Wednesday 17 December 2014

AFCB can put a hole in Liverpool's 'ruderless boat'!

Brendan Rodgers will be well aware that his side face a potential banana skin coming down to the south coast on Wednesday night. Liverpool are expected to rest several of their main players ahead of the Arsenal Premier League match at the weekend, but they will not want to go out of the Capital One Cup a week after exiting the Champions League.

Still, I don't think that the Liverpool players will have an easy ride. AFCB are also likely to rest the main contingent of the their side that has taken them up the league in the Championship, but their squad players are equally as good as West Brom found out in the last round of the Capital One Cup. 

Knowing Eddie Howe, he will instruct his team to go for it from the start and to try and establish a lead early on. If that does not work out though, Bournemouth must aim to keep in the game up to half time and let the pressure build on the Reds and look to be ahead, either on half time or in the first part of the second half. If they can get the lead, the game will become a real nightmare for Liverpool playing at Dean Court where the crowd are close to the players and certainly make themselves heard. Eddie Howe will also have the likes of Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie to bring on as the second half progresses and AFCB are a very difficult team to beat at home.

The powerful running of Eunan O'Kane and the experience of Dan Gosling and Ian Harte will ensure that AFCB have plenty of know how to keep hold of a lead and to make it difficult for Liverpool if they are not on their game. This is a better AFCB side than when the teams last met in the FA Cup Third round and the seasiders fancy their chances of an upset.
The home crowd also need to be at its loudest to help see AFCB to a win.
For Liverpool there is little to gain from having a struggle against a keen Championship side that will see them as a major scalp. They need to show their class from the start and to keep the ball far better than we have seen in the past few weeks as AFCB are also a side that will harry and pass the ball well when they are on top. My only worry from an AFCB perspective was if Rodgers picked Mario Balotelli, but he is injured. That takes one strong player who heads a few goals out of their team, but AFCB will also have to watch Lambert and Skrtel from set plays as they could also cause problems for the Cherries from high crosses. 

The beauty of this game now is that AFCB have more of a cutting-edge these days and it's likely that Brad Jones (or Simon Mignolet if he is recalled - seems unlikely) is going to have a far more difficult night than he had last time he visited the south coast. Mark Lawrence said last week that Liverpool were "ruderless", well AFCB are looking to put a hole in their boat!

Liverpool seek normality, while AFCB have the chance to be history markers. I know who my money is on. UTCIAD!! Enjoy the game.

Liverpool Away League Form 
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AFCB Home League Form

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Hear what Anfield Online has to say about the Capital One Cup Quarter final tie between AFCB and Liverpool by visiting Rival Lines.

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