If the rumours are true, looks like we'll set up in the diamond formation with Sterling alongside Balotelli. Hopefully the midfield is Gerrard with Henderson and Allen ahead of him and Lallana at the tip of the diamond. Sod the defence for now.
A well fought 2-0 loss, I'd take that, the drubbing that Bayern handed out to Roma, no, I wouldn't want that... Bit of a double edged sword... If we "up" our game and give Real a "good" game, then sorry, why the phuck couldn't we do that against QPR? Was everyones mind on the Real game? If so, that's not professional. Was everyone thinking, oh, it's only QPR, they're bottom, all we have to do is turnup, again, not professional. We got away with murder against QPR, we will not be so lucky against Real! Too pessimistic? I'm not normally, but our form this year has been (Spurs game excluded) between poor - complete and utter tripe! A positive performance, maybe even a positive result, could help kick start our season, its about time to be honest!
So we're expecting something like... Migs Johnson - Skrtel - Lovren - Moreno Gerrard Hendo - - - Allen Lallana Ballock - Sterling I think the only question marks would be around Moreno vs Enrique and Allen/Lallana vs Coutinho. Personally, I go with the above line-up and use Coutinho as a impact sub, he seems to be better coming off the bench.
For me, there should be no question - Moreno and Coutinho should be starting. I think the Echo reported that Rodgers simply wanted to rest Moreno so he's ready for tonight. Hopefully Coutinho has played his way into the first team and this is perfect if Sterling plays in the front 2. Still feel that Manquillo is ahead of Johnson but if Rodgers prefers experience, then I understand.
I would definitely go with Moreno (and I'm a big Enrique fan at that too) but I'd keep Coutinho on the bench. Hendo, Allen and Lallana are all high energy working players that would put the Real midfield under pressure. Let them work away for an hour soaking up the inevitable early pressure before bringing Coutinho on to take advantage of their tired legs.
The prospect of Johnson being a 'defence' against whoever RM chuck out on the left tonight absolutely terrifies me. But I guess the fact that Manquillo has been far more solid than GJ is irrelevant to Brendan 'I prefer experienced **** to inexperienced quality' Rodgers.
Yeah, I would rather play Flanno too. But choosing between Manq and GJ? I just can't see how anybody in their right mind who have watched us play this year (and last year) can possibly say that GJ's 'experience' is preferable to a player that'll play his heart out the entire game and can actually defend.
Yeah Ah well, let's just hope he ups his game for once. Happy to be proven wrong by him, but can't see it happening.
Stop putting Johnson in the team it's making me nervous Ronaldo will look at the team sheet and laugh in an evil fashion.
I hope Ronaldo plays. At 38yrs old and three years retired, he'll be quite a bit easier to mark out of the game. He's still bound to score against our defence mind...
Do we know when Flanno is back dont really know what his injury is, he played a couple pre season friendlies then disappeared.
I'm expecting you to get hammered tonight, but will not be surprised if you get something out of the game.
