Liverpool travel down to play Wimbledon on Monday night in the 3rd round of the F.A Cup. Wimbledon will be looking to cause one of the biggest upsets in recent history by beating Premier League Giants, Liverpool.
The latter stages of last week was dominated by the news that Steven Gerrard would be moving on from Liverpool to join the MLS at the end of the season. The Liverpool skipper hasn’t played for another team before and is finally parting ways with his beloved Liverpool in May. The 34 year-old said that his decision was influenced by him not being able to play week in, week out.
Gerrard may take part in this game, but I doubt it. Gerrard will most likely feature in Liverpool’s away trip to Sunderland, this coming Saturday.
I can’t say I know too much about Liverpool’s opponents, Wimbledon. They are exactly mid-table in League Two. Matt Tubbs is the side’s top scorer with 15 goals, in front of powerhouse, Adebayo Akinfenwa with 8 goals. They managed to win their last game, 4-1 against Exeter. So it doesn’t look like the League Two side are too short on goals. And against this Liverpool defence, you’d probably expect them to cause plenty of problems.
Adebayo Akinfenwa
(afcwimbledon.co.uk)
The Liverpool side should have a mixture of youngsters and first-team regulars, in my opinion.
In goal, I’m not sure if Brad Jones is fit yet. Regardless, I’d put Simon Mignolet in there. I want a settled back line. However, I’d imagine Dejan Lovren would come in, Martin Skrtel will most likely have a chance of coming back into the side following his one match suspension, too. Emre Can and Mamadou Sakho should definitely start, as they’ve been impressive in the games they have started in. The middle centre-back, I’m satisfied whoever plays there. Whoever does play, the team really should be keeping a clean-sheet.
Jordan Rossiter, who played and scored in Liverpool’s Capital One Cup tie with Middlesbrough earlier this season, should take some part. I’d start with him in the centre of midfield. I’d put Jordan Henderson beside him to offer him some experienced and quality support.
Javi Manquillo should be on the right hand side as the wing-back. Manquillo was unfairly dropped for the draw against Leicester, I feel. Manquillo did particularly well against Swansea a week ago. I’d give Alberto Moreno a rest and play Jose Enrique. Moreno has played a lot of football recently and we need him fresh for the Sunderland trip and prevent any potential injuries.
Sheyi Ojo has been in and amongst the squad as of late and I think the youngster deserves his chance. I’d put him into the starting line-up, I think he’d flourish. If he doesn’t start, I hope he gets some sort of chance. Lazar Markovic, who has started out of position at left wing-back, recently, deserves to start further up the pitch, behind the striker. I think in a free-role like that, he can really show his talent to the fans and Brendan Rodgers.
Mario Balotelli would be the man I’d start up top. Raheem Sterling, who is rumoured to be close to putting pen-to-paper on a new deal at Liverpool, has played so much football recently and deserves a rest, so his legs will be fresh for the big game against Sunderland on Saturday. Balotelli hasn’t had much of a chance recently, and I hope he does and hopefully scores in this game to provide him with a much needed confidence boost.
I think Liverpool should really go for this season’s F.A Cup, for Steven Gerrard as well as the club. Gerrard deserves to go out on a high and as it looks like the league title is a bit unrealistic this season, the F.A Cup is more than fitting for such a tremendous career. I’m going for a Liverpool win, 3-1.
This is the side I’d go with for the trip down to Wimbledon:
(fanscorners.com/liverpool/squad-selector/)
Bobby Vincent
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