Phil236849

i thought carra was going to be an inch or two too short to be a top CB.

nt

very good point, although i dont think you can judge until the end of the careers as longevity does count. but carra is a legend in the making, and has morphed so well from a sort of 'good dependable scouse egg' type of recognition to 'phucking outstanding centre half'

strange...the times has him being more negative... "However, it was not enough to impress Frank Rijkaard, the Barcelona coach, who offered Benítez?s team his congratulations but said ?I don?t see Liverpool progressing? on account of their style, which he believes is too defensive. "

that barca team is fantastic. they have been handicapped by injuries to eto'o and messi and ronaldinho being at less than top form. however, those three at 80% would tear a lot of teams apart.

we played as well as this team could play for this sort of tie. and that was bl00dy good there is a valid point about how we will improve with the greater finances we have. to play any better, we need a bigger goal threat than what we can produce at present. talk about finishing is misleading as only crouch should have done better. the riise, sissoko and kuyt shots you can't criticise, but we lack a large goal threat from midfield, and/or a striker who can make us more threatening.

anyone who thinks we were going to get through against barca by trying to play prettier football than them needs their head examined. that does not mean our tactics were route one. it just means we played the only football which would be effective: a brand of aggressive pressing which allowed us to attack their weaknesses without being anything other than defensively very secure. on second thoughts, i correct my first statement, to cater for the cascarinos of this world. anyone who thinks rafa has been anything other than a tactical genius in the way he has set us up to beat barca needs their head examined.

i used the word 'allegedly'

i totally agree too but it does beg the question of why we do not have a second pacey striker to test the teams who are pressing forward to do the final 20 mins

this appeared in a mag about a month or two ago.. i started a new thread to report the dodgy link, but it was closed down on account of being scurrilous!

are you questioning the xabi/masch point fred? mascherano's role is the holding role. rafa has already said he is a more specialist defensive player in xabi's role. i also see gerrard and momo as undroppable for this fixture rafa will want gerrard on the right, as he'll have two upfront to attack barca, and a strong midfielder on the right able counter attack but also to double up on the dentists dream client i agree with psl above that momo is a cert after the way he harassed the barca midfield in the first leg. the job is tailor made for him. i also see xabi as only be considered for central midfield. his lack of atheleticism means he is hardly versatile if your q is whether it's not worth making the change...well xabi gives us a lot and i think it's just a bit early in his lfc career and too big a match to replace one of your pivots with a guy who's hardly played all season and has only played for us once before

1. go at them or frustrate them with a slow game? both - attack them hard given their weaknesses but be canny enough to slow the game down when need be 2. structure of team will be 4-4-2. one of the secrets of our success at nou camp was double (or triple/quadruple) ing up on messi and ronaldinho with strong midfielders. 3. 1 question is whether to replace riise with gonzalez given barca will be vulnerable to pacey attacks, having to chase the game. in view of gonzalez' form, and the priority remaining to keep it tight defensively, i doubt we will do that. 4. if mascherano was to play, it would probably be in place of alonso - not worth making that change 5. ditto crouch and kuyt 6. ditto aurelio and either riise or arbeloa all this points to no change to 1st leg line-up and formation

re hamill, the question is will he be good enough for premiership or champions league appearances. if not, then he'd be better off having next season on loan ata competitive level rather than waiting around for the odd fa/carling cup run-out. more generally, it appears we are making a fairly major investment in youth. for this to make sense, the club must be anticipating making space for the youngsters who are good enough to get into the first team. like wenger has done. in time, we may see fewer "squad player" purchases, and others being allowed to leave. only a good thing if it happens. appears the way recruitment at many well-run clubs is going

i agree. we dont want to be another of those bellers sellers [coat]

mindgames? imagine the shock when a fully fit eto'o joins messi and ronaldinho at anfield. shock and awe. they thought he wouldnt make it. now he spearheads an attack supported by those 2, xavi and deco. our best laid plans are in tatters and our defenders turn to panic. ha ha. as if we'd fall for it. we've got rafa, we've got carra, we're ready for whoever you've got ready.

it wont be easy but we should be positive - as fans and as a team. got to take advantage of the hot atmosphere and get right into them from the start. i keep changing my mind, but i'm pretty sure we need to be 4-4-2, with kuyt dropping deep. difficult to concentrate on anything else, innit?!

ashton

was also on last night. we played 5-3-2 it seemed i remembered why paul walsh was one of my favourites - very goweresque graceful, skipping around the place, all twists and turns. i had forgotten until watching espn that big fat jan wasnt always fat and was initially quite mobile. we looked like a team which was struggling toclick - which is what we were?

there's a few in the squad who can make a tasty slowcoach xi Dudek Finnan Palletta Hyppia Aurelio Pennant Mascherano Alonso Zenden Crouch Fowler first 5 yards in the mind?

whether the chelsea team (i assume you dont mean england) hardly ever lose is a totally different issue. i have seen JTs lack of pace look like a weakness at international level. i am not saying that JT's cr@p - just that all this hot air i hear about carra being slow is just guff. why do our fans knock carra for being slow and at the same time laud john terry. it just doesnt make sense. the way we damn carra with faint praise is allied to the issue (which is only of academic interest for me) of why carra is 4th or 5th choice at international level.

i think this is largely right, coupled with the point that his reading of the game is such that any slowness on the turn is rarely a problem in practice. carra's not slow. how often do you see him being outskinned? by contrast, sami is slow, to the extent it being a weakness which is always vulnerable to being exploited by decent teams. and john terry's a fat overrated phucker who's lack of pace can be exploited by top opponents

tricky one given they are also terrified of bellamy's pace. although tempted, i think it has to be play it again sam. nice hardworking midfield. bellamy ready on the counter, kuyt helping out all over the pitch. tempted to play gonzalez instead of riise just to increase our capacity to counter quickly, but suspect rafa will play safe with JAR. actually i think rafa will want to keep 4 in midfield so we can double up on the flanks and have momo and xabi in the middle, so unless you play kuyt or bellamy on the flanks, which i cant really see the point of, i really cant see all 3 playing

thanks guys. it'll be interesting to follow this for the next couple of weeks. interesting to hear about the 'glum faces' in training point. the cameras zoomed in on bucktooth after JAR's goal and i cant quite remember seeing a player looking so overwhelmingly shell-shocked.

malcolm elias (ex Soton guy who can list walcott and bale amongst his discoveries)

i keep on seeing it said that carra's slow. as slow as hyppia, etc granted, he's no lawro/des walker, but i just dont see him as being slow. he may be marginally slower than rio cleftlip, kolo toure and others but not in any material way that you'd notice how it affects his performance. and he's certainly quicker than goldenboy treeman terry. i just dont get it.