The 'as it stands right now' starting 11

Your starting 11 as of right now. A new player comes in and you can change it later on.

You can also highlight any player that you feel you have had to include but would actually like to see replaced.

You can also rip the piss out of anybody's selections or choice of player they want replacing. Starting by ripping the piss out of me:

                                      Reina

       Johnson    Skrtel          Lovren   Flanagan

                                     Gerrard
                     Henderson          Coutinho
       
                  Sterling                             Markovic
                                     Sturridge

Subs:
Mignolet
Sakho
Enrique
Can
Lucas
Borini
Lambert

To clear up the keeper bolds.

For me Reina or Mignolet should be second fiddle to a better keeper but as it stands I'd play Reina for his experience and gob. Not much in it between them although I do fully expect Reina to go and Mignolet to be first choice. When that is the case Brad Jones goes on the bench and gets an almighty bold.

good team, but we still need other good forward get 15 goals season take pressure off daniel l have lbe on as sub, drop fabio borni he not good enough

Reina
Lovren Skrtel Sakho
Sterling Henderson Gerrard Can Markovic
Coutinho
Sturridge

Reina
Lovren Skrtel Sakho
Sterling Henderson Gerrard Can Markovic
Coutinho
Sturridge

Ooh ello!

Reina; Johnson, Lovren, Sakho, Enrique; Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho; Sterling, Markovic, Sturridge.

Subs: Mignolet, Skrtel, Flanagan, Can, Lambert, Allen, Borini.

Lallana in for Allen as soon as he is fit.

                                                            Mignolet

                                  Johnson  Lovren   Sahko    Flanno

                                                              Gerrard
                                                     
                                        Henderson                           Can
                                                            Coutinho

                                                Sterling 
                                                           
                                                             Studge

Based on fitness and availability right now I would go with:

                              Mignolet

  Johnson            Skrtel         Lovren         Flanagan

                                Gerrard

                  Henderson          Can

  Sterling                                          Coutinho

                              Sturridge


I think we need a bit of solidity in the middle of the park so Can and Henderson have to play for me. Coutinho and Sterling would be free to switch throughout the game and I would be looking for a lot of fluidity from the front 3.

Mignolet

Flanagan
Lovren
Sakho
Enrique

Gerrard
Henderson
Coutinho

Sterling
Sturridge
Markovic

Subs: Reina, Skrtel, Johnson, Can, Allen, Lallana, Lambert

Res: Agger, Lucas, Borini etc.

Whilst our first XI looks weaker than last season because of the loss of Luis, the bench is the strongest we've had in many years.

Mignolet

Flanno  Skrtel   Lovren  Enrique

Gerrard  Can

Coutinho

Sterling    Sturridge     Lallana

Reina
Sakho
Johnson
Lucas
Hendo
Markovic
Lambert

In terms of both starting full backs I don't want them sold as would be good squad players.

As a little added bit first teamers outside 18

Jones
Agger
Toure
Ilori
Coates
Wisdom
Kelly
Robinson
Allen
Borini
Suso
Ibe

Mignolet

Flanno  Skrtel   Lovren  Enrique

Gerrard  Can

Coutinho

Sterling    Sturridge     Lallana

No Hendo!!

He'd be one of the first names on my teamsheet.

No Hendo!!

He'd be one of the first names on my teamsheet.

In all honesty mate I'd have the 4 of them rotating if fit to keep them sharp. Coutinho has to play at the tip of the diamond as he's the one out of the four who can unlock a tight defence.

Then it's a straight toss up between the other 3 for the 2 starting places, it's no bad on Hendo as to me dropping him as i felt he set our pressing tempo for much of last season. However in Can I see someone who could boss a midfield.

                 Migs
Flanno Lovren Sakho Enrique
         Gerrard Hendo
      Sterling Cou Markovic
              Sturridge

Flanno over Glen any day, Skrtel and Agger don't fill me with confidence these days, Enrique to continue his form before injury hopefully, Can narrowly missing out on a starting place, Hendo for his energy. Coutinho has to play in the hole imo, Marko and Raheem with the pace on the wings, Sturridge is a no brainer up front.

                     Mignolet

            Skrtel   Lovren   Sakho

                      Gerrard

Sterling     Hendo       Can    Markovic

                          Coutinho
                Sturridge

                     Mignolet

            Skrtel   Lovren   Sakho

                      Gerrard

Sterling     Hendo       Can    Markovic

                          Coutinho
                Sturridge

I like.

Very much.

                     Mignolet

            Skrtel   Lovren   Sakho

                      Gerrard

Sterling     Hendo       Can    Markovic

                          Coutinho
                Sturridge

I'd be inclined to go for this apart from Pepe instead of Migs. I know not everyone will agree but I am not at all comfortable going into the season if Migs is first choice over Reina unless he grows a pair when he plays because he's like a nervous wreck most of the time, especially if the ball is in the air from a set piece or a cross. I know Pepe has been a bit shaky over the last couple of years but at least with him I feel confident he will clatter anyone in front of him to get to the ball. Not to mention his distribution is second to none out of the keepers in England.

I don't know what Markovic is like defensively but if he puts the effort into tracking back as much as he does going forward then the signs will be promising.

Supposing no one is injured

                         Mignolet
  Flanagan  Lovren  Sakho  Enrique
                          Gerrard
                Coutinho  Hendo
     Sterling     Sturridge     Lallana

Bench: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Can, Allen, Markovic, Lambert

So here is my current team. I personally feel this is our strongest line up.

Lallana vs Markovic: has to be Lallana for now. He's the older, more experienced forward with a decent last PL campaign. In effect Lallana is replacing Luis Suarez in the front line and tbh, he isn't good enough. I'd like to instead see him battle it out with Coutinho for the CAM role.

Flanagan vs Johnson: a no brainer for me. GJ is, imo, our biggest liability. To me Flanagan should be on the bench and Johnson should be shot off elsewhere.

Enrique vs no one. Our only LB at the club. He's good defensively but offers us nothing in attack and we risk undermining our style of play with him in the team. He should be on the bench but with no one to compete with, that is not going to happen.

Lambert on the bench: he is our best 2nd option as a striker to Daniel Sturridge. Before DS was our 2nd best striker to Luis Suarez and now Lambert has succeeded him in that role. Absolutely not good enough. I can accept DS being our main man as he is a top quality striker, but we need a decent 2nd striker and that we do not have.

Reina
Lovren Skrtel Sakho
Sterling Henderson Gerrard Can Markovic
Coutinho
Sturridge

Even after all the work BR has put in to cement our new formation and system, i have to say, that i really like the way you are thinking.
That's one hell of an attack minded team.
Could be immense or a total cock up!
Love to see it in action though once in a Prem game.

Mignolet

Flanno  Skrtel   Lovren  Enrique

Gerrard  Can

Coutinho

Sterling    Sturridge     Lallana

Reina
Sakho
Johnson
Lucas
Hendo
Markovic
Lambert

In terms of both starting full backs I don't want them sold as would be good squad players.

As a little added bit first teamers outside 18

Jones
Agger
Toure
Ilori
Coates
Wisdom
Kelly
Robinson
Allen
Borini
Suso
Ibe

Your 1st 11 is pretty much how i actually see us lining up if Adam wasn't injured.
All great with the ball and a well balanced team

Reina
Lovren Skrtel Sakho
Sterling Henderson Gerrard Can Markovic
Coutinho
Sturridge

Like the look of that Billy, but I don't think BR will though?

Reina
Lovren Skrtel Sakho
Sterling Henderson Gerrard Can Markovic
Coutinho
Sturridge

What you smoking over there lad?

All that would happen is Gerrard would slot into defence, pushing Lovren and Sakho out into the FB positions which would then allow Markovic and Sterling to attack. I don't like three CB's as the flexibility of the formation is poor.

However, when the opposition attacks that would leave Sterling and Markovic doing extra work in defence. That's the problem. We used 352 against Arsenal and Newcastle and were badly exposed. It becomes more a 532 against the better opposition.

442 diamond/433 is definitely the way forward.

What you smoking over there lad?

So says the soft c**t who has picked Lallana (a fella injured for the next six weeks) in his current starting XI.

Your advice on anything is therefore null and void.

        Mignolet

   Skrtel Sakho Lovern

            Gerrard

Sterling Can Hendo Markovic

             Coutinho

             Sturridge

Or

               Mignolet

Henderson Sakho Lovern Flanno

          Can Gerrard Coutinho

Sterling     Sturridge    Markovic

Keep thinking Im leaving someone out that I shouldn't!  Either way I think we need at least 2 more in

As for Hendo I doubt anybody will agree with that but Johnson Is such a liability that Id rather see Hendo there. Has the engine to get up and down the flank and not to shabby at getting tackles in. Its a thinking outside the box idea but don't worry Im sure Brendan isn't thinking it

Reina
Lovren Skrtel Sakho
Sterling Henderson Gerrard Can Markovic
Coutinho
Sturridge

Love to see that side used but not so sure Brendan will be so gung-ho,
More likely see this....

                     Reina
  Flanghan  Skrtel  Lovren  Enrique
           Henderson    Gerrard
   Sterling     Coutinho  Markovic
                   Sturridge

Bench; Mignolet,Sakho,Johnson, Can,Ibe,Lambert,Borini....

Starting from the back 4, I'd see how Skrtel performs first 2-3 games, like to see a Lovren/Sakho partnership eventually forming our regular CB pairing, but I think Martin deserves to start initially,

Prefer to see Flanno take the RB slot ahead of Johnson, however, u can't just diss experience so I'd use Glen in the bigger games, give Flanno a good hour or so first few games so we don't burn him out,
Must admit, great to have Jose back at LB, hopefully he'll stay injury free, but we need to sign another for back up,

Gerrard & Hendo speak for themselves, however that's not to say we can't or won't swap around for Lucas, Can, Allen, with different combinations of the 5,

I've chosen Coutinho ahead of Can, it's a important season for Phillipe one where he needs to have more consistency in his play, perhaps score a few more goals and make it very difficult for Brendan to drop him,

Sterling too has to show what he is made of and put to bed the opinions that he was a flash in the pan and won't be the same player without Luis ,personally I think he will be even better than last season,


Markovic has got my nod over Lallana for obvious reasons, again I'd like to see him give BR a headache each week having to decide who he plays,

Sturridge I believe will grasp the bull and become the Striker he has been promising to be for a couple of years now, it's his time now, he IS Our main striker and will take the responsibility head on, Brendan has been very astute here IMO, by supplying Daniel with the players who will feed him, ie, Lallana, Markovic, Lambert, add Sterling, Can , Ibe, it's clear to see he has somewhat lessened the burden on Sturridge, all of those players are capable of scoring goals aplenty as well as being the creators,

We have a brilliant squad with more to come in , I don't know about any of you but I'd hate to Brendan this season, I hope he had plenty of Nurofen at hand, he's gonna need them me thinks.


YNWA