Pizy

Just hope we don't "Mourinho" it and sit back at home and allow Liverpool the lions share of possession. They've proven this season so far that they create loads of chances if given the ball. We need to be progressive and play on the front foot. Play like a big team with confidence. Player for player we're better at every position just about. We have to use that to our advantage. We also have to hope Conte has been hammering home the message to Costa all week about keeping his cool. You know Klopp will be telling Lovren and the rest of their players to wind him up and try to get him booked or sent off. He can feast on that defense if his head is in it and he's not fighting and arguing the whole time.

I see the inbred Scouse mutants on RAWK are super confident that they'll come to the Bridge and spank us. Goddamn, I hope we embarrass them...

I guess that's the thing. He's so consistently awesome that you just expect it. Liverpool will be a massive test for him and Matic.

Wait, now people here are calling for Cesc to start? Liverpool are probably the last type of side you want to see Fabregas against. A side with loads of energy, athleticism, and who press relentlessly. Basically his cryptonite. Think we need Oscar in there again. Thought he was fine yesterday. Plenty of tackling, tracking back, and was also dangerous in the final third. We need as much steel against that lot as possible.

Disagree. He was great. Stepped into so many passing lanes to intercept the ball, made several great tackles, and did a bunch of things that don't show up on the stat sheet like pressurizing opponents and forcing them to either give the ball away or pass backwards. Without him we may very well have lost that game like we often did last season.

Agreed. If Costa doesn't get wound up by the Liverpool player who you know will be doing everything they can to set him off, he should destroy that defense. Worried about their attack and their pressing, though. We should be bossing the midfield and causing them all sorts of headaches in attack.

One of the worst officiated matches I've ever seen. Completely out of control there. - Cahill was abysmal. Foul or not from Fer, what the fuck are you thinking dwelling on the ball in that situation!? Idiot. - Hazard was off that game. Looked super dangerous time after time until it got to the last pass or shot where he choked. - Diego and Kante were immense. All defenders other than Cahill were good. Oscar and Matic were good. If Diego had scored that tap-in I think it would've killed the game. It would've demoralized Swansea and it could've been 4 or 5-0. Instead, it stayed 0-1, they get a super fluke penalty, and get belief and the crowd behind them. We need to be much more clinical and kill teams off or this can always happen. Totally dominated them but come away feeling like we lost it.

After initially struggling with their high press, we dominated that half. Kante, Oscar, and Matic were all excellent as were Diego and Willian. Just get Hazard to run at them more and more and we should score a couple more. Definitely don't think 1 goal will be enough. Not with Sigurdson out there who's a huge danger.

Actually starting to feel bad for Cesc. He can't get a sniff against these small sides so what hope does he have to play against the big ones? Hard to change a team that's worked well so far, but I would've liked to see him start here.

Anxious as hell to see our XI. Also nervous that the international break will have a negative effect on our quality going forward. Should be a comfortable win looking at how both clubs have started the season but I'm not too confident.

Absolutely awful refereeing this match. Arsenal given a scandalous penalty at the death to steal them 3 points. Never a pen in a million years.

Yep. Just can't imagine them dropping many points against the smaller teams. They'll utterly dominate those sides.

We've gotta win these "easy" ones against the likes of Swansea to keep pace with City. There are so many great sides this season that title challengers can't afford to drop points against teams that they're far superior to.

He's obviously a world class talent but clearly needs to be played in a specific position to show his best. He looked useless deep in midfield for France at the Euro's and is lost here as part of a "2" as the box to box. He needs to be played further forward. De Bruyne on the other hand can play on either wide position, as a #10, or as a #8. He's more versatile.

Disagree on both points. Besides being more powerful, what does Pogba do better than De Bruyne? Nothing. KDB offers much more to a team. Also, City look brilliant without their "best" player. When De Bruyne was out for them last season they were a different team. He's so influential and they key to their team.

De Bruyne is easily a better player than Pogba. Said it when United signed him. Scores more, assists more, higher work rate, more intelligent. Second best player in the league after Hazard.

Ah, yes. I literally couldn't care less about that competition so I hope Conte doesn't field our strongest XI. I know we have fewer matches this season's without CL football, but I still wouldn't risk any of our most important players from the start in the League Cup. Needs to be all about the PL this season.

Oh, is it? Nice, that's a relief.

Yeah, it's not inconceivable at all that we could lose or drop points in all 3 of Liverpool, Leicester, and Arsenal. For that reason, losing or dropping points to Swansea is not an option. Must win for me.

Don't think anyone expected either of Luiz or Alonso to start this one so not surprised Conte has confirmed it. We shouldn't need them either. This is definitely a must win for me, though, with the fixtures we have coming up. Momentum going into the back to back to back tough fixtures would be great. All 12 points from 12 and a massive match against a hated rival in Liverpool would have the team so amped up. If we slip up against a Swansea side who look like relegation candidates well be in danger of slipping away early with Liverpool, Leicester, Arsenal all in a row.

Isn't he a Man United fan? And it seems he's best mates with Pogba. They can blow us out of the water with wages and transfer fee so I'm not sure how we'd compete with them for him. Unless Conte can work his magic. Though I wonder, with both Mourinho and Zlatan himself saying he'd for sure be back for another year at least, what would signing Griezmann do for Rashford's already limited chances?

He's got those Robin Van Persie bow legs

He literally can't be worse.

To be honest, he's looked like that nearly every time he played for us. He was often lost defensively and got caught out constantly. He did put in some great crosses but the PL just looked too much for him. It's good he's gone on loan and maybe he'll come back much better.

I just think back to the last preseason match he played where, directly in front of Conte, Baba looked like a terrified pussy and played 2-3 straight simple forward passes out of play. He just looked completely lost. Like Cuadrado almost every appearance he made for us. Conte wants players with balls and confidence. I'm just going to keep reassuring myself that at least he's clearly a Conte target. Have to trust his judgement with this guy.