Topic: Liverpool vs Spurs (A) - Sun 31st Aug - 13:30 KO - SS1

[Anywhichwayicant]

Important to bounce back with a good strong performance, and a win.


Looking forward to seeing Balotelli and Markovic. Hopefully Moreno can build on his promising debut.

[Pricey]

If we do the following i think we'll win.

1. Start with Lovren & Sakho
2. Don't play Glen Johnson
3. Play Sterling behind 2 strikers.
4. Play the diamond with Sterling at the head.
5. Start with two strikers. I believe Lambert has earned a start. 2 great impacts off the bench. Let Balotelli come off the bench.

Do those things, and not make basic elementary mistakes and we'll win.

[AB LFC]

Johnson doesn't deserve another chance, he's been piss poor for far too long.

Anyway, we're a wounded animal. Spurs are going to get it. Super Mario to mark his debut with a goal.

[Anywhichwayicant]

What's the story with fitness?


How are the injuries?

[robertobaggio37]

Is Adam available for this?

[Magix]

I didn't watched any of Spurs game this season, are they pressing high like Soton? Are Eriksen and Lamela that hard working like Lallana and Wanyama? Anything other than a lose would do for me.

Against QPR, Eriksen, Chadli and Lamela seemed to be given the freedom to rove behind Adebayor. Lamela and Chadli were pressing quite well from what I saw.

[Caston]

What's the story with fitness?


How are the injuries?

Haven't had updates on Johnson and Moreno yet, physio room has Skrtel down injured
No idea what's happening with Enrique
Flanagan has the same return date as Lallana (this weekend) but haven't seen him training yet
Lallana back this weekend

Pretty much it

[Mutton Geoff]

Lose this and it's a Europa League at best next season.

 

[Anywhichwayicant]

Haven't had updates on Johnson and Moreno yet, physio room has Skrtel down injured
No idea what's happening with Enrique
Flanagan has the same return date as Lallana (this weekend) but haven't seen him training yet
Lallana back this weekend

Pretty much it

Nice one, thanks 

[L666KOP]

Am I doing it right ?

 

[N0rnIr0nRed]

A good win here gives our season a shot in the arm.

Our next 7 games after this are all  against teams we should be winning comfortably with the Merseyside derby stuck in the middle.

Pochettino is obviously a good manager and Spurs do have good players on their books.

However they have only beaten West Ham (narrowly) and QPR.  They will want to make a statement of intent for their season against us.

Pochettino likes to press the opposition and last season Southampton trounced us at Anfield by doing just that.

Quick start is important. I would start with Markovic and encourage Sturridge and Sterling to run at their men. The Spurs fullbacks are there to be had at so we have to use our pace against them.

Moreno Lovren Skrtel Johnson

Gerrard

Henderson Markovic

Sterling Balotelli Sturridge

Balotelli to interchange with Sterling/Sturridge in front three.

[jaffod]

Is Adam available for this?

Plays for Stoke now mate.

[HighSix]

Not too happy with City & Spurs away matches back to back. Does anyone know what kind of team Spurs will play in the qualifier on Thursday? 

Think we will do well to win this if we have to make three changes in the back four. Guess no chance of Flanagan - Skrtel - Lovren - Moreno until after the international break but then hope this quartet are given a run of games to settle & for partnerships.

[robertobaggio37]

Plays for Stoke now mate.

[EmotionalCitrus]

Remember when Spurs fans thought their club was relevant.  These are shite, we'll twat them 0-4.

[L666KOP]

Remember when Spurs fans thought their club was relevant.  These are shite, we'll twat them 0-4.

I'm glad we're playing them early in the season.

Pochettino sets his sides up well, I think we'll win, but not that easily.

We may well need a well drilled Spurs to take points of our rivals later in the season.

I don't think they'll trouble the top 4 like, but I expect them to be a lot more effective than under Captain Fuckwit.

[Melbred]

Early stages but stating the obvious, a win is pretty important here. We need to show again this season that we can beat the "tougher" sides, and Pochettino will know exactly how to set up against us.

Last season we started off slow as well, but we ground out the 1-0 wins - need to start replicating something like that again.

Interesting to see if Balotelli gets his first start for us here, as it will mean we will have changed our system to accommodate him.

[ashleyrose-66]

Keep seeing that Pochettino supposedly knows how to set up against us...

We twatted Southampton 3-0 at St. Mary's last season. 

[elpistolero7]

We have a decent run of fixtures after this. A win here, and we'd be set up nicely to be in the top 3 come October.

Crucial game. Can't lose no matter what. Draw at worst please.

[clinical]

We won't beat them 4-0 this year

[Twitter.com]

Mario trained in orange bib. 

[Zoomers]

Their defense and their midfield covering the defense isn't strong at all, so we if our attack is on game then we'll cause them some good damage.

[Michel]

Ι think the only time  Liverpool under Rodgers  lost two games in a row was the City (A),Chelsea(A) games last season.
This is a similar set of fixtures but I don't think it will happen again.
Draw is the worst case.

[Melbred]

Mario trained in orange bib. 

Enrique congratulating him for getting his bib on.

[Mutton Geoff]

Mario trained in orange bib. 

looks like he has already engaged Sakho as his minder.

[Scott0908]

tough game,     
                                  Mignolet
       Manquillo      skrtel    Lovren     Moreno or enrique if Moreno is injured.
 
                        Gerrard   
           Allen                    Henderson
                        Sterling
          balotelli              Sturridge

[Buck Pete]

Mario trained in orange bib. 

Sakho is without a doubt the most menacing looking footballer around.

There's a career as a  Hollywood villain for our Sakho when he retires.

[indlfc]

Mario trained in orange bib. 

Enrique even congratulating for training in orange bib

[Dagger/Molby]

Keep seeing that Pochettino supposedly knows how to set up against us...

We twatted Southampton 3-0 at St. Mary's last season.

Right - and now we have their defence (Lovren) and Attack (Lambert) in the team... maybe spurs will twat us 3-0 now

[deadsetred]

The logic is simple.....how often was Arbs, Hyppia, Carra and Riise rotated? Bar injury my guess it was hardly ever. How solid did that back four become?

You only have to look at Arsenals famous back four to understand that!!!

Were they solid because they were always chosen, or were they always chosen because they were solid?

[TheFlyingScouseman]

Spurs thrashed a poor QPR team, it was more of a case of QPR playing bad then Spurs being brilliant, but they still looked good. And they were lucky to win on the opening day. So we'll win as we are their first test of the season. 2-0.

[sms1986]

I think we'll bounce back with a win on Sunday, a 1-0 or 2-1 would be good enough.

[Samie]

Have we not beaten a  Pochettino team? The way some of you lads go on about this it seems everytime his teams  play us they fuck us in the arse with no lube or something.

[TobyLFC]

Think we had a great showing against City hence:

              Mignolet
Manquillo-Lovren-Sakho-Moreno (if not injured)
                Gerrard
       Can              Allen (or maybe Hendo)
                 Sterling
       Sturridge     Lambert


Peace

[Twitter.com]

Think we had a great showing against City hence:

              Mignolet
Manquillo-Lovren-Sakho-Moreno (if not injured)
                Gerrard
       Can              Allen (or maybe Hendo)
                 Sterling
       Sturridge     Lambert


Peace

Henderson is vital to our system and imo he will always play if fit.

[TravisBickle]

------------Mignolet------------
Manquillo--Skrtel--Lovren---Moreno
------------Gerrard-------------
---------Allen--Henderson--------
-----------Sterling--------------
-------Lambert-Sturridge---------

 They'll try to press us and force us into mistakes. I'd be quite happy soaking up pressure and hitting them on the break if I'm honest. Our frontline has far more pace than their defence and we could have a lot of joy that way. Hopefully Danny won't be up there by himself again - get Lambert involved from the start and give them something extra to worry about.

 Regardless of what the score is, I'd be bringing on Mario at about the hourmark.

[Reds Flag]

I'd definitely be up for the diamond. It worked very well for us last year and I'd be excited to see it again. Sturridge and Balotelli up front will give the Spurs defence nightmares, and Lambert can come on for Balo if he doesn't quite hit the ground running or isn't quite as fit yet as we'd like. I feel like the tip of the diamond is possibly Sterling's best position now with the amazing all round player he's becoming. Then Hendo and Coutinho/Allen behind, with whichever one of Cou or Allen plays being replaced for the last 30 by Markovic. And soon we'll have Lallana to throw in there too. Gerrard of course is a given, hopefully Moreno will be fit, Manquillo replacing Johnson. It's a tough start for us but hopefully we can have another great day at WHL and give Spurs a few lessons, like the ones we'll hopefully learn from at the Etihad.

[gtazn]

It's going to be a much tougher game there this season. They're high on confidence, and Adebayor is actually fit this time around. He's a striker who we've historically struggled against.

[Koprich]

As other have said, spurs play very narrow and their fullbacks are just begging to be exploited.

I'd like us to play a deep and disciplined central 3 of Gerard Hendo and Can and look to really constrict the space in the centre which Ericksen and lamella like to operate in. Spurs will be forced to try playing wider and play more crosses into the box which is not the strongest part of their game and easily defended against.

When we win the ball we should look to quickly release a front 3 of sterling sturridge and mario. Sturridge and sterling can play in the slightly wider positions and are both players who are happy to come deep to collect the ball but then surge forward with frightening pace.

Mario presents their defence with a constant problem. If they don't stick tight to him, he'll find pockets of space and can score from short, long and in the air. If they stick too tight for them, sturridge and sterling will regularly find themselves in good shooting positions if they can beat one of the fullbacks (not too difficult when you look at the spurs fullbacks).

Our front 3 shouldn't need too much support from midfield on the counter so I'd like to see Hendo and can remain disciplined throughout and only push up when they are confident that Gerrard won't be left exposed if we turn over possession.

I'd pair lovren with Sakho for this game as neither will be bullied by adebayor's strength in the air. I also think they are the future of our defence and need to get some game time together sooner or later anyway.

If we set up like that I can see us keeping it pretty tight at the back yet still creating bags of scoring chances and give these wannabes a pretty comprehensive hiding.

[TobyLFC]

Henderson is vital to our system and imo he will always play if fit.

Yeah you might be right, didn't think he played his best game against City wasted a lot of passes, though his stamina is second to none.