Tom: Independence Day in the States yesterday, you know, when us Americans liberated ourselves from the tyranny of your government in 1776. USA!!! Starting off strong. Freedom is flowing through my body!!!
Luke: You might have something else to celebrate too tonight, with the your women taking on Japan in the World Cup final, although after that Independence Day comment I hope you lose.
Tom: Yes. Redemption time from four years ago for the women, can’t wait for that match! We don’t need your blessings!!! But on the subject of freedom, how Brendan Rodgers will liberate Liverpool whilst searching for checks and balances through the side, letting Coutinho and Firmino do Brazilian things without disposing too much defensive restraints upon James Milner and Jordan Henderson.
Luke: I think it’s a really exciting time for Liverpool at the moment. We have a lot of options in the side, and no matter who you pick in your 11 to start the season, there’s great options off the bench. I think that much will depend of whether Henderson and Milner can dovetail their games off one another. If they can strike up an early understanding then our central midfield could be one of our strongest points, and could see a return to high-energy, high intensity game that was completely lacking last year.
Tom: Dovetail. Nice one. Brodg shouldn’t look to shackle Milner and Hendo with too many defensive responsibilities, so it’ll be interesting if he slots Emre Can at holding midfield, even though he appears to be a better box-to-box centre-mid, or have Lucas do the job in front of the back line. In a perfect world, the manager and Ian Ayre would get together and pick out a proven defensive mid to stick behind Milner and Henderson. They could make a whole night out of it. Brendan brings the DVDs and ice cream, Ayre supplies the Mikes Hard Lemonade party packs, they sit on the floor and gossip about defensive mids and at the end of the night decide who they want to take to prom. Rad times.
Luke: I’m not too sure about that myself. I’m not overly convinced on having a midfielder whose only job is to defend. We have four defenders to do that! I think Henderson and Milner will always be running, so they can help out with a defensive shift, but also have the engine to get forward. I think it would be good to see Coutinho in a more midfield position with quicker, more mobile players ahead of him. I just think we will revert very much to a style of play that lends us to trying to absolutely batter teams again. Firmino, Ings, Milner, Coutinho, Henderson and Sturridge all have great pressing ability, and this in turn should take pressure off our defenders, and should really neglect any need for a defensive midfielder. At least in games against the bottom 14 teams.
Tom: So it’s an hour before kickoff on August 9, Liverpool are at Stoke, how do you want the team sheet to look? And how would you set them up?
Luke: Good question and a pretty tough one. I’d say Mignolet in goal (obviously), Clyne, Skrtel, Sakho and Moreno in defence. I would be starting Henderson and Milner in midfield, alongside Coutinho or Can, of which I’m unsure. And up front, if I was starting with Coutinho in midfield, I would select Firmino, Lallana and Ings (or Benteke if we have him by this point) – I think this team would have a lot of battle in it. I like Lallana a lot, and his pressing last year produced two goals for him. As for Firmino, he cost a bomb, so he starts whenever fit i think. How about you? Would you go more defensive in formation/personnel?
Tom: Seems as if Lallana is always forgotten. His main problem is that he’s much better through the middle than he is on the wing, but, Coutinho is the superior player thus Lallana is regularly be shipped out wide. For me, it’s a 4-3-?-1 with a defensive mid. Yes, that’s a question mark. No, that’s not a typo. Set the backline the same as yours, no question. Can holding, Milner and Henderson in front of him just running around and generally nagging their opposite shirts without the ball. In my question mark spots are Firmino and Coutinho. They have full freedom. S**t, if both of them want to play on the left wing holding hands at times, fine by me. Do whatever you want. Just press when we don’t have the ball and I won’t bog you down with any more instructions, just be free. Go play. Then Sturridge up top if he’s fit or whoever we buy.
Luke: Yeah, I do think that with two attacking full-backs we may see a much more central attacking pair behind/alongside the forward. Which then allows Lallana/whoever to profit from being central. Our width will hopefully come from the left and right backs. Which again will put more pressure on other players to press and track back, but this is the style we’re probably going to play, and without Gerrard, we can probably play this way much easier. Plus, with more players central, this could help us when we’re trying to get men in the box and score goals, which was a clear problem last year. Playing this way will always benefit Benteke and Ings, players who aren’t as quick as Sturridge, but we also have the ability to change it up with him and Origi both providing great pace.
Tom: I love our rotation options. Divock Origi, Danny Ings and Jordon Ibe will rip the Europa League to shreds. I hope to see Sheyi Ojo a bit in Europa, Jerome Sinclair, Bobby Adekanye too. I’m excited man. It sounds stupid and not enough of a #HOTTAKE, but, goals change games. They do. Simple as. If Sturridge bangs one in early on, every 10 yard pass becomes more difficult for the opposition. Every 50/50 ball seems to be won by Milner and Henderson. If Liverpool generate opportunities at the rate they theoretically could and very well should, we’ll go back to at least threatening triple digit goals.
Luke: I agree. Defence is clearly our weakest point, but there’s no-one obvious out there that solves that for us, other than Clyne, who the manager and club have done brilliantly in bringing in. So with that in mind, we should concentrate on getting a fluid and hard-working front six to take pressure off them. I’m not sure about Sinclair and Ojo, I feel they may spend next year preparing themselves for some senior football in the year following. I think Ings can easily get 10 goals next year, so it all depends on who else chips in and who else we sign up front. I’m slowly coming round to the idea of Benteke more and more, I think he offers more than merely what he’s portrayed as, which is a big lump up front.
Tom: Agreed with Ings. If he can play anywhere near the lofty standards of the creativity for his instagram handle (Ingstagram10), he’ll be alright. With Benteke, I mean, Diego Costa won’t beat anyone for pace but that didn’t make Eden Hazard forget how to run and dribble. Still prefer someone else though. Too bad the Lyon chairman keeps absolutely dumping on Liverpool or I’d say take the £32million, add a bit to it, and go get Alexandre Lacazette.
Luke: He’s a player I’ve not seen too much of, but that’s that same with Firmino and I’ve gotten myself suitably excited by him, so let’s go mad! Sign anyone. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m massively comfortable without a scouting network, but I think Rodgers knows this is his last chance, so he’ll be more inclined to try and pick the right players to play to our strengths. Anyway, I think it’s time we wound down a bit, I’ve just started Game of Thrones for the first time and I’m gagging to see what the fuss is about!
Tom: Ha, GoT virgin! Me too. I’ve got to embark on conquering that show. I’m still recovering from Breaking Bad though. And I finished that about a year ago. What a show that was. Man.
Luke: I never watched that either to be fair. It takes a lot for me to commit to a show, I just tend to watch the Walking Dead or Californication over and over again instead of trying something new. Commitment issues there from me.
Tom: WHAT?!?!!??! That’s it. We’re done here. Report STRAIGHT to Netflix and fire up Breaking Bad. My God, what I’d do to be able to watch that for the first time again. Okay. Game over. You ain’t gotta go home but you got to get the heck up outta here. We’ll run it back in 168 hours from now.
Luke: Thanks for reading everyone, and if you want to fire across some comments on the points we’ve made or our choices of television, you can catch Tom on @tombogert and myself on @_Lukall_ on Twitter. Cheers Reds.
