Liverpool FC Forum

by **Effes** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:56 pm

Get a strong team out on Tuesday and get everyone to Cardiff again.

by **dward** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:56 pm

Arsenal will be on a high after yesterday so this will not be easy.

We cannot lose this. We have got a much bigger chance to win this than the Champions League so we have to take it.

by **kop11** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:30 pm

We have got a much bigger chance to win this than the Champions League so we have to take it

we are a totlay differant team in europe!! rafa is a tatical genius in europe!
not saying we are goin to win it but we have a good chance with rafa as the gaffa

by **Robbie#9** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:22 pm

Robbie Fowler must play in this game the Lad deserves it.
I will be very sad if he does not play, how do you feel abouth that?

by **red37** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:28 am

Robbie#9 wrote:Robbie Fowler must play in this game the Lad deserves it.
I will be very sad if he does not play, how do you feel abouth that?

id like to say that if fit, he should be included in the squad. Though f**k knows if he will actually make it, even if he IS fit...knowing Rafa.

by **crazyhorse** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:29 am

I agree, this may well be Robbies last season - It would be fitting for him to lead the team out at the final as well should we get there.

by **red37** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:26 am

Too bad the FA Cup will not be returning back to Anfield this year...and in some ways you cant argue against the fact that it just wasnt meant to be. After all, when this club does something..it does it in style! Last years rich and precious memories deserve to permeate the revelling conscience of this mighty club for just a bit longer....Sweet as it was, i can find solace in those images burned on my soul for one more year, thats no hardship. But how i would accept relinquishing our grasp on the famous old trophy, for the opportunity to see Rafa lock-horns and emerge triumphant against Mourinho one more time at Cardiff. And for the admittedly unlikely, yet long-overdue 'shushhing' back in total disdain of that smirking outrageously 'smack-able' face of his. Watching him come down a peg or two is always a highly rewarding sight. Starting tonight. Get past the Arsenal, somehow. And with a little more execution up front, coupled with a heck of a lot more resiliance at the back than Saturday, added to a bit more guile in the middle...not an impossible task. Then, two-legs against Spurs, of which at least one will be a victory, a conclusive one at that i'd expect. On to the Millenium stadium where (most likely) we will face our adversaries once more...This is likely to be the only 'realistic' chance to add silverware to the cabinet on top of the Community Shield who knows?...But more than that, another nail in the coffin to the scoffers who believe the whole bloody world revolves around Chelsea - even if it is the CC...its still a pot they would hope to justify such expense and disrespect of all their contemporaries, by having a go at pi55ing in. Dont doubt that for a moment. Come on you reds!!! :buttrock

by **RedBlood** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:03 am

we have to win tomorrow im still gutted about saturday no chance should that game have finnished 3-1 to arsenal they went near our goal 3 times an scored everytime it wound me up as i was watching it with 2 mancs

by **red37** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:10 am

9 January 2007 - The Mirror

RAFA: MY GAMBLE COULD DESTROY GERRO'S SEASON
CARLING CUP QUARTER-FINAL: Liverpool v Arsenal, tonight kick-off 7.45

Benitez can't rest Stevie for 'vital' quarter-final

David Maddock

RAFA BENITEZ is ready to risk injury to his big guns, in an attempt to salvage silverware for Liverpool.

The Anfield boss admitted that Saturday's FA Cup defeat at the hands of Arsenal has left him needing to change his approach for tonight's Carling Cup clash with the Gunners.

Benitez wanted to field a shadow side, with several youngsters thrown into the quarter-final tie. But now the Carling Cup represents the most realistic route to honours this season, and he could be forced to wheel out big-hitters like Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Dirk Kuyt.

The Liverpool manager knows that is a massive gamble, because the short recovery time from the weekend leaves players vulnerable to injury, but it is a chance he knows he is now forced to take.

"It's a risk, but we will have to look at maybe making a few changes to the team I originally had in my head for the match," said Benitez.

"You have to assess how they react physically and talk with them, because we know it is more important to stay in the Carling Cup now.

"When you bring out players for games like this you know it is a risk, because they can get injured when they don't have the rest time, and we also have to think of the big games we have coming up.

"We have to keep in contention in the Premiership and the Champions League as well, so that's a factor. But at the same time, maybe we don't have the options in midfield because we have players injured, so we might have to take the risk."

Benitez knows that with a 12- point gap to make up on Manchester United in the Premiership, and with Barcelona looming in the Champions League, the Carling Cup represents the most obvious chance for glory.

He was intending to use youngsters like Danny Guthrie - who signed a new two-and-ahalf- year contract yesterday, Lee Peltier and Paul Anderson, but will instead take the visit of Arsenal more seriously than his opposite number, Arsene Wenger, and field almost a firstchoice side.

"We know how important it is for us to progress in this competition. It is a chance to get into a semi-final, and it will be a very different game than it was in the FA Cup on Saturday," he said.

"We felt we didn't get the things our efforts deserved from that game. I will look at the players and decide, but we will take it very seriously."

For Liverpool, tonight's revenge match with Arsenal offers them the chance to prove that they have what it takes to beat the top clubs.

Saturday's defeat was yet another at the hands of their big three rivals at the top of the Premiership, and there is a widespread feeling that the Merseyside club do not have the quality to compete at the very highest level.

It is a fear that is apparent to midfielder Alonso, and he admitted yesterday that the failure to beat the big clubs is a problem for him and his team-mates.

"We haven't managed to beat Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal in the major competitions this season, and that's something that worries us," he said.

"Against the big teams, we aren't performing or getting the results that we might have expected. In the Premiership, they all still have to come to Anfield and we have to show we can get results against them.

"But the defeat to Arsenal on Saturday makes us more determined to beat them on Tuesday. It is a good game for us, we now have a quick chance to make amends." And Dutch goal ace Kuyt refuses to be deflated by Liverpool's FA Cup exit. The £9million signing from Feyenoord insisted: "Liverpool still have three trophies to go for. We deserved more than we got on Saturday.''

by **red37** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:14 am

Dudek to stay in goal as Benitez keeps word
By Tim Rich - The Telegraph

09/01/2007

Despite an indifferent performance in Saturday's FA Cup defeat by Arsenal, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez says Jerzy Dudek will be retained in goal against the same opposition in tonight's Carling Cup quarter-final.

Dudek's heroics in the 2005 European Cup final against Milan in Istanbul have ensured forever his place in Anfield's affections. However, his displays since then have been sporadic and sometimes error-prone.

Dudek performed reasonably well in the half-dozen Premiership games he was given last season but in the three cup matches of varying degrees of importance Dudek has played in this campaign, he has conceded six goals. And there were some at Anfield on Saturday evening who thought he might have prevented at least one of Arsenal's goals.

However, Benitez is not prepared to renege on the pre-season promises he made to his reserve keeper. "Jerzy was promised at the beginning of the season that he would play in all our [domestic] cup ties and we will be sticking with that," he said.

"Jerzy had a decent game in the first match; he didn't have much to do, just make a couple of saves."

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt may not have meant to criticise the Polish goalkeeper, but when he said of Arsenal, "they made three chances and got three goals and that was the difference", it would have stung. For a resilient and likeable goalkeeper, tonight is a big occasion — as it is for his club.

Ever since goals from Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen won them their first League Cup in 1981, Liverpool have mined the competition for a rich seam of silverware. There have been eight further finals since and with the shadow of Barcelona blocking their path in the Champions League, Benitez recognises that the Carling Cup is his best route to a trophy — something he has delivered at Valencia or Liverpool in four of the last five seasons.

"Tuesday will be a different game. Maybe I will make a few changes to the team I originally had in my head," he said after Saturday's defeat. "It is more important to stay in the Carling Cup now."

by **oakton** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:14 am

Don't know why Rafa doesn't rate Robbie, he is still very capable of playing IMO.

by **Effes** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:29 am

We are 4-1 for the Cup now, but Chelsea 4-7 already!! (bet 365)

by **The Manhattan Project** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:39 am

It would be nice if we got through, but if not, it wouldn't bother me.

That's the great thing about the FA Cup, Carling Cup and Community Shield.

If you win them, you can say "YAY we did it!!!"

If you don't, you can say "Meh, I didn't care about it anyway!"

by **Ciggy** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:58 am

I think Robbie and Bellamy might start Rafa said he is sticking with Dudek in goal. :down:

by **red37** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:08 am

Ciggy wrote:I think Robbie and Bellamy might start Rafa said he is sticking with Dudek in goal.

well he's going to have to isnt he...

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