Pre- and In- Match: Premier League / Norwich City Vs Liverpool / Sat 14th Aug / 1730 hrs

Hm, first game. Don‘t know what to expect.
Would take a dirty 1-0 win.
I think Klopp will start with players with a long preseason. Not sure about Elliott.
VvD, Thiago or Bobby from the bench.

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Norwich are in a real mess at the minute they could potentially have 7 of there first 11 out on Saturday. Cant see anything other than a prorper mullering.

Are you a new fan…

It’s exactly those kind of scenarios in which we drop points, usually to a heroic effort by their squad and some kids.

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We can dread, or
We can dream

Couple of posts from a Norwich forum:

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Injuries aside, I always hate playing promoted teams the first couple weeks of the season.

They tend to play with amazing energy and excite - like kids at Christmas their dreams are coming true and the believe they can do anything.

Takes a bit for that to settle down and they find their level (usually the sad reality that most of their players aren’t really good enough and they will spend their season scrapping to try to somehow stay up).

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I have family in Norfolk, haven’t seen them in years though! Always look forward to playing Norwich, don’t know why! Maybe its their strip?!?!

Well, I have my pipes in training, and a variety of tobaccos. May start with my Polish pipe, its a monster and quite beautiful!

I’d start with Matip and Konate at CB. Obvious whose going to be in goal! Trent at RB and Tsimikas at LB.

Fab - with Ox and Keita or Milly.

Front three of Salah, Bobby and Mane. In other words the usual suspects!

Good thing I’m not the manager!

Salah to score a brace. Mane also to score, as will Bobby and Jota from the bench.

Do we have a thread for matchday streams ? Any suggestions?

Thanks gang.

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Seems like they have been hit by Covid.

Anyhow play our home game, might be fine watching one of our Friendlies but only half our team played.

This will be a tough game. Norwich are newly promoted, fresh, will play in front of their fans for the first time in ages, and thus obviously super-motivated. Our lads, while quite impressive when starting our attacking moves, have been quite vulnerable at the back, which is understandable, given that Klopp has changed the combinations of players in the defensive line, the goalies, the midfield, with all the youngsters playing their part too. We aren’t settled yet. On the other hand, our lads usually tend to do well when they play Norwich, so we’ll see.

Klopp has some decisions to make:

  • I guess that Fabinho will start. We saw against Osasuna that he has what it takes to play at least 65 minutes, and he is key in that midfield as long as Thiago and Hendo aren’t ready to be included. Keita and Ox are the natural choices for the two other midfield spots.
  • Firmino is another interesting one. He was on fire the other day, so it must be very tempting to go with him. On the other hand, Jota has had a longer time with the squad this summer, and must be chumping at the bit. This is a 50-50 in my book. I’ll go with Diogo, with Bobby to come in around the hour-mark.
  • At center-back, it’s a bit of a conundrum. Matip will surely start. He’s in form, has enjoyed the full pre-season and has looked good physically. That leaves one spot for three players. VVD obviously lacks match fitness, and struggled quite a bit against Athletic. Of the four center-backs, he appears to me as the least good one right now. On the other hand, he can only find back his form by playing games… :thinking: Gomez is a bit in the same situation. I don’t think he’ll start, as he is probably the one most in need of protection in order to avoid a relapse. Konaté has been very impressive so far. He too has a full pre-season under his belt and has played quite a bit alongside Matip, so I suspect that Klopp might go with him. VVD and Gomez might be spared until the mini-break, before coming back as starters, especially VVD. But maybe Klopp will think that the big Dutch is ready, who knows…

Mané Jota Salah

Keita Ox
Fab

Tsimikas Konaté Matip Trent
Allisson


Bench: Kelleher, VVD, Gomez, Williams, Milner, Hendo, Thiago, Elliot (deserves it), Bobby

Not on the bench: Adrian, Phillips, Davies, Williams, Woodburn, Shaq, Minamino, Divock, If you include Beck, Clarkson and Gordon, who all did very well during pre-season, that’s a complete 11. That’s without counting Robbo and Jones, who are out. :flushed:

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Matip 285 mins
Konate 275 mins
VVD 136 mins

Milner 301 mins
Keita 294 mins
Ox 285 mins
Fabinho 89 mins

Takumi 266 mins
Jota 162 mins
Firmino 89 mins

I think we can have nine players on the bench.

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Don’t think we can afford to leave Fab out

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We play our own game, worry about the opposition and you wouldn’t win any of the 38

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Yeah, 1-5 with a Salah hat trick

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Hopefully it will pan out like that! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Curtis Jones out of the Norwich game with concussion after getting a knee in the nose during the Ossasuna match.

Ox training in Torres’ Nike Total 90 from 2010. Striker state of mind.

:joy:

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Agree, for me he’s the one in midfield who absolutely should start. I’ve had Milner and Keita as the other two, just because they’ve had a full pre season.

However, then suddenly Ox gave everyone a reminder the other day of how good he can be in midfield. So happy for him, must have felt great. Maybe he’s in the conversation as well after that.

And then there’s Elliott, who also has been good. So we’ll see, I have a feeling Klopp wants Milner on the field in the likely absence of both Henderson and Thiago. But the last spot seems more up in the air for me now than a couple of weeks ago.

Unlucky that, but he’ll be back soon. Back stronger.

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