I know there'll be the prediction thread and suchlike, but I wanted to get an idea of people's thoughts on this. Received wisdom seems to dictate that you stick with a winning team. Lambert clearly didn't abide by that with us, but Wenger has this season. We've had mixed fortunes there - often we put out the same team as the previous week and they are completely different. On this occasion I'd argue that, even though 4-5-1 is the best formation for playing away in this league, we should stick with what we used on Saturday: 1 playing a narrow game clearly gets the best out of Hoolahan 2 playing two up front seems to get the best out of Hooper 3 it's the best use of an injury ravaged squad given where we're short 4 we've got more or less nothing to lose 5 we play best, in my opinion, in the matches where we've got nothing to lose (pressure was quite high for the City game in a way that it doesn't seem to be here) 6 Liverpool have misfired recently and I often think it is best to seize the "bull by the horns" from the off and get in their faces, rather than sitting back and letting them recover their confidence 7 we're more likely to keep the ball away from arch-nemesis Suarez if we play narrowly 8 Liverpool's wingers don't really scare me What do people think? It might be better to go for a more conservative approach, of course, because even a draw would be great for confidence.
We'll probably play our normal "away" formation 4-5-1 with Bradders in for Elmander as the only change from Saturdays starting line-up.
I think it will be more a case of Bradders in for Wes personally, not saying that's necessarily what I'd do but I think it's what we will see.
Yep, I can foresee a very 'away' formation. Maybe this: Ruddy R.Martin - Turner - Bassong - Olsson Johnson Whittaker - Fer - Howson - Redmond Hooper
Turner rather than Bennett? I think we might see Tina spending a bit of time on the bench with Bennett and Bassong as our first choice CB partnership for the foreseeable future. I hope so anyway
I agree with you on Bassong/Bennett in the long term - I was just thinking maybe Hughton benched Turner for the Palace game with the midweek Liverpool game in mind. Just me speculating really.
Suarez would run rings around Turner, Bennett is far more mobile and for that alone I'd expect him to get the nod.
Turner missed out on Saturday because of a knock that made him miss two days training. I'd expect the defence to stay the same unless CH is tempted to move Olsson up and bring Garrido in at LB. I don't think Wes is fit enough to start again tomorrow, so I suspect it's between keeping Elmander behind Hooper or bringing Johnson in to let Howson and Fer get forward more. I think it'll be the latter.
I went with whittaker at LB Rick, just because he has had more first team minutes than Garrido, and I moved Olsson up in my line up prediction.
It will be interesting to see how we do line up. Hull unsettled Liverpool on Sunday by playing 5:3:2 / 3:5:2 which allowed them to really hassle Liverpool in midfield and had Sterling and Suarez running down blind alleys and losing the ball. It also caused Gerrard to give the ball away countless times by hurrying him into long inaccurate passes. The tactics were spot on, with Sagbo providing an outlet chasing balls over the 'Pool defence. What we don't want to do is sit back and let Liverpool play in front of our box. Last year we started by pressing high, but for some reason soon dropped deep and paid the price. This time round we have Fer who I expect to make a big difference.
I think this is the key - they're probably a bit lower on confidence now than they will be for most of the season, so we really need to take advantage of that. I like the 5-3-2 type formation, but (a) I don't think we should do it because our team is not familiar with it and (b) I suspect they might anticipate us playing that formation seeing that Hull comfortably beat them in that way (what's that, is that Bruce outthinking his opposition manager?!)
I'm hoping Bennett keeps his place so far his been the most consistent of our centre backs this season.
Hull were already pretty confident with that formation, seeing as they used it a lot in the championship. I wouldn't mind something 5-4-1 like, with wingbacks, Johnson and Fer holding, and Howson and Hoolahan supporting Hooper.
You're playing us at the right time, we looked poor on Sunday without Sturridge and Coutinho although the latter will probably be back tomorrow. If Norwich have any aspirations of winning this game then you need to get at our midfield and put us under pressure. This would stop us playing our natural game and cut off the supply to Suarez subject to you keeping Coutinho quiet too. Hopefully, it will be a good game and you guys will be disgruntled afterwards
I fear a stuffing at Anfield. Away form is poor and with injuries to add to the mix I think we will be in for a torrid time. Probably play 1-4-5-1 with a very defensive mid-field. Only consolation is that Sturridge is out so Suarez may go missing, but he likes to score many goals against us so we can live in hope. A draw at best.
suarez will score is normal hat-trick against us i'd have thought. we've been really poor away from home bar Stoke and Newcastle was an improvement last time out. i think if we can keep it to 3-0 or below we'd be happy with that.
Did you see him on his knees beating the turf after Hull scored? As demonstrations of artificial angst go, that was way up there, 9 out of 10 for sure.
