Following on from our last match where we were up against one of the best footballing sides in Europe, playing away from home and live on TV, tonight we are playing one of the best footballing sides in Europe, away from home and live on TV. Thank you very much fixture computer!
This time its Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. His team are sitting 19pts clear at the top of the table, having won 25 of their 26 games to date, drawing the once.
I would love to be the only team to beat Liverpool this season, but our record doesn’t bode well. We have won just the once in our last 46 visits there, failing to score in 31 of those matches! So, it’s not exactly looking good for us!
TEAM NEWS
Fredericks is ruled out following his shoulder injury picked up against Man City in the last game.
Yarmolenko is back in training but still ruled out.
Wilshere – if he was a dog, he would have been put down years ago!
PREDICTED LINE UP
It doesn’t take a genius to work out what the likely starting 11 will be.
Against City, Moyes thought ‘the players did a great job in trying to be organised, disciplined and structured in a way that would make it hard for them’
That “There will be games coming up when we have the chance to play differently, but obviously we’re in a period of a couple of tough games.”
And “These games were always going to be difficult for us but getting a good structure, especially defensively [is important], because if you don’t concede any goals you always will pick up points.
The above pretty much means we will set up much the same as we were against Man City.
That means playing with the five at the back and trying not to concede and hoping to hit them on the counterattack. A counterattack that doesn’t exist and hasn’t all season. I don’t believe we have the players capable of doing it!
I have a feeling Moyes will go with the following:
Looking at that makes me want to cry! We might as well be down to 9 men as Masuaku and Lanzini have looked that they just don’t want to know, that they have already got their agents working on how they get out of West Ham in the very near future, especially if we go down.
Zabaleta will be on a hiding to nothing. He won’t be able to cope with Liverpool’s attacking threat.
Nor will Masuaku down the other side. So, our back three will be under serious pressure all evening.
We also have no pace for that ‘counterattack’.
Mixing what we know Moyes will go for and what I hope to see, I’d go for:
We still have the five at the back but I’d take out both Masuaku and Zabaleta, bringing in Ngakia. He had a fairly solid game against Liverpool in the last game. Funny how Moyes said he wasn’t sure if Bowen was ready against Man City yet felt Ngakia was against Liverpool.
I’d push Cresswell out to the left-wing back position and bring in Balbuena into the back three. Cresswell is more defence minded than Masuaku but also seems to link up better with Anderson going forward.
I would have Anderson and Bowen playing off Antonio. That attack would give us a bit of speed going forward. Rice and Soucek can play in the middle, with Soucek slightly advanced than Rice.
My plan tonight is the same as our last match. I’ll take the wee lad to his training, then speed back to the house, get the dinner in me and plop myself in front of the TV in time for the 8:00pm kick-off.
I’ve had a quick look on Betfair Exchange for tonight and see we are odds of 21/1 for a win tonight! Strangely we were 23/1 v Man City, therefore the bookies must give us more of a slight hope of a win in this game!
Perhaps they think Sir Bobby will be looking down on us tonight. Its hard to believe its 27 years since his passing. His era was before my time but having watched videos and the like of him playing in the claret and blue, it had a very emotional effect on me. I remember hearing the news like it was yesterday.
If our players today have any hope and desire to get us out of this shitfest of a relegation battle we are in, then I hope they have spent some time this week watching footage of the great Bobby Moore and what playing for West Ham United meant to him!
Please someone step up to the plate tonight, take the game by the scruff of the neck, show will and determination to win, and who knows, we might just snatch something from this game!
I’d love to be able say we were the only team to beat Liverpool all season!
COYI!
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