Opposition View – Liverpool
Ahead of the game between Liverpool and Crystal Palace this weekend, I spoke to Reds fan, and Fresh Press Media’s Head of Content, Ste Hoare to get his view on Sunday’s match.
Q: Liverpool are unbeaten in seven league games, what do you put that good run of form down to?
A: The easy answer would be to say that it’s because we are a very good side. On our day, we’re a match for anybody and we’ve proven that all year. Of those seven games, the only really poor result was the home draw to Bournemouth where we tried to hold onto a narrow lead but couldn’t.
Q: Liverpool have a number of injury worries ahead of the game, how big a factor is that?
A: It’s massive. We’ll definitely be without three nailed-on starters; Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane and it looks like a fourth, Joel Matip, will miss the game too. Added to that, backups Ragnar Klavan and Lucas are also unavailable so it looks like we’ll have to play two youngsters. One will likely be Joe Gomez at the back, the other will be one of Marko Grujic, Ben Woodburn and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Q: What dangers do you think Palace can cause Liverpool?
A: Well, Wilfried Zaha is in good form and he’ll fancy his chances against James Milner and Christian Benteke has a good record against us and he has the added motivation of proving a point after being sold by us after just one season. I think those two will pose the biggest issues.
Q: Like I said earlier, Liverpool have been in good form recently. Who will they be looking to as potential match winners.
A: The front three of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Divock Origi have found their scoring boots in recent weeks with the two Brazilians in particular playing extremely well. Both have hit a decent patch of form and have been the catalysts to success. Origi is still a developing young player but he has a knack of getting goals even if he isn’t playing great and that’s been so important for us.
Q: Mamadou Sakho is obviously unable to play. Have you seen much of him at Palace and what are your thoughts about his future?
A: I have seen a lot of him and he’s been very good. He’s still good enough to play for Liverpool as he’d be our second-best centre-back if he was still at the club but the reason he’s elsewhere isn’t because he lacks talent. I think his future lies away from Anfield as Jurgen Klopp seems to have already made his mind up on him. The better he plays for Palace, the more money Liverpool will get for him in the summer so it’s a win-win!.
Q: Liverpool are being linked with a move for Wilfried Zaha this summer. Palace fans all hope he stays, of course, but would you like to see him at Anfield?
A: He’s a good player but he wouldn’t get in our first XI. However, Liverpool’s squad lacks depth and we have no real replacement for Sadio Mane when he’s unavailable. Zaha would be a good player to have in the squad but he’d probably be a bit silly to accept that role. He needs to play every week.
Q: Back to the game then, how do you see it going?
A: I think we’ll see a lot of the ball and Palace will look to counter with Zaha and Andros Townsend. They’ll use Benteke as an out ball too. We have the ability to break teams down but we have been vulnerable to counter attacks too.
Q: Finally, a prediction?
A: I think we’ll win a close game 2-1.
Thanks to Ste for answering our questions. Let’s hope he’s wrong about the result!