5 Times European Champions vs. Best Team in London

Players nailed on to start:

Pepe Reina- back to world class against Wigan
Glen Johnson- That Assist eh
Daniel Agger- Mainstay
Jamie Carragher- Skrtel injured and ostracized
Jose Enrique- Beast
Lucas- Has the right to abuse my girlfriend
Gerrard- Has a beautiful wife
Suarez- meh
Sturridge- The Black Rooney


that's 9 out of 11 nailed on to start.

The other 2, will be 2 from DOWNING, HENDERSON, ALLEN, or COUTINHO. There is a case for all

Henderson- Midfield has more balance with him, we need his pressing on Dembele
Downing- Has been one of Europe's most in-form wingers, outperformed likes of Pedro, Valencia, and Alexis this year
Coutinho- 2 Assists last game, 'nuff said
Allen- Actually no case to start him


Last time we beat them in the league was jan 2010, Maxi's debut. Kuyt scored 2, Aquilani was alive, and Stephen Darby was playing for us.

Win this, and then I dream a dream like Anne Hathaway

gotta be henderson in the midfield. allen will get bullied by spurs, he won't be able to have have an impact.

don't care who of downing/coutinho starts... i think coutinho would be the better starter, but will also have a better late game impact (i don't think stewarts game is very effective in a cameo), so i wouldn't mind downing's tracking back for 60-70 minutes than a late show by coutinho if we need a goal.

really hoping we break our duck against spurs, for some reason i'm feeling good about it though... something feels positive about this team right now, i hope we can steal some points from that.

win this, and then i dream a dream of anne hathaway :cool:

I have never been more confident going into a match with Spurs in recent years. We'll win, I have no doubts about that. 3-1!! 2-1 at worst.

I agree with Sep's lineup. Would like Hendo over Allen. Wouldn't mind Downing starting over Coutinho either. Let him track back and help the defense and when Spurs are tired bring on Coutinho.

I don't think Downing should be dropped for this game, so probably Coutinho will be on the bench although it's possible it will be Sturridge who's on the bench.

Harry Redknapp wrote:Downing- Has been one of Europe's most in-form wingers, outperformed likes of Pedro, Valencia, and Alexis this year

LMAO

That's not far from the truth you know. Pedro, Valencia, and Alexis haven't done shite.

Dembele, Adebayor and Dempsey are doubts for this game.
Will probably see all of them starting -.-

Downing's chances created every 33
minutes stat is better than Bale (36 mins),
Rooney (40 mins) and Hazard (42 mins)

lol

The team I would like to see:

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Downing's chances created every 33
minutes stat is better than Bale (36 mins),
Rooney (40 mins) and Hazard (42 mins)

lol

Chances created is the most useless state I've ever seen in football. If Pepe Reina decides to pass the ball to Daniel Agger, and Agger goes on a mazy run and has a shot from 40 yards, that counts as a chance created for Reina. It shows absolute nothing.

Downing passes the ball to Suarez a lot. Suarez has a lot of shots after doing a lot of work on his own. Now Downing does put SOME decent balls in but it's only like 1 in every fortnight. He's not consistent enough and is no danger to opposition. (Although he did well to fool the CB and score against Wigan.)

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:That's not far from the truth you know. Pedro, Valencia, and Alexis haven't done shite.

I've not watched a lot of Pedro or Alexis (or Barca for that matter) but there is no way Downing is having a better season than them. He's done nothing for us. He basically provides cover for Glen Johnson because he's not good enough to do his own role and that is to attack. To suggest he's one of the best wingers in Europe this season is laughable.

Unlike our other wingers, Downing likes to get to the byline and put in a cross and we haven't got much need for that. He is a little out of his depth when cutting inside, usually looks for a shot in that case. So considering that our playing style isn't ideal for his strengths, I think he has done all right this season.

I guess spurs will play most likely 4-4-1-1/ 4-4-2, they probably know it will be difficult for them to keep more possesion than us so i guess they will be all set up to counter. Therefore I hope we play more direct like we played against wigan, may be we can keep more ball once we score 1 or 2 goals.

Really confused about the line up, but I would like to see traditional 4-2-3-1

Code:

                    Reina
  Johnson - Agger - Carragher - Enrique
              Gerrard - Lucas
        Downing - Suarez - Coutinho
                    Sturridge


I guess this will help to keep check on dembele and Brave Scotty Parker and also suarez will help us to go though their midefield, which seems really difficult if they play compact 4-4-2. Another main thing will be downing will try keep check on bale. And i really dont see us loosing, if we could take shite out of them playing at spurs, then at anfield it will be surely not so easy for them.

The combination of Coutinho, Suarez 'n Sturridge would be rather intimidating for any opponent. It might make the Spurs a bit tentative in attack.

We will create loads of chances, just hope we are clinical.

I will tell you this for the first time this season, people aren't eager to meet us. Gooooo Reds.

Art Morte wrote:Unlike our other wingers, Downing likes to get to the byline and put in a cross and we haven't got much need for that. He is a little out of his depth when cutting inside, usually looks for a shot in that case. So considering that our playing style isn't ideal for his strengths, I think he has done all right this season.

He hasn't done all right though. He's only playing because Suso isn't ready and Sturridge, Suarez and Coutinho havn't all been fit at the same time.

ynwa wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Unlike our other wingers, Downing likes to get to the byline and put in a cross and we haven't got much need for that. He is a little out of his depth when cutting inside, usually looks for a shot in that case. So considering that our playing style isn't ideal for his strengths, I think he has done all right this season.

He hasn't done all right though. He's only playing because Suso isn't ready and Sturridge, Suarez and Coutinho havn't all been fit at the same time.

You are some hater, aren't you? If you see the Oldham game, as soon as Downing came, we began to play wide. While Borini, Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez were on the pitch, we were playing very narrow and such attacks can be easily predicted by the opponent. Downing is getting chances because he can pass the ball without much hassle in the final third (unlike Sterling) and provides natural width. Not to mention, he can track back.

Here's our lads training yesterday. See if you can figure out the bib theory.

ExtremistEnigma wrote:

ynwa wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Unlike our other wingers, Downing likes to get to the byline and put in a cross and we haven't got much need for that. He is a little out of his depth when cutting inside, usually looks for a shot in that case. So considering that our playing style isn't ideal for his strengths, I think he has done all right this season.

He hasn't done all right though. He's only playing because Suso isn't ready and Sturridge, Suarez and Coutinho havn't all been fit at the same time.

You are some hater, aren't you? If you see the Oldham game, as soon as Downing came, we began to play wide. While Borini, Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez were on the pitch, we were playing very narrow and such attacks can be easily predicted by the opponent. Downing is getting chances because he can pass the ball without much hassle in the final third (unlike Sterling) and provides natural width. Not to mention, he can track back.

First of all, Sterling isn't in the team because he's played too many games this season. He's played 30 games in his debut season, that's far too much. Raheem kept Downing out of the team week in week out when he was playing. He also kept Downing out of the squad so bad Downing had to change his position and play LB and RW.

Second of all, bringing up Oldham is arugably the worst thing you could do. They're a 2 division side and Downing hardly changed the game that day. It was Gerrard. Downing struggled to past his fullback, and the few times he did past him his cross was cleared for a corner.

Also, Suso etc can all track back. Their job isn't to track back. Their job is to create a problem for the opposition. But keep getting stupid traits like tracking back and defending to help and try an attacking players form.

ynwa wrote:

ExtremistEnigma wrote:

ynwa wrote:

He hasn't done all right though. He's only playing because Suso isn't ready and Sturridge, Suarez and Coutinho havn't all been fit at the same time.

You are some hater, aren't you? If you see the Oldham game, as soon as Downing came, we began to play wide. While Borini, Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez were on the pitch, we were playing very narrow and such attacks can be easily predicted by the opponent. Downing is getting chances because he can pass the ball without much hassle in the final third (unlike Sterling) and provides natural width. Not to mention, he can track back.

First of all, Sterling isn't in the team because he's played too many games this season. He's played 30 games in his debut season, that's far too much. Raheem kept Downing out of the team week in week out when he was playing. He also kept Downing out of the squad so bad Downing had to change his position and play LB and RW.

Second of all, bringing up Oldham is arugably the worst thing you could do. They're a 2 division side (why? we lost to them, didn't we?) and Downing hardly changed the game that day. It was Gerrard. Downing struggled to past his fullback, and the few times he did past him his cross was cleared for a corner.

Also, Suso etc can all track back. Their job isn't to track back. Their job is to create a problem for the opposition. But keep getting stupid traits like tracking back and defending to help and try an attacking players form.

The Oldham game was just an example and Downing didn't change the game that day? Agreed, Stevie was the main guy after he came on but you can't neglect Downing's contribution. After he got on, we properly began to exploit the flanks which we couldn't do when the other four were on the pitch and our attacks became unpredictable. I don't even like him but you can't neglect the fact that he has worked hard this season.

Suso can track back? Dear god, he's so lightweight he'll get bullied by Shaun Wright-Phillips.

"Their job isn't to track back. Their job is to create a problem for the opposition."
Who are we, Barcelona? Is that why many people (I don't) want Downing to start against Tottenham, ahead of Coutinho?

You beat Tottenham and we beat Everton, deal?

With Bale likely to start in a similar role to Suarez, I'd be inclined to play a 4-3-3, so that the midfield can more effectively press and isolate Bale and Defoe/Adebayor. Because of this, I could see Coutinho being sacrificed for Henderson. This gives us a more physical presence in the center of the park to chase and hopefully starve Bale of service.
----------Sturridge
--Suarez----------Downing
------Hendo--Gerrard
-------------Lucas
Enrique--------------Jonhson
--------Agger---Carra
--------------Reina

This is a similar setup to what we did against Arsenal, but we would hopefully be more progressive in our approach. This set-up is definitely aimed at stifling their play and controlling the ball. I would expect a tactical change in the second half if we are not leading. The most likely move would be to sacrifice Hendo for Coutinho and move Suarez in behind Sturridge.

On the other hand we could set out to take the game to them from the first whistle to the last with our recently reinvigorated attack.
-----------Sturridge
------------Suarez
Coutinho----------Downing
------Gerrard--Lucas
Enrique-------------Johnson
-------Agger---Carra
-------------Reina

In any case, this feels like our opportunity for a statement win. Spurs have been playing well, but they've also been playing a lot of big games recently. Something tells me they're ready for a slip. On the other hand, we are likely to be at full strength for the match and with a full week's rest and prep. Then again, I have to admit being a tiny bit nervous, if only because things seem to be going in our favor. You have to admit, this fits our Modus Operandi of taking several steps forward only to then take one back.

The one thing I'm nearly certain of is that there will be goals. I simply can't see this being a 0-0 or a narrow 1-0 victory. I would definitely put money on there being more than two goals.

If Sturridge starts I hope we'll play 4-4-1-1.

urbaNRoots wrote:You beat Tottenham and we beat Everton, deal?

would prefer if you draw Everton

Harry Redknapp wrote:

urbaNRoots wrote:You beat Tottenham and we beat Everton, deal?

would prefer if you draw Everton

Sorry Urban we're a hopeful bunch, we still look for the possibility of CL or EL at the least

---------------Reina---------------
Glen-Carragher-Agger-Enrique
--------Henderson-Lucas--------
-------------Gerrard--------------
Suarez---Sturridge---Coutinho

ExtremistEnigma wrote:

ynwa wrote:

ExtremistEnigma wrote:

You are some hater, aren't you? If you see the Oldham game, as soon as Downing came, we began to play wide. While Borini, Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez were on the pitch, we were playing very narrow and such attacks can be easily predicted by the opponent. Downing is getting chances because he can pass the ball without much hassle in the final third (unlike Sterling) and provides natural width. Not to mention, he can track back.

First of all, Sterling isn't in the team because he's played too many games this season. He's played 30 games in his debut season, that's far too much. Raheem kept Downing out of the team week in week out when he was playing. He also kept Downing out of the squad so bad Downing had to change his position and play LB and RW.

Second of all, bringing up Oldham is arugably the worst thing you could do. They're a 2 division side (why? we lost to them, didn't we?) and Downing hardly changed the game that day. It was Gerrard. Downing struggled to past his fullback, and the few times he did past him his cross was cleared for a corner.

Also, Suso etc can all track back. Their job isn't to track back. Their job is to create a problem for the opposition. But keep getting stupid traits like tracking back and defending to help and try an attacking players form.

The Oldham game was just an example and Downing didn't change the game that day? Agreed, Stevie was the main guy after he came on but you can't neglect Downing's contribution. After he got on, we properly began to exploit the flanks which we couldn't do when the other four were on the pitch and our attacks became unpredictable. I don't even like him but you can't neglect the fact that he has worked hard this season.

Suso can track back? Dear god, he's so lightweight he'll get bullied by Shaun Wright-Phillips.

"Their job isn't to track back. Their job is to create a problem for the opposition."
Who are we, Barcelona? Is that why many people (I don't) want Downing to start against Tottenham, ahead of Coutinho?

Downing contributed absolutely nothing in that game. lol

Suso does track back. Again, the only reason Downing is in the team right now is because he's the only player at the moment that can play there. He also tracks back to cover Glen Johnson's runs. He's the most useless player in our starting XI. He doesn't fit in and provides nothing to our game.

Also, we're Liverpool. A player in that position is supposed to be a threat. What does Barcelona have to do with this? That's just like saying a strikers main job is to defend because we're not Real Madrid...