But, I believe that Howe has come back to the Premier League at Newcastle with a more pragmatic, thoughtful, and direct approach against the Premier League’s big boys.<\/p>\n

At the Etihad, when Howe’s team recovered possession, they often bypassed the midfield and sent the ball long toward the empty spaces behind Manchester City’s very high defensive line. This direct approach is far more effective against teams like City and Liverpool than the pretty, short-passing, possession-based tactics that Howe’s Bournemouth team typically employed.<\/p>\n

Allan Saint-Maximin Is Key To Howe’s New, More Direct Tactics, But Is Nursing an Injury<\/h3>\n

The direct approach is particularly effective when you have a player like Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin running at the opposition goal. Saint-Maximin is one of my favorite non-Liverpool players to watch. He is very fast, tremendously skillful, and he always plays like he’s having a blast. Tactically, Saint-Maximin provides a great outlet on the break because he runs into spaces down the left side of the pitch that are created when a team pushes its defensive line high. His skill and strength allow him to take control of long passes out of the air, and he also gets to a lot of so-called “second balls” — the deflected balls that are up for grabs after a long pass gets headed by one team or another.<\/p>\n

Once Saint-Maximin has the ball, he is a bag of tricks. He’s flashier, and probably faster, than Sadio Man\u00e9. He’s not as skilled a finisher as Man\u00e9, but I believe he’s Man\u00e9’s equal in virtually every other aspect of his attacking game.<\/p>\n

In short, Allan Saint-Maximin terrifies me.<\/p>\n

Newcastle Have Nearly As Many Injury Difficulties As Liverpool<\/h3>\n

That’s the bad news. From a Liverpool perspective, the good news is that Saint-Maximin is currently nursing a sore hamstring, and he may not play tomorrow. We’ll see. Liverpool is really the perfect opponent for Saint-Maximin, and Howe will be very tempted to play him if he’s anywhere close to fit.<\/p>\n

Newcastle have quite a few other important players who are also doubts for tomorrow’s game. Midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, who has probably been Newcastle’s best player over the last two seasons, is in the same boat as Saint-Maximin — he’s questionable for tomorrow’s match with a minor hamstring strain. Striker Callum Wilson has a more serious hamstring problem and is out tomorrow.\u00a0 Right back Kieran Trippier suffered some type of problem on Sunday against Wolves, but Howe reports that he “should be fine” for tomorrow. Center back Emil Krafth is out for the season following an ACL tear. And, new record signing Alexander Isak, a striker from Real Sociedad, is a doubt because his work permit has not yet been approved.<\/p>\n

How Will Liverpool Set Up Tomorrow?<\/h3>\n

I’m guessing that Liverpool will go “same again” after Saturday’s performance, especially with our options so limited by injuries. That lineup looks like this:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Curtis Jones and Jo\u00ebl Matip both returned to training yesterday, so there’s a slight chance that one or both of them could start. But I doubt it. Meanwhile, apparently Diogo Jota should begin training again on Thursday, which is great news. And, Darwin N\u00fa\u00f1ez will again be available for this weekend’s derby at Goodison Park. That kid’s going to be poked, prodded, and harassed by opposing defenders all season after he was goaded into the red card against Palace. Hopefully he can contain himself from here on out. Finally, Klopp said that Thiago will return to training “slightly later” than Jota.<\/p>\n

This will be tough. I doubt we will keep a clean sheet, and we certainly won’t be outperforming our xG total by five goals again anytime soon.<\/p>\n

I’ll go for a narrow 2-1 Liverpool victory.<\/p>\n

Up the Mighty Reds!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world feels like a different place after a 9-nil victory on Saturday. Yes, the opposition helped. Bournemouth are a promoted side that had already been smacked down hard by both Manchester City and Arsenal. Despite their opening day victory against Aston Villa, Bournemouth don’t look ready for the Premier League. And, this morning I learned that Bournemouth management apparently …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17,14,18,64,23],"class_list":["post-2683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-match-previews","tag-lfc","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-liverpool-football-club","tag-newcastle","tag-premier-league","entry entry-center"],"yoast_head":"\n