Huddersfield vs Liverpool - Premier League (18/19 - Game 9)

[Assassin]

Great news.

That being the case...


------------------A Becker

TTA------Joe Gomez-----Dejan-----Robbo

-----------------Henderson----------------

-----Wijnaldum------------------Milner----

----------------Sturridge-------------------

-----------Salah---------Firmino-----------

I would like to see us go mega offensive and swap out Milner with Big Shaq. FTW

[Mark79]

Bascombe says Virgil also trained as normal along with Salah. And Keita's injury isn't a tear though he's unlikely to play this weekend

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/10/18/mohamed-salah-virgil-van-dijk-hand-liverpool-boost-returning/

[Fosterbloke]

Two weeks out for Keita. Better than expected.

[frank the tank]

So Virgil is going to play tomorrow??? Great news if true. Hope to see Degsy back on the bench......


-------------------------------ALISSON------------------------------

TRENT------------GOMEZ-----------------VVD--------ROBERTSON

--------------------------------HENDERSON-------------------------

-----------------GINI----------------------MILNER-------------------

-----SALAH----------------FIRMINO--------------------MANE-------



Rest players when we are 3 or 4 goals up.

[Alex]

Milner good to go?

[Buzzo]

Saw a pic of Milner in training on Instagram and he looked pretty fit.

Have seen training pics that indicate VVD and Salah are fit, Lallana looking likely for a place on the bench.

Mane has to be a doubt if he had surgery on his wrist this week.

[Buzzo]

“We have played eight games so far, that’s still early in the season. It was interrupted twice already now and it’s like you always start anew again,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com when asked about the prospect of changes in the coming weeks.

“The seven games we had between the last two international breaks were the toughest schedule I’ve ever heard about.

“When you need to function against the ball, when you need to function in defending, that’s how it is. All our new players are brilliant footballers, it’s fantastic. But they were still not settled because of when they came to the club and started with us.

“That needs time; I would love to change that but I can’t make it quicker. But at the end, we know they will be exactly on the same level of understanding for what we want to do as all the others.

“That made it so difficult to change a lot; not only one or two little injuries and stuff like that, it was actually that the team from last year was used to what we do in specific situations.

“It worked really well apart from Naples, that was really bad, especially that part of the game. That’s what made it so difficult.

“Now we have games where we will probably have more possession than we had in all the other games, so we have to think about something different and can use the players a bit more, which we try to do of course, but it all depends who is fit and who is not fit.”

[Yozza]

Klopp wary of Huddersfield 'trap'

Jürgen Klopp has warned Liverpool not to fall into the trap of underestimating Huddersfield Town.

The Reds pick up their Premier League campaign after the international break by travelling to the home of the Terriers for Saturday’s evening kick-off at John Smith’s Stadium.

Klopp’s third-placed side are 17 points ahead of their opponents in the table, with Huddersfield yet to win in the top flight so far this season.

The Liverpool boss is a keen follower of the Yorkshire club’s fortunes due to his close friendship with their manager David Wagner – which dates back to their time as teammates at FSV Mainz in the early 1990s.

And the German has been scrutinising Huddersfield’s performances rather than their points total in preparation for this weekend’s fixture.

“I watch them more because I want to see how David is doing,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com during a pre-match interview at Melwood.

“It’s a typical football thing – I heard a few people talking about Huddersfield: ‘Not good enough here, not good enough there, they have to score more.’ They had more possession against Tottenham than Tottenham. Not a lot of teams can say that about themselves. At Burnley they had more possession.

“They play proper football, they are difficult to catch. They play different systems. So far it was unlucky.

“This game is a trap, a 100 per cent trap.

“We are third with 20 points, they are pretty much bottom of the table. That’s why analysis is so important; if you only used the table to analyse a team, you would say ‘They don’t score a lot, they conceded a few and they are third from the bottom so obviously not a good football team.’ Then we’d have a big problem.

“But, thank God, we have a lot of people working on analysis, not only against PSG or whatever. That’s good, so we have all the information we need.”

Last term saw Huddersfield compete in the top tier of English football for the first time since 1971-72 and Wagner’s team defied expectations to preserve their Premier League status via a 16th-place finish.

They have collected just three points from eight matches so far this season – but that tally does not tell the full story of their improvement, according to Klopp.

“We know it will be a tough one,” he added.

“At home especially, they are unbelievably lively, the mood in the club is still really good, you can see in the stadium the atmosphere is good. Obviously the people of Huddersfield don’t forget it is a special story they write – and special stories have some ups and downs.

“At the moment, results-wise there were a few downs, but performance-wise they were stronger than last year and that makes it more difficult.”

[Yozza]

'It'll be tough - it always is after international breaks'

The task awaiting Liverpool at Huddersfield Town is made tougher by the fixture's timing, Daniel Sturridge feels.

Following the international break, the Reds will resume their season at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday evening.

Jürgen Klopp’s side head to Yorkshire unbeaten in the Premier League so far this term, with 20 points from eight matches putting them joint-top of the table prior to the weekend. Huddersfield, by contrast, are yet to win in the top flight in 2018-19 and sit in the bottom three.

Sturridge, though, is experienced enough to know that Premier League games are rarely straightforward - particularly, he explained, immediately after international breaks.

“I think it will be tough. The games are always difficult off the back of international breaks: players are tired, they’ve travelled, the week’s not as long in terms of we can’t do as much tactical work as we would usually do throughout the week,” the striker told Liverpoolfc.com.

“And obviously players have gone away and done different tactics with their national teams, played in different positions and roles, so it kind of poses a little bit of a ‘[can we] get back to what we’re used to doing?’ [question].

“I hope we go there and we get a result, that’s the main thing. We’ve just got to stay focused on that.

“We never will underestimate any team. People will say we’re favourites but we’re going into this game and we’re both on the same playing field. It’s the Premier League, so every team is strong in this league.”

While many of his teammates have been away with their national teams over the last fortnight, Liverpool’s Player of the Month for September has been hard at work at Melwood.

And, should Klopp call on him, the 29-year-old is raring to go ahead of another busy period that involves six matches in 22 days before the next round of international fixtures.

“I’m feeling great [and am] looking forward to contributing to the team,” Sturridge said.

“I’m feeling amazing so I can’t really complain, I can have no complaints. I’m just excited for the next month coming up and hopefully we can get some good results in that month.

“Whatever the manager feels is best for the team [is best]. Whoever’s the right players to play, [we] will push ourselves to the limit. We’ve got a great squad so you’ve just got to be ready to give your all, give your everything, to push yourself to the limit.

“Every game’s important for this team, whether it’s the cup, the league, the Champions League, whatever it is, every single game is just as important as each other.

“So, however many minutes you get, whether you’re starting or you’re coming off the bench, you want to support the team as best as possible and help them be successful.”

Sturridge scored the crucial opening goal shortly after half-time when Liverpool met Huddersfield at Anfield a little under 12 months ago.

The Reds went on to win that game 3-0, and the forward believes patience could be key again this time around.

“It’s always important - playing against teams which sometimes sit deeper, teams that don’t, say, [set out to] break us down, those are games when you have to be very patient,” Sturridge continued.

“And this team’s at home also, so they’ll be playing on the front foot. They’ll show us respect, but I don’t think they’ll show us too much respect, especially being at home.

“We have to be mindful of that and we have to stay focused on the job we have [to do], because we understand that they’re a strong team and they have improved since last season also.

“I think every team when they set up in the Premier League, they look at oppositions differently, they look at the past games and they get to watch you and see ‘what are their weaknesses and can we exploit them?’

“We understand that they’re going into this game trying to win it and we’re going to do the same.”

[Yozza]

Jürgen Klopp on LFC fitness latest

Jürgen Klopp has confirmed Liverpool have several fitness concerns to consider ahead of Saturday's clash with Huddersfield Town – but the Reds are boosted by the availability of Adam Lallana.

Sadio Mane underwent surgery on a hand injury sustained on international duty with Senegal, while Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk each missed their countries’ second match of the double-header, and Naby Keita suffered a hamstring strain during Guinea’s game on Tuesday afternoon.

Prior to the pause in domestic action, midfielder James Milner was forced off 30 minutes into Liverpool’s Premier League meeting with Manchester City.

“One-and-a-half weeks ago everybody was quite happy or satisfied with the situation; one-and-a-half weeks later, we miss a few players. That’s the situation, we cannot change it,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com on Thursday.

“At the end, there will be a really strong side wearing a Liverpool shirt going to Huddersfield and then we will see what we can get there.”

He added: “I understand that you all want to know it but I never get any information on injuries from other teams! So why should we give it out there to the world?

“We will try really hard that everybody is available at the weekend; we will probably fail with one or two but we will try everything that they will be on the pitch or available at least. Until then, you have to wait.”

Klopp can, however, call on Lallana, who had been sidelined after suffering a groin injury on England duty at the beginning of September.

Asked if the No.20 is in contention to face the Terriers, the manager said: “Yes, of course.

“Now it’s getting a bit difficult with judging how fit he is really. But training looks tremendous; he obviously enjoys playing football. It’s easy to enjoy watching [him].

“We will see what we do. Nobody, not even he, knows how long he can [play] and stuff like that. We still want to be careful – not too careful but, of course, careful [so] that we reach the point where we don’t have to think about it anymore.

“A few things happened in the past that are already over, that’s good. But we cannot forget it completely or ignore it. But he is 100 per cent back and looks really good in training.”

[Yozza]

'I could have told my coffee machine'

Jurgen Klopp has also been asked about the UEFA Nations League. It's fair to say the Liverpool boss is not a fan.

“You don’t want to see Anthony Joshua fighting every second night," he said. That’s not possible. In no other sports - in American football you have a summer break that is nearly longer than our season has, a real, proper break.

“In Basketball they have a summer league. Only in football everyone wants big competitions where you can get relegated, promoted, playing for something.

“At one point we have to think do we want opera every night? Or every two months.

“I like competition but at one point somebody has to step back and think they are players, how can we make sure they perform?

“The Nations League is a good idea but do it in another sport because in football there is no space for it. I realise that I could have told my coffee machine because nobody is really interested in [my opinion]."

[Yozza]

'I think of the team first and not individuals'

The Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is now asked about England full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold who was left out of the Reds fixture against Manchester City.

“He is a fantastic boy, our boy and a outstanding player," Klopp said.

"Thank God we have a few options to change the line-up. I don’t think it’s a challenge but if a player is not ready for something like that [being dropped] he will struggle over his career.

“It was his birthday the City game so I thought the night before a lot of people might have contacted him so I didn’t want to disturb all these message exchange. I'm obviously joking of course.

“Joe [Gomez] can play there and with respect deserved to play. That's why we did it. I think about the situation and the players I line-up first not what it would mean for Trent. It was nothing. He came back in a good shape, a good mood and enjoyed the time with the national team."

[Parm]

lallana will be like a new signing

[baitman]

Milner might be 50/50 but thats not allowing for his cyborg internal parts.
Surely mane is out with the broken thumb.

[Mark79]

lallana will be like a new signing

This will be like the third time we've signed him in the last 18 months.