Liverpool heading to Austria without Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai is the sort of team news that changes the mood around a Champions League trip immediately. This is not a minor inconvenience or a spot of rotation. It is three attacking absences at once, and that is enough to turn a routine build-up into a much tougher night than Liverpool would have wanted.
The match against LASK in the Champions League comes on Wednesday night, with Liverpool due to travel to Austria and hold an open training session in Linz before kick-off. At 20:00 BST, the headline is not the occasion or the venue. It is the missing firepower. For a club expected to handle nights like this with control, a depleted forward group is a problem that cannot simply be waved away.
Not far off, but not available
Andoni Iraola has tried to calm the noise by saying the injured trio are “not far off”, but he could not give a return time frame. That is the sort of answer managers give when they are trying to project optimism without pretending certainty exists. It tells you the players are not lost for the season, but it also tells you Liverpool are not getting them back for this one.
He added, in effect, “what do you want us to do?” when asked about the situation after the 3-0 loss to Man City, and the frustration is obvious. You can talk about systems, shape and structure all you like, but if key attackers are unavailable, the margin for error shrinks fast. Liverpool will still be expected to manage the game, but expectation and reality are different things in European football, especially away from home.
The depth test arrives early
This is why squad depth matters. It is easy to admire it in the abstract and much harder to live with when three names are suddenly missing from the attacking picture. Liverpool will still have options, but the absence of Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai means the manager has fewer ways to change the game if LASK make it awkward in Austria.
That does not mean Liverpool cannot win. It does mean the game now carries more edge than it should have done. Champions League away nights are rarely comfortable anyway, and a 23-man squad is only impressive if enough of the right players are actually fit. Right now, Liverpool have a selection problem, and there is no point pretending otherwise.
The challenge is simple enough on paper: go to Austria, handle LASK, and make sure the absences do not become the story. But that is exactly the problem. In a week when Liverpool should have been focused on the football, the missing trio has already changed the conversation. And once that happens, the margin for a smooth night is gone.
