by aCe' » Thu Sep 25, 2014 9:39 pm
2 upfront, Sterling behind. Gerrard sitting deep and Henderson given a bit more freedom to join the attacks. Anything else and we struggle to play the direct attacking style that has served us well last season. Sturridge is a big miss and as things stand we have very little movement higher up the pitch and our best chance of creating comes from Gerrard playing the long passes from deeper. Opponents are picking up on our limitations and the loss of Suarez has made us exponentially easier and more predictable to defend against. Unless Markovic suddenly turns world class or Lallana steps up his game by a significant amount, I dont see the need in starting 3 attacking midfielder only 1 of whom creates or penetrates with any real purpose or effectiveness. I'd much rather give the likes of Borini and Lambert another chance upfront and if nothing else, their presence higher up might open up some space for Balotelli to show what he brings to the table.
I'd go with this:
Mignolet
Manquillo
Skrtel
Lovren
Moreno
Gerrard (dropping deeper to receive from back4)
Henderson
any of: Coutinho, Lallana, Markovic in a deeper CM role
Sterling (behind the 2 forwards)
Balotelli
Sturridge if fit/ if not, Lambert or Borini