fred milne

Playing with Suarez took his game to a different level but he needed to have the talent in the first place. Playing next to Suarez did nothing for Borini or Aspas.

How would stats prove whether he made those kind of passes or not. I'm not sure I agree either about what you say about the holding player mentality. There is a balance to be struck and they can't afford to be casual or sloppy in possession but equally they are the fulcrum of the side and need to be able to release the ball quickly and use the ball in a way that can hurt the opposition. Players like Souness and, when he moved inside, Whelan were masters at this.

There is sometimes a pass on but when it is a quick, short pass into a teammate "between the lines" he is usually reluctant to play it. Presumably, he is worried about it being intercepted and then the team being exposed to a counter-attack. Playing longer balls over the top or switching to the wings are less risky as we have time to reorganise if we lose possession. However, normally those passes don't hurt the opposition as much and we need to strike a balance between being reckless in possession and being brave enough to take the game to other team. A player like Souness, Molby, McMahon, Whelan, Gerrard, or Alonso would make that pass.

To me it underlines just how much Suarez's genius made the players around him perform to a higher standard.

Me neither. His career is already on a downward trajectory.

True but if they score early their game plan will be clear. Reckon they may try to press us early on to see if we can handle it.

Stewart isn't good enough based on what I've seen.

The eternal pessimist in me has this as the game where Mkhitaryan properly announces his arrival in English football.....

How do we think they will line up? I can imagine something like this: De Gea Valencia Bailly Smalling Shaw Fellaini Herrera Pogba Mkhitaryan Ibrahimovic Martial

Losing one should be ok as Can hopefully should be sharp again now. Losing both would be problematic.

That was trigger rather than digger.

Bailly, Smalling, Fellaini, Pogba, Ibrahimovic - that's a decent threat from set pieces.

And then Rashford scores the winner in injury time.

4-2-3-1 places more demands on Mane defensively than 4-3-3

Its a different role.

No doubt. I'm never as nervous about set-pieces as I am when Utd are at Anfield. It goes back at least as far Pallister in 97. Injuries picked up on international duty permitting, reckon we will go with the team that started at Swansea but with Can instead of Lallana.

I'm coming to the conclusion this is as good as it gets for Sturridge under Klopp. I don't think he does enough when we don't have possession to start up front. The 1-2 in midfield seems to be working well so far so I'm not sure why we would switch to 2-1.

Reckon Can will take over there in time.

Our record against Mourinho in the league at Anfield is pretty miserable. Off the top of my head, I can only think of the game where Kuyt and Pennant scored and they had Essien and Ferreira as a make-shift central defence.

That can't be true if the stadium loan is interest-free (as reported in the press).

'When Wes Brown is fit, he is the best natural defender in the country." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1231395/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-hails-Manchester-Uniteds-Wes-Brown-countrys-best-defender.html

Luke Chadwick

Henchoz's last game in a red shirt.

The lack of goals is less of an issue now given his deeper position.

http://www.football365.com/news/barton-i-fouled-alonso-due-to-failed-liverpool-move