Pre-Match Thread: Liverpool vs Arsenal (3/3/12) 12:45pm

Well after all the emotions of the roller-coaster that the team out us through in our first ever new Wembley appearance, its back to the bread and butter of the Premier League but in a MASSIVE fixture for the club.

Arsenal come to Anfield sitting in 4th and on a high after thrashing Spurs 5-2 and we play in front of the fans in similar mood. A game we dare not lose and really must win.

What I would go with:

                                         Reina

             Johnson  Carragher  Skrtel   Enrique

                                    Spearing
                             Gerrard    Adam

                  Suarez       Carroll     Downing

SUBS: Doni, Kelly, Coates, Henderson, Maxi, Kuyt, Bellamy.

Obviously Agger will play if fit but he may not be.

COME ON REDMEN!!! KEEP THE WINNING FEELING GOING!!    

Just get a win!

Cant we just enjoy our cup win for a day or two 

^^
No fraid not that's done now.
This game is even bigger in many ways. We must win no doubt about it & lets be honest it wont be easy.
Kuyt in for Henderson will do for me.
Reds2 0Arse..

This game is even bigger in many ways.

F**k that sh*te.

The only game that will be bigger than Sunday would be a potential FA Cup Final.

Going to be interesting to see who's going to play, let's not forget the pointless week of friendlies coming up.

Think if we don't win this 4th will be nye impossible.

Fortunately, I think we will do them.

Hope we don't play 4-4-2 though.

Must win game

Kenny, please note HENDERSON IS NOT A WINGER. Arsenal are not solid in defence and got be got at. I'd go with an attack minded line up of.                                                        Reina
                             Johnson                Skrtel         Carra ( agger if fit )      Enrique

                                                          Henderson      Gerrard
                                    Downing                                                  Bellamy
                                                          Suarez
                                                                          Carroll

Doubt he would go with the above. Can see Kenny opting for Kuyt on the right. Massive game for us for our top 4 aspirations. Lose and that is pretty much that.

if agger's not fit, i wouldn't risk carra, not enough pace to cope with walcott/rvp/rosicky and co. play coates instead.

henderson doesnt have a place in the team at mo.

                        baldy

johnson     skrtl        coates          enrque

bellamy       adam        stevie       downing

                 suarez
                              carroll

If we defend well we could paste these. There awful at the back and they dont exactly sit back. Spearing has to play to free gerrard up a bit. Bellamy in for hendo or kuyt if bellers not fit

Has to be a change in formation and please no Henderson on the right and Adam and Gerrard partnered together in the centre

Cant we just enjoy our cup win for a day or two 

Yep we can, but it's history now, back to the league with a pivotal home game against the Arse, they are where we need to be and only a win will help us achieve that,

a win is a must, we cant afford to drop any more points, less against one of our rivals, and especially when we all know what's at stake,

                                      Reina
                       Johnson Carra Skrtle  Enrique
                                    Spearing
                          Gerrard            Adam
                       Kuyt        Suarez    Downing

Bench; Doni, Coates, Kelly, Bellers, Maxi,Carroll, Shelvey

Ok we have some silverware,but now it's back to basics and the chase for CL football, the Arse will be full of it after their success over Spuds, they have F**k all left to play for except to cement 4th,

we on the other hand do and at the top of course is that 4th spot, as mentioned in another thread two cups is regarded as more successful than a CL spot and quite rightly too, but we need to be where the elite are and the CL is the place where it all happens,

can't see Dagger being fit for this one if his ribs are damaged, so in comes Carra, Spearing in front with Gerrard and Adam in between Kuyt and Downing, with the wee fella up front,

with Bellers,Carroll and Maxi on the bench we have good back up for the front and width, and Shelvey to support Midfield, i think we will do these 2-1, and just to fire things up before kick-off i'd have the league cup paraded around Anfield, Shankly style,

League cup winners 2, Bottlers 1,

C'mon Redmen, tear the Arse a new one.

           IKWT     YNWA

I reckon Kenny should take a leaf out of Shank's book and send the injured players out for a walk around with the trophy before the Arse game (just to remind them what cup winners look like  )!
Let them know that scoring 5 in a league game gets you F**k all but a penalty shoot out at win at wembley does

Can't see carra starting this,they have a fair bit of pace in there side,walnut and oxlade-chamberlain too
 name two.agree there defence can be got at, vermaelen in particular.let's hope we get plenty in the box and get at them,arsenal like time on the ball so plenty of closing down and keep tight to there forwards especially van persie.

Well this game and for the remainder of the league season I think we just need to go for broke, throw all caution to the wind and play aggressive and by the seat of our arse if need be. Of course we will treat the FA cup differently but now it is 4th or nothing as we are in Europe regardless now. Quite honestly we play a bit of underdog role as Chelsea, Arsenal and the Toons have everything to lose while we on the other have silverware in hand and a chance for another trip to Wembley have nothing to lose.

That makes us very very dangerous if we want to be.

Lets see how we approach the league now. We can afford as a squad to play loose in the league and loose teams generally play better so this is going to be very interesting to see how the squad reacts and to perhaps turn those D's into W's.

So we should see a cup parade pre-match? 

Both fans and players will need to put the cup win to bed and get up for this as its a big game for us. Arsenal will be confident after their comeback against Spurs and we need to start closing the gap on them and Chelsea etc!

Hate the international week, fingers crossed all the lads come back injury free.

The form RVP is in has me slightly worried, especially with Agger unlikely to play. Time for Carra to start and him and Skrtel to have crackers.

RVP will take some stopping Skrtel is our only defender quick enough to get near him.
But we should concentrate on our own game they are poor at the back & we have to get at them.

As i said before in some ways this is even a bigger game than sundays, win & the champions
league is still very much on lose & i think we can forget it.
Henderson on the bench please Kenny............

Up untill Sunday ( Spurs 2-5 Arsenal) I fancied us very strongy to win this one, now I'm not just as confident as I was. Since we have home advantage, I think we will  edge it 2-1. Although it's just as likely that we will win comfortably or lose badly.

                                Reina
            Johnson Carra Skrtel Enrique
                             Spearing
                      Gerrard Henderson
                  Suarez Carroll Downing

Kuyt should really start, but Andy needs the playing time, Bellers will play for wales tomorrow so shouldn't start, Agger out for a bit with the injury.

Don't think Johnson, Agger or Bellamy will start.

Reina; Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique; Spearing, Gerrard; Downing, Suarez, Kuyt; Carroll.

good prediction that.

going to be a tough one but we can break them down. early set piece? maybe a penalty? i'm feeling another win. also I realised, correct me if I'm wrong, if we beat arsenal, chelsea and newcastle that will be the double over the lot of them and hopefully a massive boost towards finishing above the lot of them too. conversely, we lost to the mancs, city and spurs.. and drew the other games. it hurts to say but on the table the best we can do is finish fourth to them but we can do it and it starts here against the arse.

Yeah, this is a big game obviously. It is a game i really think we should win, too many times Arsenals defence have cost them this year, or should have cost them but RVP has came to the rescue. Suarez should really exploit the space their defence leaves, and maybe Andy can be effective in the air. He had a pretty decent game against them earlier this season. A win would be a big stride forward for 4th!