Pre-Match: Southampton V Liverpool - March 1st 2014 (5:30PM)

I have decided to start this one early because;

1. It's a historically difficult game
2. We're in the title race. Outsiders yes, but in it.
3. It's the first of 3 consecutive away games

Now a starting 11 of Boruc, Clyne, Fonte, Lovren, Shaw, Rodriguez, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Lllana, Ramirez, and Lambert is quite impressive. Glad Osvaldo has moved on though. It has to be noted that some of these guys are not match fit yet, and that they have nothing to play for in the grand scheme of things.

Midfield control is key, given how the game at Anfield went. Toure may return if the rumours about Rodgers' annoyance with Agger are true and him and Skrtel will need all the help they can get. Allen probably to start. I have a feeling that Sterling is more likely to be benched than Coutinho if that's the case. Sterling has played a lot for a 19 year old, can potentially be more effective off the bench and was sacrificed yesterday.

another high scoring game. 2-3. Hopefully Sakho can be back for Old Trafford two weeks later...

Allen for Coutinho. And if fully fit Sakho for take your pick of Martin or Danny

Leave ourselves to open here and they could pick us off so Allen to make it a midfield 3 (Coutinho or sterling to make way but Sterling offering us more at the moment both attacking and covering back). We need to get on top in the middle. We know we have the tools up front but if we allow Southampton to dictate the midfield we could be in trouble

We owe these big time and I hope all weel long Brendan and Stevie remind the lads of that and that we approach this with fire in the belly

our new motto should be "come and have a go if you think you can score enough" our defense can only improve apart from anything we have had some terrible clangers so wouldn't be surprised if its 6-3 to us but I would take a 1-0 any day of the week

Nervous about this one.

Unpredictable.

Allen for Coutinho. And if fully fit Sakho for take your pick of Martin or Danny

I'd have a CB pairing of Toure/Sakho because I think Toure's organizational skills and leadership compliment Sakho's aggression and athleticism very well.  Most of Toure's blunders have come when playing at LCB.  I think he will be more comfortable and confident if he can play at RCB and play onto his right foot.  Skrtel needs dropping because his defending and marking is a liability!! 

Allen for Coutinho makes sense to keep our midfield more compact and not leave ourselves too open for quick counter attacks. 

We need to win games like this if we are to stay in the conversation for the title.  Any slip ups and we will fall out of title contention and will have to settle for only competing for top 4. 

We owe these for sure after the last two meetings. They killed last season for us just when we were starting to play well so hopefully that should fire the lads up.

Agree with putting Allen in there for Coutinho but I can't see Sakho being ready to go straight in which is a shame. Just don't want to see us using the Skrtel/Toure partnership with Toure on the left again.

We owe Southampton a good game. Let's get right stuck in and go for it gung-ho like usual ha ha

I think we will make an important change for this game.... Allen will come back in the team for either Stirling or Coutinho.... probably Stirling.

                             Mignolet

Flanagan       Skrtel           Agger          Johnson

              Henderson  Gerrard    Allen

                         Coutinho

                 Sturridge    Suarez 

It wouldn't surprise me to see Toure back in the side, but I think maybe Brendan will stick with the same back line for this one.

Going for a clean sheet in this game (don't laugh!) and a couple of goals from SAS 2-0

our new motto should be "come and have a go if you think you can score enough" our defense can only improve apart from anything we have had some terrible clangers so wouldn't be surprised if its 6-3 to us but I would take a 1-0 any day of the week

Good one Walton.

Ill use that . You want a small Fee ? 


Clean Sheet  Saint ?  Whats that ?
Thats what you get in a room at the Adelphi innit ?

I think Luis is about to burst in to life again and Southampton is the perfect place to do it.
I am not over confident that we can win but I am strangely confident that we will not get beaten.

our new motto should be "come and have a go if you think you'll score enough" our defense can only improve apart from anything we have had some terrible clangers so wouldn't be surprised if its 6-3 to us but I would take a 1-0 any day of the week

That should be our new chant.

Usually they do score at least one, but we score more. Which is ace.

How many clean sheets have we managed? It's pitiful.

How many clean sheets have we managed? It's pitiful

Especially when we started this season with three 1-0 wins.... how times have changed

our new motto should be "come and have a go if you think you can score enough" our defense can only improve apart from anything we have had some terrible clangers so wouldn't be surprised if its 6-3 to us but I would take a 1-0 any day of the week

+3 goal is better +1 for GD, but as long as it's 3 pts. I won't mind.

I think we will make an important change for this game.... Allen will come back in the team for either Stirling or Coutinho.... probably Stirling.

                             Mignolet

Flanagan       Skrtel           Agger          Johnson

              Henderson  Gerrard    Allen

                         Coutinho

                 Sturridge    Suarez 

It wouldn't surprise me to see Toure back in the side, but I think maybe Brendan will stick with the same back line for this one.

Going for a clean sheet in this game (don't laugh!) and a couple of goals from SAS 2-0

Not for the first time I totally agree wiht your line up Saint and it's just what I was about to post.

As good as Sterling has been I'd like to see us go a bit tighter for this one as Southampton have made us look poor in the past and maybe Raheem's pace off the bench could be a good sub to make in the second half.

Phil sitting just ahead of a midfield three with Allen in there should leave us a lot more solid and help keep control of the ball and we still have Sturridge's pace to stretch the game.

Back four would be same as for me even given the mistakes from the weekend as it's our strongest four at the minjute if Sakho still isn't ready.

Knowing Brendan though he will be twmpted to go same again and just try and take the game to them from the off which could work but would leave us very open.

Win, loose or draw this one really comes down to how well we control the midfield and whether our defenders/goalkeeper can cut the mistakes and insecurity out of their game. We got lucky against Swansea because rightly or wrongly, had the Ref followed the letter of the law when he gave a penalty, Strtel should have been sent off. Our away form has been chronic this year and with almost a month of away games, we can afford no more mistakes that lead to slip ups.

Personally I would drop Henderson for Allen rather than Coutinho and have him sit alongside Gerrard in the midfield. Henderson's greatest asset is our greatest weakness. His forward runs leave an appalling amount of space behind him where as Cou can thread the eye of a needle with his passes.

                          Mignolet

Flanagan       Skrtel           Agger          Johnson

                       Allen    Gerrard   

            Sterling     Coutinho  Suarez 

                           Sturridge   

Win, loose or draw this one really comes down to how well we control the midfield and whether our defenders/goalkeeper can cut the mistakes and insecurity out of their game. We got lucky against Swansea because rightly or wrongly, had the Ref followed the letter of the law when he gave a penalty, Strtel should have been sent off. Our away form has been chronic this year and with almost a month of away games, we can afford no more mistakes that lead to slip ups.

Personally I would drop Henderson for Allen rather than Coutinho and have him sit alongside Gerrard in the midfield. Henderson's greatest asset is our greatest weakness. His forward runs leave an appalling amount of space behind him where as Cou can thread the eye of a needle with his passes.

                          Mignolet

Flanagan       Skrtel           Agger          Johnson

                       Allen    Gerrard   

            Sterling     Coutinho  Suarez 

                           Sturridge   

Yes lets drop Henderson who is perfectly in form. I don't think we will see an unchanged team to be honest. Henderson tracks back defensively and his runs is what gave us the game winning goal last game, we would be foolish to drop him.

Win, loose or draw this one really comes down to how well we control the midfield and whether our defenders/goalkeeper can cut the mistakes and insecurity out of their game. We got lucky against Swansea because rightly or wrongly, had the Ref followed the letter of the law when he gave a penalty, Strtel should have been sent off. Our away form has been chronic this year and with almost a month of away games, we can afford no more mistakes that lead to slip ups.

Personally I would drop Henderson for Allen rather than Coutinho and have him sit alongside Gerrard in the midfield. Henderson's greatest asset is our greatest weakness. His forward runs leave an appalling amount of space behind him where as Cou can thread the eye of a needle with his passes.

                          Mignolet

Flanagan       Skrtel           Agger          Johnson

                       Allen    Gerrard   

            Sterling     Coutinho  Suarez 

                           Sturridge   

I find it strange that you have excluded Henderson from the starting line-up. Not only would he be pivotal in breaking up their play with his relentless energy and determination, but he has started to add goals and assists to his game and is in a rich vein of form.

I would start with the same team that started against Swansea, however if anyone were to be dropped it would be Coutinho. We all know that he has the ability to pull off a wonder pass or turn defenders inside out but he's not doing it regularly enough. Ability alone shouldn't guarantee you a place, form has to be considered and, with that said, Hendo should start against Southampton.

One of the toughest tests of the season going to St Mary's, they play a attractive attacking style not dissimilar to our own , they have proven in the past they fear no one,
However, if we can play like we did V the Arse demolition then we have a great chance of bagging all 3 points,

Inserting Allen into midfield is a sensible move, I'd keep Sterling as opposed to Coutinho and Toure back in alongside Skittles, apart from those little changes the rest stay in...

               Mignolet
 Flanno Toure Skrtel Johnson
           Hendo Gerrard
    Sterling   Allen  Suarez
               Sturridge

....we need to get in their faces, don't give them the space like we did V Swans,
Make no mistake people this is one very tough match, I'd say tougher than Scummykunts at the toilet we simply must bag max points,
Saints will be well drilled organised and very dangerous especially on the counter,

Win this and we are serious title contenders not just pretenders,

We have to be on our game defensively and not that shambles we seen on Sunday,

Saints 1-2 Reds

YNWA

This is going to be a difficult one. Defend like we did vs Swansea, and I'd be surprised if we even got a point. Would love to see us come in and grab all 3 points, but Southampton have played us very well the last two times we played them. Their pressing really disrupted our attacking flow. Heart says don't settle for less than 3, but my head says a point here is decent.

Lambert demolished us in this fixture last year. We didn't see Skrtel again until the last day of the season as a result.

Hate this game... Im sticking with nervous optimism pessimism as it seems to be working. I never have felt so nervous about a liverpool team that is playing world class football.... 

Yes lets drop Henderson who is perfectly in form. I don't think we will see an unchanged team to be honest. Henderson tracks back defensively and his runs is what gave us the game winning goal last game, we would be foolish to drop him.

I find it strange that you have excluded Henderson from the starting line-up. Not only would he be pivotal in breaking up their play with his relentless energy and determination, but he has started to add goals and assists to his game and is in a rich vein of form.

I would start with the same team that started against Swansea, however if anyone were to be dropped it would be Coutinho. We all know that he has the ability to pull off a wonder pass or turn defenders inside out but he's not doing it regularly enough. Ability alone shouldn't guarantee you a place, form has to be considered and, with that said, Hendo should start against Southampton.

It's not about who is or not in form, it's nothing to do with energy, it's to do with team tactics. Henderson has relentless energy which is our biggest weakness as a team. He leaves too much space behind him. He's not a natural winger like Sterling and isn't as good a passer of the ball as Cou. If this was a home game I'd make a different decision but it's not and the decision is based around Gerrard and Allen sitting in the middle of the park controlling the midfield better than Henderson and Gerrard do. Think Mascherano/Alonso partnership from Rafa's midfield. To be fair you don't even have to drop Henderson for this, but I have simply because Allen is more circumspect in his forward runs than Henderson is. You're loosing one attacking player for a bit more control of the midfield, providing our center backs with a bit more protection, hopefully resulting in a clean sheet. It's pure pragmatism on my part.

It's not about who is or not in form, it's nothing to do with energy, it's to do with team tactics. Henderson has relentless energy which is our biggest weakness as a team. He leaves too much space behind him. He's not a natural winger like Sterling and isn't as good a passer of the ball as Cou. If this was a home game I'd make a different decision but it's not and the decision is based around Gerrard and Allen sitting in the middle of the park controlling the midfield better than Henderson and Gerrard do. Think Mascherano/Alonso partnership from Rafa's midfield. To be fair you don't even have to drop Henderson for this, but I have simply because Allen is more circumspect in his forward runs than Henderson is. You're loosing one attacking player for a bit more control of the midfield, providing our center backs with a bit more protection, hopefully resulting in a clean sheet. It's pure pragmatism on my part.

so Sterling played a ball to Sturridge as good as anything even Stevie would play and Hendo scored twice but your not convinced.boy your a hard task master.

Nervous about this one.

Unpredictable.

just take the tablets or start drinking at 1pm and you'll be fine....next patient please.