Thursday 8th November 2012
Lokomotiv Stadium
Anzhi Makhachkala VS Liverpool
That our opponents are playing their designated home game a thousand miles away from their usual stadium gives you some idea of the travel involved. Quite literally Brendan Rodgers and the young squad that he's taken with him are on a grand adventure. Should they bring anything back with them, qualification from the group would be all but assured. It's cold, cynical and not the way things used to be, but sometimes the fixture list forces managers into decisions and selections that may not otherwise be taken.
Having people like Suarez and Gerrard with us in a game of this difficulty would under any other circumstances be a necessity but with Chelsea away on Sunday and the sheer amount of travel involved then we have no alternative in leaving the majority of what you would call our first team behind. There's a possibility it could backfire massively - like it did last week - without the comfort blanket of having them on the bench to change it. That being said, the risks were too big and regardless of what happens, irrespective of the result, it was the right call.
Of those we do have left, none will be under more scrutiny than Joe Cole. After his all time low of a performance against Swansea last week then his Liverpool career has finally past the point of no return. It's likely he'll be given one last chance at redemption here but save for consecutive hat tricks, it's safe to say that this may very well be his last game for the club. Without wanting to be personal in any way - for Cole does appear to be genuine in his desire - it is rather incredible as to how little he appears to have left to contribute. This will be his swansong, and so long as it's better than Swansea last week, everyone should be able to move on without it getting any more ugly than it already has.
I've been reliably informed that we'll be playing a 3-5-2 tonight. The formation itself is rather tantalizing, especially in regard to making us less susceptible to the counter attack. What intrigues further is those involved with Adam Morgan and Connor Coady rumoured to be taking part. Yesil was unfortunate to be included in a side that couldn't get anything going in the League Cup and I hope for Morgan's sake this doesn't happen here.
Four points is what we require for guaranteed qualification and while nobody is expecting a win tonight I'm hoping for a spirited performance that can capture a draw and lay the ground work for the final two games. I expect Anzhi will be a lot better than we saw them at Anfield and given the talent we're missing then the job becomes even harder. Getting something here for some won't rank as the biggest European results we've ever obtained, but for some of our other players it would be the biggest in their young careers.
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