NEIL ATKINSON was joined by Paul Cope and Sean Rogers in a pre FA Cup podcast to look back on a steely performance against Chelsea and the visit of Bolton in the FA Cup
PODCAST: JORDAN’S GIANTS
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Team for Bolton will be-
Migs
Johnson, Sakho, Can
Manquillo, Hendo, Allen, Enrique
Lallana, Coutinho
Sterling
A lot stronger a team than I thought.
The keepers thing was interesting. I thought Cech was Chelsea’s best player about 10 years ago when they were winning their first titles under Mourinho. The big injury where he started wearing that rugby headgear was when he went down a slight level from the ‘winning you the league’ keeper to just a very good goalie. Reina had the best all round game of any keeper between ’05 and ’09 and we were only close to the title near the end of his run as being world class. Feels like a waste now because I don’t know of any keeper out there we could get in in the summer who’s even close to those types of levels. Thought experiment to do your head in: a top class keeper who doesn’t let the second goals go in in both 2-1 defeats away to City and Chelsea over the Christmas period last season; what’s the league table looking like by season’s end?
Good show again. The Swansea game and the second half against Chelsea feel like watershed moments, like the Spurs game last season: this new Liverpool team, and it is a new team, has found itself. Injuries and cups aside, I don’t want to see any more rotation at the back or in the middle. Let these players bed in to the system. Lucas and Henderson need to play together as much as possible in league games: no more tinkering. There’s an argument for rotating Markovic on occasion but I’d be reluctant to do so. We can rotate the attacking players: Coutinho, Lallana, Sterling and Makovic can all play similar roles behind Sturridge with Gerrard as cover. Ibe could prove a great impact sub when the games are stretched.
D’you think Costa will be carrying a knife for the rematch? :-) He’s such a pantomime villain.
If Michael is right with that team (and in fairness, he usually is) then it tells us 3 things. The importance being placed on keeping the momentum going, how keen Rodgers is to win a trophy and how close we’re getting to having a good squad.
Surprised me how strong a team he’s putting out. He said at the start of the season a cup and top 4 was the target. Looks like he’s going all out for the cup. Wonder if this is an indication of how he’ll approach the Europa League then
He’ll definitely take the Europa seriously. Still our best chance of getting into the CL. Also, it must play on Rodgers mind that he’s managing one of the top 10 sides in Europe but hasn’t won anything. Then there’s the external pressure. The team that wins it will make £10m from here in with prize money, gate receipts and tv money. It’s 5 ties where on paper we look the strongest in it.
But he’s looked hopelessly out of his depth in Europe thus far. Top four should be the priority shouldn’t it?
Bit harsh I reckon. When I think back to those CL games they all seem to come at a time when confidence was low but more importantly we were struggling up front. We did enough to win those games with a striker. Don’t get me wrong, for all I know it may well have been the case that Rodgers was out of his depth. My feeling is we don’t really know about Rodgers because the striker crisis was so glaringly obvious that it was hard to see past it.
Regarding the priority it’s highly unlikely they’ll be one. He’s got a squad and he’ll have to use it smartly but he’ll go into both league games and Europa games placing equal importance on both. I think we all thought he’d put a strong squad out today but that’s how it’s gonna be from here on in. Whether the League Cup, The FA Cup, Europa or the league every game has huge importance. Teams will be picked on who the opposition is rather than what competition it’s in.
D’you not remember the last Europa League campaign Robin? I’m sure he’ll work it out, I just don’t think he has done yet. It’s a different game.