Liverpool FC Forum

This could be the defining match of the season. Get something from this and play some decent football and I dare not think where it might take us. City are a brilliant team with a massive high quality squad and yes they can play some fantastic football. We need to play an attacking pressing game. Trying to do what Chelsea did against Arsenal last night and we will probably lose heavily. Just hope BR doesn't go with wing backs. Johnson really needs to step up for this game. He likes the big occasion and often performs well.Lucas also needs to be right on it and smash up their attacks at every opportunity. Henderson,Coutinho,Sterling,Sakho and Suarez more of the same please. WE CAN GET SOMETHING FROM THIS !!

Just for Christmas !! Old but I like it: A van driver used to amuse himself by running over every Man City fan he would see strutting down the side of the road, dressed in their ubiquitous Blue colours. He would swerve to hit them and there would be a loud "THUMP" and then he would swerve back on the road.

One day, as the driver was driving along, he saw a priest hitchhiking. He thought he would do a good turn and pulled the van over. He asked the Priest, "Where are you going, Father?"

"I'm going to say mass at St. Joseph's church, about two miles down the road," replied the priest.

"No problem Father! I'll give you a lift. Climb in!"

The happy priest climbed into the passenger seat and the van continued down the road. Suddenly the driver saw a Man City fan walking down the road and instinctively swerved to hit him. But, just in time, he remembered the priest, so at the last minute he swerved back to the road, narrowly missing the man.

However even though he was certain he missed the glory-hunting twa.t, he still heard a loud "THUD." Not understanding where the noise came from, he glanced in his mirrors and when he didn't see anything he turned to the priest and said

"I'm sorry Father, I almost hit that Man City fan,"

"That's okay son," replied the priest. "I got the f***er with the door![/b]

Sorry lads.Think I might get a ban for that.................

this is one of our biggest games in years, we all know the implications of finishing outside the top four but we also all know what would happen if we managed to win the title.
city are beatable, i saw them against arsenal and the scoreline flattered city, arsenal had a goal ruled out for offside that looked on to me and 2 other offside calls that went against them when they had players clean through on city`s goal.
2 late city goals in injury time made the scoreline look more emphatic than it was.
they are missing aguero and zabeletta tomorrow plus city fans dont seem to rate that di michelis much who is deputizing for the injured nastasic. they are missing 2 of what they would consider to be their best back 4. city fans also seem to think that their one achilles heel is that they cant handle teams that really press high up the pitch.
yes it will be our hardest game of the season but if we reproduce a performance like the one at WHL then i think we`ll win.
its pointless sitting back and trying to absorb pressure, we need to take the game to them.

they are missing aguero and zabeletta tomorrow

Zabeletta is apparently scheduled for a late fitness test as is Flanagan. 

Hopefully Zabeletta fails his whilst Flanno comes through ok.

woof woof ! » Wed Dec 25, 2013 11:51 am wrote:

they are missing aguero and zabeletta tomorrow

Zabeletta is apparently scheduled for a late fitness test as is Flanagan. 

Hopefully Zabeletta fails his whilst Flanno comes through ok.

cheers woof.
we could do without losing flanno, we are already down to the bare bones in terms of fullbacks and if things werent already bad enough in that position glenn johnson isnt exactly ripping up tree`s either.

approach should be same as the Spurs game ,they are lacking some starters in the Defense ,Kompany's confidence might a bit low after his own goal ,Demichelis is a pretty average CB ,Formula is press them high and grab 3-4 early goals.

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:07 pm wrote:

woof woof ! » Wed Dec 25, 2013 11:51 am wrote:

they are missing aguero and zabeletta tomorrow

Zabeletta is apparently scheduled for a late fitness test as is Flanagan. 

Hopefully Zabeletta fails his whilst Flanno comes through ok.

cheers woof.
we could do without losing flanno, we are already down to the bare bones in terms of fullbacks and if things werent already bad enough in that position glenn johnson isnt exactly ripping up tree`s either.

If Young Flanno is out i hope Rodgers plays Agger as LB and doesn't go for Kelly.

If Flanagan is injured it will be a blow. Not that we'll miss his quality too much but it screws up the system. We all agreed that Cissokho shouldn't wear the shirt again and Kelly is nowhere near fit enough. The only option I see is playing Agger at LB but our system won't work the way it should with a CB playing as LB.

Regardless of who plays, we should go straight at them. Some might say that doing that against City at the Etihad is equal to suicide but to us it will be suicide if we sit back. There is always the option of having an embarrassing defeat but we should play our game regardless.

Aguero will be a huge miss for them but that midfield of theirs will be tough to contain. Hope Hendo can up his game even further.

only me » Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:16 pm wrote:If Young Flanno is out i hope Rodgers plays Agger as LB and doesn't go for Kelly.

Agreed 

Meanwhile, in the build up to the game Sakho shows the attitude we all want 

City have won all eight Premier League games this season at the Etihad and have scored 35 goals while conceding only five.

Liverpool are their Boxing Day visitors and French defender Sakho believes they can claim at least a point.

"That's great for them if they have a great home record, but football nowadays is all about turning form and records around," Sakho told Liverpoolfc.com.

"The key for me quite simply is to be determined and confident in ourselves and I hope we will go there to try and put an end to that home record.

"The aim is to try and win every match, whether it's here or at their place, so we'll try and go there determined and ready for the fight and try and win. It's as simple as that.

"I think that when everyone is pulling in the same direction, you can move mountains."

Liverpool's issue may be a lack of numbers in that fight as boss Brendan Rodgers has revealed that they only have 17 senior players available with John Flanagan adding to a list of doubts.

But they can take heart from their last away game in the Premier League - a 5-0 win over Tottenham.

"I think that result showed that we could put in a big performance," said Sakho. "We have to enjoy that victory but then put it into perspective - not all away games are the same. Each opponent is different and this is a very tough league.

"But of course there will now be a level of expectation from everyone when Liverpool play away. I just hope we can get as many positive results as we can.

"I think that we have nothing to be envious about in any of the teams in this league. They have their qualities and we have ours but apart from that, the key is to focus on all that's positive about ourselves, concentrate on our game and be sure of our own strengths."

rumour going round that flanno wont be fit for neither the city or chelsea game, if true thats deffo a blow, you could see how our performance level dropped off against cardiff when he had to be subbed, flanno`s no world beater but he fits the system well (knows when to press etc) and gives us good balance out there on the left.
kelly still looks well short in terms of sharpness to me and cissokho isnt setting the world alight either so our options dont look that great tbh, last time agger filled in at LB was in this fixture under hodgson and we got absolutely marmalised, adam johnson ripped him to shreds.
whoever brendan goes with they are going to have their hands full with the likes of navas, nasri and silva running at them.
i`m even more convinced now that attack is our best form of defence, if we sit back and invite them onto us it could get embaressing, take the game to them.
just got to hope that rumour is all me @rse

as long as we show up and give them a game of it il be happy    if we can get a result it will be the perfect xmas gift 
this game is not going to define our season and as long as we arent ripped to shreds then there nothing to be embarrassed about. good side with a great home record.
if flanno is out then he has to play agger L.B or move sakho over.
midfield is where it has to happen for us, its a big ask against the quality they have in that area but if we can bring a performance like we did against spurs then we have a chance of getting something.
come on redmen 

going by twitter flanno  is out so that's a big blow, well a draw would be a good result today, just our luck that we play the other big boys when we have some of or best players out but you just never know....I mean its a boxing day game
come on lads lets shock them!!

Such a big game today, can't remember the last time I was getting nervous about us playing a top of the title match 

We go into this without pressure.  We may be top of the table but nobody is expecting us to get anything today with City's home record.  Getting anything out of this is a bonus and would be a great result.

I actually think City have weaknesses that we can exploit, especially the lack of pace in their back line if we have the likes of Suarez and Sterling running at them.  Demechelis is a complete liability from what I've seen of him and Kompany still isn't match sharp after a long lay-off.

The key will be the midfield battle.  If they settle they'll dominate us and eventually with their quality they will get chances.  If we can play like we did at Spurs, press high, upset their rhythm, get in their faces and force them into mistakes in their own half then winning this isn't beyond us, let alone getting a draw.  Of course they're the sort of team that if we press high and they play to their maximum, they have the quality pass through our midfield and tear us apart.  It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

I think Rodgers has made the right noises in the build up, taking the pressure off us and putting it on City.

Come on red men!!!

Nobody apart from the most optimistic of us is expecting a win but if the players turn in a performance we know they're capable of we could lay down a real marker here.

Hope our lads treat it like a cup final and go all out for the win 

So Flanagan out, Cissohko in.

Time for a big performance from Cissohko.