Topic: RAWK Preview: Liverpool FC vs Manchester United (Sun 1st Sept, 1.30pm)

[Scouse-Con]

Welbeck isn't shit

Yes he is.

[NorthamptonKopite]

Yes he is.

He isn't shit. He's just not that great.

[KiNki]

-------------------jones-------------------
flanagan--wisdom--kelly--alex o hanlon
--------------alberto-rossiter---------------
sterling-----------------------------ibe
--------------------borini-----------------------

well i keep hearing the 2nd string is good enough, so why not, good experience for em.

[Redman0151]

Very worried about this now for once, frankly I don't see our defence without Kolo keeping RVP quiet for 90 minutes. Skrtel hasn't been good enough for over a year, Wisdom isn't good enough yet and Agger isn't in great form

[ThePeetmix]

-------------------jones-------------------
flanagan--wisdom--kelly--alex o hanlon
--------------alberto-rossiter---------------
sterling-----------------------------ibe
--------------------borini-----------------------

well i keep hearing the 2nd string is good enough, so why not, good experience for em.

Or let's play the u21 side? 100% record against the Mancs this season. 

[jdpapa3]

I am slightly worried about the CB situation, but I'm trying to keep in mind that we smoked them(pre-Van Persie, but still!) with Kyrgiakos and Skrtel at CB for the majority of the game in 2011 at Anfield.

Villa are slightly close to being a one-trick pony and that counter attack being their one trick(Benteke randomly popping up with chances is their minor second trick.) United are much more than that and sitting deep for an entire half like last weekend is perhaps not an advisable strategy.

I feel like the Allen injury doesn't give us much of an option as to who we will play from the midfield on up. I think it has to be Aspas behind the striker again, even if it's becoming increasingly more obvious that Coutinho does the most centrally. Can't advocate Sterling starting this one because he is still too wasteful and the chances will likely not be plentiful in this one. Besides, it's a 2 horse race between Sterling and Aspas and Sterling makes tons more sense coming off the bench.

[Dakota]

Attn: Daniel Sturridge

http://youtu.be/qxhOdMyVceE

Promise us  you won't give the goalie a fighting chance
And when you get the choice
To fluff a shot or dance...
etc.

[fenre]

Was kind of positive towards this game. But that was before Toures injury. It was a massive blow for us, and I dont really look forward too Van Persie vs Skrtel (or maybe Wisdom). Big game for our midfield, as its now really important for them to dominate the game.

[Teamboca]

Was kind of positive towards this game. But that was before Toures injury. It was a massive blow for us, and I dont really look forward too Van Persie vs Skrtel (or maybe Wisdom). Big game for our midfield, as its now really important for them to dominate the game.

Exactly how i feel, toure is a monster

[Ycuzz]

Just read it.

Must be one of the best previews ever.

Thanks Harinder!

[gray19lfc]

Team picks itself for this one, with the injuries we've got:

Sturridge
Coutinho Henderson Aspas
Lucas Gerrard
Enrique Agger Skrtel Johnson
Mignolet

With a very young bench of Jones, Wisdom, Alberto, Sterling, Ibe, Borini plus one of Kelly (not match fit) or Cissokho (seems to be the only one who got injured last night with a slight chance of making this).

That defence is a real worry for me, especially with the lack of cover should anything go wrong in this game.  Enrique and Johnson are not in great form going forward and with Skrtel being out of the side for so long, we can only hope the baby eating, nail biting Skrtel turns up and not the rash, soft one.

Got great faith in that midfield two plus the front four though.  Interesting to see how Aspas fairs in his first LFC vs MUFC match.

[eLToRo]

Exactly how i feel, toure is a monster

Fuck sake lads. We lost the two games last year 2-1 to them. One of them away which we wern't favourites for anyway and the other which we dominated and went 1-0 up and were down to 10 men for half the game.

Last year we had Skrtel and Agger at the back and we will probably have the same at the weekend.

Lighten up, we are playing in Anfield so it's likely we will control the game so unless Agger and Skrtel have stinkers(everyone seems to think they will) we will probably win.


Toure isnt the be all and end all of the club just because he has had a decent start.

[007.lankyguy]

Looking forward to it. Been away for ten days so I've missed loads and a lot of anticipation for Sunday.

[tommy LFC]

Do you reckon Moyes will be brave enough to start Van Persie and Rooney?

[Zoomers]

Do you reckon Moyes will be brave enough to start Van Persie and Rooney?

Rooney did great vs chelsea and rvp cannot be dropped so I would assume yes.

[killer-heels]

Do you reckon Moyes will be brave enough to start Van Persie and Rooney?

They both started against a much better team than us, so I would imagine so. WIth our defence, it would be mad not to.

[Alan B'Stard]

They both started against a much better team than us, so I would imagine so. WIth our defence, it would be mad not to.

Whats wrong with our defence? that is the same back four as last season.

[killer-heels]

Whats wrong with our defence? that is the same back four as last season.

It isn't that great is it? Neither Johnson nor Enrique would scare your wingers and neither Agger nor Skrtel are solid. Its not like Man Utd's centre back pairing.

[Alan B'Stard]

It isn't that great is it? Neither Johnson nor Enrique would scare your wingers and neither Agger nor Skrtel are solid. Its not like Man Utd's centre back pairing.

I can can give you 2 potential positives that may work in our favour on Sunday.

1- Those 4 players have played numerous games togrther for the past 2-3 seasons. They know each others movements.
2- Skrtel now has a chance to prove to Brendan he deserves a place in the team. Therefore he plays out of his skin.

[killer-heels]

I can can give you 2 potential positives that may work in our favour on Sunday.

1- Those 4 players have played numerous games togrther for the past 2-3 seasons. They know each others movements.
2- Skrtel now has a chance to prove to Brendan he deserves a place in the team. Therefore he plays out of his skin.

Maybe. Still though I wouldn't drop Van Persie or Rooney on those assumptions.

[Alan B'Stard]

Maybe. Still though I wouldn't drop Van Persie or Rooney on those assumptions.

sorry, i misunderstood your initial post about Rooney and RVP. You are quite right. My thoughts would be only a fool would drop a partnership of that calibre. Rooney played well on Monday night. Dropping him right now, Moyes would be cutting his nose off to spite his ginger face!

[tommy LFC]

They both started against a much better team than us, so I would imagine so. WIth our defence, it would be mad not to.

United are away from home this time. I wouldn't be surprised if Moyes went quite defensive.

Strangely, I think our best chance of winning is if they both start.

[ThePeetmix]

Whats wrong with our defence? that is the same back four as last season.

Isn't great no. But isn't bad either. Add to that they have a quality holding player who's now showing some of his best form from before, they should be well equipped to deal with whatever is thrown at them on sunday. Also, having a great stopper in Mignolet is also nice as it's shown already, that he can win you those extra games.

And while Suarez may still be missing, his presence has been replaced with a red hot Sturridge and a much more accustomed Coutinho. Certainly is gonna be a good game. I wouldn't put money on there being a clean sheet for either side.

[YoungKopite]

Chelsea did a good job the other day in terms of keeping RVP quiet. They didn't really threaten on the counter though which is something I think we could definitely do.

Toure will be a big miss, as I thought he's been brilliant so far, and offers an aerial threat for us. I'm confident Skrtel will do his job though. It'll be interesting to see what kind of team Rodgers goes for this game.

I'm confident we can pull off a good result. Come on you red men!!

YNWA

[Harinder]

Just read it.

Must be one of the best previews ever.

Thanks Harinder!

Too kind mate - hang around. There will be a better one by someone else every week or thereabouts 

[jake11]

I absolutely loved the opening post. Thanks for taking the time to construct it. I can only hope that there will be a new generation of fans that can learn to laugh at United. Why is the pitch at Old Trafford so good? Because every fortnight Atkinson puts £22 million pounds of shit on it. Oh happy days. Moyes you are next on the list of shame.

Anyways, happy days was what I was predicting for us to all the mancs at work on Tuesday, following our win and the chosen one's brave nil nil draw (maintaining his record of never winning a league game at Old Trafford).

This morning, hmm' bit of a different story. The loss of Toure, and Gerrard, Sturridge and Johnson playing 120 minutes has dented my confidence. There is no way we will get a better result than 3-1.
 

 

[Raul!]

Thanks for that Harinder, great preview.

[GarraCharrua]

welbeck is shit. many manc fans says so. and ashley young would get twatted on the streets by the same mancs cus he is that bad.

[alonsoisared]

Please note that RAWK will mute anyone posting just a formation in a Preview thread until the day after the match is over. This is to improve the quality of preview replies. Formations posted alongside rational comments and debate are exempt. Thanks, RAWK.

-------------------jones-------------------
flanagan--wisdom--kelly--alex o hanlon
--------------alberto-rossiter---------------
sterling-----------------------------ibe
--------------------borini-----------------------

well i keep hearing the 2nd string is good enough, so why not, good experience for em.

Is the mod not reading the rules?!

This'll be a very very tough game, psychological impact could be huge either way. Think I would take a good draw just to keep the momentum going...I probably won't be saying that any more come Sunday afternoon mind!

Our midfield will have too much energy for them, we've just got to make sure we don't get carried away and go hell for leather. Let's just dominate the midfield, don't do anything stupid, don't give the ref an excuse to give a pen to them and make sure we take our chances...easy game this football.

[RedRedTom]

We owe these horrible c*nts a proper hiding.  We should tear into them from the first whistle and never give them in inch.  Marriner is a shithouse ref who can and will be bullied by the Kop.  He'll let the first one go and that will be that - keep slamming into the challenges and these inbred rats will be 3-0 by half time.  Come on you mighty reds.

[GregCharrua]

@Harinder thanks for that preview, great read!


As for the game, I think Utd are going to be more defensively set-up than they were for the Chelsea game at Old Trafford.

Regardless, for me, it comes down to two key battles, I think.

Henderson v Carrick - Chelsea tasked Oscar with smothering Carrick and not giving him time and space to make those through passes and he did a good job. I don't think BR would have missed this and can imagine Henderson with his energy being given such a task on Sunday.

Skrtel v RVP - Agger being the ball-playing center-half, I imagine Skrtel will have more responsibility to silencing RVP? Really the entire defensive half of the team needs to keep him quiet.

How will Brendan line up? I imagine something like others have put forward, with Henderson in the CAM role, Coutinho to the left, Aspas on the right, and Danny up top. I'm not sure how much we'll commit to the attack. I think we might see a more direct football from the lads, looking to smash in that goal and hit them on the break. Will Aspas/Sturridge be given more attacking leave and Coutinho looking to help more in defense and then play between the lines and feed the ball to the strikers?

Would love to know PhaseOfPlay's view on this match! Where is he?

[MazzaRed]

Rooney did great vs chelsea and rvp cannot be dropped so I would assume yes.

And they drew 0-0 at home for the first time since 2009!! Fergie would've had em scoring a famous late goal.

Think more pressure on Moyes for this rather than us...but don't agree the pressure is off.  We have the home advantage and if the atmosphere is anything like the Stoke game, which I certainly expect it to be, I think we can suck the ball in the net!!

Just hope Mignolet can maintain his confidence after his slight hiccup last night and I would be happier with Kolo, but I'm quite quietly confident....

If we win we go top of the league - albeit for a couple of hours - whats the bet Brendans told them that - some incentive if you ask me?

[TXRed]

No reason to not think that the 2nd half will be another semi-meltdown...We have yet to show that we can play good football for more than a half. I think we take a 1-0 lead after an impressive first 45 but I am legitimately very nervous already about the 2nd half.

Heart says 3-0 and a Rooney/Moyes scrap, head says 2-2 or 2-3. Hope Skrtel and company prove me wrong!

[Ste08]

Great preview, a great chance to make a real statement early here.

[Wildpool]

Whos the ref for this one?

[tommy LFC]

Just watched Kuyt's hat trick against them, bloody brilliant!!

On a sidenote: I think Rafael will be a big miss for them, little fucker always play well against us.

[stockdam]

Some of the posts here would have us lie down before the match even began.

The key to this match is not Skrtel v Van Piersie..........the key is how ALL of our players perform.

Let's start with the positives.

Sturridge is in better form than any Utd player (yes Rooney is playing well and Van Piersie is always a threat).
Utd do not have a player like Coutinho.
Henderson is shading Carrick.
Gerrard and Lucas are more than capable of controlling the midfield.

We just need to keep it tight at the back (especially set pieces) and we have the players to feed Sturridge.

Utd are strong all over but the game is much more evenly balanced than a lot of people think. It could go either way and I think Sturridge will be MOTM.

[Scouse-Con]

Whos the ref for this one?

Halsey or Dowd guaranteed.

[Carly]

Halsey or Dowd guaranteed.

Its Andre Marriner.. 

Halsey is retired anyway lol.  I was worried it would be Kevin Friend.

[Sat1]

Looking forward to this. I can't see nothing but three points for us.