VvD took a bit of a whack to his ankle. Looked like Sissoko caught him towards the end of the game, then you could see him rubbing it, and not moving as freely. Later spotted with an ice-pack wrapped around it. I'd suggest that five days will be enough so see him start at ours.......but I'm hoping it keeps him out. Looked class today.
Although Manchester City are a better footballing side, there seems an inevitability about Liverpool. Klopp will have them perfectly prepared to win on Friday night.
Saints can help themselves by trying to reach 40+. Looking at the PL today, it begs the question how West Ham went down on 42? It must have been a very different PL with the teams no so polarised as they are now.
And Ralph will have us perfectly set up for them too, crowd will be well up for it and Friday night will help. It's already decided that we'll derail their title charge mate.
I wouldn't mind a Saints win because it would help propel SFC towards finishing above 40 points, something that was inconceivable at the start of December. However, when a team gets the roll of the dice like Liverpool did, not only yesterday but in several other matches this season, you sense the eventual outcome. I could be wrong, though. Having said this I would love Manchester City to retain their title as I feel the acknowledgements they get, although sometimes glowing, are begrudging due to their backing. My reply would be how else can a team like City be expected to compete if they do not have the worldwide support of United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal without an element of financial doping.
Obviously beating them would be utterly glorious, but I'd be pretty delighted with a draw tbh. Still dents their title challenge and gives us an unexpected point. It'll take some doing to get anything from this game though, even if they don't play half as well as they can the ref will still do whatever he can to make sure they win.
As much as I want us to beat Liverpool, it will need every player to play at 100% of their ability to achieve that. The trio up front, Firmino, Mane and Salah are a nightmare in waiting for any team not at their best and I hope that our centre backs, in their rush to cut out balls played to foot, don’t get there too late allowing themselves to be turned, leaving a massive gap at the back. So much will depend on how well we press them, when they are in possession, to cut off supply (especially from their full backs who both use the ball so well) and how well we retain possession, when we get hold of the ball. Our pass success rate, at Brighton, against a team that wasn’t pressing for most of the game, was poor (63%).
Do we still have performance bonuses on Lallana, Lovren and Virgil if Liverpool win the title? It could be that this supports the purchase of another player, and i just feel dirty thinking about it.
No reason we can`t take points off them. We can play with no fear - they have to win. I take it Ings can`t play ?
Yeah, we’ll have nothing to lose really; Cardiff are unlikely to get anything from City on Wednesday, so we should still be 5 points clear of the drop come what may
