beejay

2.04 miles PR Liverpool Football Club plc 2.64 miles PR Everton 3.4 miles Tranmere

He's pencilled in for a return against Newcastle reserves on 25th October

IMO Rafa thought that Kewell was fit enough at the start of the season to play a big part and his idea would have been to alternate Kewell & Babel. That would have made a lot of sense, Harry could play an hour then bring on the fresh legs of Babel or vice versa. Neither would be able to play 90 mins regularly but rotating them would bring the best out of them. With Riise, Benayoun & Aurelio also able to slot in on the left, Rafa probably thought we were well covered in this position. This could still happen if Kewell can return, but if there's no sign of that by January and with Riise so abject for whatever reason, Rafa may decide it's time to strengthen this department.

I think the "something is not right" will only last until Alonso & Agger are back and we start to play controlled football again. The rotation debate has been done to death but Rafa will have learned a lot about his squad from the last few weeks and in particular about pairings that haven't worked. We will be seeing far more consistent selections once Xabi & Danny are back, maybe Kewell as well.

I don't think we are ready yet in the league. The players are struggling under the weight of expectation and we are not able to cope without key players because the squad isn't quite as good as we thought and some individuals are not contributing as much as they should (Crouch & Riise, for example who have played as though they know they are on their way out of the club). Rafa will have been very disappointed with his squad - I think he thought we are almost there bar Heinze, and now he realizes there is still some team building required. Reaching the top in the league is progressive, the players have to be tried & tested over the course of a full season or two, to suffer the hurt of failure and to develop the bond that produces a winning mentality. We are not there yet but I disagree with those who are saying we have regressed - no way, we have better players than last year, they now need some time.

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He has put himself under that pressure - firstly with the new owners by chasing their cash and also with his insistence on rotation when the world (inc most of us, the fan base) doubt it will work. It's that type of single-mindedness which will either take us to the top for a generation or catapult him out of the club to general ridicule. Pressure, what pressure?

He was a far better team player in his 1st year. Rafa used to say that he covered more metres than anyone but Momo and for a striker, that was exceptional. He was happy then to rely on his greatest strengths, bringing others into play and working the line. Now he seems to think he is Crouchinho, strolls round the pitch and when he has any space tries to score the sort of goal that is worthy of his international pedigree, instead of playing someone else in. He is too far up his own ass at the moment

After seeing Leto suffer through coming into a misfiring, unbalanced side with no experience, why on earth do respected posters think we should make the same mistake with Lucas? Babel has done nothing wrong and is far less of a gamble.The very last thing we want at the moment is more experimentation with formations & untried kids.

It does look like the players are confused and there are problems in the camp. Comes back to Pako leaving again possibly - the umbilical cord between the players & the boss is severed and there's a breakdown in communications.

d Leto was out of his depth e Crouch couldn't give a sh*t f Benayoun went missing g Rafa is too smart for his own good h ??

Disagree. It IS about rotation. There is just no sense in making 5 or 6 changes every game. For a team to perform well, the players have to know their own strengths & weaknesses, the right positions to take up to cover for your mate, to have developed an understanding of the players around you so you are aware of an overlap or a run into space. It's pass, move & support and the best at it are those who play together regularly and trust each other so it becomes 2nd nature. That was completelt missing from our game last night and we lost all semblance of shape very early on. Rotation is fine for a couple of changes a game based on form or fitness but wholesale changes every game is not going to work.

Thanks, that's explained it perfectly. I'm off to bed now, you've set my mind at rest.

When Kuyt plays we do play 5 in the middle, sort of. I have been a critic of Dirk but kinell he is a team player and adds that link between midfield & attack that was so badly missed tonight.

Could the rumours about his eyesight be true - ie that following the injury his sight is impaired by the glare of floodlights? I cannot believe how woeful he was - or how Rafa kept him on the pitch for 90 mins, he was a goal waiting to happen for much of the game but especially in the 10 or 15 mins before they finally capitalized on one of his awful mistakes

F*ck me, the 1st caller to 606 tonight said we should drop Gerrard, now it's Torres we have to worry about. Gerrard was fire-fighting all night to cover for Leto, Momo & Benny who were all shockingly inept. Torres is always at his best through the middle but was having to spin out wide while Crouch strolled around the park trying to look like a target man. We need Stevie & Torres on the team every week until we regain our form. The same goes for another 6 or 7 with just 2 or 3 others alternating.

That was excruciating. Our crowd are pretty clued-up believe it or not. They know Rafa is a great manager and he has put together the strongest squad for an age. But they also know that his selections & substitutions are more & more baffling. We are losing all semblance of shape & form and with it, all confidence. Yet one of Rafa's biggest mantras is winning breeds confidence. We can all see the sense in resting players from time to time but wholesale changes lead to a lack of understanding & cohesion. The only positive is that we now know how important certain players are to this team. Alonso, Agger & Kuyt in particular. The biggest negative is that some of the lads don't look like they can be trusted in their current form or attitude. Leto & Sissoko were so bad they can only be eased back into a winning side, not given the responsibility to turn around our present slide. Crouch gets the hook for a different reason - he is playing for himself not the team. Just have to hope that this defeat - which has been coming - will produce the wake up call the team & management needed.

What happened to one game at a time? Concentrate on beating Marseilles tonight, all sorts of things can go riight or wrong before we play Everton/Arsenal.

Spurs fan in our office thinks otherwise - they are sick that Jol has got his last second reprieve because they are still in the bottom 3 having won 1 game out of 8 and with Jol obviously a dead man walking they can't see any improvement until he's gone. The team are very brittle mentally, a complete shambles in defence, should have been spanked out of sight until O'Neill's tactical masterpiece and are still susceptible to a really humiliating defeat. They might be "up for it" at the start of the game on Sunday but if we score early enough their heads will drop and it could be ugly. End of mockering.

We have to keep one eye on the Spurs game and after witnessing their shambolic display last night (England's No 1 ) we need Sami & Torres on Sunday. Possession & experience are more important in European games so my team would be Reina Finnan Carra Arbeloa Aurelio Benayoun Gerrard Sissoko Riise Crouch Kuyt v Spurs Reina Finnan Carra Hyypia Riise Pennant Gerrard Mascherano Babel Voronin Torres Rafa will no doubt think otherwise!

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Like when he set up Torres' 2nd goal v Reading? Let's face it we have threads on here panning Mascherano, Kuyt, Gerrard & Riise plus a fair few having a go at Carra, Pennant, Aurelio, Arbeloa. If Sissoko had played more than 5 minutes someone would be writing him off as well. The team aren't playing great at the moment, we are misfiring all over the pitch but are managing to grind out results. Picking on one scapegoat after another is simplistic & boring.

No-one can argue with Rafa's main point - that you cannot expect any player to be at his peak for 60-odd games and there is more chance of a loss of fitness & form if they are over-played. Therefore, it's right to rotate your squad to keep players fresh for the business end of the season. That said, there are other aspects we can question and the idea of resting him for Birmingham then playing him in a less-valued cuptie when there's more chance of him getting clogged is one.

Rafa explained Torres absence from the start on Saturday was for tactical reasons not because he was being rested. If he starts tonight, that fits in with Rafa's comments that Birmingham would play deep so he thought Kuyt & Voronin were better options. Reading will be more expansive therefore it suits Torres game. Must admit, I thought Rafa was spinning a line but looks like he was deadly serious. He doesn't think of Torres in the same way we do (ie he is our best striker so pick him for all the important games) - to Rafa he is a possibility and will be selected when the boss thinks he will be more effective than any of the other possibilities.

That's because the rest of his posts are c***!