Pre Match - Leeds (H) - Sat 17:30

[Brizzle]

Here we go. First game of the season against newly promoted Leeds United. It seems to me that the only notable question mark for fitness is Henderson who I don't expect to start, but would expect to appear.

For me I would like to see the below, following on from our pre season games.

------------Alisson------------
TAA--Gomez--VVD--Robbo
------Fabinho--Keita---------
Salah----Minamino---Mane
------------Firmino-----------

This is also taking into account that Klopp is phasing Gini out if we are expecting to sell him. I think Milner is closest to having a role than anyone else given a) form in pre season and b) Leeds connection.

Does anyone know much about Leeds and their style? Are they going to be a Stoke/Burnley and put in a brutal performance or do they try and play football?

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Are they going to be a Stoke/Burnley and put in a brutal performance or do they try and play football?

They will try to play footy ... Similar to ours - pressing and quick passing.

 

[Hansern]

Yeah, can see them pressing us high up the pitch in our own half. So the mistakes we’ve made in pre season cant be made on Saturday.

 

[Halmeister]

This will be a tough game, I reckon. Draw.

 

[Shadey]

It will be tough we’ll grind out a 2-1 victory.

 

[MomoWASright]

They’re shit and will go down. A slow start from us. 8-0 win.

 

[Tinto]

They will try to play footy ... Similar to ours - pressing and quick passing.

We tend to beat teams that try to out football us. It's teams that just defend that we can struggle against.

 

[mom]

3-1

 

[Modo]

 

[Modo]

I think this is going to be the line up if everyone is fit:

----------------------Alisson

Trent ---- Gomez -------Van Dijk ----- Robbo

----------Milner----Fabinho----Keita

----Salah -----------Firmino--------------Mané

 

[Brizzle]

I think this is going to be the line up if everyone is fit:

----------------------Alisson

Trent ---- Gomez -------Van Dijk ----- Robbo

----------Milner----Fabinho----Keita

----Salah -----------Firmino--------------Mané

I would be slightly disappointed if that is how we start - we're up against a newly promoted team at home and this would be quite a conservative start to the season playing Millie for sentimental reasons. Taki needs to be starting this.

 

[Modo]

I would be slightly disappointed if that is how we start - we're up against a newly promoted team at home and this would be quite a conservative start to the season playing Millie for sentimental reasons. Taki needs to be starting this.

Don't underestimate Leeds. A Minamino, Keita and Fabs midfield would be too attacking imo, with the risk of leaving Fabs exposed.
Keita will do his forward runs and Milner will cover for Trent. That's a good balance imo.

 

[Holle]

3-2 to us. 1-2 at HT.

I'm going to look up the odds on this.

 

[FoxForceFive]

I would be slightly disappointed if that is how we start - we're up against a newly promoted team at home and this would be quite a conservative start to the season playing Millie for sentimental reasons. Taki needs to be starting this.

I'm with modo on this.

Leeds played so really good footy last season, the impressed me whenever I watched them, & they have a manager so obsessed with footy he watches & analyses it almost every waking moment.

They press incredibly well & have a great work rate with the fitness to match, we usually start seasons slowly & rely on our greater levels of fitness to get it over the line in the first few weeks of the season.

I'm not taking this one for granted in any way shape or form.

Hopefully my pessimism will be misplaced, but I think it'll be a hard fought match.

 

[binomial]

Alisson Trent Matip Virgil Robbo Fab Keita Jones Salah Minamino Mane

Going for 3-1 after coming from behind, they're going to throw everything at us early on and we'll still be in pre season limbo before finally kicking into gear.

 

[Fabio]

Don't underestimate Leeds. A Minamino, Keita and Fabs midfield would be too attacking imo, with the risk of leaving Fabs exposed.
Keita will do his forward runs and Milner will cover for Trent. That's a good balance imo.

Hendo is meant to be fit isn't he?

I reckon it's Taki or Keita ahead of hendo and fab. My money is on Taki

 

[Fabio]

Also, Gini hasn't left yet

He can start if hendo isn't fit

 

[Modo]

Also, Gini hasn't left yet

He can start if hendo isn't fit

That's true.

 

[Woland]

Leeds are complete fucking shit. They got beat 11 times in the Championship last season, by far the worst side to win that league in years, they'll be lucky if they aren't relegated in February

 

[FoxForceFive]

Leeds are complete fucking shit. They got beat 11 times in the Championship last season, by far the worst side to win that league in years, they'll be lucky if they aren't relegated in February

I hope you're right & I'm being overly pessimistic. I usually am for the first couple of weeks until we get into some kind of rhythm as our performances are pretty unpredictable, even if last season the results belied that.

 

[Frogfish]

Going from pre-season and our inevitable drop in energy. Plus Leeds' first game of their return to the PL and their expected boost in incentive and exertion this is bound to be tough. I'd go with Modo's team. Millie starting for his leadership.

Not sure why everyone expects Leeds to score though. 2-0.

 

[gkmacca]

We'll have to endure endless shots of Bielsa sitting on his bucket, as if that's the most fascinating thing in the league now. It's a pity we have to play them now - his teams tend to tire a bit later in a season - so we'll need to really get off to a good start, with pre-Watford pace of passing and movement.

 

[Modo]

Also, Gini hasn't left yet

He can start if hendo isn't fit

Also, Gini will be playing two games for the Netherlands, while Fabs, Milner and Keita are still with the club. Fresher legs and all that good stuff.

 

[RedStar]

Milner looked miles off the pace against Blackpool so Id rather see Keita, Fabinho and whichever one of Hendo/Gini is fit.

Leeds are like a Championship version of us, I dont see them beating us at our own game. Most teams that try get battered. But we really need to see a return to the intensity we played with from August - January last season, after that we started getting sloppy and gifting teams goals from nothing.

Big question mark for me is over our mentality, were the basic errors that started becoming more frequent at the back of last season a case of easing off once we were safe, or are starting to burn out? City wont throw away as many points this season and I expect Chelsea will be much stronger, we need to hit the ground running as we have a tough run of games after this weekend.

 

[Brizzle]

There is also the chance that by being the first PL team they face we have the opportunity to surprise them with our pace and sharpness. The only PL team they faced last year was a poor Arsenal side under Emery. They won't get the chance to dip their toe into the PL waters and get up to speed, if we do this right we could completely shock them and play them off the park. This is why I think we start with our players who can play pass and move the best. Taki is still a great presser himself - they won't get a moment to breathe.

I seriously hope we look to start the season by making a statement here.

 

[Bradley]

Hopefully the plan is a fast start, hit them hard for the first 15 minutes of each half. Do the damage then and cruise the rest of the hour.

 

[SummerOnions]

First match of the season on at a bastard time where I miss most of it. Great

 

[Mamma Mia]

I'm surprised no one has called this a must win match yet.

We should smash these, but yeah, we haven't lost a league game at home in like three and a half years, so I'm pretty much expecting a shock defeat every time now.

 

[RedStar]

I'm surprised no one has called this a must win match yet.

We should smash these, but yeah, we haven't lost a league game at home in like three and a half years, so I'm pretty much expecting a shock defeat every time now.

To be fair when the standard required to win the league is 95+ points then virtually every game is must win. The pace we set last season was frightening and nobody was able to keep up. I think there will be alot of pressure on anybody with designs on the title to maintain a relentless pace.

 

[Boston not l.a]

My local go to pub for games got covid closed,not been able to find a new one yet cos of the not being allowed to sit at the bar nonsense,so i guess i'll have to start the new season at home,any pubs that can survive this will make a killing when we're allowed to be normal again.Anyway 3-1 redmen, we all hate leeds.