Pre Match: Liverpool v AFC Bournemouth Mon 17th August 20:00 KO

We will be looking to build on our win against Stoke and get 3 points against Eddie Howe's recently promoted Bournemouth.

I guess Brendan won't change to much, if anything, from the Stoke game.

I would only make a couple of changes, and play both Moreno and Can from the start.

Mignolet

Clyne
Skrtel
Lovren
Moreno

Henderson (c)
Can
Milner

Ibe
Benteke
Coutinho

Subs: Bogdan; Sakho, Gomez; Lallana; Firmino, Ings, Origi.

3-0 to us! YNWA!

 

Monday night Football! 

Clint on holidays again then?

We will be looking to build on our win against Stoke and get 3 points against Eddie Howe's recently promoted Bournemouth.

I guess Brendan won't change to much, if anything, from the Stoke game.

I would only make a couple of changes, and play both Moreno and Can from the start.

Mignolet

Clyne
Skrtel
Lovren
Moreno

Henderson (c)
Can
Milner

Ibe
Benteke
Coutinho

Subs: Bogdan; Sakho, Gomez; Lallana; Firmino, Ings, Origi.

3-0 to us! YNWA!

 

I would agree with the line up, except I'd stick with Gomez. The lad did ok against a tough Stoke side, should do even better at home against a team he knows from Championship last year. It's great for building up his confidence.

I'd actually give Lallana another chance in the second half. I'm really frustrated with him because he was one of my favourite players of the league before we bought him and he clearly has the work ethic and talent, just  needs better decision making. Would be a good game to get a 2/3-0 head start, then give likes of Ings and Origi a run out too.

Whats the point of dropping Gomez? I mean, there is absolutely no logic. Can and Firmino for Lallana and Ibe

Benteke
Coutinho    Firmino
Hendo    Can     Milner
Gomez  Lovren  Skrtel   Clyne
Mignolet

Subs- Bogdan, Moreno, Sakho, Tex, Ibe, Lallana, Ings (not putting Lucas based on MatchDay 1)

For some weird reason, I prefer bringing Ibe on rather than starting him.

One thing to note - That's ALL of our central midfield playing, and that is all. We're 1 injury away from a disaster and clearly the reason we shouldn't be selling Lucas

Monday night Football! 

This!
Always hated them, and now I've started my new job even more so as I don't finish till 8 on Mondays so I'll miss the first half 

I'd go for;

                  Mig             
Clyne  Skrtel  Lovren  Gomez
                 Can
          Milner    Hendo
    Firmino            Coutinho
               Benteke

Agree with the above. Bring in Can and Firmino for Lallana and Ibe and we are good to go. Both Can and Firmino made a difference and in particular Can deserves a shirt. I also think Ibe is more suited to being an impact player right now too.

Its great that we have options all of a sudden though.

Gomez and Lovren deserve their place after their steady performances at Stoke. Would like Milner and Hendo to push on more if Can is there to give protection to our back four.

Hopefully we involve Big Ben more and get him scoring goals. Need to start playing to his game.

Want to see Ings at some point too.

Not particularly confident in Can as a DM, but we are vs a relatively easy team and at home, and with Lucas out of favour, I guess we'll see what Can can offer in that role.

Clyne, Skrtel, Lovren, Gomez
               Can
        Hendo   Milner
             Coutinho
       Benteke   Firmino

Not particularly confident in Can as a DM, but we are vs a relatively easy team and at home, and with Lucas out of favour, I guess we'll see what Can can offer in that role.

Clyne, Skrtel, Lovren, Gomez
               Can
        Hendo   Milner
             Coutinho
       Benteke   Firmino

Can isn't disciplined enough yet to play as a proper DM. He showed that when he was at centre back too when he'd travel too far with the ball and then there'd be an open space back in his position. He'd be one hell of a box to box player though in the coming years.

Can isn't disciplined enough yet to play as a proper DM. He showed that when he was at centre back too when he'd travel too far with the ball and then there'd be an open space back in his position. He'd be one hell of a box to box player though in the coming years.

I agree, he is more of a CM than a DM, but it seems there is belief that Can can play that specialist role.

LFCZA: Will Liverpool look to replace Lucas or are they happy with the midfield options?

James Pearce:Rodgers seems pretty happy with the options he's got in there. Obviously, Milner, Henderson and Coutinho will start the vast majority of PL games, and then he's got Can who he believes can play that holding role when it's required.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-fc-qa-james-pearce-9836521

So with that being, I want to see what Rodgers and the management team sees that makes them believe he's better than Lucas.

Understandably Brendan took the more cautious route against the pikies of old Stokey town, but  on the hour he decided enough was enough, pulled Lallana off(not literally) I hasten to add, and suddenly we became more potent, Can for me is and will be our driving force in the coming seasons, and what a player we have, anyhow, this coming match with the Cherries I believe we will see a more attacking formation, 4-3-1-2
                     
              Mignolet       
Clyne Skrtel Lovren Gomez
      Hendo Can Milner
             Coutinho
       Benteke  Formino

Bench: Bogdan, Sakho, Moreno, Lucas, Lallana, Ibe, Ings


I think Howe has worked wonders at B'mouth, and you have to say it's quite incredible what they have achieved, however, they are in for a rude awakening on Monday and if they don't realise it already they certainly will after a 90 minute footballing lesson at Anfield,

I would expect our lads to hand out a total  f***in mauling against the prems newest victims, not because they are new but because I want us to send out a statement of intent,
That superb 3 points we got at The Britannia won't mean jack f***in sh*t if we don't back it up by totally Twatting steady Eddies ever readies ,

I'd love us to ram about 4/5 past them at least, get that goals for column climbing to that 100+ we got in 13/14, and another clean sheet to boot,look I know it's still a tad too early to proper stamp our authority but  we have to start somewhere don't we ?

We have a great chance to be amongst, and stay amongst the favs this early in the season, bearing in mind our next 6 aways, if we can muster say 12 PTs or more, from those, I'm telling you we are in for a belter, we've had a great start, let's back it up with an even better one, what ya say fellas ?


YNWA
 

Mignolet       
Clyne Skrtel Lovren Gomez
      Hendo Can Milner
             Coutinho
       Benteke  Formino

Bench: Bogdan, Sakho, Moreno, Lucas, Lallana, Ibe, Ings

Team kind of picks itself at least for now...agree 100%

I'd love to see us bang in 4 or 5 every game, as I hopelessly predicted against Stoke. Now this Bournmouth outfit, although new to the pre, they won't sit back and get battered. They are capable of some decent stuff, albeit a tad short on quality for the pre. They would have been 2 or 3 up against Villa if their finishing was sharper, then villa sneaked a scrappy one. I would expect to beat these, but don't underestimate them. We need to start quicker that we did against Stoke, then keep the tempo up and keep them back on their heels.
We do need to win these types of fixtures with the  next 6 or 7 games we've got. Need to build the confidence one rung higher, and get a momentum of wins going, ready for the bigger games.
We looked so much more solid at the back, bar a couple of hic ups, and things will only get better there. Now we need to build on the fluency from midfield to forwards. Bit less ball carrying, and sharper swifter passing. Keep the opposition moving all over the park, chasing the ball, not closing us down. Or squad is looking more creative, and will be better as the new lads settle, even those from last season. Bollocks to 4th, lets go for the top spot.

Clint on holidays again then?

No I'm not but I prefer the live threads

Team kind of picks itself at least for now...agree 100%

And the more they play together the more confident they will become, at the moment that is our strongest X1 I believe, to think we have back up too, when all fit and firing, you can see we are a very dangerous outfit, but, the formations have to be right, the tactics need to be spot on, we cannot afford to be predictable , that's how we got found out last season, we did not have the options we have now, I am liking how Brendan is building, it does bode well for the future, a future that starts NOW !

YNWA

Nothing less than a win will do obviously - if Liverpool don't beat Bournemouth at home then the heat will be intense for Brendan.

We don't just need to avenge that Stoke performance, we have to get our last performance at home to Crystal Palace - an appalling way for Gerrard to end his Liverpool career - out of our minds just as quick.

I'd love to see us bang in 4 or 5 every game, as I hopelessly predicted against Stoke. Now this Bournmouth outfit, although new to the pre, they won't sit back and get battered. They are capable of some decent stuff, albeit a tad short on quality for the pre. They would have been 2 or 3 up against Villa if their finishing was sharper, then villa sneaked a scrappy one. I would expect to beat these, but don't underestimate them. We need to start quicker that we did against Stoke, then keep the tempo up and keep them back on their heels.
We do need to win these types of fixtures with the  next 6 or 7 games we've got. Need to build the confidence one rung higher, and get a momentum of wins going, ready for the bigger games.
We looked so much more solid at the back, bar a couple of hic ups, and things will only get better there. Now we need to build on the fluency from midfield to forwards. Bit less ball carrying, and sharper swifter passing. Keep the opposition moving all over the park, chasing the ball, not closing us down. Or squad is looking more creative, and will be better as the new lads settle, even those from last season. Bollocks to 4th, lets go for the top spot.

Yes of course mate, I don't underestimate anyone, you are right Bournemouth won't be easy, what prem opposition is ?
I suppose what I was alluding to was we should still prove miles to strong for them, they will come and fight no doubt, and will want to prove they can play at the big boys table,
But like you said yourself, we up the tempo, crisp sharp passing, be in their faces when they have the ball,
They will not yet be used to the type of tempo we can play at, panic can ensue, bringing about mistakes, mistakes that lead to scoring opportunities, make no mistake this is every bit as important as the win against Stoke, for reasons mentioned earlier.


YNWA

No I'm not but I prefer the live threads

Ah, that's right.

You do the Stoke one?

I would agree with the line up, except I'd stick with Gomez. The lad did ok against a tough Stoke side, should do even better at home against a team he knows from Championship last year. It's great for building up his confidence.

I'd actually give Lallana another chance in the second half. I'm really frustrated with him because he was one of my favourite players of the league before we bought him and he clearly has the work ethic and talent, just  needs better decision making. Would be a good game to get a 2/3-0 head start, then give likes of Ings and Origi a run out too.

IMO Gomez starts until further notice...

Can to keep the impact from the bench too

Sakho has to come in for Lovren IMO. In terms of Gomez, I am inclined to lean towards him starting but then coming off for Moreno.

Can has to start too IMO, we looked much better against Stoke once he came on.

I usually dread MNF but we haven't done too badly as of late when given that fixture and we have beaten Bournemouth for the last couple of seasons so I am feeling fairly confident. I don't think there will be a flood of goals but I'd lean towards either a 2-0 or a 3-1 win.

I agree, he is more of a CM than a DM, but it seems there is belief that Can can play that specialist role.

LFCZA: Will Liverpool look to replace Lucas or are they happy with the midfield options?

James Pearce:Rodgers seems pretty happy with the options he's got in there. Obviously, Milner, Henderson and Coutinho will start the vast majority of PL games, and then he's got Can who he believes can play that holding role when it's required.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-fc-qa-james-pearce-9836521

So with that being, I want to see what Rodgers and the management team sees that makes them believe he's better than Lucas.

What about Europe and the Cup games? Does he think Henderson will just play everything and he can slot Allen in for someone every once in a while? Probably better left for another thread...

Sakho has to come in for Lovren IMO. In terms of Gomez, I am inclined to lean towards him starting but then coming off for Moreno.

Can has to start too IMO, we looked much better against Stoke once he came on.

I usually dread MNF but we haven't done too badly as of late when given that fixture and we have beaten Bournemouth for the last couple of seasons so I am feeling fairly confident. I don't think there will be a flood of goals but I'd lean towards either a 2-0 or a 3-1 win.

I'm no fan of Lovren but when a player has an excellent first game of the season the last thing you do is drop him for the next game. His confidence is fragile enough already. If Lovren fucks up again then Sakho will be waiting in the wings.