Liverpool FC Forum

Half the job done, i think a single goal from us should be enough to seal the deal with these guys

We need to have a clever balance with a massive match coming up on sunday morning against City (which again is a must win match for us)

If Sakho is not 100% still i would continue with Lovren for this game, i am worried about our central midfield with both SG and Lucas being out injured i am worried about little Joe Allen burning out

I think a 1-1 draw in this match with us to go through

Besiktas lost first place after losing this wknd ,things are looking better for LFC. The Turks would be low in confidence and we should be riding high after the battle in Southampton.
No holding back get the away goal and play responsibly. Allen ,for me ,with his current form is just as valuable as Lucas so no worries for me their. Missing Sakho is a worry and i hope he is fit to play.
We are the better team and we should complete the job.

only me » Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:28 am wrote:Besiktas lost first place after losing this wknd ,things are looking better for LFC. The Turks would be low in confidence and we should be riding high after the battle in Southampton.
No holding back get the away goal and play responsibly. Allen ,for me ,with his current form is just as valuable as Lucas so no worries for me their. Missing Sakho is a worry and i hope he is fit to play.
We are the better team and we should complete the job.

Well said   


My only concern about Allen is him playing so many games now, just hope he can cope, esp this weekend against giants like Yaya and Fernando etc...

Surprised the Tirks haven't invaded the forum yet! Whatever happened to welcome to hell.....     

Allen is playing really well but the problem with Joe is that he doesn't seem to be able to put together a good run of form over a long period, he'll string together 3 or 4 great performances and then right out of the blue he'll have an absolute stinker which leaves you scratching your head and wondering where a display that awful came from.

After our execrations on Thursday, Southampton had more energy than us on Sunday which meant we started in a real leggy way and ended up surrendering possession for most of the game. If we do that against City I doubt we’ll get anything. They play on Tuesday at home while we play on Thursday away and face a 5 hour flight back home.

As long as we are in Europe we’ll need to keep changing one or two players especially when we only have two days to prepare for the next game. I’d leave Coutinho at home for this one. I know he scored the goal on Sunday but he looks like he’s lost his zip and like to have him fresh for Sunday. I’d leave Sterling on the bench as he’s our best presser in the final third and we’ll need him to go full tilt for 90 minutes on Sunday.

Centre backs don’t suffer the same physical fatigue as the players in front of them who are constantly pressing, tracking players and having to sprint, so we should pick our best 3 at the back. And if we don’t have players in the back 3 who can pass the ball along the ground into the feet of the midfielders this system falls down so I don’t want to see the likes of Johnson and Toure at the back. We really are better with Lucus and Sakho.


                            Mignolet

               Lovren     Skrtel     Can

       Ibe     Henderson     Allen     Moreno

                             Lallana

                  Sturridge     Balotelli

Subs: Sterling, Lambert, Borini, Williams, Johnson, Toure, Jones

Apparently they have lowered their ticket prices and are expecting even more people than their maximum capacity of 72 000. They might have not invaded the forum but it will be a living hell in Turkey for the players and the traveling fans, especially considering they have a score to settle for that 8-0 we did on them.

The scrappiest of draws will do for me for this one.

I wonder if Toure will get a start. Can looked knackered after the Southampton game and we'll need him (and hopefully Sakho, who shouldn't start this either) at their best for the City match.

7_Kewell » Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:54 pm wrote:I wonder if Toure will get a start. Can looked knackered after the Southampton game and we'll need him (and hopefully Sakho, who shouldn't start this either) at their best for the City match.

Don't get this logic one bit ,We need the best players playing in a knockout match on THURSDAY ,if we lose we are out it's that simple. Who cares about City on Sunday? We are a better team then Besiktas so losing to them would be a huge blow ,City are way better then us so "saving" our energies for them might lead to a dual lose on both fronts. Let's get the win and worry later.

only me » Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:42 am wrote:

7_Kewell » Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:54 pm wrote:I wonder if Toure will get a start. Can looked knackered after the Southampton game and we'll need him (and hopefully Sakho, who shouldn't start this either) at their best for the City match.

Don't get this logic one bit ,We need the best players playing in a knockout match on THURSDAY ,if we lose we are out it's that simple. Who cares about City on Sunday? We are a better team then Besiktas so losing to them would be a huge blow ,City are way better then us so "saving" our energies for them might lead to a dual lose on both fronts. Let's get the win and worry later.

I was thinking along the same lines, if we save our players for sunday and go out of the EL and then lose to City on Sunday it would all be for nothing, BR has got a bit of quandry, put out a side strong enough to get through on Thursday and hold something back for the City game. Wouldn't like to be in his shoes now, your dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.

If I was Rodgers faced with such a difficult decision I'd probably go get my tan topped up. ha ha  nah, feck it, full team out on Thursday please, lets tonk them! we want 9! we want 9!

I understand what people are saying about rotation but quite a few of the players currently in and about the starting XI haven't played that much football.
Can, Allen, Balotelli, Ibe, Lovren and of course Sturridge have all missed quite a lot of games through one reason or another and even the likes of Lucas, Sakho and now Sterling have had enforced breaks through injury. Can for instance wasn't a regular until fairly recently.
Obviously the likes of Mingolet, Skrtel, Coutinho and Hendo (who have been involved pretty much all season) have played a hell of a lot of games but 2 of those players are defensive and Hendo may be the fittest player in the league.
Yes we've had a lot of games over a short space of time but I don't think our players are quite on their last legs yet.
I'd put out the best side we possibly can on Thursday, 4th place isn't in the bag yet, we've still got to play the likes of City, Chelsea (away), United and Arsenal (away) and a lot can still go wrong.

We done well to collect all 3 points off southampton so anything off city is a bonus.
This game is one we should be setting out to win, We are in the driving seat and a goal will see us through. I think we need to field a strong experienced side anyway because this will be hostile and maybe not the best environment to field a side full of kids or take massive gambles. They will pack the place out with noise and you will have the usual firecrackers and dare i say it the odd banana thrown also. It will be an atmosphere 90% of our side wouldn't have experienced before.
Go there for the win, field our best side and worry about city after that 

Eagle » Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:32 pm wrote:After our execrations on Thursday.....

"Execrations", that's quite a word, that one. Had to look it up. At the start of the match on Thursday I nearly had a couple of unplanned excretions of my own, which is close enough for my liking, thank you very much.

Being reported that Henderson, Sakho and Johnson all missing from training today