Team v Liverpool

[Slim]

Hart
Richards--Toure--Kompany--Lescott
Johnson--Yaya--Barry--Silva
Tevez--Mario

[gillie]

Well if Scouse play Aurelio at LB tomorrow i would say defo play Milner on the right coz he will wipe the floor with him imo.

[Lee_R]

ffs! For the first time ever I having difficulty with our starting lineup.. I don't want to leave players out! Our squad is ridiculous. I honestly cant see us making wholesale changes in the future. Maybe once this lot is settled in and playing well together we will just sign the odd player here and there. No matter which team we put out now theres just no chance Craig Russell would have got into this team!

................Hart

Richards Toure Kompany Lescott

................Yaya

......Milner..Barry..Johnson

.........Tevez...Balotelli

And some back up.. swp silva ade ndj zabaleta <<shocking!

[gillie]

I'm just glad it's Bobby who has to pick the team and not me ffs.

[Citeh&Crew]

There's the team I want (given our injuries):

---------- -Hart--------------------
Zaba--Kolo--Kompany--Lescott

AJ------YaYa-----Milner----Silva

---------Tevez----Ade-----------

and the team that Mancini will likely put out:

---------- -Hart--------------------
Micah--Kolo--Kompany--Lescott
------------Leg Breaker-----------
Milner------YaYa-----Barry----Silva

---------------Tevez-----------

Also, is it just me, or does anyone else think that AJ is likely to be under-utilized this season? I think he is an incredible talent, and should start every game even with our current talent level.

Conversely, I see SWP getting over-utilized, because Mancini sees in him things that I obviously do not. I don't dislike SWP, but I do think that he has better speed than touch, and that he is too easy to bump off the ball.

Oh well.. as long as we get results. So we will see.

[Colin the King]

---------------------Hart---------------------
Richards----Touré----Kompany----Lescott
--------------Barry------Y.Touré-------------
---------------------Milner---------------------
------------Tevez--------------Silva----------
--------------------Adebayor-----------------

Subs- Given, Zabaleta, de Jong, Vieira, Johnson, SWP, Balotelli

That's what I'd like to see and reckon there's a fair chance it's what Mancini will opt for. Uncertain about right-back since neither Richards nor Zabaleta have been that impressive so far, but since Liverpool are good on set pieces my thought process is that we'd benefit from Richards' added height. The rest of the back four is fairly obvious, thought about Barry at left back but Lescott is solid there and I actually thought he played his best football at Everton on the left. Kuyt is an awkward guy to handle with his energy so whoever it is will have a job on their hands.

Couldn't decide who to leave out in midfield, on the premise that Milner and Touré were definite starts. Both Barry and de Jong were excellent at Spurs but in the end, we're at home and need to take the initiative so Barry's slightly more forward thinking play gets my vote. If we're shutting the game out de Jong could come on for someone but in truth, Barry, Touré with support from Milner should be absolutely fine.

Up front is the most difficult one of all, though. How to accommodate everyone? You can't! Probably best to ease Balotelli in gently with 20-25 minutes and a start on Thursday night, I think Silva and Tevez supporting Adebayor will work well as long as Ade holds shape. If he saunters off all over the place we're left with the problem we had at Spurs with no direct threat and a load of roamers. With him as the focal point, though, and those two dancing around him, we could be explosive. Don't think they'll play as wide men at all, I reckon the whole set up will be narrow with an emphasis on passing through the middle, Mancini seems to favour that approach. But with SWP and Johnson on the bench there's a Plan B available to us.

[the_georgian_genius]

--------------------Hart-------------------

Zabaleta----Toure-Kompany--Lescott

Milner---------De Jong------------Yaya

-------Johnson------------Tevez--------

-----------------Adebayor----------------

[simon12]

--------------------------Hart---------------------------

Zabaleta-------K.Toure-------Kompany------Lescott

-----------------Y.Toure--------Nige-----------------

-----Milner------------------------------Silva-----

--------------------------Tevez--------------------------

----------------------Balotelli

Subs: Shay, Barry, Sweep, AJ,Zab,Ade

It`s getting there isn`t it?

[john@staustell]

I'm with CTK I reckon, as he says possibly with Zabaleta in at RB.

---------------------Hart---------------------
Richards----Touré----Kompany----Lescott
--------------Barry------Y.Touré-------------
---------------------Milner---------------------
------------Tevez--------------Silva----------
--------------------Adebayor-----------------

Basically Ade is coming in for NDJ, and Milner for SWP, with Lescott staying at RB.

I disagree with anyone who leaves Barry out and puts NDJ in, not because it's not a good idea, but because it is usually Nigel that gets left out at home. GB is a better passer and seems to be one of the first on the teamsheet of Hughes, Mancini and Capello. In fact, when fit, I would say the following are nailed on in league matches:

Hart Touré(K) Barry Touré(Y) Tevez, Kolarov when fit.

Silva seems to be in also at the moment and this home match could be his chance to shine.

[johnny crossan]

I'm with CTK I reckon, as he says possibly with Zabaleta in at RB.

---------------------Hart---------------------
Richards----Touré----Kompany----Lescott
--------------Barry------Y.Touré-------------
---------------------Milner---------------------
------------Tevez--------------Silva----------
--------------------Adebayor-----------------

Basically Ade is coming in for NDJ, and Milner for SWP, with Lescott staying at RB.

I disagree with anyone who leaves Barry out and puts NDJ in, not because it's not a good idea, but because it is usually Nigel that gets left out at home. GB is a better passer and seems to be one of the first on the teamsheet of Hughes, Mancini and Capello. In fact, when fit, I would say the following are nailed on in league matches:

Hart Touré(K) Barry Touré(Y) Tevez, Kolarov when fit.

Silva seems to be in also at the moment and this home match could be his chance to shine.

I would differ slightly by predicting that if Lescott continues to improve at LB he may well displace Kompany when Kolarov returns.
- also expect AJ & Balotelli to feature from the bench after 60 mins or so, and de Jong to come on after 80 if we are in front.

[john@staustell]

I'm with CTK I reckon, as he says possibly with Zabaleta in at RB.

---------------------Hart---------------------
Richards----Touré----Kompany----Lescott
--------------Barry------Y.Touré-------------
---------------------Milner---------------------
------------Tevez--------------Silva----------
--------------------Adebayor-----------------

Basically Ade is coming in for NDJ, and Milner for SWP, with Lescott staying at RB.

I disagree with anyone who leaves Barry out and puts NDJ in, not because it's not a good idea, but because it is usually Nigel that gets left out at home. GB is a better passer and seems to be one of the first on the teamsheet of Hughes, Mancini and Capello. In fact, when fit, I would say the following are nailed on in league matches:

Hart Touré(K) Barry Touré(Y) Tevez, Kolarov when fit.

Silva seems to be in also at the moment and this home match could be his chance to shine.

I would differ slightly by predicting that if Lescott continues to improve at LB he may well displace Kompany when Kolarov returns.
- also expect AJ & Balotelli to feature from the bench after 60 mins or so, and de Jong to come on after 80 if we are in front.

Yep, agree with a lot of that. Warf/Jolene is a funny player. When fit and playing regularly he's excellent. But he needs to get there, build up his confidence each time it seems. We have the best of him to come.

[london blue 2]

-----------------------HART---------------------------
RICHARDS---KOLO-------KOMPANY------LESCOTT

------------------------YAYA---------------------------
------------MILNER---------------BARRY------------

--------TEVEZ--------------------BALOTELLI--------
-------------------ADEBAYOR------------------------

[Beeks]

According to RAWK ITKs the Liverpool team will be as follows

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Aurelio

Mascherano Poulsen

Kuyt Gerrard Jovanovic

Torres

[ant london]

According to RAWK ITKs the Liverpool team will be as follows

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Aurelio

Mascherano Poulsen

Kuyt Gerrard Jovanovic

Torres

you have to say....man for man....AND as a whole team....we have a line-up that is significantly more talented in virtually every position than that team.

whether we can perform as a better team really is the key question!

[Murph]

According to RAWK ITKs the Liverpool team will be as follows

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Aurelio

Mascherano Poulsen

Kuyt Gerrard Jovanovic

Torres

Looks a solid team designed to hit on the counter. Hopefully Torres is still some way off being at his best so if we can keep Gerard under wraps we should be ok defensively. Don't think either of their full backs are that good at defending but will we play with the width to get at them?

[Ted Hughes]

Our width in Mancini's preferred systems would be created by the fullbacks, both of whom are missing. Liverpool are going to have 5 in midfield, dropping Kuyt & Gerrard in there & unless we counter it they'll dominate the area. If we start with 4-3-3 or similar, at least 2 of the front 3 are going to have to drop deep to match up with Liverpool. I would have thought he'll try to mirror their system for a while & then perhaps bring on Balotelli to try & win it.

With Lescott & Richrds at fullback + Yaya in midfield we have a height advantage at set pieces which Lescott has exploited for Everton in the past.

[StrikeAnywhere]

--------------------hart----------------------
richard-------toure-------vk--------lescott
---------------toure-----milner-------------
johnson-----------Tev----------------Silva
----------------Adebayor-------------------

fucken have em

[bluej]

According to RAWK ITKs the Liverpool team will be as follows

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Aurelio

Mascherano Poulsen

Kuyt Gerrard Jovanovic

Torres

Just went on RAWK to have a nosey, nearly made my eyes bleed.

Their main points in the City thread-
-They hope they 'kick fuck out of City'
-Pissing themselves because Mancini said that Balotelli has THE POTENTIAL to be better than Torres (i.e they read it as Balotelli IS better than Torres)
-Hoping for a 'victory for football'
-If we win 'its on' etc

Outside of the rags, the team I would love us to smash this season would be the dippers.

[Beeks]

Outside of the rags, the team I would love us to smash this season would be the dippers.

Nah...it's got to be bluescouse by a mile...

[london blue 2]

Outside of the rags, the team I would love us to smash this season would be the dippers.

Nah...it's got to be bluescouse by a mile...

champions league spuds for me