Burnley v Liverpool 01/01/18

[Ombudsam]

I’d probs take a draw regardless of Spurs’ result against them.

 

Anyone who gets the team right gets a fiver from Cobs.

[Hightown Phil]

In an attempt to win £5, I'll go:

 

Mignolet, Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Oxlade Chamberlain, Lallana, Coutinho, Solanke, Mane. 

 

Gonna be a dog of a game, try and get out with 3 points, performance is irrelevant, just win. 

[uppsala]

Tough game this. Set up well this side.

[MarkD]

Mig; TAA-Matip-Klavan-Robertson; AOC-Can-Wijnaldum;Mane-Solanke-Coutinho

[Rusty Shackleford]

Rotating goalkeepers for league games now are we. What a load of b******s.

[Hassony]

Hoping Karius stays in goal now

[Gethin]

Mig; TAA-Matip-Klavan-Robertson; AOC-Can-Wijnaldum;Mane-Solanke-Coutinho

 

Almost this for me - but Karius for Mig 

[Swipe]

Gonna be tough this.

[Benzo-13]

Hoping Karius stays in goal now

Klopp said the other bloke is in tomorrow.

[Gethin]

Klopp said the other bloke is in tomorrow.

 

FFS - just stick to one f***ing goalie. 

[Hassony]

Klopp said the other bloke is in tomorrow.

f*** off klopp

 

And happy birthday mate

[Benzo-13]

f*** off klopp

 

And happy birthday mate

Thanks Hass. Appreciated!

[McBain]

Keeper

Gomez

Robertson. (No crossing allowed)

Lovren

Matip

Wijnaldum

Can

Ox

Coutinho

Lallana

Firmino

[Jim D]

We owe them one after this fixture last season. They beat us 2-0 with only 20% possession. With a little bit of luck in our favour and we can beat these.

[Jarg Armani]

Feeling rather metro about this one. F*ck off mignolet.

[Ombudsam]

In an attempt to win £5, I'll go:

 

Mignolet, Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Oxlade Chamberlain, Lallana, Coutinho, Solanke, Mane. 

 

Gonna be a dog of a game, try and get out with 3 points, performance is irrelevant, just win.

 

The bravest of all brave midfields away at this lot.

[Tommy Cockles]

Mig; TAA-Matip-Klavan-Robertson; AOC-Can-Wijnaldum;Mane-Solanke-Coutinho

 

I can't process this.

 

Semicolons, initials for the lads with hyphens, and hyphens between the lads without hyphens.

[Hightown Phil]

The bravest of all brave midfields away at this lot.

They’ll let us have the ball and won’t reallt come at us. Plus it’s got a lot of pace and graft in it.

[Jonesy]

I can't process this.

 

Semicolons, initials for the lads with hyphens, and hyphens between the lads without hyphens.

Thats your Oxlade—Chamberlain—Disfunction kicking in

[psl]

Give Ings a start v his old club.

[Farmer's Tan]

Hoping Karius stays in goal now

Same, i actually like Karius now and with time he can grow into a proper keeper. He is far more agile on his feet and more aggressive, he made a great stop coming out when they were through but the dude was flagged offside. I'm not sure he knew about it until after he made the block.

[Cobs]

0-3 win sends us 3rd, right?

[McBain]

0-3 win sends us 3rd, right?

Till the bi annual blueshyte collapse v man united yes

[psl]

Keeper

Gomez

Robertson. (No crossing allowed)

Lovren

Matip

Wijnaldum

Can

Ox

Coutinho

Lallana

Firmino

Have to think Mane will play after missing Swansea.

[Rory Fitzgerald]

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic above is from their last game away at Huddersfield which finished 0-0

 

Most played: The central block of 4 have played the most minutes which are Defour & Cork the 2 DM's and James Tarkowski and Ben Mee the 2 CB's. Tarkowski was banned for the last 3 games so will likely replace Long.

 

Defence: Charlie Taylor (LB) has played the last 4 games with Stephen Ward injured. Phil Bardsley has played all 7 games in December ahead of Lowton who has not figured in the last 8. With Tarkowski back, he will likely partner Ben Mee. 

 

Midfield: The midifeld in the graphic above have started all 7 games in December with the exception of Robbie Brady playing LM ahead of Arfield against Leicester at the very start of December. Scott Arfield is likely to continue at LM as Robbie Brady is injured whilst Gudmundsson at RM has played the 6th most minutes behind the keeper and central block of 4. Either;

• Dyche sticks with these players and takes the risk of fatigue, or
• There is some rotation to freshen things up but risk that some cohesion is lost. All 5 midfielders are between 25-29.

Attack: Chris Wood (4 goals in 1,029mins) is out leaving it between Sam Vokes (3 goals in 477mins) or Ashley Barnes (3 goals in 810mins). Jon Walters has been out since September with a knee injury and came on as a sub versus Man Utd so he could be an option.

 

Home Form: 8th best in league W5 D2 L3 but goals are rare with 10 home matches and 7 scored with 6 conceded. Only Swansea have scored less at home with 6 whilst only Liverpool and United have conceded less at 4 and 6 respectively. All home goals were open play and none from set pieces.

 

Home Stats: 2nd worst pass completion rate at 72% and most aeriel duels won (26 per game) along with averaging the most long-balls per game at home of 78 gives an indication of what we will face.With 314 short passes per home match and 78 long balls, thats an average of 1-in-5 being a long ball. 

 

Conclusion: Not alot of options for rotation in midfield nor at the back, maybe Lowton at LB. The last time they had more possession than the opposition was 5 games ago on 12th Dec (51% vs Stoke) so hopefully some fatigue will manifest itself if they've been playing without the ball alot. Perhaps they wont take too many chances in possession and will be even keener to hit it long if it helps get our team turned and running backwards. However, Gudmundsson is the only player with any real kind of pace. Nahki Wells is a small (5'7) fast-ish striker but has only got 13mins off the bench this season. Unlikely to start. Spurs and Arsenal won here - Spurs 0-3 with 60% possession, 18 shots for and 5 against, Arsenal 0-1 64% possession, 18 shots for and 8 against  

Edited December 31, 2017 by Rory Fitzgerald