If go for Gerrard Henderson Coutinho in midfield 3 with sterling and John Malkovic either side of Ballotelli.
Green bibs from the latest training photos are: Moreon, Manquillo, Gerrard, Sakho, coutinho, Markovich and Lallana. All the oranges are definite bench players (like suso, lucas and enrique) BUT sterling is in orange.... Could it be? Manquillo---Lovren---Sakho----Moreno ------------Henderson----Gerrard---------------- --------------------Coutinho---------------------- Lallana-----------Mario-------------Markovich ?? could Sterling be rested, and come on as super sub? Especially after BRs comments about fast players like sturridge and sterling needing more recovery time - which was not given by England.
seems a good enough theory to me, and i wouldn't have issues with that line up. also might make sense, as we are playing a team who likes counter attacking, to have sterling come on when hopefully they are tiring later in the game if need be.
I thnk he's just dropped in popularity. But Gerrard has just had a holiday. He can play 2 games in a week.
He's been poor when available so most consider him down the pecking order. Not sure Brod see's it the same way though
Lucas is too one-dimensional, even when he was playing well. He was a good CDM, (**** distribution though) who put in good tackles. IMHO like allen. Plays one role well but the others mediocre, so effectively becomes a passenger.
Can out for up to 6 weeks according to BR. Allen also has a knee problem and is a doubt. Players dropping like flies already. The worst bit of news is that Johnson is close to fitness. Urgh.
I don't understand why many on here keep inventing a CDM of two, with Hendo and Gerrard playing side by side. Luvgonzo introduced it along with his new "diamond" proposal, and now others. We know that our DM man is Gerrard who gets lodged between cbs when Fbs are up and wide. BR also has been encouraging Hendo to push further up rather than stay behind. In addition, this proposed set up has Coutinho in a smack central midfield role, more akin to CM juggernauts. It's either 4-d-2 or 4-3-3. With one holding midfielder.
It's not table football! The players get to move around the pitch using their legs. Crazy I know but it does happen. Hendo gets put in there next to Gerrard but we all know that he will go box to box.
Don't be silly! Everyone knows the Premier League is just Murdoch and Scudamore playing table football 10 times a weekend using tables with different coloured teams! And we get to watch them do that!
I'd take this formation, but i don't think borini has a chance of first team football after rogers spent 2 months trying to get him to move on.
Agreed, but come jan if the same offer or similar comes in i doubt rogers will want borini to be in any doubt that he is not needed here. Calling on him as soon as studge is injured will give the lad another reason to believe he has a future with us. Just to be clear i quite like borini and i think having four strikers is actually a good idea. Especially when one is studge who will get injured and another is ballo who may not be exactly mr reliable.