Venue: Britannia Stadium
Date: 26/12/12
Kick-Off: 19:45
Brendan Rodgers has no fresh injury worries ahead of Liverpool’s Boxing Day clash with Stoke, where the Reds will look to get their first Premier League win at the Britannia Stadium. Apart from Fabio Borini and Martin Kelly, who remain injured, Rodgers has a fully fit squad to choose from going into Wednesday’s game.
Joe Allen and Raheem Sterling will hope to be recalled to the starting XI after being rested for Saturday’s 4-0 over Fulham, while Stewart Downing will be optimistic about his chances of retaining his place in the side after a superb performance at the weekend. Downing scored one goal against the Cottagers, setting up another and the former Aston Villa midfielder is hoping his performance will help him convince Brendan Rodgers to keep him at Anfield. However after taking 45 appearances to score his first league goal for Liverpool, Reds fans will expect to see more from the 28-year-old if he is to remain at the club.
Two former Liverpool strikers may line up for Stoke on Wednesday, with Michael Owen close to full fitness after a hamstring problem and Peter Crouch hoping to start after coming off the bench for the Potters in their last three matches. Crouch is Stoke’s top scorer this season, with four league goals in 17 appearances.
Stoke drew 0-0 with Liverpool when they visited Anfield in October and the Potters are unbeaten in their last eight games – their best ever run in the Premier League. This is Liverpool’s fifth Premier League visit to the Britannia and the Reds have lost two of their previous visits, drawing the other two. However Liverpool did win at Stoke in the Carling Cup last season, beating the Potters 2-1 last October. Both Liverpool and Stoke are on 25 points going into Wednesday’s fixture, with Liverpool having a superior goal difference.
The Reds are four points behind Chelsea in the league, having played two games more. A victory at the Britannia will keep Liverpool in eighth place, while defeat could see them drop down to 11th. After achieving his biggest win of the season on Saturday, Rodgers will hope to lead the Reds to another positive result on Boxing Day.
Update:
LFC Starting line-up: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Lucas, Gerrard, Shelvey; Suso, Downing, Suarez.
Subs: Jones, Carragher, Coates, Henderson, Allen, Cole, Sterling.
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Good performance last time out, raising expectations, which the Reds now must shatter in trademark fashion by inexplicably choking and letting fans down by losing 2-0 at long ball garbage stoke city, making stoke look like world beaters in the process.
At least with Allen out of the team we have a chance now
Sort it out lads 3-1
Fuk off be and Fsg,wat a fukn joke.I can’t watch dat much anymore.Stevie Gerrard can fuk off too.mid table wud b over achieving for dat gang of dirt.I’m ashamed of d way our once great club has fallen.
steven Gerrard has done more for our club than anyone else . Blame the moopet manager
Stevie Gerrard fk off ????? u ungrateful bstard !
yeah lay off Gerrard – It aint his fault
The man is a HERO
He is a living legend. What he’s done is undeniable.doesn’t make him exempt from criticism. He’s been bloody ordinary this year
Still our 2nd best player . If we had a good manager with a good system Gerrard would improve . The fool Rodgers is wasting him
What a load of *! Having said that no one has gotten more than a point at Stoke this season. However, it was an awful performance, 22 years of *football and counting!
Rodgers totally inept as usual , useless at motivating players , clueless tactically . Might as well have a crash test dummy at side of pitch
We DO have crash test dummy at side of pitch
Boys against men tonight
Rodgers improves things by dropping Allen , but still doesn’t have a clue how to beat teams like stoke
Ridiculas substitutions again . Bringing off Suso instead of playing him in his proper position . Why the fk is Cole even on the bench as he is totally useless ?
And why not put 2 up front when we are losing ?????? oh … i forgot – Rodgers doesn’t do plan B
So with that squad of super stars who should he have brought on?
Every second Cole or Downing (at left back) or Henderson or Allen are on the pitch it is a waste . We have a plethora of great youth waiting to be given a chance .
We keep hearing Rodgers brings on the kids ? Bull . Wisdom is out , Suso plays bits . Only Sterling is a regular . Morgan , Pacheco , Sinclair , Ngoo , Adorjan , Ibe could have come on last night and be given a chance to do something . But he uses Cole n Henderson who dont do anything
The man is a fool
Brenda is incompetent !!!
He will have to cum up with something better than Daniel ‘i luv myself’ Sturridge to save his ass
What does it take for a manager to be sacked these days as if losing to Villa at home wasnt enough ?
Rodgers you are an embarrassment
Dont think there is any manager out there that can sort out this mess in the short term,we are a pale shadow of what this club once was,we are paying top money for a load of old tossers,no pride in the red jersey or putting bodies on the line,starting to think B.R is not up to it either,fancy talk is grand in the glare of the media,but its doing no good on the field.in fairness Ghandie couldn,t motivate some of our deadwood,as for Suarez ,he misses so many opportunities its unreal.Whether another decent striker is going help short term i just dont know, going to be a painful frustrating long time to get back anywhere near a top four spot i am afraid.
Agreed, I thought BR got his tatics wrong, we were way to slow in our build up towards the box which allowed stoke to get behind the ball, putting two up front might work who knows. As for Saurez, in terms of goal attempt stats he is leading them on 105 and the next closets one is Ba on 78. Saurez should be dominating the goals tally, he blows to many chances and easy ones as well.
No one said it was going to be easy getting back to the top 4 , but the least we can do is give ourselves a chance – by hiring a decent manager .
A good manager pulls results out of the fire , gets a result when the teams not playing well , changes something thats gets a goal , signs good players not the muck rodgers bought .
We must get a good experienced manager , and we need one QUICK
That’s funny… I thought good players pulled results out… Rogers is and should be under the pump. But if u think it would all be fixed by changing managers then your as deluded as the next bloke.
We are 2 attacking midfielders, 2 strikers, 2 wingers short of being a genuine top four side.
Shlevy, suso and sterling all boys against men. Gerards second best football is behind him. Our signings over the last 2 years have been embarrassing, and yeas, there’s massive question marks over the manager… But those who think the manager is our only problem are deluded.
You are right . Not only would a decent manager get results – he would have a better squad – No decent manager would have spent our money on Allen Borini Assadi and Sahin
Its funny how Rodgers 3 little fanboys dont come on here after another embarrassing performance , yet we win they comment here about how brilliant Rodgers is doing . Sad really
Anyway , another rubbish performance . Rodgers doesn’t know what to do , never did , never will
Hey Freddie, blah blah blah same old crap coming from you. It’s was always going to be difficult to beat stoke at the Britannia, instead of saying how crap BR is why don’t you offer some constructive critism for once.
What a let down… Keep waiting for things to click but they just won’t. Questions will continue to be asked of Rogers as they should. There’s a reality that many seem to be missing. We are ordinary. Bring rafa in and he’d do no better. Sterling suso downing hendo Allen shelvy are all consistent features in the side who fail to have an impact.
There’s youngsters in there who have the excuse of age however we simply don’t have a top 4 squad. Until this is adressed, which will take 2 years minimum, this is what we are… Ordinary.
We were Ordinary when Rafa took over . Do u not remember we had NO strikers available for part of season ?Because of all the injuries we had to play Sinama as lone striker for about 10 games . but he didnt buy Allen – he bought Alonso . he didnt buy Borini – he bought Garcia . Rodgers has excellent youth to bring through – Rafa had only Mellor .
Rafas ordinary team finished 5th and won champions league with a team of 1 fit striker (Baros) , Smicer !!!! , a rubbish Kewell ,Djimi Traore !!!!!!! , Biscan and a useless goalie .
Rafa also had 5 spaniards struggling to cope with PL , and a crippling injury list to contend with , AND Rafa himself was not used to English football , plus he lost Owen on last day of transfer window
BR has had none of these problems , yet ……
a good manager gets the best out of even mediocre players , rodgers cant .
fsg need to act now b4 he buys more crap in january
there are some fools on here saying nobody could do better than BR with what hes got . Are they for flipping real ? Clarkes got a team of rubbish flyin high with WBA , Moyes same with Everton . Hell even Norwich , Stoke and Swansea are doing better than us and none of their players cost as much as half of Joe Allen
In Fact Joe Allen costs MORE than the whole Norwich team – Fact is ANYONE would do better than that excuse of a manager
rodgers record so far is shocking and embarrassing . many managers up and down the country are getting sacked for less
can someone tell me , when did failure and poor performance become accepted at liverpool fc ?
the man is not up to it
plz plz get rogers sack . rogers is making pool bad
How much more do we have to suffer before we sack that egotistical moron Rodgers ?
fsg make our wishes come true , and sack rodgers please