Liverpool (a) - CL Quarter Final pre-match thread

[cibaman]

Tonight is a big game and I believe we have more big game players who know how to win. People questioning our mental strength and ability to cope with the situation but how many ‘winners’ do they have in their team. Milner is the only one I can think of. We have Players who know how to win when it matters and that is a key factor for me tonight. It’s not a league game in Jan it’s much bigger and I think their squad maybe lacks that type of experience more than we do

I dont have any concerns about our mental strength. I'm sure the players will be 100% confident, including Sterling. The thing is though that Liverpool will raise their game by virtue of it being "a big european night" at anfield. Their players really believe that the anfield factor will make them play better, so it probably will.

We absolutely shouldn't let the atmosphere get to us and I dont think we will. But we shouldnt ignore it. There will be times during the game when they will come at us urged on by the crowd and we need to be prepared for that. They'll come at us at the start of the game, at the start of the second half and especially if they score. The main thing is we need to control the game in the immediate 10 mins if they do score. When we played them in January it seemed that our mindset when they went 2-1 up was "we might as well lose 3-1 or 4-1 as 2-1". We gave possession away and put our defence under pressure by trying to play ambitious passes. We dont need to do that tonight. It was noticeable during saturday's dress rehearsal that when Everton scored we just killed the game. We must have had 90% possession during the next 10 mins. We could probably have pushed forward and scored a couple more against Everton but clearly the plan was to make sure that Everton didnt gain any momentum as a result of scoring.

 

[chiefodagu(liverbird)]

Hello Mancity fans! I'm sure you are looking forward to this great game! Apparently, i'm a liverpool fan and i must confess i envy the way your team has been playing this season (so electrifying). However, i didn't know you guys hate LFC that much judging by the series of comments on here,anyways, that's football. I wish you guys all the best, though you are the favourites. I still prefer you guys to be successful compare to the Manure. I'll come on here after the game (whatever happens) hope i'm welcome.Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Airbags Optional]

Very nervous already. I just hope we start fast and control possession ealry. Icing on the cake would be an ealry goal for us. Come on blues let’s put this Klanfield hoodoo to rest tonight

 

[Ric]

Just hope we don't concede early. Hopefully we can take the sting out of the game by keeping possession and frustrating them in the early stages.

 

[es1]

grief, not been this nervous / agitated / unable to concentrate at work about a game for some time. 3pm cant come quickly enough.

would be nice to start quickly against these at anfield, more often than not we concede early which helps lift the crowd. an early city goal this time would be sensational. get that and i think we win comfortably.

 

[Akiva]

Nervous, more so than expected, but I still think well win here. Spanish Dave is enough of a difference maker over the last meeting and I feel their avenue to success, pressuring Fernandinho to ultimately cause Stones behind him to error, will be avoided.

The dippers confidence and mutual backslapping will make the fall all the more glorious.

 

[willipp]

Be glad when this game is all over. Feels like we've been talking about it for months and been a good few years since ive been this hyped up/nervous about a game. Maybe even the derby in 2012 before we won it.

Strange to think we can win the league on Saturday and there is pretty much zero focus on that.

 

[oakiecokie]

I`m watching the match in my local,where 8 of us will be surrounded by Dippers,but I know of at least 5 Rags who said they were coming in to support us.When the fuck did this happen to us ? Mind you the Dippers are the Rags bigger enemies than ourselves.
"I would love it" as the saying goes.
Please lads don`t fuck up tonight ... at least by no more than a one goal difference. GULP !!

 

[The perfect fumble]

Lots of media hype about their front three who, admittedly, are excellent, in fact they're nearly as good as our front three. The real difference is that their remaining eight don't come close to matching ours, a fact that has been consistently ignored by the media. Their famous European triumphs under the lights at fortress Anfield is a well managed publicity myth that sends their fans into an uncontrolled frenzy, hopefully it will have a similar effect on their players and I'd not be surprised to see some rash, headless chicken, type challenges flying in early doors which could be costly for them if the referee is competent.

Spot on.

Away from all the hype and the admittedly poor showing from Everton, if we produce the kind of performance over ninety minutes that we saw in the first first forty-five at Goodison Park, then Mo Salah will experience only three things, not having the ball, scratching his head when he's told it's from an old Dave Clark Five song, and just how quiet the Kop has gone since our third goal went in.

 

[Holden onto a hero]

You'd think we were playing the Harlem bloody globetrotters of football the way the media are making out how amazing this Liverpool team are.

Would love nothing more than to stuff these over emotional cretins ,and teleport them all back to the 80's where they can be relevant once more.