Not sure why people are suggesting Gerrard/Shelvey as the middle forward when Suarez has been the in form striker playing there this season. If Suarez's goals dry up then yes certainly move him around but all the time he's banging them in, leave him there. If it ain't broke, don't fix it
The Reds team in full is: Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Skrtel, Agger, Lucas, Allen, Gerrard, Shelvey, Sterling, Suarez. Subs: Jones, Sahin, Henderson, Downing, Carragher, Suso, Wisdom. the rumours are confirmed again... once again we have an unprofessional camp that allows our team to be leaked last night. this is actually ridiculous and has gone on for years around cup games but this is chronic really. i'm not happy with the team if its a narrow 4 in the middle and i odn't think shelvely is great coming from wide so lets see who actually plays where eh?
Full game (practically!) for Lucas and he did well. His passing and tackling looked a little rusty but it'll take a few games for his match fitness and awareness to kick in. Overall, I'm feeling a bit more positive with Lucas coming back into our team. Our midfield looked more solid and, furthermore, Gerrard looked more alert and attack-minded than I've seen him in many a game. His fitness must be good if BR left him on practically the full game -- and he was still full of running before he was subbed, too. Hopefully, we can let him have a run of League games and he'll just get better and better.
For a player who hasn't played for a very long time (excluding his 1 match comeback this season), he didn't look out of place. There were a couple challenges which he missed and a couple of misplaced passes which is unexpected, but on the whole - he was immense. Opta says that we made (or won?) 8 tackles today which is the most by any player today. Gives us so much balance and you could see that in Allen and Gerrard's performance. They weren't amazing but they were good. It's good seeing Allen further up because it means we have another player in their half who can press very well and induce the mistakes. Going back to Lucas - we have desperately missed his tackling and covering but I forgot how good his passing was! Looks for the forward ball, delivers it with accuracy and pace.
