Liverpool FC Forum

Yakka do you really think that little of our squad that you think we should concentrate all our efforts on the league and almost dismiss the CL. If we can't cope with 2 competitions then we really do have problems.

Lallana in Pyjamas » Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:53 pm wrote:

only me » Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:52 pm wrote:

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:33 pm wrote:Play the reserves, save everyone for United.

I hope you are joking mate....CL title is a priority and we should play our strongest outfit..Their is nothing better then going to Manchester after a Win against Bayern.

It’s not a priority over the title - would rather save the players for Utd if there is any slight doubts

This concept of saving players is a joke..Doesn't guarantee anything and has no proven positive effects...Not to mention that any player you rest would have not played competitive football for almost 2 weeks!! Play everyone i want to win the CL and i want to Win the League ,nothing is better then walking into a tough game full of confidence after you beat Bayern Munich.

devaney » Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:04 am wrote:Yakka do you really think that little of our squad that you think we should concentrate all our efforts on the league and almost dismiss the CL. If we can't cope with 2 competitions then we really do have problems.

Over the last 2 years our league form has suffered during the run in due to us reaching the CL and EL finals, both times we have scraped over the line to get 4th on a nervy last day, in fact 2 years ago it looked like we'd blown it.
Competing in Europe whilst trying to scrape into the top 4 wiped us out physically and mentally, we were out on our feet in both finals.
Trying to stay with City and trying to win our first league title in 30 years is going to be far, far more draining than trying to scrape into 4th, also you go on about our squad, how deep is it really? Look at our bench, the likes of Lallana and Sturridge are pretty much done as top players, would you trust them to get us a result in a big league game or a CL semi final if Jurgen was forced to rotate?
As I said over the last 30 years genuine title challenges have been rare, I don't think we should waste this opportunity by spreading ourselves too thin and ending up with nothing. Let's be realistic, it is very, very difficult for an English team to win the CL and title in the same year, United are the only club to have done it and that was years ago. Chelsea couldn't do it when Abramovitch was pouring money into them and City haven't done it despite being uber wealthy for a decade.

only me » Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:57 am wrote:
This concept of saving players is a joke..Doesn't guarantee anything and has no proven positive effects...Not to mention that any player you rest would have not played competitive football for almost 2 weeks!! Play everyone i want to win the CL and i want to Win the League ,nothing is better then walking into a tough game full of confidence after you beat Bayern Munich.

Agreed with this. I wouldn't go ao far and say that it's a joke, dropping out of the cups for example was probably a good thing, but dropping out of the CL is something else entirely and won't have a positve effect.

We saw the after effects from the wolves game of not putting out our strongest team, and subsequently disrupting our flow of successive wins. Yes it was only a cup game, but we should have kept the momentum going.

Our problem is to compete on both fronts is difficult with a squad that lacks quality. City are able to do it because they have a huge squad full of quality players. Yakka is right our bench is very poor. Eventually if we are to progress after Bayern we will have to rotate. If we do rotate I'd rather we focus more on the Epl.

The conundrum is that we are well equipped in most departments when everyone is fit ....except the attacking department.

I have said it before  - if we lose Mane, Salah or Firmino for a few weeks we are pretty much done for in terms of winning the league IMO.

Origi ? Sturridge ?  Lallana? Never going to fill the front three's boots - Maybe you could make a case for Shaqiri but he is not at the same level as our front three either.. he is better as an AM

I think we can put to bed the idea of leaving out key players in a Champions League last 16 tie against Bayern Munich. It’s not going to happen. Part of why we put so much importance on finishing in the top 4 is so that we can go toe-to-toe with the best – not so we can put up the white flag when we get there. We’ve been able to attract some top players in recent windows because they want to play in these sorts of games. They won’t want to be sitting on the bench.

Even if you work on the unwise premise that the Man Utd game is the be-all and end-all, it would make no sense to “save” players for that game. Because we got knocked out of both domestic cups at the first stage, the Bayern game will be only our 4th game in 4 ½ weeks. And it's not like we’re playing Wednesday-Saturday, we have a full 4 fours days between the games and no air travel. The players won’t feel the effects of fatigue on the Sunday when we play Man Utd. But if they go into the game against Man Utd having not played a competitive game for 2 weeks on top of the 10 break we recently had, they’ll unlikely be 100% sharp. The Bayern game is hugely important in it’s own right so I’m sure we’ll be doing loads of high intensity training leading up to the game so we're as sharp as can be. But the timing of a high profile Champions League game against top opposition and the fixture scheduling is actually perfect preparation for the Man Utd game. There is a balance to be struck between protecting from the effects of fatigue and the players maintaining rhythm.

Anyway, back to the game. Hopefully the medical team will be able to patch Lovren up and we can avoid having to play Fabinho or Henderson at CB. Most of the team picks itself. The only other question is whether Klopp brings in Henderson in midfield if Lovren is fit. I'd go for this if Lovren is fit.

                          Alisson

Trent          Matip          Lovren          Robertson

                         Fabinho
       Wijnaldum                  Keïta

Salah                                          Mané
                          Firmino

Subs: Sturridge, Origi, Shaqiri, Henderson, Milner, Moreno, Mignolet

Matip and Lovren in the middle is like a comedy act, God help us. As soon as the oppo scores they panic like fek.

I'd rather pair Fab with Lovren and play Hendo in DM.

I just think if we try to compete on both fronts we will come up short, imo we haven't got the squad to compete in 2 competitions. Just like last year, and the year before that, if we flog the same core of 13/14 players during the run in fatigue will eventually catch up with us.

Had a busy day, just flicked on scores and shocked that Spurs smashed Dortmund 3-0. How the fek did that happen??!

I wonder how Dahoud and Pulisic played...

Have to hand it to Poch, give him some money to spend and he will make Spurs title challengers.

redshade » Wed Feb 13, 2019 10:44 pm wrote:Had a busy day, just flicked on scores and shocked that Spurs smashed Dortmund 3-0. How the fek did that happen??!

I wonder how Dahoud and Pulisic played...

Have to hand it to Poch, give him some money to spend and he will make Spurs title challengers.

hmmm...I think they are..no?

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Wed Feb 13, 2019 6:47 pm wrote:I just think if we try to compete on both fronts we will come up short, imo we haven't got the squad to compete in 2 competitions. Just like last year, and the year before that, if we flog the same core of 13/14 players during the run in fatigue will eventually catch up with us.

It's only 2 fronts mate ,We have a wider squad to pick from this year ,we should be able to go all the way on both..

only me » Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:07 pm wrote:

redshade » Wed Feb 13, 2019 10:44 pm wrote:Had a busy day, just flicked on scores and shocked that Spurs smashed Dortmund 3-0. How the fek did that happen??!

I wonder how Dahoud and Pulisic played...

Have to hand it to Poch, give him some money to spend and he will make Spurs title challengers.

hmmm...I think they are..no?

I meant more consistently but yeah this season they are in it.

Van Dijk will be an obvious miss but I think we will run all over Munich over the rest of the pitch and can win both legs. I'm expecting us to progress. Bayern are a great club but their team is not a vintage.