LFC: Crystal Palace vs Liverpool - Match Preview

"Sweet Revenge, The Second Attempt."

Following Liverpool's first attempt at revenge falling short at the hands of Chelsea two weeks back, a second bite at the cherry is on the cards for the reds, and it could not come any better than this, an away fixture to Crystal Palace, the team that all but dampened Liverpool's title hopes last season with an astonishing, yet enraging comeback from three goals down to tie the match at 3-3. As we see Suarez mourn the defeat in the image above, we reflect upon a season of 'ifs' and 'maybes'. We may not come this close to winning the title for a number of years, and yet it took three second half blows to the chest by a somewhat 'lower table' team to end any hopes of Stevie lifting that much coveted trophy.




Crystal Palace are a much changed team this season under the guidance of Neil Warnock, and whilst the reds face their own struggles all across the pitch, Rodgers knows this could be yet another stepping mine on the road to recovery. Part one of "Sweet Revenge" came to no prevail, thus on to round two !

Important Information and Statistics

Date: 23rd November 2014                                              C. Palace League Position: 17th

Time: 1:30 pm                                                                  Liverpool League Position: 11th

Venue: Selhurst Park                                                        C. Palace Recent Form: WLLDLL

Referee: Jonathan Moss                                                   Liverpool Recent Form: DWWDLL

The Eagerly Awaited Return of Daniel Sturridge... Oh Wait!

It seems that Liverpool's lack of fortune has come in abundance this season, where one cannot possibly buy Brendan and his squad a slight sprinkling of luck. Daniel Sturridge can count himself a cut above the rest where misfortune is concerned. After injuring himself in the early stages of September, we thought that we would welcome our front man by early to mid-October. This was not the case however, and his injury was yet again set back, this time till mid-November.

As I began planning my "Welcome Back Sturridge" post on this match preview, the dreadful news broke. Sturridge will be unavailable for selection until the New Year. The 25 year old's injury issues seem to regress as the months fly by. Now here is quite an astonishing stat for you, which compares Sturridge's injury woes to ex-front man Luis Suarez's.

Daniel Sturridge has suffered from 11 separate injuries since joining the reds in 2013. Luis Suarez? Not a single one. Not even a slight niggle.

The Return of Martin Kelly

If one would have come to me a couple of years ago, and begged the question, "Where do you see Martin Kelly in the beginning of 2015?" , I would have given a pretty straight-forward response: Easily Liverpool's first choice right-back, with a 20 million + price tag on his shoulders and more than ten international caps under his belt. And all this whilst we were under the guidance of Roy Hodgson, for Christ's sake! The only factor that dented Kelly's hopes of pursuing a long and successful career at Merseyside is that one long-term injury he sustained a couple of years back.

Leading up to that unfortunate event, Kelly was being widely tipped to do great things at the club, however, now we look at a player who is strutting his stuff for Crystal Palace. An extremely unfortunate lad, and a person who will undoubtedly receive nothing less than an exceptional reception from fans of both teams come Sunday afternoon.

11th Place, Matters to Get Worse Before They Get Better?

11th place, five points ahead of our next opponents at 17th (which could be reduced to two by the end of the week). On top of this, we have the whole 'Daniel Sturridge saga' to further deprive our optimism. I am afraid that things can indeed get much worse before they improve for Rodgers' men. I will be writing an entire blog on this in the near future, thus I will keep this as brief as possible.

To keep it quite simple, this is not good enough for a team of Liverpool's calibre. Brendan needs to come up with a Plan B and fast, as he himself is under intense scrutiny at the present moment. Will he risk resting the misfiring Balotelli, and give Borini a well-deserved run out? Or will his hard-headedness prevail above all and instead opt for the 'lone striker' option, one which has fell short of expectations on numerous occasions. Liverpool are currently four points behind fourth place, and I fear the deficit could be stretched further this weekend.

Liverpool Need a Plan B

A Plan B + B, to be more specific. Liverpool are far too predictable this season. With Balotelli as the lone striker, opponents are conscious of how to set themselves up defensively, thus frustrating the attacking flow, and further aggravating the Italian himself. Whilst we possessed two different options in Suarez and Sturridge last season, the same cannot be said this time around, and this is where B + B enter the fray.

One of the few matches in which Balotelli and Borini both started together resulted into a 2-1 win over Ludogorets. (Not to mention their link-up goal for Balotelli's strike against Swansea). Mario Balotelli is not a lone striker, and Rodgers should instead go with the B-B Partnership against Palace.

A Quick Glance At the Opposition

Although under the new regime of Neil Warnock, Crystal Palace are enduring a lacklustre campaign, much like Liverpool's in comparison. Win-less since September, the Eagles need a boost if they are to escape the relegation dog-fight at the bottom. If I were a Palace fan, I would be pretty optimistic heading into this fixture, against a predictable and disheartened Liverpool side at home. In Palace's fixtures against the top teams this season, they have narrowly been defeated by the one goal on each occasion, therefore they can feel invigorated by that fact alone.

Top Scorer: Dwight Gayle, 5 goals                                      Most YC's: Mile Jedinak, 4

Goals Scored: 14                                                               Red Cards: 3

Goals Conceded: 20                                                   Play-Maker: Jason Puncheon, 3 assists       Clean Sheets: 2

My Prediction & Probable Starting Line Up

Following on from this week's latest of revelations regarding one Daniel Sturridge, I am going for a narrow 1-0 win for the reds, with Steven Gerrard netting the only goal. I would most defintiely take that result now, and so should Rodgers, as he aims to lift his team out of the slumps of mid-table.

As for the team Rodgers is most likely to put out, I am yet again going to wear my 'Team Kolo & Borini' badge on and include them in the team.

                                              Mignolet

Manquillo                   Skrtel                      Toure                     Moreno

                                              Gerrard

                                   Allen                        Henderson

                                             Coutinho

                                 Balotelli                      Borini

Subs: Jones. Enrique, Lovren. Lucas, Lallana. Sterling, Lambert.

My inclusion of Joe Allen may surprise a few of you. I believe that with Allen in the team, Gerrard feels less hesitant on showing the attacking side to his game, and we all know that when that happens, we end up on the winning side more times than not.

As we hit a pivotal time in the season for Brendan and his squad alike, we look ahead to a fixture that is of absolute essential to get the full three points. Anything bar a convincing win and a positive performance to head into the Champions League match away to Ludogorets on Wednesday is of utmost importance. If Liverpool were to draw, or worse, lose the match then that would spell the start of an extremely torrid time at the den for the current boss. He is already under fire as it is, and getting a win on Sunday afternoon, to then follow it by the start of a run of victories, will undoubtedly lift the squad's spirits, and thus lift us cheering reds' fans worldwide. 

Let us hope we see this man get on the score-sheet this weekend. He deserves it after all.

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YNWA