Liverpool take on Birmingham City on Sunday at St. Andrews looking to pick up their first 3 points away from home this season.
Since our last league game, plenty of changes have taken place to the squad with the likes of El Zhar, Mascherano and Cavalieri leaving and Paul Konchesky and Raul Meireles joining the club.
With the squad now registered for the first half of the Premiership campaign and the transfer window closed until January, we will now get to see Roy’s Reds really start to take shape, and our next game may offer some tantalising insights into the thoughts of our manager on which player will play in each position.
Of course, Liverpool are still missing new recruit Joe Cole through suspension, as well as the re-signed Fabio Aurelio, but almost the whole squad should be available for selection soon enough.
On Sunday, Meireles is likely to make his debut in the centre of Liverpool’s midfield, but who will he sit alongside? My own preference would be Steven Gerrard – he has started well this season playing from the very centre of the park and looks pleased to be playing in the position. Long term, I believe the Gerrard-Meireles partnership is the one Hodgson will turn to most often and for me the earlier we can link them up and start playing together the better. Both players are exceptional in both ball playing and ball winning, both of which will be of paramount importance against a Birmingham side who were very strong at home last season.
The flip-side is that with Joe Cole suspended, Gerrard is the natural choice to replace him in the role behind the striker, leaving either Lucas or Poulsen to fit in at centre midfield.
However, I would love to see Dani Pacheco get his first Premiership start for the Reds. The creative young Spaniard has had a good impact when coming off the bench already this season and, while a 90-minute performance may be beyond him at this point, a place in the starting eleven would do his confidence the world of good and the role of playing just off Fernando Torres is the place he was born to occupy. Pacheco’s passing and movement could be a huge plus for us in unlocking the stern Birmingham rearguard at the weekend.
With the rest of the team, there are two main questions which need answering. Firstly, which defender misses out? Paul Konchesky is likely to make his Reds debut at left-back, meaning either Daniel Agger or Martin Skrtel will miss out. I would favour Agger to play every time, though you could flip a coin as to who you think Hodgson would choose.
Secondly, with Dirk Kuyt injured the right wing slot is free – supposedly Maxi Rodriguez will come in to fill his boots as our only real natural right sided midfielder, but Babel is also an outside bet.
My starting eleven would therefore be: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Konchesky; Meireles, Gerrard; Maxi, Pacheco, Jovanovic; Torres. Subs: Jones, Skrtel, Kelly, Poulsen, Lucas, Babel, Ngog.
Unfortunately Roy may disagree with me slightly (!) so expect to see Poulsen or Lucas instead of Pacheco, and perhaps Eccleston on the bench if Ngog fails to recover in time from his hamstring injury.
Decent performance required from the Reds, hopefully our passing and movement can be rather better than in the last outing against West Brom, but if we need to grind out a result and end up winning then so be it. I’m being optimistic and looking for a 2-1 Liverpool victory with a debut Raul Meireles goal and a Torres strike to win it!
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Its shelvy who will be on the bench tomorrow.
I agree re dani P, but also agree re it being poulsen instead. Lucas is not first choice anymore, thats certain.
This way we have babel, dani and ngog to come on, should we need some extra creativity. Brum would go into the top 4 if they win, so they will be raring to go, but should leave us some space to exploit.
I can’t stand playing brum away, just hope we get a good performance together. Our away form sucks.
sorry Pacheco is not good enough to make the team
the best he will ever do is make a place in the league cup side
Prepare to be disappointed Karl! Tomorrow’s team (apparently) has Gerrard behind Torres, Poulson and Lucas in the middle. Maxi replaces Dirk and Konchesky starts.
Sorry to see an unimaginitive pairing in the middle again but glad to see Maxi back in action!
Paul you don’t no nothing, if Lucas Ngog are good enough to make the team i think Pacheco is way better than both and should be given the chance to start aswell. SInce Roy has given Babel an ultimatum i think Babel might play along side Torres or behind him, Meireles is a top signing along side Gerard will make him even better. Why not play Johnson right wing and Kelly right back now Kuyts injured, this way we’ll have some width and pace on the wing and stop starting with Lucas he doesn’t bring anything to the squad. Shelvey on the bench would be good he looks quality and maybe towards end of the season or in the cup competitions let this new lad Suso have a chance he seriously looks the real deal even if he is 16-17 if hes good enough throw him in there……YNWA
pacheco is typical spanish footballer who is very good technically(in keeping the ball)also the way he releases a thro pass,the weight of the pass(kind of fabrefas,pedro style) will tell u hes a talented spanish..we need someone to find torres regularly other than gerrard…if torres can be so lethal with one creative midfielder(steve)all his carear with liverpool..then a mix of maxi pacheco raul joe and steve will be very imp….im actually quite happy to see kuyt injured because hes not a good player to play in the right wing…a second striker?then im ok….also it gives an other dimension in our game….PACE
lucas was destroyed by wesbrom midfielders in last home game….the way they switched passes acrross the field kept lucas lookin sky, wondering hw they doin it…have any of u ever seen lucas swithch a pass from left to right?beating more than 2 midfielders?finding torres or kuyt diognally?he doesnt even get a starting place in westbrom team seeinh their midfield last time around…i feel spearing is more off a dyamic midfielder…and a lot better passer….i hope he gets injured too:)
Although I would love to see Pacheco in the team, I cannot see both Meireles (new to the EPL) and Pacheco (inexperienced) thrown into such a difficult away game. Meireles and Lucas in central midfield, with Gerrard lining up behind Torres, seems like the more solid line-up at this time. I think Roy is more likely to experiment on the wings than in the centre of the pitch. However, I still hope to see Pacheco in action later in the game