The Soccer Blog: Matchday: Liverpool v. Birmingham City

Saturday 23 April 2011

Matchday: Liverpool v. Birmingham City

By: Ed | April 23rd, 2011
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Kickoff from Anfield at 1500 GMT, 10:00am EST.

Ways to Watch:

Match live on Fox Soccer Channel in the US and Fox Sports 1 in Australia (thanks digitalgonzo).

MyP2P.eu
Atdhenet.tv
From Sport

Liverpool:

Reina
Flanagan Carragher Skrtel Robinson
Meireles Lucas Spearing Maxi
Kuyt Suarez

Bench: Gulacsi, Cole, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, Poulsen, Shelvey, Coady

So Jamie Carragher works his way back into the squad, but Andy Carroll’s nowhere to be found. I’m hopeful that it’s only a precautionary move and not indicative of something more serious—we’ll likely know more after the match concludes. With no Carroll we get to see Maxi back in action, which I’m guessing means that Dirk Kuyt pushes forward to partner Luis Suarez. Against Manchester United that meant Kuyt up top and Suarez withdrawn, so it’ll be interesting to see if that’s how Dalglish organizes them today. Another big day for John Flanagan and Jack Robinson, the latter of whom will be making his full debut. Conor Coady, another one of the academy standouts, makes his first appearance in a Premier League squad.

Birmingham City:

Foster
Carr Johnson Jiranek Ridgewell
Larsson Bowyer Gardner Fahey
Hleb
Jerome

Bench: Doyle, Phillips, Bentley, Derbyshire, Parnaby, Beausejour, Davies

Some Related Liverpool Posts:Match Preview: Liverpool v. Birmingham City, 04.23.11Match Preview: Liverpool v. Manchester City, 04.11.11Matchday: Liverpool v. ArsenalMatch Preview: Liverpool v. Stoke City, 11.13.10Match Preview: Liverpool v. Sunderland, 03.20.11

Category: Matchday Posts, Miscellaneous, Premier League, Team News

Tags: Andy Carroll, Conor Coady, Dirk Kuyt, Jack Robinson, Jamie Carragher, Jay Spearing, John Flanagan, Kenny Dalglish, Lucas, Luis Suarez, Martin Škrtel, Matchday Posts, Maxi, Maxi Rodriguez, Miscellaneous, Pepe Reina, Premier League, Raúl Meireles, Team News
Tweet « Match Preview: Liverpool v. Birmingham City, 04.23.11 | Home | Liverpool 5, Birmingham City 0: With Ease »PradTV commentators missed it, but at least two of those goals happened because of moves that Reina created with some quick thinking throws.KCWow that was a massive goal fest.LisI can't quite believe that this was a Liverpool match: 5 goals and no anxiety.EdJoe Cole has scored, the end of days is near.mattthat joe cole goal perfectly encapsulates this gameZachJoe Cole is still a joke.RussellGood to see Jonjo Shelvey playing in his traditional left back position.ChrisLFCGood spot for Coady to pick up a few minutes?NoelWould have rather seen him than Cole for a few minutes.Noel...and his selfish indecisiveness pays off for the one time out of a hundred after he passed on passing to thirty-seven unmarked teammates for four minutes. But hey, QPR, see that? All that awesome? That could all be yours.KhaineCole and Taraabt in the same side. Static dribbling and hands on hips galore.YannAnd here's to you Mr. Robinson, Anfield loves you more than you will know...ChrisLFCWoo-Hoo!!! MAXI for the hat trick!!ChrisLFCMaxi can't avoid goalscoring opportunities.
EdSee?EdStephen Carr gets generous and plays Suarez onside, Suarez with a perfect delivery for Maxi's second. Everything is the best.Noel"Lucas again--who else?"

Never would have imagined the day when I'd hear announcers say that sort of thing and mean it as a positive.paulTo be fair, Lucas had all the time in the world today. No pressure means less mistakes. I thought he did well considering the opposition weren't closing down, apart from his awful shot. He'd do well on the continent. Nice of Shelvey to be a pillock almost immediately, no change there.

Pleased to see the side push on and increase the score sheet, the last two managers would have tried to shut up shop after the first or second goal.

Anyone else feel almost disgusted at Carrahoof passing back to Reina from the halfway area when there was no one on him, and he had as much time as he wanted to find a player? Moan moan moan, that's me :D

Spurs drop two points, that's going to make things interesting. Thanks Woy, you finally did something positive for us!Helloshit
NoelAnnyong.EdWhy should I have to cheer Annyong? Annyong never cheers me.Eddiegreat first half from liverpool. Would love to see suarez score the third!ChrisLFCSeems like he will... I'm sure he'd like that last effort back again. I thought he was going to go right....what do I know.EdWell that was a nice, passively dominant half. Good of Birmingham to show up and just sort of shrug their shoulders.ChrisLFCI love the passive domination.YannWhy not just replace Foster with Carr? He's got good hands.alabamabobUnlucky by Suarez but resulted in a goal... Kuyts on my fantasy team too.NoelAnd it's definately been 4312 for the past ten minutes, so what the hell do I know.KhaineExcellent side control by Carr.YannFair play. Not much Howard Webb could do to stop either of those two.EdThose have both been ugly enough to make me ridiculously happy.ChrisLFCGreat work by Suarez and even better work by Kuyt!ChrisLFCMy son just asked my why Spearing always looks mad.paulShow him a video of Bronski Beat, he'll understand.cheekyfellowAnyone just watch that Larson cross come in thinking "oh shit". Then Flanagan got knocked it out.alabamabobThat's one of those goals you need every now and then. Someone following up for that one time the keeper drops it. A little good fortune never hurt anyone. Liverpool look slow today. From passes to runs, no one seems to be awake yet.Red2death6 whole minutes without an aimless hoof. We're on a roll!NoelRight, now we all know who to blame if things go wrong.EdMaxi can't avoid goalscoring opportunities.YannWell that's a nice little turn of events.KCI hope we get to see a bit of Conor Coady. All these academy players really are awesome! :)NoelNow I'm really going to be hoping for a 433.EdStarts off like a 4-3-1-2 with Spearing right and Meireles a bit further forward behind Kuyt and Suarez?NoelLooks like Kuyt's out on the right pretty solidly to me in either a 4231 or 433, but with Suarez as a false nine there's going to be some position switching and a need to flood the box... like there.EdWell pfffft to youNoel...or not quite. Spearing is definately drifting right more when Suarez goes to the wing, presumably to cover for him. Though when Liverpool's defending he packs back with Lucas, and when Kuyt is right he stays tucked in. So it's something.Eddieaccording to some sources, team sheet is : Reina, flanagan, carra, skrtel, robinson, maxi, lucas, spearing, meireles, suarez, kuyt.EdSaw that as well, just waiting for the confirmed one from the official site, or the guy that lives in my alley. Whichever comes first.paulFor those with Verizon FiOS, FSC is now in HD at channel 584. I never saw an announcement for it, neither did I get a message via their DVR, it just appeared. I'm just mentioning it in case there are other FiOS customers out there that are watching it in crappyvision on channel 84.blog comments powered by Disqus