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Tottenham charging, Liverpool struggling on defense

Tottenham have four victories combined in the national and European league, and await Liverpool in a good atmosphere. Liverpool's defense showed major flaws lossing to Manchester City, and Balotelli will start on the bench

Tottenham started the championship with two victories and without conceding a goal, the Cyprian AEL was not much of an obstacle to get into the Euro League group, so today's clash with Liverpool will be the first match to show what exactly can the London team do under the leadership of Mauricio Pochettino this season.

They have high hopes of getting in the Champion's league in the end, and that cannot be achieved without beating your biggest competitors. Recovered Lamela is so far the biggest discovery of the new Spurs coach, with his performance lending an extra dimension to the midfield, but Liverpool are a challenge in which the entire team will have to play at a very high level in all segments. Last seasons 0-5 in London and 0-4 at Anfield reminding everyone how difficult that can be, despite Pochettino resting most of the starters agianst AEL on Thursday.

- This is certainly a major test for us, as Liverpool came in second last season and brought in a number of new players this summer. We will need the winning mentality from the matches we already won this season- said the home team strategist Pochettino, who has almost a full roster at his disposal, with the exception of defender Walker and forward Soldado.

- I believe this will be a very interesting match, and for us it will be important to adhere to our philosophy and game plan, and be able to go for all three points, as this confirms the strength of a team. A new season, new philosophy and new hope- concluded Pochettino, who will hold on to his 4-2-3-1 setup.

Liverpool scraped by against Southampton, but against Manchester City at Etihad they had a rude awakening to the true situation and their old ailments, primarily on defense.  Last year the fumbles on defense cost them the title, and their defending pair Škrtel-Lovren are not instilling much faith this season either. Lovren was the culprit behind two goals in the 1-3 loss to the defending champions, and none of the number of new players in other parts of the lineup impressed with special quality.

Mario Balotelli is not yet ready to start a match, and will be entering from the bench today, but Brendan Rogers will obviously need time to set things up the way he'd like to in order for his team to be deadly and powerful once again. An away match against Tottenham could be very tricky, and the away team will have to play much more confidently than in the two starting round matches if they wish to get away with a positive result or even a victory. Rodgers is stressing the trademark pressing defense of his team and safest possible passing.

-I've had most questions about Balotelli, but this is not 'the Balotelli show'. We've got many quality players, and the most important think is for us to look as a team in London today- stressed Liverpool strategist Brendan Rogers, who will keep both the Italian forward and the recovered midfielder Lallana as wild cards on the bench.

- Mario is a great player, but he just arrived, and is not yet prepared to play a full match, nor is recovered Lallana. However, they are players who can contribute with an impulse from the bench in this tough match against an excellent rival with many good individual players and a great start to the season behind them. We need points however, and are coming to London to try and take them- concluded Rodgers, who will once again have to worry about defense, as Škrtel, Johnson and Enrique all had minor injuries. It will not be clear who of them will start up to the start of the game, it might be just one of them (Škrtel most likely), or even none of them.