Pre-Match: Liverpool V Arsenal 12;45 Sat 8 Feb 2014

I think Brendan has to be brave with his team selection play 3 in central midfield rather than expecting wide players to help control the midfield.

                     Mignolet

Flanagan     Skrtel      Toure    Cissokho

          Allen     Gerrard     Henderson

                       Coutinho
           Sturridge          Suarez

Yes I know I have dropped Sterling to the bench and he was our best player against W.B.A. but I think this is one game when we can't afford to get overmatched in midfield.

We need intensity, creativity and determination similar to that we showed against Everton. Play like we did against W.B.A. allow Arsenal to press and we may be looking at a similar result.

We need to feed our strikers not starve them of any sort of decent possession and they are good enough to score against any side nevermind Arsenal.

I don't know whether it's brave or stupid leaving Sterling out Saint. 

4-2-3-1

          Mignolet

Flanno Kelly Skrtel Cissokho

        Hendo Allen

Sterling  Gerrard  Sturridge

             Suarez

If in any way Sakho is match fit he plays with Cissokho dropping out and either Kelly or Flanno to left back

It's a difficult choice, but I wouldn't want to drop Coutinho against Arsenal. What he offers to the team is fluidity and space. Watch a few clips of him and you'll notice he makes subtle movements that buys him a few extra yards of space. This is crucial in my opinion. It's difficult to drop Sterling also, as he's got the pace to get in behind the Arsenal defence. He's been one of our best players recently so again, he's not someone I would like to drop. Why play Allen in centre midfield instead of Coutinho?

I would keep same team against Everton. We just have to show courage and attack them. Easier said than done, I know..

Arsenal has been tough the last few years. Their midfield has always given us fits. Koscielny is also a top CB, and has done well against Suarez recently.

We need Allen in the midfield for this one IMO. Whoever's our deepest midfielder (Gerrard most likely) is going to need to be keenly aware of their late runners. This year Arsenal has done a ton of pass it forward to Giroud, who flicks it on or lays it off and gets a late runner put through. Giroud is very, very good in build up play, and we can't fall asleep to what's happening around him when the ball is being played in to his feet.

Honestly, a draw would be a good result, and a win would be outstanding. I think we can win, but I don't fancy our defense against this lot. We'll probably need SAS to rescue us once again.

Migs

Same back 4 as past couple of weeks

Gerrard
Allen
Hendo

Sterling
Suarez
Sturridge

Bring Coutinho on for Allen if we're down.

I'm gonna be bold and go with a 3-1. Think we'll get one from a set piece and Giroud will probably get a tap in from a cross from the right wing.

I don't know whether it's brave or stupid leaving Sterling out Saint. 

I can understand why you might struggle with that decision

Sakho will be fit for this game. I would be tempted to bench Toure as I think his confidence will be pretty low. Introduce him back against an easier team or FA cup.

with the stink that Arsenal is doing for our FA cup tie with them I really hope we can thrash them at Anfield this weekend.

they have been doing similar stuff to their opponents of late and I think it is extremely disrespectful



in case some of you arent aware..  Arsenal first wanted to charge over 100pounds per tickets for each of our away fans ... after SoS reached out, they agreed to reduce the price.  but now they have decided to allocate only 5k seats (emirates is a 60k stadium) for our travelling KOP.  FA recommends 15% is allocated to the travelling side.

Any system that gets numbers in midfield, works hard to get the ball and keeps SaS close to our goals is fine by me.

THeir goals I mean.

We will make Arsenal look average, people will be surprised.

We will make Arsenal look average, people will be surprised.

If they are missing Ramsey, Wiltshire, Flamini and Walcott things will be better. Although Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky and Arteta isn't bad. They have quite a lot of riches in midfield. Hopefully they will be defensively a bit light.

Massive game and we have a real opportunity to show our intent and how far we have come with this game along with the other home games against the likes of Man City and Chelsea.

We have a poor record against this lot recently and need to address that starting on Saturday. Their centre backs have a excellent record together but with our movement and pace, hopefully we can cause them some major problems. We need to make sure we control the midfield otherwise we will get overrun and we cant invite them onto us.

Aside from that, be great to give them a good beating for the cup ticket stitch up alone!

If they are missing Ramsey, Wiltshire, Flamini and Walcott things will be better. Although Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky and Arteta isn't bad. They have quite a lot of riches in midfield. Hopefully they will be defensively a bit light.

Very true, they are immense in midfield and sometimes I can be over confident about our prowess, if service is provided to SaS then we can roll over any team. Our midfield can turn up sometimes and surprise us all.

Has to be 3 in the middle, we need energy and pace in there to close Arsenal down.

Coutinho to drop to the bench as Sterling has to play on current form.

One of the toughest of the season is this, we need a performance as of the blueshite for to bag 3 pts ,

            Mignolet
 Kelly Toure Skrtle Flanno
       Gerrard      Hendo
                Allen
Sterling    Suarez    Sturridge

Have to go with 3 in midfield, have to keep our front three for maximum scoring opportunities, they have a weakened but still adequate midfield but more manageable for Gerrard, Hendo & Allen, I've elected for Kelly & Flanno but BR might stick with Flanno & Cissokho,

Play a high tempo type Everton type game we can destroy them, but we need to boss central areas , Allen is key he can link up mids & attack but needs to be on his game, tough for him but he can do it I'm sure, for a hour or so, replace him with Coutinho and let him rip,

Arse have been playing well of late but they can be got at, by applying the right pressure, get them on the back foot their not so confident,

I reckon BR will have them up for it, he would have been disappointed with the display V baggies,
Every game is important but he will earmark the matches with the top 3 as specials and want extra from his players for them,
The players themselves will want to prove they can mix it with the main contenders to
I'm going for a. 3-1 convincing victory, I think if we perform the way we know we can our doubters will yet again raise their eyebrows,

Time to put the cat amongst the pigeons me thinks and set our stall out for the coming months.

YNWA

            Mignolet
 Kelly Toure Skrtle Flanno
       Gerrard      Hendo
                Allen
Sterling    Suarez    Sturridge

I'd agree with most of this with the exception of Allen who hasn't performed well in big games. i'd stick with Cou for now and have Allen on the bench. I'd dig up my dead Aunt Nelly and have her play left back before I'd start Cissohoko against Arsenal but let's be honest, we all know he will.

I'd agree with most of this with the exception of Allen who hasn't performed well in big games. i'd stick with Cou for now and have Allen on the bench. I'd dig up my dead Aunt Nelly and have her play left back before I'd start Cissohoko against Arsenal but let's be honest, we all know he will.

Lovely, bet she smells funny too ,

Seriously, Allen is in there to strengthen the midfield I appreciate he hasn't been in top form but we need a 3 man midfield opposed to a 2 with Coutinho,
We can't afford to be overrun in central area or Arse will have a field day, get ourselves at least 2 up by the hour then think about Coutinho,
Also he'll smell better than your decaying Aunt 


YNWA

I was wondering with Stevie playing so deep does this prevent Agger from bringing the ball out from the back. It has been one of his strengths but if we just have CB's who are instructed to give it to Stevie then I don't think Daniel will be very pleased. I expect Sakho and Skrtyl to play if fit and if we could get Enrique back the back four would look its strongest for sometime.
We can win this purely because we have two players that can change a game in a flash.

I'd agree with most of this with the exception of Allen who hasn't performed well in big games. i'd stick with Cou for now and have Allen on the bench. I'd dig up my dead Aunt Nelly and have her play left back before I'd start Cissohoko against Arsenal but let's be honest, we all know he will.

Which big games has Allen not performed in only one I can think of is against Chelsea when he had to play with a pain killing injection and when that wore off he had to go off. The issue with Joe this season has been his fitness if we could get him back fully fit I'm sure with him in midfield we will see more team Performances like against Spurs.

I too think Gerrard, Henderson and Allen are needed, Arsenal play a lot through the middle and we'll need to clutter the middle to break up their play up. We should be enough with Sterling, Strurridge and Suarez with Henderson occasionally making forward runs.

They are a much better passing team than us and I feel they are gonna push us back and apply a lot of pressure so maybe counter attacking football is the way to go.

allen is critical for us in the midfield now.  If you think about it, we have absolutely no one else that can fill in for what allen provides.  SG is playing more DM, hendo more of the hustle role so allen is our silky passer.  possibly alberto but we all know what positions he plays most these days.... bench


arsenal is going to be a really tough game.  their midfield is definitely strong and well oiled.  their defense with mer is solid.  i reckon we can get a result from this game if we go hard and clinical with our counter attacking plan.  but we need SaS to be perfectly in sync that day

also giroud while isnt lighting up the scoring table is decently consistent.  he will cause problems for us as their midfields are definitely fast enough to move up to support him

this is a game i pray we have sakho and hopefully is is fit enough to play.  also we will need our FBs to run till their legs give out.  They have to support our forwards while being able to defend arsenals quick advance

I was wondering with Stevie playing so deep does this prevent Agger from bringing the ball out from the back. It has been one of his strengths but if we just have CB's who are instructed to give it to Stevie then I don't think Daniel will be very pleased. I expect Sakho and Skrtyl to play if fit and if we could get Enrique back the back four would look its strongest for sometime.
We can win this purely because we have two players that can change a game in a flash.

I don't think they are instructed to give it to Stevie. If you watch when we play out from the back the CB's will both split left and right, the full backs push on and Stevie (or whoever is the DM, it's been Lucas) drops in almost as an auxiliary CB or sweeper.

The centre backs are very much tasked with bringing the ball forward. In fact we saw two (unsuccessful) forays into the opposition half by Toure in the WBA game. Obviously neither Skrtel or Toure are 'ball playing' centre backs.

Like you, I think when we get Enrique and Sakho back the defence is going to look a lot more solid than it has been recently.

Cant believe its been 7 fricking years since we beat them at Anfield