ANFIELD BECKONS- WHAT HAVE WE GOT?

Finally we get to quench our thirst for football action this weekend!

As usual, most of the pundits have written us off already. We are even tipped by some (read as most) to fall behind Manchester City. Is this new to us? No!! Anyway, we know how big the brains of those pundits are! We’ll leave that to that.

As mentioned more than once by most of our team last season, we’ve to take it one step at a time, one match at a time. We don’t control how the other biggies perform, we only control ourselves. If we stay consistent long enough, we can sing our song louder than ever.

We start the season at Anfield! (If you didn’t know already) Its Merseyside again, shall we do what we did to the Toffees last season? Haha! Too much to ask for eh? Not impossible however given our attacking credentials.

Let us get down to business and see what our first step has to offer-

Attack-

We are nothing short in this area of the pitch, we have an able Chamakh who has successfully integrated into the side and he does look the player we missed last season. He will be licking his lips for a strong premier league debut. Arshavin, our four goal hero of 2008-09 and the winner last year at Anfield will be primed for action in his favorite match. He has been seen to be breaking his sweat this pre-season, we can expect a lot from the Little Russian. Theo, Vela and JET can run at the Reds defence and cause problems. RVP is expected to be absent for the opener, he may get a few minutes however as competitive game time.

In Arshavin we Trust! 

Midfield-

Cesc is off to the Americas to play Mexico in a meaningless friendly mid-week, he may or may not be present for “The” match. Nasri can easily deputize as he has in preseason. He has been on fire. He seems to be a man on a mission after being left out of the France Squad. Wilshere, Frimpong, Eboue, Song (hopefully) and Rosicky can do the job for us, in the absence of Diaby and Denilson. We have already seen that against Milan and the other pre-season opponents. We have plenty going forward, no doubt, but I expect our midfield to learn from Legia and provide adequate cover to our defense without leaving pockets of space to exploit for the Reds. Organization and Positioning are very important for the way we play, the manager has to drill it in to them to start defending from the front.

Who's on Fire? Nasri's on Fire! 

Defence-

This is identified by many as the problem area. However, let’s not call for signings, AW has promised to bring a man before Aug 31, let us give him that much time. We’ll stick to what we have in hand till then.

We have a good player in Laurent Koscielny, who showed what he can do in the game against Milan, a similar promising performance against the Reds will get the doubters off his back and will give him confidence. Vermalaen shoulders a lot of responsibility and I have full confidence in him to show he is up for the task. I expect solid performances from our full backs, they were exposed because of our formation last season, hopefully they have learnt from that and they don’t leave any spaces anymore. That will help us throughout the season.

The Kozzer!!

Last but most important of the lot-

Goal Keeper- It’s an area which has derived a lot of attention. Many have written off Fabianski and Almunia as clowns. Even I, at times have taken out some harsh words on both of them for their mistakes. I hope AW buys an experienced keeper before the close of the transfer window, who can nurture the young ones. However, that cannot be done in 3 days, whoever he fields on the day at Anfield, please do not get on their backs as they don’t lack in ability but mentality. Wojciech Sczezeny (if that’s right) may even get his chance, hopefully! Most of us would love to see him step it up. He is hugely confident, that is an addition to any keeper for that case!

Can Flap prove us otherwise?

Hope he gets atleast a No. 2 nod

If, we put the ball down and pass around, we can take 3 points where most teams won’t! That said, we will begin our campaign with full hearted support, no moaning & groaning! Once the whistle blows, get behind the team.

UP THE ARSE! KEEP THE FAITH!

Cheers,

Ramos! 

Sriram D. Iyer