Liverpool FC Forum

[Sissoko]

To be perfectly honest i think we will win quite comfortably. But you never know, wigan are the suprise team of this team but i dont see them offering much of a challenge.

I think Rafa should stick with the same team that beat sunderland but of course replace sissoko (susspended) and crouch. I think cisse should start in place of crouch, he has proven he can score goals while crouch hasnt even got one yet.

Thoughts?

[Dundalk]

Keep Crouch on he need a goal and he wont get it on the bench he has been playing well and his time in front of goal will come. The rest of the team should stay as it is (except sissoko)

[*XABIALONSO*]

ithink rafa may go with a
reina

finnan
carra
hyypia
risse

garcia
alonso
gerrard
cisse

crouch
morientes having cisse as a rw
i would go for

reina

finnan
carra
hyypia
warnock

garcia
gerrard
alonso
risse

cisse
crouch

[Gareth G]

In my opinion this is a good game to play Cisse due to Wigan's lack of pace at the back, Henchoz and de Zueew aren't exactly lightning fast and Cisse could do damage - providing he finishes well, Crouch will also prove a handful with Wigan's lack of height across the back four.

[A.B.]

Very dangerous when they counter-attack and I don't expect them to roll over. De Zeeuw[sp] has done well along with Henchoz, but I've seen De Zeeuw make some incredible stupid mistakes for Pompey last season. Hopefully Henchoz won't handle a ball off the line

[Sabre]

12:45 gmt. I wonder if for Rafa such a time table has changed his plans much. He's used all his life to play at 22.00 pmin Valencia, or alternatively Sunday 17.00 pm.

I guess the routines must be different of you play so early, but well, in Liverpool there are good advisors.

I hope we win, and after bigmick's view of Wigan I want to see them, they must have some proposal to have that points in the table.

CGGY if you know of another excellent streaming, please share it

[babu]

I am slightly worried about this game. Wigan will come out guns blazing, which may suit us, unless they score an early goal. I know Rafa will take them seriously, but I hope each and every player does as well.

It will be a tremendous feather in Jewell's hat if he can beat the European Champions and add to an already amazing season.

Cooommmm'nnn 'Pool !!!

[66-1120597113]

I would change nothing for this game apart from Sissoko obviously!Theres no way id have Crouch on the bench.
Its times like these a striker needs starts or he will loose belief in himself and lets face it if he's struggling to score while playing its gonna be a damn sight harder on the bench!
The big man needs a goal ASAP and should'nt be dropped!
3-1 Liverpool i reckon!
Onwards and upwards!

[Ciggy]

Jewell still a kopite.

The first result I look for after a Wigan game is always Liverpool's. My dad was a fan and when I was a young kid he used to take me to watch the reserves a lot on the Saturday afternoons when the first team were playing away.
 
The first 'proper' game I attended was West Ham at home. I went in the Boys Pen and we won 1-0. The older I got the more regular I used to go and I remember collecting lemonade bottles and getting the money back off them just so I could go across to Birkenhead for a League Cup tie against Tranmere. I would travel all over the country to watch Liverpool, mainly on the special trains they used to run back then. There was a lot of trouble in those days and many times I just used to sneak off to the match without telling my mum or dad.
 
To be spotted by Liverpool while playing for my school De La Salle was a dream come true. I was like a kid with a new toy. When I went to bed at night I couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning and get into training. I loved it so much I used to go training on Tuesday and Thursday nights as well with the schoolboys. I was only 16 or 17 and they were the happiest times of my life. I didn’t have a care in the world. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world going to work, although my dad didn’t call it work; he used to call it playing out!
 
The likes of John Benninson, Ronnie Moran and the rest of the coaching staff at that time have all had a big influence on me. They were so humble and kept the game very simple, which is very hard to do, as I’ve discovered myself since becoming a manager.

Jewell on life as an LFC apprentice
To be spotted by Liverpool while playing for my school De La Salle was a dream come true. I was like a kid with a new toy. When I went to bed at night I couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning and get into training. I loved it so much I used to go training on Tuesday and Thursday nights as well with the schoolboys. I was only 16 or 17 and they were the happiest times of my life. I didn't have a care in the world. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world going to work, although my dad didn't call it work; he used to call it playing out!

Certain things were expected of you but you’d never be told what. They just expected you to know. ‘Work it out for yourself’, was their philosophy. They didn’t want players to run with the ball. They wanted it moving quickly and simply. If you look at old videos of the first team from that era you won’t see any fancy tricks from them. They were all intelligent players who put the team before themselves. Unselfish running was what Liverpool used to preach at this time. Give the ball and go. Pass and move. I think we all try to complicate football too much these days, talking about systems and formations but it means nothing. The game is all about players and getting the best out of them.
 
The training has probably changed a bit now but I was there for four years and I didn’t see anyone practise a free-kick or a corner. The first team was full of good players and the secret was that Ronnie, Joe, Bob and Roy knew how to handle them.
 
Saying that, everyday was intense and by that I mean Liverpool was a club that would always test you, without you even knowing it. It was sink or swim and you were very rarely praised. If you got a ‘well done’ off Ronnie Moran you’d run home and tell your dad about it!
 
I played in the A and B teams then made my debut for the reserves when I was 16, which was a big thing. I don’t know what our team was in full but big Oggy was in goal, Ronnie Whelan played, Colin Russell, Avi Cohen, Sheeds (Kevin Sheedy), Fairclough and Craig Johnston. There were plenty of good players in the Liverpool reserve team that I was part of. It was full of internationals and I know a lot of people used to say that team could have held its own in the Third or Fourth Division.
 
The fact I failed to progress to the first team was a source of huge disappointment for me at the time but I don't look back with any regrets. Maybe things would have been different had I played in another era, without the likes of Kenny and Rushie ahead of me, but to be fair I don’t know whether I was good enough to play for the Liverpool first team. If I had been good enough, Liverpool wouldn’t have let me go.
 
One player who should have made the grade though was my former reserve team-mate Tony Kelly. He was as good, if not better, than some of the players in the first team and should have played for Liverpool for a long time. Football-wise he had everything. The brains, confidence, great technical ability and, despite what some people thought, he could also run. He was a great lad but I think his lifestyle at the time let him down. If he'd have put his mind to it, he could have even played for England, that's how highly I rated him.
 
The closest I got to the first team being part of the squad that travelled to Bucharest for the 1984 European Cup semi-final against Dinamo. As it turned out I failed to make the bench but the memory of being in the dressing room after we'd just reached our fourth European Cup Final will live with me forever.
 
Another vivid memory is the first time I trained with the Liverpool first team. They were a man short and I was sent over to join them. I was shaking in my boots and the first thing I did was give the ball away. I got a right bollocking off Souness and Dalglish, and I never gave the ball away again after that. Things like that can eithermake or break you and in situations like that you had to shout for the ball again and not go hiding.

Jewell on being a Kopite
I’m not really into all the sentimental stuff that surrounds an ex-player returning to his former club but I must admit that but coming back to Anfield always means a great deal to me. One of the nicest things that has ever happened to me occurred when I returned with Bradford in 1999. My son was mascot and the Kop sang 'Paul Jewell is a Kopite'. They were right and that will always be the case.

There would be plenty of stick flying about at Liverpool back then and you just had to survive. It was a sink or swim mentality. I remember back in 1984 at the time of the miners strike some of the so-called superstars in the Liverpool team we’re having a go at the miners but even though I was just a kid I got involved and defended them. Them players had forgotten where they’d come from and I told them that. It’s just the way I am. If I feel strongly about something I have to say it.
 
When I look back on my time with Liverpool, and I’m not exaggerating when I say this, every single day was a pleasure. I couldn’t wait to go training. There used to be this oak panelling on the wall as you went through the door of the players’ entrance at Anfield and I can still smell it now. It was great. Just playing at Anfield was something I'll never forget and scoring a goal in front of the Kop, even though there was no-one in it, although that feeling did eventually wear off though because naturally you soon want to be doing it in front of a packed crowd.
 
It was my decision to leave. I remember having to go and see Peter Robinson to sign a form at Anfield on a Saturday morning then driving out of the car park, looking back and thinking ‘I’m never going to come back here for work again’. It was heartbreaking and really hit home to me what I was doing. It was a sad day for me but I had to move on to further my football career.
 
I’m not really into all the sentimental stuff that surrounds an ex-player returning to his former club but I must admit that but coming back to Anfield always means a great deal to me. One of the nicest things that has ever happened to me occurred when I returned with Bradford in 1999. My son was mascot and the Kop sang 'Paul Jewell is a Kopite'. They were right and that will always be the case.

[Judge]

lets hope the games less violent than this

[Ciggy]

Kavanagh walks with Liverpool but runs out for Wigan

Stuart James
Friday December 2, 2005
The Guardian


When Graham Kavanagh, a lifelong Liverpool fan, runs out at Anfield for Wigan tomorrow he could be forgiven for smiling wryly when the first rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone reverberates around the stadium.

It is an anthem which evokes memories of a special night in Dublin seven months ago when the Republic of Ireland midfielder and his international team-mates put aside their club allegiances to unite behind Rafael Benítez's side.

"We were preparing for a [testimonial] game against Celtic," said Kavanagh, recalling the evening of Liverpool's European Cup triumph over Milan, "and the manager gave us time off so we went to a bar to watch it. The place erupted at the end; we all just went ballistic. Everyone was singing You'll Never Walk Alone. I was thinking to myself, I'm sitting here with players who all play for different clubs and we're all buzzing that Liverpool have won."

Kavanagh could have joined Liverpool at the age of 16 but signed for Middlesbrough instead, though his affinity with the Merseyside club remains, largely because of his roots in Ireland. His family are all Liverpool fans and 13 of them will travel over from Dublin tomorrow for a game which he hopes will see Wigan return to winning ways in the Premiership after defeats against Arsenal and Spurs.

[bigmick]

Crouch must and will play. Wigan try and defend quite deep as neither Henchoz nor De Zeuw have any pace. Crouch and Cisse up top for me and I really really fancy the big fella to break his duck.

[SouthCoastShankly]

The fact that Wigan will be looking to win is our advantage IMO. We always tend to play well when we can effectively counter-attack. I think Cisse should play, agreeing with previous comments he could do some damage with his pace. I expect us to win but only by the odd goal.

Gutted though because I can't watch it, my kickoff is at 1pm!

[ckay]

Liverpool v Wigan 
 
Anfield
Saturday 3 December
Kick-off: 1245 GMT
BBC Radio Five Live



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Team news to follow later.




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BIG-MATCH FACTS


LIVERPOOL and top table newcomers Wigan kick off the weekend's Premiership programme with the Merseysiders bidding for a sixth successive League victory from this Saturday lunchtime fixture. Wigan have their sights on a first maximum in three Premiership outings, but are boosted by qualification to the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup with a late, late penalty against Newcastle on Wednesday, which won them only their second appearance in the last eight. Both clubs running out at Anfield are locked together on 25 points and a place in the top two awaits the winners, for two hours at the very least.

Wednesday's 0-2 victory over basement dwellers Sunderland was the seventh consecutive clean sheet for Liverpool's Spanish goalkeeper Jose Manuel Reina, and fifth in the League. Another block-out here, will give the Reds' keeper the club record for successive clean sheets in the Premiership era, surpassing David James' five in 1996/97.

This is the first time these clubs have faced each other in a League contest.

WIGAN ATHLETIC saw their amazing eight-game winning streak come to an end with a 2-3 home defeat by Arsenal. They then suffered their first ever back-to-back defeats in the Premiership, when Tottenham defeated them 1-2 at the JJB. It was their first League meetings with the North London clubs, and there's another in this visit to Anfield.

Paul Jewell's unlikely high-fliers are aiming for a fifth consecutive away Premiership victory and a fourth League game on the road without conceding. The Latics have not shipped a goal in 334 minutes (five hours 34 minutes) of top flight soccer away from home, since Jonathan Greening's opening goal in the 2-1 victory over West Brom on 10 September.

Wigan were comprehensively beaten on the only previous occasions they've met Liverpool. The two were paired together in the second round of the Littlewoods League Cup over 16 years ago. Liverpool won the first leg 5-2 at Anfield on 19 September 1989, and followed that with a 0-3 triumph in the second leg at Springfield Park on 4 October, when Steve Staunton completed a hat trick.


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REFEREE:
Uriah Rennie (Sheffield)


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SEQUENCES/RECENT FORM

LIVERPOOL


Club stats
Fixtures
4th 25 points
Highest achievable after Saturday's matches: 2nd
Lowest could fall: 7th

Embarking on their 27th match of the season - more than any other Premier League club.
Won the last five Premiership matches, against West Ham (2-0 h), Aston Villa (0-2 a), Portsmouth (3-0 h), Manchester City (0-1 a) and Sunderland (0-2 a).
Last recorded in excess of five successive Premiership victories between 14 September and 2 November 2002 when seven wins on a roll were recorded.
Won 16 of 26 League and Cup matches this season.
Kept clean sheets in six of the last seven top tier engagements.
Notched 10 clean sheets - more than any other club in the Premiership.
Their 13 Premiership games have produced just 23 goals (15 for, eight against).
Yet to concede a goal in the first quarter of a Premiership match.
Failed to score in one of the last nine Premiership contests.
Conceded the opening goal in only two of their Premiership matches - fewer occasions than any other club.
Completed nine top tier duels without a goalless draw.
Top of the Premiership's "Last Six Current Form" table with 15 points out of 18.

Won the last three home Premiership matches, against Blackburn (1-0), West Ham (2-0) and Portsmouth (3-0).
Kept clean sheets in five of the last six League exchanges at Anfield.
Lost only one of the last 13 home Premiership games (1-4 to Chelsea on 2 October).
The only League goals conceded at home this season came in one match (v Chelsea).
Failed to score in one of 11 home top flight fixtures.
WIGAN ATHLETIC


Club stats
Fixtures
5th 25 points
Highest achievable after Saturday's matches: 2nd
Lowest could fall: 7th

12 points behind Premiership leaders Chelsea.
Won six of eight Premiership matches.
Lost two of 14 League and Cup matches.
Completed 41 Premiership and Championship fixtures since losing by more than a single goal.
Plymouth were the last side to inflict more than a single goal defeat on Wigan. They won 0-2 at the JJB on 6 November last year.
Drawn only one game in any competition this season.
10 of the 13 engagements in the highest echelon have either been won or lost by one goal.
Kept clean sheets in five of the last eight top flight engagements.
Scored in each of the last 11 Premier League encounters, after failing to find the net in the first two.
Yet to score more than two goals in a Premiership fixture.
Gone 15 League and Championship matches since a no score draw.
Holding a 100% record when opening the scoring in a top flight encounter (seven out of seven).
Holding a 100% record when keeping a Premiershiop clean sheet (six out of six).
Players shown fewer yellow cards in Premiership matches than any other club (15).

On the longest current winning run away from home in the top League (four maches).
Failed to score in their opening away top League engagement, but netted in each of the four subsequently.
Conceded only two League goals on the road.


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KEY PLAYER NOTES/POTENTIAL MILESTONES

LIVERPOOL


Squad profiles

Peter CROUCH has now not scored in 22 International and club matches - 18 of which have been for Liverpool.
CROUCH is 11 minutes shy of extending his goal drought to 24 hours.
If Djibril CISSE returns after being dropped midweek, he'll be making his 50th appearance for Liverpool.
If on the field at kick off, Harry KEWELL will be making his 300th club career start.
Suspended: Mohamed SISSOKO
WIGAN ATHLETIC


Squad profiles

If he plays, Jimmy BULLARD will further extend the club record of consecutive League appearances to 123. BULLARD has started all 122 League games since joining from Peterborough on 31 January 2003, and has missed only two matches for Wigan - this season's Carling Cup ties against Bournemouth and Newcastle.
If he participates, Stephane HENCHOZ will be facing a former club.
If he figures, Graham KAVANAGH will be playing the day after turning 32.
Should he play, Matthew JACKSON will be making his 150th appearance in top flight football (Everton and Wigan).


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HEAD TO HEAD TOTALS
League: Liverpool 0 wins, Wigan 0, Draws 0
Prem: Liverpool 0 wins, Wigan 0, Draws 0


HEAD TO HEAD at Liverpool
League: Liverpool 0 wins, Wigan 0, Draws 0
Prem: Liverpool 0 wins, Wigan 0, Draws 0

[Gareth G]

Crouch must and will play. Wigan try and defend quite deep as neither Henchoz nor De Zeuw have any pace. Crouch and Cisse up top for me and I really really fancy the big fella to break his duck.

That's exactly my point above Mick. I certainly don't expect Wigan to be a roll over, far from it. I suspect they will cause us some problem's but our experience in Carragher and Hyypia can cope with anything that's thrown at them.

For some reason a 2 - 0 win for us is in my head and I fancy Crouch to get at least one of the goal's. I know everyone keep's saying they think Crouch will score in every game, but this is the first time I've had the thought of him scoring!