Eddie Howe is back in the Premier League, still managing a team whose personnel rank among the worst in the league. But this time around, his team also happen to be the richest club in the world, owned by the world’s largest petrostate. For the last two years Eddie’s current team had been managed by Steve Bruce, one of the most dedicated bus-parking managers in the world. But now, a year and a half after losing his position at Bournemouth following relegation, Eddie has arrived on the scene in Newcastle. Eddie stands ready to save the Geordie day with his swashbuckling pressing and possession-based tactics, along with a steady influx of blood-soaked Saudi petrobucks.
To all of that, I say, “Welcome back, Eddie!”
Once upon a time — back in December 2016 — Eddie Howe swashbuckled his way to a dramatic, come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool in Bournemouth. Liverpool led 3-1 in that crazy match, only to fall after diminutive Ryan Fraser came off the bench to perform his best Lionel Messi impersonation. And Eddie’s success against LFC didn’t end there. A few months later at Anfield, Josh King netted an 87th minute equalizer to earn the Cherries a 2-2 draw. After that, however, Howe and Klopp faced off another six times. Liverpool won those six matches by an aggregate total of 18 goals to 1.
Throughout his time at Bournemouth, Eddie Howe stubbornly stuck to his principles. In Eddie’s mind, his teams needed to play elegant football. They needed to press from the front and pass out from the back. They needed to combine with clever one- and two-touch passing in neatly-arranged triangles. They needed to play football “the right way.”
I always looked forward to Liverpool’s matches against Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth teams.
And now, Eddie brings his swashbuckling tactics and stubborn adherence to elegant footballing principles back to Anfield. Again, he is horrifically outmanned. But, I suspect that his managerial head still swims with visions of the heroic efforts of his little Bournemouth team back in December 2016. Eddie still believes.
I say again: “Welcome back, Eddie.”
Newcastle’s current team, by Premier League standards, is quite bad. Through their first 16 league matches, Newcastle have won only once, against lowly Burnley. They have also squeaked their way to seven draws, and have thus earned 10 points, which leaves them level on points with Norwich City at the bottom of the table.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are now at the top of their game.
We are now just past the midpoint of the December Grind, but the pace is about to pick up. Today against Newcastle at Anfield, then away to Spurs on Sunday. Wednesday brings a League Cup quarterfinal at home against Leicester City. The whole Grind then ends with the flash bang combination of Leeds at Anfield on Boxing Day (Sunday, 12/26), away to Leicester City two days later on Tuesday, 12/28, and then a showdown with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Jan. 2.
With the fixtures coming at this pace, Liverpool need to plan their rotations as carefully as possible. Fortunately, fitness-wise the squad is now in the best shape that it’s been for quite some time. I expect Roberto Firmino to be on the bench today, and Curtis Jones should appear on the bench against Spurs. James Milner and Naby Keïta have both now seen action and been available for at least a week and a half. Diogo Jota seemed fine in his substitute appearance against Aston Villa. Even Harvey Elliott looks relatively close to fitness, as he’s recently been pictured training on his own with the ball, and placing lateral stress on his newly rebuilt ankle. Divock Origi has some minor unspecified issue at the moment, as does Adrian.
At the moment [knocking firmly on the nearest available wood], Liverpool’s squad is quite close to fully fit.
With the Spurs match looming on Sunday, I expect rotations to begin today. It’s quite difficult to anticipate what those rotations will be — especially in midfield. But I’ll give it my shot in the dark:
There is a very recent Twitter rumor, which has not come from anything like a reliable source, saying that Van Dijk and Curtis Jones have COVID. I have chosen to ignore that for now.
It would not be surprising for one or more of the forwards to rotate today. But, with Origi out and Firmino now available, I expect Jota to start. And, I’ve come to believe Salah and Mané will start almost every available match other than in the domestic cups. They are fitness machines. In midfield, I’d be quite surprised if at least one of the “starting three” don’t rotate. But who that might be, and who will come in for them? AOC, Milner, and Naby are all nearly equally-likely candidates to start in midfield today. I’ve picked Hendo and Thiago as the ones to be rotated, both based on their susceptibility to injuries and my belief that Klopp will want to keep Fabinho out there as often as possible.
Yesterday, Pep and Man City took aim at our previously-sizable advantage in goal difference by annihilating Leeds 7-0. I’m hoping we get a chunk of that back, although realistically I expect us to take the foot off the pedal if we get a big lead in this one.
Liverpool 3 – Newcastle 0
