Liverpool (H) 5:15pm Sunday 29th December Live on Sky

ASLEFshrugged

From Saints to Liverpool, from 20th to 1st

Liverpool are unbeaten away. They've have won 6 and drawn two - Arsenal, Newcastle - in the Premier League plus they've won all their Carabao and Champions League games


Szoboszlai is suspended, Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate are injured

Otherwise not much to say apart from somebody better get ready to start the City thread

buffybegood

If we get out with losing by 2 or fewer goals then that's not a bad performance given the players we're likely to be missing.

nychammer66

buffybegood said:

If we get out with losing by 2 or fewer goals then that's not a bad performance given the players we're likely to be missing.

Wow. We’re praying to only lose by x goals. Be positive. At least hope for a draw.

Lukerz

Areola
Todibo - Mavropanos - Cresswell
Wan-Bissaka - Álvarez - Paquetá - Emerson
Bowen - Füllkrug - Kudus

Assuming Kilman & Soler are out.

Or

Areola
Wan-Bissaka - Todibo - Mavropanos - Emerson
Álvarez - Paquetá
Bowen - Kudus - Summerville
Füllkrug

But that would make us very, very open.

Kuchinghammer

Cresswell against Salah fills me with dread, but at least he can pass the ball. Not sure Emerson or AWB can play in a back three. I'd like Coufal in there somewhere, he might be able to stare them into submission 😉

buffybegood

nychammer66 said:

buffybegood said:

If we get out with losing by 2 or fewer goals then that's not a bad performance given the players we're likely to be missing.

Wow. We’re praying to only lose by x goals. Be positive. At least hope for a draw.

I'm certainly not praying to lose by x goals, I'm simply saying that it won't be a bad result if we lose by 2.

buffybegood

Kuchinghammer said:

Cresswell against Salah fills me with dread, but at least he can pass the ball. Not sure Emerson or AWB can play in a back three. I'd like Coufal in there somewhere, he might be able to stare them into submission 😉

J-Lo has tended to play Coufal as a RCB when we've moved to a back 3, so you might get your wish should we adopt that formation.

jay_in_cpt

I agree with Buffy, I don't WANT us to lose, but if it's a 2 goal deficit loss, we've got away with one, if we play like we have against most of the top teams, Luke can give you info, we probably have NO chance....I'd agree with that sadly after witnessing poor performance after another.....( even if we had all players available we'd need Liverpool to lose the plot and Anthony Taylor to be one our side........

alderz

I’ll be watching with my father in law who is a Liverpool fan. Last year when I watched us beat Arsenal on Boxing Day I watched with my wife’s Arsenal supporting cousin, so I’m thinking this will be a surprise win too.

thornburyiron

Surprise is nowhere near a strong enough word to describe that happening.

alderz

We’ll probably lose, and we’ve not been very good this season, but I don’t understand the level of glumness that people express on this forum, tbh.

Slacker

alderz said:

We’ll probably lose, and we’ve not been very good this season, but I don’t understand the level of glumness that people express on this forum, tbh.

It’s normally so full of hope and joy.

Yeoldhammer

Just have a go at them. The 11 men behind the ball the last few times we have played them has seen us concede 5+ goals to them.

buffybegood

jay_in_cpt said:

..... and Anthony Taylor to be one our side........

Zero chance of that ever happening, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't give them at least one penalty and/or send one of our players off. Despicable, biased man.

Kuchinghammer

buffybegood said:

jay_in_cpt said:

..... and Anthony Taylor to be one our side........

Zero chance of that ever happening, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't give them at least one penalty and/or send one of our players off. Despicable, biased man.

I have to disagree. In recent years, Taylor has reffed 21 matches involving West Ham. He has been very good in 12 (ignoring BigSix playacting etc) OK in 2, suspect in 6 and rank in 1. Compare that to Boy Ref Oiver.. 26 matches, very good in 1, OK in 14, and suspect in 11. I guess we remember the mistakes more clearly.

jay_in_cpt

alderz said:

We’ll probably lose, and we’ve not been very good this season, but I don’t understand the level of glumness that people express on this forum, tbh.

I know I’m guilty of this, outside of WHUFC I’m actually a positive person , but West Ham tends to bring out some negative thoughts..

Although Alderz, it’s also possible it could be called REALITY IMO.. If you read many, many , many websites full of people who know more than we do, they are stating the same thing, we’re VERY POOR, NO IDENTITY, LUCKY TO HAVE THE POINTS WE DO, LACK IDEAS etc etc, so just perhaps it’s more realistic than how you choose to call it “glumness “…

Of course there are some who will refute / refuse any sign of negative thoughts/ comments , but I like to call it how I see it, and at present it’s simply UGLY

jay_in_cpt

buffybegood said:

jay_in_cpt said:

..... and Anthony Taylor to be one our side........

Zero chance of that ever happening, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't give them at least one penalty and/or send one of our players off. Despicable, biased man.

Not a fan then!
Says a lot considering he’s our most highly ranked FIFA referee 👍🏻⚒️🤣

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

You'd think we were sitting bottom of the table without a win in 10 not 13th, 9 points clear of the bottom 3, level on points with Spurs and above Man United

Say what you want about the OS, a lot of it justified, but no wonder our atmosphere is so bad when our fanbase seem so deflated and dare I say negative

IronHerb

But it's so difficult , as a fan, to get into the game when the football is so pedantry, which for the past 18 months, on the whole, it has been. It's not necessarily negativity, just the lack of anything to cheer.

jay_in_cpt

IronHerb said:

But it's so difficult , as a fan, to get into the game when the football is so pedantry, which for the past 18 months, on the whole, it has been. It's not necessarily negativity, just the lack of anything to cheer.

Hit it on the head, the team ( manager included ) needs to give the fans in attendance something to cheer, not being put through 90 mins + of constant dross, which if you watch West Ham, as IH has said for the past year and half, that's in general what has been served up ( not just by J Lo and his coaches but the last season of Moyes also, painful to watch for most )....

I have only been to the stadium 4 times, living in Cape Town, a bit tricky, but watching live on TV, for most I tend to be cringing at how poor we are, for the most.....( forget the points tally, and who we are 3 points behind etc etc... the performances, if you actually watch all the games, you cannot disagree, IMHO...( PS, I haven't missed 1 game live on TV out here this season, and it's been bad, very bad for most, but I guess others will see it differently...)..

Whitehorsehammer

Maybe we set our aspirations too high early on, we got a new manager in early with a full pre-season, spent big on what looked like good signings (on paper). It was going to take a few games to work on the plan but why I (who is normally positive) feel glum is that half way through the season I have seen very little to get positive about. We leave big gaps at the back that the better teams will easily exploit and show very little cohesion in midfield. If anything happens to Bowen we would become a very poor side. We have got the points we have but I feel we have been lucky to pick up as many as we have. But let's hope that out of not much it suddenly clicks and comes good.

Lukerz

Yes, I can’t disagree with Jay on this occasion.

The new way we play gets found out against decent teams, comprehensively. This will likely be a comfortable defeat I would predict maybe 1-4.

With the squad short on depth, five potential players absent, it’s about trying to stay in the game for as long as possible.

Lukerz

I mean, Salah, Diaz, Jota, Gakpo - wow that’s a scary front line of options, then you throw in Chiesa, Nunez (who are more of the less impactful options). Good luck.

Their midfield is pretty good as they are often in control of the games they play & are winning. I don’t think they are the most robust but they usually don’t have to be.

The defence is not as strong as it used to be (they make the odd error) but they still have four high quality players. Watching how Newcastle scored 3 against them is probably a decent way of preparing for the game.

As soon as we lose the ball in this game around halfway or their defensive third, we are going to be slaughtered by their attacking players unless we don’t push anybody forward.

However, our recent record against them at home has been good. 2-2 draw last season, 1-2 loss the season before, 3-2 win the season before that. Hopefully history is on our side.

EXETERHAMMER

Salah is ridiculous at the moment. Perhaps AWB should just follow him everywhere and annoy him

Lukerz

We’ll miss Souček’s energy & stamina. We’ll miss Soler’s ability to get his foot on the ball & slow the game down, we’ll miss the balance Kilman brings & the shot stopping of Fabiański. Other than that; 3-0 win.

Slacker

We’ll probably get mullered but you’ve got to hope havent you?🤷🏻‍♂️⚒️

Lukerz

I can’t see how we won’t get thrashed unless we 1) change completely & play everybody behind the ball or 2) play the game of our lives, no mistakes & everything done to perfection.

nychammer66

#2 please.

chicagohammer

alderz said:

I’ll be watching with my father in law who is a Liverpool fan. Last year when I watched us beat Arsenal on Boxing Day I watched with my wife’s Arsenal supporting cousin, so I’m thinking this will be a surprise win too.

Nurse!!

chicagohammer

I am being realistic regarding the probable result but what I want to see is us being competitive and up for it, I want the Liverpool players to know that they have been in a game and that they had to work for it.

That we should be able to achieve.

COYI

claretandbluesky

I agree, I think there are definitely things that can be taken from a performance that ends in a loss. At a time when the jury is clearly out on Lopetgui at present we want to see that Liverpool are given a game, that we seek to create chances of our own and are organised enough to stop a rout. And with that you never know, a bit of luck on your side you may even end up getting something.