alias75

to be fair our back 5 hasnt really changed that much this year, Agger has come in and i think done enough to be first choice when fit, his overall play has been superb but he should be in there simply for his distribution which we badly need from one of our CBs. I think the rotating hasnt helped but i can understand why its been done, on the back of a world cup players need time to recover unfortuneately we've had to blood more than half a team of new players as well and on top of that our key players are badly out of form. If we remember last season Rafa rotated quite a lot for the first third of the season but then settled on 90% of the team which played (inuries permitting) most of the games, and the results picked up, we need to get to that position again and players need to find form. The league has gone but the ability in the team is still there, i think we're potentially a better team than last season and the season before and so if we can find some form and a settled team we may peak in time for one of the cups.

wont happen, Rafas been banging on all year about keeping his players fresh so why play them midweek in a nothing cup that he really couldnt care less about? We'll probably see Paletta, Zenden maybe Gonzalez and Fowler but also lots of ressies.

I get the feeling hes out thinking himself too much in this league. The PL isnt a very techncial league sometimes with his team selection hes been too clever i understand his thinking about trying to keep the players fresh and with CL games being so important thats a consideration when we have midweek games, but its so important to start the year well to get some momentumn and once again that hasnt happended. I dont see other top teams that had many players involved in the world cup rotatting as much. Even Chelsea with all their resources keep 90% of their team the same most weeks. Last season it took Rafa a while to get a consistent team selection but when we found that formula we went on some great runs, at the moment, our key players arent playing well which makes things harder. So yes Rafa must take some of the blame, but our key players like Stevie, Carra, Alonso, Sissoko arent playing well.

Theres always the chance with this team in one of the cups but obviously the league is well and truely gone already. The fixture calender wasnt kind to us this season with all those early KOs at the beginning of the season and some real tough away games first up, the team isnt playing with any confidence and the constant changing personell isnt working. I think Rafa had a poor 2nd season at Valencia too but that didnt stop him winning La Liga the following season, this year we've had to implement almost half a team of new players and given Rafas importance on his players knowing their role in the team there was always the possibility that so many new faces would take time to gel. Theres also a couple coming to the end of their time at Liverpool, Agger should now be first choice centre back we lack someone with his ability on the ball from the back and Sami is looking more and more like a player coming to the end of his career at the top level, Gonzalez has shown glimpses of what he can do but he still looks like he feels he needs to prove himself and so far he hasnt been able to relax and just play his game, that will come with more time in the first team. So obviously everyone is dissapointed at the moment, the team isnt playing well but i do think we are a stronger squad compared to last season but at the moment we have too many players not playing to form and too many players still settling in, i expect things to improve as the season goes on and i also expect Rafa to have a more consistent team selection as the season progresses, this is similar to what happended last season but eventually Rafa struck on a core of 8 or 9 players that played most weeks, we need to get to that point again. ive written this season off and we may not even make 4th spot at this rate, but i have total confidence in Rafa to build a very strong squad of players, we already have that now, the new players need time to settle but im happy with almost all of them, who knows we may peak just in time for another crack at the CL. So yes its dissapointing at the moment especially given the hope going into this season but with another huge turn over of players i always thought it would be crucial as to how we started the season. We've been very lucky to have had so much success in the last 5 years in truth given the players we've had we've probably over achieved in terms of winning silver ware. Dont lose faith in Rafa, hes shown at Valencia he can come back after a poor season and win the big one.

I think we're all missing the key news... "Liverpool striker Salif Diao is set to join Stoke on a three-month loan deal. (News of the World)" No wonder hes been so poor for us the poor lads been playing out of position all this time.

Notice he scored for Depor on the weekend, anyone know how hes been going this season? With no real cover for Finnan im sure Rafa is keeping track of how hes doing and i think we have a buy back clause with Depor if we want him back within the next 2 years.

posted over at the betfair forum this morning someone claiming the club has been sold to an unnamed Irishman and it is a total takeover whch will be announced soon. no details given and of course its probably rubbish but there are a few knowledgable people on that forum. Have any Irishmen been linked before?

I understand we're going to be on TV a lot but so far this season its ridiculous. Sheff Utd - early KO West Ham - early KO Everton - early KO Chelsea - early KO Next week Spurs early KO and then the week after Bolton is an early KO All this plus we've had to play CL in between, why have all our games so far been early starts?

just think if Rafa wants a more attack minded team with 2 out and out wingers thats going to leave us more open at the back and thats where Sami's lack of pace gets exposed badly. Agger has that little bit of pace and agility to cope in those situations i think before the end of the season it will be Carra and Agger that are first choice although im sure Sami will play his fair share of games this year.

I havent given up hope yet, i get the impression that Alves is a pretty loyal person and our early interest in him may be the key. Also the fact that Madrid are in Spain could work against them as the player may want a new challenge in a new country. Still think this could happen next season.

Im currently in Oz and it was in their press this morning that Neil is about to sign, the way the article was written made it seem it was a done deal. Could be a decent right back option if Krongkamp is going plus he can cover centre back.

hes bound to be faultless the next time we play Charlton! Im going to be interested to see how well he does with less pressure on him. He has put in some good performances for us but most games featured at least 1 c**k up. Still remember those long legs saving the day a few times especially during the CL run wish him all the best.

I probably havent watched him play as much as you but that perfectly summed up my opinion of him from the time i have seen of him. Hes no frills but does everything you'd ask from a striker scores goals and works for the team his attitude is first class. I think footballers with that type of attitude can go far and are much more valuable than someone like Ibrahimovic who may have more ability than Kuyt but shows it once every 3 or 4 games (or when they feel like it) whether Kujt is in form or not you are guaranteed a level of commitment from him which will always benefit the team. Whenever ive seen him play i always think that hes the perfect Rafa player because he will give everything hes got for the team. Thats not to belittle his ability because he has plenty of that too, but i think his greatest assett is his attitude, very similar to guys like Shearer and Lineker who both werent technically the greatest players but made the most of what they had and made up for that lack of ability which a great worth ethic and an ability to find the net regularly.

may not have signed though plenty of trialists play in friendlies.

Going to Switzerland in the mountains is great preperation, also playing teams 2 and 3 weeks ahead of us in terms of fitness can only help in the long run. It gives the players a reality check im not sure when Hafia start their season but we should be closer to them in terms of fitness also when it gets to playing the first league game we may be at a higher level having played these friendlies and also the game in midweek. Of course ideally you wouldnt lose so badly but almost every goal conceded has been an individual error, mostly from players that wont figure much this season anyway.

We have to remember too for a lot of our first team players that was only their 2nd run out. Gerrard and Carra havent played before the last game and Alonso either im sure Rafa knows what hes doing, the players will rest from now until wednesday and should be ready for that one. Playing games while your also doing a lot of fitness work is bound to affect how the players perfrom im sure Rafa has it all worked out, of course it would be better to win these games and get some confidence up but a win on Wednesday im sure will erase all memories of these friendlies.

I guess you've got to trust Rafa and the way he does pre-season its all about getting the players right for Wednesday and the following games. The players have commented how tired they've felt during the games because the training has been so tough and im sure the players have told to be careful with a big game on wednesday. We have also played teams well ahead of us in terms of fitness and im sure that was a deliberate descision to give the players a reality check. Hopefully when the serious stuff starts the players will be ready.

Thankfully only one of them is a 1st teamer, but our squad players should be good enough too, hope its a bit of triedness with the pre-season, the key is to start winning from wednesday onwards. Bit worried about Finnan, has he figured in preseason yet? We're going to need our first choice back 5 available.

Never great to lose a game 5-0 lots of individual errors throughout pre-season, lets hope the last 2 games are the wake up call the players need. Huge game on Wednesday and now they know they cant take it easy.

We havent been able to get him on the ball enough this is where we miss good passer like Alonso and Gerrard in the midfield, when hes had it hes looked a little nervous maybe, i think once hes done a few good things his confidence will grow, a couple of times he could have taken his man on or taken the shot but chose to pass, i think thats just a lack of confidence. I know these games are all about fitness and Grasshopper are well into their season but i would like to see us a bit more organised. We're supposed to have at least 2 options for each position but in this game we're still playing people out of position and with only 1 up, im not sure if Anderson is supposed to be supporting Bellamy but he hasnt been that close to him all half.

Grasshoppers are obviously much fitter and better organised, we have too many players playing out of position im not sure why since we have plenty of players for each position. Defensively we look all over the shop really and im not sure where Anderson is supposed to be playing. One bright spot is Sissoko who looks ready for the season already.

Formation? ----------------Reina----------------- ----Hobbs-------Hyppia---------Paletta Anderson-----Zenden--Sissoko-----Riise--- Pennant-------------Bellamy------------Gonzalez

Team in full: Reina, Paletta, Hyypia, Riise, Hobbs, Anderson, Zenden, Gonzalez, Pennant, Bellamy, Sissoko. Subs - Carson, Kromkamp, Gerrard, Carragher, Crouch, Traore.

Think its live on channel 5

http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?..._Nightlead.html could be back on according to SportingLife the article also says Diao and Troare could both be off to Charlton.