by bigmick » Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:07 am
That Liverpool one is last seasons first team essentially, though admittedly with the addition of Dossena for Riise/Aurelio. As such, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it go pretty well.
Arbeloa will add something at right back (particularly going forward) while Carra will bolster the centre backs. We know that the midfield triumverate will work, while Kuyt on the right in a 4-5-1 is absolutely no problem. I'd expect Dirk to put in his best performance for weeks, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he scored a goal. I really do think that this formation suits him down to the ground, whereas the 4-4-2 asks too big a question.
Babel could be anything on the day, it really seems to depend what kind of mood he's in. You would have thought we really ought to see some of Bob's "hungry cheetah" to cheer up the Babelians, but unfortunately we are just as likely to see the "fully sated, quite contented and frankly quite drowsy Lion" as well.
Up top, Torres on his own will terrorise them.
There are a couple of riders (aren't there always?). It's probably worth mentioning the two other possible set ups. We could go 4-4-2 with Gerrard on the left and Babel up top. I think it's unlikely though, even for Rafa. Although it's been a while and the memory of how bad it looks to waste your best player on the left wing may have faded a little, it would also involve playing Babel up top. Although the Dutchman probably feels that's his best position, I don't think the manager agrees with him. So I'd rule that one out.
The other more likely possibility (or option if you prefer) is Gerrard on the right and Kuyt up top. This makes more sense than the previous one, but I simply cannot believe that we would spunk 20 million quid on a striker and then not play him up top in preference to Kuyt. Well not continuously anyway, I just can't see it.
So I think it'll be 4-5-1 (if that team is correct) and I think we'll do pretty well. No doubt Amechobi's eyes will light up once he see's he's lining up against Dossena, and who could blame him? Moyes's eyes will be goggling out of his head like a frog (yes I know) as soon as he sees the team sheet, so I would expect they'll cause us a problem down there. This is particulary the case if Babel does play down the left, as Dossena would be unwise to hold out any great hope of bags of support or crunching tackles from the Dutchman. He might be the ideal bloke to have on your side if you want a copy of the latest techno grooves burning onto mini-disk, but if you're all hands on deck defending he wouldn't be my first choice in the trench to be honest.
All in all though wit that team I'd expect goals for both teams and it should be a good game. I'd take us to nick it in a thriller 3-2. To be honest though, I'd take any scoreline including a defeat if Torres and Gerrard can avoid injury.
Last edited by
bigmick on Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".
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