Liverpool face a tough trip to Bulgaria on Wednesday in a real season defining encounter. Win and Liverpool can still progress through the group stages. However, anything but a win, and Liverpool could face Europa League football, or no European football at all. It would still be mathematically possible for Liverpool to progress, it’d be extremely unlikely, though. Basel host Real Madrid in the other game of the group, and both Liverpool and Ludogorets will be hoping Real come away with maximum points in Switzerland.
Liverpool narrowly beat Ludogorets in a nervous 90 minutes at Anfield earlier in the season. Mario Balotelli grabbed his first goal for the club, before a late Ludogorets equalizer. Steven Gerrard converted from the penalty spot for an even later winner.
The players celebrate the winner
(LiverpoolFC.com)
Liverpool have been on truly dyer form all of this season, really. There’s just the one time (against Spurs) that Liverpool have looked even a tad reminiscent of last season’s side. Brendan Rodgers has come under increasing pressure, especially this week, following Sunday’s embarrassment at Crystal Palace.
I don’t want Rodgers to be sacked, but unfortunately that’s not up to me. And you’d have to think, going out of the Champions League this early on, would be a huge setback for the club and the owners would probably see it that way, too. I think Rodgers is the man to get Liverpool out of this horrific mess.
Injury-wise, Liverpool are without Mario Balotelli, Daniel Sturridge, Suso, Jon Flanagan and Mamadou Sakho. All of the players who took some part on Sunday are available for Brendan Rodgers to pick if need be.
Liverpool should play the diamond. If it was up to me, they would. But the 4-2-3-1 seems to be the formation Rodgers wants until Sturridge returns. I’ll show the team I’d pick if it was a 4-2-3-1, because that’s more realistic.
Rickie Lambert managed to get on the scoresheet for the first time as Liverpool player on Sunday. It was a good finish following a good run from Lambert. It came with no surprise to me that Adam Lallana (his former Saints teammate) was the player he linked up with for the goal. Lambert has put a real statement out there that he should be starting. With Balotelli’s absence, it looks like it’ll be Lambert again for the reds.
Lazar Markovic hasn’t impressed a lot of people since joining from Benfica in the summer. However, I believe, and I’m sure Rodgers does too, that the Serb was brought in for the long-term, rather than an immediate impact. I hope Markovic starts in Bulgaria, though. He impressed me in the last Champions League game in Madrid. He deserves a start, in my opinion. If not, at least coming off the bench.
Several Merseyside based journalists have reported that Lucas Leiva and Kolo Toure are both set to start for the reds. They’ve also said about Steven Gerrard playing further up the pitch than normal. This could mean Gerrard behind Lambert/Borini in a 4-2-3-1. However, I’d give Gerrard a complete rest and start with Markovic behind Lambert, as I believe that’s his best position.
Coutinho and Lallana would be my two wingers in this formation. Although, they are more ‘inside forwards’. They both like to cut in and are not your traditional wingers. Raheem Sterling hasn’t looked himself in recent games, so I’d give him a rest and bring him on if we need to.
Lucas Leiva played well in Madrid, so I’d start him in the midfield two. Emre Can with the Brazilian. The German didn’t start on Sunday, so Rodgers was probably resting Can for this crucial game. This allows Jordan Henderson to fully recover and Joe Allen to have a rest. Both are good options from the bench, too.
Alberto Moreno, like Can, didn’t start in London. The Spaniard will surely come back into the side for this encounter. We missed Moreno, big time against Palace. Glen Johnson should be dropped, because he’s plain and simply, terrible nowadays. Johnson is one of the laziest players I’ve witnessed. Definitely the laziest defender. Javi Manquillo did well at right-back on Sunday. The young Spaniard should start. I’m not too sure if he will, though. It’s obvious that Rodgers likes Johnson, for whatever reason.
Kolo Toure will and should start. A man-of-the-match performance against the best team in the world should be enough to retain your place in the side. But Rodgers obviously didn’t see it that way. Dejan Lovren should be the one getting dropped, meaning there’s only Skrtel left, because of Sakho’s absence.
This will be a very difficult game for Liverpool, especially with so much pressure on them. I’ll be optimistic and go with a 2-1 Liverpool win. I’m not too sure, though.
This is the side I’d go with (unfortunately 4-2-3-1):
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Bobby Vincent
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