I hope here that we resist the temptation to simply "give people a game", and actually have a long hard look at where we're going this season by trying to make some valid alterations. It would seem likely that Rickie Lambert will play which is fair enough, but if and when he does let's look at how we best utilize his physicality so we can do the same when Balotelli plays. Step one is get people around him when we feed it in to him, someone with pace and energy. I'd look again at Borini if we must but I'd want him to stay closer to his partner than he did on Saturday. Other alternatives could be Sterling, but I'd rather we had a good look at Markovic and I'd consider having him in there, or even Coutinho if he's going to play off him a bit.
Another thing is lets work out how when and where we are going to cross the ball into the box. There seems little point to me in replacing Suarez with a player who is a completely different type, only then to attack in the same way as we did previously. Balotelli and Lambert and indeed any players of their ilk won't be seen to their best unless we cross it more often and better than we have previously. Lets start tomorrow night.
Lucas will no doubt play as the holder, but personally for reasons stated elsewhere I'd like to see Henderson played there with an eye to moving him there semi permanently. Coutinho obviously must play, but rather than him trying to split the defence every time he gets it, I'd like to see him play as the heartbeat of the team, on the ball continuously. I'd like to see Phillipe think a little more Xavi than Aimar for a bit, get it, give it and dictate the tempo a bit more.
At the back lets decide whether we're going to mark proper full on zonal or whether we're marking man to man. Let's try and keep a clean sheet and start as we mean to go on.
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