Liverpool FC Forum

[JC_81]

For me it has to be:

                                  Reina

Arbeloa         Carragher         Agger           Dossena

Kuyt               Alonso          Gerrard           Riera

                      Keane
                                Torres

This won't be a walkover, Bruce does have a decent record against us and any win will do for me.  I've seen a bit of Wigan this season and they do pose a threat up front and on the break.  I do worry what Rafa's team selection will be because he's bound to be tempted to tinker with Athletico and Chelsea coming up.

[Rush Job]

You never know what we`ll be like after an international break. Any win will do, keep the presure on the rest.

[tonyeh]

Solid as Wigan might be, I still expect them to park the bus.

I'd like to see a confident start converted into a goal or twos cushion for once. Be nice not to have to go behind before we start playing!

Amen.

I don't believe this match will be as easy as some believe/hope for. But I think Liverpool need to start doing something about the goal gap between themselves and Chelsea and the lower quality teams can offer that opportunity.

"Joint Top" is still second place at the end of the season.

[Judge]

we should have a welcome to wigan thread again

what say you?

[Owzat]

as long as we win dont care about the score.

While 5-0 may be a tad optimistic, given Bruce has been a pain in the rear in the past and has shaped a decent Wigan side, we need to knock some goals in sometime. We didn't score against Stoke, Wigan are better but if we don't score goals then we may as well start a point worse off than rivals.

Goalscoring has long been our problem, we don't manage to average 2 goals a game most seasons and that despite winning some games 4-0, 5-0 and better. More freescoring means less likelihood of a draw, there's plenty of benefit to a tight defence, but I'd rather we scored more and let in a few more than struggle to score

[Judge]

5-0 no less.

no excuses, we need to stuff them.

They are not as poor a side as stoke and i thought we leart our lesson from being complacent in that game?

we actually beat stoke legit, but unfortunately the ref forgot his glasses on that day.

that decision probably set the tone for lfc for the rest of the match, there was no complacency

[Fo Dne]

They are not as poor a side as stoke and i thought we leart our lesson from being complacent in that game?

Don't know what game you were watching but I certainly wouldn't say the players were complacent.

Lacking in enough quality to break Stoke down maybe in certain area's but definately not complacent.

[redhayesy]

Too many Draws killed us last season . Wigan are no pushovers , hopefully we go into this game with the right mentality as we are usually poor after internationals .Hope Keane and torres bring their scoring boots , as we need to make up the goal difference , would like a 3-0 but would equally be pleased with a 1-0 win as well .

you say wigan are no pushovers, but we need to make sure they are! we at home ffs & the team need to maintain the creative side of our game so far this season that"s really impressed me even when we have gone behind in games so far. let"s just concentrate on what our strenghts are & forget what the oppo have! i"d love to see a few goals on sat which i believe we are more than capable of against a side like wigan, however 3 points is what we need & the players mentality must be focused on that alone to achieve this which i"m confident will be the case!

                        COME ON YOU MIGHTY REDS.

[Judge]

with the welcome to wigan thread, i reckon the omens are on our side, and we will beat wigan 3-0

[Owzat]

re goalscoring. I've yet to complete the stats, but preliminary findings show that in sixteen Premiership seasons the Champions have finished in the top two goalscoring sides in all but one season - then they finished third. The Champions' defence has become more of a factor recently, the Champions having one of the best two defences in the league in the past EIGHT seasons in a row, but before then the Champions could be as far down the list as SEVENTH meanest.

What does it prove? Well historically the Champions have rarely had more than one team outscore them, this is our achilles heel which is the part of the stats I need to compile for comparison. Assuming we're not going to beat Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal by 3-0 or better very often, we need to start putting goals past the rest. As I recall the least goals scored by the Premiership Champions in any season was 67 :-

Liverpool Goalscoring In The Premiership

07/08 67 (4th)
06/07 57
05/06 57
04/05 52
03/04 55
02/03 61
01/02 67 (2nd)
00/01 71 (3rd)
99/00 51
98/99 68 (7th)

Only four times have we managed 67+ goals in the past TEN seasons, I believe the lowest total by Champions was by some distance the worst - all the way back to 92/93, Liverpool managed 63 that season and finished sixth. Not forgetting that then the Premiership was 42 games which makes the 67 even more poor - that and villa finishing second. Defending Champions Leeds Utd finished 17th, just three places above the drop zone. Some may say them borrowing £60m was their biggest mistake of recent times, I'd pencil in selling Cantona to the mancs as being equally stupid and even less to gain (less than £2m)

[sparkycc]

torres and babel are out so i think we will go with something like this

                               reina

arebola           carra        agger      dossena


kuyt      gerrard       mash      alonso    reira 

                            keane   
subs hypia,benny,pennent,lucas,nnog,carvalio   

[Rockthekop]

No reason to play Alonso and Mash against Wigan at home but Rafa probably will anyway.

                     Reina

Arbeloa    Carra   Agger    Dossena
           
            Alonso
Kuyt                              Riera
                       Gerrard
     Ngog
                  Keane

[GRAHAM01]

i don't think we need to go 5 in midfield against wigan something like this should get the job done

if gerrard plays on the right then kuyt goes up front and keane sits in behind or kuyt goes on the wing and kean goes up front with gerrard sitting in behind

                           reina
arebola        carra         agger      dossena/alralio

                       
kuyt/gerrard     alonso      mash        reira

                          gerrard/keane

                    keane/kuyt

[aCe']

id go for

                              reina

Arebola             Carra       Hyypia      Aurelio/Agger


Pennant           Gerrard      Alonso       Riera 


                       Keane        Kuyt

------------

clearly our strongest starting 11 with the players missing ... maybe bring in mascherano but then ud have to mess around with the other positions a bit... give pennant a chance its about time imo.... now or never

[Bad Bob]

id go for

                              reina

Arebola             Carra       Hyypia      Aurelio/Agger


Pennant           Gerrard      Alonso       Riera 


                       Keane        Kuyt

------------

clearly our strongest starting 11 with the players missing ... maybe bring in mascherano but then ud have to mess around with the other positions a bit... give pennant a chance its about time imo.... now or never

That looks just about the best line-up we could put on the pitch for this one.  I think Agger must play, of course, and I just don't see Rafa sticking him at LB so Sami will make way.  Masch on the bench for this one as Wigan, like Stoke, will come looking to park the bus.