We don't have enough quality in the squad to make wholesale changes unfortunately.
You are absolutely right there of course.
I mean that we need to take the worst players out of the equation on Saturday, and I mean form wise.
Normally Lallana, Firmino and Coutinho would all be playing, but since they are all struggling with form, I'd make one or two changes there.
Lallana: Has started to stroll around again, as he did last year. Seems to be running up when the others are running down, and the other way around. But he is at least putting a decent shift in. He is not that far from good form and might suddenly spark again. I'd keep him in the team.
Firmino: Oooh what a waster. Suarez his first year is like a smooth summer sea breeze compared to this. Loses the ball and doesn't seem to be working as hard as before trying to get the ball back. I'm not so sure I'd like him to start on Saturday. If so it has to be as a winger or in the N:o 10 role. As a striker? No thanks!
Coutinho: Is so far from form that he just has to be dropped IMO. Keep playing him and it will only get worse. Maybe put him on for the last 10 minutes or so if we are in the lead and need to keep the ball up. Not sure he can even help us with this task on current form though. But either way an option from the bech.
Can: Clumsy. Runs forwards with the ball until someone takes it off him. Then counter attack in our end. Can't shoot. Misses every chance. Too slow. Making the wrong choice with passes. Can't defend on set pieces. Hopeless. At least at the moment. The irony here is that with more game time he'll probably burst into form again. But can we afford the time needed for that experiment? I say no.
Lucas: Nononono. Get Gomez in there if both Lovren and Klavan are out.
Mignolet: Is just being himself on the pitch. As usual. Makes some wonder saves, but then we see them all undone with catastrophical easy mistakes. But is Karius any different? I'd say no from what I've seen so far. The difference between them is that the latter seemed to have lost all self confidence before he was finally benched. Mignolet on the other hand seems high on confidence as usual. It's like pouring water on a goose. At this point in the season it's all about form and confidence for me, so it has to be Mignolet in goal. We need a better first keeper than him, but we haven't got it. Shame but true.
The rest of the usual starting XI is impossible to replace at this point, so they need to stay in there. Whether they're good enough to face Spuds is irrelevant. We simply have no alternatives.
So all in all: For me it has to be something like this against Spuds (4-2-3-1):
-----------Mignolet----------
Clyne-Matip-Lovren-Milner
--Henderson--Wijnaldum--
-Lallana---Firmino---Origi-
----------Sturridge---------
Bench: Karius, Gomez, Klavan, Lucas, Can, Coutinho, Ojo.