I'm not that confident. For too long now, when our lads turn up at castle greyskull they turn into shrinking violets (IMO), scared to get among it, as though they're intimidated by home support.
That's one of the reasons I'm not too confident. The other is, Rodgers. I don't want to sound overly critical of the man because by and large he has done a good job. However, I don't think him or this Liverpool team know how to keep teams out. There is more emphasis on possession and attack (which is good to an extent) but when your playing teams of Salford's caliber you cannot be found wanting defensively (like we were against Stoke). I know Salford don't have the best defense and we can exploit that - but knowing us, we'll do exactly that, get a couple of goals but on the flip side we'll concede three. I reckon we need to become a much tighter unit when we haven't got possession and pack the midfield and defense when Salford have the ball, sit off them a bit, instead of pressing them. If we give them the opportunity to exploit the room (especially on a counter attack) then they'll punish us. I hope Rodgers will work on this throughout the week as it seems most likely to be our achillies heel. Skertel and Agger cannot repeat the Stoke showing and must be up for the challenge of RVP and Hernandez. Lucas also needs to be ready for this.
I think if we're able to contain them, frustrate them we'll get our rewards up the other end. Trouble is, Rodger's Liverpool side aren't a 'containing' side, like Rafa's or Houllier's were - it's a much more expansive set-up and this is one of the reasons we've conceded or failed to hold onto leads this season. We haven't mastered the balance between defense and attack.
I think we should start Sturridge and perhaps leave Sterling on the bench for impact. If we play the 'S-express' of Sterling-Sturridge-Suarez we'll have nobody that can come off the bench to inspire us going forward. So, for all his uselessness
I'd start our very own shrinking violet Stewart Downing. He'll run all day long and do nothing else really but he can drop back into midfield and become an extra number and help out Wisdom defensively. I think Henderson should start over Shelvey or Allen for reasons ywyycycyceyvbeyvyvbv stated.
------------------------------------- Reina
----------------Wisdom------Skertel----Agger-------Johnson
---------------------------Lucas----------Gerrard
---------------------------------Henderson
------------------Downing-------Suarez-------Sturridge