On Sunday 23rd, Liverpool go head to head vs Swansea City at Anfield in the Barclay’s Premier League. In this match both teams need these crucial three points to decide where they shall finish this season. Liverpool are currently fourth whereas Swansea lie in tenth. This is due to live up to a excellent game with both teams going end to end.. Well thats what the fans want, but we are most likely going to see Liverpool pushing Swansea off the pitch as they have done in many games this season (Everton 4-0, Arsenal 5-1). They have made Anfield a very tough stadium to play at over the years with the help of the fans chanting them on. Therefore Swansea may struggle to gain their vital three points needed if to acheive a high position and gain anymore growth from last year. Another problem for the Swans is their away form, they have had many defeats in games where they have needed all three points. (Stoke, West Ham) and they are just recent fixtures. So this plans out to be a very one sided game of football.
Liverpool are having a very impressive and consistent season but to suggest Liverpool can be title winners is still stretching reality but a place in the top four, which was seen as the real measure of Rodgers’s achievements when the season started, is there for the taking when their remaining fixtures are studied. They will need the three points against Swansea if they look for a top four finish.
Liverpool’s defence is still a weak spot to be probed but this, in some respects, is a risk Rodgers is prepared to take to give full flight to the attacking talents of the likes of Suarez and Sturridge. In my opinion in the summer we should look at some talented defenders and we will have a very strong team then.
Raheem Sterling was excellent vs Arsenal in the FA Cup and has been throughout the season. England manager Roy Hodgson says Raheem Sterling’s impressive form for Liverpool has put him in contention for a place in his World Cup squad. This will boost Englands hopes as their wide players are not the greates up to recent dates. Another player that has impressed me and many fans is Jordan Henderson, although his shots may not be accurate he is a worker, he does not stop running, he will run back everytime and will run forward for every attack. In my opinion his work rate is truly outstanding and he deserves alot more credit. To back up my opinion lets talk about the match vs Arsenal on Sunday. We had no control over the midfeild after the first ten minutes. We failed to keep the ball and our passes were outrageous. Henderson in the second half got subbed on, and the game completely changed, with Liverpool attacking and pressuring the Arsenal Defence. Jordan is a key player for Liverpools thrive to get top four.
Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique are due to join back in to the starting eleven as they return from injury. This brings joy to many fans as the defence has been truly outrageous and we can see this without our main defenders as it has became sloppy and full of mistakes. This will need to improve immediately.
Liverpool have been very strong on the attack throughout the season with Liverpool’s striking duo scoring fourty two goals between them this season with a Leagues best. My concern is Luis Suarez not getting many goals, althought Sturridge has been scoring Suarez has not, this is most likely due to Suarez having to play a wide position for Sturridge to fit into the team. I do not beleive this will effect Luis as he is also a team player as we have seen on many occasions where he has passed instead of shot on numerous chances.
Swansea face Napoli in a mid-week game in the Europa League so their fitness for the weekend will be effected, therefore either not using vital players, or just going for the win vs Napoli and using tired players vs the Reds. Liverpool rested Mignolet against Arsenal, therefore he will be nicely refreshed and ready to play against Swansea.
Last Fixture Thoughts
Liverpool went head to head vs Arsenal in the FA Cup. Liverpool lost the game 2-1 at the Emirates. Goals from :- Chamberlain, Podolski , Gerrard (Penalty). Overall it was a great performance from Liverpool and in my opinion we deserved the win. The disappointing side is that we did not take our chances and where not as clinical as we were at the reverse fixture. We could have buried the game in the dying moments, but failed to finish our chances. Towards the end of the match their was a very strong penalty appeal as Luis Suarez got fouled in the box, right in front of referee Howard Webb. But the referee was having non of it. Luis Suarez was assaulted to the ground and all people could say was his reputation let him down. No matter what his reputation is like, if you see an obvious penalty you should give it. Liverpool may have scored the penalty making it 2-2 and ended the game with a victory. But we must just look at the strong points such as the team playing outstanding and certain individuals carrying the team.
Next Fixture Thoughts
I’m very excited to see if Liverpool can beat Swansea as it will help me decide where we shall finish this season. I very strongly agree with many critics on the fact that Liverpool shall not win the league, but shall gain top four. Now top four will give us Champions League, which is where the money is in football. Therefore this leads to us attracting and being able to buy better players for our club. So all our remaining fixtures prove vital for us. I expect Liverpool to dominate possession and finish the game with the victory as we have in many recent games. It will not be a walk in the park though as Swansea are a strong side and are not gonna just hand us the win. There is alot of work to do to improve the squad and fix the faults, this is happening as we can see in recent performances and that is why i give my full faith to Brendan no matter where we finish this season.
Tom Owen
Twitter – @MrLiverpoolTV