I'm not going to go over the same tactical dilemma with the double pivots. Just check the Tactics and Formations thread on why you're wrong in saying we won't be able to control the game because of Gerrard and Lucas.

McAgger wrote:@El Jefe, there is no way BR making that many changes to the line up with 3 players barely coming back from injuries. I can only see Glen coming straight back into the line up from the trio that returned from injuries.

I didn't say he would, that's just what I'd do if possible.

Hang die control with frrrracking shite, get the ball up front to those two lads when the squad is fit we will see

Okay so as it stands we will probably see :-




Lucas wont play, Agger is not fit, Gerrard might be rested. Gleninho and Enrique might not play but would feature later are the rumors.

Agger is fit and match sharp. I don't know why you are saying Lucas won't play, he's just turned in two good performances for Brazil and is not injured or anything. Cissokho is barely back from injury so there is no way Enrique gets dropped. Even Gerrard won't be rested as he's had 5 days rest.

Cissokho directly into the starting XI? Don't see that happening tbh. I think we'll go with:


Newcastle would roll us over in the midfield if we only play two midfielders.

Twitter rumors man.
Lucas because his wife gave birth to his daughter Valentina today

Benjamin and Valentina, Watch this space.

@EE: And playing Suarez as the AM/SS would solve that

Nishank wrote:Twitter rumors man.
Lucas because his wife gave birth to his daughter Valentina today

Benjamin and Valentina, Watch this space.

Oh man great news for Lucas. Hopefully he does a Suarez and plays though.

McAgger wrote:@EE: And playing Suarez as the AM/SS would solve that

Playing the trio of Gerrard, Lucas and Henderson solves that. And as we all know, BR is a hipster so he would play Hendo on the right..

Our midfield couldn't roll through a wet paper bag

It isn't just about the midfielders its about the fact you are a team and we are 11 individuals.....

Also Pardew has already done you a favour on the team

Krul
Debuchy Mbiwa Willo Santon
Tiote
Sissoko Cabaye
Ben Arfa Remy Gouffran

Confirmed #LFC team v Newcastle: Mignolet, Johnson, Cissokho, Toure, Skrtel, Sakho, Henderson, Gerrard, Moses, Suarez, Sturridge


Both Johnson and Cissokho, this is exciting!

That line up is slightly wrong btw.... Ben Arfa is false 9

Remy is left and Gouffran right....

Well.. isn't this great. No Cisse..

9 Frenchies on the field today.

If this 3-CB system is to work with us, now our line-up is starting to look like what it should for that system. Exciting to see what happens, theoretically this could be a very good game from us. Also well done Rodgers for playing the in-form players, dropping Lucas and Agger is a powerful choice and although personally I would've played Agger instead of Sakho I commend Brendan for this ball-showing.

Is it going to be our lucky season? Because we're sure being lucky in these first stages of it!

Playing badly but going into half-time at 1 - 1 with one of their players sent off... woah.

I don't know why we're rushing it so much in attack, we've got bagfuls of talent up there but we've got no patience. I was excited about Johnson and Cissokho, but both have been disappointing. I'd bring Sterling on for one of them now that Newcastle are down to 10 men.

Pretty bad display but we've been handed a lifeline. An unbelievably amazing lifeline at that. Gotto take the chance now.

Not impressed by Moses in that AM role today. He had a couple of good runs but otherwise very poor. Hopefully Allen comes in and Hendo moves to AM.

FML, its games like this that we can be dropping points, 45 mins with 10 men and we couldn't win, the marking for the toons second goal, embarrassing FML>

I'll take that

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I'll take that

Bloody mole, i knew he jynxed it.

Make things worse, watch all the other top teams win today.

Well played Newcastle, Pathetic display by us. So lucky to get a point out of this match.

A poor poor display.

Why are we so stationary in attack? One guy has the ball and the rest just stand about there. Until he passes it to another and the rest still stand on their heels. That's worse than lack of urgency, that's a total lack of plan. Rodgers needs to tell them to start making runs and moving the ball around faster, we made it so easy for Newcastle to defend.

I second it that Moses isn't a CAM unless we're constantly playing on the counter. He can run with the ball and make himself available but he's got no passing vision. The sooner Coutinho comes back the better, if we keep this formation.

Cissokho and Sakho just ball-watching in that second goal, shouldn't have happened, a cheap goal to concede. But really the worst thing was our lack of effort in attack.

This was two points dropped after their red card.

Terrible display.

The complacancy and lack of urgency in our play was disgusting.

mr-r34 wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I'll take that

Bloody mole, i knew he jynxed it.

Make things worse, watch all the other top teams win today.

Nah i genuinely thought we would lose.

Never thought Tiote would play that well ( keeping Suarez onside for the penalty aside) and didn't think Pardew would see sense in stop Debuchy and Santon acting like WBs leaving space to exploit.

I was a little disappointed with our final ball at times though and Remy i felt should have done more on some of those counter attacks but all in all i can't complain too much.

Even if some things frustrated me.

Man another f*cking set piece goal. We are hopeless at them. Three CBs taller than 6'2 and two 6'0 fullbacks and still concede from them over and over and over and over again. FML

Seriously I've come to the conclusion that Rodgers doesn't even make them train at defending or attacking them.

If it was 11v11 we'd probably have 0 points right now from this match. I guess we can be happy with a point, but it's still should be viewed as 2 points lost since we had 50mins with more men. I'm disgusted a bit.

Cabaye's goal was a moment of brilliance combined with a fluke of placement. His strike was perfect, if speculative, but Mignolet simply didn't see it. I can't be too upset with him, because he's been outstanding. However, if he sees Cabaye strike that, he saves it 9 times out of 10. He just got blocked off, and saw it too late.

Dummet's goal was just another example of complacency on set pieces. We had absolutely dominated the set pieces, wasting chances at the other end of the pitch. However, Skrtel doesn't get enough on the header and Dummet had a superb first-time hit.

Credit to Newcastle for a very stout performance. They pressed well when they had 11 men today, and Pardew actually looked like he had taken a page from Southampton's playbook and figured out how to get at us.
Even so, if Liverpool concentrates for an extra 30 seconds in several defensive situations, it's no contest. In addition, SKrtel, Sakho, and Sturridge all wasted very good chances in front of goal.

In the big picture, this is one that we will rue dropping points. However, you have to say Newcastle deserved a point on the day.

– Immediate reaction –
Positives:
- Cissokho looked good in his return. He was far more consistent in his decision making than Enrique, even though he may not be capable of the moments of brilliance that the Spaniard brings.
- Alberto – Quality performance when he came on. Playing the right-AM position in a 4-2-2-2, he looked calm and assured in possession. He was much more effective than his last few cameos against Crystal Palace and Southampton
- Henderson – I thought he did well in distribution and supporting the attack from midfield. While his tackling isn’t to the level of Lucas, I’m not sure it’s as much of an issue with 3 covering CBs.
- Skrtel – an assured display again. Hard to argue with Agger being left out when the current 3 are playing so well. He can hardly be blamed for Dummet’s goal, even though he had won everything previous to it.

Negatives:
- Suarez – didn’t get into the game until 60 minutes or so. Wasn’t awful, but did not live up to his usual, high standards.
- Sturridge – looked off-color today. Perhaps playing 2 and 2/3 games in the space of 8 days got to him a bit. In any case, he was not as dynamic, looked tired, and made some poor decisions today.
- Moses – seemed somewhat anonymous today. He had several decent runs, but he failed to link with Sturridge and Suarez from his #10 position.