A should win match. History indicates that we cope better than the bluenoses with pressure. They will be under huge pressure to get a good result.
--------------Minger -------Can--Skrtel--Sakho Manquillo-----------------Moreno ----------Hendo--Lucas --------Sterling--Coutinho --------------Sturridge This team for me.
Brod's been on TalkSport again this morning. He was asked if he "had a steal door" because Gerrard would be banging on it if he's not involved on Saturday. Brod's reply..."I'm sure Steven will be involved in that one"
The only change I would make is to the front 3, by putting sterling and sturridge together, basically SAS reborn ---------Coutinho-------------- ---Sturridge----Sterling------ Long term though I hope we get a good CB to partner Sakho, so we can push Can into the midfield and revert to 4 at the back again. 3 at the back is not out future, it's just a stop gap until skrtel is shifted and our keeping situation is sorted
Why are we under huge pressure to get a result...... We are not in a relegation battle and are out of all but the EL, so we will then be looking to these games to salvage something from the season. Rodgers will be under pressure as his side will be favs and he needs the points after his awful start and massive summer spending spree finds him way off last seasons performances
Team should see Hendo return... Lallana and Stevie drop out... big story if Stevie doesn't play but I'm trusting Brendan not to select him arbitrarily much more. Everton's quality is out wide with Baines, Coleman and Miralles so we need to keep the ball well centrally to protect our three CBs and the two centre-mids need to be able to fill in when our wide-men attack. Not sure if Stevie could do that for 90 minutes. Really the only acceptable result here is a win. Losing would be disastrous coming into this run of fixtures. Continuing our run would put us in fourth - what a strange league it is this year.
Everton have announced that the 96 who died at Hillsborough are to have a plaque unveiled in their memory at Goodison Park, ahead of Saturday's 224th Merseyside derby against Liverpool. The permanent tribute had been suggested to the club by supporters and Everton fan Stephen Kelly, whose brother Michael died in the tragedy in April 1989. Roberto Martinez: "It is something we take a lot of pride from - the strong bond between the two teams towards that tragedy," the Toffees boss said. "It will be It is a tribute that will stand forever and we will always be there supporting the Hillsborough families support group." http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/everton-fc-unveil-tribute-hillsborough-8582964
I don't care whether Gerrard starts or is sub, just that he doesn't play the full 90 It also gives the Everton fans a chance to clap Gerrard on/off
Howard will be out, Lennon will play some part please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
It's a derby, so both managers are under pressure to get some sort of result. If we got battered then the pressure would be back on Martinez after the scrappy win at Palace. Conversely if he got a win, it's be a massive confidence booster that could propel us forwards with some genuine momentum. Rodgers has turned the corner with them, yes they were crap early season, but he's now got them in with a sniff of top 4, a win cements their forwards push, a defeat means the door closes slightly on what I'm sure was his prime objective from the Shermans. Massive game for both clubs, I'd take a draw now.
