Text here to move the logos across. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Hello and welcome to the official match thread for Thursday’s Europa League group stage encounter between Liverpool & Anzhi Makhachkala. The game is scheduled to be played at Anfield on Thursday 25th October 2012 with a kick-off time of 8.05PM. The game will be shown on ITV4. Preview. After a three week break, the Europa League is back on Thursday and in group A, Liverpool host the Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala in what will be a crucial game for both sides. Liverpool. The home side for Thursday’s game, Liverpool, are currently sitting 3rd in the group with 3 points from their opening two games. Their first game in the group was a trip to Berne to face Young Boys. It was therefore rather apt that Brendan Rodgers decided to take the young boys to Switzerland to face Young Boys! It was a rather inexperienced line-up that took on Young Boys with the likes of Andre Wisdom, Daniel Pacheco & Suso starting the game and getting some good minutes under their belts. It was one of the highest scoring & entertaining games of the Europa League so far with Liverpool coming out 5-3 winners. Liverpool took the lead through a Juhani Ojala own goal. Young Boys then got themselves back on level terms through a Raphael Nuzzolo shot which he fired past Australian international Brad Jones. Liverpool debutant Andre Wisdom then got a goal on his debut as he powered a header into the net. After going 2-1 behind, Young Boys could have folded but they fought back. They took a 3-2 lead after goals from Juhani Ojala & Gonzalo Zarate. Sebastian Coates then got the back to 3-3 before a Liverpool substitution changed everything. Jonjo Shelvey came on in the 67th minute and fired a brace in the last 15 minutes to secure victory for Liverpool. In the second game, Liverpool hosted the Italian side Udinese. This was another high-scoring game as Udinese took the three points away from Anfield with a 3-2 victory. Liverpool took the lead halfway through the first half as Jonjo Shelvey continued his impressive European scoring record this season with another goal. Veteran striker Antonio Di Natale got Udinese back on level terms a minute after the second half began. Liverpool then fell apart. 2 goals in 2 minutes for Udinese meant that they had a 3-1 lead and despite Luis Suarez curling in a sublime free-kick, it wasn’t enough and Liverpool fell to a defeat which leaves the group balanced in terms of qualification from the group. This means that for Liverpool, Thursday’s game is vital. A defeat against Anzhi and an Udinese victory against Young Boys and qualification would seem very unlikely. Because of this, the sort of team/squad that Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will use would reasonably strong with some experienced campaigners expected to be in the side. In goal, there has been rotation with first-choice Pepe Reina having played all of the home games in this season’s Europa League with Brad Jones playing in the away games. Reina is expected to miss the game with a hamstring injury so Brad Jones seems likely to continue in goal after playing in the Premier League against Reading on thre Saturday just gone. Defensively, the likes of Jamie Carragher, Sebastian Coates & Jack Robinson could all start after getting some minutes in the Europa League games so far. In the midfield, Jonjo Shelvey & Jordan Henderson have also got good minutes & performances under their belts in this tournament and look set to start the game. One of the midfielders who play more regularly (Gerrard, Allen or Sahin) will probably start in the midfield three alongside Shelvey & Henderson. Up front, the fringe players (Downing & Assaidi) will probably start on the wider forward positions. In the middle, Luis Suarez could play or could be rested in preparation for the Merseyside derby on Sunday. If he is rested, one of Adam Morgan or Samed Yesil could be in line for a opportunity to impress and maybe force their way into the 18 for the league games. Anzhi Makhachkala. The away side, Anzhi, currently lead the group with 4 points from 2 games. They have had to face an away trip to Udinese and a home game against BSC Young Boys to face and have done reasonably well in those games. They were leading in Udine for most of the game only to be pegged back by Antonio Di Natale in the 92nd minute to level the game at 1-1 and that meant both sides shared the points. They then faced BSC Young Boys at home. The Swiss side haven’t had the best of times in the group stages thus far and currently sit bottom of the group with 2 losses from 2 games. Their second defeat of this group came against Anzhi. Samuel Eto’o, who I shall be mentioning in more detail later in this preview, scored both goals to secure Anzhi’s first group stage win in this season’s Europa League. So, what do we know about FC Anzhi Makhachkala? The Russian side are rather new to football having only been formed in 1991. The first twenty years of their existence where mixed with promotions to the Premier League, a fourth place finish and two years later, relegation to the first division of Russian football. In mid-January 2011, it all changed. Suleyman Kerimov, a billionaire businessman, brought his hometown club. This is when Anzhi’s fortunes dramatically turned for the better. Kerimov was able to fund some significant signings. The first of those was the ex-Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos. This got Anzhi the publicity they were looking for and announced themselves to European football. More high-profile signings have followed. Ex-Chelsea defender Yuri Zhirkov followed Roberto Carlos to Anzhi. Other big signings include ex-Blackburn Rovers defender Christopher Samba & the former Chelsea, Arsenal & Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra. The most high-profile signing was one of the best strikers of the past 10 years. Samuel Eto’o. A striker who has a strike rate which is better than 1 goal every 2 games at his past three clubs. Eto’o cost around £21.8M to purchase from Inter Milan & is rumoured to earn £350,000 a week! Some serious money but some serious goalscoring talent to go with it... The striker currently has 26 goals from 40 games since he joined Anzhi. 13 goals from 17 games is his record so far this season and he has 7 goals from 8 games in the Europa League. These are statistics which would worry just about every defender on the planet. He’s the current captain and is almost certainly going to start up-front for Anzhi as they travel to Anfield hoping to get a result. Despite Anzhi leading the group, getting something out of the group is vital. As you can see from the table below, the group is incredibly close to call. [table="width: 500, class: grid"] [tr] [td]Team Name.[/td] [td]Number Of Games Played.[/td] [td]Number Of Games Won.[/td] [td]Number Of Games Drawn.[/td] [td]Numbers Of Games Lost.[/td] [td]Goals Scored.[/td] [td]Goals Conceded.[/td] [td]Goal Difference.[/td] [td]Points.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Anzhi Makhachkala.[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]0[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]4[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Udinese.[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]0[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]4[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Liverpool.[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]0[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]7[/td] [td]6[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]3[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]BSC Young Boys.[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]0[/td] [td]0[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]7[/td] [td]-4[/td] [td]0[/td] [/tr] [/table] Young Boys look to be out of the running to qualify after two defeats from their opening two games. This leaves Anzhi, Udinese & Liverpool fighting for those top two spots. A loss for either of those teams in the remaining group games could see them with an uphill battle for qualification into the knockout stages. This is why the game between Liverpool & Anzhi is so important to both sides. A defeat for either of them could see their Europa League campaign come to a premature conclusion. (Stop laughing at the back...) It’s also worth mentioning their league form so far this season. They are 12 games into their season and sit 2 points clear of CSKA Moscow. They have won 9 of the 12 games that they have played and have lost just the 1 game. So, that’s our look at Anzhi. A side that have seen remarkable growth in the past few seasons, a squad that includes some quality players and to top that all off, they are managed by Guus Hiddink. A formidable outfit who could win Thursday’s game and have a strong chance of winning the tournament itself. To conclude, a vital game in prospect. Both sides will be looking for the victory to boost their chances of qualifying from Group A. Injury News. Liverpool. Lucas Leiva: Thigh Injury. Martin Kelly: ACL Knee Injury. Fabio Borini: Foot Injury. Pepe Reina: Hamstring Injury. Anzhi Makhachkala. Lassana Diarra: Knee Injury. Liverpool 1 - 0 Anzhi Makhachkala Goalscorers: Liverpool... Stewart Downing: 53rd minute. Liverpool: Teams will be added when available. Anzhi Makhachkala: Teams will be added when available. YNWA.
There's no way you are going to win this game. Got 0-0 draw all over it. The only thing that's interesting is how Brendan balances this game with the derby at Everton. Tough week.
teror wit is trolling agian.. back to study kiddo. IMO this is a win or bust game due to udinese result. when the draw was made it was not a good group but we took risks and it was funny that it was when gerrard and suarez came on that our team wnet to pot v udinese. this game comes down to whether they want it.
THe great Eto'o will hopefully be playing, they also have Lacina Traore who we were linked with pretty heavy and I believe he has been scoring goals for Anzhi as well. They bought Lassana Diarra from Madrid over the summer so another player we will have to watch for as he has a very good knack of destroying build up play.
After looking at those purchases they do have a pretty formidable side, but looks top heavy and not much spent on the highest of quality in the back ( think their biggest signing there is Samba).
Not trolling, just interested in football (not just my beloved Swansea City) and the mess you're in is interesting. I put a thread up on the Ipswich board earlier to remind them that I predicted the mess Jewell would make of the job back in August 2011 and the abuse they all directed at me at the time. It was promptly removed. Seems like most football fans want to live in their own little bubble (akin to Religious nutters)....at least your mods have stopped editing my posts! It's only football fellas. My prediction for LFC over the next period of 3 league games and 2 European games is that you will pick up another injury or 2 as Brendan gets the balance wrong. He should forget about Europe IMO and concentrate his thin resources (for Liverpool) on obtaining league points.
A bit of injury news from Anzhi. Lassana Diarra, who most of us will be aware of, is reported to have picked up a knee injury in a Russian Premier League game against Spartak Moscow on Saturday. The article i've seen (Link here) says he could be out for up to two months which would mean he'll miss both games against Liverpool. Not confirmed yet but he seems doubtful for Thursday's game. A blow for Anzhi if it's true.
Terrorwit Everyone's entitled to their opinion of another team, of course, but if you display obvious relish at their misfortune/shortcomings it isn't surprising you're seen as a wum. This; and this; hardly come across as balanced observation. My own opinion is that if we put out a second strand we could be in trouble, and I want us to progress. The tricky thing is knowing what is the first or second strand is these days, as the youngsters are rapidly establishing themselves over the old guard.
1st of all cheers to Chris for the match tread Thursday is a must win game if we want to stay in the comp bearing in mind the next game we have (Everton) But the way the youngsters have played in the Europa BR should stick with the youngsters and continue with them Early i know but i'm going 1-0 for us
In reference to post #16, it has been confirmed that Anzhi midfielder Lassana Diarra is out for at least a month with a knee injury. He will miss Thursday's game at Anfield and the away fixture in Russia. Link: http://fc-anji.ru/news/en/fc_anji_news/diarra_to_drop_out_for_more_than_month/
