…the ground
safely and the game can be played; it’s the fixture many have been waiting for,
for weeks.
 |
| Anfield |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct
from starting line-up in the last game: 10/11).
Fluid 3-6-1 / 5-4-1 / 5-3-1-1:
____________________Aguero____________________
____________________Mahrez____________________
__________________Fernandinho__________________
_____________________Bravo_____________________
Following
our midweek Champions League trip to Italy
where it was most certainly a game of 2 halves and a very “interesting”
second half indeed; one City fan’s thoughts when-posting on another forum were already turned to this
fixture, where he said, “Hope we don’t resort to playing a very defensive
side on Sunday, example 3 CH’s etc etc.”. Well, fella,
if my instincts are correct and you class this as “defensive”, then I think
your hopes will be dashed on Sunday.
Claudio takes the gloves for this
one.
Having played in this position before (as well as in net recently), I’ve just got a feeling that Pep
will place Kyle on the right of ‘a 3’ alongside Nicolas & John. That, my
thinking goes, will allow our manager to-not-only slot Fernandinho back
into his best position in defensive midfield, roaming in front of /
protecting those as well as spraying passes forward, but it-also allows one
of his favourite tactics to potentially flourish on Sunday, which is
that it gives more freedom for his wing-backs to go forward, theoretically, much-more-often; in the knowledge that
they’ll still have at least 4 colleagues behind ‘em ready for any counter
threat from our lovely “hosts”. For this game, I think those wing-back jobs will go to both Angelino &
Joao.
Further up the pitch, I’m actually going
for ‘a diamond’, albeit a fluid one where, on occasions, Kevin, Bernardo and /
or Riyad can drift wide as well as play in central, attacking roles.
Sergio the ‘lone gunman’ ahead of all of
those, although I expect he too will drift into the midfield and rotate up
front with one or two attacking midfielders behind him.
Scott returns to one of his ex-clubs and
sits on the side as our back-up keeper, with Benjamin & Eric the only
defence change-options from the side in my prediction. Ilkay, Phil, Raheem
& Gabriel provide the midfield / wing, creative / attacking choices from
‘the 7’.
Notable
absences:
- Ederson – The midweek muscle
problem rules him out for this one, with no information on how long he might be
out for, just yet.
- Rodri – Expected to be fit
again in about 2-weeks’ time AND, in fact, has been back in
light training for a few days already.
- David Silva – This game has come too
soon for our Captain, who picked up a muscular injury last weekend. Should be all better for our next game on 23rd November, after
the 3rd international break of the (short) season so far.
-
Leroy Sane – Expected to return form injury sometime in
January 2020. Put another way, anytime from around 7-½ weeks…
That’s a flippin’ long ‘red list’ of key players we have
there!
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Do you know what…although
that is what I THINK our manager will do
rather than what I would do; ‘on paper’
it does look like a good tactic for this match and with the ‘right personnel’
in the ‘right positions’ too.
IF I’m right, I’m
pleased that Mendy isn’t in the ‘starting 11’ (I’ve watched him closely in
his last 3 games and I’m becoming less and less convinced than I already was about
any aspect of his play) and pleased also that Riyad might be chosen ahead
of Raheem, who rarely has a good game against his previous employer (I just hope Mahrez
doesn’t taken a penalty though).
The only changes I
might make is, perhaps, for cool-headed Eric in place of Otamendi in the back-3
and I’d love to give Phil a crack against these too.
But yeah, I’d be okay
with that.
Result?
Although it sounds crazy to suggest, with these teams being 1st
& 2nd in the league as I type this; I don’t think either side is
playing near 100% at the moment.
You’ve gotta go back to 28th
September to find a game where Liverpool managed to keep a clean sheet, which
was a 0-1’er away to Sheffield United. Since then, in all competitions
they’ve shipped in 14 goals in 8
games! They can be ‘got at’.
Furthermore, as well as leaking 8 cup goals
in just 2 games in the month of October, they’re just about
edging past teams at the moment by the odd goal; whereby, for the most part,
they’re just-about-also managing to score 2 goals-a-game…often with the second coming very late
on.
But despite scoring lots of 3s in many games
along with a 5 and even an 8…AND
despite only leaking an impressive 4 goals in the same period as Liverpool
conceded a whopping 14;
our ‘big players’ and midfielders in particular just look a little ‘off colour’
of late, to me at least.
Kevin doesn’t look his usual sharp self
and…what’s happened to Bernardo? One City fan on a forum recently described him
as looking “…mentally fatigued”; whereas
other, official match reports keep commenting on Portuguese’s work rate not
being matched by his quality, which appears to have retreated for now. I have
to agree.
But I look at those self-researched stats
that I’ve just laid down and take heart from them and all things considered – a
big factor being that we’re at Anfield etc. – I’m putting this one down as
a draw.
And I’ll take that
too, with a whole BUNCH of top talent expected to return form our various treatment
rooms over the coming weeks & months and with Liverpool yet to suffer
likewise to so many of THEIR ‘key players’…
Last season’s,
corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Draw
Result: Draw
Expected weather conditions during
the game: Lovely, DRY, cold-crisp day / evening. Temperatures could reach as low as 5C before the end of an, otherwise, RED HOT game!
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