26 Oct 2013

LFC predicted XI vs. West Brom: Surprise in defence? Attacker to be dropped?

Liverpool face West Brom at Anfield today, and with the club's status in the top four at stake, the Reds will hopefully put an end to the current three-game Premier League losing streak against the Baggies.

West Brom are 12th in the table, with only one win in the last three games, but after the abject failure to beat ten-man Newcastle last week, absolutely nothing can be taken for granted.

On their day, West Brom can inflict serious damage - their recent 2-1 victory at Old Trafford proves this, and Liverpool's 1-0 defeat to Southampton earlier this month shows that the team can be beaten by so-called 'lesser' sides at home.

Injury-wise, Aspas and Coutinho will both miss out, but Cissokho, Allen and Johnson are once again fit and available.

Liverpool have had moderate success with the 352 formation, but I sincerely hope that this experiment is scrapped today. If that formation cannot beat a team with 10-men, then it's clearly ineffective, and it also doesn't work (IMO) for the following reasons:

* Victor Moses is wasted as a number ten, which means there's one less player on the field capable of really contributing.

* Aly Cissokho is not a great attacking option as a left wing-back.

* Too many friggin' defenders on the field, and not enough natural width, which leads to narrow, ineffective play.

As such, I sincerely hope to see the following formation today:

------------------- Mignolet

Johnson ------- Toure -- Skrtel ---- Cissokho

--------------- Allen -- Hendo

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

------- Moses ---------------- Suarez

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

* The time has come to give Allen another chance in midfield. Liverpool's ball retention is comparatively poor this year, and Allen is fit, rested, and raring to go. Rodgers spent £15m on him, so what's the point of endlessly leaving him on the bench?

* I'd give Sakho a break. He's played every game since arriving, and if the formation changes, Toure and Skrtel is a good partnership. Missing out may come as a surprise to the Frenchman, but in a 433 formation, someone has to make way. Daniel Agger could also come back into the equation.

* If Enrique is fit again, I'd play him ahead of Cissokho, but it's probably unlikely he's recovered this fast.

Alas, I doubt Rodgers will change the 352 formation, so we'll probably see this instead:

------------------- Mignolet

--------- Toure ---- Skrtel ---- Sakho

Johnson --------------------------- Cissokho

-------------- Gerrard -- Lucas

-------------------- Hendo

--------------Suarez --- Sturridge

I have a feeling that Moses may be yanked from the starting line-up today (for 352), and given Rodgers' cloying man-love for Hendo, it's possible he could play him as the number 10. Additionally, after Fergie's (innocuous) comments about Hendo, and Rodgers' staunch defence, I can't see the midfielder being dropped, and someone has to make way if Lucas (as expected) returns.

Surprisingly predicting a 2-0 win for Liverpool, Reds legend Mark Lawrenson observed:

"I am going to go for Liverpool because, with every game that he plays, Luis Suarez is getting a little bit sharper. And, every time Suarez and Daniel Sturridge play together, their partnership looks even better. West Brom attacked Manchester United, and deserved their victory, and I think he will do the same at Anfield. An open game will suit Liverpool".

Author:


35 comments:

  1. so glad to be back :) not that anyone missed me hahha - cant wait for the game... i like that 4-3-3 lineup jaimie, but unfortunately i doubt we will see that.. hope allen gets some time at the pitch!

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  2. Not too bothered about who plays today, I just want to see the team take three points in order to add pressure to the teams who are fighting for a spot in the top 4 i.e Spurs, Southampton and Everton. Utd for a change are the odd ones out Ha ha.

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  3. mignolet johnson toure skrtel agger enrique/sterling henderson gerrard lucas suarez sturridge
    if enrique is not fit johnson at lwb and sterling at rwb

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  4. I'd like to see alberto start, or at least get more playing time.

    WB are without their "stars" from the last game, Foster and Lukaku. Last time Liverpoolhad taken 20+ shots before WB had even 1 shot.

    This game is very winnable, the team should be motivated in front of the home crowd.

    Let's see Allen get some play, maybe a Coutinho cameo?? Cissokho should be alright - last time was his first game back( 1st start), and he did no worse than Enrique would - yeah, he didn't stop the ball from the set piece - Enrique has done this twice so far.

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  5. Formation 1: i'd like to see

    ---------------------mignolet

    -----------toure------skrtel-----agger-------

    ---ilori-------------------------------------johnson

    ----------------gerrard-----------hendo--------

    -------------------------alberto

    --------------suarez--------------sturridge

    Ilori has got Theo Walcott pace, and is a big strong boy. he can play that wing back role while holding his ground too. We still have not seen this boy play and with so much hype around him he must start. Johnson seems to like playing left back, and in a LWB role, he can finally be the CRonaldo he wants to be and cut in on his favoured foot. we need a Real AM to play the 10 role so alberto will be my choice and although kind of slow, surely he can pick some passes to SAS, and hes play very attacking at times for barcelona. I'd also like agger back in the starting line-up. how we can play 5 defenders and not have agger on beats me, but before sakho came into the lineup we kept clean sheets so ill have him back. I don't want neither sakho or cissokho in the lineup. they are the cause for many goals and are liabiltys in the squad.

    Formation 2: if not i'd have this

    -------------------------Mignolet

    --------Hendo------Toure-----Skrtel-----Johnson

    ------------------Allen------------Gerrard

    Alberto---------------------------------------------Ibe

    ----------------Suarez-------------Sturridge

    Formation 3: to be even more direct while trying to keep the midfield neat with pass masters and direct forwards.

    -------------------------Mignolet

    --------Hendo------Toure-----Skrtel-----Johnson

    ------------------Alberto------------Gerrard

    Moses---------------------------------------------Ibe

    ----------------Suarez-------------Sturridge

    this formation looks deadliest to me but I'd choose 3 or 1. I want to see Ibe become CRonalo. given hes gota a very deadly shot, good at 1v1, quick and strong I want to see him on the pitch running at defenders. and the idea of him and moses on the wing makes sense forwards like suarez and sturridge.

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  6. You said Coutinho will miss out, but then in the same sentence said he's available...

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  7. I'm glad to see you're pretty much in agreement with my sentiments ahead of this game with the desired line-up - hopefully Rodgers is similarly convinced!

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  8. johnson toure skrtel cissokho
    any one of lucas, hando or allen
    then gerrard alberto
    sturridge suarez moses in rotation.


    Mostly i am just against the 352 it's a bit embarrassing, and don't care who plays really just want to see a team that are strong combining and that play brilliant football for at least strong periods of the match. Rodgers get it together or leave please. It's hard but it shouldn't be that difficult.
    by the way, west broom are stronger than you think; you didn't mentioned they're draw with arsenal etc.
    Another thing, the point about allen brought for 15 is irrelevant the way you presented it. there is a point of leaving on the bench. not saying that i won't play him; just that you make it sound like money is a factor which can cause bad managing. Also i wish Agger will get his top form back and earn his place back - vice captain!

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  9. They have a great manager. Not just won man united but played really really well.

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  10. Hey man, do you know if the game is gonna be shown on Foxsports? I was hoping it was viewers choice but all I see is United v Stoke with nothing about viewers choice...cbf waiting till 1 to find out.

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  11. I don't think it would be wise to switch our formation now, not with the run of games we have coming up. I would like to see Allen come in though and Hendo moved to the AM position, with Moses coming on later in the game.

    I don't know why people persist on calling our formation a 3-5-2. Cissokho and Johnson play LWB and RWB, NOT LM and RM! Surely our formation is then really a 5-3-2, which I think describes our system more accurately given those two players have a much more defensive starting position. Just my two cents ;)

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  12. You are a defo closet utd or fergie fan what's wrong with supporting your players friggin hell if some said the same about friggin fergies player he would have been friggin furious innocuous my left foot

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  13. You're right about the formation; it's just lazyness (on my part, anyway!)

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  14. Don't worry Feathers just confirmed it was :)

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  15. It's on viewer's choice. Press the red button and you'll get it. But you can't record it, unless you don't have IQ

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  16. I got IQ, shame about not being able to record though

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  17. It's pretty weird though, they usually tell you in the info box when there's viewers choice. But don't worry, Bozza (Mark Bosnich to all the non-aussies here) confirmed it's on viewers choice.

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  18. A so-called lesser club - give yourself a shake. Early season has been nothing but a false dawn for a mid table Liverpool club!

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  19. However, you can record the re-run they will play tommorow in the morning. So you can have a sleep in, then watch it when you wake up :D

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  20. You can't mention mention his name here cos he was a manc :)

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  21. There's always exception to rule, I f**king love Bozza!

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  22. Me too! His input is always quality and he has an awesome laugh

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  23. I love his passion every time Australia plays like s*** too.

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  24. Which is always... :(

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  25. That's why I said 'so-called'.

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  26. Last time coutinho came on as a sub for a 2-0 defeat to West brom!! Would be sweet if he could come on with a 2-0 cushion for the home side this time!

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  27. Can't get worse than SFC though. They can't string 3 passes together. It's why I don't watch a-league

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  28. I like JK's team. I would drop Moses for Alberto though and would even consider Gerrard on the bench and push Hendo up as Gerrard has had a lot of games recently, never going to happen though. I'd also like to see Kelly at some point, I'm 50/50 on Cissokho and wouldn't mind Johnson on the left, Kelly on the right.

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  29. I watch it to support it and I have a season ticket with Sydney so it's painful for me. Crazy support from WSW even though they've become instant enemies. The best time in the A-League was when Brisbane were the dominant force, the football they played was amazing, 36 games unbeaten or something. Other than Postecoglou and Popovic (who lives in my suburb haha) no one else has a clue of what quality football is.

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  30. I've been saying the same thing about the 532 formation, but totally disagree about not changing the formation - the 532 has been ineffective in every match so far, whereas we gave up on the 4231 just because of one bad performance with 4 centre-backs on the pitch.


    It should be clear to all by now that the team is weakened with a 5 man defence (especially if a defensive midfielder is played with them also)

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  31. Moses offers pace and width from the right - two things that are stifled when he is played through the middle or on the left.


    Alberto by all accounts is an attacking midielder - he should be played through the middle, where he can successfully impact the game, or continue to wait for his opportunity from the bench imo

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  32. It's all good! I tend to be a bit nit-picky at times!

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  33. That's why I think that Allen should come in instead of Lucas (sadly that's not happening). With three center backs I don't see the need to play a defensive midfielder like Lucas. Allen would actually provide us with more stability through the middle and help us keep possession, something we have been seriously failing to do!

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  34. Outstanding goal by Sturridge!

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