Sunday 16 August 2015

Pray that Skrtel and Benteke have an off day

The heading power of Liverpool's team is something that I am sure Eddie Howe will have warned his players about. Having let in a bit of a soft goal for Rudy Gestede from a corner the news that Liverpool are next up should be ringing alarm bells in the southern team's defensive quarters because the Reds are a team that don't just play it on the floor and do have a couple of players who are strong headers of the ball.
Skrtel is always a danger from set pieces. 
I'm talking about Martin Skrtel and Christian Benteke. Both defender and striker have been renowned for scoring from corners, and if AFCB needed to test that they have their starting positions and marking procedures up to scratch they won't be disappointed by a visit to Anfield. Yes, Liverpool prefer to play fast paced passing football just like the Cherries but they are also a team that will adapt to whatever weak point they can see in the opposition, and it is likely that we will see quite a few balls flung into the seasider's box to test their defensive qualities on a floodlit night on Merseyside.

For that reason I have an inkling that Eddie Howe may make a couple of changes to the Premier League new boy's starting line up. While the centre back pairing of Elphick and Cook started against Aston Villa there could be good reason to bring in Sylvan Distin ahead of Steve Cook for this match. The extra height and the leadership might be too hard for the manager to ignore on a night when Liverpool will be expected to take the game to the Cherries. What is clear is that the back four and keeper will have to have a tremendous game and they should see that as a challenge and an enjoyable one to aim for a clean sheet.

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