Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has rewarded Brad Jones and Jose Enrique for their recent good form by handing them starting places in the Merseyside Derby with Everton today.
Jones has kept two clean sheets in a row for the Reds, and it's pleasing to see Rodgers continue with his policy of choosing players on merit, rather than on reputation.
Glen Johnson misses out, possibly through injury, and Wisdom, Sterling and Suso continue to be automatic first choices.
FULL LINE UP:
Jones, Enrique, Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Gerrard, Allen, Sahin, Sterling, Suso, Suarez.
SUBS:
Reina, Carragher, Shelvey, Coates, Downing, Henderson, Assaidi.
Everton line-up:
Howard, Baines, Jagielka, Distin, Neville, Coleman, Osman, Fellaini, Jelavic, Mirallas, Naismith.
Reacting to the line-up, Liverpool legend Gary Gillespie observed:
"It's still surprising. If Reina was fit you'd expect to start in a game of this magnitude, but Rodgers is clearly sending a message to the players that no one is guaranteed their place in the team, and that's a good thing.
"It's bold and brave by the manager, and it's a risk, but Jones has not done anything wrong, and he has experience already of a massive derby"
PROBABLE FORMATION
----------------- Jones
Wisdom --- Skrtel --- Agger --- Enrique
------------ Allen -- Sahin
--------------- Gerrard
Sterling -------------------- Suso
--------------- Suarez
FULL TIME: 2-2
Jaimie Kanwar
Jones has kept two clean sheets in a row for the Reds, and it's pleasing to see Rodgers continue with his policy of choosing players on merit, rather than on reputation.
Glen Johnson misses out, possibly through injury, and Wisdom, Sterling and Suso continue to be automatic first choices.
FULL LINE UP:
Jones, Enrique, Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Gerrard, Allen, Sahin, Sterling, Suso, Suarez.
SUBS:
Reina, Carragher, Shelvey, Coates, Downing, Henderson, Assaidi.
Everton line-up:
Howard, Baines, Jagielka, Distin, Neville, Coleman, Osman, Fellaini, Jelavic, Mirallas, Naismith.
Reacting to the line-up, Liverpool legend Gary Gillespie observed:
"It's still surprising. If Reina was fit you'd expect to start in a game of this magnitude, but Rodgers is clearly sending a message to the players that no one is guaranteed their place in the team, and that's a good thing.
"It's bold and brave by the manager, and it's a risk, but Jones has not done anything wrong, and he has experience already of a massive derby"
PROBABLE FORMATION
----------------- Jones
Wisdom --- Skrtel --- Agger --- Enrique
------------ Allen -- Sahin
--------------- Gerrard
Sterling -------------------- Suso
--------------- Suarez
FULL TIME: 2-2
Jaimie Kanwar
Come on!!!!
ReplyDeletewhat score do you predict jamie?
ReplyDeleteI think 2-1 liverpool
It's going to be a tough game. I think Everton have the advantage physically, and I think it's possible the likes of Suso and Sterling could be muscled out of the game.
ReplyDeleteWhere is Johnson???? Where?? Oh God!!!
ReplyDeleteWould have liked to see Assaldi retain his place ahead of Suso.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to see Enrique back in the line-up, but guess he must've been showing some form in training, so I'm just trust Rodgers' judgement on that.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to see Assaidi dropped for Suso also, while Sahin retains his place, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with the selection - victory is on the cards! :-)
Fantastic stuff. Even if we don't get the result, it is plain obvious BR has a head on his shoulders. C'mon you new and improved REDS!
ReplyDeleteDefensively, we ill not miss Johnson so no need to worry.
ReplyDeletePhysicality is barely allowed in football nowadays - Suso & Sterling will be fine.
ReplyDeleteImo they both seem to be stronger than Sahin anyways, and nobody seems to express any concerns about him, even though he's in the centre of the park...
I think assaidi deserved a start suso is good but hes not that fast and rodgers is playing him at wings thats wrong its not his position assaidi could demolish their defenders its time to play him from the start cant see more than a draw here if not a defeat
ReplyDeleteGood to see the confindence that the manager is giving to those who play well, by sticking to his word of doing just that
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling the reds are going to shain today, fingers crossed
ReplyDeleteWouldn't be surprised that Reina goes soon....another top player leaves...
ReplyDeleteGood points. I bet Everton players specifically target Suso and Sterling for rought treatment (to the extent they can get away with it)
ReplyDeletelet they come now we are alread 4 evrthng ...............!
ReplyDeletesuso,sterling and wisdom is the like fire
ReplyDeleteReina hasn't been a top player for a good few years now.
ReplyDeleteSuarez is the odd one out, I can't see any justification for his starting which is a display lack of merit.
ReplyDeleteSuarez is the odd one out, I can't see any justification for his starting which is a display of lack of merit.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Reina has had no competition since he joined the club has made him comfortable. His form has been shocking and if Jones has another good match then Reina might spend some time on the bench and might make him realise that he either has to shape up or ship out. As easy as that.
ReplyDeleteOne thing about Suso and Sterling is they are small but they act like they don't know it. As you say Physicality is fading from the game and these guys are taking advantage by getting their backs to the player and protecting the ball which makes it very hard not to foul. Sahin's position this is a bit more dangerous but he is a quick thinker so hopefully he can pass his way out of these positions. YNWA!!
ReplyDeleteWho should start ahead of Suarez then, Borini who is injured?
ReplyDeleteThis is the big derby so playing Yesil or Morgan would have been a major risk.
hope these guys give up their best today
ReplyDeleteEverton will win 1-0......Kevin Mirallas will score due to lapse in concentration from our defenders though LFC will play better football.
ReplyDeleteI will pick Yesil while Suarez starts from the bench
ReplyDeleteWhoo-hoo, Suarez double but did not like that celebration one-bit, no need for it.
ReplyDeleteTwo latest players getting some hype from the fans, Wisdom and Jones, make mistakes today. Not the end of the world in terms of their future at Liverpool but take it easy with the over-the-top hype.
ReplyDeleteSterling is being muscled out of the game as I suspected. Suso is doing okay though.
ReplyDeleteGiving away two goal lead how stupid is that mirallas is raping wisdom there what about the second goal terrible defending even some kids would of cleared that and im afraid sterling will get sent off assaidi should get on for him
ReplyDeletehaha neville!
ReplyDeleteEgg in the face mate, Suarez responsible for both our goals. This match would have been way too much for Yesil. You do realise that Yesil is only 18???
ReplyDeleteI don't think Jones made any major mistakes. If Sterling was marking Osman properly then he wouldn't have got the shot off. The second goal was just shambolic defending from Skrtel et al.
ReplyDeleteI think Mike Riley will be getting another phone call!!! Some shocking decisions!
ReplyDeletefrom Jose not Skrtel
ReplyDeletePlease write an new blog how gay this end was. i think we ll never get what we deserve, its really frustrateing ....
ReplyDeleteCan't believe this. Referees in EPL are d!ckhe@d$.....how many bad decisions against LFC this season? How many points did it cost us? OFFSIDE?????? MY ARSE.
ReplyDeletePeople who are saying Suarez should have been benched please go and support Norwich/Southampton/QPR....coz thats the quality you want in LFC. Yesil in place of LUIS?? Suso, Wisdom, Sterling weren't too great today...experience is needed to play such a big game. Without Luis we would have lost 2-0 and without that freak of a decision in the end....we would have won 3-2...thanks to LUIS SUAREZ...!! And that celebration in front of Moyes was EPIC...!!He owned Moyesy..!!
It was a brilliant game to watch ,Mr. Mariner has to be complimented for handling the game very very well.Suarez was his usual menacing and brilliant self ,except for one stupid tackle which would have seen Red on another day.Our defense was seriously put to the test and failed miserably giving away 2 cheap goals.I thought the occasion got to some players and we could have handled the with much composure .It is always a tough derby yet sometimes i think we make too much out of this Derby.But a Gr8 game overall.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't intended...Suarez never ever intended to hurt anyone in hi LFC career so far. He dives but no nasty tackles. It was a yellow card at MAX. Defense was similar to that against Udinese...after scoring couple of goals our players tend to get a bit lazy. Even during Norwich game...but deficit was too much.
ReplyDeleteI thought referee was excellent throughtout the game but spoiled everything by disallowing a perfectly good Suarez goal.
ReplyDeleteFor Liverpool Suarez and Skrtel were excellent, Wisdom had a shocker and i thought Allen too couldn't handle physicality of Fellaini and struggled throughout the game and should have been replaced with Henderson.
I wasn't much impressed by midfield's performance today because we didn't control the tempo and played at Everton's pace which was the disappointing thing for me.
I remember pre-match interview of Joe Allen...(during Wales vs Belgium)...he said Fellaini kind of gives a nightmare for the opposition players...something in those lines.
ReplyDeleteSo we can now see, Joe Allen struggles against physical players. Surprised he never got a yellow card today...he is seriously a Spanish kinda player. More I see him, more I realize he is made for Barca/Real...
ur takin s*it
ReplyDeleteJust as i suspected, starting Jones was a mistake. His bad error led directly to a goal and ultimately cost us three points. Hopefully common sense will prevail and Reina will be back in the starting lineup.
ReplyDeleteThere was EVERY need for it !!! He's had 12 months of sh!t off opposition players, managers and the media. If anyone else had done it then you may have found it hilarious.
ReplyDeleteGive him a break, eh?
Enjoyed today. We are actually starting to look like a TEAM. We just didn't have the experience hold on to our lead, or ever look like seeing the game out. When Henderson is brought on to give the team some know-how, you realise what a young side we had out there.
ReplyDeleteAllen was great again, and when Howard has to run 20 yards to try and get a KID sent off, then you realise we have a gem of a player in Sterling.
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Nah, not my cup of tea that kind of reaction, though I get why some may find such illustrative ripostes funny.
ReplyDeleteIts not often you see a player play in the hole that has such a physical presence, I think that kinda-uniqueness makes Fellaini such a awkward player to get to grips, in relation to the opposition's central midfield and defence.
ReplyDeleteI remember Drogba doing a similar thing to Rafa. Without the irony or comedic value either......
ReplyDeleteAgree. Jones' punch from the side to the top of the box on the first goal really, really hurt us. We were up 2-0 and Everton didn't know what hit them and to give up such a silly goal immediately after our second goal changed the momentum of the game.
ReplyDeleteI had been impressed with Wisdom up to now, but he was awful today. He kept blaming Suso but Wisdom is the defender, for god's sake. He got beat on every single one-on-one.It's not as if he was getting double-teamed.