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I don’t think it’s a big surprise that Philippe Coutinho won’t be in the Liverpool squad to face Manchester City on Saturday.

The fact there are so many games coming up means it won’t be a case of not seeing him for a while.

Maybe it’s the timing. He’s been away to Brazil, come back and Jurgen’s looked at it and thought it would be a difficult decision to put him back in because the lads did so well against Arsenal.

But because we’ve got Sevilla and Burnley coming up, there’s going to be game time ahead for him, so electing not to play him this weekend isn’t surprising.

In terms of integrating him back into the Liverpool squad, I think it will be very easy.

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The players will be made up to see him back and the only relationship you could say he needs to repair is with the supporters.

Was what went on in the summer down to him or his agent? It’s difficult to know.

But that relationship can be fixed quickly once he’s back on the pitch.

(Image: Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Since Jurgen’s been at Anfield he’s built himself a squad which is good enough to compete. We can genuinely say we’re good enough for that.

It will be interesting to see the manager handles the Champions League alongside the Premier League but last season’s team and squad has been improved over the summer.

You look at Salah and think he’s a great addition who has strengthened the team.

So as good as we were last season - and you have to remember we picked up injuries to key players - we’re better this season and the start’s been very impressive.



Liverpool's confidence will be high and City don't have a settled side yet

Confidence will be high in the Liverpool squad ahead of the trip to the Etihad.

There’s good momentum from that result against Arsenal and the fact everyone’s come back with a clean bill of health from international duty is a big boost.

I think there’s a real belief in the team going into games against rivals like City because they’ve done so well in them in the past. City will be thinking ‘these do well against us’.

I expect it to be another entertaining game like last year which I thought was a cracking contest which either side could have won. It was a game of missed opportunity so it will be a case of needing to be clinical when the chances come on Saturday but it’s clear both sides have the attacking quality to create plenty of them.

David Silva, Kevin de Bruyne and obviously Aguero are the stand out players for Man City but they’ve bought four players for their first team in Mendy, Walker, Ederson the goalkeeper and Bernardo Silva and they’ve not had a settled start.

(Image: (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images))

They’ve done okay, grabbing seven points out of nine, but they’ve almost been a little bit unconvincing so I think the fact they’re not free-flowing at the minute can benefit Liverpool.

I expect City to get better as the season goes by but I’m not too disappointed with the timing of this fixture for us.

Moreno may need extra support against City threat

Both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez have started the season well at right-back in Nathaniel Clyne’s continued absence.

It was probably a little bit surprising to see Gomez get the nod against Arsenal but I thought he was superb in that game.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

It would be difficult to leave out either Trent or Joe but you’d fully expect with so many games coming up the one left out might end up playing the next game, whetehr that’s Sevilla or Burnley.

You look at them both and think you can trust them to do the job.

Moreno on the other side is an interesting one because that’s where City have caused us problems in the past, down their right hand side. James Milner was outstanding in the game at City last season so I think Moreno is going to have to be careful. I think the midfield players in Jordan and Emre Can will have to protect him a little bit more than usual if he gets the nod.



Ben Woodburn has the ability - and just needs to avoid the distractions

We were all made up with what Ben Woodburn showed everyone for Wales this week.

We’ve all seen glimpses of him in and around the first team.

He’s still so young at 17 - and still has so much learning and developing to do - the fact that he can go on and influence such important games at important times, scoring and creating a goal, says a lot.

There’s no doubt about his ability to make things happen and he’s at the right place to fulfil that potential.

He’s well thought of, has a manager who believes in him and he will get opportunity.

It’s about doing the right things, avoiding distractions, and listening to the people in and around the football club rather than those outside who will want a piece of him.

He’s got to remain focused on what he wants to achieve as a football player.



Liverpool owe Sevilla one - and are a better team than the last Champions League campaign

Sevilla will be a very tough game for Liverpool to start their Champions League campaign.

I was there for Hoffenheim and I thought we made them look average and they will be a side who’ll do quite well in the Europa League this year.

There’s a lot of excitement around the game and it’s reward for the hard work of the last 18 months with Jurgen building this squad and getting some fabulous results.

But the last thing we want is for it to be like the last campaign where we really struggled.

We’re at Anfield and we know how tough we can make it for the opposition.

They will be tough but we owe them one from that Europa League final.

This group of Liverpool players is stronger than the one which went into the Champions League in 2014 when we’d just had our best player taken away from us.