Liverpool’s preparations for Leeds United’s trip to Anfield in nine days are very much split down the middle.
On the one hand, their attack is all guns blazing on the training field while their defence is strewn across Europe and missing out on valuable preparations under Jurgen Klopp.
This month’s international call-ups have caused chaos across Premier League squads seeking to make their final tweaks before the big kick-off next weekend.
In Stoke, on Tuesday, Marcelo Bielsa was missing eight recognised faces to international call-ups, six of those are likely to start on Merseyside in the club’s first top-flight match for 16 years.
Illan Meslier, Robin Koch, Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Kalvin Phillips and Mateusz Klich would not be surprises if they were named for the 5.30pm kick-off on September 12.
Rodrigo and Ezgjan Alioski are also away, but, for different reasons, may not quite be in Bielsa’s thinking yet.
This is vital time, especially for Koch, to get up to speed with Bielsa’s tactical approach for arguably the toughest match of the season in the top flight.
Dallas raised his own concerns when he spoke to BBC radio last week, but the noises from Liverpool are of quiet contentment with how the international call-ups have affected them.
"[On duty] it is England, Holland, Wales, Scotland and I think that is it," Klopp said last week.
"So the African players don't have to go or the Brazilian players don't have to go, which helps us from a training perspective."
While Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk and Andrew Robertson, Klopp’s premier backline, are all away from Melwood, the champions’ attack is all in place.
Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane are all putting the hard yards in under Klopp ahead of United’s visit.
Georginio Wijnadlum is away with Netherlands, but Klopp does have this time to work with goalkeeper Alisson Becker, midfielders Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner and Jordan Henderson.
