Article: Official Liverpool vs Swansea Match Preview & Thread | Liverpool, Swansea Ci

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Liverpool................................... vs ...................... Swansea City
Anfield
Liverpool
Sat 05-11-11 15:00 PM KO

For travel info/info on the stadium click HERE
For links to watch the game online, click HERE
​

Welcome one and all to the match thread for the game between Liverpool and Swansea. The last time these teams met in the league was in April 1983, with Liverpool triumphing 3-0 on that occasion. There was an (in?)famous cup match where the Swans wilted, suffering an 8-0 reverse... a match where the undoubted highlight for the travelling Jacks was this effort by one of the fans!

[video=youtube;4ulJvO0U-74]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ulJvO0U-74[/video]

The Match;

Liverpool come into this game full of confidence. Unbeaten in 7 in all competitions, they will undoubtedly be looking to take 3 points against the Swans after surrendering a lead, and subsequently only gaining a point, from their last home match against one of the promoted sides (Norwich).

Swansea arrive in Liverpool fresh from another exciting performance at home in South Wales. If they want to stay in this league, securing away points is vital, and 9 wins away in the entire of Brendan Rodgers' tenure isn't that enviable. The Swans seem to be settling into the league now, and 3 points here, while unlikely, would be a very big 3 points come the end of the season.

Prior Form; (most recent at top)

West Brom 0 - 2 Liverpool Premier League
Stoke 1 - 2 Liverpool League Cup
Liverpool 1 - 1 Norwich Premier League
Liverpool 1 - 1 Manchester United Premier League
Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool Premier League

Swansea City 3 -1 Bolton Premier League
Wolves 2 - 2 Swansea Premier League
Norwich 3 - 1 Swansea City Premier League
Swansea City 2 -0 Stoke Premier League
Chelsea 4 - 1 Swansea City Premier League

Team News;

The main talk in the press has been about Gerrard, and possibly Carragher, missing the game through injury. Gerrard has an infection in his ankle, while Carragher has a calf complaint. Aside from this, Dalglish has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Swansea continue to wait on Steven Caulker, Kemy Augustien and Stephen Dobbie but this game is one too soon for them, with Manchester United at home a more realistic return date. The Swans have no fresh concerns, so will likely go with an unchanged lineup again. Bodde & Tate remain long term absentees.

Trivia;

Completely guessed lineups;

Liverpool

Reina

Johnson
Jose Enrique
Agger
Skrtel

Kuyt
Downing
Henderson
Adam

Suarez
Carroll

Swansea

Vorm

Rangel
Taylor
Williams
Monk

Britton
Gower
Allen

Sinclair
Dyer

Graham

Key Battles;

Andy Carroll vs Ashley Williams/Garry Monk

These players get a chance to reacquaint themselves with each other, after last locking horns at the Liberty when Carroll was still leading the line for the Toon in the Championship. On that day, Carroll was marked out of the game for 85 minutes, until he lost his temper, went for a high ball leading with his elbow and caught skipper Garry Monk clean in the cheek. Monk's reaction (getting straight up without fuss) saved Carroll a red card if ever that's been the case, and we were rewarded with the sight of Carroll scoring a back post header to equalise in the last minute of stoppage time. For Swansea to come away with anything, they'll need to watch Carroll every second, and look to cut off service to Suarez.

Leon Britton ahead of the game;

Lucas Leiva on making Anfield a fortress;

Analysis;

So, Liverpool away. Another game where, if you look at the squads involved, a betting man would only ever be going one way. Liverpool, boasting a wealth of expensively assembled attacking options, vs Swansea, perenially short of attacking options! I jest....

Under Dalglish, Liverpool have recruited cleverly (albeit without too much thought for the bank balance) and the majority of the players they've brought in have been British, and given the Swans' heavy domestic contingent, it'll be heartening to see lots of home nations representatives on display in a league so dominated by other nationalities.

Liverpool away is no easy place to go. The first 3 away matches the Swans' competed in were Man City, Arsenal and then Chelsea, so, while I'd expect the players went there hoping for a result, it was all so new and daunting it must've had at least an element of "rabbits in the headlights" about it. This is possibly the first game against an established "big" team, where the Swan's have the confidence of a few recent good showings, and, more importantly, the belief that collecting a few wins and points gives you. Last time out against Bolton the Swans showed a much better ability to control the game while in front. Will we need that against Liverpool? We can but hope. One thing is for sure, and that is that Liverpool will prove a sterner examination than our last away game, at Wolves.

Throughout the team, Liverpool boast quality. Reina in goal is one of the worlds top keepers, and in front of him Agger & Skrtel provide the steel to Johnson & Enrique's guile, ensuring the wingers get plenty of support from the full backs. In midfield, Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson, Lucas Leiva and others could be called on, but I suspect the former two will start. It will be interesting to see, now that the Swans have gotten into a stride at PL level, how a 4-4-2 full of quality players matches up against Swansea City's 4-5-1. Out wide, I expect Kuyt and Downing to get the nod, and they'll be looking to stop Taylor & Sinclair, and Dyer & Rangel, combining on the flanks.

Up front is, honestly, where I see Liverpool doing the Swans' damage. While I'm still not convinced (I'm aware this could leave me with some egg on my face come full time) about Andy Carroll (and I'll definitely never be convinced he's worth £35mil!), Luis Suarez is a class act. The danger for the Swans is that Monk and Williams will be so up for the physical challenge with Carroll it could afford Suarez space in the hole. For example, if Adam picks the ball up and looks as though he's about to ping a ball to Carroll it's likely Ash Williams will move out in anticipation of this...however if Suarez notices this early and makes a move, I can see him getting in behind regularly.

For the Swans to get a result, we must restrict the ability of Liverpool's central midfielders to create. Henderson has an excellent engine so he'll need to be reigned in, and Adam needs to be closed down so he doesn't get a chance to spread play. If we can do this, and retain possession somewhat early on, a draw wouldn't be unfeasible. With a partisan home crowd, the sight of the Swans keeping the ball away from Liverpool for anything more than 20 seconds at a time will really grate the locals, and I think looking to frustrate both the team and the crowd could well be the way forward for the Swans.

In attack, you've got to expect Sinclair and Dyer to try and come inside onto Agger and Skrtel. Out wide they'll be up against good, fast fullbacks, and I can imagine they've been practicing little give-and-go's with Danny Graham in training this week, looking to get in between the defenders. What price Leon to have 100% pass completion two games in a row? You'd probably get long odds on that on Saturday...

I'm really struggling to predict the outcome of this game, but if I had a gun to my head I'd probably say...

Iechyd Da.

Scott

Scottswan's famously biased, ill-fated and banned prediction;

Liverpool 2 - 1 Swansea

Please sponsor me for Movember HERE - raising money for prostate cancer research.

 

I will be giving my thoughts on the game shortly after full time at http://sportstonightlive.com/

 

Scottswan, wonderfull as usual. One problem - only minor - your prediction is for the wrong game!!!!!! Mind not on the game since you came home?

 

Good article Scott. And was nice to watch the Swans fan score at Anfield, haven't seen that in quite a while, always a laugh!

One thing though, we have definitely won 9 games away under Rodgers, not 7. I know it's picky, but I know that last season we picked up 30 points on the road, 9 wins and 3 draws. If anything, the most worrying thing is that under Rodgers we've lost 15 games on the road from 28 games. Not a great return, but if we can find our winning feet on the road and grab a few, we'll be looking pretty come the January transfer window.

 

Just as a word of warning, our man Chris won't be happy about this. He always does our official match threads.

 

And you don't wanna piss Big Chris off

 

So? Have two if you really feel the need. Give Chris the day off is my suggestion. Well done Scott, nice one.

You'd bank on a home win for this one. I just hope we give it a good go and come out of the game with some positives. If we allow Liverpool the amount of chances Norwich did it could be really really bad. So I agree with Scott - try and keep Carroll quiet and limit supply to Suarez. That's the best hope for us to get something.

Sorry guys but I'm going for 3-0

 

Top-notch thread Scottswan!

Makes my match thread look a bit crap!

 

Quality thread Scotty. Obviously a really tough game for the swans, but like you said, if Dyer and Sinclair can get a run at Skrtel and Agger, we might sneak one. I think we can deal with Carroll (just about), having played against him before, but Suarez could rip us apart. My biggest worry about us getting anything from the game is Dyer v Enrique. Dyer is our most important out-ball when defending, and I think this will be his toughest test so far this season (including Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea). If Enrique keeps Dyer quiet, our defending and our ball retention will have to be impeccable in other areas.

 

Don't diss yourself Chris. You do a sterling job and we all appreciate it. I wasn't having a go at Scottswan - merely making it clear that you may have wished to knock s..t out of him when you found out

 

If we keep the back four as we did against WBA I will feel really confident in not only a win but a clean sheet. Too refreshing not seeing Carra in there and we looked very comfortable in the back. Would like to see Bellamy get a run in as well, even though we need to keep Carroll scoring, maybe out on the right.

 

very goo thread actually, quite in depth about liverpool for a swansea fan tbh, and agree with pretty much everything

 

First Norwich, now Swansea, Chris you need to step it up! Put some Rizzle Kicks in the background to spice things up ( better watch it).

 

Get off his back cowboy. He does a bloddy good job

 

cracking write up scotswan, everyone's expecting us to be well beaten here(and rightly so probs)but we can pinch summit with a bit of luck.

 

I'll get off his, when you get off mine

 

From our point of view a lot of our supporters would agree with you about us "well beating" the Swans,but lets hope we've learned from the Norwich game that putting our chances away should be our main priority,even Reina said hes not bothered about keeping clean sheets as long as we win the games and put points on the board.

 

I know Roy was in charge but let's not forget Blackpool at home last year!

 

Vewy twue.

 

and Wigan, Wolves,Stoke, I think Burnley, Northampton...... 2-1 squeeky win! We have had some mares in the past, I hope this is not one of them.