Tottenham v Liverpool - Sunday 15th Dec - 16:00 Kick off

Liverpool head to Tottenham on Sunday looking to close the gap on first place Arsenal, as well as pulling away from the chasing pack.

We already have Gerrard, Sturridge, Enrique and Coates injured, and now Henderson could also be out of this game, which would leave us light extremely light in midfield.

I would like to see this team play on Sunday:

Mignolet

Johnson
Skrtel
Sakho
Flanagan

Lucas (c)
Allen

Sterling
Coutinho
Moses

Suarez

Subs: Jones; Kelly, Toure; Agger; Alberto, Ibe, Aspas.

I think that team is the best team we can put out at the moment considering our injury troubles.

Tottenham's last game was away at Sunderland, which they won 2-1.

This was the team that they put out, they have there own injury problems as well:

Lloris

Walker
Capoue
Dawson (c)
Naughton

Paulinho
Dembele

Lennon
Holtby
Chadli

Defoe

They have Vertonghen, Kaboul, Chiriches, left back Danny Rose and attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen all injured at the moment. Defensive midfielder Etienne Capoue had to play centre back along side Dawson against Sunderland.

I think this game will be won and lost in midfield and Lucas and Allen need to be completely on form to keep defensive duo Paulinho and Dembele quiet. The 3 behind Defoe could be any of 5-7 players but I expect Lennon, Holtby and Townsend to play there on Sunday.

Our recent form at White Hart Lane has been awful - losing our last five. Last season we lost there 2-1. But we then beat them 3-2 at Anfield later on in the season.

Tottenham are playing away to Anzhi on Thursday but have already qualified for the next round so expect them to put out a second team.

They also play West Ham in a Carling Cup Quarter Final on Wednesday next week so they may have an eye on that as well.

I think this will be a tough game but one, if we put 100% in, we can win. I think we can shade this 1-0, with Suarez scoring the goal.

Other fixtures this weekend (league position in brackets):

Saturday:

12:45 - Man City (4th) v Arsenal (1st)
15:00 - Cardiff (16th) v West Brom (15th)
15:00 - Chelsea (3rd) v Crystal Palace (19th)
15:00 - Everton (5th) v Fulham (18th)
15:00 - Newcastle (7th) v Southampton (8th)
15:00 - West Ham (17th) v Sunderland (20th)
17:30 - Hull (12th) v Stoke (13th)

Sunday:

13:30 - Aston Villa (11th) v Man. United (9th)
13:30 - Norwich (14th) v Swansea (10th)
16:00 - Tottenham (6th) v Liverpool (2nd)

Looking at those fixtures I would expect Man. City, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle and Man. United to pick up 3 points. But lets hope not.

Good luck lads

I'll be the happiest man in the world if we win this one. All my pals support spurs.

Let's get f***in stuck in and give it a proper go!!!

F***ing hell, what a depressing stat regarding our recent form at White Hart Lane! Do remember us playing pretty awfully in most of those games - not just a case of a bad result but a battling performance. Really needs to change on Sunday as it's definitely our best chance of picking up a win in our next 3 away games.

Seriously limited options to choose from for the front six. Don't want to see Moses and Sterling in the same team after the car crash against Hull so I'd be tempted to push Coutinho out left and start Alberto for Hendo and obviously bring in Lucas for Gerrard. Wouldn't surprise me to see Brendan bring a defender further up and push Allen up though.

Liverpool head to Tottenham on Sunday looking to close the gap on first place Arsenal, as well as pulling away from the chasing pack.

We already have Gerrard, Sturridge, Enrique and Coates injured, and now Henderson could also be out of this game, which would leave us light extremely light in midfield.

I would like to see this team play on Sunday:

Mignolet

Johnson
Skrtel
Sakho
Flanagan

Lucas (c)
Allen

Sterling
Coutinho
Moses

Suarez

Subs: Jones; Kelly, Toure; Agger; Alberto, Ibe, Aspas.

Vice Captain on the bench with the Captain injured? Who would you have captain the side?

Losing our last five? Crikey! Well, all good things come to an end, and for Spurs, it'll be just that

On a serious note, I'm not at all confident about this one. I truly hate Spurs and that big nosed pr**k who manages them. I genuinely think they're going to beat us, and not just because of our past experience there, but more so because we are lacking two, possibly three key players.

4231:

Mignolet
Flanagan
Sakho
Skrtel
Johnson
Lucas
Allen
Coutinho
Moses
Sterling
Suarez

Will inevitably be overrun in midfield against Sandro, Dembele, Paulinho etc. Hope we can prove otherwise though.

Suarez could be the difference.

I think this is the game to try out Agger at DM. We need his leadership on the field but Skrtel and Sahko must start based on form. I would play a lineup like this

Mignolet
Johnson Skrtel Sahko Flanaghan
Lucas Agger
Sterling Allen Coutinho
Suarez.
 I think that would give us enough attacking and allow us to control midfield. I could even see us using Alberto instead of Allen to give us a bit more attacking play. With our injuries though I think we need to make sure we are solid defensively and count on Coutinho and Suarez to create

Vice Captain on the bench with the Captain injured? Who would you have captain the side?

I would have Lucas as captain, I think a lot of us would thought he would of been named vice captain in the summer.

Skrtel was another I thought would of been captain on Saturday after Stevie went off, interesting Johnson was given the armband though.

Perhaps Lucas may takeover the captaincy in this game, if Agger starts on the bench, the subject of captaincy, debatable, as have posted in another thread a draw would be a decent result to my mind. This taking into account our record away to the spuds

I think this is the easiest of our three harder games and if we do win this it will give us a big advantage over Spurs for the CL spots and maybe even the confidence to get something from the other two hard games.

I think we need to play a less expansive game than we have been, tighten up the midfield and defence and hope that Suarez magical form continues. Heard a rumour that Agger is back for this one, but I don't think Brendan will drop Sakho. 

                                  Mignolet

Johnson              Skrtel          Sakho           Flanagan

                        Toure           Lucas

           Sterling            Allen              Coutinho

                               Suarez   

4-2-3-1 formation with Toure dropping back into defence when needed but also giving our midfield midgets (thanks Beerbelly ) more of a physical presence and a bit of height.

Hopefully our first clean sheet for a while and our first win at Spurs for years. 2-0 Suarez with both, one from the penalty spot..... be interesting to see who would take the penalty in reality.

We really need to up our game as a team and we can win this.             

This are the type of games  we have to win ,  for  us to be seriously considered
for a top 4  position.

A draw or more means we stay top 4.

I am reasonably confident as long as we don't go overly defensive. This is the same spurs who don't have a strike force, Soldado has been w*nk, they have scored the same number of goals as Stoke, we're thumped by City and most of there wins have been by the odd goal and some of those due to dubious penalty decisions.
We need to stay positive but obviously not go too gung-ho, we will create chances as long as Coutinho and Suarez are on the pitch.

I'm very confident of getting a result this weekend, spurs could overrun us in midfield but have little to offer going forward. Don't see them even scoring, think we'll take all 3 points and we should do on current form.

I'm very confident of getting a result this weekend, spurs could overrun us in midfield but have little to offer going forward. Don't see them even scoring, think we'll take all 3 points and we should do on current form.

I agree and this is arguably the best chance we've had at getting something there for the past four seasons.

We will embarrass spurs in this game regardless of our injures and their strength in depth. Their manager is a blag merchant and they aren't very threatening as far as I'm concerned, but I understand the trepidation. Stats are going out the window this season and future seasons.

didnt Spur only won once out of last ten league game after play middle week in europe?

I think we will score, but just need to keep the back tidy. does anyone fancy 3 CBs in this game?

my guess is spur 1 liverpool 2. but would really like to see a cleansheet.

Lets Gooooo Reds!   

I would have Lucas as captain, I think a lot of us would thought he would of been named vice captain in the summer.

Skrtel was another I thought would of been captain on Saturday after Stevie went off, interesting Johnson was given the armband though.

Spurs don't really offer an Ariel threat like other teams do. They tend to play football along the ground. With that in mind I wouldn't play Skrtel, who tends to give a lot of free kicks away in dangerous areas when faced with pace. For this reason I'd prefer Agger.

didnt Spur only won once out of last ten league game after play middle week in europe?

I think we will score, but just need to keep the back tidy. does anyone fancy 3 CBs in this game?

my guess is spur 1 liverpool 2. but would really like to see a cleansheet.

Lets Gooooo Reds!   

I wouldn't go back to the three at the back for this game myself, somehow we don't stay tight enough as a unit to be able to get the most out of formations in general, it just goes to show that the winning mentality that has been instilled into even some of our averagely great players this season has still produced the results.
Don't reckon it'll be a clean sheet, I reckon we will wiin 3-1 or 3-2.

Holtby and Paulinho worry me.

Holtby and Paulinho worry me.

Paulinho, out of all their signings, looks the best. Still not worried personally.

The team I'd like to see against Spurs is probably not what the boss has in mind but I'd play a doamond in midfield and hope that the extra numbers will help us control possession of the football and use the pace and movement of Sterling and Suarez as the forwards.

Mignolet

Johnson  Skrtel  Agger  Flanagan

Lucas

Alberto        Allen

Coutinho

Sterling  Suarez

I've explained in the tactics thread how I see this playing out during the game.

Having said that I expect something more along the lines of what Saint posted above with maybe Agger in where Kolo is.

I would have :   
                                                 Mignolet

                   Toure             Skertl            Agger              Johnson

                                                 Lucas

                                 Henderson                    Allen
                                                   Coutinho
                                  Sterling                        Suarez

I would let Toure push across when Johnson goes. Toure wouldn't get forward much, let Lucas more or less shield. Overload it on our left. We should get Henderson and Allen using their energy to win the ball high up the pitch and give Lucas a real look at the ones that get through. Lucas can get balls into the front 3 and Allen and Henderson should be their to get it back, If Toure, Agger, Skertl and Lucas can't clean up then we are f*cked.                       

I think this is the easiest of our three harder games and if we do win this it will give us a big advantage over Spurs for the CL spots and maybe even the confidence to get something from the other two hard games.

I think we need to play a less expansive game than we have been, tighten up the midfield and defence and hope that Suarez magical form continues. Heard a rumour that Agger is back for this one, but I don't think Brendan will drop Sakho. 

                                  Mignolet

Johnson              Skrtel          Sakho           Flanagan

                        Toure           Lucas

           Sterling            Allen              Coutinho

                               Suarez   

4-2-3-1 formation with Toure dropping back into defence when needed but also giving our midfield midgets (thanks Beerbelly ) more of a physical presence and a bit of height.

Hopefully our first clean sheet for a while and our first win at Spurs for years. 2-0 Suarez with both, one from the penalty spot..... be interesting to see who would take the penalty in reality.

We really need to up our game as a team and we can win this.           

I'd go with that S@int. And agree about playing a compact game.

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