Swansea v Liverpool Build Up Thread

[frank the tank]

For me Swansea are the type of team that will play their own way. They won't do a Blackburn and try and kick us off the pitch....they will play their passing game as well and our superior players should come to the fore and shine through......and if not then we have options on the bench....

Monk has done a pretty good job there though to be fair.......

[Rigadon]

the players should hopefully benefit from 8 days rest since their last game - which should hopefully come at the right time having played so much football in the last 2 months.....

It's the final stretch right now so full steam ahead. Hopefully any rotation should be done during the game - to give players an early rest once the game is settled as opposed to keep players fresh....

I would like to see:

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

--------EMRE CAN-----------SKRTEL----------SAKHO---------------

MARKOVIC--------HENDERSON--------ALLEN-------------MORENO

------------STERLING--------------------COUTINHO----------------
---------------------------STURRIDGE-------------------------------


With a bench of Ward, Lovren, Johnson, Lucas, Gerrard, Lallana and Balotelli....

With Lallana, Balotelli and maybe Lucas coming on in the second half to protect Sterling Sturridge and Coutinho.

That would be a strong match day sqaud......and when you consider that Lambert, Borini, Toure, Manquillo, Enrique can't even get on the bench, then hopefully having a strong squad will do us well in the final few months of the season.

If Lovren keeps his place instead of Sakho, then I worry about Brendan.....

Probably our strongest team (until Lucas is match fit)

[danperkins]

Yeah that's a strong team

[calvoboy]

"Referee: Roger East"

Ah ****. Let's hope his monumental **** up of the game is in our favour. Pure cowardice his response to the Wes Brown/O'Shea incident. If he'd said he made a mistake then you could accept it, but instead he preferred to try and fudge it and say he was certain Wes Brown made a foul. I don't like cowards like him and Lee Mason refereeing our games, you just know they'll bottle a decision at some point, and that usually works against us.

[Nicey]

Probably our strongest team (until Lucas is match fit)

I would have Jordan Ibe ahead of Marko

[EwarWoo]

Give the lad a break, I'd put him in over an injured player, he's not that bad.

[cream]

I would like to see:

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

--------EMRE CAN-----------SKRTEL----------SAKHO---------------

MARKOVIC--------HENDERSON--------ALLEN-------------MORENO

------------GERRARD--------------------COUTINHO----------------
---------------------------STURRIDGE-------------------------------

[SB]

I would like to see:

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

--------EMRE CAN-----------SKRTEL----------SAKHO---------------

MARKOVIC--------HENDERSON--------ALLEN-------------MORENO

------------GERRARD--------------------COUTINHO----------------
---------------------------STURRIDGE-------------------------------

Personally I'd prefer Gerrard to come off the bench as he's not a guaranteed starter anymore IMO. He'll be rusty & I'd show faith in those who have been getting the results in his absence.

[frank the tank]

I would like to see:

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

--------EMRE CAN-----------SKRTEL----------SAKHO---------------

MARKOVIC--------HENDERSON--------ALLEN-------------MORENO

------------GERRARD--------------------COUTINHO----------------
---------------------------STURRIDGE-------------------------------

i was thinking of stevie coming back in as well......for me though i would introduce him from the bench.

It will be interesting to see how the team plays when gerrard comes back in - because for me everyone else plays 2 or 3% better when he isn't on the pitch.... the players take on more responsibility for themselves and also play their natural game more. Especially the midfielders like Henderson, Allen and Lucas. For me we slow down our play and the thought of each player seems to be "where is Steven, can i play a pass to him?" as opposed to "what is the right pass".....

This was made clear as day by Robbie Savage (i know, i know) on MOTD a couple of months back when he suggested that Gerrard play as the ball playing centre back because there was no point in the likes of Emre Can bringing the ball out of defense only to play a 5 yard pass to SG, and SG then starts the attack. In hindsight, if we had Emre Can / Lucas protecting the defense and Gerrard actually playing at RCB instead of Emre Can then it might have been equally as effective as bringing Can into the team. Maybe had we started the season that way then Gerrard would still be an effective member of the team and retained for next season and beyond.....

For me though, this over-reliance on Gerrard isn't anything new. Benitez identified it early on in his tenure and decided to put Gerrard on the right wing so that he was out of the way. Not because Gerrard isn't awesome player, but because the default pass from the likes of Hamann and Alonso was to push the ball to Gerrard and let him make it happen. Benitiez wanted the other players not to tweak their natural game. When he played him as a #10 behind Torres then Gerrard was arguably at his most effective as well - in a role where he wasn't going to dictate the midfield but still be in positions to make things happen from an attacking perspective.

Don't get me wrong in this, I think Gerrard is a legend and one of my all time fav players. His performance in Istanbul is the greatest performance by a player i have ever seen when you consider that he played half a dozen positions that night (and was 9½/10 in all of them!). But I do think that at the moment the team would be better off with SG in a role where he doesn't dictate the pace of a game. For me, for the rest of the season, he would be a brilliant guy to have come on and try to force a tight game in the last 15 minutes.

[The Birdman]

I would like to see:

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

--------EMRE CAN-----------SKRTEL----------SAKHO---------------

MARKOVIC--------HENDERSON--------ALLEN-------------MORENO

------------GERRARD--------------------COUTINHO----------------
---------------------------STURRIDGE-------------------------------

I'm going to regret asking this question but why?
Why drop Sterling and why disrupt a winning team to bring Gerrard straight back in to it?

[Norbs]

Because he loves Gerrard

[Jaymo]

We've got a huge opportunity to put the pressure on for the CL spaces here, and I hope we don't waste it. United play Tottenham and Chelsea play So'ton, so lets hope theres some good results.

BBC did a decent piece on Jonjo, still like the lad.. shame it didn't work out for him here when he got his opportunity.

[baitman]

we all know how much jjs loves to have a go from 30 yards, i only hope that someone always runs to close him down before he lets fly. it might hit someone in a hi-vis vest who is just bolting some girders together out side, or scream into the bottom left corner.
keep your eye on him, allen

[SB]

we all know how much jjs loves to have a go from 30 yards, i only hope that someone always runs to close him down before he lets fly. it might hit someone in a hi-vis vest who is just bolting some girders together out side, or scream into the bottom left corner.
keep your eye on him, allen

Little Joe Allen could end up on the ball that hits the guy in the hi-vis vest. . Tell JJS to pick on someone his own size.

[wavydavy]

A win here would be huge given our two games following this one. We could probably afford a slip up if we beat Swansea. Out of interest,what do we think would be a points target to get 4th(at least)? Would 71/72 points be sufficient?