Liverpool V Swansea City 17/02/2012 KO 15.00

We still need to clock up some wins as we need to finish 6th atleast for Europa league spot.
Another good team that we have struggled against and if we evrr needed a good performance it's now.

I have been to more cheerful funerals. The game is at Anfield, we are playing Swansea..... not Barcelona. 

Yeah but if they play anything like they did in the League Cup, it will be a tough game, Michu took the piss that night and made Gerrard look a bit of a mug with the move that added their third.

Glad Sturridge is back though.

Reina; Wisdom, Skrtel, Carra, Enrique; Lucas, Henderson, Coutinho; Downing, Sturridge, Borini.

Give Johnson, Agger, Gerrard, and Suarez a rest for Thursday. Anyway, I'll go 3-0 with Coutinho grabbing all 3.

This is a tough test.  Infact I think Swansea are the best team we can face now before the Europa.  There's no practise or training better than a competitive match.

Swansea have all the ingredients to give our defenders, midfielders, strikers and wingers problems.  Wish Chico Flores was not injured he's better than their other choices.

A losable as well as winnable fixture.  Play all the people who will play in europa.  They need to learn the fundamentals of their position and the game.  If not starting they need to play 45 mins atleast.  Finding the right balance between going forward and attacking to get 2/3 goals in 90 mins without conceding should be the most important thing in this match imo rather than the result.  So hoping we can score 2 without Sturride.  After and after we score two we bring in Sturrdige for some rest to Suarez.  Borini need a run in his confidence is gone.  he needs to play cos we got no other choice. He and Suarez needs to score goals no other strikers. he needs game time practice time.

Prediction if we went for a win win Liverpool 0 Swansea 2
Prediction if went to find the right tactics and balance Liverpool 2 Swansea 1

Reina
Carragher     Agger   
Johnson                   Enrique
Lucas   Gerrard
Henderson
Downing                      Coutinho
Sturridge

I'd rest Suarez, personally. I think he's looked a bit leggy of late, so have him on the bench to bring on for about 25 minutes. Undecided between starting Coutinho or Borini, went with Coutinho.

 In the opening post the kick off is 15:00 can someone please check as I thought it was 17:00.I would hate to get out of bed at 4 o clock in the morning and find that I have missed half the match,cheers.

In the opening post the kick off is 15:00 can someone please check as I thought it was 17:00.I would hate to get out of bed at 4 o clock in the morning and find that I have missed half the match,cheers.

That time is right Billy

Not to mention throwing it away against an Arsenal side there for the taking and a City side in utter disarray atm. Seven dropped points in three games does not make me confident going in to this game.

It's a ball-ache. Confidence seems fragile at the moment. Our defensive mindset needs to improve.

I have been to more cheerful funerals. The game is at Anfield, we are playing Swansea..... not Barcelona. 

Have you been to Anfield lately mate? West Brom was like someone had farted in a morgue. There was a bit of movement to begin with, but it just went flat for a while, with a hissing/booing noise at the end.

The "game is at Anfield" notion has gone well out of the window lately, unfortunately. We're playing a very good enthusiastic team who have no reputation pressure.

I'm up for it as I always am. But our team need to show some steel and keep a clean sheet.

In the opening post the kick off is 15:00 can someone please check as I thought it was 17:00.I would hate to get out of bed at 4 o clock in the morning and find that I have missed half the match,cheers.

That time is right Billy

Thanks for that ,I have set my alarm for 3:30 am ,time to make a cup of tea before kickoff at 4am New Zealand time.

sh*t or bust today for me... Win this and things will no doubt turn around and look a lot better - lose and it will be doom and gloom for another week! If we lose this it will be the end of any asperaions for Europe next season. This might not be the worst thing in the world - providing a few players dont jump ship!

Swansea play soom good football and can finish - this is no walk in the park as many teams have found out this season. However, we need to step up today and finally beat someone above us in the premership!

It's a ball-ache. Confidence seems fragile at the moment. Our defensive mindset needs to improve.

Have you been to Anfield lately mate? West Brom was like someone had farted in a morgue. There was a bit of movement to begin with, but it just went flat for a while, with a hissing/booing noise at the end.

The "game is at Anfield" notion has gone well out of the window lately, unfortunately. We're playing a very good enthusiastic team who have no reputation pressure.

I'm up for it as I always am. But our team need to show some steel and keep a clean sheet.

I just find it difficult to accept the pessimism when the opposition is at best a midtable side. Maybe it is me failing to come to terms with the realities of the "new Liverpool" but Swansea at Anfield (whether there is noise or not) fails to fill me with fear and trepidation. I may not expect us to run riot (I think we can) but I do expect us to win.

I know we have all had our expectations dampened this season, but we surely haven't fallen so far.......have we? 

I know we have all had our expectations dampened this season, but we surely haven't fallen so far.......have we? 

Reality is S@int - yes we have... Before you can improve you need to accept where you are - we are also at best a midtable team. We have some world class players mixed in with some players that really houldnt be here. Being a biast f**ker I often look at our team and cant think of a player who we can drop to improve, but the reality is there are a lot of them!

We should be laughing our socks off at Swansea coming to Anfield - expecting a battering, but that is no longer the case... We havent beaten a team above us all season - we have drawn 2 and lost 2 in the last 4. Yes, you could argue that we played City and Aresnal - but it was also Oldham and WBA...

Today, we need to show someting - and the players need to sort out their lifes. I am sick and tired of reading about how we as fans need to 'sort it out' and 'help the team'. You want to know why Anfield rocked in the 70' & 80's - its because we had a brilliant team who won a lot. When you are battering teams then you get the feel good factor at the club - this is carried by the fans. I remeber when we lost a gam my first thought would be - I feel sorry for who were playing next, wait for the backlash!

If the team fail to show up again today then we need to ask serious questions...

Saint a + for you for being positive.   Dont know how to give a plus.  It changed before you just clicked + now it goes to good post than you put 1 and enter is it?  I firmly believe negativity leads to more negativity.

I for one would look to see a side that is put to score 3 goals and concede none featuring the europa squad and subs coming in later like Sturridge.  can't wait to see BR tactics tonight.

I'd say equally or more concerning is the way we defend crosses. Seem to be conceding from corners alot recently.

Yes, I do agree it's equally concerning with the way we defended against crosses. I'd believe the back 4 will have to do a proper job while there must be one other player patrolloing the arc. I'm not sure was it supposed to be Lucas's or Hendo's job. I'm sure both were missing when Zenit scored their first goal. If we had a player patrolling areas around the arc, I'm sure we could have avoided at least a goal conceded and would have altered the outcome of the match.

The way we defended corners is somewhat different from what I've seen other teams do, other teams had 3 defenders, like a bunch of grapes defending the centre part of the goal while 2 more other players defending each of the post. We man mark players inside our box and allowed other opposing players to sneak in the last moment for a free header.

Having said that, I hope the players will play like men possessed to make up for the dissapointment in the last 2 games.

Why would you rest Suarez?
Even on his off days he's still the best we've got by a mile
Leaving Luis out would be a huge boost to Laudrup a big mistake imo

I'd play Luis Sturridge & Coutinho and give the demoted fans in the ground (me included)
summat to smile about.

All out full on attack is Brendans best policy today & win if he wants to ease some pressure.
Anything less will not do do..

Have not posted since Thursday, one positive is to have Sturridge back. Perhaps give Suarez a rest and play Borini up front with Sturridge. Defence is a serious problem at the moment. Decided to go for a score draw, another defeat is unthinkable.

Reality is S@int - yes we have... Before you can improve you need to accept where you are - we are also at best a midtable team. We have some world class players mixed in with some players that really houldnt be here. Being a biast f**ker I often look at our team and cant think of a player who we can drop to improve, but the reality is there are a lot of them!

We should be laughing our socks off at Swansea coming to Anfield - expecting a battering, but that is no longer the case... We havent beaten a team above us all season - we have drawn 2 and lost 2 in the last 4. Yes, you could argue that we played City and Aresnal - but it was also Oldham and WBA...

Today, we need to show someting - and the players need to sort out their lifes. I am sick and tired of reading about how we as fans need to 'sort it out' and 'help the team'. You want to know why Anfield rocked in the 70' & 80's - its because we had a brilliant team who won a lot. When you are battering teams then you get the feel good factor at the club - this is carried by the fans. I remeber when we lost a gam my first thought would be - I feel sorry for who were playing next, wait for the backlash!

If the team fail to show up again today then we need to ask serious questions...

Serious question I'm asking myself is are we a mid-table team at the moment. Sadly, I've to admit we are at the moment, the result doesn't lie. Next question I'm asking, is the team imbalance in performance at the moment with the old guards (some not performing to expectations), while young players can only performed to the best of their ability and we expect them to show some weaknesses, and player's acquired by BR (except Sturridge) did not perform to expectations while players purchased from last season did not also excel.

I'm also asking questions, what does BR expects the players he purchased to be, is Allen a DM an attacking MD? If he's a DM I'm dissapointed, he got pushed off the ball  by opposition players easily and clearly he's no DM too lighweigh for it, and if he's an AM he's done nothing so far to suggest he's one. All I've seen so far is tidy side and back passes from Allen. Borini, ok I've been on his back lately but in all fairness to him I'm not sure whether heknows what is his exact role. He ran around the pitch very much and I don't see any effective link between him and Suarez. Does the coach has a game plan how both can complement each other in training or everthing is done at random during match day? How about Assaidi, he seems to have dropped off the radar. Is he sick or injured or something? If not, then why BR bought him when he does not intend to use his service. I don't remember he played badly, he was a nuisance to defenders and tracked back to defend. These are some of the questions I don't seems to have an answer at the moment.

I understand saints point about being positive as we are home to Swansea as normally I would be as I still believe our squad of players is much better than theirs.

But it's our current form that has me pessimistic much more then who we are playing.

Having said that it's the day of the game now so I'm still looking forward to see if we can put this bad run behind us.

Expect us to win a home game against anybody, an away game against most teams.

That's just how it is. That's the mentality we should have both as fans and as a team.

Why would you rest Suarez?

Because we have the biggest game of our season on Thursday? We need him and Gerrard on top form for potentially 120 minutes to have a chance of going through. Why tire them out today when realistically we have nothing to play for?

Today is a big game if we want to qualify for the Europa League next season

I'm frustrated (again!) with current form but I expect us to win - I always do, been my mindset since I started following the club 36yrs ago.

I want to see some pride and some snarling defiance to go with whatever pretty football we play - the debate as to how pretty it is belongs to another thread but I want to see Liverpool put Swansea in their place.

This game should be much more about us.

In my opinion it's just about out best XI if rumours are true:

Reina; Johnson, Carra, Agger, Enrique; Lucas, Gerrard, Hendo; Coutinho, Suarez, Sturridge

That team should absolutely batter Swansea, the only weak link I see is Hendo but then we don't have a great alternative. Really hope to see us destroy them and bring some belief back to the side because this run has us all feeling down and we need a strong performance to give everyone a lift. Front 3 I expect to have far too many guns, come on red men!!