17 Feb 2013

Confirmed LFC XI vs. Swansea: Exciting team; nice surprise in attack

Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers has selected a strong attacking team for this afternoon's must-win clash with Swansea City at Anfield.

Martin Skrtel and Joe Allen go head back to the bench, with Lucas coming back into the team.

Jordan henderson was set to start, but literally twenty minutes ago, he was deemed a slight fitness risk, and is on the bench instead. The great news is that Brazilian Philippe Coutinho makes his first start for the club, and it looks like he may be playing in an advance central midfield role.

FULL TEAM: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Downing, Coutinho, Suarez, Sturridge.

SUBS: Gulacsi, Skrtel, Henderson, Shelvey, Sterling, Allen, Borini.

POSSIBLE FORMATION:

------------------ Reina

Johnson -- Carragher -- Agger -- Enrique

------------------ Lucas

----------- Gerrard -- Coutinho

Suarez ------------------------ Downing

--------------- Sturridge

I like the look of that! Hopefully, Rodgers won't do anything silly like play Downing in central midfield.

Michael Laudrup has selected a weakened Swansea side, with a several regulars on the bench, clearly being rested ahead of the League Cup Final.

SWANSEA TEAM: Vorm, Tiendalli, Bartley, Monk (c), Davies, Britton, Agustien, De Guzman, Hernandez, Lamah, Shechter.

SUBS: Tremmel, Rangel, Williams, Michu, Routledge, Dyer, Moore.

Rather surprisingly, Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson has tipped the Reds to win the game. He told the BBC:

"They [Swansea] won at Anfield earlier in that Cup run and they also scrapped for a draw with Liverpool at the Liberty Stadium in November when they did not play well. I think Liverpool might edge this one, though".

In an interview with Wales Online, Reds hero Jan Molby insisted that Liverpool need a win today to keep the doubters off Brendan Rodgers' back:

"Liverpool have so far lost and drawn with Swansea this season and a second defeat this weekend only provides the doubters with even more ammunition to fire at the manager.

"A defeat against Swansea has no more significance than a loss to any other side in the Premier League. But to those who are still unconvinced by Rodgers then it will mean more".


If Liverpool lose this game then be prepared for a Hodgson-esque avalanche of negativity from frustrated fans (!)



NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


79 comments:

  1. Delighted for Coutinho :D

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  2. A good performance overall. I was impressed with most. Sturridge was unlucky not to have at least 2 goals to his name.
    I'm not going to praise any individual because all looked well except for a few:
    Agger was poor again, almost costing us 2 goals - one at the beginning and another when he (again) left an unmarked player to head home, but god only knows what the opposition player did there.
    Allen kept things tidy, but again - it was too tidy and in my opinion he disrupts the flow of play. I like the way he handles a ball, but he must start doing things in a way that will benefit the team, and not the "I haven't lost possession and I have a 90% passing accuaracy" statistic. He should learn from Lucas(who was very good today IMO).

    Henderson did well when he came on - played with a lot of enthusiasm - but I wonder whether BR will put him back on the team after Coutinho's performance. I wouldn't, and was very pleased with his contribution, even though you could see he still needs to gel with the players around him. I still thinks Henderson deserve a place in the team, but I can't find a player to drop for him(maybe Agger? He'll do a better job there than him :P).

    Borini didn't have a lot of time to show his capabilities, but he made good movements and almost set up Johnson for a goal. I'm hoping he'll build on that and that his injury is not too bad.

    Hoping Reina will keep taking clean sheets home, and that LFC will keep on scoring 3 goals a match from open play.
    YNWA

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  3. While I share that feeling with you, I've felt like it before at some point during the 90ies.

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  4. Again agger, now me must fear that, agger deserves to be dropped, hes been shocking but still starting, thought skrtel should have, this got to be aggers last chance, and I dont think its a must win game our top 4 hopes are gone anyway, just a prestige win for me if we manage to get one.

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  5. A+++++ = Suarez,Sturage, Cutinho,Gerrarde,Carra,......Who is going to stop Sturage ,Suarez ,Coutinho..... Next season ? I increased on my age one year today after seeing the best combination and game lfc.Please ,Roger do something around defense.

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  6. Howard Webb? What has happened to you???!!

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  7. for the 1st time in my life i do not even know if a can be bothered to watch

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  8. This is much more like it .....

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  9. that suffering felt good. only downside was that it was against a weak Swansea side

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  10. Why would Borini be out for the rest of the season unless its serious..I dislocated my shoulder about a year and a half ago playing Gaelic football and I was alright a few weeks later,now granted it was pretty painful for the next few weeks but how can Borini be out for the rest of the season which is another 2 months?

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  11. only kidding i will suffer it with you;-)

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  12.  a wins a win but this was an understrength Swansea with an eye on the final ....an ideal game for Rodgers coming off two loses

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  13. Looks a good team, excited to see coutinho! YNWA!!!!:)

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  14. You might miss the start of an exciting new era!

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  15. Good response from the team, great game to watch on streaming. Probably not good for the negative fans who obviously dont have a clue that this season is a transition period...hence we'll have tough days and some good ones. 
    Rogers is not at fault for LFC's downfall over the years so give the guy a break....its a huge challenge at LFC with limited budget so along the way he will make good and bad decisions!!

    Not going to get carried away with todays performance but could not see us winning many games last year with 5 goals.

    Next season we can judge the manager/players & owners so get behind the team for godsake.

    Jason Carr - must feel like Friday 13th today.  
       

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  16. LFc does not need any player from Italy anymore
    ,Aqulani = 0,Boroni = 0,0+0=0,

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  17. Good game, coutinho looks a gem! Scored on his full home debut....sturridge on score sheet too. And 5 goals, good to watch hope this continues.

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  18. i must watch just in case its a decent game

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  19. Good win well done ,Lets hope we can build on from here in the next few games and not undue the good work with a few shockers like last week

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  20. well played but lets not get carried away swansea have there minds on other things,but at the end of the day you can only beat whats put before you,and the players did that well suarez,was brilliant  

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  21. We scored 5 goals there is no pleasing people, yes we made 35 chances but that's besides the point we scored and finished the game. Surely you didn't expect to bury 20 of the 35 chances this ain't NFL.

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  22. Looks like Rogers has given up against Zenit then!

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  23. Don't watch Swansea a lot, but weren't they known to keep the ball very well and not giving the opposition much possession? Well, from all the matches we've played against them this and last season, this one, so far, is the first where they don't dominate us. Finally it's the other way round. Hope it stays like that for the second half. Everything but our finishing is very encouraging.

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  24. Same for Gerrard. Hope he remembers how to score a pen today.

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  25. Good result, yeah I know Swansea played pretty much their second team but still a needed boost after the last couple of games.

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  26. The way our attack can move from sublime to absurd instantaneously is so nerve racking, the 3rd goal was Barcelona-esque, the Coutinho, Suarez, Sturridge, Enrique combo had me screaming my head off. Put we missed alot of chances and luckily we didn't pay for them. It seems the longer Agger plays the more ordinary he becomes.

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  27. If Borini's injury is just a dislocated shoulder he'll be fine...Its bloody painful but a week or two and I'd say he'll be back unless there's complications with it,which is unfortunate because that was a great chance for the lad to get his name on the score sheet and gain some confidence,but not to be I guess :/

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  28. Got a stinking hangover, not sure i need anymore torture but here we go again, lol

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  29. haha sadly I will watch it, even if it frustrates the living sht out of me

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  30. is it me or did sturridge look a bit pi*sed off today? he wasn't exactly over the moon with suarez when he notched.

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  31.  is there a problem with posting ?

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  32. It was a good result BUT our finishing still is not good enough We had something crazy like 40 chances with only 5 scored.On another day we could be punished for not taking them chances which as we know has happened far too often this season

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  33. Fair play to stevie after missing the other night

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  34. Im delighted with the result BUT a conversion rate of 1 goal to 7 chances created is not good enough...surely you can see that.We could and should have won the game by at least 8 goals

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  35. Looking forward to seeing Coutinho

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  36. Suarez gerrard should of been rested, they might pick up injuries, top 4 is gone, should of thought for zenit more, I think

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  37. Lol, we win 5-0 and this thread has gone quiet....

    Hardly surprising considering the amount of flack Rodgers has taken of late..................

    Delighted with the win, didn't get to see the game yet BUT i wonder where this leaves us with regard to our criticisms and general negativity...? For me this just goes to show that the potential is there, the squad is NOT as bad as we think it is & clearly when certain players...decide to put a shift in...then we have the ability to destroy sides like this....

    The fact that we have poster's complaining that we did'nt win by a lot more had we taken our chances speaks for itself.....

    I stand by what i have always maintained since Rafa left, which is that it is more the players or certain players who have been our achilles heel in terms of letting us down....

    Good win today, restored a bit of faith, nice little confidence booster, lets see IF (big if...) these players will now start standing up and playing like we KNOW they can....

    YNWA.

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  38. To be honest... Im disappointed. build up play was immaculate but we were still so wasteful! Suarez had a superb game. He creates as well as scores. Coutinho looked good, and has bought the patience that should be given to him freely. Sturridge is a great focal point to our attack but to be honest he should have had a hattrick. Take away the two penalties and its 3 goals from 30 shots.

    But overall it was a fantastic, dominating performance. They finished the job and put them to the sword.

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  39. Agree m8, never thought id see the day when i cant really even be arsed about a lfc game

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  40. Cummonn Phillipe, lets see what you can do!

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  41. He did look a bit pissed when Suarez scored, He waited for Suarez's pass but Suarez decided to have a go himself. Guess that's why Stevie let Sturridge take the last penalty (which was very humble from Stevie), just to give the lad something to smile about. (Y)

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  42. No Michu and Williams. Not exactly their strongest side out there. Come on lads, we should be able to do this.

    Interesting front three combination, Coutinho-Suarez-Sturridge (or 4, depending on where Downing plays or even Suarez if he instead plays in the hole). All three like to take players on their own and drift around. Could take a while for them to get in sync but at least, all three have something individually to cause problems.

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  43. Great performance, it's clear Sturridge makes such a difference with his pace, movement, physical presence, distribution, skill. All of this meant their back line drop deep giving Saurez space.
    Most importantly his attitude has been impeccable which I'm glad has proved a lot of bloggers wrong.
    If we can add another striker with pace hopefully it will negate playing Shelvy up front!

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  44.  Same could be said of Downing he's just not adding enough goals to justify his place

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  45. we'll most likely line up:

              Lucas  Gerrard

                 Suarez       

    Downing Sturridge Coutinho 


    If our back 5 can stay awake and alert for 90 mins, it could be a good day.

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  46. Why is that then? Should he have rested Suarez today?

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  47. Does Suarez still know where the goal is? Considering where his shots have gone so far he obviously doesn't.

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  48. Well i dont think you have a choice, the owners and the manager are singing from the same hymn sheet.  They have a longterm view on lfc, unless we are sold to someone like DIC or a billionaire who has 200m to spend on transfers, then the whole perception changes. 
    Surely in your life you've made mistakes along the way.   

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  49. well said mate, totally agree!!

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  50. clean sheet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  51. I thought he had some promise. Hope we see him in action soon otherwise it's more money wasted.

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  52. What?  You mean after a win you are not going to praise Suarez for his high energy work out there.....which basically was one of the big reasons they looked so good?  After blaming him for the Zenit loss....which was 50% his lack of finishing....you barely gloss over his play?  But your continued references as to "certain players" continuing to bring Liverpool down as a club and being the achilles heels....in terms of letting them down....No, that can in no way be disguised as to who you are talking about right?  
    Beacuse according to you....he is to blame when they lose and his effort is lacking and he does not earn his money.  See your rant about how Suarez is the reason this club has gone downhill...if you have a problem with what I am saying.

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  53. Jamie, why did you expect Suárez to play on the right and Downing on the left?

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  54. Excellent point, which is probably half our problem (the other half is the leaky defence ...) 

    Even Laudrup admitted we could have won 10-0!

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  55. If we won 5-0 in every game against 15 of the 20 sides in the EPL, no problem. The issue here (as emphasised so rightly by Niall) is that our terrible conversion ratio means we are forced into losses by teams who can soak up the pressure to then hit us on the break. These were the smart tactics adopted by the likes of WBA's Clarke to devastating effect, although our failure to convert early chances was admittedly compounded by a leaky defence that Rodgers appears incapable of sorting out. I won't dwell on the penalty except to say that Stevie's lack of confidence mirrored the lack of belief in Rodger's tactics as the game wore on without a goal ...

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  56. Don't agree about Agger, just a blip and IMO down to failed tactics in defence. In attack, the difference seems to be Danny Sturridge (although Coutinho's performance today was almost just as vibrant), which suggests we need one more striker of the quality of Sturridge or Suárez to have an EPL winning attack (the problems in defence and defensive midfield would of course also have to be sorted out).

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  57. True - although I think Shelvey with time will develop into a quality player in his favourite position in (attacking) central midfield

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  58. Didn't surprise me that we got 5 goals.............. Even put it after the WBA result. I really don't have a problem with the style of football we are playing but i do have a problem with how many chances we need to score. We won 5-0 but i'm not happy. We should of won 10-0 but again mistakes were made in front of goal and that as cost us all season really. 
    I stick up for the team when we lose so i'm having a moan when we win. 
    It is nice getting a few penalties in the last 2 home games........... We were due them.

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  59. actually 1 goal to 7 chances is ok. I have heard a few times that if you can score 1 in 8 chances, your doing well.

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  60. It was a nice win but let's be honest, Swansea clearly could not be bothered. Like someone said above, we were also poor in attack - had like what? 40 chances and only scored from 5, 2 were penalties. If teams blanket us we're goners. Again our defence were shaky throughout despite the clean sheet. Even a listless Swansea side made us panic back there. Good job suarez, coutinho, sturridge causing havoc but we need to be ruthless in front and at the back.

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  61. pretty easy, I did the same and it took 8 months to heal before I could raise my arm above my shoulder. All depends on how badly you damage other areas when it pops out. Mine resulted in the AC joints being snapped.

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  62. I will enjoy this win until Zenit comes. Let's see if the boys can take it from here and believe that nothing is impossible. Winning attitude and mentality is half the battle. The question is can we put three past Zenit without conceding. 

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  63. agree m8 but you can only beat whats pt in front of yo saying that i think anyone wold have beat swansea today thinking of cup final me thinks;-)

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  64. wasted money m8 hes gone in the summer if we can get rid,shame really not been given mch of a chance

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  65. for me if suarez is on fire lfc are on fire,bt when suarez has a bad day no one else seems to be able to take the riens

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  66. we beat swansea yo fool i have given them credit for that so what  dose that change the rest of the season swansea came not to get injred no effort cup final next week,yes they played well but one game and were all supposed to jmp on the rodgers is a genis bandwagon

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  67. my comment to yo got deleted i can not be bothered with you or yor opinion on me

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  68. we are going to win the league we beat swansea rodgers is a genius ,get a grip

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  69. because some people only see someone score a goal or make a mistake,they do not see the bigger picture

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  70. The upside to being as inconsistent as we are is that sometimes you win games too. We've created a hatful of chances every game we've played this season (ish) and sometimes, like yesterday, you get the rub of the green and they go in. It means nothing though. We could still end up dropping points and exiting the EL within the next two weeks. It's nice to win but it means nothing.

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  71. Scary moment when Agger completely lost Monk in our box. If that's someone like Kompany, Hernandez etc...Swansea would of been 1 up. 

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  72. I guess us Paddies are a bit tougher :-)

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  73. yes it makes a change ,sure normal service will resume soon suarez was brilliant thing is if he dose not perform the team dose not

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  74. obviously more than meets the eye, maybe hes done something that's actually managed to stay internal.
    looked good must admit. even Rodgers doesn't buy a player whos not up to it and doesn't even make the bench

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  75. I think like young Jack Robinson like Sturridge gets pissed when Suarez throws a temper tantrum EVERYTIME someone shoots and DOESN'T score when they could have passed to him.  I get pissed watching it!  When Suarez continually shoots and misses he expects everyone to be content with an apology.  I think it's the double standards that is irritating and something Sturridge has become aware of very early in his pool career.

    You have to be very strong mentally to play alongside the great man.

     

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