Liverpool vs Swansea City Pre match thread - 29th Dec Sky Sports 1 KO 8pm GMT

Last game of 2014, let it be the catalyst to a better year of football from us! 


Possible lineups for the game:



Last 6 meetings:




Just a few match facts:

• Liverpool have seen over 2.5 goals in their last 4 matches against Swansea in all competitions.
• Liverpool have won their last 3 home matches against Swansea in all competitions.
  
• Liverpool have scored at least 2 goals in their last 4 matches against Swansea in all competitions.

Premier League preview:Liverpool host Swansea at Anfield live on Monday Night Football

The final Premier League match of 2014 sees Liverpool host Swansea City live on Monday Night Football.

Brendan Rodgers guided Swansea to promotion to the Premier League in 2011 and his former club currently sit three points clear of his current one in the table.

Both sides enjoyed 1-0 victories on Boxing Day, with Swansea beating Aston Villa at home and Liverpool winning at Burnley, but the Reds have won just two of their last eight Premier League games at Anfield.

Team news

Simon Mignolet will return to starting XI at the expense of the injured Brad Jones. The Belgian had been "indefinitely" dropped by Rodgers, but was called upon from the bench when Jones suffered a thigh injury against Burnley.


Brendan Rodgers felt Liverpool got a massive three points at Burnley and showed plenty of character.
Fabio Borini returns to the squad following suspension but defenders Dejan Lovren and Glen Johnson (both groin) and Jon Flanagan (knee) are still not fit.

Swansea winger Jefferson Montero is set to miss the game after he damaged a hamstring against Villa, although he will be assessed in the next 24 hours.


Gary Monk says his Swansea team were magnificent in difficult conditions and won the battle against Aston Villa.
Garry Monk is set to rotate his squad with possible recalls for Jazz Richards, Wayne Routledge and Bafetimbi Gomis, while on-loan Spurs midfielder Tom Carroll could replace former Liverpool man Jonjo Shelvey.

Opta stats

After just one goal being scored in the first three Barclays Premier League games between Swansea and Liverpool, there have been 16 in the last three.

There have been three goals scored in the opening five minutes of the last two league meetings between these two teams.

Shelvey has scored in both of his appearances for Swansea against his former club.

Last season’s 3-4 defeat is the highest scoring away match that Swansea have been involved in away from home since they reached the Premier League (seven goals).

Wilfried Bony has scored the first goal of the game in three of his last four starts away from home for Swansea.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/313569/preview

If we want to go ahead of Swansea in the league, we need to win by a margin of more than 3 goals.

Come on you redmen! 

Wow,I impressive introduction. 

Coyr. We needed the three points.

 

Moreno - LWB
Markovic - LF
Can - RCM or RCB

Cheers Bren.

Ward
Toure Sktrtel Sakho
Henderson Lucas Can Moreno
Coutinho
Markovic      Sterling

should just be doing our own job I know, but looking at tomorrows fixtures, we will make up some ground with a win. The opportunity to turn on the offensive swagger and go for the win, although this will be a tricky match.
Just hope the Wifred Boney issue doesn't bite us on the arse.
 Just use Hendo in the middle and drop either SG or Lucas for Can.
Lallana be better on the right than hendo with two up front.
Close call I think, with a hard won 2 - 1 win.

If there aren't gonna be any significant changes to the line up, then there's gonna be a problem. Then again, the expectations have reached a new low.

We're at home so I want to see a good attacking line up. Can should take Lucas' place, Maorkvic, Sterling, Countiho, Lallana all to play.

I was going to say same X1 from Boxing Day but how the F**k can we put Migs between the sticks again, the fella is shot , and some say he should be,
It seems we have little choice but to promote young Ward from the ressies but do we ?
Can we really rely on a inexperienced stopper to keep out a decent Swansea with Bony et al,
Our defence is already uncomfortable let's say and obviously has major problems so will sticking with the hapless Mignolet be more harmful or will young Ward be damaged if he has a bad day at the office,
Tough call for Brendan, I'd go with young Ward myself, at least he will feel confidant and will want to impress ,
We can hardly afford a keeper who let's a ball trundle across a line, can we ?

So will we see this....

                 Ward
     Can.    Skrtle.   Sakho
Hendo.      Lucas.    Markovic
               Gerrard
   Coutinho.           Lallana
                Sterling

Right now, at this juncture of this season is this our best X1. ?


YNWA

At year end 2013 we were 5th on 36 points.
Before the Swansea game we sit 11 points off that place in 9th on 25.

At year end 2013 we were 5th on 36 points.
Before the Swansea game we sit 11 points off that place in 9th on 25.

In it's own way that stat is actually (unintentionally) quite misleading Skip in that it underplays our season to that point. We had a great run 2nd half of the season, no doubt, but we didn't come up on the blindside we were right up there.

We'd just lost to City & Chelsea - if we'd have won them we'd have been top on goal difference above the Arse'.

We go again....in the words of Frank Sinatra...."it was a very good year".

I was going to say same X1 from Boxing Day but how the f**k can we put Migs between the sticks again, the fella is shot , and some say he should be,
It seems we have little choice but to promote young Ward from the ressies but do we ?
Can we really rely on a inexperienced stopper to keep out a decent Swansea with Bony et al,
Our defence is already uncomfortable let's say and obviously has major problems so will sticking with the hapless Mignolet be more harmful or will young Ward be damaged if he has a bad day at the office,
Tough call for Brendan, I'd go with young Ward myself, at least he will feel confidant and will want to impress ,
We can hardly afford a keeper who let's a ball trundle across a line, can we ?

So will we see this....

                 Ward
     Can.    Skrtle.   Sakho
Hendo.      Lucas.    Markovic
               Gerrard
   Coutinho.           Lallana
                Sterling

Right now, at this juncture of this season is this our best X1. ?


YNWA

Yes and it's essentially got 8 midfielders in it, that tells it's own story.

                                     Mignolet
                           Toure     Skrtel   Sakho
                    Henderson  Can   Lucas   Moreno
                              Coutinho       Markovic
                                      Sterling

Ward; Manquillo, Enrique; Gerrard, Lallana; Balotelli, Lambert

Gone for a win in the Prediction League, but cannot help feeling Swansea could snatch a point, the way our defence is playing. I do hope the Reds prove me wrong.

I'm expecting a better performance for this one. I,m sure it was too much turkey and stuffing the day before the Burnley sham. I'd put Markovic on the right wing back position and move Henderson into midfield though and put Moreno on the left wing back position.

Got to win this one. With Spurs and United drawing and West Ham v Arsenal + Southampton v Chelsea to come it's a massive chance to gain ground on the teams above us.

Mignolet; Toure, Skrtel, Sakho; Manquillo, Henderson, Can, Moreno; Coutinho, Markovic, Balotelli.

I hope we revert to 4 at the back for this and freshen up some of the personnel given the congested schedule.

              Migs
Manq - Skrtel - Sakho - Moreno
         Can - Lucas
  Marko - Couts - Lallana
            Sterling

With Balo and SG coming on 2nd half.

I hope we revert to 4 at the back for this and freshen up some of the personnel given the congested schedule.

              Migs
Manq - Skrtel - Sakho - Moreno
         Can - Lucas
  Marko - Couts - Lallana
            Sterling

With Balo and SG coming on 2nd half.

I like your line up but would have Balo up front only because I don't think Raheem will get much change out of their CB's and will be bullied.
Hendo is not a wing back as he has proved so in the middle or on the bench.
Why have we brought full backs if we don't play them?

Thank god Montero is out for this one, he would have ripped our back line a new one.

1-0 to us, with several heart attacks during the game.

1-0 to us, with several heart attacks during the game.

That's a bit sick!  Hoping people suffer heart attacks during the game 

Few teams ahead of us drawing today, so opportunity tomorrow to close the gap. Plus with a 3pt gap between us and the next up, which is Swansea, it's a kinda mid-table 6 pointer

We've been harder to break down since the change to 3 CBs, but with Migs back, probably not going to inspire confidence. Also, could Can start - strange one for me if CB, but he certainly wouldn't be the first player in the side playing out of position - so BR could go that way.

Pressure again on Sterling, playing up front, not even a striker. Asking a lot of the young lad, but don't think BR can afford to rest him right now.

Big game. Again, like at Burnley, I'd settle for 3 scrappy pts right now.

Rumoured team:

Mignolet – Emre Can, Škrtel, Sakho – Manquillo, Henderson, Lucas, Moreno – Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling.

Would certainly be surprising if Stevie was dropped.

Rumoured team:

Mignolet – Emre Can, Škrtel, Sakho – Manquillo, Henderson, Lucas, Moreno – Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling.

It says it all when a centre mid has to move into the back 3 because your defence is that bad. I like the look of that team though. Keep Markovic fresh and have him come on from the bench then start him in the game following this one. I'd like to see Sterling possibly rested at some point over the next 2 or 3 games even though he is in my fantasy team

I hope we revert to 4 at the back for this and freshen up some of the personnel given the congested schedule.

              Migs
Manq - Skrtel - Sakho - Moreno
         Can - Lucas
  Marko - Couts - Lallana
            Sterling

With Balo and SG coming on 2nd half.

Agree. Back to basics . 
Except for Migs and Sakho its a team I like.

I fully expect us to win this one easy.We maybe barely got three points from Burnley but today they won one point against the City.
Good team play will get us three points.

             Migs
Manq. Kolo Sakho  Moreno
             Can
       Hendo  Stevie
Lallana  Sterling  Markovic

Swansea have always played decent football against us since they joined the Prem and caused us a few problems so I don't see tomorrow nights game being any different...
Having home advantage should make a difference, not often we get a night league match at Anfield so much anymore, so the floodlit buzz around the ground knowing we can nudge our way up the table with a win I'm hoping will spur the players in to gear..
The new back 3 set up with Henderson and Markovic ghosting back as full backs has tightened it up so I see no change there.
I think he'll play Big Mario along side Sterling..with Lalana and Couthino zipping around the both of them...
We need Goals tomorrow night.. lot's of them..
as always against Swansea we need to keep an eye on Shelvey..

Seems like we've been playing in Yellow for ages !!

Would certainly be surprising if Stevie was dropped.

Isnt Stevie on four yellow cards? Not a bad idea resting him tomorrow.

Rumoured team:

Mignolet – Emre Can, Škrtel, Sakho – Manquillo, Henderson, Lucas, Moreno – Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling.

That's not a bad XI to be honest. Might be worth trying it as a 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 though:

Mignolet
Manquillo     Skrtel     Sakho       Moreno
Lucas
Hendo         Can
  Lallana                Coutinho
Sterling

That's not a bad XI to be honest. Might be worth trying it as a 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 though:

Mignolet
Manquillo     Skrtel     Sakho       Moreno
Lucas
Hendo         Can
  Lallana                Coutinho
Sterling

Yeah, I'd rather see a back 4. But I don't know about the rest. Maybe Markovic for Lucas.

Big game now after a lot of teams slipping up. Need to capitalise. 3LFC, 3SW and 3draws from these fixtures. Wont be easy.

Big game now after a lot of teams slipping up. Need to capitalise. 3lLFC, 3SW and 3draws from these fixtures. Wont be easy.

What?

What?

I clearly wasnt paying attention when I wrote that,  on my phone... should have read "in the head to head it's 3 wins to lfc 3 draws and 2 wins to swansea".

I clearly wasnt paying attention when I wrote that,  on my phone... should have read "in the head to head it's 3 wins to lfc 3 draws and 2 wins to swansea".

Oh, I see. Well, I think past form goes out the window on that one. If we come out like v Burnley, there won't be anything in it for us. We need to show up like v Arsenal and finish the chances, then we'll get a result. And yes, what an opportunity to gain some ground. It'd be absolutely brilliant to get a win.

              Enrique
Manq, Toure, Sakho, Moreno
           Can   Hendo
             Coutinho/Sterling
   Lallana   Borini   Markovic

Still prefer 4 at the back and still believe Borini is the better option as a striker.

I think that we will have to work really hard if we think winning this one,they are no pushovers,we need good attacking play with a lot of pace and speed.I would love to see how would Ballo and Lambert play together.Something like this....

                                        Jones
                       Manquillo Sakho Skrtel Moreno
                                     
                        Coutinho Gerrard Can Sterling

                               Balloteli Lambert

Please be gentle,dont tear me to for this team

              Enrique
Manq, Toure, Sakho, Moreno
           Can   Hendo
             Coutinho/Sterling
   Lallana   Borini   Markovic

Still prefer 4 at the back and still believe Borini is the better option as a striker.

At least Borini is mobile. Something Balotelli and Lambert just don't offer. So until Sturridge is ready or we bring a new striker in, I agree to give Borini a shot.

I think that we will have to work really hard if we think winning this one,they are no pushovers,we need good attacking play with a lot of pace and speed.I would love to see how would Ballo and Lambert play together.Something like this....

                                        Jones
                       Manquillo Sakho Skrtel Moreno
                                     
                        Coutinho Gerrard Can Sterling

                               Balloteli Lambert

Please be gentle,dont tear me to for this team

No way. I don't wanna see Balotelli and Lambert together.

Would certainly be surprising if Stevie was dropped.

why?

he's been terrible lately.

why?

he's been terrible lately.

Yes, but not any worse than half the other lot.

why?

he's been terrible lately.

Why? Because if you look at his performances this year and the amounts of minutes he gets regardless then of course it would be surprisingl.

Stupid question.

I'd say, cut the supply to Bony and we should be ok, meaning we have to control midfield. Swansea's passing is very fluid and we must not give them an inch of the space and time on the ball.

I would've gone with

              Mignolet
       Toure    Skrtel    Sakho
Manquillo                        Moreno

              Can  Henderson

Lallana                       Coutinho
                Markovic

Just to keep Sterling fresh. Although I'm almost as happy if the rumoured line-up turns out to be correct.

I would've gone with

              Mignolet
       Toure    Skrtel    Sakho
Manquillo                        Moreno

              Can  Henderson

Lallana                       Coutinho
                Markovic

Just to keep Sterling fresh. Although I'm almost as happy if the rumoured line-up turns out to be correct.

What's the rumoured line-up?

What's the rumoured line-up?

Chats posted it on the first page mate.

Rumoured team:

Mignolet – Emre Can, Škrtel, Sakho – Manquillo, Henderson, Lucas, Moreno – Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling.

Somehow I hope this is a rumour that won't come true. They are most likely gonna play a lone striker. So let's just go with a standard back 4. Can should definitely get a start, and Lucas doesn't deserve one after his last outing. Markovic needs game time. He had a pretty dismal outing last time but he seems to be starting to settle in and I wouldn't interrupt that.

              Enrique
Manq, Toure, Sakho, Moreno
           Can   Hendo
             Coutinho/Sterling
   Lallana   Borini   Markovic

Still prefer 4 at the back and still believe Borini is the better option as a striker.

Enrique in goal.   

Keep taking the tablets mate, you'll feel better soon
                                   



YNWA

Todays game is massive with yesterdays results going the way they did which is exactly what we needed... A series of draws for the teams above us was great - only Arsenal got a win (I swear Wenger is like a cat with 9 lives when it comes to getting 4th place).

We are 8 points off 4th and 9 off 3rd with a game in hand. If that goes to 5 points and 6 points respectively then we are actually in a better place than I would have hoped for. Especially as next week we have bottom of the table Leicester and most of the teams above us again play each other or tough games (Arsenal v Southampton, Chelsea v Spurs, Utd v Stoke). A great chance to turn todays 9 point gap into next weeks 3 point gap...

We need a win tonight - no questions about it...

I am surprised at some of the line ups posted on here - players out of position (left back in goal for someone's team with no questions asked) and midfielders in defence etc. Not the way forward, and we cannot piss and moan if BR follows that formula to a loss. We have been playing a lot better and I would expect him to start with the same team he has in the last few games with a few minor tweaks. For me its;

                   Migs / Jones

        Sakho     Skrtle      Toure

Lazar       Lukas     Gerrard    Hendo

     Couthino                 Lallana

                   Sterling

What I would refer to as the Christmas Tree formation (do they still call it that?) and over the last week or so it has been working for us pretty well. We actually look a lot better since getting beaten at Utd - the performance against Arsenal was great and games like Burnley we were losing earlier in the season.

A win tonight makes BR more like Wenger in the cat has 9 lives theory - and puts us right back in the mix. By the 10th of Jan we could be joint 4th and that my friends would start to heap pressure on other teams around us..!                 

A pivotal game...

Somehow I hope this is a rumour that won't come true. They are most likely gonna play a lone striker. So let's just go with a standard back 4. Can should definitely get a start, and Lucas doesn't deserve one after his last outing. Markovic needs game time. He had a pretty dismal outing last time but he seems to be starting to settle in and I wouldn't interrupt that.

That is most likely a standard back-4, rather than a 3-4-3

Mignolet
Manquillo-Skrtel-Sakho-Moreno
Can-Lucas
Lallana-Henderson-Coutinho
Sterling

None of the guys deserve a start after the last outing. But we need to field 11, don't we? Stevie isn't exactly sparkling and cant play 3 games in a week. Allen is injured, who do you wanna start alongside Can? We could push Hendo back, move Coutinho to the middle and start Markovic. But the latter has good pace, something that could be exploited in the last 30 mins against Williams and Rangel.

The most likely subs in the game would be Stevie for Lucas, Markovic for Lallana and Mario/Borini for Coutinho. Sterling would probably start the Leicester game from the bench

Beat them by 3 to go above them into 8th. Mouth watering prospect.

                   Migs / Jones

        Sakho     Skrtle      Toure

Lazar       Lukas     Gerrard    Hendo

     Couthino                 Lallana

                   Sterling

What I would refer to as the Christmas Tree formation (do they still call it that?) and over the last week or so it has been working for us pretty well. We actually look a lot better since getting beaten at Utd - the performance against Arsenal was great and games like Burnley we were losing earlier in the season.

A win tonight makes BR more like Wenger in the cat has 9 lives theory - and puts us right back in the mix. By the 10th of Jan we could be joint 4th and that my friends would start to heap pressure on other teams around us..!                 

Excatly would I have been thinking! Under these circumstances the formation and selection of players is the best we can do! Means we shouldn't alter the formation! As much as I would love to see Can in the starting 11, it also means another change and what we need is stability.

We played sh*t for the most part of the season. We cannot change that over night, but what we can do is manage to get points from this ugly performances!

Lets win this match! 3 points is all what matters to me right now!

Nothing less than 3 points tonight!

Wish our manager and certain players would do less talking, Mignolet the latest now.

Do the talking on the pitch!

                       Migs

        Can     Skrtle      Sakho

Lazar       Lucas     Hendo     Moreno

     Couthino                 Lallana

                   Sterling
That would be my line up for tonight.

Thank goodness we're back to wearing red, i wonder who is that idiot that came up with all yellow, we bloody has no character in that. At least have the shorts in black or Blue. I hate that all yellow strip. I'm now starting to blame everything for our poor performance. 

win this and Leicester at home next and we're back in the top 4 dog fight

Gotta give this a go.

                       Migs

           Skrtl     Toure    Sakho

                 Can     Lucas

  Llalana        Couts       Markovic

                   Sterling


Only 3 more days until we can look for a new keeper...sooooooooooooo agonising watching Migs.

-------------------------------Jones

------------------Can---------Lovren------Sahko
Johnson-------------------------------------------------Enrique
------------------------Henderson---Lucas
Markovic------------------------------------------------Coutinho

-------------------------------Sterling

Stevie on the bench as I don't think he's got the legs to play in every match around this time of year.

Gotta give this a go.

                       Migs

           Skrtl     Toure    Sakho

                 Can     Lucas

  Llalana        Couts       Markovic

                   Sterling


Only 3 more days until we can look for a new keeper...sooooooooooooo agonising watching Migs.

It may look like we have 10 men sometimes but I assure you there are 11 out there

why?

he's been terrible lately.

I think he should be dropped but it takes big balls to do that when you are already under pressure as a manager.

You would only have to imagine the uproar from the usual bellends if we didn't get the result.

It may look like we have 10 men sometimes but I assure you there are 11 out there

You win this round sir haha

I want to add Hendo to that midfield on right wing, but I really don't think his form deserves it, so I'll go ahead and add Lambert alongside Sterling. He's certainly done more than Borini and Balo to deserve a start. Though it pains me to have such lack of options for good strikers.

Due to what's gone before with the other results, this has certainly become a must win game.
Don't care how, or by how many, just go and win it.
One off sterlings  arse in the 93rd minute will do just fine.
Can't remember a more mportant single game, regards our seasons progress than this one.
Come on you red men! Gone for 2:1 and it won't be easy.

I dread Monday night football, we always seem to struggle!

I just pray we dont perform tonight as we did against Burnley otherwise there is going to be a smacked arse on the horizon  ffs fellas put a bit of pride in wearing that shirt , just give us 100%  thats all we ask , oh and a flukey fckin goal if necessary .

I dread Monday night football, we always seem to struggle!

Has anyone got any stats on our Monday night results over the last couple of seasons ?

The team leaked by Chats has been confirmed.

Live thread here. http://www.lfcreds.com/reds/index.php/topic,47201.0.html

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