DJS

Stays fit for a whole season? It would seem more unthinkable than not.

The idea that Klopp wasnt going to 'raid' Dortmund is a bit of a fallacy, i think. It's been sold to suggest he wont go back to buy anyone. Dont believe that for a second. He'll target who he wants/thinks he can get. The only thing it'll hinge on is whether we make Dortmund an offer for a player and they accept it.Like any other transfer, mostly.

I associated them with bodies swarming forward, for sure. Dont remember them employing an aggressive/collective high press to win the ball back in the final third, that much.

I dont think the PL has seen anything like Klopp's methodology before. Yes, there's been teams who press with energy, but more often than not, it's been to force opponents into hoofing upfield and giving up possession. I dont recall a side playing in english top flight football who not only presses high but actually wins the ball in such advanced areas and then sees so many players bombing it up to join the attack so quickly in swarms. Spoke with a couple of City fans who go every week and they both (separately) said they've never seen any english side play like that at the Etihad and do that to them. Just Bayern Munich & Barcelona. Quite happy for us to be compared to those two.

Fantastic day all round, with a nice little cherry on top, by virtue of the fact that i backed us on a -1 handicap at 12/1 It's probably asking too much for Monday Night Football to dedicate the entire hour before tonight's kickoff, to our game.

That sounds about right. I'd start Benteke and hopefully we can be relatively comfortable in the last 20 mins, for Sturridge to come on and get some fitness. Bordeaux are 13th in Ligue 1, their last 6 league games have been a mixed bag: Rennes 2-2 Bordeaux Bordeaux 3-1 Monaco Ajaccio 2-0 Bordeaux Bordeaux 1-0 Troyes Bordeaux 0-0 Montpellier Lorient 3-2 Bordeaux

Yeah, Lucas is surely a cert for this. Think we should maybe rotate 2 or 3 at most for this. Get the game won & qualify, so we can forget about this competition until February.

Yeah that's true. I think more would be interested (if not excited perhaps) if the interviews didn't contain the same old cliches and nonsense. For example, those of us who aren't particularly interested in what Lallana has to say in his latest sound bite probably felt differently with all those Klopp interviews. Because it was something different from the usual spiel.

Daniel Sturridge has stepped up his training programme - and that could put him in contention to face Manchester City. (Mirror) #LFC Sturridge has been working outdoors with club physios for the first time since he got his hip injury. (Mirror) #LFC Sturridge will progress this week from running and kicking to sessions with the squad during the international break. (Mirror) #LFC Unless the stories about his problem being his knee were wrong, I think Maddock's got confused over his injury being a hip problem. That was last time, wasn't it? In any case, does anyone really believe Sturridge will feature at City? It's got to the point where any notion of him playing for us again this side of Christmas seems like wishful thinking.

This is just a consequence of how much TV & online coverage there is nowadays. Even if the players only spoke to the newspapers, we'd still hear all about it thanks to Twitter. Tis the modern world.

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Regardless of injuries, I hope we intend to sign a quality CB in January.

Is Gomez out for the season?

We wouldn't be lucky enough that he's out for 10 days or so and then ok for City, surely.

We've seen a few glimpses with Firmino, enough to know there's a player there. But far too often, it's not happening. He wants far too much time on the ball, which wont happen. He seems to be playing at a couple of gears below the other players on the pitch. More of a luxury player so far than anything else. It'll come but while we're in the position where we're under pressure to be getting wins, not sure his inclusion is beneficial overall. That said, we dont have that many options in some areas.

There generally is a correlation, not always, but quite often. Albeit perhaps not a solid one. But ok, aside from the cost, they're established internationals for decent to good nations. Yet we cant defend. You can even discount the international status too. Let's just put it as simply and bluntly as this - do you/we think Dann and Delaney are better than Skrtel, Sakho and Lovren? They're not, are they? Let's be frank here.

We've got Sakho, Skrtel & Lovren - about £45m worth of centre halves. They have Dann and Delaney. How is it that they can defend well with that and we cant with expensive international centrebacks? It's just weird sh*t.

Technically, in terms of the law, i think swearing at someone could constitute assault. Or simply putting your hand on their shoulder. It's a bit ridiculous.

One of the Stoke stewards has reported Diego Costa for assault after the d****ead striker seemed to deliberately stamp/tread on his foot while collecting the ball.

Problem is, we also need to convince him that he's 100%.

Apparently he's been playing as a wide forward rather than a central striker. Not that I want him, I think we could get better for the money.

Hasn't missed a game through injury for nearly three years.

@JDNalton: Corinthians are desperate to get him off their books. Club & agent will be working overtime to attract interest from Europe.

It's a bit mad though. Why not think "well by sitting & worrying what if, I'm never really playing anyway, so maybe just get on the field, enjoy some minutes & see what happens" ? Come the end of his career, he'll regret missing so many games which he could've maybe played, if he'd just been less mentally fragile.