Liverpool FC Forum

Here we go again.
This is the team I'd go with, very tempted to put Konate in but given it's the first game of the season, we are away from home, it's live in front of the television camera's and Virgil is not quite firing on all cylinders I thought it's probably best to err on the side of caution. Andre Marriner is the ref apparently.

                                             Alisson

           Trent.                  VVD.           Matip.           Tsimkas.

                                   Fabinho.        Thiago.

                                               AOC

                       Mo.                 Bobby.            Sadio.

Can’t see Thiago being ready yet


Alisson

TAA
Konate
Matip
Kostas

Fabinho
Keita /Milner
Ox

Mane
Jota
Salah

Lallana in Pyjamas wrote:Can’t see Thiago being ready yet


Alisson

TAA
Konate
Matip
Kostas

Fabinho
Keita /Milner
Ox

Mane
Jota
Salah

Yeah I was thinking that but he looked okay yesterday and I thought we might get an hour out of him. Big call leaving VVD out, to be fair based purely on performances you are probably right but the only way Virgil is going to get his sharpness back is through playing games so I'd put him in there. I thought Konate was outstanding yesterday though, I know he's got bigger tests to come than Osasuna's front line and we need to see him up against the Kane's, Lukaku's, Aubemeyang's, Vardy's, Calvert-Lewin's etc but in terms of his passing out of the back and carrying the ball into midfield he looked imperious at times.

Lallana in Pyjamas » Tue Aug 10, 2021 1:00 pm wrote:Can’t see Thiago being ready yet


Alisson

TAA
Konate
Matip
Kostas

Fabinho
Keita /Milner
Ox

Mane
Jota
Salah

I expect this would be the team as well, and if the result allows it we should see maybe 20-30 minutes from Virgil. Thiago/Hendo and Firmino would come from the bench as well IMO.

I’d go for the below. van Dijk might be a little rusty but the next 3 games are spread out quite nicely so it’s the perfect opportunity for him to start finding some rhythm. We can’t have both our CBs trying to get sharpness having coming back from serious knee surgery so Gomez will have to settle for a place on the bench. Matip is a top quality CB and him and van Dijk are used to playing together so he gets the nod.

I’d only risk playing one of the midfielders who came back late and Fabinho is the obvious choice. Milner and Keita have had the most productive pre-seasons so I’d go with them.

Then it’s just a choice between Firmino and Jota. I love Jota but prefer him on the left and we're a bit too easy to play through when he is up front.

Even with a bench of 9 and Robbo missing we still have to leave out some decent players.


                         Alisson

Trent          Matip          van Dijk         Tsimikas

      Milner          Fabinho          Keita

        Salah          Firmino          Mane


Subs: Kelleher, Gomez, Konaté, Thiago, Henderson, Ox, Elliott, Minamino, Jota

Left out completely: Adrian, N Williams, Phillips, Ben Davies, R Williams, Curtis Jones, Shaqiri, and Origi

I really hope Keita could prove us wrong and have one of the best seasons of his life. Minamino is another who I really hope would shine.

redshade » Sat Aug 14, 2021 6:41 am wrote:I really hope Keita could prove us wrong and have one of the best seasons of his life. Minamino is another who I really hope would shine.

I see Minamino as light weight both physically and mentally, so it is not so much about skill. On the other hand I do think if Keita can stay injury free, he can be an important player for us.

kazza » Sat Aug 14, 2021 6:51 am wrote:

redshade » Sat Aug 14, 2021 6:41 am wrote:I really hope Keita could prove us wrong and have one of the best seasons of his life. Minamino is another who I really hope would shine.

I see Minamino as light weight both physically and mentally, so it is not so much about skill. On the other hand I do think if Keita can stay injury free, he can be an important player for us.

Think a lot of our fans have written Taki off as a non-factor but I could see him surprising them by chipping in with some useful goals this season. He's definitely looked stronger and more effective at holding players off. And he still has the same perpetual movement but he's been linking much better with his team mates in pre-season. With Keita, most can recognise his ability and what he adds but it just comes down to availability and an opening to get into the team. He has supposedly been through a special programme put together by Dr. Andreas Schlumberger (our new Head of Recovery and Performance) to make him more robust against injuries to hopefully he benefits from the work put in.

Apparently Norwich had a Covid breakout in their squad in pre-season which would have disrupted their preparation for the new season. Some players probably had to isolate. A nice little advantage for us but I'm sure most squads will have to deal with this over the course of the season.

Love the first Saturday of a new season!

Great to see VVD and Gomez back in the squad - they have been seriously missed.

Hopefully we won't miss Robertson too much over the next few weeks. I'm going for a 0-3 to the mighty reds!

LIVERPOOL TEAM NEWS

Team to face Norwich: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Matip, Tsimikas, Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Salah, Mane, Jota.

Subs: Kelleher, Fabinho, Konate, Firmino, Gomez, Minamino, Origi, Woodburn, Elliot

We're up and running...Jota 1-0

Hopefully we get another quickly and kill this off.

Not that convincing a first half performance tbh, I waxed lyrical about Chamberlain midweek but he's been anonymous so far, our goal had a lot of luck about it too. Speaking of the goal I know he scored but Jota's been quiet as well.
We did improve as the half progressed (it was all Norwich the first 15 minutes) so let's hope this second half we play like we did last Sunday and Monday.