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Liverpool vs Chelsea : PL - 20.15, Thurs 4th March

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Frogfish

Frogfish

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I'm getting this in early before Dreamy gets any ideas ! From memory I believe I have a good record 😉

This is a key match in the race for Top 4. Key .. match. If we lose we drop 4 pts behind Chelsea and maybe drop further behind Leicester (A vs Burnley) with just 11 games to go. West Ham don't play again until the 8th (H vs Leeds) though United will hopefully lose at City so a win could take us within 4 pts of them.
Everton are H to Southampton tonight and A vs WBA on Sunday so, 3 pts behind us now but with 2 games in hand, could even go above us with same games played, before we play Chelsea.

skysports-premier-league-liverpool_5288617.jpg


INJURIES.

Chelsea : Thiago Silva, and it now looks like Hudson-Odoi too (knee), look like their only injuries.

Klopp has said Fabs, Ali will be back for Chelsea and Keita and Millie are not fit too. 'Just' Hendo and our top 3 CBs missing. At least this gives us some tactical flexibility.


TEAMS
Klopp needs to play Fabs and Jota from the start and not pussy-foot around bringing them on for 10-20 mins. I bet though he starts Fabs but leaves Jota on the bench.

Chelsea will definitely give us more space behind them than most, as they come forward. Jota, Mane and Mo are the three that can make the most of that. I'd mix them up too, give Chelsea something other than that they'll have planned for and Mane on the right to keep back & track Chilwell.

However we need to win the midfield battle and I can see Klopp putting Milner in there for 60 mins then bringing on Jones or Keita, it's not very adventurous but all three can be solid, can maintain possession and are ball winners. Alternatively drop Thiago back and play Jones or Keita (another ball winner) ahead of him.

My team would be :

............................... Becker

TAA .......... Philips ............. Fabinho ............. Robbo

.................... Gini ................ Thiago

........................ Keita or Jones

... Mane ................. Mo .............. Jota

Chelsea will likely keep the same back 4 (Mendy GK + Azpilicueta, Christiansen, Rudiger & Chilwell) however with Hudson-Odoi out it's likely Pulisic or Werner will come in to try to run through our back line.

Kante & Kovacic will anchor their midfield and I wouldn't be surprised to see Tuchel play marcos Alonso at RM (again as he did vs. Spurs) to add both defensive steel to fend off TAA and Mo (or Mane in my lineup) and allow him to attack as he does so well.

Up front Giroud will start and Tuchel has been bringing him off around the 60-65 mins mark. Ziyech has only started one of the last three (vs United), I don't think he'll start him. Mount is favoured (over Havertz) by Tuchel so is another written in, in ink. Werner will likely start too (as he did in both Tuchel's 'big' away games, vs. Spurs and A.Madrid).

This is going to be very very tough. Chelsea have virtually a full fit squad to choose from and Tuchel has them defensively sound and not losing games. We need to win this but I fail to see how we are going to unless Fabs and whoever is at RCB play an absolute blinder.

Heart says 1-1 but head says we'll lose. I would be ecstatic if somehow we could eke out a win.
 
Should have let me start this, Froggy. The football Gods will have their way now. The cycle has been broken.
 
Jota, Alisson, Fabinho, Keita, Milner and Ben Davies all in full training, judging by the photos.

UPD: Upon watching the training videos, I think Jota is not in full training yet. Doing laps around the pitch while others were doing rondos and shooting drills. Still, really good to see Fabinho back – I think his return gives everyone a bit more belief.
 
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4-3-3 system is generally good against 3-4-3 - you have an advantage in central midfield (3 vs 2) and with good long passing your 3 strikers can run at their 3 CBs. We saw a good illustration of this against Leipzig. Of course Tuchel can switch the system too, but if he doesn’t our usual 4-3-3 is probably the way to go.
 
Melissa Reddy on the personal undercurrents in Tuchel vs Klopp clash:

====================
“Thomas Tuchel’s biggest problem at Borussia Dortmund was he was not Jurgen Klopp,” a Germany legend offered during an off-the-record conversation to paint part of the backdrop for a book last year. “It was the same problem he had at Mainz. And in our country, people will tell you taking PSG to a Champions League final is not equal to taking Dortmund there or Liverpool two times in two years. “Even in Paris, Tuchel was in Klopp’s shadow.”

There is noise in this industry that is easy for the men in the dugout to drown out. The analysis without context, often wrapped up as a viral-ready social clip. The criticism of a player with zero clue over the tactical instructions they’ve been tasked with carrying out. The obsession with a Plan B whenever victory, often talked about as a right rather than something that needs to be constantly earned, is not secured. But there is also the noise that is hard to silence, especially when it emanates from senior figures you’ve worked with and repeats like a scratched record.

For over a decade, from the moment he walked into a Mainz that had been shaped by Klopp, Tuchel has been juxtaposed with the man six years his senior. The club with a lowly budget bordering the Rhine River has never been more successful than under his charge. They participated in the Europa League twice. Only Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen bettered the points’ total amassed during Tuchel’s tenure.

Yet it is the days under ‘Kloppo’ Mainz most pine for, even though it included painful chapters. There was the agony of missing out on promotion to the Bundesliga by a point and by a goal before they finally reached the promised land, only to suffer relegation in 2007. Even after the drop, Christian Heidel, the club's technical director, would enthuse about Klopp “electrifying a city.” He had a unique ability to transform sad moments into defiance to go again and go harder. “The crowd started celebrating relegation like we’d won the championship after he said: ‘We’ll be back, no question!.’"

Tuchel, meanwhile, is remembered for being an exceptional trainer but “the biggest headache every day” as one long-standing Mainz employee put it. “Tuchel was the best coach I have seen in sessions and planning for opponents, but Kloppo was the best man. He could mix his tactical brain with a human touch. To replace a coach is easy, to replace a great person is very difficult. Dortmund will agree.”

Around 30,000 people gathered at Gutenbergplatz for Klopp’s Mainz farewell and the testimony is that all were reduced to tears. When Tuchel departed Mainz and landed at Dortmund after a sabbatical there was a gigantic contrast. This despite Klopp motioning for him to be his successor. Instead of mourning at Mainz, there was a word of caution for his new employers. This was later revealed by a BVB source in Süddeutsche Zeitung following Tuchel’s sacking at the Westfalenstadion. “We were warned by Mainz that it would likely become difficult. We didn’t listen. For a year-and-a-half everything was great. Then everything was just as Mainz said it would be.”

At Dortmund, Tuchel fell out with the club’s chief scout at the time, Sven Mislintat and banned him from the training ground. It is reported he sent an unflattering text about sporting director Michael Zorc, intended for his agent Oliver Meinking, to the subject matter himself. There was a complete breakdown in the relationship with chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and an overriding feeling that Tuchel saw the club solely through what it could do for his career. He never truly emotionally engaged with the people and they never truly took to him.

Well before the end of his time at the club, there was an annoying reminder of the hold Klopp still had on the place when Liverpool were pitted against BVB in the 2016 Europa League quarter-finals. Several Dortmund players were still referring to him as their coach and not just privately but in interviews too. Former BVB goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller explained why such instances were the case in an unauthorised biography of Tuchel, written by Daniel Meuren and Tobias Schachter, released in Germany last April.

“In a sporting sense, he is untouchable,” Weidenfeller said. “His training sessions were outstanding, he was a visionary. But on a human level, it didn’t work in some areas.” That storyline reemerged a year ago. As Tuchel prepared for a return to Signal Iduna Park with Paris Saint-Germain to contest a Champions League last-16 tie, Watzke was asked whether it would be an emotional affair. He tersely remarked: “It's not Jurgen Klopp coming back.” That kind of noise that is hard to silence.

When Tuchel arrives at Anfield for the first time as Chelsea manager on Thursday, it will not dominate his thoughts that his career has largely been viewed through and shadowed by Klopp’s. He will be obsessed with the objective of further enhancing his team’s chances of taking a Champions League spot, while hurting a debilitated Liverpool’s ambitions in that regard. Chelsea, with their defensive solidity under Tuchel and quality of squad depth, are perfectly positioned to push on and end the campaign as Manchester City’s closest competitors. Only Pep Guardiola’s men have picked up more top-flight points since the new man's first game at the helm.

There is no doubt, though, that should victory be secured on Merseyside, there will be an overflow of satisfaction on a personal level for Tuchel. There is evidence from those that have worked with him that he bristles at comparisons with Klopp.

“I was saying that we, as a club, had to be a bit more engaging with our public,” Heidel recalled from a talk with Tuchel in the biography the manager has slammed. “Then a phrase slipped out and I said: ‘When Kloppo was here…’ At that, Thomas let rip and shouted at me. What was I thinking? The conversation was over in that moment. And I thought, ‘Oops! I’ve obviously hit on a sore point’. He was really upset. That’s where the rivalry with Klopp stems from.”

In choosing to work in the Premier League, being contrasted against the division’s reigning champion will continue.
Blessed with a supremely talented and deep squad at Chelsea, however, Tuchel has the tools to carve a fresh path, away from Klopp’s shade - something that still wasn't possible in Paris. Triumph on Thursday would be a big step towards that, especially if Chelsea go on to secure a strong finish and Liverpool fail to hold their seat at Europe's top table.

===============

I always had a feeling that Tuchel hates Klopp with the kind of white-hot all-encompassing hatred only Germans can properly find words for. He will definitely overthink his team selection for this one.
 
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Slippery fleetfooted mob. Have to get into them and get back to the high press. They play a derivative of tiki taka so we need to crowd them esp coming out of their own area. Probably Ali will be the only change. But we have to work harder in midfield, put a bit more intent into our midfield. We are just a bit light when it come to attacking from midfield. Jones is getting there but it's a bit subdued at times.
 
Alan Hardaker said:
Slippery fleetfooted mob. Have to get into them and get back to the high press. They play a derivative of tiki taka so we need to crowd them esp coming out of their own area. Probably Ali will be the only change. But we have to work harder in midfield, put a bit more intent into our midfield. We are just a bit light when it come to attacking from midfield. Jones is getting there but it's a bit subdued at times.
Click to expand...
Fabs is definitely back.
 
As many people have suggested midfield will be the key here, Chelsea under Tuchel have been very good at retaining the ball keeping it moving and probing for openings to force and opponent to overcommit and leave a gap. They don't score many but they give up very few chances.

Theyve had the customary new manager bounce and its probably starting to fade now. This is probably a decent time to play them. I suspect we will mimic the tactics we employed against RBL last week who also play a back 3. We will try to press them and launch quick counters to bypass their numerical advantage in midfield and create 1v1s for the forward players.

They also tend to line up with 2 no10s suppororting the central striker so whoever is playing no6 will have to drop deep to pick up one of the AMs or we will end up with the full backs getting pulled out of position
 
A midfield two of Gini and Fabinho with either Jones, Thiago or Keita sitting in front of them would probably be our best bet at combating their system but like most people I think Klopp will put Fabinho in at CB so we will likely get Gini and Thiago as the 2 sitting CMs
 
They look much more stable since they started playing Kante as a DM again. Good news is that Abraham looks to be injured. Bad news is we might see Werner running in behind.

They will play a back 3 with aggressive wing backs (Hudson-Odoi & Chilwell/Alonso) and if we stay on the upper hand we might have joy against both who are weaker defensively.

I think they are susceptible to the press and I'd love to see us having one of our CM trio right up in Kante's/Kovacic's grill.

---------------Alisson----------------
Trent--Phillips--Fabinho--Robbo
-----------Gini------Thiago---------- wouldn't be susprised or upset to see Milner over Thiago here
---------------Jones-------------------
Salah-------Bobby---------Mane

Whilst I have slated Phillips elsewhere, we will need his ability under long balls against Giroud and also more generally at set pieces.

Would love to see Naby & Jota given 30 mins at the end to bring on extra pace, directness and dimension too.
 
Their back three should offer some space behind their fullbacks. Let's see how we utilise Trent and Robbo to pin them back.
Chelsea usually play with one striker and two attacking mids behind, which makes lining up with 3 CB's a bit of a waste.

They like to keep the ball though, so we need to get the distances between players and our press right.
 
They will start a bigger lad up front, with two "bees" behind.
Giroud, with Werner and Mount, Pulisic to come on later.
 
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