Brighton vs Liverpool: Preferred Starting Team – Don’t Start Gerrard Yet!

After the capitulation at Spurs last Sunday, Liverpool have a great chance to get results back on track when they play Brighton in the Carling Cup tonight.

Kenny Dalglish is forced into making changes with the suspensions to Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel along with the fractured rib which also rules Daniel Agger out for around four weeks, painful injury that.

Basically, it means that Liverpool have to make changes to the team which is no bad thing. In defence I would play Enrique, Coates, Carragher and Flanagan. We need to see how Coates plays and quickly bed him into the team after Sunday, we need Jamie’s experience at the back and young Flanagan deserves a game after doing so well last season.

In midfield, we are without Charlie Adam, who has yet to really impress in a Liverpool shirt so I would include Maxi Rodriguez along with Lucas and Downing, although Kenny may start Jay Spearing alonside Lucas, with Craig Bellamy on the right, he deserves to start with his pace and energy.

Up front its Kuyt and Suarez for me, they have a good understanding and they link-up very well. I wouldn’t start Steven Gerrard just yet, he only returned to full training last week, but I would definitely bring him on during the game, we are crying out for him.

So my starting team would be:

Doni, Enrique, Coates, Carragher, Flanagan, Maxi, Lucas, Downing, Bellamy, Kuyt, Suarez.

Stats:

• This will be their first meeting in more than 20 years – the last one in January 1991 ended in a 3-2 FA Cup third-round victory for Liverpool.
• Their only previous meeting in the League Cup was a third-round tie in October 1985 which Liverpool won 4-0 – Kenny Dalglish scored their fourth.
• Liverpool have 11 wins and Brighton four from their previous 23 encounters.
• Brighton have not been beyond the third round since the 1979-80 competition when they were knocked out by Arsenal.

They are going well under Gus Poyet dropping just two points from their open six games until they lost to Leicester at the weekend, they are second in the Championship so they will be no pushover at the new Amex Stadium.

Lets hope for a much-needed win there tonight.

Submitted by Friends of Liverpool