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Liverpool Build Up Thread


Wiggles31

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By my reckoning, this is the most important match we've had since the Coventry one in 2012?

 

Unless someone can think of one in the meantime? QPR away in November 2012 I suppose but this is bigger because of the context and the value of the 3 points

 

No one match is arguably any more important than any other. The away win at Old Trafford might turn out to have been of more significance.

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How do you work that out? This match isn't more or less important than the vast majority we've already had this season. Nothing is decided from it' date=' and its only February.[/quote']

 

Because places 4-7 are so bunched up and this game could mean the difference between 1 and 7 points gap between us and Liverpool.

 

Because we are in danger of slipping away in the race to achieve something incredible and qualify for the CL. A win here against a direct rival with a 1/3 of the season to go would a big way to doing that

 

Because I'm still not happy with Lallana and Lovren's actions, and Rodgers' condescending comments from the summer

 

And because for the first time since promotion, we going to be are entering the final stages of a season with something to fight for (I don't think we were ever really in danger of going down post Xmas that year)

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Alderweireld is at a 'meet the fans' event at the stadium shop this afternoon. Hopefully someone from here who went along asked him the obvious question and will report back shortly :)

 

Haha. Best way to find out team news?! ....just circumvent the managers conference/rumour mill and ask the players directly at meet-the-fans events.....clever idea

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Of course its an important game.... We can go 7 points clear of a team going for 4th place or we can go to 1 point ahead of them.

But what is more important is we need to get back to winning ways and sort ourselves out. If we keep playing the way we have in our last 3 games we will slide down the table very quickly. It is about momentum and while a loss does not mean we are out of the race for 4th it will make it a lot harder. If we win we have the buffer to mess up two games and still be ahead of them.

Add to that the ex players who all left to play CL it will make winning even more sweeter.

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of course it is huge.

we are playing a game that could mean 1 or 7 points gap between us an another who are hitting serious form

of course the very recent history between the two clubs

 

throw in the home form of the last 3 games that needs turning around

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Haha. Best way to find out team news?! ....just circumvent the managers conference/rumour mill and ask the players directly at meet-the-fans events.....clever idea

 

I have at least one clever idea a year. No matter how hard I try to avoid it. Life is a real test of character sometimes and I'm getting quite weary of constant failure to be honest.

Edited by trousers
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I'm still none the wiser why it is much more important than our previous league game or our next one. It's just a league game at this stage. It's February. No disaster if we lose' date=' and nothing won if we win. It's bigger to the fans than the club I think.[/quote']

 

dont be daft, the margin for error is getting smaller and smaller and the pressure increases

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I am so looking forward to this one. Hopefully my trip up from Cornwall will be worth it and we hammer Liverpool 4-0 to show Messrs Lallana, Lovren and Rodgers we are genuinely pushing for a Champions League spot. As for Sir Rickie, I really hope he is involved at some point so we can show him just how much appreciation we have for both him as a person and all that he did for the club.

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Personally, my liverpool hate goes out to dejan lovren. 20m, what a joke. I'm a foreign fan, and won't be able to make it to the game, But I think the following 2 chants I thought of today would serve him right for all the time he's spent on the bench this season, and for how he treated saints when he departed.

 

"Who plays down the left?

Who plays down the righhttt?

Not Dejan Lovren

Benched by BR's side"

 

"HAVE FUN WITH LOVREN, HE REALLY IS S**T,

HAVE **** WITH LOVREN, HE’S A TOTAL GIT,

HAVE FUN WITH LOVREN, HE COST YOU A LOT,

HAVE FUN WITH LOVREN, HE'LL LET IN OUR SHOT"

 

Just a thought. I don't get to go to many games and don't know who decides the chants.

 

Go saints. I'm trusting in you this weekend!

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No one particularly decides chants. They mostly originate in pubs or at away games and are started off by a small group. Others hear them and join in if they like it and so on.

 

Can't ever remember hearing a song including the word "git" before but then I'm not yet 40 so wasn't alive for most of the 1970's.

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If Lambert does come off the bench can we please just immediately start OWTS or come on you reds, something to drown out the people who will try to chant for him.
Agreed. Anfield was ridiculous. Loads of songs all game and then he came on and played a part in their winner. :lol:
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Club legend. I see nothing wrong with a brief show of affection when he takes the pitch.

 

It won't be brief. If it gets any momentum it'll go on for 10+ minutes.

Chelsea fans had it right when Lampard came on at Stamford Bridge. There was mild chanting for him but was immediately squashed by chanting for the team all round the ground. I will happily join in for chants for Lambert at full time, but not before then.

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Liverpools' "resurgence" has coincided with them not playing UCL matches midweek due to the winter break. (and the return of Sturridge of course)

 

While not counting chickens, results on a weekend following a big European match have often been "surprising" for most of the "Big Teams". Liverpool have a big European Night tonight, and while they aren't travelling back from the far side of Europe, tonight has to take a lot of their attention and emotional energy.

 

Add to that the fact that Stevie G should be missing and Liverpool really are there for the taking on Sunday. I have no doubt that our lads needed the extra rest, Tadic & Pelle have certainly been found out by the intensity of the PL and let us hope they come back sharper.

 

For those who talk about it not being a must win, taking "6 pointers" off Spuds & The Scousers is pretty bloody critical. It eases "must win pressure" and leaves us more focused on staying above Arsenal and the Mancs.

 

I would like to see Mane playing closer to Pelle and us attacking their CB's with his pace more. While Elia & Mane wide is a scary prospect on paper for opposition teams, so far it hasn't seemed to work out that well.

 

.................Forster....................

Clyne...Fonte...Toby/Maya.....Targett

...................VW..................

.......Davis...............Morgan/JWP...

Mane.................................Elia...

...............Pelle....................

 

Think this is a game that RK should at least name the full set of subs even if to only give a nipper the experience

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Liverpools' "resurgence" has coincided with them not playing UCL matches midweek due to the winter break. (and the return of Sturridge of course)

 

While not counting chickens, results on a weekend following a big European match have often been "surprising" for most of the "Big Teams". Liverpool have a big European Night tonight, and while they aren't travelling back from the far side of Europe, tonight has to take a lot of their attention and emotional energy.

 

Add to that the fact that Stevie G should be missing and Liverpool really are there for the taking on Sunday. I have no doubt that our lads needed the extra rest, Tadic & Pelle have certainly been found out by the intensity of the PL and let us hope they come back sharper.

 

For those who talk about it not being a must win, taking "6 pointers" off Spuds & The Scousers is pretty bloody critical. It eases "must win pressure" and leaves us more focused on staying above Arsenal and the Mancs.

 

I would like to see Mane playing closer to Pelle and us attacking their CB's with his pace more. While Elia & Mane wide is a scary prospect on paper for opposition teams, so far it hasn't seemed to work out that well.

 

.................Forster....................

Clyne...Fonte...Toby/Maya.....Targett

...................VW..................

.......Davis...............Morgan/JWP...

Mane.................................Elia...

...............Pelle....................

 

Think this is a game that RK should at least name the full set of subs even if to only give a nipper the experience

 

Personally think they're a better team when Gerrard doesn't play.

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We really need a song for Brandon to rub this in.

 

Our objectives have changed,

Our objectives have changed,

Brendan Rogers, our objectives have changed

 

Our objectives have changed,

Our objectives have changed,

Champions League, our objectives have changed

 

(Then a chorus of we hate pompey, we hate pompey x10 just because.)

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Their defensive record has picked up but still think they're vulnerable. For starters, get Pelle peeling off and targeting Can who's lightweight in the air and Mané running down the middle at pace at the lumbering Skrtel.

 

Pretty much what we did at QPR. But not against West Ham.

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Wouldn't be wise to absorb too much pressure from Liverpool I can see both teams having a proper go at it and both sets of fans having their heartrate increased considerably. I suspect we have more faith in our defence than they do theirs but I can't remember another time this season (other than the opening day) when we have played a team with so much pace in the final third.

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Our objectives have changed,

Our objectives have changed,

Brendan Rogers, our objectives have changed

 

Our objectives have changed,

Our objectives have changed,

Champions League, our objectives have changed

 

(Then a chorus of we hate pompey, we hate pompey x10 just because.)

 

We don't feel sorry for you,

We don't feel sorry for you,

Lumbered with Lovren

We don't feel sorry for you...

 

Why do we always

Sing the same f.ucking tune

The same f.ucking tune

The same f.ucking tuuuuune

Why do we always sing the same f.ucking tune?

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a bit snarky, but who could argue with the points made?

 

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/espn-fc-united-blog/68/post/2305220/liverpools-trio-of-disappointing-former-southampton-stars-make-their-return-to-st-marys-stadium

 

Liverpool's raid of Southampton has worked in the Saints' favour

 

It ought to be a rancour-free reunion. Football being football, it probably won't be, but when Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren return to St Mary's Stadium on Sunday, they should be welcomed.

 

Southampton were good for them. They were good for Southampton. Southampton are even better without them. The chances of two of the Liverpool trio damaging their former club are limited. Lambert and Lovren will probably be confined to watching briefs. Lallana is likelier to feature, but despite his improved form over the last 10 weeks, his presence in the starting squad could be a temporary affair.

 

The reality is that Southampton banked 49.5 million pounds for the trio, the second-highest sum one English club has ever received from another in a transfer window -- after Liverpool's 50 million-pound sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea -- and their three immediate replacements (Toby Alderweireld, Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle) all represent an upgrade. Only the question of whether Lallana or Tadic is superior should brook much debate: The Englishman scores more goals, but the Serbian is a more productive supplier.

 

He is also rather cheaper. Lallana is the second-costliest signing (25 million pounds) in Liverpool's history, behind only the ill-fated Andy Carroll (35 million pounds), and Lovren is their most expensive defender ever at 20 million pounds. They provide further proof that negotiating is not Liverpool's forte.

 

A triumph of Southampton's bargaining powers meant that the departed trio funded much of manager Ronald Koeman's rebuilding. That transfer-market acumen in turn explains why Southampton have inverted the unofficial law that serial sellers are incapable of progressing beyond a certain level.

 

Liverpool's feeder club goes into a rematch four points ahead of their alumni. They are a financial and a footballing example. Having signed three players from a club that finished eighth, Liverpool are now seventh. If the swift metamorphoses of Emre Can, Alberto Moreno and Lazar Markovic from misfits into mainstays show that Liverpool's 117 million-pound summer spending spree was not, as it appeared in autumn, one of the worst ever, their best business did not involve Saints.

 

Lambert was the first and cheapest addition, his 4.5 million-pound fee reflecting his 32 years and Southampton's gratitude for five seasons of service in which he delivered 117 goals in 235 games and two promotions. Yet a Liverpool career that began with clear suggestions he was the Plan B, an impact substitute whose physical presence allowed him to have an effect in August encounters with Saints and Manchester City, now seems ever more purposeless.

 

A six-game stint in the side during 16 days in November and December was one of diminishing returns and revealed Liverpool's passers need pace in attack. The fact Aston Villa's deadline-day bid for Lambert was accepted, even though he rejected the move, likely points to an end of the season exit to a team in the lower half of the league.

 

As it is, the returns to fitness and favour respectively of Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli push him down the pecking order. If the Italian's renaissance was unexpected, it highlights how marginalised and seemingly unwanted players become at times. Mamadou Sakho seemed sidelined by Lovren's arrival. Now the Frenchman is a role model and roadblock alike for the Croatian.

 

The prognosis for a left-sided centre-back at Anfield is not particularly good, even if, in the current shape, Lovren ought to offer an option in the middle of the back three and, when Emre Can is shifted into midfield, a position on the right should open up.

 

Yet, there are times when Lovren's confidence has been so low and his performances in training so poor that he has failed to make the bench. While he has had solid bit-part roles of late, Southampton can reflect with satisfaction on a profitable trade.

 

Lovren was signed for 8.5 million pounds and sold later for more than double that fee. They have the division's best defensive record this season, which has prompted many to re-evaluate their squad and argue Jose Fonte was the key central defender all along. While Lovren was burdened with the task of becoming Liverpool's defensive "leader," to use Rodgers' word, the Portuguese has flourished with the responsibility of the Southampton captaincy.

 

He inherited the armband from Lallana. The former Saints skipper has been a beneficiary of Rodgers' switch to 3-4-2-1, enjoying a system that allows him to dovetail with Philippe Coutinho and offer fluid movement between the lines.

 

Yet one who rarely played 90 minutes for Southampton may find himself confined to cameos for Liverpool. Sturridge's return is a game-changer, allowing Raheem Sterling to revert to an attacking midfield position. Markovic has prospered as a wing-back, but it is a short-term success for a player who ought to operate further forward and who prospered as a No. 10 against Tottenham. Sterling's youthful impersonator, Jordon Ibe, is another auditioning for a starting spot as a specialist creator.

 

Lallana is the antidote to the precocious. He turns 27 in May. He is something of a late developer but his potential for further improvement is limited; his excessive fee indicates the risks of buying a player after what may forever prove the best season of his career.

 

Yet the inability to get value for money from the South Coast club doesn't seem to have deterred Liverpool. The former Southampton schoolboy Danny Ings is likely to take the indirect route to Anfield, via Bournemouth and Burnley when his contract expires at the end of the season. There's also interest in others, with forward Jay Rodriguez being monitored, and that shows the scale of Rodgers' admiration for former Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino's pressing game and the club's principles.

 

This season has suggested not that Liverpool were wrong to raid St Mary's Stadium, but that they went for the wrong man. Morgan Schneiderlin has brought influence energy and quality to the midfield in such copious quantities to indicate he could be a replacement for the departing Steven Gerrard.

 

Perhaps the precocity of the embryonic colossus Can will persuade Rodgers not to enter the bidding for the Frenchman. Or perhaps belts will be tightened at Anfield. Because, as Lambert, Lovren and Lallana show, the certainty is that Southampton will command a high fee if Schneiderlin does leave. And, incredible as the numbers sound, if both he and Rodriguez head for Merseyside, they could receive 100 million pounds from one club in the space of 12 months.

 

 

Richard Jolly is a football writer for ESPN, The Guardian, The National, The Observer, the Straits Times and the Sunday Express.

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Thank you very much for the 50 million !

Thank you very much,

Thank you very, very much !

Thank you very much for the 50 million !

Thank you very, very much !

 

Or.

 

You signed the wrong ones,

You signed the wrong ones,

You thick f"cking Scousers,

You signed the wrong ones !

Edited by eurosaint
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Like the Thank You very much one above, very apt….

 

Wheres all our players gone song will be apt too if the 3 are all on the bench!

 

I will still wear my Ricky Lambert T shirt though, come on guys, he has been the best player/legend/hero since MLT, and we didn't get a chance to say thanks/good bye properly.

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Thank you very much for the 50 million !

Thank you very much,

Thank you very, very much !

Thank you very much for the 50 million !

Thank you very, very much !

 

Or.

 

You signed the wrong ones,

You signed the wrong ones,

You thick f"cking Scousers,

You signed the wrong ones !

 

Nice work .... trouble is not many in The Northam will have a scooby about The Scaffolds Thank You Very Much!! Up to The Itchen then!!

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