Aston Villa vs. Liverpool

I would like to see a youthful side in this game. It's not just to allow the 'regulars' to train more together, but also to allow the 'fringes' to perform against a PL team.


In fact I wouldn't mind one from Kevin Stewart and Cameron Brannagan replacing either of Lucas or Henderson.

I'd really love to see Ilori and Lucas to continue in central defense.

iftikhar wrote:I would like to see a youthful side in this game. It's not just to allow the 'regulars' to train more together, but also to allow the 'fringes' to perform against a PL team.

Mignolet
Flanagan-Lovren-Sakho-Smith
Lucas-Henderson
Teixeira-Firmino-Ibe
Origi

In fact I wouldn't mind one from Kevin Stewart and Cameron Brannagan replacing either of Lucas or Henderson.

I would drop origi for coutinho and push firmino forward. and swap ibe and teixeira

Most likely we will see this:


I'm ok with it though I'd prefer Smith over Moreno and Ward over Mignolet, tbh.

Unique wrote:

iftikhar wrote:I would like to see a youthful side in this game. It's not just to allow the 'regulars' to train more together, but also to allow the 'fringes' to perform against a PL team.

Mignolet
Flanagan-Lovren-Sakho-Smith
Lucas-Henderson
Teixeira-Firmino-Ibe
Origi

In fact I wouldn't mind one from Kevin Stewart and Cameron Brannagan replacing either of Lucas or Henderson.

I would drop origi for coutinho and push firmino forward. and swap ibe and teixeira

I want to rest Coutinho for EL.

Curtinho wrote:Most likely we will see this:

Mignolet
Clyne - Lovren - Sakho - Moreno
Henderson - Can
Milner - Firmino - Coutinho
Sturridge

I'm ok with it though I'd prefer Smith over Moreno and Ward over Mignolet, tbh.

Unavailable

Can we just win some games now in EPL

GET INN!!!

How's it going lads! Back here after a good few weeks.

now tell me al of yaa those Benteke d*** lovers, that he had also made that run and finished that chance which Origi scored just scored !

Good day for strikers returning from injury

Yeah Benteke is useless. I'd say today proves what a mobile striker can do for us.

What a game. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Coutinho, Sturridge, Firmino front 3 is sex.

Don't call me James wrote:Yeah Benteke is useless. I'd say today proves what a mobile striker can do for us.

What a game. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Coutinho, Sturridge, Firmino front 3 is sex.

yeah I think that is a top class front 3. firmino is still a bit hit and miss but next season he should be up and running.

Unique wrote: yeah I think that is a top class front 3. firmino is still a bit hit and miss but next season he should be up and running.

Firmino could easily be our best player within the next two years. It's a shame he hasn't been able to consistently play with Coutinho and Sturridge, as the three of them have the potential to shred opposing defenses in a way that we haven't seen since the SAS.

What truly surprises me about those is their individual workrates and tracking away from the final third. Anytime Villa began to string together a series of passes or attempted to press, one of them dropped deep to provide an extra man and an outlet pass. Firmino especially did a surprising amount of tracking (especially, when you consider that the game was effectively out of reach shortly after halftime). As much as Rodgers spouted his philosophy of fluid football, it may be under Klopp that we truly see these principles applied (and without the lofty, holier-than-thou diatribes in press conferences).

That said, I don't think we're "out of the woods" just yet. As much as I enjoyed the show today and want to believe everything is rosy, I don't think we can expect this week-in week-out just yet. We need to remember that our front three have only just played their first game together, and they're not all at 100% yet. I'd be surprised if Sturridge plays a full 90 before April, and I'd be pulling him automatically at 75 minutes if I were in charge (with the possible exception of the cup final). Moreover, I think we're at least a top-class wide player away from rounding out our attacking quartet (and that's assuming that Sturridge stays fit... ). As inoffensive as Milner's performance was today, I don't think he should be in our best XI in any position.  We need a player that offers more than workrate and character. Honestly, we need someone like Sterling.

Payback for Benteke you bastards.

donttreadonred wrote:

Firmino could easily be our best player within the next two years.

He probably already is tbh.

Hopefully we can hold onto Coutinho for next season and get a top striker in the summer (Sturridge showing how much of a DIFFERENCE having an actual mobile and also clinical striker can have on this team) and we'll be okay in the final third imo.  

Still need a playmaker/creative type in central midfield, too. Then concentrate on that back 4. That is assuming Clyne's safe, which I think he should be.

At this point, I would actually be quite surprised if coutinho left in the summer. First of all, he's not set the world alight this season. (Not all his fault, but he's not been able to showcase his true level.) Secondly, not unlike Suarez, I believe there's only one (maybe two) clubs he would willing move to from lfc. Luckily for us, we no longer have a manager that pushes great players away from the club.

I'm not so sure on the creative midfielder. All the links at the moment appear to point toward a more combative B2B, if not a true DM. I.e. Someone to pair with Can and/or Hendo in a 2 or 3 man midfield. My feeling is that Henderson will take up that "creative" role, distributing and assisting from deep. (Check out his positioning for almost every buildup yesterday. He's dropping almost between the CBs to start attacks, and he's the #1 option as soon as the back line wins the ball.) Besides, doesn't he have the most assists for an English player since the start of last season?

What a game! I really like how our back end of the season looks as long as our team can stay healthy. Even 4th is not yet out of reach, IMO, given how City has looked.

Red Alert wrote:He probably already is tbh.

Hopefully we can hold onto Coutinho for next season and get a top striker in the summer (Sturridge showing how much of a DIFFERENCE having an actual mobile and also clinical striker can have on this team) and we'll be okay in the final third imo.  
Still need a playmaker/creative type in central midfield, too. Then concentrate on that back 4. That is assuming Clyne's safe, which I think he should be.

Agree with all of this. I never understood the criticism of Firmino. Early season he barely got to play, was injured, and adjusting to a new team and league. Since he has started playing regularly he's been pretty easily our best player, IMO, and will likely continue to be and even get better. He's the goods.

Hopefully Sturridge can find some kind of genie or god that's willing to heal his injury woes for a few years. Or a crossroads demon or something. Studge/Firmino/Coutinho up front is going to be very tough for any team to stop.

Curtinho wrote:What a game! I really like how our back end of the season looks as long as our team can stay healthy. Even 4th is not yet out of reach, IMO, given how City has looked.

Get in! That'd be awesome!

A few other things, because I don't go missing when players I've harped on come good. Emre Can had a really good game. Obviously everyone looked good because Villa were shite, but I thought that he played really well and his shot was a really nice goal. He didn't give up the ball much, he fought hard for the ball, stayed deeper and disciplined for a lot of the match and went on a few of his marauding runs but otherwise I was really happy with him being the deepest midfielder.

To be honest when everyone is healthy and we're playing a 4-4-2 (or 4-4-1-1 if you like) like we did against Villa the only real improvements we'll need over the summer is on the backline, and maybe at RM (Milner is a good squad option but shouldn't start for us if we want to bring in top trophies like the CL). I know Reus made his name as a RM/ST before moving to Dortmund and being converted to the left...Patrick Herrmann is another RM that I've always liked. Quincy Promes is someone worth looking at too, but this isn't the transfer thread. Moving forward something like this is really nice:


The stars represent players that could use an upgrade for the starting XI (really only need an upgrade on one of Lovren or Sakho, maybe Matip can represent that player). Can I was tempted to put a star, but if he can take his role as the deepest midfielder seriously and play as he did against Villa he's worth grooming for that spot. Otherwise we have a pretty deep squad and Origi looks the goods as a Sturridge back-up (plus Firmino can play there as well with Lallana and Milner able to fill in the wide spots).

I still expect some upgrades or buys in the offensive positions anyway, because Sturridge isn't reliable, but that's a very dangerous team.

Sturridge, Oh my.

Exactly the reason why im not willing to give up on him.