Liverpool FC Forum

by **JoeTerp** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:12 am

I'm trying to think of a way that Pennant can play on Wednesday, because he has been looking good and has played well in big games for LFC before, and against Chelsea. But on the other hand Kuyt has been immense in the kuyt role and somehow has even been scoring, especially in Europe. Babel is such a coin toss for me on his performance, I actually think he could be of better use coming off the bench. Then you have to consider how effective Pennant could be on the left if you kept Kuyt in his normal role, and the cost of moving Kuyt over AND bringing in Pennant. There is also the opportunity cost of having one less player on the pitch who looks like they could score a goal if you opt for Pennant over Babel. But at the same time, the difference between the chances of Pennant setting up a goal and Babel setting up a goal are probably about equal. Also, it must be considered if Pennant is not as effective without Crouch also in the XI, and then if you value Pennant so highly would you consider a 442 with adding Crouch and dropping Alonso. Also very important to remember that we need a team designed to score goals at the bridge and not do much else, the higher scoring the affair the better the odds are for us because 2-2 and all draws with higher scores put us through.

For me, Arbeloa has to play LB, and then pick 2/3 between Finnan, SKrtel, and Hyypia.

by **Owzat** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:22 am

s@int wrote:Looking at what seems the most popular selection 4-2-3-1 my only worry is Babel on the left. Unfortunately I don't think he is good enough (yet) and may be the one real weakness in our team. He scores goals....... but more often than not runs into deadends, passes poorly or fails to control the ball. Even Kuyt who I admit I still don't think is good enough for us in the long term, has had a new lease of life since being moved out wide.

If only we had a decent left winger ! This is not a game for the fainthearted, and we will need every player giving everything if we are going to win it. Chelsea showed against the mancs that they can play good football, but also showed that they make mistakes just like any team.

Reina

Arbeloa Carra Skrtel Riise

Kuyt Mascherano Alonso Babel
Gerrard
Torres

I think if we can keep them out for the first 30 mins we will win it in the next 60. We need a strong Ref as Drogba, Ballack and Terry will be as sneaky sly and slimy as they can be again on Wednesday. How anyone can support "JT" for captain of England baffles me.

I just hope Torres takes a couple of dives - gets Terry sent off and gets us the match winning penalty

I, and I think/hope Rafa will, lean towards :

-------------------Reina------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Carra-------Skrtel-----Hyypia-----Arbeloa
-------------------------------------------------
----------Mascherano----Alonso----------
------------------------------------------------
Kuyt-----------Gerrard--------------Babel
------------------------------------------------
------------------Torres----------------------

We need defensive stability, Riise is a liability. So we need to play the best four defensively we have, best in each position that is. If we concede a goal it isn't the end of the tie, but we can't afford to be leaking more than one. We may score at least one, I'm not backing us to score freely so keeping it tight at the back is key. And Arbeloa isn't exactly shy going forward, we can always bring on Finnan and shuffle the back four if we feel it is not attacking enough.

And also Arbeloa for Aurelio/Riise means a consistency, that is about our best XI and is the best hope of getting the result we need. Pennant and Crouch have shown they can beat the rest, I'm not convinced they can beat the best. Again, if need be, we can always switch to 4-4-2 and throw on Crouch if things aren't going well. If it's 0-0 after 60 mins then it may be time to change things, we can't leave it too long.

And remember this, if we start with our best defence then we can always switch to more attacking. What we don't want to be doing in a game we need a win or score draw in, is to have to bring on a defender because we're leaking goals or one of our defenders is being run ragged. And since this back four minus Aurelo is more or less one that has been working pretty well before, I suggest we stick with it.

And I can't believe anyone would want Riise at LB, I think I'd rather see Insua there personally.

by **Judge** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:24 am

owzat......to say riise is a liability is a bit steep for one mistake in judgement.

dont be surprised if it isnt riise who scores us to cl glory on wednesday, and you'll be eating your words

by **Owzat** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:36 am

Judge wrote:owzat......to say riise is a liability is a bit steep for one mistake in judgement.

dont be surprised if it isnt riise who scores us to cl glory on wednesday, and you'll be eating your words

I'm not referring to his heading abhoration, I'm talking his defensive limitations which have been apparent for many a moon.

And Riise hasn't looked like scoring for a long time, I would certainly never play a full-back on his likelihood of scoring. Defend, yes. Link up play on the wing, yes. Set up goals, yes. Score, not essential. We have six players on the pitch who should be scoring most of our goals and Sami.

by **Festy** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:57 am

Judge wrote:owzat......to say riise is a liability is a bit steep for one mistake in judgement.

dont be surprised if it isnt riise who scores us to cl glory on wednesday, and you'll be eating your words

I would be more than happy to eat owzat's words on his behalf if it happens.

by **Owzat** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:14 am

Festy wrote:
Judge wrote:owzat......to say riise is a liability is a bit steep for one mistake in judgement.

dont be surprised if it isnt riise who scores us to cl glory on wednesday, and you'll be eating your words

I would be more than happy to eat owzat's words on his behalf if it happens.

I'll be as thrilled as anyone if we go through, eating words in such circumstance wouldn't bother me. But I did say he IS a defensive liability, not that he isn't capable of playing a big part in a game. Just because someone isn't great at defending, doesn't mean they can't defend well in a one-off game.

I am just surprised so many of you want him at LB at all, in a non-essential league game no problem, against a weak opponent yes, but against the team pushing for the title with players who can run at him and expose his defensive weakness?

by **Judge** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:21 am

Owzat wrote:
Festy wrote:
Judge wrote:owzat......to say riise is a liability is a bit steep for one mistake in judgement.

dont be surprised if it isnt riise who scores us to cl glory on wednesday, and you'll be eating your words

I would be more than happy to eat owzat's words on his behalf if it happens.

I'll be as thrilled as anyone if we go through, eating words in such circumstance wouldn't bother me. But I did say he IS a defensive liability, not that he isn't capable of playing a big part in a game. Just because someone isn't great at defending, doesn't mean they can't defend well in a one-off game.

I am just surprised so many of you want him at LB at all, in a non-essential league game no problem, against a weak opponent yes, but against the team pushing for the title with players who can run at him and expose his defensive weakness?

its not a one off game, its a two leg game. were only at half time

by **red37** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:35 am

Ref on Wednesday is: ROBERTO ROSETTI (ITA). Not a bad one at all......considering.

Mancs have got FANDEL (GER) Ouch!!!

by **Bad Bob** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:57 am

Owzat wrote:I, and I think/hope Rafa will, lean towards :

-------------------Reina------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
Carra-------Skrtel-----Hyypia-----Arbeloa
-------------------------------------------------
----------Mascherano----Alonso----------
------------------------------------------------
Kuyt-----------Gerrard--------------Babel
------------------------------------------------
------------------Torres----------------------

Carragher has to play at CB, IMO. He's got the measure of Drogba.

by **bigmick** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:38 pm

Bad Bob wrote:Carragher has to play at CB, IMO. He's got the measure of Drogba.

He does play well against Drogba Bob, but I would be wary of writing off the Chelsea man just yet. I actually thought Drogba was a disgrace in the first leg, not so much for his diving and squeeling as he's always done that, but for his total lack of application and effort. If I was one of his teammates working my erse off to keep it at 1-0 when it was all hands on deck and they were shipping water for long periods, I'd have given him a large piece of my mind when he started doing the badge kissing thing at the final whistle. For me his performance was all about himself, feck everyone else and all about the fact he is on his bike at the end of the season.

All that said, footballers all love a bit of glory and Drogba wouldn't surprise me if he loves it more than most. If motivated and up for it he is an absolutely fantastic player in my view, as near to unplayable as any centre forward in the league and regardless of who plays centre half, they are going to need their partner to be up for it as well as making sure they have a good game themselves. It'd be Carragher and Skyrtel all the way for me, I'd agree with you Bob that this one needs your best two central defenders to cope with him.

FWIW I'd also go with Riise at left full back. He's not everyones cup of tea but he's been in these huge matches before and come out of it relatively unscathed, Id back him to do so again especially after his first leg disaster. I'm by no means the first person to say it, but fate would appear to getting ready to once again provide a twist come the final flop. Stranger things have happned that Riise redeaming himself with a piledriver, but even if he doesn't score a goal he's still our second best left-back all day long for me.

by **Bad Bob** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:54 pm

bigmick wrote:
Bad Bob wrote:Carragher has to play at CB, IMO. He's got the measure of Drogba.

He does play well against Drogba Bob, but I would be wary of writing off the Chelsea man just yet. I actually thought Drogba was a disgrace in the first leg, not so much for his diving and squeeling as he's always done that, but for his total lack of application and effort. If I was one of his teammates working my erse off to keep it at 1-0 when it was all hands on deck and they were shipping water for long periods, I'd have given him a large piece of my mind when he started doing the badge kissing thing at the final whistle. For me his performance was all about himself, feck everyone else and all about the fact he is on his bike at the end of the season.

All that said, footballers all love a bit of glory and Drogba wouldn't surprise me if he loves it more than most. If motivated and up for it he is an absolutely fantastic player in my view, as near to unplayable as any centre forward in the league and regardless of who plays centre half, they are going to need their partner to be up for it as well as making sure they have a good game themselves. It'd be Carragher and Skyrtel all the way for me, I'd agree with you Bob that this one needs your best two central defenders to cope with him.

FWIW I'd also go with Riise at left full back. He's not everyones cup of tea but he's been in these huge matches before and come out of it relatively unscathed, Id back him to do so again especially after his first leg disaster. I'm by no means the first person to say it, but fate would appear to getting ready to once again provide a twist come the final flop. Stranger things have happned that Riise redeaming himself with a piledriver, but even if he doesn't score a goal he's still our second best left-back all day long for me.

Agreed, mate--Drogba will still cause problems if he's in the mood. And, he'll create space for the likes of Joe Cole to steal into so we need to be on our toes. Carragher and Skrtel probably have the best chance of shutting the door just so long as the big Slovakian doesn't get caught ball watching too much and ignore it when their midfielders make their runs into the box. I'd deffo start with Riise at LB. If there's one player you can guarantee will have 100% concentration in this one, it'll be him. I'm a little less decided about RB. Finnan's been off the pace of late but he's a steady hand and a wily veteran. Arbeloa will perhaps get forward more--which we'll need in this match--but there were a few occasions where he got caught napping last week (the Malouda chance, comes to mind) and that's a concern. I might go with Finnan...just.

The rest of the team largely picks itself, with perhaps the only question being Pennant v. Babel (Kuyt MUST play on present form). If we could be reasonably assured that Kuyt would be just as effective from the left, I'd be tempted to start Pennant at RM and save Babel for a late appearance against tired legs. If not, I'd go with Babel at LM and Kuyt at RM.

by **red37** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:56 pm

SundanceKid wrote:
zarababe wrote:
SundanceKid wrote:Sport superstitions are pretty big in America. Due to that, I've washed my Fernando Torres jersey exactly 9 times since last Tuesday. At first I put it in the washer and forgot to dry it, so it started to smell foul. And I put it back in the washer, and happened to forget to dry it again. Thought I might as well match the number of visits in the washing machine to the number on the back for good luck so I kept throwing it back in.

Anyway, what lineup would you bunch be comfortable with?
For me:

Skrtel Carra Hypia Riise

Masch
Kuyt Alonso Babel
Gerrard

Torres

Gawd these Americano's

If you're going to make fun of me being American, at least have the decency to understand the punctuation of the language that came from your country.

Take no notice and welcome to the forum btw... Just please do not use the term 'Soccer' :upside:

by **Reg** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:58 pm

Judge wrote:owzat......to say riise is a liability is a bit steep for one mistake in judgement.

dont be surprised if it isnt riise who scores us to cl glory on wednesday, and you'll be eating your words

To be totally honest and I´ve never posted this thought, our standard of football left Riise behind 2 or even 3 seasons back.

He´s a good, mid-league player at somewhere like Newcastle, ManCity or Portsmouth but LFC pushing to be European Cup winners.... I think not. I find it difficult to believe we cant find someone better.

Nothing against the guy but the Houllier era is ovcer.

by **Judge** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:06 pm

bigmick wrote:
Bad Bob wrote:Carragher has to play at CB, IMO. He's got the measure of Drogba.

He does play well against Drogba Bob, but I would be wary of writing off the Chelsea man just yet. I actually thought Drogba was a disgrace in the first leg, not so much for his diving and squeeling as he's always done that, but for his total lack of application and effort. If I was one of his teammates working my erse off to keep it at 1-0 when it was all hands on deck and they were shipping water for long periods, I'd have given him a large piece of my mind when he started doing the badge kissing thing at the final whistle. For me his performance was all about himself, feck everyone else and all about the fact he is on his bike at the end of the season.

All that said, footballers all love a bit of glory and Drogba wouldn't surprise me if he loves it more than most. If motivated and up for it he is an absolutely fantastic player in my view, as near to unplayable as any centre forward in the league and regardless of who plays centre half, they are going to need their partner to be up for it as well as making sure they have a good game themselves. It'd be Carragher and Skyrtel all the way for me, I'd agree with you Bob that this one needs your best two central defenders to cope with him.

FWIW I'd also go with Riise at left full back. He's not everyones cup of tea but he's been in these huge matches before and come out of it relatively unscathed, Id back him to do so again especially after his first leg disaster. I'm by no means the first person to say it, but fate would appear to getting ready to once again provide a twist come the final flop. Stranger things have happned that Riise redeaming himself with a piledriver, but even if he doesn't score a goal he's still our second best left-back all day long for me.

bad bob to drogba bob, or is it drogbad bob

by **heimdall** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:38 pm

Riise is a liability and isn't good enough any more, but do we have any other left backs we could use?

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