Sorry for some grammatical errors, I wrote this on my phone.

It's not the end of the world if we do lose today, this is City at the Etihad we're talking about.

I can see a defensive fluck up happening to be honest though, thread bare doesn't even begin to cover it.

You're right we are thread bare and I know a loss isn't the end of the world. I just hope if we do lose we aren't made to look silly.

Much is made about how much better City are to last season, but it's exaggerated.

Last season after 17 games they had lost 1 and had 36 PTS.

The season before they had 44 PTS and had lost 1.

This season they have 35 PTS and have lost 4.

This is actually there worst start for 3 years.

Sure they have had come incredible individual results, but everyone is going overboard about the collective.

Mancini's team won 6-1 at Old Trafford and 5-0 at Spurs, when Man Utd and Spurs were a hell of a lot better than they are today.

comment by righteous1 (U7048)
posted 3 minutes ago
Much is made about how much better City are to last season, but it's exaggerated.

Last season after 17 games they had lost 1 and had 36 PTS.

The season before they had 44 PTS and had lost 1.

This season they have 35 PTS and have lost 4.

This is actually there worst start for 3 years.

Sure they have had come incredible individual results, but everyone is going overboard about the collective.

Mancini's team won 6-1 at Old Trafford and 5-0 at Spurs, when Man Utd and Spurs were a hell of a lot better than they are today.

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They are some interesting points city played different football last year a type of football we knew how to play against. The type of football they play now is a style I think we will struggle more with.

I fancy us to beat Chelsea on Sunday therefore I'm not overly concerned about today's result. If we lose we'll still only be a maximum of 3 pts off top so it's not all doom and gloom. Tough game today but no reason why we can't get a result.

Main thing that concerns me is that we will gift them chances with the way we defend and overplay in defence.

We have switched from defensive side to an expansive side, which kind of explains the difference between our home and away form as we're still adjusting.

I think Liverpool's best chance is to play deep, stifle the midfield and hope Suarez does something magical.

I dont think we have a fit right back, if so that's a big positive today as zabaleta had 5 assists already.

I think Liverpool would benefit from playing a CB at right back as well.

Wheres the weakness in this Liverpool team?

Forgot to mention.

Liverpool would do well from not giving away silly free kicks, I think City have scored the most set pieces this season in the pl.

I don't think we should play deep at all. City can unlock teams easily at home, they have so many players capable of it. They also have so many players who are massive threats shooting from range, even their defensive midfielders!

We have to hit them at pace and have to battle and press them.

Suarez will get chances, we play a high line and if suarez can time his run right...

Midfield is where the game will be won, I just hope we don't start with dzeko & negrado upfront, should be jocevic or Silva behind the front man.

Agree. Arsenal tried to sit back and keep an organised shape and then counter with Walcott and got thrashed for six.

We shouldn't come up with any special plans to counteract City, we should just play our own game as we have for the last 4. They are incredibly good at home and there's not a lot that visiting teams could do to stop them this season, so a loss isn't the end of the world. Our best hope is that we catch them on an "off day", they will have one or two at least where they don't play as well so let's hope that's today.

comment by Long Live the Goat (U3955)
posted 16 minutes ago
We have switched from defensive side to an expansive side, which kind of explains the difference between our home and away form as we're still adjusting.

I think Liverpool's best chance is to play deep, stifle the midfield and hope Suarez does something magical.

I dont think we have a fit right back, if so that's a big positive today as zabaleta had 5 assists already.

I think Liverpool would benefit from playing a CB at right back as well.

Wheres the weakness in this Liverpool team?
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The weakness in this side I would say is set pieces. We were havin issues with wide forwards not contributing much but has changed.

I'm not sure I agree us sitting back is the best bet, I think pressing is our best chance and forcing your team Ito errors.

the energy in our midfield will be key today,

Our weakness in defense is more due to set pieces than it is to open play.

Our two weakest positions on the pitch i imagine will be the right wing and left back because i assume we will play two youngsters in sterling and flanagan (they deserve to start again) Also right back, depending if johnson is at the races or not.

Competing in the midfield areas we will have primarily allen henderson and lucas who all press really well, Passing/touch stats show that agger often helps to compete in the midfield, generally making tackles/having touches higher up the pitch than our other CB's Sakho also does this but with a bit more muscle.

Coutinho and suarez also press from the front and drop deep for the ball, sterling has pace to cover ground and hassle players, i think personally we will overrun the midfield, and that will be key here again.

I think coutinho moving central will leave flanagan exposed a little and if johnson is poor again today city will get a lot of chances from the wide areas.

I think without Aguero our best bet is to defend the box but press big in midfield.

I think we can at the City defence if have the ball in the final 3rd.

If we sit too deep then Suarez will get isolated.

We basically need to play a similar way to how we played against Spurs.

City are obviously much more dangerous than Spurs so it will be much more difficult to stop them scoring, but we should score a couple ourselves if we focus on attacking.

Agree with Toor.
I love it when teams play high line against us with Coutinho and Sterling in the team.

Flanagan won't start Insert.

He is missing the rest of the Xmas games according to the Echo.

Oh i missed that righteous!

Cant see cissokho playing, perhaps we will see sakho/agger at fullback.

No way will it be Sakho or Agger at left back.

It will probably be Johnson left back and Kelly right back.

comment by righteous1 (U7048)
posted 2 minutes ago
No way will it be Sakho or Agger at left back.

It will probably be Johnson left back and Kelly right back.
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It's says a lot when we are missing Jon Flanagan.

Baptism of fire for Kelly, he's been pretty poor as of late on sub appearances but I don't think we have any other options. Here's hoping hes up to the task today.

Playing a right footer at LB wouldn't be a bad idea, Navas cutting inside is less effective than being played down the wing.

Only prob would be if Silva plays on the left as he would want to cut inside

I'm worried about Kelly, this really is throwing him in deep end, he's been injured/lacking form for a very long time now. Would much rather Cissokho/Agger came in at LB and Johnno stayed at RB.

Had a dream last night that Johnson was playing left with Kelly right.

Yes, I'm insane.

Everyone was worried about Flanagan.

Now it's Kelly's turn.

Brendan confirms Flanno "out for a number of weeks"

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/268883.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

Also Stevie should be back in 10 days.