Tyler

I am surprised at the amount of criticism Traore gets on this forum As far as I could see he didn't do anything wrong last night but it seems the edginess of the crowd when he gets the ball and the commentators saying "he was lucky there" mean people say he had a bad game when he didn't Carra was at fault for the first goal. He should have put it into Row Z instead of trying to turn inside Traore is fast, is one of the best players I have seen to time a tackle at high speed and can tackle, head and win balls His problem is concentration and trying to over elaborate on occasion This can be worked on in coaching I would rate him as a much better player than Warnock for example who doesn't attract nearly as much criticism

Or if Spurs catch us, we finish fourth and Arsenal win the Champions League????

Graham Taylor on Five Live last night commented on Chelsea pulling players down at corners (forget which player he mentioned by name) and said he couldn't believe referees let them get away with it also reported that mourinho announced one team to the players on Monday evening, a second team to the players Tuesday afternoon and a third team started the game

if its a hamstring injury for sami it might be too risky to play him and lose him early on or lose him for a couple of months with a torn hamstring options if he doesn't play - seems like Traore in for him Could we go three at the back like in Istanbul

Is Finnan likely to be fit for this game? I see Hyypia should make it although if its a hamstring injury it may be a risk to play him and risk losing him early on. Is Agger cup tied or would Traore fill in? Any selection surprises likely - looks like Alonso, Garcia, Morientes, Crouch and JAR were rested with an eye on this game so selection likely to be Reina Finnan (if fit) Carra Hyypia Riise Garcia Alonso Gerrard Kewell Crouch Morientes Subs - Traore, Fowler, Cisse, Hamann, Dudek I'd like to see Garcia play up front off Crouch and Cisse play on the left side of midfield Fowler can come on as minds and legs tire in Benfica defence if we need to get a goal Worried about this game, if they score we'll need three and they look capable of scoring from set pieces. Need to have everybody and the crowd up for this one and defend title as champions.

his pace is absolutely astonishing especially considering the broken leg last year technical ability (ball through the hoop in the adidas ad aside) could do with some work but given his pace he probably has not had to work on more subtle ways of beating defenders he can cross the ball and can shoot but is not a natural goal poacher his attempted over head kick was comical - nearly too Charlton defenders head off I think he would benefit from a run in the team and he does give us the pace that we are lacking

I was watching the Road to Istanbul DVD last night and it struck me that JAR said that before the second leg of the semi final all the players were up for it and everybody was saying "we cannot lose this game". What are people's views on this - should players be up for it for every game and is that the difference between teams that win leagues and teams that don't.

RTE 2 in Ireland

I think I'll have a bet on them for the World Cup. They will be my adopted country for the duration of it.

considering we force so many corners we don't threaten enough from them and we have a team of seven or eight six footers plus must be something they work on in training but i'm not sure the "whipped in" ball is the way to go

It will be another special night. My only worry is that they look good from set pieces (robert can hit a great corner - get him in to coach alonso and gerrard on that part of their game) and if we concede we'll need 3. Players will be up for it as they won't want to give up the champions crown too easily Then again these are the kinds of games we want to be in.

I thought Finnan was outstanding but he seemed to be the one who lost the runner for their goal. Not a huge criticism as it was a very well worked free kick and an excellent run from their player Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition Morientes showed tonight some of the class that we know he has but is getting the ball too deep to cause real damage. Good performance without creating any real chances but you will take that on the road We went for the win over there and tried to finish it off but couldn't and then fell for a sucker punch Need to get at them in Anfield and defend our champions crown. Will be another nerve wracking night but that is the beauty of European competition.

Hyypia wasn't at fault - the run came from deep and I think Finnan should have picked him up. Hyypia tried to cover and came off his own man but couldn't get there in time It was a well worked free kick, great run from their player and we failed to pick it up We will concede goals and lose matches - it is our first defeat in CL proper in 14 months so lets not over react Key is whether we can pick ourselves up and win at Anfield I think we can but 1-0 away is a bad result because without the away goal you are vulnerable to the other team getting an away goal and then needing to win by two

Against United Reina Finnan Carra Hyypia Traore Hamann Kromkamp Gerrard Riise Kewell Cisse Subs - Dudek, Garcia, Momo, Morientes, Crouch Against Benfica Reina Finnan Carra Hyypia Riise Garcia Gerrard Alonso Kewell Crouch Fowler Subs - Dudek, Traore, Momo, Morientes, Hamann

Where is that from?

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Saturday - Wigan Tuesday - Arsenal Saturday - United Tuesday - Benfica Four hugely important games. Seems given recent run of results and the quick succession of games that we will need to rotate players. How do you see the rotation working for these games. i.e. Fowler cannot play against United so makes sense to use him against Arsenal and against Benfica Save Gerrard for the United game - give him extra time to recover?

If they are playing reserve games is it a case of them not being fit enough for the first team (match fit?) I thought Garcia would at least make the bench last night.

I had a horrible thought that we finish 4th in the League and Arsenal finish fifth but win the CL and we are eliminated. Karma catching up with us!? We are still well positioned but we need to stop this run of results now. Team looks like it could benefit with some freshening up - remove Crouch for a game or two and put in Cisse

It is something that we must work on in training. We have a very tall team and need to start taking advantage of the amount of corners we seem to force. Delivery needs to be better but also needs to be better movement in the box.

Alonso is going through a bit of a dip in form. Maybe time to give him a rest - send him to Spain for a holiday for a week? Also, why is Garcia being left out - is he still carrying an injury. I think we are playing well at the moment but we are not taking our chances and if you don't take advantage when you are dominating and the other team scores then the match is flipped on its head. Played Charlton off the park last night and then they grabbed two goals and we looked like we wouldn't score if the game went on until midnight. Not sure if there is anything to be done except for the players to keep plugging away and working hard. All this talk of fatigue becomes self fulfilling - if you are winning, players don't get tired. Having said that some players look like they could use with some freshening up. I think Cisse deserves a run in the team (with Fowler available to come on as a sub for the last 25 minutes) with one of Crouch or Morientes. Maybe Champions League can lift us or maybe its a distraction and the players are playing with one eye on the Benfica game.

kronkamp in on the right of midfield is interesting and unexpected

Forget technology (apart from whether ball has crossed the goal line or not) They need to go back to the old offside rule or else just scrap offside - forget this active/inactive nonsense as it is making a mockery of the rule a player who is on the pitch is always active

at one stage the ball (in the middle of the pitch so didn't lead to anything) actually spun straight up in the air as it must have hit a divot commentators commented that for kewell shot (the one that spun wide) the ball was all over the place as it came to him i wonder have they left it like that with barcelona game in mind while we are on it - why is the club policy at liverpool not to have ball boys - other clubs use them to slow/speed up games like it or not i think we have to start being more "professional" in games - crowd around referees, play a stop start game when we are winning etc etc

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