18 hours ago, Imran_CFC said:

If Pulisic is not fit I would make the following changes: Giroud for RLC, Kovacic for Havertz, Azpi for Alonso, Willy/Mendy for Kepa, CHO for Mount

               Willy/Mendy

James Christensen Zouma Azpi

           Kante Jorg Kova

CHO     Giroud      Werner

I think with Liverpool's highline and high press we may need to go long and have a target man in Giroud to create space for Werner and CHO, I hope Lampard does not play Mount in the front 3 as I don't think he has the pace to hurt Liverpool. CHO will get joy in behind the fullbacks and I think his delivery is very underrated, with Girouds aerial ability I think he can keep VVD occupied and the other 3 defenders are hugely suspect in my opinion.

In addition I think the difference between us and them last season were the set pieces, TAA and Robertson provided incredible delivery from dead ball situations and we can expect the same this weekend hence it is imperative we play Giroud to give us some further height whilst defending.

Having said that I can see Lampard starting with Mount in the advanced role & bringing on CHO round the 60 minute mark to stretch Liverpools defense.

Isn't it interesting that CHO didn't start the last game even when we didn't have any natural wingers? Could that suggest that Lampard doesn't think highly enough about him?

I mean if he didn't start against Brighton I feel that it's more likely that he doesn't start against Liverpool either. If Pulisic is fit, that would mean that he plays and CHO simply doesn't for whatever reason?

41 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Isn't it interesting that CHO didn't start the last game even when we didn't have any natural wingers? Could that suggest that Lampard doesn't think highly enough about him?

I mean if he didn't start against Brighton I feel that it's more likely that he doesn't start against Liverpool either. If Pulisic is fit, that would mean that he plays and CHO simply doesn't for whatever reason?

It is quite worrying from CHO's perspective if Mount is being selected ahead of you in your specialist position, Mount brings a lot to the team in terms of energy and work ethic but at times you have to go with specialist players in specialist positions. I could understand Lampard selecting Mount back end of last season when we were plagued with injuries to play in the front 3 but when we have CHO available no way should Mount be starting ahead of him.

Against Liverpool we are going to get counter attacking opportunities especially on the Left Wing with TAA leaving space in behind & Mount just doesnt have the game to exploit that, if Pulisic is fit he starts on the left otherwise it has to be CHO.

This doesnt mean Mount shouldn't be in the starting 11 but he definitely shouldn't be playing in the front 3.

13 hours ago, rtwelch said:

                            Willy

          Reece   T Silva  Zouma  Azpi

                 Kova           Kante

                         Havertz

         CHO     Giroud     Werner

 

I saw that someone had suggested Emerson to replace Alonso. That’s a big fat f*ck no from me! I’d like Azpi to play left back like the majority on here, but Alonso would be my second choice, ahead of Emerson. At least Alonso is okay at defending crossing and set pieces. Emerson offer absolutely nothing.

I also agree with a few suggesting that Havertz start the game on bench, clearly he need to get used to the league and this game has come too early for him. Let him come on 2nd half.

This Chilwell guy injured or?

If we want anything from the game we need to approach it like we did City at home, wind them up and hope lady luck smiles on us.

 

Not sure if any of the injured will be back but I hope Silva is for his leadership.

 

Kepa

 

Azpi

Zouma

Silva

Alonso

 

James

Kante

 

Mount

Kovacic

CHO

 

Werner

 

A very deep 4-2-3-1 with Werner feeding off long balls, James supporting Dave, Kovacic supporting Alonso, Kante mopping up the middle and CHO and Mount Harassing them on the ball.

Edited September 16, 20205 yr by axman2526

I have lost full confidence in kepa at the moment ,there is a goal keeper in there but dont play him at the risk of costing CFC a chance of taking point or points against the best attack in the prem . 

28 minutes ago, ddrblue said:

I have lost full confidence in kepa at the moment ,there is a goal keeper in there but dont play him at the risk of costing CFC a chance of taking point or points against the best attack in the prem . 

Imagine how Liverpool fans must be feeling about Allison ... Leeds had 3 shots on target last week ... and scored 3 goals ?

Just some observations on the upcoming fixture

Leeds did ok vs the dippers because Bielsa has them trained to be iron man fit and up for it big time, if you think our lads can perform like that you're dreaming they don't have the fitness or team spirit i saw with filthy Leeds

Liverpool's defence can be breached look at Leeds, refer to my first point

Our defensive lines midfield and backs cannot handle the bin dippers period, yes we did okay vs them in the FA cup but lbh Klopp didnt give a stuff about that or any other domestic cup comp last season

And my biggest issue - Kepa, the whole league knows of CFC's 'Achilles heel' (no not the injuries to RLC & CHO) 

Football however is a game of chance in some respects so while we could win or draw on Sunday, the bookies may not agree.

Tough game this. And we are still not ready yet in terms of fitness, players gelling and certain players are still injured.

 

i would go with

Caba 

james christensen zouma alonso 

kante kovacic 

Odi havertz Werner 

giroud 

 

hope to see maybe Silva, Chilwell, pulisic at least make the bench 

I think we should match them man for man and play the same formation. ( false 9 with inverted wingers)

 

                                      Kepa

    James          Christensen        Zouma        Alonso

                                  Kante

                 Mount                     Kovacic

                               

            CHO                Havertz            Werner                    

Edited September 16, 20205 yr by The Don Antonio

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

Imagine how Liverpool fans must be feeling about Allison ... Leeds had 3 shots on target last week ... and scored 3 goals ?

I wouldn’t be surprise to see Kepa go to clear a poor under hit shot that was going wide and some how manage to slice it in to his own net at this point. 

Hard for me to predict lineups without knowing who is available.  But I will take my first stab at this.

 

                          Kepa

James - Christiansen - Zouma - Alonso

      Kante - Havertz - Jorginho

       CHO - Werner - Mount

 

3 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Imagine how Liverpool fans must be feeling about Allison ... Leeds had 3 shots on target last week ... and scored 3 goals ?

Out of the last 13 shots from outside the penalty area that Kepa has faced , 9 of them have been GOALS and none of them were goal of the season contenders .  Take 3 of those games in question and re adjust the score line into Chelseas favour and i bet my last $$$ that our last game of the season vs wolves would have not been result dependent on CFC landing a top 4 finish .

As for lpools keeper ,iam not that interested in his pit falls ,i just want Kepa to play to the standard and above that we all know is somewhere within him . 
 

 

On 15/09/2020 at 04:15, Brutos said:

Havertz has to be a number 10 talent like that you build the team around along with Werner. Front 4 for me is Pulisic Havertz-Ziyech-Werner/Giroud. Stop trying to force mount into the front three

This. Havertz is a far superior passer and shooter compared to Mount. Havertz needs to be the #10. Otherwise why spend $72  million to waste his talent on the wings? 

Surprised so many have Alonso in their XI. For me its obvious he can't be on the pitch against Salah and TAA. Needs to be Azpi as leftback otherwise we'll get murdered. 

Caballero needs to be in goal.

18 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

I saw that someone had suggested Emerson to replace Alonso.

Agreed, when we played Liverpool under Sarri, Emerson received one of the worst one-on-one schoolings from Salah that I've ever seen over 90 minutes. Proper Drogba vs Senderos stuff. 

Personally I'd probably go for Azpilicueta at left-back, but he, Alonso and James should all start ahead of Emerson, even if they are out-of-position. I'd likely even consider getting Jon Harley out of retirement before starting Emerson against Liverpool again!

On 15/09/2020 at 09:36, The Don Antonio said:

       I usually agree with you but i have to differ. I think we are actually missing a trick by forcing Havertz into the line up because of his price tag which makes no sense at all. We did the same thing with Torres and he didnt score for like 16 games straight and that pressure definitely had a negative effect on him.

       Pulisic was eased in slowly by Lamps last season even though he was slated here in the states for favoring English players over Captain America and he was better player for it. Havertz was literally like an island yesterday against Brighton. I believe over time  Havertz will make a difference for us but for now he needs to train with his new teammates ,get used to their movements and Vice Versa.

      Nothing in Havertz performance showed me he deserves to start over Mason Mount currently

Havertz practiced less than a week with the squad and Lampard played him out of position. He should be a #10. He is far superior to Mount shooting and passing. Werner had very few chances as there was not much policymaking from the midfielders. Havertz will solve that problem as well as providing a legitimate scoring threat as the #10 

I know we are playing poorly but I think it's a good time to play them as neither are they & with Thiago coming in to reinforce that midfield I think they will be incredibly difficult to beat this season, much rather play Liverpool without Thiago than a midfield consisting of Wijnaldum, Thiago & Keita.

They are the favorites but as long as we defend their crosses and avoid any blunder like a penalty we have a good chance against them, last season we played well against them in pretty much all games.

Wonder if they will have Thiago signed in time for this one? Seems a lot closer than our Mendy deal.

Even if Mendy does sign I don't see him going into the team for Sunday at this point. Hopefully Chilwell and Silva will be available although we will see if they start so soon after training with the first team. I predict something similar to the Brighton starting line up with Kovacic in for RLC, and Mount playing further forward e.g.

 

Kepa

James Christensen Zouma Alonso

Kante Jorginho Kova

Mount Werner Havertz

 

CHO may be more logical in place of Mount as he is a natural winger but I feel as though Frank will still start Mount instead in a big game. 

Silva should come in for Christensen and Chilwell for Alonso if they are ready. I am assuming Pulisic is still not ready but I am hoping Frank is just playing the chances down and will play the surprise card on the day. He certainly has shown some his best form against Liverpool so they will hope he is not playing.

 

The Thiago signing means that Klopp has spent more than £430m since he arrived to Liverpool.

Maybe still not as much as our club had been spending idk, but he is never seen as a manager that spends at all and he can point fingers to others because the media never points out that he also spent in order to win.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Wonder if they will have Thiago signed in time for this one? Seems a lot closer than our Mendy deal.

Think he has signed, but surely too late in the week to feature against us on Sunday?

I can't help but feel Mount plays

                             Kepa

James        Christensen  Zouma   Azpi

                         Kova Kante

CHO                   Havertz         Werner

                          Giroud