For those that haven't encountered these before, it's where we discuss the match during the week. There are a few rules: - Keep it nice, any comments that aren't respectful to either team will be deleted. - Keep any arguments to PM. Spurs also travel to PAOK on Thursday before they face us at WHL on Sunday. Many would predict the Spurs team would be tired after such a long trip in a short space of time, but given the depth of the Spurs squad, I think we can safely say many first team players will be rested for the Premier league game. Liverpool meanwhile will be looking to build on the unfortunate defeat to Stoke on Saturday. Gerrard is likely to make his first appearance either on the pitch or the bench in 5 months for Liverpool, which will provide a massive boost for the whole team. I can see the youngsters being especially hyped up for the game where Captain Fantastic returns. Overall I'm predicting a close game, Spurs will be looking to get out of their initial bad run and Liverpool will be aiming to build upon a rather good (compared to the last 2 seasons) start and aim for that top 4 spots. It'll be such a close game, that I predict the only team that will end up winning is the one who wants it more. Who knows who that is yet. I'm going for a 1-1 prediction, whilst this score benefits neither team in the short term I think we would both not be disappointed with this score, and either team has the potential to crumble and concede a defeat.
Harry has already called the Salonika game "a nuisance", so I think we can safely assume that not many 1st eleven regulars will feature. The game itself will be close - they usually are. Obviously, I'm hoping for a repeat of last years result - or better. Fortunately, we don't have calamity Gomes between the sticks this year, which makes me a little more relaxed.
Theres already a discussion on the spurs' board regarding likely line-ups against PAOK. Everyone seems to think that the reserves/youth squad will travel, meaning our stronger players will be rested and ready to play over the weekend.
As the man says, please keep this respectful. Ta. You'd like to think that we'd be in a position to rest virtually the whole team for the trip to Thessaloniki, but we've got a whole team out injured, pretty much. Here's a side that didn't take any part in Saturday's win over Wolves: Gomes; Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Rose; Lennon, Sandro, Huddlestone, Townsend; van der Vaart; Pavlyuchenko. Of that XI, only Townsend and Pavlyuchenko were definitely available. Not sure about Gomes, but the rest are injured. It'll be interesting to see how we approach that game and how many will have to take part in both Thursday and Sunday's matches. Redknapp has already suggested that we won't be playing many in both, though.
Spurs have a big enough squad to cope with both fixtures. It should be a good game between us, both teams will look to attack.
For some Reason I think Spearing should start instead of Adam on Sunday. I feel that Adam's passes are needed for certain games and he's certainly good at set pieces but Spearing's raw power and work ethic just sets the tempo of the midfield better. He's not skillful, he's not fast and Lucas is better at tackling, but you'll be hard pushed to find anyone more passionate about LFC than him. Gerrard will most likely be on the bench if he makes the squad at all as he was complaining of being out of breath at training, but he's getting better at it. I can even potentially see a Coates debut, but I'm not too sure. I hope Carra's mistake last Saturday made Kenny think about playing someone else, personally I'd love to see Wisdom play but it's not going to happen in a big game like this. Downing and Suarez will play I think we can safely say, but we'll need to put different dimensions in attack if we're going to overcome the Spurs' defence so again I wouldn't be surprised to see Carroll up front. This is the type of line up I'd like to see, and I don't think it'll be much different. ----------------------Reina------------------------ ---Kelly------Coates--------Agger------Enrique----- ---------------Lucas-------Spearing--------------- ----Gerrard----------Suarez-----------Downing---- --------------------Carroll------------------------- Subs: Doni, Carra, Henderson, Kuyt, Bellamy, Johnson, Adam. I'm not too sure if Johnson and Kelly will be fit for Sunday or not. There may even be a cause to play 5-3-2 like we did against Chelsea last year.
I'd expect the Spurs line-up to be pretty similar to the one that started the game against Wolves, though van der Vaart may replace Kranjcar, if he's fit.
Let's hope the likes of VDV, Lennon, Huddlestone and Charlie can get fit and make the squad, if Dawson's got an achilles injury as stated, anyone know what the expected return date is on those? I reckon it will be the same starting XI that played Wolves though.
I'm looking forward to this game to see something a bit different from last week... stoke was a good old fahsioned encounter but spurs will offer another type of game. Our issues. 1. bale. right back is an issue, johnson is out yet again and must be questioned as a starter for the forseeable future, kelly is unknown at this point so flanagan or skertl could be called upon. 2. defoe. combine defoe and bale running at carraghers channel and you see the issue. 3. we have our own issue with selection, namely kuyt. no pace = easy to mark. for me this is a must game for carroll. finally my summation of the gerard think is that he needs quite a while to build up his fitness and will be in challenge matches first. until you see him do 45mins in a behind closed doors setting then be n full training the next day... well then you can put him in but not before.
'arry will play ressies for the europa game and save his first choice 11-16 for the Liverpool game so the europa game will play no bearing in the fixture. Hopefulyl we can get a result at WHL. I'd like us to win 1 or 2 nil just for family bragging rights. realistically I think this will finish 2-2. Spurs defence have a tendance to leak goals but they seem to score a fair few too (esp. against Liverpool) so 2-2 seems realistic enough Odds on draw (not score specific) - 9/4
The only bearing the Europa fixture will have on the game would be that the manager will be away from the majority of the 1st team for a couple of days before Sunday. We haven't come from behind to win a game away from home since August 2009 so we really need to step up our game and also try not concede first. This is a 6 pointer early in the season.
Dunno why but this s a game I would play Henderson in the middle and give Bellamy a start on the right wing. With Henderson you get neat and tidy player with good passing percentages. We need to keep the ball as much as possible. As well as allow our more creative players time to cause havoc. With him and Downing on the wings, we can also give Spurs a problem to think about. Carroll should start ahead of Kuyt with Adam also dropping to the bench. ___________________________Reina _________________________ Whoever is fit________Skrtel_________Agger___________Enrique_____ ____________________Lucas____________Henderson______________ Bellamy______________________Saurez_____________________Downing _____________________________Carrol___________________________ Bench Gerrard Maxi Coates Carra Kuyt Doni Adam
Assou-Ekotto will be one of the most likely first team players to travel mid week. Bellamy may give him trouble on the wing if he's still a little tired.
The Kelly/Bale duel will be a key part of this game, I hope Lucas can support Kelly as often as possible and cut out any passes through midfield to Bale, we could do with him being quiet. I'm overly confident that we can outplay the rest of the team (man for man)
SolidSpur do Spurs rush teams alot or do they tend to give the freedom to express themselves as this is one thing Arsenal are guilty of and it made Swansea look like world beaters lacking a striker. Anyway if we improve on our finishing which has been wasteful to say the least then I can see us getting a result. On the other hand if Carra is playing and you target him, I see another thrilling win for Spurs as you have made it a habit of scoring late and surprising us in the last few seasons.
I'm going for a Liverpool 3-1 win, Liverpool to rip into Spurs because they are pssed at having not picked up anything against Stoke when they were duly robbed by the ref.
I think over confident is right. You will also have Modric, Adebayor, VDV, and hopefully, Ledley King, to worry about.
