NeilR

Liverpool FC are about winning trophies. Shanks would turn in his grave at the thought of settling for 4th spot in the league over a cup win. Its been a few years since we won one too. I could understand it if we had another trophy win in the last year or 2, but we haven't. So Its win the Carling Cup (and hopefully FA as well) for me over 4th Spot (all 3 would be perfect and why not do it!!!). Look at Arsenal. In the CL year after year, and look where they have went (stagnate and not really truly competing for the league for a long time). They have won nowt for longer than us now as well. I wouldnt want to be in that mould where all we are is top of the "other teams" that win nothing but scrape CL qualification every year. Its not progress. Its not LFC!

we have had an awful lot of poor officials this season but I thought the ref was decent last night. they are never going to get everything right but I thought he controlled the match well, didn't jump into booking too easily, & didn't bow to the pressure of the home crowd baying for a red card for every tackle right from the kick off.

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Would be a fantastic signing. Don't know how likely it is though and the site reporting it isn't exactly the best. For £25m it aint cheap, but it isn't the dearest. Could work out similar to the Suarez business.

Watching that he just looks more hungrier to get himself onto the end of the ball in the box than he does now. Maybe its our system and how he is being asked to do that is the problem. Maybe he is a Gerodie at heart and hasn't been able to cope with the move away from his hometown. I'm not an Andy hater, was happy when we signed him and hope he comes good for us (want to see more of him how he played against us last year and also for us against city). But there is no denying, we look like a better team without him starting at the moment. So in the short term I think maybe he should start on the bench for the league games, and if Luis gets banned for either the racism allegations of flipping the finger at the Fulham fans who abused him all night, then maybe then we set up differently to suit Andy. Because at the moment it looks like the setup that gets the best out of Suarez at the minute doesn't for Andy and vice versa. Is there something we can do to mimic how Suarez and Cavani setup for Uruguay (and I mean with big Andy not "go out and buy Cavani")?

in that case we don't have an exact replacement for Lucas that is ready. Spearing is close in many ways though and will get a fair chance in December & Jan to prove if we need to spend or not. if the heading is crucial til Lucas returns then we'll have to dip into the market. with our uruguyan links go for a player like arevalo rios. admittedly only seen him during the copa America, but impressed in a role which id say is similar to Lucas's for us. plays in Mexico so shouldn't cost much (is the Mexican season over like the other American ones as could be a loan option). 29 so has experience & still useful for a few years (maybe til some of our youths are ready). & if you watch how he plays in the the following link you'll see its very similar to Lucas so we wouldn't need adjustments... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khfNB95iluc that is if we feel spearing isn't enough & we are looking for a like for like cheap option.

Think the last option will be the starting 11. Formation could be that or a 4-3-3 with Henderson on the right of the mid 3. But I'd say thats the strongest / in-form team for us at the moment.

it was on saurez. Luis let the ball run past him & kompany didn't read it at all & took the man. ref didn't even give the free if I remember. what I do know he clattered saurez 3 times very early (booked for the 3rd) as well as 3 by lescott. then did the tackle mentioned above & another through the back in the 2nd half. lucky 2 stay on. seemed a deliberate ploy to me. seems saurez now has a reputation where he isn't getting the protection in the last few games. think its the medias fault

Genuine question, do you think Coady is ready for this level yet? I know he is a very good prospect and was impressed with him in the pre-season games (only chance I've had to see him really). I'd be interested to see how he copes in this situation. Away at the bridge is a hell of a way to make your debut, but remember Plessis having a very good game against Arsenal a few years back, and from what I have heard Coady is a better player. I'd be interested to see if a few guys who have seen a bit more of him think he could do a job for us on Tuesday? My guess.... -----------------------------Reina Kelly----- ---------Carra--- ---Coates---- Aurelio Downing--- Henderson--- Spearing ----Maxi ------------------Carroll-------- Bellamy Not a bad team and capable of winning. A lot depends on how strong a side Chelsea put out, and Boas might pick a very strong one as he can't afford to lose another after the run he has had recently. Also not a lot of that side would have played together. But considering yesterday's effort I think that would be the best way to go.

With Everton not really playing with any strikers this year so far, do you reckon Kenny might throw in a surprise and go with 3-5-2, which would help cope with their extra numbers in midfield. He sprung that one out of the blue against Stoke last year, and then again surprised us when he stuck with that against Chelsea.

Think it'll be... ------------------Pepe-------------------- Kelly----Skrtel-----Carra----Enrique ----------Lucas-----Adam-------------- ---Kuyt------Bellamy----Downing--- ---------------Suarez-------------------- The only possible change I see to that is Carrol for Bellamy.

I'm not saying its all our supporters. But there are certainly enough on here and other forums happy to have a pop (and I dont just mean voice their concerns).

Something along the line of:- Downing - Carroll - Suarez Adam - Lucas - Gerrard ?

I think we'll see an improvement in Carroll when Stevie is back and up to speed again. That will help the midfield push up and in turn hopefully he'll spend more time closer to the goals as he is dropping quite deep now as our midfield seems quite deep. Stevie can whip in a cross too which will help, as can Johnson and Kelly when they are back. The effective lack of a right side at the moment means we aren't stretching sides back 4. I don't think we'll see the best of Andy though until we get a better quality right winger. But do think everyone is going a little over the top with the over analysis of him. Yes he cost £35m, but thats not his fault and I think everyone knows he's not really worth that but it was just what we paid under very exceptional circumstances relating to the Torres sale. If Torres was sold for £30m maybe there would be a little less pressure on Andy as a £15m signing. I also think because of his frame people forget he is just a kid. He is no where near his peak yet. Look at Dzeko (a player of similar cost, build and style) last season. He had a terrible introduction to life at his new team. He looks to have come through it and improved this year with a little time to settle in and the team sticking with him in the side in the mean time. Carroll is 4 years younger than him, so hasn't had as much experience and development. Yes, there is no denying he isn't playing like a £35m signing at the moment. But he's our player and it would be nice if our "supporters" can get behind our players instead of making the situation even worse for them by adding to the criticism. We'd all like results now and we have improved on the situation we were in 1 year ago. But the team is being developed with the future in mind. So lets give it time to take shape and see how all the players develop when we have had a bit of time and a good injury free run.

I think we'll put out a fairly strong team. Suarez will start on the bench though. It would be a disaster in terms of our momentum and confidence if we lost this one and as they are not an easy team to beat, we'll take it seriously after the last 2 defeats in a row. Don't see this competition as a distraction this year as its one of 2 trophies we can realistically win and would be good for us to bag a trophy after the few years since the FA cup. Any trophy will do and get Kenny off the mark again. Hoping for a win without too much stress (not saying it will be easy, just what I hope for). Then a home draw against spurs in the next round would be nice! Want a pop at them again while the hurt is still fresh and we'll hopefulyl have the likes all the injured lads back as well.

I honestly don't believe these things even them selves up over the course of a season. That's just made up as some sort of strange way of trying to justify the refs mistake is ok. I'm sure you ask any team fighting it out at the bottom of the league and they'll say they don't get the balance. We certainly arent getting the rub of the green either. But one in Europe that sticks in my head as going our favour was the game against Roma where the ref clearly pointed at our penalty spot to give them the penalty, we shouted at him a bit, and his arm magically wondered from pointing at the box to the corner flag. Brilliant! Near fell off my seat at the time. What made it better was I was watching it with a bunch of mancs and they were going ape.

I mentioned that previously. If Skrtel had been hoofing that ball clear from our defence, a free out would be given 100% of the time. No questions asked! For some reason, because he got his shot off (regardless of the fact it ended up in row Z), Stoke got away with it, even though he was nowhere near the ball and was late. Maybe we should make the refs professional now instead of being amateur and having normal day jobs, and this might help them to improve their quality, especially considering the amount of money in the game at this level..................oh, hang on...this isn't 2001 anymore!!!

to be honest it was a penalty against us. what really gets us is we had 2 hand balls & skertl taken late after he blazed the ball over and not 1 given. this on top of all the other incidents especially several penalties not given shows the refereeing standard hasn't been good enough. this is supposed 2 be one of the top leagues in the world in all aspects afterall. if the skertl incident yesterday happened while he wad hoofing a ball out of defence, the foul would have been given 100% of the time. refs need to grow a set and improve their standards

aye. tall, strong, athletic, can whip in a cross, able to get up and down the line all match. aye completely different!

the more I see him the more he reminds me of maicon

he is a young lad which I think a lot forget, still getting over a long injury absence & at a new club. he has the ability. he was unplayable against us last season. he really did batter our entire defence that night. city also couldn't handle him. I personally have no doubts that if we stick by him, give more of a run, and supporters stay off his back, we'll soon see the battering ram in full effect. the team will adjust to him & him to the team. the price tag is just making people a bit impatient, but he is still very young

think he needs a bit more fitness which will cone. but we can help the situation by having someone playing closer to him and also getting closer to the by line and whipping crosses in from there (that angle is a better one for him to work with I think, just like his header from Enrique cross yesterday as opposed to deeper crosses say from Adams position). don't think we've put in many crosses from this angle for him in the 2 games yet. I do believe it will all come together when the new players bed in, fitness levels come up, & we get gerard and saurez playing with Andy. we just need a little patience (its not like the situation crouch went through before scoring his first for us & we stuck by him). would be nice if everyone got behind our own players & give them a chance. too many enjoy a scapegoat & moan

I'd hope now that we have only a couple of games left before the season starts that we'll see closer to a full strength side out and for longer periods (60-90 mins). Its fair enough in the early pre-season games to give a few of the fringe players time, but as we get closer I'd expect Kenny will use the better players, and think we'll see this. So the likes of Cole, Degen, Poulson, Soto, etc will hopefully see no playing time in the remaining games before the league kicks off.

Definitely the way to go. Dortmund's stadium (Westfalenstadion) with the huge single tier kop and around 65k seats is I remember rightly. Been to one Bundeslige match at it myself and it was a real cauldron of a stadium with the seats right up to the edge of the pitch (no running track type space) and the way the partial roof is done seemed to trap the noise in (well I'm no expert but it felt like the canopys were playing their part). It does come across like Anfield on steroids.

Spend the lot on Mata, or £14m on Baines and the rest settling the assault cases for injured defenders from on-field pummelings dished out by Carrol next season.