The Official Match Thread: Oldham Athletic Vs Liverpool. (F.A Cup)

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Hello and welcome to the official match thread for Sunday’s F.A Cup fourth round encounter between Oldham Athletic & Liverpool. The game is scheduled to take place at Boundary Park on Sunday 27th January 2013 with a kick-off time of 4PM. ITV1 will be showing the game. (Build-up begins at 3.30PM) BBC Radio Five Live & talkSPORT will have the radio rights to the game.

Preview.

The F.A Cup returns this weekend and in the third of Sunday’s F.A Cup game, nPower League One side Oldham Athletic host Liverpool from the Barclays Premier League. It is the fourth round and both sides will be hoping to be in draw for the fifth round which is made just after this game finishes.

The home side, Oldham Athletic, joined the competition in the first round stage and have had to get past three teams to reach the fourth round stage and secure this game. They began their F.A campaign with an away tie at the Conference side Kidderminster Harriers. This was a potential banana skin for Oldham as Kidderminster have done well in the Conference in recent seasons and could have surprised Oldham.

However, Oldham put in a professional performance and goals from Cristian Montano and ex-Everton striker Jose Baxter gave the League One side a 2-0 victory. They were then paired against fellow League One side Doncaster Rovers.

Doncaster had beaten Oldham 1-0 in the league the week before the cup game and Doncaster took an early lead in the cup game.
However, Oldham showed great spirit and won 3-1. This included two goals from Matt Derbyshire (Who is now on loan at Blackpool) and Oldham progressed once again.

They were then given a difficult tie at the City Ground as Nottingham Forest hosted the League One side. Alex McLeish’s side took the lead in McLeish’s third game in charge but an astounding comeback in the second half meant that Oldham were going through. A 7 minute burst stunned the Forest fans as a brace from Robbie Simpson and a free-kick from Jose Baxter gave Oldham a three-one lead. Forest pulled one back but Oldham went through and secured a famous victory.

So, they are moving on up in the F.A Cup. Victories over a Conference, League One & Championship side means that the next step is a victory over a Premier League side…

As a Premier League side, Liverpool joined the competition in the third round and have played the one game so far. This was an away tie against Conference side Mansfield Town. Daniel Sturridge scored an early goal on his Liverpool debut and Liverpool doubled their lead in the second half as Luis Suarez scored a controversial goal.

Matt Green got a late goal back for the ‘Stags’ but Liverpool came through a potential banana skin and secured a fourth round place.

These two sides met in the F.A Cup last season! Last season saw Oldham travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool. Oldham took a surprise lead in that game through Robbie Simpson but Liverpool responded 2 minutes through Craig Bellamy.

Liverpool then showed their quality and goals from Steven Gerrard, Jonjo Shelvey, Andy Carroll & Stewart Downing gave Liverpool a 5-1 victory. You could have argued that the scoreline was harsh on Oldham as they played their part in a good game of football.

At the end of day, Liverpool went through to the fourth round and made it to the final in May before losing 2-1 to Chelsea.

Despite their lowly league position (19th in nPower League One and one point off the bottom four) Oldham have players who will be a threat to the Liverpool side.

One of those will be the striker Jose Baxter. The boyhood Liverpool fan, who is the youngest player to ever play for Everton, joined Oldham in September. This was after he rejected a two-year contract at Everton and decided to become a free agent. It was seen as an interesting move at the time but Baxter stated in a BBC interview that he wanted to play first-team football and he felt that wasn’t going to happen at Everton. He had a trial with Crystal Palace but nothing came out of that and in September, Oldham took a chance and gave him a six-month deal.

Baxter’s decision to look for first-team football and Oldham’s gamble on him is certainly paying off. He scored 11 times in 24 games for Oldham before he agreed to a new two and a half year contract with the Latics.

He is on 11 goals for the season and is Oldham’s top scorer. Without a doubt, Baxter will be a massive threat to Liverpool and he’ll certainly be looking to score against the team he supported as a boy!

Another player who could get a start is the Oldham ‘keeper Dean Bouzanis. Liverpool fans may recognise that name.

The ‘keeper joined Liverpool in 2007 and the Liverpool manager at the time, Rafa Benitez, labelled Bouzanis ‘the best keeper for his age in the world’

It didn’t work out for Bouzanis at Anfield and after loan spells at Sydney FC & Accrington Stanley, he left Liverpool by mutual consent in 2010. He has played 25 times for Oldham this season including in the F.A Cup games against Kidderminster & Nottingham Forest.

He could be given a starting spot against his former club tomorrow and will be looking to help Oldham send Liverpool crashing out of the F.A Cup.

The away side, Liverpool, don’t want to be on the end of a ‘Cupset’ and the Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, has said that this is a competition he wants to him and the squad he takes to Boundary Park will reflect that.

Pepe Reina has been ruled out with a thigh injury and Glen Johnson is a doubt with a hamstring injury but apart from that, Rodgers has indicated he will take his senior players. Whether they start or not is another matter…

The likes of Sebastian Coates, Jonjo Shelvey & Suso are all expected to start and be given the chance to impress. Two of those players (Coates & Shelvey) are senior internationals so the argument for a weakened team being played is somewhat negated…

Fabio Borini is also expected to start as he regains his match fitness after three months out with a foot injury.

One man who could also start is Daniel Sturridge. The £12M player has played three times for Liverpool and has scored in each of those games. This created a stat and we all love stats!

If he scores against Oldham tomorrow, he will become the first player to score in his first four Liverpool appearances.

He is in the squad and could get another start upfront. His relationship with Luis Suarez has been excellent thus far and his ability of getting in the box to get on the end of rebounds etc. has been something Liverpool have missed in the last couple of seasons.

This is a crucial attribute and could be important for Liverpool in tomorrow’s game.

So, a good game to look forward to! Can Oldham produce a ‘Cupset’ on a weekend of ‘Cupsets’? Or will Liverpool produce a professional performance to see off the League One side?

You’ll find out the answer to these questions, and more, on the official match thread on the Not606 Liverpool board.

Do join in. (That includes the guests that read this thread! Liverpool or Oldham fans… Sign up and get involved!)

Injury News.

Oldham Athletic.

• Cristian Montano: Thigh Injury.

Liverpool.

• Pepe Reina: Thigh Injury.
• Glen Johnson: Hamstring Injury.
• Martin Kelly: ACL Knee Injury.
• Jon Flanagan: Knee Injury.
• Jose Enrique: Hamstring Injury.

Suspension News.

Oldham Athletic.

No suspensions currently recorded.

Liverpool.

No suspensions currently recorded.

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Oldham Athletic 2 - 1 Liverpool​

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Goalscorers:

Oldham Athletic... Matt Smith: 3rd minute.
Liverpool... Luis Suarez: 17th minute.
Oldham Athletic... Matt Smith: 48th minute.

Oldham Athletic:

Bouzanis
-
Wabara
Byrne
M'Voto
Grounds
-
Wesolowski
Croft
Winchester
-
Smith
Simpson
Baxter

SUBS:

Cisak
Brown
M'Changama
Tarkowski
Sutherland
Mellor
Taylor

-

Oldham Athletic Substitution: Youssouf M'Changama comes off to be replaced by Carl Winchester. (9th minute)

-

Liverpool:

Jones
-
Wisdom
Skrtel
Coates
Robinson
-
Allen
Henderson
-
Borini
Suarez
Sterling
-
Sturridge

SUBS:

Gulacsi
Carragher
Lucas
Shelvey
Gerrard
Downing
Suso

YNWA.

 

Here are some photos from training.

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I would imagine he will be miles away from it but whats the 'all clubs' record?

 

Unfortunately I haven't got a clue.

I'm sure if he scores tomorrow, someone will find out but i've done a bit of digging and can't find anything.

 

FFS! whats the point of doing a match thread without any knowledge.

 

I'll go for a Jose "been at Everton since I was six but now admitted I'm a life long kopite and I love the beak" Baxter hat trick for Oldham.

 

1-3 Pool.

 

This isn't the prediction thread bow.
Make sure you tell Igor.

 

Sturbridge is travelling.

 

I don't get involved in that so I predict in the match thread

 

Ok, mate.

 

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Right, let's not forget their's a game on today!

Judging by the 2 games today, Spurs and Chelsea both struggling. Could be a difficult afternoon and I suspect the pitch will be awful.

Should be a very tight game, will be interesting to see what team Rodgers will put out.

 

I would have had the same concerns with the pitch after the weather in the past couple of weeks but...

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Looks decent enough from that picture. Groundsman done a good job there!

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Rodger's comments on the game throughout the week indicate that he's taking it seriously. With Sturridge & Suarez both in the squad, we'll have some options if they don't start.

This weekend has been all about the cup shock so i'm a little bit nervous about the game. Don't fancy being on the end of a cup shock like Norwich & Q.P.R...

 

Top work by the groundsman, that! At least they didn't deliberately sabotage it like Mansfield did

I have that feeling too, Brentford holding Chelsea today and Leeds leading Spurs, tense stuff indeed and I can't say I'm entirely confident

 

Team should be known soon. I expect Sturridge, Borini, Allen and Sterling to all start. Probably Shelvey and Henderson to.

 

Rumoured eleven to start v Oldham: Jones, Wisdom, Skrtel, Carragher, Robinson, Lucas, Allen , Suso, Sterling, Borini, Downing

 

Note no Coates.

 

A nice touch from Oldham in the programme for today's game.

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I'm sure that will be appreciated by us Liverpool fans.

 

Confirmed #LFC team v Oldham: Jones, Wisdom, Robinson, Coates, Skrtel, Allen, Henderson, Sterling, Borini, Sturridge, Suarez

Strong team!