Given our injury list and the relatively shallow squad that we have, i'm 100% in favour of fielding a much weakened team this weekend. I'd risk an adverse result to stay in the hunt in the EPL. Defence: I'd keep Agger and Skerts as a CB pairing, Kelly on the right, Cissy on the Left, although Smith may get a run out! Midfield and Attack: God knows Lucas, Coutinho, Hendo and Suarez all need a rest, with the latter two carrying injuries....time for Aspas, Alberto and Moses to step up, maybe even Ibe. Our squad is paper thin atm, I wouldn't risk any of the above players in this match, it's just not worth it this year. Thoughts?
well are we good enough to challenge for the cup ahead of city,Chelsea,Arsenal(no trophy for 8 yrs big motivation) Spurs (need a trophy of some sort keep current players happy), utd (get over the fact they wont win the title and next best thing after CL, but doubtful) Everton (good way for Martinez to start his career), answer for me would be no, but never know. put out a young team, if they are good enough great move onto the next game when we have better players back, but top 4 is more important to the owners than a cup final, so give the youngsters a try and rest a lot of key players. what will be will be, but not risking key players for the sake of maybe wining a cup.
It should be an interesting team sheet, I don't think Brenda will go crazy with youngsters after the shocker at Oldham last season. I would like to see Alberto play, he has looked tidy when he has come on but he hasn't got much game time.
Oooh, divided on this. Head says completely logical to rest players as CL is our goal. Heart says FA Cup is only trophy we have a real chance of winning.... Rodgers like Kenny will be damned either way by sections of supporters. Fields weakened squad, gets put out and fails the very difficult task of CL qualification? Criticised. Goes for FA Cup, injures key players, fails in both? criticised. If he's been given priorities by the owners we''ll soon see. Hopefully either way we get through, injury free and go on from there.
There's a full week of recovery to the Stoke game so I don't want us to weaken too much. Another confident home win please. Every brick counts in building Anfield #fortress
hmmmm.. i dunno. Toure should certainly play, no reason not to... mingolet has to start. YOu are right that kelly really ought to or its a clear indication he's phooked. I am not sure cissohko can play two games in a row.. maybe smith might maybe no. I wonder if moses has a cup allowance or no... Its hard to say... i'd pick to win the game then sub early. BUT I must say... its WORTH it. a chance at silverware... the day this club plays the arsenal 4th place trophy game.. may as well close the doors. I want us to go for the FA cup we can manage it... remember this... then the latter rounds come up we could be down to one game a fortnight... think about that... one game a fortnight when the 5th and 6th rounds come up = no rythmn no momentum... we need to progress in this cup and keep the form running.
I'd play.... Jones McLaughlin, Toure, Agger, Smith (throw Illori in the mix if fit) ****ed if I can decide on the rest but Rossiter, Ibe, Alberto must be in with a shout too
Personally I'd only play 1st teamers who need games: Mignolet - needs to regain some form / confidence Gerrard - needs match fitness Can't really think of anyone else (maybe Studge for 20mins as a sub if he's recovered enough? Agger for game time?) The rest of the team should be 2nd stringers (Moses, Kelly, Alberto, Aspas, Ibe I'm looking at you!) definate rests for Ford, Suarez, Sterling, Lucas, Hendo, Skrts, Johnson - shouldn't even be on the bench. Top 4 finish has to be our primary focus for me, let's give the B team an opportunity to shine, if and when we progress to the latter rounds we can strengthen. Just my humble opinion of course... BR does like an unchanged team...
FA Cup is only played on weekends, so no need to rest everyone. Just the really tired ones. We have no europe so we can afford to try & win this cup. Mignolet; Kelly, Toure, Agger, Cissokho; Lucas, Gerrard; Sterling, Alberto, Moses; Aspas. Suarez, Henderson & Coutinho on the bench to give us options.
It has to be a weakened side. We're not stuck in 8th at the moment with nowhere to go, we have an opportunity this year to really make an impact GK: Jones CB: Toure CB: Ilori CB: Skertl LWB: Cissoko CM: Alberto CM: Rossiter CM: Allen RWB: Kelly RF: Moses CF: Aspas LF: Ibe Each group has a mix of experience and young players. There is no excuse why that side cannot tonk Oldham 3-0
i dunno... RWB? why? I think we need to think about it. oldham last year played donkey ball.. do we want to play 3 cbs to let one go bash up against the big man and two pare... i dunno I think 4-3-3 all the way myself... I agree on first team squaddies needing games. toure and agger for sure. agger looked a bit off the pace so a same this week owuld do no harm IMO.. Toure and agger can mind one kid like smith but i odon't think smith is near god enough for this... the real question is midfield. i think we all agree with suarez on the bench for this one as it is sensible... if gerrard wasnt ready last time why now? again bench. that mean midfield is the area to wonder about.
They won't be able to play long ball as effectively at Anfield though, we'll probably pin them back for most of the game. I want to ask everyone who thinks we need to rest all our players as we are going for top 4, whats the point in getting a top 4 position if our players aren't able to handle 2 games a week?
fair point, but could throw that right back at you, whats the point in what is now according to our owners a pointless trophy ie Kenny got sacked for getting to final, if we get key players injured and it fecks us up for top 4 challenge. worth the sacrifice for a cup we might or might not win?
It's not a question of 'handling' two games a week, it's the fact that we do not have strength in depth to cope with the inevitable injuries right now and maintain a top4 challenge. If we get CL then we strengthen our squad and this becomes less of an issue
Whilst I agree we should always put out a team to win games the no Europe thing can be a double edged sword. Yes it means our players shouldn't need as much rest but it also means the fringe players are getting a lot less of a look in this season than they might have. Going out of the COCup didn't help in this regard either obviously.
We have an extensive injury list given the squad we have. It's a case of prioritising. Suarez and Hendo are carrying injuries, why risk them? We have other positions with no quality cover, I wouldn't risk them either. We must stay in the top four race...after Jan, all of our competition starts in Europe again and we need to have a fully fit squad to capitalise on any dropped balls..... Besides, it's Oldham. With all due respect, our squad players should be able to cope without taking any risks.
