After a strange midweek game in Europe for us, I’m looking forward to returning players and, hopefully, a bit of normality too.
What’s the point of VAR and does ANYONE know what the handball rules are these days?
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| Anfield |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).
Fluid 4-2-3-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
A slight tweak from our usual formation(s), perhaps?
____________________Haaland___________________
___Foden______________________________Silva___
___________________De Bruyne__________________
_________Gundogan____________Rodri____________
Laporte_________________________________Cancelo
_____________Dias_____________Akanji___________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Wilson-Esbrand, Ake, Palmer, Grealish, Mahrez, Alvarez.
Ederson continues in net.
Our back central-2 pairing? Who the ‘eck knows these days other than Pep, of course. In fairness, our manager did explain in a pre-match press conference very recently that while he has five, main central defenders to choose from; most of them can’t play every 3 or 4 days [for fear of aggravating an old injury or breaking down completely, I think he was alluding to]. I believe that’s fair comment and I think we all know that he was referring to Nathan Ake, John Stones, Ruben Dias and, quite-possibly, Aymeric Laporte too; all of whom have been in & out with various issues over the last few seasons to say the very least. Quite a bit of surgery has been had there between those four too!
Good job we signed Manuel “The Crutch” Akanji - a central defender Pep will be hoping can ‘prop up’ the rest as they take it in turns trying not to aggravate their various, underlying niggles.
I’m going for Sunday’s back line to look like Laporte on the left, Ruben & Manuel in the middle and Joao on the right. I just think that Sergio Gomez, who may have been a consideration for this game at one stage, may-have-now booked himself a place on the bench after his silly pull-back and red card in midweek.
With the slight tweak in formation that I’ve already suggested, I’m going for our deeper-lying-midfielder, Rodders, to be largely joined by Ilkay; who may have a ‘dual role’ as both defensive & attacking / creative midfielder. Ahead of the Spanish & German international pairing is Kevin, with Phil & Bernardo the flanking attackers either side of the Belgian.
Erling steps back in to lead ‘up front’.
Stefan is the back-up stopper; Sergio, Rico, Josh & Nathan are the defenders in ‘the 9’. Cole, Jack & Riyad make up the midfielders / wingers on the side, while Julian returns to the bench as reserve striker.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.
- John Stones – Still out with a hamstring injury and an update from his manager yesterday confirmed that it’ll be another week to 10-days from his press conference announcement on 14th October.
- Kyle Walker – Still out for an unspecified number of weeks with a groin / abdominal injury.
- Kalvin Phillips – Out until after the World Cup while he recovers from a shoulder injury / surgery. Pep said on Friday – and not for the first time – that Kalvin is getting better and better and is improving a lot…
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Result? I have got a slight concern that seemingly-rattled Klopp might…might wind his side up enough for us to see a few naughty challenges flying in – I’m not necessarily suggesting that he’ll initiate a ‘hatchet job’ on us but you know what I mean, I’m sure. That wouldn’t be good should it happen, of course, and hopefully they’ll have got some of their frustrations out of their system with their 1-7 away win in the Champions League last Wednesday night.
If there were to be a winner in this fixture then I’d definitely give that one to us and if the incoming players in the inevitable rotation from last Tuesday night start where they left off, performance & form wise, then our hosts are sure to be in for a hard time of it, I would suggest. They also have injuries to players who would have taken some part in Sunday’s game…but then again so do we.
But I just can’t ignore my ‘gut feeling’; one that’s telling me this will be a draw. I hope, in the right way of course, that I’m wrong but I think this’ll be ‘points shared’. It’s a draw for me and, if so, fingers crossed that the pack around us in the table drop a few points.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Draw
Result: Drew
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: Not too bad - sunny intervals and forecasted to stay dry. Although they’ll be a brisk, 12MPH breeze; it’s coming in from a warmer-southerly direction and the temperature is expected to be around the 14C mark.
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| Solidarity |
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