Soccer Extreme : Even if it means continuing to drive yourself crazy with the dissonance—I want Liverpool to win. I don’t want Roy Hodgson to stay. If Liverpool wins, Roy Hodgson might stay. If Liverpool loses, Roy Hodgson might go. Mighty clear, then.Brief kudos to Noel for doing a fabulous job this week keeping us all up to speed on the comings and goings off the pitch. As I mentioned last week, he’s going to be covering most of that stuff while I try to get my head around the seemingly infinite amount of shit that I have to get done over the next little while. In my experience the day-to-day minutiae is the most difficult to write about, particularly when the person creating most of the news has a habit of creating goosebumps even with the simplest of comments. “A lot more expensive failures,” he says.
Anyhow, very grateful for the work Noel’s been doing, and I can tell by the response from those who keep coming back that others feel similarly.
I think we can all agree that it’s time to get back to action, though, and tomorrow presents Liverpool with a difficult test. Blackburn at Anfield was one thing—an opposition that’s not fond of pressing with a manager who’s got the tactical sense of a rock is never a great combination, as we’ve seen in the first few months of Liverpool’s season.
But Owen Coyle and Bolton, as others have noted previously, present a plenty different task than Allardyce and Rovers. Coyle briefly inspired at Burnley before leaving for pastures of a slightly greener shade at Bolton, and after arriving he did a bit of renaissance work to bring a more fluid, attacking style to the club. The easy money’s on him to do this again tomorrow, and for anyone following Liverpool under Roy Hodgson, that’s not the most promising prospect. Whereas Allardyce seemed content to Hodgson it at Anfield and lay the blame on missing his two first-choice central defenders, I can hardly see Coyle letting Liverpool completely dictate the pace.
Coyle’s been remarkably consistent with his team selection so far—nine players have started all nine Premier League matches this season, and Jussi Jaaskelainen and Gary Cahill have started seven a piece to round out a familiar eleven. Without any major injury news, it’s likely to be the same thing on repeat for Coyle, which means that in attack we’ll see Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander up front, Lee Chung-Yong and Martin Petrov wide, and Stuart Holden and the tough-tackling Fabrice Muamba in the middle.
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| Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool |
| Aston Villa v Birmingham C. | Newcastle U. v Sunderland |
| Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool |
| Aston Villa v Birmingham C. | Newcastle U. v Sunderland |
Finally some proper TV coverage for this one—Sky Sports 1 in the UK and Fox Soccer Channel stateside. Later than usual kickoff time in the US because of the time change in the UK, which is welcomed after a few early-morning debacles recently. For those without any sort of television access, streams and links will be posted in the matchday thread an hour before kickoff. TV: Live Sky Sports 1, Highlights BBC2 Match of the Day2.
Bolton (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen; Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson; Lee, Holden, Muamba, Petrov; K Davies, Elmander.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Reina; Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Konchesky; Lucas, Meireles; Maxi, Gerrard, Cole; Torres.
Referee: Lee Probert. Matches: 6. R2 Y13.
Bolton (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen; Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson; Lee, Holden, Muamba, Petrov; K Davies, Elmander.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Reina; Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Konchesky; Lucas, Meireles; Maxi, Gerrard, Cole; Torres.
Referee: Lee Probert. Matches: 6. R2 Y13.