Swansea (away) - Build up

[BigChief]

Was generally impressed with Shelvey in the first half against manure in their first game. But Shelvey's languid style kind of 'got in the way' (if you get what I mean) of Swansea's ultra-fast free-flowing football. Goals from midfield also dried up as Shelvey is poor in that regards anyway.

Now that he's not playing for us, I can objectively say Shelvey has found his level and isn't that good. So we should hope he starts.

*kiss of death II

[The_weatherman]

Mignolet
Johnson* Toure Agger Enrique
Gerrard Lucas
Henderson Coutinho Moses
Sturridge

*Wisdom

Agree with something like that, isn't Bony a handful? I reckon we need one of Toure and Sakho at the back. This midfield should win the battle and Moses offers some power as well, wouldn't rule out Aspas though.

[The_weatherman]

Maybe but Skrtel deserves his chance, unless Sakho seriously impresses and/or Kolo is still groining.

I think the new boys will all have to earn their place under Rodgers, it seems like he is going to pick players on merit this season which is great news, albeit difficult with big egos.

[DKdan]

The last game Swansea played, saw them play with Bony, Michu, Routledge, Hernandez as a front four with Canas and Shelvey playing in the middle.

To be honest I don't think that is anywhere near as dangerous as the threat Villa posed. Swansea doesn't have the same fight about them, which should make it a footballing contest (in contrast to Villa, Stoke and Manure ). Unless we hit the self-destruct button (again!) this season, I think we should do very well against such sides as Swansea.

Last time around we spanked them 5-0 at Anfield. With them having more than one eye already on the LC final.

Our team was:

Reina
Johnson-Carra-Agger-Enrique
Lucas - Gerrard - Coutinho
Downing - Suarez - Sturridge.

This year our defence is improved. Our pressing is improved. Lucas is better. Hendo is better. There is no Downing.

That should more than compensate for the loss of Suarez and Johnson.

Again, unless we decide to self-destruct they will be ours for the taking.
I say: Swansea 0-2 Liverpool

[SB]

The last game Swansea played, saw them play with Bony, Michu, Routledge, Hernandez as a front four with Canas and Shelvey playing in the middle.

To be honest I don't think that is anywhere near as dangerous as the threat Villa posed. Swansea doesn't have the same fight about them, which should make it a footballing contest (in contrast to Villa, Stoke and Manure ). Unless we hit the self-destruct button (again!) this season, I think we should do very well against such sides as Swansea.

Last time around we spanked them 5-0 at Anfield. With them having more than one eye already on the LC final.

Our team was:

Reina
Johnson-Carra-Agger-Enrique
Lucas - Gerrard - Coutinho
Downing - Suarez - Sturridge.

This year our defence is improved. Our pressing is improved. Lucas is better. Hendo is better. There is no Downing.
B
That should more than compensate for the loss of Suarez and Johnson.

Again, unless we decide to self-destruct they will be ours for the taking.
I say: Swansea 0-2 Liverpool

Yeah I'm pretty confident we can get a result too barring injuries. Mitchum looked in good form the other day. We'll need to stop him to get on top though.

[DKdan]

Yeah I'm pretty confident we can get a result too barring injuries. Mitchum looked in good form the other day. We'll need to stop him to get on top though.

Agreed! What a signing he has turned out to be!

[frank the tank]

looking at our signings this summer, it looks almost like Brendan does want to introduce a 3 man central defense......... it could actually turn out to be very tasty with the width coming from Glen on the right and Enrique / Cissokho on the left.....

If the front 3 are flexible enough - which they are - then it could turn out to be a brilliant formation


Getting back to the Swansea game, Skrtel should definately keep his place. Our strenght in depth in defense is brilliant now but it would send out a stupid message altogether if a guy gets MOTM in a win against Manchester United and then gets dropped in the next game..... the purpose of building a strong squad is that no player can rest on his laurels (Reina, Agger, Johnson, Lucas have all been guilty of that for patches in recent seasons) so unless he is injured, then Skrtel should play.

I would swap Aspas for Moses and play the same starting 11 as last game..... unless there is a formation change:

------------------------MIGNOLET-----------------------------


-------------SKRTEL------TOURE------AGGER------------------

JOHNSON---------------------------------------------ENRIQUE

-----------------LUCAS---------GERRARD----------------------

----MOSES---------------------------COUTINHO---------------

----------------------------STURRIDGE------------------------

[frank the tank]

another option is to play Agger in at left back (a modern day Maldini) - i have always thought that he would be very strong there.....

[baitman]

l
I would swap Aspas for Moses and play the same starting 11 as last game..... unless there is a formation change:

------------------------MIGNOLET-----------------------------


-------------SKRTEL------TOURE------AGGER------------------

JOHNSON---------------------------------------------ENRIQUE

-----------------LUCAS---------GERRARD----------------------

----MOSES---------------------------COUTINHO---------------

----------------------------STURRIDGE------------------------

love to see our formation with a back three like this.
when attacking the full back slide forward and make a middle four in front of lucas and gerrard.
whan defending they can drop back and make a five.

[frank the tank]

The back '5' only counts if the 2 wide men fill in as well...no point in having a back 5 if the 2 midfielders have nobody helping them.in reality ours are starting to play intelligently but I reckon that is why Henderson is flourishing - because his work rate is so good

[Shaggy]

It feels ages away so I'm not getting into it yet, save for saying I think Sakho will play.

[Tee]

There will be changes at the back, for a start GJ won't be playing.

I still fancy Sakho or Illori will make an appearance v Swansea. Rest of the team picks itself really.

[Reece]

We'll play some kind of 3-4-3/3-5-2 hybrid with Henderson as the right wing back

[Tee]

We'll play some kind of 3-4-3/3-5-2 hybrid with Henderson as the right wing back

That would be a very interesting line-up, one that we are likely to see this season given our squad. Could work really well or be a complete disaster (not sure about Hendo as a RWB).

[Reece]

Aye it was a complete guess (obviously) and a little tongue-in-cheek. Would be pretty cool to see at some point though.