Tyler

bit concerned that we may be a bit toothless going forward unless babel produces looks like kuyt was picked to chase down their defenders - give them no time on the ball interesting to see where gerrard lines up

I am expecting a surprise or two from rafa this evening he's like a prize fighter who has been knocked down, crowd baying for his blood question is will the players respond - given the occasion i think they will

Liverpool (from): Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Aurelio, Babel, Gerrard, Mascherano, Riise, Torres, Kuyt, Crouch, Skrtel, Kewell, Benayoun, Pennant, Alonso, Lucas, Itandje. Finnan is not in the squad. Is he injured?

what about carra hyypia skyrtel play tonight with gerrard and riise as attacking full backs lucas alonso and masch in centre torres and one other up front (kuyt/crouch/babel/kewell)

Given its inter and remebering 1965 someone over on RAWK suggested (to the tune of Amazing Grace) Shankly Shankly Shankly Shankly If you want to do verses could follow it up with Paisley verse, a King Kenny verse and finish it off with a Rafa Rafa verse before launching into Go Home to Italy song all needs to be sung slowly for full effect though - like in the old days

juventus game - we were down to bare bones of the squad and so in some ways shackles came off what rafa did realise though was that a high tempo would be something juventus would not be used to and we came out at 100mph we did run out of steam a little in second half but were two up united did this to roma last year as well scored early and the italians heads dropped however against milan united were picked off by a more tactically astute team we could see anything tonight could see three centre halves - rumours of hyypia skyrtel and carra all playing riise and gerrard as wing backs lucas masch and alonso in centre torres up front with crouch/kuyt

have to close them down but i would prefer to see crouch and not kuyt start as i think crouch will worry them more if crouch starts gerrard and pennant could play on the wings and get crosses in their full backs are very good going forward and will need to be covered so riise may play for that reason one reason i think rafa is so good in europe is that he starts out trying to nullify the opposition which we don't need to do in england (but he seems to still pick teams with opposition in mind) will be interesting to see what he comes up with i always like when he says "______ are a very good team and have few weaknesses but they have weaknesses" means he has a plan

i think we will see a 4-1-1 formation

worried about crespo he destroyed us for 45 minutes in istanbul

we really need to start quickly - get the crowd going - get some confidence into the team i am expecting us to raise our game for this these games are where rafa is at his best - attempting to counter a technically better team in the slower paced games of the champions league

Rafael Benitez has reported no fresh injury concerns ahead of the Reds' clash with Inter Milan tomorrow night. Only Daniel Agger and Andriy Voronin are definitely ruled out with both Fernando Torres and Martin Skrtel having recovered from knocks in time to figure against Roberto Mancini's side. The Liverpool team trained at Anfield this morning as they finalised their preparations for the first leg of their Champions League last sixteen clash. "The mood of the players is really good, probably better than people expect," said Benitez. "Physically and mentally they are ready for the game on Tuesday. We have prepared well and I am confident we will be ready for a good performance. "We know it will be difficult because Inter Milan are a good side who have won a lot of games this season, but we know that on our night we can beat anybody at Anfield and the players know what they have to do." Asked if he had a message for the supporters after the disappointment of Saturday's Cup exit at the hands of Barnsley, he replied: "At Liverpool the fans say you will never walk alone and I am sure they will be behind us on Tuesday night. "We know it will be another great atmosphere and I am sure they will play their part. We need their backing and their support."

upcoming games inter (h) boro (h) bolton (a) west ham (h) newcastle (h) inter (a) if we have a chance after tomorrow's game will rafa have an eye on the second leg and rest players in the league games if he takes that approach, we are likely to drop points and if it doesn't pan out in the san siro we face into some very tough games season could really come off the rails reading (h) man utd (a) everton (h) arsenal (a) blackburn (h) i know its speculative but we have a chance to pick up league points between the two cl games one eye on cl could affect that

Probable teams: Liverpool: 25-Pepe Reina; 2-Steve Finnan, 23-Jamie Carragher, 4-Sami Hyypia, 6-John-Arne Riise; 11-Yossi Benayoun, 8-Steven Gerrard, 20-Javier Mascherano, 7-Harry Kewell; 18-Dirk Kuyt, 9-Fernando Torres Inter Milan: 12-Julio Cesar; 13-Maicon, 2-Ivan Cordoba, 23-Marco Materazzi, 6-Maxwell; 4-Javier Zanetti, 19-Esteban Cambiasso, 28-Maniche, 5-Dejan Stankovic; 9-Julio Cruz, 8-Zlatan Ibrahimovic

I bet they aren't squirming when they look at the league table

phil thompson

a lot of parallels with juventus team that night Carson, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Luis Garcia, Gerrard, Biscan, Riise, Le Tallec (Smicer 73), Baros (Nunez 66). game that night revolved around a very mobile front four wonder if that is why babel taken off on saturday - will he play him behind torres (similar to le tallec role) need to go at them italian teams will pick you off if you play at their tempo milan have done it to us and united second half in istanbul - nothing to lose - ran around and we got the goals italian league is played at a much slower pace than england game is made for torres to cement his legend status

need a repeat of the 2005 juventus game high tempo high adrenaline and try and get at them early i'd play gerrard ahead of alonso and masch and give him licence to roam and run behind torres play two wingers - babel and benayoun/pennant worried that they will score though

does wenger? on record as saying that it is impossible to compete in 4 competitions watch them in the league game against united and look for a different arsenal

one concern i have is that none of the players we have signed (apart from agger) have blossomed at the club and become better than they were when they joined i question rafa's ability to coach and motivate the players he is v good at tactical battles over two legs when u need to keep it tight and stay organised (success in europe) but i really think he misses a coach

I would also question who coaches the team simple things like free kicks, corners etc, patterns of play in last third we don't have a clue when queiroz left united it showed we are definitely missing having a first team "coach" since paco left

lippi mourinho scolari hiddink advoocaat o'neill candidates that i can think of i really don't know at this stage

Game to save our season. Time for some pride in the jersey lads Reina Finnan Carra Hyypia Riise Masch Alonso Babel Gerrard Benayoun Torres

the fitness gauage showed that he had to go off

We should have won today I accept that However once you diminish a competition by selecting a weaker team then that attitude transmits to the players (especially with current climate at the club) has also happened to arsenal today Should Gerrard, Torres, Mascherano have started today or was Rafa right to save them for the CL As far as I can see FA Cup ranks slightly ahead of League Cup and winning it although nice on the day means f*ck all in the scheme of judging success of a season

Wenger has given two fingers to the FA Cup today. Can't blame him really Arsenal have been dire and haven't looked interested but if you are top of the league then you can prioritise