Liverpool v Besiktas, Europa League, Rd of 32: Thurs 19th Feb 20:05 KO

Mignolet

Emre Can
Skrtel
Sakho

Markovic
Henderson (c)
Allen
Moreno

Sterling
Coutinho

Sturridge

Subs: Ward; Johnson, Lovren; Lallana; Balotelli, Lambert, Borini.

Not sure if Brendan will rotate, as we could go all the way in this competition if we keep up our brilliant form.

Gerrard and Lucas are certainly out. Sterling may not be fit to start and i'm guessing Sakho is OK after being clattered against Palace.

Confident of a 2-0 win here to take to Turkey for the second leg - Sturridge and Coutinho with the goals.

YNWA!

 

Stepping in to Mr Obvious mode for a moment, I'm going to say we need to get a home win in these matches to give us a platform to build on. As for the team:

Mignolet

Lovren
Skrtel
Sakho

Markovic
Henderson (c)
Emre Can
Moreno

Sterling
Coutinho

Sturridge

Subs: Ward; Johnson, Lovren; Lallana; Balotelli, Allen, Borini.


Allen had some good forward runs the other night but he provided precisely nothing by way of cover for the defence. I want to see Can moved in to the DM position where he can make forward runs without leaving holes in the back three and see Lovren be given a run out. If Lovren does poorly we can always substitute him for Allen and move Can back in to defence but I'd like to see him given another chance. As for the bench, after Gerrard, Balotelli is our most experienced player in Europe so he gets the nod over Lambert.

8-0 win let's have them!

Worth remembering that the Europa League winner gets a spot in the Champions League group stage next season. Not saying we should go all out, but has to play a part in how seriously we take the competition.

Worth remembering that the Europa League winner gets a spot in the Champions League group stage next season. Not saying we should go all out, but has to play a part in how seriously we take the competition.

From what I remember the Europa league was treated with great respect.

Is Ibe eligible for the Europa league?

Is Ibe eligible for the Europa league?

Don't know why not.

I'd put my house on 2-0 Liverpool!...................if I had a serious gambling addiction 

Allen had some good forward runs the other night but he provided precisely nothing by way of cover for the defence.

Yes we were completely over run with shots coming in left, right and centre!

Did you even watch the match are you just talking sh*t?

As for the team agree with most people apart from I would play Ibe instead of Marko.

Hey friends i am a Besiktas fan, if you have a question you can ask to me.

(Markovic is suspended, i hope you remember his red card at Basel match.So Ibe will be in first 11)

Wouldn't play Sturridge myself with Southampton in mind. If Sterling is back I'd def give Cou a rest. I'd also give Sakho a rest think he's an injury waiting to happen at the moment

Migs

Lovern
Skrtel
Can

Hendo
Allen

Ibe
Moreno

Sterling/Cou

Balo
Borini

Hey friends i am a Besiktas fan, if you have a question you can ask to me.

(Markovic is suspended, i hope you remember his red card at Basel match.So Ibe will be in first 11)

Hi welcome

Everytime I see Turkish teams in Europe over recent years I am majorly disappointed. Is the standard that bad? What's the issue?

Hey friends i am a Besiktas fan, if you have a question you can ask to me.

(Markovic is suspended, i hope you remember his red card at Basel match.So Ibe will be in first 11)

Who are your key players and position?

What type of football do you play?

What Liverpool players do you see as threat?

For me, don't change which is not broken. Same team that we have been playing.

Good solid win. 3 goal lead at least.

Mignolet

Can
Skrtel
Sakho

Ibe
Henderson
Allen
Moreno

Coutinho

Balotelli
Sturridge

Probably could rest one or two given the Southampton game a few days later. Maybe get Lovren in there somewhere.

Hi welcome

Everytime I see Turkish teams in Europe over recent years I am majorly disappointed. Is the standard that bad? What's the issue?

Turkish football is in a chaos. Debts are getting bigger and our league's quality is very low. We have 2 types of clubs in Turkish football. 1 is Istanbul clubs(Besiktas, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce). And 2 is Anatolian clubs (Trabzonspor, Bursaspor...). Anatolian clubs are very bad these times. So Istanbul clubs are alone at the top of the league (Besiktas is leader). And 90% of Turkish people support istanbul clubs so its a huge disadvantage for anatolian clubs. It makes Turkish League boring. Fenerbahce is fixing matches too. All of these facts make Turkish football worse. These are even good times for our football. But unlike our league, Besiktas is on fire. We are building a very young and talented squad, and our debts are getting lower. With our new stadium (Vodafone Arena, it is building on the same location with our old Inonu Stadium) we will make more money and with our fans we will be an important club for europe.

I am sure that Galatasaray will be in a very bad situation next year. They cant even pay to their footballers. And their fans are not coming to matches. Their debt is getting bigger, so Uefa will ban them from CL and EL next year.

Fenerbahce's squad is very good but very old too. They should rebuild their squad this summer. It will take time i think.

Anatolians clubs are in a awful situation too, so Turkis football will be worse then now, you can be sure about it.

Who are your key players and position?

What type of football do you play?

What Liverpool players do you see as threat?

Our key players are Demba Ba, Jose Sosa and Gokhan Tore. They are all attacking players.
But our biggest chance is midfield. Gerrard and Lucas will miss the match. We have two aggressive players at midfield position, Atiba Hutchinson and Veli Kavlak. Emra Can should play at the midfield i think, because Henderson and Allen will be so week and soft against Veli and Atiba.

We play like Dortmund and Atletico. I hope you heard about gegenpressing. It is called shock press in modern football. We start pressing very forward. We press very fast and if we can get the ball, we attack very fast. You can watch Tottenham match for our game style's example. And we have a great team defending.
The only thing i am scared about is our personel mistakes.

I think Sterling, Coutinho, Sturridge and Ibe will be the main threats for us. Because theyre real quick and they can punish our mistakes easily and thats what i am scared about.

If you ask for my idea, i would say the score will be 2-1 or 1-1 at anfield. But at Istanbul it will be really hard for you. You know Besiktas fans. Besiktas is in form, beated Bursaspor today with a last minute goal, and fans believe in team. There are 11 days until the match in Istanbul but 30.000 tickets sold already. I respect Liverpool too. I think chances are 55%-%45 for Liverpool. Dont expect that you will play with the team that you beated 8-0, it was our worst squad. That match was about 7-8 years ago and we are waiting for a revenge. Revenge would be so rude but we have an extra motivation for this match i think.

I want to give you the key sentence for Besiktas: Be awake for contra-attacks.

Hope my English is clear and my writing is useful.

Regards, a Besiktas fan.

Need to dip into the squad at some stage, so...

           Mignolet
    Toure Skyrel Sakho
Markovic Allen Can Moreno
      Ibe Ballotelli Lallana

With Hendo/Studge/Cou on bench if needed.

Hey friends i am a Besiktas fan, if you have a question you can ask to me.

(Markovic is suspended, i hope you remember his red card at Basel match.So Ibe will be in first 11)

Hello and welcome.

Are you confident that Besiktas can knock Liverpool out? if so why/why not.

Edit: Just seem you answer this above.

Second question then: Your style is like Spurs' you say, does that mean you play with a high back line?

You can watch Tottenham match for our game style's example.

Awesome. Should be a comfortable win for us then!

Hello and welcome.

Are you confident that Besiktas can knock Liverpool out? if so why/why not.

It is impossible to be confident against Liverpool.It is one of the biggest clubs in the world. I just believe my team. I remember Arsenal and Tottenham matches. When we get serious, we can play like a world class team. Because our team chemistry is very high. We all believe and love our team. And it is possible to knock L'pool out. The only thing i am confident about is our teams passion, and willing of knocking Liverpool out of EL. Liverpools chance is bigger than us but i cant see a huge difference. It will be a hard fight.

                                  Mignolet
                         Lovren  Skrtel  Sakho
            Manquillo  Henderson  Can   Moreno
                            Lallana   Markovic
                                  Balotelli

Ward; Johnson, Enrique; Allen, Coutinho, Sterling; Sturridge

It is impossible to be confident against Liverpool.It is one of the biggest clubs in the world. I just believe my team. I remember Arsenal and Tottenham matches. When we get serious, we can play like a world class team. Because our team chemistry is very high. We all believe and love our team. And it is possible to knock L'pool out. The only thing i am confident about is our teams passion, and willing of knocking Liverpool out of EL. Liverpools chance is bigger than us but i cant see a huge difference. It will be a hard fight.

Thanks for your response.

We know we'll be in for a tough game and respect our opponents.