bigmick wrote:Obviously a big game now this one, and with Stoke winning comfortably at the weekend and our injury worries, it's a potential banana skin. I don't think it's time to go for anything too drastic myself, given that it's one we have to win I'd resist any temptation to move Gerrard back into midfield. It maybe we have to do that at some point soon, but at Home against Stoke I'd leave him advanced and sacrifice a bit of long term planning in favour of just winning this match. If we can get Gerrard on Torres on the ball in the final third we'll win the match, so lets leave things as they are I reckon.
My only unenforced change would be Benayoun who apparently did enough to get in front of Babel.
Plenty of people have said you don't win the title in the first few matches and they're right, but you can put yourself firmly out of it. Now I'm absolutely certain that the other challengers (big 5 I'm calling them now) will be looking to shake us off in the first few matches and cut the field down. Expect them all to win again in their next match, and in the case of Chelsea and the Mancs the next one after that as well. We got ourselves a start on them all last season, it isn't goign to happen this time around and failure to beat Stoke would put us under all sorts of pressure.
As I've said a couple of times, anymore than six points behind a joint leadership of Chelsea and Man Utd and by my reckonig you are gone for all money. That would be the case if it was after 5 games or 25 games.
That's the point though we lacked that strength in the centre today. What's to say it could not happen again? They seemed to do a good job against us last season.
If Riera fit, I would go for this formation as well.
Fecking hypocrites eh. 
