Sunderland v Liverpool 3pm Mon 2nd Jan 2017 Pre Match Thread

A front three of Sturridge, Origi & Ejaria/Ojo; a midfield three of Stewart, Lucas & Can should do. 2-0. One in each half.

Milner/Clyne... Deserves rest too... Hopefully get them off after an hour of play.

Tell the first XI to dig deep for this one then play the kids in the cup

We have to make sure we take the 3 points from Sunderland by playing our strongest fittest players.Get one goal early and the Sunderland floodgates will open so parking the bus will not help them.

I can see Klopp putting up similar line-up to Citeh since he will be able to sit most of them for the FA Cup match on the 8th. Henderson injury keeps him out can see Can CDM, Lallana in CM and either Origi/Sturridge up in attack. There is a bit of flexibility with the line-up if he wants to get cute to rest players or give bench player playing time but I think he will go back to his main players to get the points and play the bench/reserve players for FA Cup and even 1st league of League Cup

Is Mane available for this one? If so Klopp will get a full 90 out of him before he goes off with Senegal.

Also, anybody know why we are playing tomorrow and not the day after? Could understand it if we were moved forwards to be on the tele tomorrow but doesn't look like we are.

All our efforts, all the drama against City will be in vain if we don't finish off Sunderland....

@fields: Yes, Mané is available, I hope Senegal will be done quickly, sorry Senegal.

Gonna miss watching or following the game live as my son and his family are visiting for the day. 

Normally guests would take a back seat when the footys on but it's the first time they've been for 6yrs so for once I'll have to be the perfect hostess 

Another win for the Reds, to put pressure on Chelsea. This sending Gollum's Sunderland nearer the relegation trap door.

Gonna miss watching or following the game live as my son and his family are visiting for the day. 

Normally guests would take a back seat when the footys on but it's the first time they've been for 6yrs so for once I'll have to be the perfect hostess 

Surely your son and all his family are reds too ?...
You can all watch the game together on tv?

let's face it Sunderland really are sh*te..I'm amazed that Moyes is still in the job.
I can see a similar beating to the one we gave Middlesborough a few weeks ago..

Our front three will get a lot more space in-between the lines than what they did against Man City..

Don't care who plays where as the whole squad is digitally programmed to win.

No let up in our destruction of teams week after week under Jürgen.

3 points = reduction in gap

 

Surely your son and all his family are reds too ?...
You can all watch the game together on tv?

Unfortunately not mate, he's a Wednesday fan.  His fiance hates footy/sport although if she had to support anyone it'd be Liverpool as her family do but for them to travel all that way to visit the last thing she'll want to do is watch footy.

The game isn't on tv here anyway, if it was I'd at least have it on but I can't disappear into the laptop to follow on a stream.

I'm glass half full and was expecting us to get just 6 points from 9 points over Christmas so, even though it's Sunderland, anything better than a defeat I'm going to take!

Weirdly I think it's possible both us and Chelsea may get a shock result in the next game.  Hope I'm half wrong.

I'm glass half full and was expecting us to get just 6 points from 9 points over Christmas so, even though it's Sunderland, anything better than a defeat I'm going to take!

Weirdly I think it's possible both us and Chelsea may get a shock result in the next game.  Hope I'm half wrong.

That was my thinking too mate.

let's face it Sunderland really are sh*te..I'm amazed that Moyes is still in the job.
I can see a similar beating to the one we gave Middlesborough a few weeks ago..

Our front three will get a lot more space in-between the lines than what they did against Man City..

Don't care who plays where as the whole squad is digitally programmed to win.

No let up in our destruction of teams week after week under Jürgen.

3 points = reduction in gap

 

He's still in the job because this is as good as the team is going to get. In 3 of the past 4 seasons they've managed to scrape staying up by 2 or 3 points and no matter who you have in charge, eventually it's going to catch up to you when you keep buying sh*t.

Djilobodji - 8m
McNair - 4.5m
Ndong - 13.5m
Coates - 2m
Alvarez - 7.5m
Lens - 8m
Kaboul - 3m
Borini - 8m
Kone - 6m (aside from the end of last season he's been sh*te)
Rodwell - 10m
Buckley - 2.5m
Altidore - 6.5m
Giaccherini - 6.5m
Bridcutt 2.5m
Fletcher - 12m
A. Johnson - 10m
Graham - 5m

That list makes for sickening reading. Imagine that being a big part of your transfer business for the past 3-4 years!

Unfortunately not mate, he's a Wednesday fan.  His fiance hates footy/sport although if she had to support anyone it'd be Liverpool as her family do but for them to travel all that way to visit the last thing she'll want to do is watch footy.

The game isn't on tv here anyway, if it was I'd at least have it on but I can't disappear into the laptop to follow on a stream.

 
Good luck with that one...

Good luck with that one...

I'll live mate, I'm recording the game so I can watch it Tuesday in peace and we'll have soccer special on so we can all follow our teams (hubby supports Barnsley) but it'll be noisy as I've got the 2 granddaughters visiting too 

Need to be careful first game back at their home patch after a hammering not sure they have the character as long as we do our job will be fine. Lucas to DM for me so lallana can play further up

I'm glass half full and was expecting us to get just 6 points from 9 points over Christmas so, even though it's Sunderland, anything better than a defeat I'm going to take!

Weirdly I think it's possible both us and Chelsea may get a shock result in the next game.  Hope I'm half wrong.

you are speaking from experience. Next game could go either way. People forget that no game is easy.

https://twitter.com/AnfieldHQ/status/815693322333421569

Superstar Borini a man of his own words and a legend in his own lunchtime is doing well .
 

I'm glass half full and was expecting us to get just 6 points from 9 points over Christmas so, even though it's Sunderland, anything better than a defeat I'm going to take!

Weirdly I think it's possible both us and Chelsea may get a shock result in the next game.  Hope I'm half wrong.

you are speaking from experience. Next game could go either way. People forget that no game is easy.

This are the game that we need to concentrate, not getting complacent and struggle to win.  No game is easy in EPL. We need this 3 points.

coyd, win dirty, win by all means and get us the 3 points

 

https://twitter.com/AnfieldHQ/status/815693322333421569

How many managers  would love to juggle those two?

Let's put the City game behind us, lets remain focus. As someone said earlier no game is easy in the 2nd half of the season. I'm sure the 2nd half of the season is going to be tougher and we will see that teams at the bottom half will shift up a gear or two and harder to beat apart from those title contenders. Hence, lets not underestimate Sunderland, we may have a superior squad on paper and they have a number of injuries and if we allow complacency to creep in then everything will be neutralised.

I'd say, fully focus on this game, don't allow complacency to set in, play to our strengths and exploit their weaknesses and get a few more goals to close the gap on Chelsea.

A winnable game but lets remain cautious.