Liverpool vs Aston Villa Sat 7th April KO 15:00 Pre-Match thread.

I've got a feeling we will see a debutant today!

You are right , Doni is playing

In short – Today, at Anfield, Aston Villa fans would be honoured if Liverpool fans would join us in a 19th minute tribute to our captain.
 
But please read on:
 
It’s a great shame Stiliyan ‘Stan’ Petrov won’t be shaking hands with Steven Gerrard in the centre-circle at Anfield today.
 
Stan is truly one of the decent gents of the game and was one of the last players who’d deserve the tragic news of being diagnosed with acute leukemia last week.
 
The other night, I was discussing the Villa vs Liverpool game with a big Liverpool fan friend of mine and talk turned to Petrov.
 
My friend told me  he’d heard once on BBC Radio Five, veteran commentator Pat Murphy and ex-player Pat Nevin confessing they would sometimes spend their down time in the media room at football games picking various footballing 11′s. The kind of game fans play down pubs, where you pick 11′s, such as:  ‘Bearded players 11′, ‘Alice Bands 11′, ‘Italians that played in England 11′, Horrible Person 11′, ‘Genuine nice guys 11′…etc, etc
 
While the two Pats wouldn’t name and shame their ‘Horrible Person 11′ on air for obvious reasons, when it came to the ‘Genuinely Good Guys 11′, Pat Murphy (who has spent decades in the game meeting players) said, “Stiliyian Petrov would be the captain of the ‘Nice Guys 11′, every time”.
 

The Captains
 
 
 
The reaction of Villa supporters, Celtic supporters (who gave him a YNWA tribute last week) and the outpouring of emotion from Stan’s  native Bulgaria, was absolutely due to Stan being considered one of the good guys in the game.
 
As a result, My Old Man Said supporters group along with other Villa and Celtic fans launched the initiative to get Aston Villa and Celtic to play a charity tribute between the two teams for Stan, which we got widespread press coverage for this week.
 
http://www.myoldmansaid.com/villa-celtic-stan-press-coverage/
 
 
 
Again, Aston Villa fans would be honoured if Liverpool fans would join us in a 19th minute tribute to our captain.
 
We wouldn’t neccesarily reach out to any club, but we regard Liverpool FC as one of the great bastions of tradition within the English league, and a club that has known tragedy in football, more than any other in recent years.
 
Last year, My Old Man Said actively encouraged followers to sign the online petition to get the government to release the files and re-open the investigation into the Hillsborough ’96.
 
In light of this, as a few Liverpool fans have requested, we would be happy to make today’s game a double-date for football fan power – Support Stan and Justice for the 96.
 
Many thanks for reading this.
 
MOMS
 
#SUPPORTSTAN & #JFT96

I am sure everyone will join in with this.
It puts things into perspective , it's a terrible disease and Stilyan Petrov really does seem like one of the games good guys.

We need a win today but most of all we need a performance.

You are right , Doni is playing

Haha good one Nel

Hope we can win this, tbh A.V. is piss poor atm.

All i want to see is a fully committed team performance played at a good tempo with plenty of attempts on goal.
If we win 1-0 as others stated then i will be delighted as long as see a decent showing from the boys.
Would like to see:
1. Doni
2. Flanagan
3. Enrique
4. Skrtel
5. Coates
6. Shelvey CM
7. Henderson CM
8. Gerrard CAM
9. Suarez CF
10. Bellamy RW
11. Downing LW

That would be a great lineup and really believe Shelvey and Henderson could be a great CM partnership.
Gonna be a good game i hope.

Could be a good line up, i really like to see Shelvey and Henderson in the CM. I'd swap Bellamy for Gerrard on the right so he can swing some balls in, that also means giving Carroll a start. Poor team at the moment AV a few goals would do everyone good.

Stirling will either be on the bench or starting, think we will be attacking line up today.
come on raheed, what ever happened to our other great hope , pacheco

i also think kuyt should start, looked lively of late.

also jonjo deserves a chance after his recent great displays.

Hope we can win this, tbh A.V. is piss poor atm.

Well we're not much better than them lately either are we 

Just looking at some of the teams posted here and on paper, it does not fill me with confidence at all, especially given our form lately.

Doni
Flanagan
Coates
Enrique
Spearing
Shelvey
Sterling

all starting in a team stuck for form and confidence. Granted some of them players have looked decent in some games like some of the defenders, but that is when they have had 3 experiences players beside them. I can't see Srktel, as good as season as he has had, guiding all of Flanagan, Coates and Robinson through a game, not to mention trying to get acquainted with Doni. Carra will only make this work I reckon.

Shelvey looked good against Newcastle and would start him again, but again, would a CM pairing of Shelvey and Spearing really strike fear into the oppositon?

On the contrary mate, it could be just what we need, Skrtle has enough experience now to guide thru the players you mentioned, and also it could be construed that Kenny is freshening up the side and giving a wee kick up the arse for those not performing, i dont see anything to worry about tbh, they all train the same and know what's expected from them, if they can all do their own jobs well, i can't see us losing,   2-1 Redmen, Suarez, Gerrard

                           IKWT              YNWA

Think we win will this 3-0, Villa are terrible

I'd settle for that Corb, hopefully the half-time score   

Are we having a minutes silence due to this being our last home game before the Hillsborough anniversary?

i have a good feeling that we will start to win again. . We had a series of draws, series of losses,(atleast we are consistent on wat we are doing ). Now a series of wins please

On the contrary mate, it could be just what we need, Skrtle has enough experience now to guide thru the players you mentioned, and also it could be construed that Kenny is freshening up the side and giving a wee kick up the arse for those not performing, i dont see anything to worry about tbh, they all train the same and know what's expected from them, if they can all do their own jobs well, i can't see us losing,   2-1 Redmen, Suarez, Gerrard

                           IKWT              YNWA

Full agree, dropping some so-called stars in favour of some kids in order to give them a kick up the arse, but how many changes can you make? 5 or 6 kids coming in is very risky I think, as opposed to 1,2 or 3.

3 fresh faces would do for me, raheem, coates, and shelvey. Need a win lads.. Come on you mighty redmen!!

Know what your saying Luis, but i think we are still capable it's a good time to be playing Villa, if it were Chavs or Spuds i'd stay on the side of caution, not forgetting the huge shot in the arm from Kenny

Ya billy we need the win going into the match next week, really confident about today.

It's a must win Corb in terms of building confidence alone, we have the Rovers game to further tweak before we face the bitters

Ya a win against Villa and a win against Blackburn would really lift the mood for the semi final

Expecting a good performance and a good win! Come on the lads and Kenny!

According to duncan jenkins, team is- doni, flanagan, skrtel, carragher, enrique, gerrard shelvey, henderson, downing suarez, kuyt.

He has being right last few weeks.

Extremely disappointed Carragher is keeping his place, no spearing either, who is going to do the defensive work in midfield, happy to see carroll dropped though kenny sending a message that behaviour is not acceptable

If that it is the team, it will be interesting to see who is on the right, Henderson in a 4-4-2 or Kuyt in a 4-5-1.

I hate 4-4-2.

Looks like a 4-3-3 mate with that team

According to duncan jenkins, team is- doni, flanagan, skrtel, carragher, enrique, gerrard shelvey, henderson, downing suarez, kuyt.

He has being right last few weeks.

Extremely disappointed Carragher is keeping his place, no spearing either, who is going to do the defensive work in midfield, happy to see carroll dropped though kenny sending a message that behaviour is not acceptable

Henderson can do the sweeping... Playing at the bottom of a 3 with Gerrard and Shelvey in front..

Im happy with that lineup though myself.. Get at them.. Take the game to Villa.