1. What are your expectations for Liverpool this season?
I think a top five position would be realistic, it would be fantastic to get into the top four, which at the moment is a real possibility.
2. What are your expectations for WBA this season?
I think they will finish just above mid table - prediction of 8/9th place. A good year to consolidate again a build upon with Steve Clarke.
3. You appointed Brendan Rogers last summer, what have you made of his tenure so far?
Very excited about him as the manager. The opinion on this site that he has 'changed his ideology' is utterly unbelievable - yet this Liverpool forum is largely negative towards Rodgers (this does not account for Liverpool fans in general). He has not changed his ideology, we still play the pass and play - there has not been one performance where there is a fully confident performance for the whole 90 minutes, but certain halfs of game and many phases, it has still been about possession based football. The way some folk on here go on about it is as if he has turned into Sam Allardyce. There's an heir of more caution thrown in, but those who complained that his tactics were too rigid last year are now criticising him for adapting to certain aspects. Of course, Rodgers is still clearing up the mess of previous and it will take a long time before the club is fully up and running with his ideology. Importantly, he has implemented possession based football and the exact same tactics for the first team right down to the youth squads. This can only be great news for future development playing this manner. Give him time and the club will deliver I can assure you of that. The table doesn't lie and we are deserving of our position at the moment - a world away from the disasters of previous seasons, it is mind boggling how fans don't take into context how bad we were for a few years yet there is still so much negativity despite only being two points off the top in late October. Unbelievable.
4. Steve Clarke, formally a Liverpool coach was also appointed last summer. What have you made of his tenure at WBA?
He has been brilliant - didn't think he would make it as a manager personally, but delighted to see him working so well at WBA. With more shrewd signings they can push on and become a real staple in the Premier League and along with Southampton and Swansea, can show what clubs can do coming up from the Championship. I wouldn't be surprised to see WBA competing in the Europa League soon.
5. What were your views on your summer recruitment?
Very solid if unspectacular, but given the disasters of previous years, it was good. I like the look of Aspas and his pace, movement and dribbling are good but with Suarez and Sturridge, he is understandably not going to get much playing time any time soon, plus he looks very lightweight for the league. Hopefully he can adapt and, just like Giroud with Arsenal, become a different player this time next year. Mignolet was a great piece of business, he has saved us in games this season that Reina didn't do last year (as much as I love the guy, it's clear that his time was up). Sakho was a great piece of business - he looks like a great defender in the making and Rodgers seems to have solved the central defensive issues. Moses, as a loan deal, I don't expect him to do too much - he's got great pace and dribbling, but his play making skills are poor. We won't see the full effect of Liverpool's tactics under Rodgers until we get more playmakers - ala Arsenal who are spoilt for choice. At the moment, we only really have Coutinho. Cissokho - haven't seen too much of him, but fingers crossed he can give Enrique a run for his money. That pretty much needs to happen because the full backs are a liability to Rodgers tactics at the moment - it's important they play high up the field and support attacks, but our full backs aren't good enough at the moment (Johnson, although adept at going forward, is incredibly inconsistent).
6. What did you make of Albion's summer recruitment? The additions of Anelka, Anichebe, Sessegnon, Vydra, Lugano, Sinclair, Amalfitano etc.
Don't know too much of their signings this year but I thought they were in trouble at the start of the season. However, all that seems to have changed and the results seem to be going their way.
7. We're early in the season, but what are Liverpool's strengths and weaknesses?
We can dominate games, but chances can come few and far between at times - again, this is a problem of not having enough playmakers. Only Coutinho seems to be able to consistently cause defences problems with his defence splitting passes. My opinion would be to play Joe Allen and give him his chance further up the field - he only played in his preferred position at the start of last season and impressed but played deeper and he is useless. Henderson, although a rock in midfield at the moment and pressing wise is fantastic, will not offer defence splitting chances. Allen seems like one of a few legitimate choices as a playmaker himself. Strengths would be the SAS partnership - if they are given free flow on the counter attack, the pair of them will do damage, but they will suffer from lack of receiving the ball if Liverpool play like they did against Newcastle.
8. What side is Brendan Rogers most likely to choose ahead of Saturday's encounter.
Not many changes from last week at Newcastle, but Lucas should return from last week (his wife gave birth). Not sure with Enrique, but should return if fit.
9. And finally, score predictions.
As a fan, biased prediction would be 1-0 to Liverpool. But West Brom are an incredibly organised team and I fear it will be a real struggle to break them down - not enough creativity in midfield at the moment. Might go on the prediction of a 1-1 draw.
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