Pizy

Wow, big surprises in both teams. Both managers keeping dangerous players in reserve that can completely change the game if needed. You would assume Drinkwater is rotated for Cesc because his legs are fresher and therefor hopefully more resistant to their pressing. Cesc was probably going to be the player Klopp targeted as a weakness. That Liverpool XI is pretty mediocre without Mané and Firmino.

Thing I'm most nervous about is wondering which Chelsea will turn up. We can look so solid defensively one week and then calamitous another. I hope the players are very well prepared and drilled on what Liverpool try to do so we aren't hit in the mouth and see our heads go.

You know Liverpool will probably blitz us to start the game in order to test our legs after the short turnaround and long travel time. Hopefully the fact that we rested Bakayoko & Christensen will help in that regard. Alonso came off early and Morata only played a few minutes. We really shouldn't be totally knackered here. Even if Liverpool score early and are the better team initially I hope we don't get demoralized like we've been known to do. Their defense is so weak that we can easily get back into the game if Hazard is aggressive. In order to beat Klopp's Liverpool you have to match their intensity and take advantage of their very obvious weaknesses. I'll feel very confident we can do that if Rüdiger starts on Alonso's side rather than Cahill. I predict a long and painful day if he doesn't.

Using 3-4-3 would be suicide against this Liverpool side at Anfield. The 3-5-2 is a must. With this formation I'll be much more confident that we'll be able to handle their pressing and energy. They hopefully won't be able to pin us back and bully us. By far my biggest worry is Alonso who is slower than a snail going against an in-form Salah. At least on the other flank we'll have Azpi to help Moses or Zappa deal with Mané. I'll feel better if Rüdiger starts in place of Cahill to help out Alonso. Could be disastrous with Salah running at Cahill & Alonso. The likes of Coutinho and Firmino are of course dangerous but with Kante, Baka, Christensen, and Azpi all occupying the areas that those two are most likely to be makes them less dangerous I hope. If we set up like timid babies like we did against City we'll be in for a long game. If we are aggressive and attack them we've seen time and time again this season that their midfield and defense are awful. Dodgy keeper, too. We'll need big games from Morata, Hazard, and Cesc especially. The three players that can hurt Liverpool the most.

Very harsh on them with the red/pen and I do feel bad for them. Glad to get this out of the way and see us through to the next round, though. Pull Hazard, Cesc, and Kante after 60 minutes or so now, please!

Not to jinx it, but I hope we don't look back at this game tomorrow and after the group stage in disgust that we didn't play our strongest team. Qarabag apparently aren't the pub team we made them look in the first tie.

Wait, wtf...I had no clue this was on this early. Anywyas, not enamoured with our XI. We should've started with our absolute best XI and then pulled stars once the game was in hand. This XI could potentially backfire. If you have a chance to guarentee progress to the next round you should play your strongest team, imo.

I just can't see anyone paying that for a keeper. Even in a time where fees for players are out of control. Especially a club like Real Madrid where you don't even need a world class keeper to be successful. They just won the CL twice without one. He would be a luxury player.

I think people are wildly overestimating the potential amount we'd get for him. Unless PSG absolutely must have him at any cost. They're the only club who would pay silly money. Real Madrid were only willing to go up to £30m or so for De Gea if I remember correctly. They've not shown that they're ready to pay superstar, outfield player money for a keeper. If he doesn't extend here I definitely think he'll run his contract down and sign for free somewhere. And when he does, I hope we target a new keeper in the DDG/Lloris/Ederson mould who is excellent with his feet in addition to with his hands.

Rationally? Nearly every player they buy now is £50m. Sterling, KDB, Walker, Stones, Mendy. Rose & Van Dijk would be around that each. They'll probably still want Sanchez, too.

I get super irritated when I watch him. Clearly super talented but the diving and play acting that this kid does is over the top. Did it about 3 times yesterday and did it a bunch against us a few weeks back as well. Feels the slightest contact and jumps in the air and rolls around. Yesterday he even jumped in the air and clutched his knee after only a slight push on his back. The match commentator even mentioned his play acting several times. Anyways, wouldn't be shocked if we are indeed looking at him. If he stays this consistent through the rest of the season I just can't imagine Watford selling him after just 1 season. And in this day and age they'd probably ask £70-80m which we (rightly) wouldn't ever pay.

Seeing talk about City wanting both Rose and VVD still. They'd literally be taking the piss out of the football world. They'd have a defense alone that's more expensive than most top teams' entire XI's. They're literally buying success with zero repercussion.

I think the only area that Luiz is ahead of Christensen is his eye for a long pass. But actually, I can't truly tell because Andreas doesn't really attempt them so he might be just as good. He doesn't make risky passes which is one of his strengths. David on the other hand tries his luck with many of those passes per game which are spectacular when they come off but wasteful when they don't. It's crazy how composed and easy going he is on the pitch. At only 21 he's already a Rolls Royce of a CB which is probably the hardest position to excell at as a young player in the PL. He is what the English media think John Stones is but you know, actually top class. I think Stones is being made to look far better than he actually is due to the ridiculous form his team are in. Because Andreas isn't English or Spanish he's going under the radar. Must say that'll I'll be a bit sad if Luiz is benched for much of the season going forward, though. I think he and Christensen can play effectively together. While Luiz is really only suited to the central role in a 3 man defense, Christensen can play anywhere. We've just got so much depth at CB now (which is crazy to say after all the complaining we've been doing about the position for months) that it seems like it's one or the other.

Imagine if we also had another player in our attack that's at Hazard & Morata's level instead of Willian and Pedro. Like say, Alexis Sanchez.

Man. If only we hadn't lost that match against the embarrassing Crystal Palace we'd still have an interesting title race.

I don't even think we should make any changes. Maybe 1 or 2 at the most. We can't risk not qualifying. This lot have held Atleti twice so they're no pushovers when they're up for it. Start with a very strong team and sub out Eden/Morata/Kante if the result is in the bag just like we did against WBA.

I just can't imagine we'd look nearly as good had we bought Lukaku instead. Big Rom will score a bunch of goals this season but Morata is absolutely miles ahead of him as a footballer. He offers so much more. Morata doesn't completely rely on service. We saw up close a couple of weeks back how Rom looks when we staved him of service.

Come on, lads! Don't think a single one of our players was poor. Everyone playing well. Morata, Hazard, and Cesc are running the show.

Just fucking noticed this, too. Infuriating! Wasn't like this until this season, either. NBC are just greedy as as hell now that the PL has really taken off in the States. Shitty sub-HD stream for me again. Yay.

Yep. You also know that Pulis will have instructed all these big brutes to stay very tight and to be very physical with Morata knowing he struggles with that sort of stuff. Imperative that we take the game to them and score first.

That West Brom midfield look unbelievably slow. Their defense as well. If we blitz them and keep the tempo high they shouldn't be able to live with us. Also, that snide cunt Yacob isn't starting so we don't have to worry about him hacking away at our players.

3-5-2 it is. David Luiz must have really pissed Conte off. He was arguably a must start player until 2 weeks ago. With this team we must get all 3 points. This is our best midfield and attack, imo.

Spuds look like Arsenal here and Arse look like Spuds. The Tater Tots look short of ideas and are getting bullied.

This Spuds performance is what I'm worried about for us today. Lethargic and completely off their usual game after the long break. Anyways, we can potentially go 2nd if we win today. Huge, huge game!

Apparently this is a match in which Pulis is fighting to save his job. I suppose that can work for or against us. If his players are still fully behind him then this could be annoying as fuck. If not, and assuming our players aren't totally off form after the break, we could blow them away. I'd be surprised if we returned to the 3-5-2 for this like we used against United. Conte will probably want the extra attacking player that the 3-4-3 offers against what will probably be a defensive minded West Brom.