Liverpool FC Forum

This is what football is all about.

Give me this over the Europa cup any day. The FA cup is still (in my mind) the most prestigious cup competition in football with big name scalps being offered up to smaller teams. Hopefully were not going to be one of them and to ensure this doesn't happen our lads shouldn't turn up at Field Mill thinking they've already one.

 

For my sins, I didn't realise that Mansfield were a non-league team! I've done a little digging and by all accounts they've had similar problems with their chairman as we did with H&G:



Hi, stag in peace here.

Obviously looking forward to the game on Sunday, it's a game we start with nothing to lose and everything to gain, best scenario for us without doubt would be sneak a draw and have a great pay day out for the club at your place.

The pitch isn't great at the moment, but forecast is to stay dry between now and the weekend, it's not the worst pitch you will ever see normally looks a picture and one of the better surfaces in this god forsaken league we find ourselves in, however after the wettest year on record it's suffered, remember we are non league so budgets are not quite the same down here in the bowels of football.

It's going to be a great day for the long suffering diehard stags fans, we suffered years of abuse by a chairman whom milked the club for every penny he could culminating in our relegation from the football league, goggle Mansfield & haslam, you will find the history behind it.

Our team, on paper a very strong BSP side,( started the season as a bookies favourite for automatic promotion) this season we have only seen minor glimpses of what on paper they should be capable of, I hope they turn up Sunday and don't roll over, not going to come on here giving it the big one, in reality we don't stand a chance but stranger things have happened ?  What we don't want is a cricket score.

It's a big day for us, call it our cup final, defiantly going to enjoy it, it's pay back time for all those miles put in following your team through very little thick and plenty of thin over the 40 years I've been following the stags.

For those that travel have a safe journey and see you Sunday, let's have a great party atmosphere and enjoy, we can dream ?

Finally, may I pass on my respect to the 96 and their families.

Ripped from RAWK - poster stag party

A link to Mansfield's demise: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-c ... ith-haslam

Back to the romantics, by all accounts Mansfield will be an aerial threat aka mini Stoke, who will pump and throw it long more often than not. Of course their pitch isn't the bowling green of premier league clubs, so this should make it the perfect cup tie.



If we treat them with respect we should win. We have the added excitement of seeing Sturridge in a Red shirt too. Personally, I'd start with a fairly strong team, then pull off key players around 60mins:


------------------------------------------------- Reina

-------------Johnson--------------Coates----------------------Carragher ---------------- Robinson

-----------------------------------------Lucas--------------Gerrard

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

----------------------Sturridge------------------Luis----------------Sterling


Subs: Allen for Gerrard
         Downing for Sterling
         Someone for Luis

After 60 min, providing all is going well.

Kenneth, you're an unbelieveable d!ckhead playing Sturridge out on the right.     With a soft first game like this he should be given the chance to prove himself in the centre with Suarez out right and moving in. Why waste the opportunity - think its important for Sturridge to get a couple of goals in his first game then we're off to Old Traffadil with a lad full of confidence.

Happy new year by the way. 

Reg » Fri Jan 04, 2013 5:37 am wrote:Kenneth, you're an unbelieveable d!ckhead playing Sturridge out on the right.     With a soft first game like this he should be given the chance to prove himself in the centre with Suarez out right and moving in. Why waste the opportunity - think its important for Sturridge to get a couple of goals in his first game then we're off to Old Traffadil with a lad full of confidence.

Happy new year by the way. 

It's just my opinion. Don't get all uppity about it reginald.

FWIW does playing Sturridge on the right mean he won't/can't - be able to score goals from that position. If so, this is news to me.

So, you advocate experimenting do you, even if it's for 1 game, is it worth it. IMO no. Suarez should command central position on merit and also head into the game centrally against the skanks. Rodgers may have plans to do otherwise but I wouldn't 'tinker' with a red hot formula - you know the old cliche, 'if it's not broken don't fix it'. Sturridge should IMO prove his worth from a slightly wider position in his opening game against Mansfield. And, if you say he doesn't get the chance to score a couple of goals from there against Mansfield, then there won't be much hope of him scoring 1 at Old toilet next week from a central position.

Happy New Year 

Suarez has the flexibility to play wide and score whether against Mighty Mansfield or Ure, but I really want to see Sturridge start well so yes I would play him centrally and tell him to get out there and claim his place for OT. Bang a couple away from 5 yards out but break his duck and dance in front of the fans.  I'm well into the 'SS' partnership giving the Ure back 4 a massive amount of work running wide and opening the gaps for Stevie and ?? to run through and score. All good.

According to sky this morning Suarez role is to shift to either the left striker role or in the hold to accommodate Sturridge.

All with his blessing, apparently Rodgers has been engaging with Suarez ever since the move was on the cards.

Suarez shouldn't be anywhere near the pitch for this one.  We have some very hard PL fixtures coming up so why risk our star man for what should be a formality?

I know we have to show them respect but we have a squad for a reason.


                       Reina

Wisdom  Carra   Coates   Robinson

           Shelvey             Allen
                   Henderson

   Suso       Sturridge    Downing         


Give Sturridge his debut and the chance to bag some confidence building goals on his debut. Rest Gerrard and Suarez along with Johnson, Agger and Skertl and save them for the league.

mkingdom » Fri Jan 04, 2013 12:25 pm wrote:Suarez shouldn't be anywhere near the pitch for this one.  We have some very hard PL fixtures coming up so why risk our star man for what should be a formality?

I know we have to show them respect but we have a squad for a reason.


                       Reina

Wisdom  Carra   Coates   Robinson

           Shelvey             Allen
                   Henderson

   Suso       Sturridge    Downing         


Give Sturridge his debut and the chance to bag some confidence building goals on his debut. Rest Gerrard and Suarez along with Johnson, Agger and Skertl and save them for the league.

i agree, luis should be given the weekend off and told to go home and re-charge his batteries. he put in a real shift over the christmas period and infact played 1 more game than everyone else, he actually turned up against stoke where as the rest of the team took the night off.
we`ve got some huge games looming up on the horizon and luis runs himself into the ground every time he puts on a red shirt so this is a perfect opportunity to give him a break.
sturridge can lead the line, without being disrespectful to mansfield this is a decent game for danny to make his debut in, he might get a goal or two which would get him off to a flyer and the last thing you want as a striker joining a new club is to wait 6 weeks for your first goal.
i agree with kenny`s sentiments in his OP, third round day is always a special day in the footballing calender and hopefully we will be in the hat for the next round after the weekend.

i suspect the likes of jones, carra and shelvey will start this one.

Agree with the sentiment about resting Suarez but how can he and Sturridge gain an understanding for OT if they've never played together? They've got to do 45 minutes I suspect.

I would rest Suarez Sterling Gerrard Skrtel Agger and Johnson.

With the form current form Hendo and Downing are showing id keep them in the side.

A team of

                        Reina
Wisdom       Carra      Coates     Robinson

                   Sahin       Allen
                      Henderson
Downing                             Suso
                     Sturridge

I'd normally wouldn't suggest starting with such a fresh signing but if we're going to play Sturridge against the mancs then he and Suarez would need some game time together.

I'd like to rest a few and play a few that deserve more game time:


                                      Jones

      Wisdom         Carragher    Coates        Johnson


                                Allen      Hendo

                                 Suso/Shelvey


                   Sturidge       Suarez        Assaidi


If all goes well, Suarez and Johnson should be subbed at some point of the game by Yesil and Robinson.

I'd also like to play Sahin instead of Suso/Shelvey but I doubt that Rodgers has future plans with him.


Anyway, this is how the pitch looks in Mansfield:

damjan193 » Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:41 pm wrote:I'd normally wouldn't suggest starting with such a fresh signing but if we're going to play Sturridge against the mancs then he and Suarez would need some game time together.

I'd like to rest a few and play a few that deserve more game time:


                                      Jones

      Wisdom         Carragher    Coates        Johnson


                                Allen      Hendo

                                 Suso/Shelvey


                   Sturidge       Suarez        Assaidi


If all goes well, Suarez and Johnson should be subbed at some point of the game by Yesil and Robinson.

I'd also like to play Sahin instead of Suso/Shelvey but I doubt that Rodgers has future plans with him.


Anyway, this is how the pitch looks in Mansfield:

If that's what the pitch looks like we shouldn't be risking any of our top players, including Suarez.

apparently they`ve had tons of rain down there over the past few weeks and by all accounts there`s even a chance that the game may be called off because their pitch is that heavy. if it rains again over the weekend they reckon it will be postponed.
with mansfield being a non league side the pitch is not going to be the greatest anyway, add that to the wettest year since records began and if this game does go ahead it could be a bit more difficult than we first envisaged.
if the pitch ends up like a first world war battlefield it`s going to suit them because apparently this lot are the stoke of the conference so a rough pitch wont affect their game as much.
this is deffo a game for the carragher`s and coates`s of this world and also the likes of shelvey and allen who have played in the lower leagues.
pointless playing the likes of sterling, suso and sahin in this one, especially if the ball is not running over the surface properly.

Has it been raining there Friday, do you know?