Liverpool FC Forum

[ruskiy playmaker]

I don't understand why some people are worried about City.  They are not going to be break into the big four anytime soon.

[stmichael]

having just watched city and having watched them against bolton recently i can see exactly how this game on sunday will go. we'll dominate possession for long spells and then they'll hit us on the break. they virtually play like an away side at home.

[Ciggy]

I don't understand why some people are worried about City.  They are not going to be break into the big four anytime soon.

No but they have been in our 4th place spot for a few weeks now, not that we should be happy with fourth like.

[Cool Hand Luke]

We get an extra day preparation plus Kewell will be back. We can play any 2 of Mach, Alonso and Gerrard, even all 3 with Gerrard out on the right.

Only worrying thing is whether one of Hyypia or Agger will be available to partner Carragher.

[66-1112520797]

TBH I actually fancy us here quite strong. We've had an extra day to recover, we've had our little scare and I think if Rafa goes with somewhere near his strongest team, we'll get home. I think he'll go with Alonso and Masherano in the centre, with Gerrard on the right and Kewell on the left (I wouldn't. I'd play Gerrard and Masherano central with Benayoun right side) and I think he'll play Kuyt and Torres up top. Despite all our misgivings about Kuyt, he is clearly a better bet than Voronin as although neither offer any discernable goal threat, the Dutchman runs about a bit more  so as far as that's concerned, unless he takes a punt on Babel he has no choice really.

So Mick as a fan of Gerrard on the right, why wouldnt you have him there against City, and why would you have Mascha in the middle with him instead of Alonso ?

[holylamb2006]

Easy !!! if we play like anything we did against derby we wont win !!!!

But if we cope on we can kill them in the air ...
Just watched the match there all the corners and freekicks in were defended by city triebble !!!

[112-1077774096]

people putting kuyt in their teams   

you are all having a bubble   

   

get a room you two

where did you cut and paste that from   

[112-1077774096]

people putting kuyt in their teams   

you are all having a bubble   

   

Well at least he does a job in recovery and his strength is useful. I agree what he's providing is not good enough at the moment but, do you honestly think that what Voronin provides is a lot better?

no mate i dont, but i would like to see babel given a chance up front, even crouch (when not suspended is a much better option that kuyt), even alonso and mash in the center with gerrard supporting torres would be a better option, or kewell playing more central up front. there are many options that do not include the ineffective kuyt

[Seano Kop]

Gerrard plays well on the right, so in that case, I believe our best midfield is
Gerrard - Alonso - Mash - Kewell

As for the strike partnership, I'd still stick with Kuyt, because he readds Torres well. And even if he's not up to it right now (lets not forget hes had a tough year non-football wise), he's not gonna get any better for the latter half of the season, and champs league etc. when hes parked on the bench now is he?

[112-1077774096]

Gerrard plays well on the right, so in that case, I believe our best midfield is
Gerrard - Alonso - Mash - Kewell

As for the strike partnership, I'd still stick with Kuyt, because he readds Torres well. And even if he's not up to it right now (lets not forget hes had a tough year non-football wise), he's not gonna get any better for the latter half of the season, and champs league etc. when hes parked on the bench now is he?

he's not going to get any better full stop. hell why dont we bring nunez back and give him another chance or cisse, hes not going to get any better for us either.

kuyt is not up to standard, we can give him chances until the cows come home and that will achieve only one thing, a weaker liverpool team

[saetiakidLFC]

Man City are a fast side, so i think i think mascherno should have so imput in the team. He slows players down so well.

             Riena

   Risse Agger Carra Arbeola
     
Kewell Alonso Mascherano Benayoun
     
            Gerrard
               
                Torres
       

Subs:

Ryan Babel
Lucas Leiva
Steven Finnan
Crouch - Could be a match winner due to there rubbish defending with corners!.
Charles Itandje

[bigmick]

TBH I actually fancy us here quite strong. We've had an extra day to recover, we've had our little scare and I think if Rafa goes with somewhere near his strongest team, we'll get home. I think he'll go with Alonso and Masherano in the centre, with Gerrard on the right and Kewell on the left (I wouldn't. I'd play Gerrard and Masherano central with Benayoun right side) and I think he'll play Kuyt and Torres up top. Despite all our misgivings about Kuyt, he is clearly a better bet than Voronin as although neither offer any discernable goal threat, the Dutchman runs about a bit more  so as far as that's concerned, unless he takes a punt on Babel he has no choice really.

So Mick as a fan of Gerrard on the right, why wouldnt you have him there against City, and why would you have Mascha in the middle with him instead of Alonso ?

I'm definately a fan of Gerrard on the right Bamaga, but no I wouldn't put him there against City. The reason is that quite simply he is settled at the moment into playing centrally with Masherano as his partner, and is scoring a goal practically every single game. I don't know the stats, but he must have scored in nearly every one of our last ten matches I would have thought so to alter that right now would be a mistake in my view.

If you move him, the team has to play completely differently to allow us to get him on the ball in the final third as often as possible from the right (as you probably know I'm not one of those that are of the opinion that you can just change the whole way the team plays and expect everybody to instantly adapt), and also to compensate for the fact that more often than not he leaves his post and therefore needs covering. I think that once the adjustment is made it's his best position (and coincidently given our personel probably the best option for our team as well) but given ouir situation, we can't afford a couple of matches to bed the system in. Should we attempt it against man City, there is the distinct danger we will come unstuck I would think.

The slightly broader question of why I would play Masherano in preference to Alonso is a bit more complicated. Alonso wouldn't be fit enough I wouldn't have thought to play two games in three or four days at this stage in his recouperation, but there is also the fact that after a particularly slow start as a partnership (during which time I was critical of both players) the Gerrard/Masherano partnership is now starting to look like the one I previously went on record as saying I believed it would, and it would currently be my first choice.

It really was in terms of balance quite simply a question of which of the two allows Gerrard to function at full throttle, and at the moment it's the Argentinian. Lando has consistently stuck to this "most important player at the club" thing and fair play to him for it, but I'm equally adamant that he's totally incorrect. The two most important players at the club at the moment are Gerrard and Torres, by an absolute distance and this is why we need to buy a partner for Torres, and we must play the best partner for Gerrard if he plays centrally. Given the captain scores goals from midfield at a rate that most strikers would be proud of, all the "unseen" work in the World isn't going to render another midfielder as being more important than him, it really is that simple. As I thought some time ago, Masherano's willingness to "defer" to Gerrard and do all the donkey work while passing both the glory and the ball to him whenever he wants it, do give him a slight edge when playing as his partner.

As I've said on hundreds of occasions, if alonso was ever to revisit the excellence of his form in the the first season he wore a Liverpool shirt he would probably get in any team in the World. Right now though, if Gerrard plays central and Masherano is the club, the Argentinian has nudged ahead again in for me in what is a desperately close race.

[66-1112520797]

Well Mick I'm in agreement with the majority of that post, however I still dont think Gerrard best position is wide right. On this topic I think thats the only thing we'd disagree on.

[lio]

While we are busy with mid-field discussion, I think the more pressing concern for us will be our back four for this sunday away. Injury status of Sami still unknown, Arbeloa down with flu it seemed, Finnan look not match fit yet, Riise so yoyo with his football and so leaving Carra our only trusted man there. Hobbs still not fully mature at senior level as yet, so it's worrying.

[Seano Kop]

Gerrard plays well on the right, so in that case, I believe our best midfield is
Gerrard - Alonso - Mash - Kewell

As for the strike partnership, I'd still stick with Kuyt, because he readds Torres well. And even if he's not up to it right now (lets not forget hes had a tough year non-football wise), he's not gonna get any better for the latter half of the season, and champs league etc. when hes parked on the bench now is he?

he's not going to get any better full stop. hell why dont we bring nunez back and give him another chance or cisse, hes not going to get any better for us either.

kuyt is not up to standard, we can give him chances until the cows come home and that will achieve only one thing, a weaker liverpool team

Not up to standard? He was the first player last season under Rafa to score 14 goals, and he's a great partner for Torres anyway, whether he's scoring goals or not.