Liverpool FC Forum

[ruskiy playmaker]

Lets forget about our defeat to Chelsea, after all it's only a Mickey Mouse Cup.  We must now focus on our next game, which is far more important.  It's going to be a really tough match against a very good team that is dangerously close to us in the league table.  I really hope that this is the game where we loose our bad league form and start winning again.

Here's my guess for Saturday..

                Reina
Finnan,Carragher,Hyppia,Risse
        Mascherano,Alonso
Gerrard                      Kewell
                 Kuyt
                Torres

[bigmick]

You might be right about the team mate. It may well be time for Gerrard on the right, and i'll be absolutely staggered, amazed if we don't see very close to the best possible team available. Rafa's no fool, and although the forum is probably split about 60-40 in favour of us still being with some sort of a shout for the title, one defeat or perhaps even a draw at this stage would leave only the most optimistic of followers clinging to a hope. We need a win, and we need it very badly.

[Toffeehater]

You might be right about the team mate. It may well be time for Gerrard on the right, and i'll be absolutely staggered, amazed if we don't see very close to the best possible team available. Rafa's no fool, and although the forum is probably split about 60-40 in favour of us still being with some sort of a shout for the title, one defeat or perhaps even a draw at this stage would leave only the most optimistic of followers clinging to a hope. We need a win, and we need it very badly.

you could not have put in better mick , especially the last part of the sentence . It's time we revived and pushed for the title

this is the team which i tink rafa wud put out .

                     Reina
Finnan            Carra             Agger           Riise


Yossi              Gerrard           Alonso          Kewell

                     Torres            Kuyt


I'd expect to see gerrard and alonso reunite their midfield partnership and earliar in the season , we missed him against pompey whr his slick passing wud have broken done their defence . Sulley muntary is their main danger man and he shud be kept quiet and at bay . He's got a wicked leg which got him goals recently . I'd expect us to raise the tempo from the first minute of the match and get a early goal.

The result i think is 2-0 , with torres and a riise spectacular , if he plays that is

[Toffeehater]

Lets forget about our defeat to Chelsea, after all it's only a Mickey Mouse Cup.  We must now focus on our next game, which is far more important.  It's going to be a really tough match against a very good team that is dangerously close to us in the league table.  I really hope that this is the game where we loose our bad league form and start winning again.

Here's my guess for Saturday..

                Reina
Finnan,Carragher,Hyppia,Risse
        Mascherano,Alonso
Gerrard                      Kewell
                 Kuyt
                Torres

that i think is rafa's best team and i hope that he puts that team out against portsmouth , we all know that they are no pushovers , we needed a brilliant spot kick save from pepe reina to grab a point from there

[Ciggy]

10 men behind the ball job, will we be able to break them down?

Well we have struggled in the past to do exactly that.

If its still 0-0 70 mins in our super sub Babel will score.

[Ola Mr Benitez]

Another tough game..  Are biggest problem is we are not as good as we think we are.  Portsmouth will stick 10 men behind the ball, unless we score early and open them up, we will struggle to break them down and I can see another 0-0.

Sorry to be negative, but we just don't seem to have the player who can open tight defences week in week out!

[stmichael]

they've been a bit of a bogey team at anfield under rafa in that we've drawn with them twice and the other season we tw@tted them 3-0. i think it'll be the same as it normally is against them, with us having the majority of possession and them trying to hit us on the counter attack with the likes of benjani, kranjkar etc.

the way i look at it, babel needs to be staring this one as he's been our biggest threat in the last two games. personally i'd play him upfront with torres but i can see rafa sticking with kuyt if i'm honest.

it's a huge game. man city are away at villa which is tough, everton are away at old trafford, chelsea are at blackburn whilst arsenal take on spurs. all very difficult games so a victory is vital.

[Ade]

games like this can make or break a season as much as against the big three rivals. Win and we can still challenge for the title, as Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea have tough Christmas fixtures - I can see Arsenal losing a good few points, Chelsea too. Utd probably can bank on gettiing at least 10 out of 12, and will probably pick up all 12.

I'd go with this side, and stick with this side for as many games as possible (moving Finnan to RB and Arbeloa to LB when both fit)

Reina

Arbeloa
Carra
Hyypia (Agger when fit)
Aurelio

Xabi
Masch

Babel
Gerrard
Kewell

Torres

[Bammo]

We need to go at them with a high tempo right from the start. As everyone's mentioned, they'll stick 10 men behind the ball so we need to carve them open.

I'm torn as to whether Kuyt should play or not. On the one hand he's off-form but if he is ever to get his confidence back and play well then a team playing for a draw would be perfect.

Here's the team I'd go with:

                           Reina
Finnan    Carragher   Arbeloa   Aurelio

Benayoun  Gerrard    Alonso    Babel

               Kuyt       Torres

and here's what I think Rafa will pick:

                       Reina
Finnan    Carragher  Hyppia  Riise

Benayoun   Gerrard Alonso  Kewell

               Kuyt    Torres

Whatever side he picks, we have the players capable of winning this. We've had too many unlucky/lethargic/frustrating performances that result in draws this season. Anfield should be a place opponents expect to lose at.

[account deleted by request]

I will go for Rafa to make a few changes for this one

Reina

Finnan  Carra    Agger/Hyypia   Arbeloa


Benayoun    Gerrard  Mascherano   Kewell

                Torres   Babel

With Babel and Kewell interchanging on the left and Alonso coming on later in the game for Gerrard or Mascherano. As long as we don't see Kuyt and Voronin as wingers I think we should win this one by a couple of goals 2 -0

[Ola Mr Benitez]

The team I would like to see is

              Reina
Arbeloa  Carra Hypia  Aurelio
Gerrard  Mascha  Alonso  Kewell
           Torres   Babel

But I think Rafa will disagree..

[NJD83]

The team I would like to see is

             Reina
Arbeloa  Carra Hypia  Aurelio
Gerrard  Mascha  Alonso  Kewell
          Torres   Babel

But I think Rafa will disagree

Exactly play Gerrard wide we know he is dangerous there no more Riise or Kewell or Yossi for a while please Rafa. And Torres and Babel up top our most inform goalscores and quickest.

[saetiakidLFC]

I'd love to see this team go out and destroy pompey

--------------Reina---------------

--Arbeloa--Carra--Hyypia--Finnan-

--Gerrard--Lucas--Alonso--Kewell--

-------------Babel--Torres------------


Subs:
Itandje
Mascherano
Kuyt
Aurellio
Risse
--
How ever ive got a horrible feeling Rafas going to start Voronin and leave Nando on the bench **Shudders**

[weringo]

Gerrard has to start on the right, for the last few games we've had no serivce coming from that position whatsoever. I'd be tempted to put Benayoun in the middle behind Torres as we're desperately in need of some creativity for this type of game, so often we fail to break down teams like Portsmouth and Yousi is more than capable of providing the killer pass that we've lacked recently.

Reina

Finnan Carra Hyypia Riise

        Masch  Alonso

Gerrard Benayoun Kewell

             Torres

[Effes]

It'll probably be very tight, 1 or 2 nil to us