Text here for the logos. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Hello and welcome to the official match thread for Saturday’s Barclays Premier League encounter between Sunderland & Liverpool. The game is to be played at the Stadium of Light on September 15th 2012 at 5.30PM. The game is to be shown on ESPN and talkSPORT will have the radio rights to the game. Preview. The first round of qualifiers for the World Cup in 2014 is at the forefront of most people’s minds at the moment but we have Premier League football to look forward at the weekend. We shall be focusing on the Premier League in this thread and taking an extensive look at the Saturday evening fixture between Sunderland & Liverpool. First of all, let’s take a look at the home side, Sunderland, and their chances of picking up the points. Sunderland have had a solid start to this season with 2 points from 2 games. With both of these games being away from home and against Arsenal & a Swansea City side who have had an excellent start to this season, you can conclude that everyone associated with Sunderland would be happy with their start. For this game, injuries will have an effect on the side Martin O’Neill puts out. In their last game, a 2-2 away draw with Swansea City, the defence was seriously affected by injuries with Craig Gardner filling in at right-back with Jack Colback at left-back. Both of these players are centre-midfielders and had to fill in positions which they aren’t used to playing in. This will be of concern to O’Neill as he will be looking for his side to kick off their home league campaign with a good result and having a full squad is vital to that. First choice right-back Phil Bardsley and ex-Manchester United defender Wes Brown are both on the injury list and leaves Sunderland short in defensive numbers. Tottenham Hotspur loanee Danny Rose can fill in at left-back and even on the left wing and that gives O’Neill some more options on that side of the pitch. If Rose comes in at left-back, it would allow Colback to possibly move back into his preferred centre-midfield position. If Bardsley isn’t fit and available, Craig Garnder could fill in again at right-back. However, if Wes Brown recovers from a knee injury, he could go back into the centre-back position alongside Carlos Cuéllar and John O’Shea could then move to right-back. As you tell, it’s quite difficult to predict Sunderland’s defence! With players coming back from injury but not necessarily match fit, it will concern O’Neill and could lead to an under-strength defence being put out. (Not much Sunderland can do about it though...) In the midfield, things become easier to predict. In Sunderland’s most recent game, they played a four in midfield which consisted of: A. Johnson – Larsson - Cattermole - McClean This gives Sunderland good width with James McClean on the left-hand providing the balls into the box and on the right, Adam Johnson cutting in and adding to the balls being played into the front two. With Lee Cattermole proving the steel and Sebastian Larsson moving in from the right-hand side and playing in the middle of the park, it gives him the opportunity to try & dictate the play and provides even more ammunition to the wingers and the strikers. I feel this would be the midfield that O’Neill plays and gives Sunderland a good mix of steel and creativity in the midfield. Up-front, I would expect Steven Fletcher to start up-top after his two-goal haul against Swansea. And I would expect Benin international, Stéphane Sessègnon, to play in behind Fletcher. Sessègnon was one of the stand-out players for Sunderland last season with 8 goals and 9 assists. He was also up there with the league’s most creative players with nine assists from the 72 chances he created. This works out at an assist for Sessègnon for around every 6.5 chances he creates. Impressive stats i’m sure you’ll agree. To sum up Sunderland’s chances, a lot will depend on the defence and how they cope. With a few first-choice defenders doubtful to play, it looks like it will be a makeshift defence. The defence has performed reasonably well in recent games but it remains to be seen if they can keep out Liverpool’s forward line. However, as will be mentioned later on in this preview, Liverpool aren’t the best at converting chances... Now, let’s have a look at the away side, Liverpool, and assess their chances of picking up a something at the Stadium of Light. It’s been a difficult start for Liverpool this season. The fixture list meant that Liverpool have had to start with some difficult games including home games with the league champions, Manchester City, and Arsenal, who finished third last season. Add into this an opening day away day at West Brom and it was undoubtedly a difficult start for Rodgers and his side. In the three league games that Liverpool have played in so far, they have picked up just the one point. That point was a hard-earned point at home to Manchester City which Liverpool could have won but ended up taking the one point away from. Those results do leave Liverpool 18th in the table and whilst it is far too early to be judging the new manager, a good result on Saturday would be a welcome boost for everyone associated with Liverpool Football Club. Now, let’s have a look at the possible team Liverpool will put out. In goal, Pepe Reina will be expected to continue in goal. Despite some mistakes of late, he is still an excellent keeper and Liverpool’s number one. In defence, there are some injury concerns for Rodgers to think about. José Enrique is struggling with a knee injury which means he is a doubt for Saturday’s game. This could mean that Martin Kelly continues at right-back with Glen Johnson once again moving to the left-hand side of defence. In the middle of defence, Martin Skrtel & Daniel Agger will be expected to continue in their respective positions. In midfield, there are also some injury concerns. It is already known that Lucas Leiva is out of the game with a thigh injury and Joe Allen, Liverpool’s second summer signing, is struggling with an illness. It is currently unknown as to whether Allen will feature for Liverpool on Saturday and more will be known after Wales World Cup qualifier with Serbia tomorrow. If Allen doesn’t make it, I would expect this midfield three to play: Gerrard - Shelvey - Sahin Jonjo Shelvey has performed well under the guidance of Rodgers this season and impressed in the pre-season tour to North America. He would seem most likely to be brought in, in the place of Allen if he doesn’t make it. There is also ex-Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson who could also feature in a game against his hometown club. In the forward positions, there are one or two issues to look at. It would seem very likely that both Fabio Borini & Luis Suarez would start with Suarez down the middle and Borini on the right-hand side. Many fans would like to see those switched with Borini down the middle and Suarez cutting in from the right-hand side. However, I cannot see this happening for this game. On the left-hand side, it becomes more difficult. In the past two games, Raheem Sterling has played but it’s important that the 17 year-old isn’t played too often and burnt out and Rodgers has hinted that he understands this. He could start again but there are other options for the Liverpool manager to consider if he decides to rest Sterling. Stewart Downing, who has played at left-back in recent games, could play in his more natural position and Oussama Assaidi could also play and get his first minutes in a Liverpool shirt. To sum up Liverpool’s chances, it all depends on taking chances. In recent times, Liverpool have been pretty poor at converting chances. They create more than enough chances to win games but can’t take them. If this happens on Saturday evening, it could be another frustrating game for Liverpool. To conclude, it's an interesting game. Should be a good game as well! Injury News. Sunderland. Adam Johnson: Thigh Muscle Strain. Wes Brown: Knee Injury. Phil Bardsley: Ankle/Foot Injury. Liverpool. Lucas Leiva: Thigh Injury. Joe Cole: Hamstring Injury. Sunderland 1 - 1 Liverpool Goalscorers: Sunderland... Steven Fletcher: 29th minute. Liverpool... Luis Suarez: 71st minute. Sunderland: Mignolet - Gardner Bramble O'Shea Colback - Sessegnon Larsson Cattermole McClean - Campbell Saha SUBS: Westwood Kilgallon Cuellar Rose Meyler Ji Fletcher - Sunderland Substitution- Carlos Cuellar comes off to be replaced by Titus Bramble: 46th minute. Sunderland Substitution- Danny Rose comes off to be replaced by Frazier Campbell: 72nd minute. Sunderland Substitution- Steven Fletcher comes off to be replaced by Louis Saha: 86th minute. - Liverpool: Reina - Kelly Skrtel Agger Johnson - Gerrard Allen Shelvey - Sterling Suarez Downing SUBS: Jones Carragher Enrique Sahin Henderson Assaidi Borini - Liverpool Substitution- Fabio Borini comes off to be replaced by Stewart Downing: 64th minute. - YNWA.
Presuming Allen is fit- I'd rather see Shelvey start instead of Stevie- Stevie needs to be benched and given a message he can't keep playing carp and expect a starting berth. Worth seeing Borini in the centre, see if he is better there since it is his natural position- Suarez wider (since he is better there). It's not the end of the world- nor does it mean anything specific of that sort should we lose (or fail to win) - however, I think some of our number may start to get restless should that happen- and don't fancy to see that. I also think pressure and morale could start to dip- and that would affect future games too. Really important we get some meaningful points soon before the whole mental aspect of the club go belly-up. Expect a win- should it not occur- I'd like to remind everyone in advance to stay calm. Unlike the Hodgeson days- we're not playing totally crap all the time- there are glimmers of hope there. Although like the Hodgeson days... when we do play crap the manager still compliments the players... We've seen some good play- now we just need some finishing.
If we can tighten up at the back and start to score goals...we could win this Got a decent first team now Sunderland with some promising youngsters as well. Always enjoy a trip up to the SoL but can't make it this weekend so will be roaring at the telly. Would like to see Gerrard pushed up front as long as JA recovers from illness. We need big improvements defensively from all players but most of all Pepe needs to start recovering his form to settle those around him. Hoping Sahin has had a bit more time to settle in as these are the kind of games we're going to need to not give the ball away too often. In all honesty given current form I'd take a draw.
Never an easy game and we really need 3 points and a performance before the game against the Mancs. With the possibility of Allen being out what will our midfield be? Gerrard Sahin Shelvey would make sense for me. Hopefully Allen is fit.
We need to be on a high before the visit of the scum sunday week. So we need two wins under our belt, saturday and thursday. Should we do that, we can really kick on and and give that lot a good kicking.
Bit early this week Chris... This is a game where I expect us to aim for three points, especially with Man Utd next in the league.
----------------Reina------------------ --Kelly----Skrtel-----Agger----Enrique-- ----------------Allen-------------------- ------Shelvey----------Sahin----------- --Downing--------------------Suarez--- ----------------Borini------------------ Mixed up a bit in the aim of goals, possession and a firm defense. We need a clean sheet.
Downing may start at LB. Under Rodger's Downing and Sterling don't play in the same position. Sterling at LW and Downing at RW or LB. I'd rather see Suarez at RW and Borini as ST as already its clear that Borini is not a RW but I'm certain Suarez plays there a lot for Uruguay.
I don't agree that Downing as been better, he has been just as hit and miss as he was last year. He is a decent player, you can see that much, but for some reason, he is not doing it at Liverpool Football Club. I'd argue that we should play him against the better sides because he provides more cover defensively, but that is only in terms of running / tracking. Downing can't tackle, he is scared of challenges and usually disappears when a couple of tackles go in (see Everton last season as an example: he started well but ten minutes into the game a couple of tackles went in and he wasn't seen again!) and his positional sense is absolutely shocking too! He is worse than Sterling when it comes to defending and the young lad still needs to learn that side of the game! I don't want to be saying play Sterling every game because we would run the risk of burning him out and possibly destroying him before he even gets going, but there is simply no competition for his position. Take that as a compliment to the young lads qualities or as a insight into how bad we lack attacking options, but he IS our best option at the moment. As for Assaidi, until he gets a couple of run outs we can't really comment, but I certainly do not expect to see him start a game straight away, especially with him coming into a new league that is more physical too. I think we will only see him should we be in one of two situations: comfortably leading (two or three up at least) or in desperate need of a goal or two (do or die time, nothing to lose, etc).
