Klopp urged to avoid Liverpool risks; Man Utd still have major issue

Jurgen Klopp has been urged not to take any selection gambles against Red Bull Salzburg and despite two big wins Man Utd still have a major issue to overcome – all in Your Says of the Day.

Join in the debate here…

 

KLOPP MUST GO STRONG IN SALZBURG

This will not be a straightforward game.
These have been scoring for fun particularly at home so we need to be very careful here.
I suspect we’ll see a more “usual” line up with a few changes due to injury.
I can see a team along the lines of…
Allison
TAA, Gomez, VVD, Robbo
Milner, Hendo, Gini
Salah, Firmino, Mané

Possibly a difference in midfield with maybe Ox starting instead of Milner but I can’t see it being much different from this team.

gingerlfc

Ginger has it about right IMHO.

Maybe Lovren may be picked ahead of Gomez if he is ok to play as I think his substitution was precautionary.

Klopp has been saving Mane and Salah and I think views this game as bigger than Everton, Bournemouth and Watford.

Gul

Dejan Lovren TEAMtalk

I doubt Klopp will take any risks at all this month with the lineup, if a player is a doubt he will not play unless we are forced to use him. Until then everyone that is nurturing a knock will remain on the bench, we cant afford to lose players to injuries so every precaution will be taken.

NotoriousBingo

Lovren trained today and has travelled to Salzburg.
One less injury to worry about.

gingerlfc

I still doubt he will play, he is more likely to come into the team next weekend.

I love it when the fixtures are like this, we see a new lineup in just about every game and anyone looking for game time just has to be ready.

We got so many fringe players now looking to make a impact. I just love it…

NotoriousBingo

 

FORGET CITY, LEICESTER ARE THE REAL DEAL

14 point clear of Man City. Take your emotions out of it; there is no way City will close that gap.

Leicester 8 points behind and flying. I think they are legitimate challengers and ultimately it will come down to injuries. They don’t have European football, whilst we will hopefully have CL next year.

I think the gap could be 5 points or less at the turn of the year.

shaunk

Leicester still have City away and us at home before the year is over. If they lose their matches and we win ours, their challenge will be away over. Big If of course.

kopite

 

Anybody else suddenly worried about leicester ?? 😬😬 theyre genuine contenders

redsforever

As mentioned previously Leicester have to play away to City just before Xmas and then we go to them on Boxing Day.
City need to get back on the winning road again so will look to take full points of them so they can leap frog them.
They also have to meet City again next year.
When we go there this presents Leicester with the 1 opportunity to claw back points directly from us which they can control. They will be really pushing for the win which will leave gaps for us to exploit. I’d happily take a draw in this game just to neutralise them.
Leicester’s last 2 games of the season are against Chelsea and Utd, 2 teams who will be fighting for that 4th spot I presume.
Having only 1 game a week most weeks has really helped Leicester but they’re an injury to Vardy or Maddison away from struggling.

gingerlfc

Leicester on a roll and could see us dropping points v them especially after the club world cup exploits, god forbid any serious injury, and them having no European football or travel to worry about.
The battle for champions league spots should help knock some points off them with the old big 6 all still with chance of qualifying.

The Fulcrum

 

 

STILL AN ISSUE FOR MAN UTD V SMALLER TEAMS?

Mourinho said it last week and it’s been by a number of others in the meantime, we find it easier to play bigger teams because they come to play, whether at OT or wherever. City, Spurs, Arsenal, they press high, leave room in behind and we can use our pace to exploit that. Smaller teams, don’t press, play deep, leave us come on to them and they just crowd the final third and we find it hard to score because we’ve no-one who can create that little piece of magic to unlock those stubborn defences. Until we get a midfielder/forward who can do that, like Scholes used to, then we’re going to keep struggling against the ‘lower’ opposition. Winning against Spurs and City in consecutive matches is brilliant, don’t get me wrong, but until we start to consistently deliver against the likes of Sheffield, Villa, Bournemouth and Brighton then I’m not going to be jumping for joy. There’s a long hard road back yet but the signs definitely seem a bit more positive after the last seven days.

killyboye

Spot on @killyboye,stubborn teams with stubborn defences are our problem,not the teams that attack and leave open spaces for our forwards.And since we lack quality to unlock those stubborn defences we are always in trouble,and find it very hard to create chances.

redblood

Killy – I’ve been hearing what you said above a lot in recent weeks and I’m not sure I fully agree. Do you think Sheffield United and Aston Villa didn’t attack us? Do you think they sat off us and sat deep with 10 players behind the ball? Sheffield United certainly didn’t. It’s a tired cliche that people use who can’t understand why we’ve dropped so many points against shit teams I think.
I mean imagine that was actually the case, we couldn’t beat teams who defend against us. Wouldn’t you just instruct the players not to attack? We can only beat teams by playing counter attack so don’t bother attacking, ever – just let teams bring the ball into our half and then when they do we win the ball back and counter attack on them, perfect!

In my opinion, if we showed the same intensity, desire and determination against Sheffield and Villa that we did against city yesterday I think we would have wiped the floor with them. Our problem is we don’t have the same hunger and desire against the smaller teams. That’s what Ole needs to change. Granted there are going to be different strategies against Villa than there are against City. But Ole himself has said he is trying to play fast attacking football based on scoring goals – not counter attack.

If he can get the team fit enough, at full strength and with the determination to win every game like we did against spurs and city then I think we will he alright.

happyhurling

 

Sheffield Utd and Villa both had better midfields than us on the day. When Pereira and Fred are paired together we are not even average in midfield!

hookeddevil

There is undoubtedly an issue with desire in the big games Vs the ‘lesser’ teams but we do still struggle to unlock a stubborn defence regardless of motivation, and our midfield is an issue. Especially when McT is absent we’re lacking steel and bite. We do need a maestro in there though.

killyboye

I think it’s a bit of both (lack of desire in some matches and finding it difficult to break teams down) mixed with being inconsistent.

We play so much better when we have intensity in our play. When we move the ball quickly we are so much better. I really cannot understand why it is so difficult for the players to have that intensity more often.

We should be able to better set our own tempo.

Alfie07

 

PEPE FINALLY COMES TO THE PARTY

Needed the result for the confidence.First half was terrible.Possession football going absolutely nowhere,we didn’t even want to get out of our half.Second half was better.But I would put it down to the individual brilliance of our front three and nothing else.Pepe finally!Martinelli superb.I thought chambers had a solid game as well.

Anyways,don’t really care about the result.Hope the board are closer to appointing a proper permanent manager because freddie still looks out of his depth,he’s like a nervous schoolboy on the touchline.That’s the worst part about these results,because we won today this board will probably hold the recruitment process.

the specialone

It’s about time. First half we were so s*** and as happy as I am now in reality the performance was not great until we scored. Ozil and Pepe are so frustrating in the same game they are so shit one min then sublime the next and both Lazy Bastards. Martinelli was great and what I loved was his work ethic he ran as fast forward as he did back. AMN is a much better right back than winger. Let’s not get carried away it was not great but so happy for a win at last !

stev2bath1

 

 

i will take the win FINALLY and not much else, nothing to get excited by, this was a poor poor team we played and they still nearly beat us and likely still dont know how they didnt, we finally scored more than we conceded and thats all that can really be said, just hope it improves the confidence and we get it together step by step

not liking the names we are being connected with for manager….still feel pretty down all in all but a win is a win is a win and boy did we need one!

steveosnakeeye

Also thought Torr was much better and much more disciplined not bombing on all the time and getting caught out of position! As I said not getting carried away as loads still wrong but just great I can wake up with a win! Next few games are tough but at least we won at last!

stev2bath1

 

RUDIGER RETURN KEY FOR CHELSEA

Any idea when Rudiger is available? Desperately needed. I’d rest Mount…he was poor against Everton. Cannot wait for RLC to return…we need his physical presence and drive…elements sorely missing in recent games. I’d even consider starting Wally in goal..he’s never really let us down. Massive, massive game as our season could implode if we dont qualify for the knockout stages. Confidence is easily gained by a young side with momentum. Conversely it can evaporate rapidly when youngsters are placed under pressure and results dont go their way.

Stuilse

 

Must win game. To do so we will have to cut out the comical defending and turn possession and chances created into goals.

Good news!

Frank Lampard has confirmed that Antonio Rudiger will be in the Chelsea squad for the Champions League clash with Lille

nine nine nine

Hope we will win and qualify. I would rest Pulisic as he was poor against Everton. If Rudiger is ready, it will be a big boost for us. I can see Kovacic being rested too with Jorginho – Kante starting.
My team: Kepa – James,Rudiger,Tomori,Azpi – Jorginho,Kante,Mount – CHO,Abraham,Willian

aindro