cardiff-red » Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:10 am wrote:Lucas Leiva has been ruled out of Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final with Aston Villa at Wembley due to injury.
The ECHO understands the Brazilian midfielder damaged his thigh during a training session this week and the decision has been taken that he won't be involved in the capital.
The loss of Lucas is a major blow for boss Brendan Rodgers with the holding midfielder having been influential in the recent wins over Blackburn and Newcastle.
Lucas did travel with the rest of the squad to London but Reds medical staff expect him to be sidelined for one to two weeks.
Missing out on the showdown with Villa will be a devastating setback for Lucas, who was forced to sit and watch Liverpool's three trips to Wembley during the 2011/12 season as he recovered from rupturing his cruciate ligament.
That will probably mean that Gerrard will play, not ideal on a big pitch like Wembley, especially against a team of limited grafters. One thing the Villa players (Delph, Cleverley, Richardson, Sinclair, Westwood etc) can do is run all day which Gerrard can't (not really surprising though considering he is 35 in a few weeks)
Gerrard should be left on the bench and brought on with half an hour to go when the game has slowed down and players are starting to tire.
Personally I'd go with this team and try to hit them with pace -
Mingolet
Can Lovren Skrtel
Sterling Allen Hendo Moreno
Coutinho Markovic
Sturridge
Having Lovren in there is not ideal but as there is no Sakho we don't really have an option.
If he has to play we may as well play him centrally up against Benteke, he maybe error prone but he is decent in the air.