Liverpool v Sunderland: Sat 26th Nov - Build up thread

[Yozza]

V

Liverpool v Sunderland

15:00 Sat 26th Nov 2016
Location: Anfield

Liverpool return to action this Saturday with an Anfield clash against Sunderland.

The Reds will aim to bounce back to winning ways following the goalless draw with Southampton last time out, while the Black Cats will arrive in L4 buoyed by successive victories in the Premier League.

Should be straight forward enough & a lovely return to Merseyside for Gollum....

[frank the tank]

i just wonder will their tails be up after 2 wins on the bounce.

Having said that, i look at their defense and think there is no way that they can stop the power of LFC. I wonder will Moyes keep with Defoe AND Anichibe or will he chance his arm at putting 5 in either defense or midfield.

Either way, I really can't see us not winning this one.

It is such a pity we didn't win at Southampton but hopefully Sunderland will be used to get it out of our system.

If Lallana doesn't make the team, then I wouldn't be sad to see Coutinho drop to midfield and have Sturridge, Mane and Firmy up top.

[RedReet]

Anichebe been playing midfield for them, he 100% will start if fit.

[Chris]

We'll win 12-1 and get criticised after the game for our defence.

[Fosterbloke]

Anichebe been playing midfield for them, he 100% will start if fit.

No he hasn't, he's been next to Defoe in a 4-4-2 formation.

Their midfield and defence are **** and we should be able to starve their front two of service.

[SB]

Isn't Lallana out for 2-3 matches?

If so I think Sturridge should get the nod instead of Can or Gini & Cout in midfield.

[danperkins]

No he hasn't, he's been next to Defoe in a 4-4-2 formation.

Their midfield and defence are **** and we should be able to starve their front two of service.

He has been playing in the midfield wide left in the last few games. Defoe up top on his own, won their last 2 games in that setup.

[RedReet]

No he hasn't, he's been next to Defoe in a 4-4-2 formation.

Their midfield and defence are **** and we should be able to starve their front two of service.

He hasn't. He's been getting forward and supporting Defoe, but played LW against Bournemouth and RW against Hull.

[Fosterbloke]

Ok, that's not how others described his position.

[PTP]

this thread seems to have died with the gerrard thread dominating...

so back to business tomorrow. Other than Lallana everyone else should hopefully be fresh now after a week back

Personally, i'd hope to see Sturridge starting at home possibly in place - something like....

karius

clyne
matip
lovren
milner

can
Henderson
coutinho

firminho
Sturridge
mane

tho I suspect we will see wijnaldum in the midfield and Sturridge on the bench.

Hopefully we can start well, get the early goal and dominate from there. Looking forward to it.

[Rich]

I wouldn't tinker with it personally - with only Lallana coming in if he's fit. Keep the same three up top.

[Fosterbloke]

I hope Sturridge can score his first league goal of the season.

[Yozza]

Moyes ready to park the 'double-decker bus' at Liverpool

David Moyes is confident his spirited Sunderland team can match Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.

Sunderland, who head into the fixture off the back of two successive victories, are still submerged in a relegation battle at the foot of the Premier League table.

In stark contrast, their opposition are riding high under the stewardship of Jurgen Klopp and are mounting a somewhat surprise title bid. Knowing the challenge ahead, former Manchester United boss is willing to do what it takes to get a result.

"They’ve always had really good teams, Liverpool. We’ve been competitive away from home and close to winning games," Moyes said in his press conference.

"We will go there and make it difficult for Liverpool. Anybody who plays against Liverpool has to park the double-decker bus, but we also have two centre forwards scoring goals."

Despite their current situation, Moyes insisted that his team are still in good spirits and will go into the fixture with Liverpool hoping to add to their string of victories.

"All I can say is we won last week against Hull City, so we go into the game after a couple of good victories," Moyes added.

"It’s not easy to get back-to-back wins when you’re at the bottom, so the players are in good spirits."

[Yozza]

Boss warns Sunderland: It's different at Anfield

Jürgen Klopp has urged his players to show Sunderland that things are 'different' at Anfield when they visit on Saturday looking to extend their recent run of good form.

David Moyes' men have picked up their first two victories of the Premier League season in the last two games, beating Bournemouth and Hull City to propel themselves from the bottom of the division.

But Klopp does not want his team to aid the Black Cats' bid to move out of the relegation zone by dropping points this week.

The German is keen for the Reds and the bumper crowd that will turn out to support them to make life as difficult as possible for their visitors.

"We saw the games and maybe they played better games than against Hull or Bournemouth, but they won the games," he told reporters at his pre-match press conference.

"That's the most important thing, to get confidence, and they have it now.

"It’s our job to show from the first second as a big group, crowd involved, that we are different - here it's different.

"Sunderland, if they win football games in the Premier League: well done, deserved, whatever. But not here.

"That’s what we have to show [but] that will not be easy - the exact opposite of easy. I really, really hope that my team is ready for it, and I hope that the whole crowd is ready for it too."

The Mackems brought an end to a 10-game winless streak when they broke their duck at the Vitality Stadium on November 5 before adding to that with three more points against the Tigers.

But Klopp believes they had perhaps been unfortunate not to put more points on the board earlier.

"It's the best moment Sunderland had in the season and if you watch their games - and we watched a lot of their games in the last week - you can see even when they lost games in the beginning of the season, it was never a clear result," he added.

"[They lost] 2-1, 1-0, 94th minute - things like this. They were really unlucky in a lot of moments.

"You need to be ready for this game, that's the challenge."

Inevitably, the manager's media briefing was dominated by questions on retiring former Reds skipper Steven Gerrard.

But he was keen to underline the fact that his own focus - and that of the players - is fully on the task facing them at Anfield on Saturday.

"Sunderland is a real challenge because it's really hard already for you to ask about the Sunderland game because everything else seems to be more interesting," he continued.

"It's like the points are already [won] and we couldn’t be further away from having the points already. We will not underestimate them, 100 per cent not.

"If one person in the stadium would underestimate them, it would be the first mistake we could make.

"The weather will be good on Saturday and everything is prepared for a good football game - if we do our job, which will be a difficult one.

"Until now, [the performances were] good but the next challenge is already there and we have to do the good things again and the not-so-good things in a different way."

[Yozza]

Klopp's squad update: 'No big injury issues until now'

Jürgen Klopp reported that Liverpool currently 'have not the biggest injury issues' as they prepare to welcome Sunderland to Anfield on Saturday.

Having been held to a goalless draw at Southampton last time out, when the Reds were without Adam Lallana, the Reds continue their Premier League campaign at home against the Black Cats.

One journalist at Klopp’s pre-match press conference offered a statistic that the manager has not named an unchanged team in the past 40 games, and asked whether that may come to an end this weekend.

He responded: “No idea! It’s Thursday and two days until Saturday. 40 matches? I didn’t know. I thought we didn’t change too much, actually.

“There were different tournaments, 40 matches, with a few last season too. It’s not that we say we cannot start with the same line-up again.

“We have not the biggest injury issues until now. We had a few, of course, but sometimes the next game came too quick, so we needed to make a change or we wanted to make a change.

“Maybe what it shows is that we only think about the next game and not about the last too much. When the analysis is done, the last game is over and it’s not important anymore.

“Then you need to have a look in training, have a look at different things and especially have a look at the style and strength of the next opponent. You think about who will help you most in the next game. That’s all we think about.

“Probably, we always decided we needed somebody else, but not with a big plan behind it, to always change a winning team to make a new law. That’s surprised me a little bit, honestly, that it’s so often in a row – if it’s right!”