Pre-Match Thread: West Ham V Liverpool

3 points and if we can humiliate Fat Sam in the process, that would be a nice bonus.

                             Mignolet
         Manquillo   Lovren    Sakho   Moreno
                             Gerrard
                    Henderson   Lallana
                             Sterling
                     Borini        Balotelli

Jones; Toure, Enrique; Lucas, Coutinho; Markovic, Lambert

                             Mignolet
         Manquillo   Lovren    Sakho   Moreno
                             Gerrard
                    Henderson   Lallana
                             Sterling
                     Borini        Balotelli

Jones; Toure, Enrique; Lucas, Coutinho; Markovic, Lambert

Coutinho for Lallana and I'd be happy with that.

Have to play two strikers here and I don't want to waste Sterling there. He's better on the ball, and we need someone as a presence alongside Mario.

Bib theory line up

Migs
Manquillo-Skrtel-Lovren-Moreno
Stevie
Hendo-Lucas
Sterling
Mario-Borini

Bib theory line up

Migs
Manquillo-Skrtel-Lovren-Moreno
Stevie
Hendo-Lucas
Sterling
Mario-Borini

Can't say I'm mad keen on the 3 of Stevie/Hendo/Lucas is proven before that it's not got the balance but this is West Ham and the rest of the team should be able to carry that slight imbalance.

I like that Coutinho sits out, think he's earned his spell out for a couple of games. Once he's back in expect a huge improvement from the lad.

Sterling in behind Mario and Borini looks a very nice set-up, would like to see a bit more movement into the channels from Mario but having Borini alongside will most certainly get more out of the big man and expecting a MotM type game from him. What our midfield should allow is our fantastic wing-backs to bomb on all game and terrorise West Ham.

Would like to see a performance and a result to restore a bit of confidence in the fan base, felt a few let themselves down in the last match with some of the comments and be nice to hear nothing but positivity from this game.

Personally I'd have put Markovic in for Lucas but that's the only difference I'd have made, 3-0 to the Reds!

The diff between Villa and Fat Sam's side is pace. Villa could afford to sit back and hit us on the counter while the Hammers dont have that much pace. So if the latter sit back, we could use an extra body of creativity going forward, and thats why I would have preferred one of Suso or Markovic instead of Lucas. Lallana and Coutinho havent cut it yet and Suso would be itching for an opportunity.

Should be 3 points today, with a win against Fat Sam's West Ham. It is time for a win after last Saturday's setback against the Villa.

3 points would be nice & a clean sheet.

Can't say I'm mad keen on the 3 of Stevie/Hendo/Lucas is proven before that it's not got the balance but this is West Ham and the rest of the team should be able to carry that slight imbalance.

As long as they don't start dropping as deep as Gerrard, I don't have an issue with it, unfortunately I can see Henderson and Lucas doing it at some point, isolating our front players again.

Should be 3 points today, with a win against Fat Sam's West Ham. It is time for a win after last Saturday's setback against the Villa.

Should be and will be are two different things.

Given our current form, I wouldn't bet on us winning this one. Can see a 2-2 draw

In this game we should actually bully them instead of waiting to be bullied, need to grow a pair of conkers and not let these hack us at every chance like Villa did.
Because everyone knows that's exactly what's going to happen, so it should be part of the game plan.
Am I wrong?
It'd be good if Can was available.
I want to see our players look like they're going to battle not be the Harlem Globetrotters.
A mixture of both would be great.
5-1 to us, my prediction.
I'd play Lambert with Balotelli instead of the much preferred Borini.
More presence up front, bigger targets.
Borini tends to run around like a squirrel, I know it could draw defenders away, I somehow doubt Borini will worry many teams. Sterling will do that job.
If borini starts and scores goals then I'll be a happy egg on the face guy
The problem is that- Borini might think it's his big game to shine and take to shooting from mad angles all game
I've seen it happen, it's always a worry for me
Coutinho missed a sitter last game then every chance he got close to goal he tried to make up for the error, thus leading to wasted opportunities for the team.
And this is exactly what Borini does every single game he plays for us, that's the main reason I don't like him in the team.

Should be and will be are two different things.

Given our current form, I wouldn't bet on us winning this one. Can see a 2-2 draw

Same here, not feeling particularly confident to be honest. I feel like we are throwing as many men forward as last season but we're not creating nearly as many chances or scoring goals. Unfortunately that means we're leaving a ton of space for the opposition to attack and we look as ropes at the back as we did last season. Really important for me that we get the first goal and ideally an early goal. If we can do that I would be confident of a win but if they score first or it's 0-0 with 10 to play I would feel less confident. I've gone for a draw in the prediction

Anyone thinking Markovic might start because of him having a game off in CL?

I've gone for a 3-2 victory for the mighty Reds in the prediction league but would prefer a clean sheet and a 1-0 instead.  3 points, however they come is what's needed.

Genuinely hope that Sakho isn't dropped for Skrtel to come in, the back 4 really need to be given as many games as possible to get a proper understanding between them.  It's a pity that both Can and Allen are injured and if Lucas has to play I'd prefer if he replaced Stevie rather than play beside him, 3 games in 7 days is not the ideal way to protect our Captain.

Mario definitely needs a strike partner and I think Borini suits Mario's style better than Rickie, who would be better alongside Sturridge.

Let's try pull out the fast starts from last year!

ame here, not feeling particularly confident to be honest. I feel like we are throwing as many men forward as last season but we're not creating nearly as many chances or scoring goals. Unfortunately that means we're leaving a ton of space for the opposition to attack

I agree on this. There is no cohesion in our attack. Our defense seems to be the same and our attack has weakened. Only improvement I see are our full backs.

Don't think we can rely on our attack to bail us out like last season.

Same here, not feeling particularly confident to be honest. I feel like we are throwing as many men forward as last season but we're not creating nearly as many chances or scoring goals. Unfortunately that means we're leaving a ton of space for the opposition to attack and we look as ropes at the back as we did last season. Really important for me that we get the first goal and ideally an early goal. If we can do that I would be confident of a win but if they score first or it's 0-0 with 10 to play I would feel less confident. I've gone for a draw in the prediction

After the last 2 performances  I am a bit worried too
 I know we can beat fat sam's team hands down but, and now seeing how AV are being hammered at home by the arse 0-3 in 35 minutes convinced me how poor a performance we saw last week

 But still we can do this  2-0 liverpool for me

C'mon reds

YNWA

This is going to be a stinker. Here's hoping we grind out a win.

eeing how AV are being hammered at home by the arse 0-3

AVs squad has been hit by a virus this week so hardly surprising they're struggling.  They should have been 1-0 up early on but then got hit by 3 very quick goals in less than 5 minutes.

So much pessimism on these boards, have some faith!

Such confidence in here today I see. :^|

Pessimism in football is a dangerous road to travel.

The team are either going to be champions or not.

Over-analising things doesn't sound that enjoyable if it leads to expecting to struggle every game we play.

I just expect us to play great football with our manager, it will come after a little settling in period for the new players. Reckon we'll see some slick footy today.

AVs squad has been hit by a virus this week so hardly surprising they're struggling.  They should have been 1-0 up early on but then got hit by 3 very quick goals in less than 5 minutes.

So much pessimism on these boards, have some faith!

Haha didn't see your post because I was writing mine at the time, funny how we both picked that word.

5th league game of the season.
Off to a slow-ish start, but plenty of encouraging signs.

We won't be "blitzing" teams until full fitness is there, and perhaps more importantly, the new players have settled in.

Hoping for a good performance and 3 points, but will take a scrappy win.

AVs squad has been hit by a virus this week so hardly surprising they're struggling.  They should have been 1-0 up early on but then got hit by 3 very quick goals in less than 5 minutes.

So much pessimism on these boards, have some faith!

Its not pessimism , on my part anyway, but a bit worried that we don't perform as we should, again
everyone knows we can beat anyone on our day , just hoping its one of those today, and till we reach that form , will be happy with a bad performance and a 1-0 win
 didn't know about the AV virus,

 C.mon reds

YNWA