28 Oct 2012

BR to axe Reina for Jones vs. Everton? LFC fans give their emphatic verdict...

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has a major decision to make today: should he recall Pepe Reina, or keep faith with his understudy, Brad Jones? The Aussi keeper is on a high at the moment after two clean sheets in a row, and in my view, it would be terrible man-management to drop him for the Merseyside derby today. What do fans think?

I conducted a survey earlier in the week asking that question, and the results were emphatic:

* 6300 people (Approx) participated in the poll.

* 67% of participants voted for Jones to retain his place for today's game.

In his post-match press conference last week, Rodgers was full of praise for Jones. He raved:

"I thought Brad was outstanding. When I came in during the summer he had been the number three keeper but I've seen massive development and it's a great credit to him. What he is absolutely outstanding at is shot-stopping and he made a great save."

If Jones is 'absolutely outstanding' then surely he should keep his place in the team, even if Reina recovers from injury this week? Why would you drop a goalkeeper who put in an 'outstanding' performance and kept a clean sheet?

If Rodgers drops Jones for Reina then it will show he doesn't have the cojones to make tough decisions when it comes LFC's long-serving senior players, and that will be a massive negative IMO. It's not as if Reina deserves to be first-choice at the moment, is it?

Reina probably feels that all he has to do is be fit to get into the team; Rodgers should make him fight to regain his place, and that means keeping Jones as no.1 unless and until he makes mistakes that necessitate a change.

Rodgers has stated many times this season that players stay in the team on merit, so it will be interesting to see if he has the courage of his convictions when it comes to Jones and Reina.

I can see the argument that experience is needed in the hostile atmosphere of the Merseyside Derby, but how is Jones supposed to get that experience unless he plays? Additionally, Andre Wisdom and Raheem Sterling will almost certainly start the game today, and they have zero experience of these games, so why should Jones - who is much older - be treated any differently? I would go for the following team today:

----------------------- Jones

Wisdom ----------- Agger ---- Skrtel ------------ Johnson

------------------ Allen ---- Shelvey

---------------------- Gerrard

Downing -------------------------------- Stering

---------------------- Suarez

Downing scored in the last game, and it's unfair and counter-productive to drop attacking players who score goals (IMO). Suso can replace him in the second half (if necessary)

Jaimie Kanwar


14 comments:

  1. I think it's great that we can have an outstanding number 2. If Rodgers think's Reina is better how can he pick Jones ahead of him, no matter how outstanding jones has been. Hernandez scored twice for utd midweek, he won't start today

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  2. Ann... Jamie?? I think you left Suarez out of your team! Now THAT would not be good man management! :)

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  3. I meant Suarez :-) I must've been thinking of Suso at that precise moment.

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  4. Mr Jamie what a mess of a line up you put out there, downing scores a goal in the Europa therefore should start? Apart from the goal he disappeared, assaidi was the stand out performer and should start ahead of suso. Then swap gerrard with shelvey and put sahin in the middle. And surely suarez has to start? Lucky your not anywhere near the team today. RedTurk

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  5. Like it or not, players like Reina and Suarez will have to be part of our fiirst team, for a long time to come, if we are to become successful again.

    We all know how you feel about these players, but the fact remains that they are class. Form is temporary, but class remains until the body gives up when age takes over.

    In their relative positions, Suarez and Reina have many years to give of their best, hopefully with Liverpool. So unless you know where we can find better, maybe you should get behind these players more.

    I do agree, however, that players should not take their selection for granted.

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  6. Downing scored as a full back, not as an attacker. Assaidi had a MUCH better game than him in an attacking role.

    For me, Downing should be behind Suarez, Assaidi, Sterling, Gerrard, Suso & Pacheco in any consideration for an attacking role in our team.

    Shelvey has had sub-par performances in the last couple of games (as has Sahin) and the refs won't need any prompting to get the cards out in the derby so I'd hand Henderson a start in the midfield 3. Other than that, the team picks itself, pretty much.

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  7. It is touch not to consider Sahin, but I Jamie has it right with his choice of Shelvey in the middle. His fiery temperament is what is needed in this encounter (as long as he does not see red!). The introduction of Assaidi later in the game would be more effective.

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  8. And there you have it! Jones keeps his place! Nice one BR

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  9. haha Jamie!, you'll be satisfied with BR.

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  10. Terrible decision, hope Jones proves me wrong.

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  11. Don't think Jones will start next one after this performance.

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  12. Why are you blaming BR? he did great job in making those changes at half time, and that helped in regaining foothold in the game. Just unlucky for that disallowed goal. Though i thought Allen should have been substituted because he couldn't handle Fellaini at all and that was one reason Everton were so dominant for longer periods.

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  13. jamie retire.......more tosh.

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  14. He was shaky all game if you asked me, at fault for their first. Bring Reina back please

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