The much anticipated first start for Andy Carroll will not come against Portuguese side SC Braga in the Europa League Last 16 tie tonight (Team News Below). The 22 year old may take some time to get his full fitness after being sidelined since December with a thigh injury. It should however be an ideal encounter for the £35million signing to enter the fray as a sub as European matches are generally slower and less demanding physically. With his power, strength and aerial ability too, Carroll should cause the Portuguese defence a fair few problems if he comes on and he will no doubt win his fair share of headers, hopefully some near the opposition penalty area to get him a chance to score his first goal for Liverpool.
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Braga had a very successful campaign last season, finishing close runners up behind Benfica in the Portuguese league. This meant they were involved in the Champions League group stages at the start of this season before dropping down to the Europa League after finishing third in their group. They did however manage to beat Arsenal at home and they will be dangerous opponents tonight. Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles has spoken about the Reds opponents ahead of tonight’s clash:
“I expect a difficult match. I know Braga very well, they have a good team. The manager is a very good manager and always prepares his teams very well at home. It’ll be a tough match but we are prepared for it. Obviously, I had a talk with Kenny and explained that last season Braga had a magnificent season. I expect that Braga will be a tough competitor but I gave Kenny a few tips. We all know what we have to do and we’ll work very hard. We know we’re going to have to give 100% in this game, and if we do then we’ll have a good chance of winning.”
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With Luis Suarez absent due to being cup tied, and Steven Gerrard continuing troubles with a groin injury, the major goal scoring threats from the Reds will have to come from Joe Cole, Raul Meireles and Dirk Kuyt. The Dutchman will hope to replicate the poacher’s hat trick he scored against Manchester United on Sunday and he will get his chance to play the same position against Braga tonight.
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The match will certainly be a tight affair in any case. The Reds should be confident of victory as Braga as not as strong as last season when they finished second. They currently lie 6th in their league on 31 points, a staggering 31 points behind league leaders Porto. With Cole, Meireles and Kuyt providing the attacking threat the Reds should have just enough to see off their Portuguese opponents. Prediction: 2-1 Liverpool.
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Team News:
GK: Pepe Reina
RB: Jamie Carragher
LB: Glen Johnson
CB: Martin Skrtel
CB: Sotirios Kyrgiakos
CM: Lucas Leiva
CM: Jay Spearing
CM: Christian Poulsen
RW: Raul Meireles
LW: Joe Cole
ST: Dirk Kuyt
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Cole and poulson were awful and kuyt can’t do it on his own up front. Dani p should have come on for cole and ngog should have started up front with kuyt, leaving poulson at Melwood. Liked what we saw of Carroll though. The game showed tonight that some are just simply not good enough.
Kenny has to ask himself about his team selection. It was too cautious. With the away goal rule, you need to be prepared to attack away from home. We were not equipped to do so.
Poulsen is too slow even for European away games and Spearing does not warrant a start either. Ngog and Maxi should have started to give balance. You will not get anything from Cole out wide left. Presumably his lack of appearances means Jovanovic is already on his way out.
Very disappointing. We have made things very difficult for ourselves at home and dreams of Dublin look dim.
Richard- great post, and i for one, starting to get a bit fed up with the players that are not regular starters let the team down.
Have we all not enough now, we had 3 years with the last owners, which was and did nearly kill this club off! now we have to start again, and poor kenny or any other manager for that matter.
Its time to wake up and for all that club to see that we are in dire need of investment, i have watched and been to many a game home and away for years and this one was just disgusting.
for me kenny doesnt trust, ngog and many others but please see the list of players that are not the quality we need, and if people disagree wll then we have huge problem of not really seeing the true picture.
out;
spearing, cole, poulsen, konchesky, jovanovic,ngog, brad jones, soto, insua, aquilani, darby, el zhar, plessies,
and if we are looking for players we need a total of 5-7 neq young proven international quality and its that clear.
sakho – center half
aly cissokho – left back
fabio coentrao – left back and wing back
young – winger left or right side
sanchez – winger
and so on, we might not get these players but these are the type of players we should be either talking to now or if not we might as well pack it in.
i forgott – MOUSSA SISSOKO, GREAT PLAYER, BETTER THEN M’VILLA TOO.