On Monday night we will be taking up the toughest challenge the fixture list can offer as we travel to Anfield to take on the champions. The last time we won there in the league we had Mikel Arteta partnering a monstrous Abou Diaby in the centre of our midfield as Podolski and Santi Cazorla opened their accounts for the Gunners. Worryingly however, that was eight years ago now and since then we have only picked up two points from twenty-one at a ground that was the scene of one of our most spectacular triumphs as a club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the third season in four that we play\nthem away in the opening month, although this year that is September rather\nthan August. It has ended in defeat each time. So, the recent omens are not\ngood. Certainly, there is no-one in the team, the management or the fanbase who\nis underestimating the difficulty of the task that will be facing us, and yet,\nmight there be any causes for optimism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, first it is fair to say that the fans\nat Anfield give their team a huge boost, so although their absence will not\nweaken the Liverpool team it will at least deny them an atmosphere they thrive\nin. Even more so if we manage to stop them having it all their own way. No one\nwants to see fans unable to safely attend football matches but whilst that\nsituation holds it may be the best time to go to Anfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further hope may be taken from our two\nrecent victories against them. Of course I enjoyed them both thoroughly and I\ndo not want to piss on anyone\u2019s strawberries but it must be said that in one\nmatch we finished the chances they gifted us and then held on for dear life and\nin the other we actually drew. That being said, where there may be genuine hope\nis in the fact that Arteta has clear tactics for how he wants us to play\nagainst this lot and the last two performances have both had many good\nfeatures. It might take something of perfect storm for us to go there and win,\nbut stranger things have happened. Furthermore, an away draw would be a very\ngood result and for the first time in years we do not look dead and buried\nbefore anyone kicks a ball in anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the media Klopp has been happy to dole\nout the praise to his opposite number, saying<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He’s shown in a short period of time that he seems to be an exceptional football manager. The team he sets up now, the structure is absolutely great. You can see the balance between the defence and offence is really good. You can see a lot of things that are pretty helpful in football. They are well organised, still with creative freedom for the players. I have to say, since he\u2019s there, he\u2019s done a brilliant and impressive job. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe’s changed, I think, the whole mood at the club. I don\u2019t think anyone would have thought that at the end of the season they would win any competition, but he managed to do that by lifting the FA Cup and then the Community Shield.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Sentiments we can all agree with and perhaps ones that raise the\nhopes just a little more than we might like? It is always advisable not to get\ntoo expectant before this match, as you never know whether they might not get two\ngoals in the first half that effectively win them the game, which can be a bit\ndeflating. But with Arteta at the helm and the club clearly on the up you just\nnever know what might happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For his part Mikel Arteta is expectedly complimentary about\nLiverpool, saying<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see any complacency. They go to any ground, even when they are 2-0 up, 3-0 up and they\u2019re still going the same way\u2026This is an incredible credit to their coaching team, the culture that they have created and the spirit of that team\u2026They just go for it every single minute of every game. And throughout the season, to do that for 10 months, that\u2019s a massive compliment, I think for them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
However, he also shows his usual focus on the collective behaviour\nof our players and our club, the repetition of which builds a true platform for\nsuccess, noting<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo we want to be one of those teams, those basic things have to be implemented every day. And that goes through in training, you cannot expect that do that (during) the weekends and training a different way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s the way you conduct yourself every day as well. I will say we will do our best to try to be much better than last year, then whatever they do, it is up to them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
I am sure we will be much better than last year (how could we\nnot?) but I also hope, against my better judgment, that we do something\nspecial. Ahhh, fandom. It\u2019s the hope that kills you but we wouldn\u2019t have it any\nother way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nTeams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liverpool will be without Jordan Henderson and Joel Matip, the former possibly leaving space for a first start for Thiago Alcantara, whose stats off the bench in his debut had the BBC a lot more gushing than the members of this bar who watched his performance. If only he were off the pace on Monday. Joe Gomez may or may not be deemed match fit after a return to training on Friday from a short-term injury. Apart from that Klopp has a full squad to choose from. So we will see Salah, Mane and Firmino and that pair of superb full-backs come at us with everything they have. Oh joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time of writing there appears to be no new team news out\nfor us so I will have to take a couple of punts whilst acknowledging that I may\nbe a bit out here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel – Luiz – Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bellerin – Xhaka – Ceballos – AMN<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Willian – Laca – Auba<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If Tierney is fit to come back into the side I expect him to start\nin his left-CB\/left-FB hybrid role. I think AMN will get the nod in front of\nhim, based on his defensive soundness and Arteta\u2019s form for playing him against\nbig teams. IF Luiz is okay to start then he will go central and I think Gabriel\nwill play on the right ahead of Holding as Mane\u2019s pace would terrorise poor\nRob. The rest picks itself really. I think Pepe will be on the bench for if we\nneed a goal but Willian\u2019s positional discipline and workrate will see him\nstart. Laca to work his socks off and get subbed for Eddie as usual. Of course,\nif neither KT nor Luiz are fit I expect we will see Holding and Gabriel but if\nwe line up with Kola as the third CB I think we are in for a long old night.\nPlease, not that. Anything but that. I would even play a back four and stick\nElneny as an extra man into midfield to sit in front of the defence rather than\nhave Kola asked to play a role he simply is not suited to against Mo Salah of\nall people. We will have to see what Mikel does, but I am sure he has a plan. Preferably\na cunning one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nholics\u2019 pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, here we are not in the business of\nbetting against our boys and there is some value on an Arsenal win, as the\nbookies are not expecting one! 1-0 and 2-1 are both available at between 16\/1\nand 20\/1 depending on where you shop. If you fancy a punt on the 2-0 scoreline\nto match our last win (and our most famous one) then you are more optimistic\nthan most but will be rewarded with 33s or better. However, in this Brave New\nWorld where all handballs by defenders are penalties and attacking players can\nhandle the ball as long as it is kicked a couple more times before they slam it\nin the net, I am going to lump it on a continuation of the high scoring theme\nso far this year (and this fixture has a history too remember) and try an\neye-of-the-needle through pass of a bet, going on 3-2 to the good guys. It is\navailable at about 35s and has the added bonus of still being live even if we\ngo 2-0 down! Although, of course, I hope that contingency is unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have the whole weekend to prepare for\n8pm on Monday, a kickoff moved forwards 15 minutes to accommodate UK pubs\nclosing an hour earlier due to tighter restrictions. If we get no points from\nthe game it will not be unexpected. But what we have come to expect from our\nteam is a performance. Arteta will want every one of them to go there with the\nmindset that we can win. As long as we have that attitude and can see the\nprogress we are making (and avoid a drubbing) then I think all Gooners will be\nhappy. In that sense, this is a bit of a free hit for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have a tough run coming up and, as ever,\nI am hoping we kick it off in style. Who says we cannot make it three in a row\nagainst the best team in the country?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have a good one Holics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COME ON YOU GOONERS!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Monday night we will be taking up the toughest challenge the fixture list can offer as we travel to Anfield to take on the champions. The last time we won there in the league we had Mikel Arteta partnering a monstrous Abou Diaby in the centre of our midfield as Podolski and Santi Cazorla […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1430"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1434,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions\/1434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}