(H) Anzhi Makhachkala - Pre Match Thoughts

Europa League

Thursday 25th October 2012

Anfield

Liverpool VS Anzhi Makhachkala

Players can be challenged for ninety minutes but for the management, the difficulties span a lot longer time frame. Tonight is set up to be an intriguing game of football, not least of all because of the situation we find ourselves in domestically. It's not just any game that awaits us on Sunday, it's the derby. Brendan Rodgers needs to tred carefully.

Squad management is a neat phrase that has become football speak for the fact that we don't have the resources to win two games in a week. Not many teams do. Tonight is more than just an exercise in getting through the game, realistically we need to take something from it if we are to progress beyond the group stage. The likes of Jordan Henderson, Jonjo Shelvey and Oussama Assaidi will have our European fate in their hands and will have to show the manager whether they are capable of handling it.

 A lot has been spoken of the need for the more senior members of the squad to be as far away from this game as possible. Personally I wouldn't even have Gerrard or Suarez on the bench and it appears as though both may be starting. If that's the case then the hope will be that we can get onto the front foot early and take the game to them, wrap it up completely and be able to take them off with half an hour to go. I'd much rather do it this way than have to bring them on with the task of winning the game for us in the final twenty and overload them, but with Everton on Sunday I have to question the value of playing them at all.  Managers get paid to make these kinds of decisions, I don't.

 Anfield on a European night is always spoken about in glowing terms. For Anzhi, this is their first real test of being able to come to one of the truly great venues on the continent and getting a result. They will be motivated beyond belief and for once the atmosphere could work against us as it's something they will have been working on feeding off. Either way, up front they have Samuel Eto'o, one of the best goalscorers in the game. He alone, much like Di Natale for Udinese, is capable of winning this game and putting him up against Jamie Carragher could be a long nights work for the number 23. If we can keep him quiet, we'll have done a good job.

 The much maligned Europa League has been a wonderful adventure so far. Thirteen goals in two games ensures that the possibilities are endless tonight. The Merseyside derby looms large, as much as our grip in this competition is starting to loosen. Defeat would barring a miracle all but assure our exit, whereas if we stretch ourselves too thin, we may be playing into Everton's hands. Football is about being tested. This will be one hell of an exam.