Pre-match: Bolton Wanderers vs Liverpool (EPL) - 29/8/09 3pm KO

Stevie, Lucas, Masch in the middle (allow Stevie to roam forward with Lucas and Masch holding while still, hopefully, making a contribution up the field)
Kuyt and Torres up top (gives somebody else for the defenders to worry about, takes a little less strain off Torres)

What you said, but maybe Lucas in front of Stevie?  He's been getting in the box a bit, Stevie and Nando haven't quite clicked yet and tbh I'd rather Stevie in a CM position than Lucas atm.  And Kuyt/Yossi/ Babel up top?  Not too sure on Kuyt, he's out of form, Yossi is more of an impact player for me but maybe this would be Babel's chance to shine, actually in an upfront position rather than being a right footed player on the left wing?  I'm grasping at straws aren't I 

What you said, but maybe Lucas in front of Stevie?  He's been getting in the box a bit, Stevie and Nando haven't quite clicked yet and tbh I'd rather Stevie in a CM position than Lucas atm.  And Kuyt/Yossi/ Babel up top?  Not too sure on Kuyt, he's out of form, Yossi is more of an impact player for me but maybe this would be Babel's chance to shine, actually in an upfront position rather than being a right footed player on the left wing?  I'm grasping at straws aren't I 

I could certainly see some sense in asking Lucas to play further up field than the other two but I do think Kuyt is the only viable option to put up front.

Yossi never will be a centre forward, Voronin is a waste of time, Ngog probably isn't up the physicality of Bolton to start the game and I don't wanna see Babel in a Liverpool shirt ever again.

Bolton being a pretty physical side, we won't want Lucas on the park. Beats me how he gets in the side anyway. Riera on the left, Kuuyt on the right, Masch and Bennie in the middle, Stevie pushing on with Nando. Occasionally switching with Bennie. Same back 4 as last game, Pepe between the sticks. I'm a bit worried about this game as I think we may have the jitters and not be offensive enough,especially if Lucas starts. If we let Bolton get a foothold in the game, I feel we will lose composure. I pray we get 3 points to get things back on track. The Villa game was such a huge dissapointment, I'd be happy with one off Nandos arse for 1 - 0. Under normal conditions I would go for a comfortable 2-0. If we should get a two goal cusion, It would be nice to get a look at Krygiakos towards the end.  As for Voronin, I thought he'd showed he couldn't hack it in the Prem first time around, He doesn't seem to have improved any. Time to unload I think, while some one is still interested in him.

I'm struggling to find a team line up that I'd be happy with. I want to play Kyrgiakos but the only way I can see that happening means Lucas would play a holding midfield role alongside Mascherano and thats not what I want, he won't be good enough against Bolton and I'm trying to drop him to bring in more attacking threat.

                                Reina
         Skrtel             Kyrgiakos        Carragher
   Johnson              Mascherano                Riera
            Kuyt          Benayoun          Gerrard
                              Torres                 

Thats the line up I'd consider. Johnson floating between being a Right Back and Right Winger, Mascherano holding midfielder and Riera as a winger but also tracking back. Benayoun central because Gerrard tends to get marked super tightly so if he is wider then they either a) mark him and leave loads of room for Benayoun through the middle, or b) don't mark him and give him time to deliver better service to Torres.

Everyone is talking about a change in team tactics and formation but I see no sense in it. For the first 3 games into the season we have used a 4-2-3-1 formation that served us so well the past 1 and a half seasons or so that we shouldn't change it to 4-4-2 that might disrupt the team's momentum. Obviously formations don't count that much but the players' contribution and the players' impact will be determined by the formation.

I very much prefer to keep the team that was used for the Villa game, just because of the inability of Lucas thus far to be of Liverpool standard doesn't mean that we have to change the formation to keep him out, or it might lead to even more severe consequences. Furthermore, it isn't just Bolton which is a physical side, all EPL sides are physical for that matter.

Lucas scored an own goal against Villa but I for one ain't going to leave him out yet. Still I am not convinced he is of Liverpool standard but I don't see much sense in leaving him out as he is going to be a Liverpool player this season (I don't see him moving this season) and he needs to have a game to quickly forget about the past.

Leaving him out might result in a damage in his morale which I certainly wouldn't want. For Liverpool I know once we get on a loss we'll be out firing all cylinders so instead I prefer to look at the whole team's contribution to the game rather than how Lucas could be a deciding factor in the game.

I would stick with the Aston Villa formation. The team were great in the 2nd half against Villa until we saw Skrtel and Carragher even in the opponent's half. It was just that we couldn't score as Brad Friedel was on fire.

------------------------------ Reina --------------------------------

Johnson--------Carragher------Skrtel/Kyrgiakos-----------Insua

Kuyt------------Mascherano----------Lucas-----------Benayoun/Riera

------------------------------Gerrard----------------------------------

------------------------------Torres--------------------------------

First of all, the lads know they have been underperforming. They are not stupid. They know they need to step up their game or we will out of the race early. It's about time the team get results and there isn't a better time than on our Matchday 4.

No team tactics changes. Fact is, the system works fine. The players are the ones who need to step up, and as Ad said they know that, they aren't stupid. I'm sure as long as they have had a long hard look at what they have done wrong, we will see an improved effort today. Not hedging bets just yet though..

I'd go with Ad's side.

Steven has got his wake up call from Rafa, he must stand up.

The team will probable be the same but would like to see Stevie drop back for Lucas and Riera coming in on the left leaving Benny behind Torres. I think all we need to sort is who distributes in midfield...

the way we are playing i cant see us beating anyone without a struggle.we aint played anyone of substance yet and were 6 points down.it dosnt matter who ya play, if you cant score ya aint gonna win

Heads down got to get a result toda. Lets hope Gerrard improves and we need Torres not sitting on his rea moaning all through the game other wise he will get treated like that all season

the way we are playing i cant see us beating anyone without a struggle.we aint played anyone of substance yet and were 6 points down.it dosnt matter who ya play, if you cant score ya aint gonna win

4-0 against Stoke who we drew twice with last year.

Pack up all your negativism in a little bag. Tie the bag round your neck. And jump in to the Mersey.

the way we are playing I cant see us beating anyone without a struggle.we aint played anyone of substance yet and were 6 points down.it dosnt matter who ya play, if you cant score ya aint gonna win

The reason why we can't score is we have not attemped to move the ball into the opposition box more often enough. We kept stroking the ball at the 30 o 40 yard line as though we are having a practice match and no attempt to harass the opposition defence. It is through harassing the opposition defence that will cause them to make mistakes and scoring opportunities. For goodness sake,  make the opposition defence earn their dough, pound them from the first whistle. Even our single goal against Villa is from inside the box by Nando. Jamie was so frustrated that he had to surge forward and pump those high balls in.

The reason why we can't score

Scored 6 goals in 3 games.

4-0 against Stoke who we drew twice with last year.

Pack up all your negativism in a little bag. Tie the bag round your neck. And jump in to the Mersey.

I think that's a bit harsh, because if we did not score early in that match, which we should have last year with Gerrard, then Stoke would have become harder and harder to break down.

Pack up all your negativism in a little bag. Tie the bag round your neck. And jump in to the Mersey.

 

Come on you reds!!! Any type of win will do today. I've gone for a tight 1-0 win for us.

I hope I'm proved wrong and we smash them!

i dont think the problem is scoring goals at all. It seems to be that we have given away some soft goals at the back so far. Conceding 5 in 3 is not really good enough. So clean sheet today is a must and i've no doubt we will score with the goal threat we have.

The problem is the lack of urgency at defending crosses/set pieces especially when you use zonal marking urgency to get to the ball first is key and ball watching and well your fu**ed and players like Bassong punish you

I trust this match isn't on tv, how annoying is that of our first four matches only one has been on sky sports..hate having to find streams.

Its on setanta.

4-0 against Stoke who we drew twice with last year.

Pack up all your negativism in a little bag. Tie the bag round your neck. And jump in to the Mersey.

come on who are you kidding,against stoke.we should be scoring like that against the better teams.i think we should sell stevie ,get some dosh and buy a couple of out and out strikers.sheva for one...and when we buy, get a striker who wants to be there not like kean

Its on setanta.

Sure about that?

come on who are you kidding,against stoke.we should be scoring like that against the better teams.I think we should sell stevie ,get some dosh and buy a couple of out and out strikers.sheva for one...and when we buy, get a striker who wants to be there not like kean

Sell Stevie and buy Shevchenko? I'd probably top myself, Awful idea.

sell stevie

Your kidding right?