Team News

Gomes
Corluka King Bassong Ekotto
Lennon Huddlestone Palacios Modric
Defoe Crouch

and I imagine they'll come against

Torres
Gerrard
Benayoun Lucas Mascherano Kuyt
Aurelio Skrtel Carragher Johnson
Reina​

I'd fancy Lennon to do well against their left flank as Aurelio is not great defensively and Benayoun will drift in a lot, like Modric would. I also don't anticipate Corluka being too troubled.

This will, however, be a massive test for Bassong because King cannot keep track of both Torres and Gerrard, so I imagine that while King is occupited with (probably Torres) Gerrard will target Bassong a fair bit.

Ekotto always has problems against wide target men. I remember him being subbed v Bolton because Kevin Davies was pushing him around all game, and we switched Corluka to left back to deal with it (and it worked). Kuyt always does well v Ekotto so I'm hoping Disco Benny has his dancing shoes on because it will be a ahrd game for him. Add to that the runs of Johnson and I'm hoping that when we are out of possession Modric is in the right place.

At the same time, when Modric has the ball, I really fancy him to take apart the very overrated Johnson. Mascherno will no doubt help out a lot because of Modric's infield runs, but while that might tone down the Modric magic, it will also allow Huddlestone space to do something lovely with the ball. Let's hope he does.

Similarly, I'd imagine that Palacios will spend a lot of time with his eye on Benayoun, who will play a similar game to Modric I'd imagine. The difference here is that, while being free of attention from Mascherano could lead to Huddlestone really hurting Liverpool, I cannot imagine that Lucas, even with the freedom of the land, could hurt a gnat.

While I think King will keep Torres in place, we'll need to hope, as I said, that Bassong is up to the task against Gerrard, who is always dangerous even if he is returning from an injury. However, our strikers aren't shrinking violets either. Skrtel is the giant in that defence, and I expect to see him man mark Crouch. He has more pace than Crouch, but Crouch has an extra 3 inches in height. Skrtel is more powerful, but Crouch does read the flight of the ball very well. This battle, like the King v Torres battle, may well be a stalemate, but once agains that leaves the other battle as the key.

Defoe is hungry, angry, and ready to hurt other teams. Brimming with confidence, he is a danger to all defences, and I will never forget how he skipped around Carragher as if he wasn't even there before scoring in the first game of Santini's ill fated reign. Carragher is a very committed centre back, and fairly strong, but he has little pace to speak of and isn't the greatest reader of the game either. If Huddlestone angels in the right ball, I expect Defoe to get in behind Carragher more often than not. Add to this that both Skrtel and Carragher are only just back from injuries and might be lacking a bit of sharpness and I have a good feeling for our strikeforce.

Of course, there are the goalkeepers. Both are capable of the stunning, both are capable of error. I think both will be pleased that neither Spurs nor Liverool play that many high crossed into the penalty area, and with both sides having unpredictable shooters of the ball in attack, I imagine that Reina and Gomes will have their highly reputable reflexes to their test.​

Gomes
Corluka Bassong King Benny
Lennon Hudd Palacios Modric
Crouch Defoe​

Gomes

Corluka - Seb - King - Ekotto

Lennon - Hudd - Wilson - Modric

Keane - Crouch

​

Subs: Cudicini, Hutton, Naughton, O'Hara, Livermore, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe.



I don't like it, but I can't see our captain Keane being dropped for the first game of the season, against Liverpool of all teams. Personally, I would go for Pav + Defoe up front, but of course Harry has his golden boys.​