season typically offers.
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