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So, basically we need to get something from this game as we cannot keep falling behind. Chelsea have been fantastic this season bar the manc game so going there will be tough. Upside is that we have a relatively easy run in to the new year. NOVEMBER 17 Wigan Athletic (H) 24 Swansea City (A) 27 Tottenham (A) DECEMBER 1 Southampton (H) 8 West Ham (A) 15 Aston Villa (H) 22 Fulham (H) 26 Stoke City (A) 29 QPR (A) We should be able to get at least 20 points from those games so going into the new year with 31 pts, 3 off last year... If we go to the chavs and get the win and we get the minimum 20 points from the rest we go into 2013 in the exact same position as last year....All is not that bad! (we actually were doing quite well up until the christmas period before anyone starts about last season)

another Europa League game tomorrow, could do with a result if we are to progress after the Udinese game, think we should make a fair few changes though as we need to win the Everton game more --------------Jones------------- Johnson--Carra----Coates--Enrique ---Shelvey--Henderson--Sahin---- Pacheco------Yesil---------Assaidi subs Gulacsi Skrtel Robinson Allen Cole Downing Morgan wouldn't even consider Suarez for this one, can't afford to lose him for the league games, would rather not start Johnson either but one of him or Wisdom is going to have play both games assuming Flanagans still injured, same with Shelvey and Sahin but I'd play them both and pick whichever one plays better for the Derby, probably no chance of Pacheco playing but I want him to know fuck all about Anzhi apart from the obvious players as I find Russian football to be utter shite whenever I watch it, would imagine any team with Eto'o in is bound to be a threat but also any team who pays Chris Samba that amount of money can be considered a little bit clueless

Is modern football rubbish? Maybe. Certainly I seem to enjoy it less. But bear with me, with is no "woe is me rant". I don't really go for that Good Old Days shit. But I watched the game yesterday, and read the threads and I wonder if I'm even watching the same players, never mind the same game. Is it the same with all modern fans, this modern game? The abuse meted out to players like Suarez, Gerrard and Johnson yesterday - and oh so many times before that - makes me doubt it. They're the ones who take chances, force the game, make things happen, take risks, score and create goals, fly into tackles, win (and concede) free-kicks. But they're the ones who need to change, while the same moaning cunts eulogise about "ball retention", "tactical discipline", "patience", "recycling", "clever movement without the ball", "technique" and spout insane, hateful, bollocks about Gerrard "learning" from players like Lucas or fucking Joe Allen. Joe Allen. A player I quite like so far. An upgrade on the fucking useless shithouse Henderson, but very much in a similar mould; a cog. A water-carrier. Will never create or score many, but RECYCLES possession; is neat and tidy; rarely wastes a ball. Well, yeah. Because he rarely does anything risky with the ball. Simple, easy, efficient passes. Very much the modern player, and easy to watch. But if we had a team full of Allen's, Henderson's and Lucas's, we'd never fucking score. EVER. So how come he gets a free pass, but Gerrard doesn't? is it that fucking hard to work out that Allen cannot, in a million fucking years, do what Gerrard can? That Gerrard is far more important? Yeah, even our most great teams had that unspectacular workhorse to do the unglamorous stuff. Didi did it (far better than Lucas or Allen). Spackman played fairly often. Whelan was playing the "Makelele role" in 1989. But these players were not the stars, and rightly so. Nobody wanted McMahon to play "more like Spackman". Nobody wanted to be Spackman in the playground. Now, well, he'd be "our most important player" or "the first name on the teamsheet", because that tacit, loud acknowledgement of his importance would be the ideal way to announce just how very tactically smart and astute you are as a fan. Admittedly, the type of midfielder who could do that role, and also *play*? Well, the days of Souness and McMahon and Gerrard in a Liverpool midfield appear to be an anachronism. Now we need three "modern" players in the new midfields. Who just pass it about between themselves. Hooray. But this isn't aesthetics. I love effective footballers. Ones who make games turn their way. Bend the result with their will. By clearing the box, making tackles, crossing the ball, scuffing shots into the net. Look at Kuyt. Even when he was scoring and creating moer goals than any other right-sided player, still he was vilified. He didn't look neat and tidy. Didn't really seem the sort of player who could do 100 keepy-ups with an orange and have a nice haircut and an attractive running style. So I feel utterly disconnected when I see the same mewling, smug deformities castigating Gerrard for a pass that didn't come off, Johnson having the temerity to attack, or Suarez trying one dribble too many. These three are players that would have graced any great Liverpool team of the past, but seem to have a far less revered space in the boss-eyes of the modern superfan, who denigrate womderful players willing to take risks, win games and thrill us, and instead applaud anodyne non-entities for keeping the ball. Football hasn't changed that much, has it? I sometimes feel as if everyone's been fucking brainwashed. Isn't it supposed to be about winning games, not "controlling" them? Fuck-off tackles, great passes, amazing goals, astounding, mesmerising skill? It is, isn't it? So why don't we love the players who do any of that stuff anymore?

After a frustrating mid-week performance it'd be nice to take the positives into the next game, an ever impressive Allen, Gerrard breaking forward well and some youngsters getting game time. Add to this the probably debut of Sahin and the fascinating football we've shown signs of playing we should be able to beat these on Sunday. As for a team, no one knows how the transfer window will end but from today's point of view I'd go with a team consisting of; -----------Reina----------- Johnson-Skrtel-Agger-Enrique --------Sahin-Allen--------- ----------Gerrard----------- Suarez----Borini----Sterling Bench:GK, Kelly, Carragher, Henderson, Assaidi, Morgan, Downing Obviously the bench is most likely to change, if a new striker comes in or 2 or more new players I'm expecting Morgan and Downing to be dropped.