Liverpool v Spurs – Match preview
Amidst all the brouhaha and the bonhomie generated by the new stadium finally opening, it’s been easy to forget that there’s a football match a-coming.
On Sunday afternoon we head to Anfield to take on the current league leaders. Having taken one point from our last twelve, it’s not the fixture we’d have chosen but recent evidence shows that we’re capable of struggling against anyone so it might as well be the unloveable scousers.
In recent weeks we have found goal scoring difficult and keeping clean sheets impossible. It’s hardly a winning combination. We have scored twelve in nine league games and conceded twice in each of our last five away domestic league & cup games. The Champions League is the only thing we’re any good at the moment.
So, can Poch fix it? Yes he can! Can he fix it with no central midfield? Probably not.
Our manager appears to be of the opinion that our current slump is mostly down to mentality and whilst I’m not going to doubt him, no Winks, No Dier and no Dembele available for the weekend means a midfield pairing of Sissoko and an out of form and half fit Wanyama, or Dele or Eriksen dropping back. Oh dear. It’s really hard to see us gaining & keeping enough to possession to avoid anything than a really tough afternoon. Really tough.
If they do win the league then Liverpool would have preferred to have done it with the swash and buckle they were playing with last season rather than this year’s more prosaic offering. Tightening up the defence has been done at the expense of thrills, if Manchester City do falter and they do end up top of the pile, they won’t be complaining mind.
Our lineup? Hugo, Trippier, Rose, Toby, Jan, Sanchez, Sissoko, Dele, Kane, Son, Eriksen, (or maybe Wanyama for Son). It doesn’t look too bad on paper, the form of the full-backs and the big hole in the middle stand out thought.
So, by the time we take on Palace on Wednesday we are likely, in all honesty to be out of the top four. It’s our own fault – the Burnley and Southampton results in particular are weighing heavily, dragging us down in to a battle that we were hoping not to be part of.
All very depressing until one remembers who is in charge and how much he has done for this team. We have achieved miracle results, blown curses, destroyed reputations and grown to learned to think big. We have Harry, Dele and Son. There’s at least one goal there surely? If the defence does its work….
Martin Atkinson is the man in the middle.
COYS
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