A dynamic duo, with the possible arrival of Alonso a duo could be detonated

Conor Bradley has made it incredibly hard for Jürgen Klopp to drop him. The 20-year-old put in a performance for the ages against Chelsea, scoring one and assisting two to almost single-handedly earn Liverpool a resounding win. Of course, it’s similarly difficult for Klopp to leave Trent Alexander-Arnold out. He came off the bench against Chelsea as he continues to work his way back to full fitness, but that was presumably done with the huge trip to Arsenal at the weekend in mind.

He's full of energy, Klopp thrills Anfield with his post-Chelsea win celebration

Yet on the basis of his latest outing, and indeed every game since he has come into the side, Bradley would be a real asset at the Emirates. He has joined in with the jokes about how he now faces the not-so-small task of ousting Alexander-Arnold, but there is a serious discussion about whether Liverpool can somehow accommodate both at the same time.

In all likelihood, that’s not a problem for Klopp to tackle. He will not be making any radical system changes in his final few months at the club, with Liverpool chasing down a quadruple. But his successor will be presented with a very nice dilemma. Klopp is leaving behind a squad absolutely jam-packed with talent, which won’t collectively peak for another few years. And if Xabi Alonso is the man for the Liverpool job, his system could provide a space for both Alexander-Arnold and Bradley.

Clearly, we’re working with a lot of unknowns here. Alonso might not be the next manager, and even if he is, then there’s no guarantee he will retain his Bayer Leverkusen tactics. We’re still waiting for Klopp to sign his ‘new Mario Götze’ at Liverpool to unlock the 4-2-3-1 he favored at Borussia Dortmund.

Klopp gives Pochettino another lesson as Liverpool humiliate Chelsea at Anfield

A versatile team

Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz could all make a case to take the final slot. None are especially akin to Jonas Hoffman or Florian Wirtz and the latter would be a hugely exciting marquee transfer to kick off the Alonso reign, solving that particular problem but they have all proven their attacking versatility. Alternatively, and perhaps more plausibly, Dominik Szoboszlai could take up one of those roles, with Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott also very much in the mix. That does mean leaving out some elite talent, with the extra center-back removing an attacking option. But the trade-off is becoming clearer than ever, as the case to get Bradley and Alexander-Arnold into the same Liverpool team grows. Maybe Alonso has the perfect solution.