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Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:31 amby Waldo
I would start with the same team and formation as last Sunday. Gerrard remains a doubt as he's still receiving treatment for abdominal/groin injury. Aquaman might be in the squad but I don't expect we'll see him play.
Fulham are a good strong unit especially at home so I expect this to be a tough game.
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:09 pmby stmichael
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:12 pmby SouthCoastShankly
john craig wrote:This will be a hard game, they gave us a tough game down there last year, and that's when we were in pretty good form too.
Duff seems to have added a bit of spark to their attacking play and a fit Duff is still one of the best attackers in the Premiership imo. They're pretty strong in all areas but perhaps lack a quality striker.
I'm assuming Gerrard won't be fit to start this one, so I'd go with same team that beat United with hopefully Aquilani, Gerrard or both on the bench.
If we play well, we should beat them. Let's hope the United performance wasn't a one off...
From what I remember last year, we battered them. The woodword saved them on numerous occasions.
I specifically remember Alonso crashing a screamer against the bar and Dossena missing a 2 yard header.
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:12 pmby Dazzer
bigmick wrote:The latest in a line of "must win" games I should think. Unfortunately we've actually lost some of the other "must win" ones and while optimism allows us to scribble out the "must" afterwards and replace it with "ideally could have done with the" instead, we're going to have to start soon.
Fortunately I think we will, and win comfortably. Even though Fulham are no mugs at Home, my score prediction is 3-0 to us, a commanding performance and lots of "where are all the c...s now" in the immediate aftermath.
I really think 3-0 is an insult to fulham I think they are one of best pound for pound footballing teams in prem mick easy this game will not be.
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:06 pmby J*o*n*D*o*e
Aquilani out aswell with a virus according to SSN 
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:49 pmby Ben Patrick
Been sent the team
Reina
Degen
Carra
Agger
Insua
Kuyt
Lucas
Mascherano
Benayoun
Voronin
Torres - or if fails late test Babel
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:15 pmby JamCar05
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:17 pmby JoeTerp
why wouldn't we play Aurelio on the left and Yossi in the hole
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:24 pmby LFC2007
It's crucial we feed off last weekend's victory, seize control early on, and hit them while they're cold if we can. If Torres is out, that ploy will be especially important because the longer it goes without a goal (assuming of course we don't concede - if we do we're probably fecked if we don't have Torres), the more confident they'll become, the more pressure our stand-ins will come under. Fulham don't often go down easily, not at home anyway, so if they do score they'll be ultra-happy to absorb anything we throw at them. To give some idea of how I'd gauge their level, I'd put them in the Sunderland bracket, tough f'uckers to beat.
To me this sequence of fixtures sort of resembles the Reading-Marseille games a couple of seasons ago. Back then we really needed to win both but only got the one; this time round the games are tougher on paper (if still of a similar level), and we have fewer quality options.
Still, while we've got Degen 
to come in, we should have a bit more verve going down the right which is an obvious positive 
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:25 pmby Greavesie
Aquilani picked up a virus, well that didnt last long did it 
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:29 pmby LFC2007
Didn't your mate a get a couple of players wrong in the last one, Ben?
I say that because I don't think Rafa would've have rested Aurelio ahead of the Arsenal game if he wasn't going to start in this one. Other than that, though, it looks about as strong as we can manage.
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:49 pmby Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke wrote:I would go with the same team that beat Man Utd and have Gerrard and Aquilani on the bench. We rushed Gerrard back last time and he had a setback so we should ease him back in or we may lose him for a couple of months.
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insua
Masch Lucas
Kuyt Benayoun Aurelio
Torres
Subs: Ngog, Babel, Gerrard, Aquilani, Skrtel, Degen, Cavalieri
With Johnson, Aquilani and Gerrard ruled out only one change to the 11 that beat Man Utd although our bench looks weak.
Reina
Degen Carragher Agger Insua
Masch Lucas
Kuyt Benayoun Aurelio
Torres
Subs: Ngog, Voronin, Babel, Spearing Skrtel, Dossena, Cavalieri
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:33 pmby JoeTerp
apparently they will be without Simon Davies and Danny Murphy
“Simon Davies has been back in training for the last two days, which is very positive, but it’s too early for him to take part in the game on Saturday,” said Hodgson. “The same applies for Dickson Etuhu who was back in training today [Friday]. It’s good to see those two clinically fit again.
"Simon’s injury wasn’t the same as the first injury. He was coming back from what we thought was the problem of the stress fracture but it turned out there was a bit of loose bone and that was causing the major part of his problems. He went for a second operation, which was a much smaller one, and had that piece of bone removed. That’s eradicated the problem.
"He’s now fully fit but of course it’s set him back a few weeks. He was getting back to playing. He played against CSKA Sofia and then Manchester City in the Carling Cup and did very well but he wasn’t totally happy because he still felt something wasn’t quite right. Luckily we identified it.”
Hodgson confirmed that Captain Danny Murphy, Andrew Johnson and Toni Kallio will miss Saturday’s match through injury but Fulham’s Manager is hoping for some positive news regarding Johnson’s recovery from a groin problem next week.
“He’s [Johnson] had several interventions with his groin problem. It’s difficult for the people to pinpoint where the problem is and we think now we’ve identified the major part of it and the final piece of the jigsaw could have been a sensory nerve and that’s now been quarterised. That was only done yesterday [Thursday] so it’s going to take two or three days before we have an answer.
"There’s certainly no answer today because he only had the intervention yesterday. I shall know on Monday when he starts to attempt again, whether or not we’ve now been fortunate in solving the major problem and also eradicating the minor one.”
After competing in three matches in the space of six days last week Hodgson believes his players are coping well with the current fixture demands and expects his team to be in peak condition going into Saturday’s match.
“I think the players are dealing with it very well and we as a coaching staff are trying to be intelligent in how we approach our training and coaching. We’ve still got to do it but we’ve got to try and temper it in some way so that we don’t leave too much out there on the training field. When the Referee blows his whistle tomorrow afternoon the boys will be in top physical condition.”
source
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:36 pmby tubby
I hope Aquilani still travels.
. Babel and Voronin (why would he start in the first place 
) would be an atrocious partnership upfront 
