Clash of the Titans - Aston Villa v Liverpool, Kick off: 2:05pm

Jesus Wept

Team News:

Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor serves a one-match ban for accumulating five bookings, so Emile Heskey could start against his former club.
Midfielder Fabian Delph has recovered from the knee injury that caused him to miss last weekend's victory at Bolton.

Liverpool have top scorer Luis Suarez available after the outcome of his disciplinary hearing was delayed until later in the week.
Jay Spearing serves the second of a three-match suspension.

• Liverpool have only lost one of their last 10 league matches (W5, D4, L1).
• Villa won at home to Liverpool for the first time in 13 attempts on the final day of last season, when Stewart Downing scored the only goal. Liverpool had won seven and drawn five of their previous 12 league visits to Villa Park.
• However, Kenny Dalglish has yet to win a league match at Villa in charge of Liverpool, drawing all five visits in his first spell and losing 1-0 last season.
• Daniel Agger is poised for his 150th Liverpool appearance, while central defensive partner Martin Skrtel should make his 100th league start for the club.

ShamoBuc

Agger to score in a pool victory, although I expect a scrappy enough game for some reason.

Savman

"Clash of the Titans"

I presume this is some kind of joke??

J. Marston

Savman wrote: »

"Clash of the Titans"

I presume this is some kind of joke??

I know, that title should have been reserved for the QPR/United match.

Pride Fighter

Savman wrote: »

"Clash of the Titans"

I presume this is some kind of joke??

We all know Man City/Arsenal is the clash of the titans this weekend.

Of course its meant as a joke, unless somehow there has been a time warp 29 years and Villa are European Champions and gunning for the title and Liverpool dominating the domestic game for the past 10 years as they did in that time.

monkey9

Jesus lads, i think it's quite obvious it's meant as a joke. No need to dissect the feckin thing!!

Some people can't take a joke.

Anyway, reckon this will be a score draw 2-2.

RayCon

hhmmmmmm ... Ive a 1-1 feeling about this game.

mike65

An unpleasant 95 mins beckons.

Handsome Bob

I actually think this is gonna be a comfortable win for the Pool. I don't think Villa are playing all that well and with Gabby out, I'm not expecting this to be one of our more uncomfortable visit to Villa Park.

Jesus Wept

mike65 wrote: »

An unpleasant 95 mins beckons.

Ever the optimist. Cmon teh lads.

michael999999

2-0 to the Pool.

Bellamy and Carroll!

PARKHEAD67

The-Rigger wrote: »

Ever the optimist. Cmon teh lads.

Ya, I hope Petrov scores a couple.Mon Villa.

Crazy Horse 6

1-1 i'd hazard a guess. Lol at posters getting wound up over the thread title. Some people really need to get out more.

PARKHEAD67

michael999999 wrote: »

2-0 to the Pool.

Bellamy and Carroll!

But Carroll doesnt score.Have you not realised this yet. £35 Million??? Good man Kenny.:D

Jesus Wept

PARKHEAD67 wrote: »

Ya, I hope Petrov scores a couple.Mon Villa.

PARKHEAD67 wrote: »

But Carroll doesnt score.Have you not realised this yet. £35 Million??? Good man Kenny.:D

Celtic match is down the hall.

PARKHEAD67

The-Rigger wrote: »

Celtic match is down the hall.

Dont worry, I'll be watching the Celts later.I just have a funny feeling that Villa are going to nick this one.;)

Hoki

Villa are a horrible team to watch this season, i expect Liverpool to have the majority of the ball & them to leave Villla Park with a 1 nil win. That'll do donkey

Leiva

PARKHEAD67 wrote: »

But Carroll doesnt score.Have you not realised this yet. £35 Million??? Good man Kenny.:D

£35 million :eek: .... No fcuking way , really ?

Kess73

Crazy Horse 6 wrote: »

1-1 i'd hazard a guess. Lol at posters getting wound up over the thread title. Some people really need to get out more.

Really? You are pulling this crap on me on a Sunday morning????:pac::pac:



I think it will be a comfortable enough poerformance today for some reason, and have to agree with Ravishing Rob's post.

3-1 to Liverpool with Suarez to turn in a blistering performance.

Jesus Wept

mixednuts wrote: »

£35 million :eek: .... No fcuking way , really ?

Relax, teknickally it was Torres - £15m, which now means £20m - £15m = £5m.

Carroll cost us £5m, which is worth a punt as he is young and has already banged in 4 goals and he's only a fringe player at the moment.

Do you dig?

Leiva

Kess73 wrote: »

Really? You are pulling this crap on me on a Sunday morning????:pac::pac:



I think it will be a comfortable enough poerformance today for some reason, and have to agree with Ravishing Rob's post.

3-1 to Liverpool with Suarez to turn in a blistering performance.

Sniffer software is working a treat I see :P

Crazy Horse 6

Kess73 wrote: »

Really? You are pulling this crap on me on a Sunday morning????:pac::pac:



I think it will be a comfortable enough poerformance today for some reason, and have to agree with Ravishing Rob's post.

3-1 to Liverpool with Suarez to turn in a blistering performance.

Opps sorry forgot about that. :pac:

mike65

If Maxi starts with Bellamy on either flank I'll be happy. Its important to keep Suarez central, Richard Dunne is a grand servant but I think can be bamboozled by quick movement.

Bowlardo

mike65 wrote: »

If Maxi starts with Bellamy on either flank I'll be happy. Its important to keep Suarez central, Richard Dunne is a grand servant but I think can be bamboozled by quick movement.

Agree..collins is not the qucikest either

Downing- hendo - adam- maxi
suarez- kuyt

Then i can't see us losing

touch wood

Leiva

Bowlardo wrote: »

touch wood

Take that back !

It's the one thing we don't want the ball doing today :pac:

K-9

mike65 wrote: »

If Maxi starts with Bellamy on either flank I'll be happy. Its important to keep Suarez central, Richard Dunne is a grand servant but I think can be bamboozled by quick movement.

Lack of midfield options probably mean it'll be 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2. I can see Downing getting a run as well.

Bowlardo

mixednuts wrote: »

Take that back !

It's the one thing we don't want the ball doing today :pac:

haa haa haa brilliant

slingerz

Is this on tv or anything?

mayordenis

slingerz wrote: »

Is this on tv or anything?

Sky Sports 1 I believe

yayamark

4-1 to the pool

Suarez with 2 or 3

Its christmas i am optimistic

I have forgotten everything that has happened i the last 3 months

PLease dont ruin my dream

Happy xmas all

orourkeda

This game has the distinct smell of scoreless draw off it.

Bounty Hunter

orourkeda wrote: »

This game has the distinct smell of scoreless draw off it.

I fear thats just Villa have that distinct smell in most games but hopefully we will be surprised again. Im hoping to see more of Albrighton tonight (tis night here) as I'm a big believer in his ability and work ethic

Phoenix Park

Savman wrote: »

"Clash of the Titans"

I presume this is some kind of joke??

Sky have just described the villa-pool game as the "meat in the sandwich".
'nuff said :pac:
0-1 for me, Suarez.

Blatter

I hear Shelvey starts.

JPA

Bent not playing it seems.

Pepe LeFrits

The-Rigger wrote: »

Relax, teknickally it was Torres - £15m, which now means £20m - £15m = £5m.

Carroll cost us £5m, which is worth a punt as he is young and has already banged in 4 goals and he's only a fringe player at the moment.

Do you dig?

You forget that Atletico Madrid bought Luis Garcia for 6 million plus -26 million, which now means £5m + £6m = £11m. Also technically it was Cisse + 14 million + Garcia. Cisse went for 6m, but he was signed for 14m, so that's £19m now for Carroll. But Cisse himself was actually 8m + 6m for Heskey, who cost £11m, so Carroll now cost £25m. But Heskey himself...

Phoenix Park

Reina

Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique

Shelvey
Henderson
Adam
Downing

Bellamy

Suarez

ynwa_17

Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Downing, Adam, Henderson, Shelvey; Bellamy, Suárez

Subs: Doni, Carroll, Maxi, Carragher, Kuyt, Coates, Kelly.

JPA

VILLA: Guzan, Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock; Albrighton, Delph, N’Zogbia, Petrov; Heskey, Delfouneso

Subs: Marshall, Bannan, Clark, Cuellar, Weimann, Johnson, Burke.

Raekwon

VILLA v Liverpool: Guzan, Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock; Albrighton, Delph, N’Zogbia, Petrov; Heskey, Delfouneso. Subs: Marshall, Bannan, Clark, Cuellar, Weimann, Johnson, Burke.

No Bent, Agbonlahor or Given for Villa so I predict a 3-1 defeat

That bench doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Has Graham Burke or Daniel Johnson ever even played a senior game?

matrim

Pool: Reina/Johnson Agger Skrtel Enrique/Downing Adam Henderson Shelvey/Bellamy Suarez


VILLA: Guzan, Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock; Albrighton, Delph, N’Zogbia, Petrov; Heskey, Delfouneso.

No Herd or Bent for Villa

Glico Man

I like the look of that team

Midfield looking like this I hope

---

Adam

---

Henderson

Bellamy

---

Shelvey

---

Downing

With Bellers and Downing switching constantly

Sir Gallagher

Shelvey playing.. Interesting.

ynwa_17

A lot of pace on those Villa flanks. I'd fancy Skrtel and Agger to dominate Heskey and Delfouneso - Bent and Agbonlahor are huge loses. We need Downing, Bellamy and Suarez to hit their stride early on, if so we could be in for a big win!!

Savman

Bent is a huge loss.

This'll be....interesting

machiavellianme

ynwa_17 wrote: »

Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Downing, Adam, Henderson, Shelvey; Bellamy, Suárez

Subs: Doni, Carroll, Maxi, Carragher, Kuyt, Coates, Kelly.

Not a bad team. I thought Shelvey did well in both games i saw for blackpool on the right cutting in. Wouldn't mind him on for maxi as he needs games to bed in and probably has more to offer long term

Very attacking Liverpool team

Paully D

Savman wrote: »

Bent is a huge loss.

This'll be....interesting

Is he really? He's been poor this season (perhaps due to the system that McLeish is using) and it might well give you more freedom playing without him.

It'll definitely be interesting to see how you play without him.

Is he injured by the way?

Bounty Hunter

Channel - 106723

for those interested bloodzeed are listed as showing this game on sopcast. currently showing QPR v Man Utd

murpho999

Interesting LFC line-up.

Is today set up for Downing to have good game for Liverpool and maybe score?