Topic: Preview: Liverpool v Aston Villa, Sat15th December 15.00 KO

[Believe]

[snip]

Fantastic post as always, very much enjoyed reading - thanks. I'd like to see a Lucas-Henderson-Sahin midfield for this one too, would balance very nicely in my opinion. Type of game Sahin will revel in.

[slaphead]

I'll take a win in any way, shape or form, and an injury and suspension free Suarez after the game
That gets us 3 more points and 1 game less to play until we can reinforce up front
Infact forget that, Suarez you're on the bench son, we dont need you we scored 3 without you on Sunday 

[woof]

If we're top 4 material, we need to bag the 3 points.

[lfcbob]

Suarez hat trick !

[CaptainSuarez]

Don't care if we win 1-0 with Darren Bent scoring an owl-goal with his right moler, 3 points please. nothing more.

I don't think this will be as easy a ride at all but can see us winning by a couple. 2 first half goals would be nice.

[Malaysian Kopite]

Benteke isn't a mediocore transfer.

I think we'll twat these. Villa have been horrible this season.

[Agger]

Big game this, gotta keep the momentum up and I think we will.

Obviously the return of Suarez is a massive boost. Time to give Sterling a rest?

[Draex]

Really need to be battering teams like this at Anfield, goal difference could be important come the end of the season and ours isn't brilliant. Saying that I'd take a win every day of the week. If we play a fast tempo we should be too much for Villa, get the early goal and they could crumble.

[slaphead]

Time to give Sterling a rest?

Could very well be the time to do it ahead of a busy period

[Funky_Gibbons]

Time to give Sterling a rest?

I've not really bought into this opinion that he is looking tired. I think he is getting more attention from defenders but I still think he is playing really well. We have two games in two weeks now so that should be plenty of time for him recover.

He obviously cannot continue to play as many games as he has done, but in another 4 or 5 games we should have reinforcements in so we can rest him then.

[Carlos: Very Kickable]

The game will be contested by 2 former glorious sides forced to rely on youth talent because their American owners were more concerned with their U.S. based sports teams over recent transfer windows than with their Premier League football teams. 

Both sets of fans would do better not to focus on the build up of this match but to organise and try to reclaim some of their club back.

Agree with the comments about Benteke already made above. How do you know its the appearance fee which is keeping Bent out?

Re: comments about "American owners"  - Not sure if you're referring to H&G or FSG here?

There's a lot of talk amongst Arsenal and Chelsea fans about wanting their "old clubs back". That's fine - but just don't expect to compete with teh top teams again.

[Agger]

I've not really bought into this opinion that he is looking tired. I think he is getting more attention from defenders but I still think he is playing really well. We have two games in two weeks now so that should be plenty of time for him recover.

He obviously cannot continue to play as many games as he has done, but in another 4 or 5 games we should have reinforcements in so we can rest him then.

It's not about him looking tired. It's more to do with the fact that he's very young and in a perfect world, a 18 year old shouldn't play that much. We're risking of burning him out. It's something that has happened to a lot of young players who had so much potential.

But as you say, we have an easy schedule coming up with only 2 games in 14 days so perhaps we might not need to worry as much.

[RivaGe]

Need to smash these, Villa is one of the worst teams this season.

[sattapaartridge]

I'd take a 1-0 right now. I'm not fussy how it happens!

I think Downing deserves another start, Suarez will spearhead, Sterling on the left, Wisdom at RB, Glen at LB. If Rodgers is strong enough, he'd start Henderson ahead of Allen*, and Jonjo ahead of Gerrard*. Refresh that midfield, been stale of late. Is enrique* fit?

No harm putting them on the bench.


                          Reina

Wisdom*    Agger       Skrtel        Johnson

                         Lucas
                                Henderson*
              Jonjo*
    Downing                      Sterling
                        Suarez

[LucasLeiva]

Predicted Line-up:
                  Reina
Johsnon Skrtel Agger Enrique
                  Lucas
            Allen    Gerrard
Sterling     Suarez    Shelvey

How I would line up:
                  Reina
Johsnon Skrtel Agger Enrique
                  Lucas
            Hendo    Gerrard
Sterling     Suarez    Shelvey

Henderson is growing in confidence and I think he deserves a start, nothing against Allen but he seems to be the favourite under Rodgers so would be nice to see him have to fight for his place a bit more. Hope Morgan is on the bench again.

[mabbympb]

Predicted Line-up:
                  Reina
Johsnon Skrtel Agger Enrique
                  Lucas
            Allen    Gerrard
Sterling     Suarez    Shelvey

How I would line up:
                  Reina
Johsnon Skrtel Agger Enrique
                  Lucas
            Hendo    Gerrard
Sterling     Suarez    Shelvey

Henderson is growing in confidence and I think he deserves a start, nothing against Allen but he seems to be the favourite under Rodgers so would be nice to see him have to fight for his place a bit more. Hope Morgan is on the bench again.

Morgan is in Singapore, have a look at the official club website.

Great OP, but where has this info about Bent = 50 apps = Ł3m come from??

[LucasLeiva]

Morgan is in Singapore, have a look at the official club website.

Great OP, but where has this info about Bent = 50 apps = Ł3m come from??

I knew some lads travelled, didn't know Morgan was one of them.

[firing squad]

Just a win. Any win.

People are already mentioning lots of goals, Villa is shite etc...  Some others have also been shite and we didn't beat them.  1-0 would suit me just fine.

[GlenJohnson2]

1-0 would suit me just fine.

[Jamie1983]

1-0 would suit me just fine.

[whtwht]

Indeed. A wins a win! We havent been near free scoring this season ,come new year( hopefully with reinforcements)  i think we might be giving some  teams a thrashing.

[UntouchableLuis]

Will be at this one, looking forward to it!

Shelvey has to start now; his attitude the other day was fucking superb. So much passion and works so hard.

[Paullfc95]

Think people are slightly underestimating this one. Obviously we still on paper should win but villa are 4 games unbeaten and have kept 3 clean sheets in that run.
Will be quite tight I think. An early goal would help massively.
1-0 to us.

[Swright90]

Really hope Sahin starts here. A game like this is made for him!

[NZ Red]

Everyone is rightly confident about this one and on paper it's a game where we should be looking to get at least a couple of goals to seal a comfortable win. Suarez in particular should revel in the space behind the Villa back four, especially after not playing against West Ham. I'd love to see us hammer them as much as the next fan, but at this point I'd just be happy with a 1-0 win. December is crammed with fixtures, and just seeing us take 9 points from 9 for the first time in ages would be satisfying enough for me.

[stardorman]

This match cant come soon enough.. If we win these 2 home games on the bounce, i'll be absolutely made up for christmas! 

[J-Mc-]

Don't give a fuck how the game goes, aslong as LFC get the 3 points.

[Anywhichwayicant]

I'll settle for a 95th minute Lee Hendrie OG.

[stardorman]

Don't give a fuck how the game goes, aslong as LFC get the 3 points.

Amen to that.. To get those 3 points on the board on saturday will be massive, no matter how they come about.
2 wins on the bouce and we'll be right up Spurs arse

[stardorman]

I'll settle for a 95th minute Lee Hendrie OG.

lol.. you'll have to head down to tamworth to see that.

[gazzathered]

Don't give a fuck how the game goes, aslong as LFC get the 3 points.

[John C]

Ta Degs. McLeish was their nightmare manager all right. For a moment I thought your research was going to uncover a side-bet between the two clubs to see if we could turn Downing in to a utility player.

If we don't win this there'll be some slumped shoulders on Saturday night.

[MrGrumpy]

If we cant beat this lot, we're in for a tough season. I'd like to see Shelvey given another go in a more advanced role.

My team


Reina

Wisdom
Skrtel
Agger
Johnson

Lucas
Henderson
Gerrard

Suarez
Shelvey
Suso

[robgomm]

Their improvement appears to be continuing.

[FernandoSusoLFC]

Just beaten a side who were 2nd in the PL form team for their last 8 games with 4 wins and 4 draws. Very good game ahead this weekend.

Bent looks to have gone off injured according to BBC.

Lets just get 3pts and on to the next one.

[Mashy-rawr!nooo]

scored four at carrow road v Norwich. Looks like it won't be easy after all. Regardless we need to win this.

[FernandoSusoLFC]

They crumbled against United as they were under pressure.

Good job we have a certain number 7 who will be fresher than anyone in their side.

It's on!

[exiledintheUSA]

scored four at carrow road v Norwich. Looks like it won't be easy after all. Regardless we need to win this.

Norwich pretty much gave up as soon as Villa's second went in. 

[PhaseOfPlay]

scored four at carrow road v Norwich. Looks like it won't be easy after all. Regardless we need to win this.

Arsenal have just had to come back from 1 down to take their game to extra time against Bradford. Cup games throw up all sorts of form anomalies.

The key points are that we are resting tonight while they are playing, they probably have lost Bent as an option for Saturday, and they clearly look like a cup team this year, and will have a dip in performance for every league game after a cup game. My thoughts earlier were that it will be tight but we will win without being really threatened (like Southampton game), or we will open them up and put a good number past them, without them scoring in return. I think the chances of not winning are probably low, but of course it's always possible. I just wouldn't take a good cup result as any indicator of what we will have to face on Saturday.

[Funky_Gibbons]

scored four at carrow road v Norwich. Looks like it won't be easy after all. Regardless we need to win this.

We scored more there