alias75

Looks like one of those players Wenger signs, very good technically, very comfortable on the ball and very explosive, i think Rafa still hasnt figured out the best way to use him, id like to see us try a 4-2-3-1 with Mascherano and 1 other sitting (ideally Alonso) with Gerrard on the right with a lot of attacking license and Babel on the left with maybe Yossi supporting Torres. He certainly gives us something we havent had for a while and thats a winger / forward with explosive pace and power and very good technique.

Interesting point, i guess if you take all those players / partnerships at their best you could argue we've not progressed, but i think the current team playing at its best is more than a match for Geds team playing at its best. Reina is a better keeper and Agger gives us a dimension at the back that neither Henchoz or Hyppia at thier best had, midfield is a close run thing think Pennant v Diouf is debatable the truth is probably neither are good enough for us. Up front Torres is a much more complete striker than Owen although the Owen / Heskey partnership at its best is better than anything we've seen so far but with Torres only being here a few months he needs a chance to form a partnership with someone. There have been times under Rafa where we've resembled that Valencia team that was so impressive, when we play that way we're almost unstoppable, i think defensively we're better under Rafa than we were under GH in Reina we have a keeper that allows us to play higher up the pitch and in Agger we finally have a CB capable of starting the play, i also think under GH whenever we conceded the first goal we struggled badly, i think the current team playing to its best is a much more dangerous side going forward. I think the problem at the moment is too many players arent performing at the level they can and as a team we're also struggling. But overall i think we have a stronger squad and if this current team plays to potential we're better than Geds team although theres not much in it.

hes not a CM he can play centrally but only in a 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 in a 2 man midfield he simply doesnt do enough defensively or have a big enough physical presence. You need someone like Benayoun in the opponents final 3rd not having to worry about tracking midfield runners etc... id like to see him given a chance there because i think we badly miss a quality number 10 and he could fill that role, but at the moment we're struggling for CBs so i think 3-5-2 isnt a possibility at the moment. We could play something like this though.......... ..................................Reina..................................... Finnan.............Carragher.........Hyppia.................Arbeloa .........................Mascherano.....Lucas....................... Gerrard.....................Benayoun...........................Babel ................................Torres................................

id be tempted to go with 2 more defensive type midfielders until hes back, Mascherano plus either Sissoko or maybe even Lucas with Gerrard wide right. Have the 2 protecting the central defence allowing Gerrard the freedom to attack without having to worry about exposing Hyppia and Carragher.

Quaresma or Riise? mmm let me think.... you could also use a lot of those adjectives to describe Ronaldo would you take him?

I agree with that, theres not a lot Rafa can do about individual errors or players not able to pass the ball to a team mate (although he does pick the team and he must know this is a weakness in someone like Sissoko) BUT for me its more about our style of play. Rafa has a clear philosophy he likes his teams pressing high up the pitch playing at a high tempo, that hasnt been there the last month, we know the players work on this during training why arent they translating that on the pitch? Of course having to play Hyppia has meant we've had to defend deeper and thats affected the way we play at our best, pressing high up the pitch and when a team comes to defend with 10 men behind the ball you cant play that way but the frustrating thing over the last few weeks has been its not until we've gone behind that the team has shown any urgency and when we have shown that urgency we've looked uch a good side. Why dont we start games with this attitude?

posted a thread about this after Marseille, all the players talk about how hard they work on the training pitch moving as 1 entity whether attacking or defending, at Valencia they were such a well oiled machine, the way they pressed all over the pitch we've seen glimpses of it here where we've looked unstoppable unfortunately those performances have been the minority not the norm. there really doesnt to be a pattern of play at the moment at the start of the season that high tempo pressing game was there all of a sudden we can't string 5 passes together. Obviously 2 of our better passers are injured so that could be a factor but at Valencia when someone was injured or rested there didnt seem to be a problem. i still think the balance of the team isnt right, our wide playes arent good enough and we lack a real top quality number 10 to play with Torres. Gerrard is our talisman and hes not performing to the level he should be.

break could be a blessing for us, like last season too many of our key players simply arent performing, its very easy to criticise Riise or Pennant or Kuyt but Gerrard has been poor for the last month and Carragher hasnt looked the same with Sami, we need these 2 to lead the way every week and they're not. Cant wait to have Xabi and Agger back they should help us keep the ball better, on the plus side we're still unbeaten and not out of the title. Despite what everyone thought at the start of the season the squad clearly needs improving, Crouch looks gone and Riise too hopefully Rafa can improve the team in the window although that could be a problem getting top quality players in January form teams still in the CL.

no defenders on the bench? guess Riise can cover left back and Arbeloa right back and CB

I have a sneaky feeling we could be back in for Alves, he clearly wants to leave, now Mourinho isnt at Chelsea that may have changed his mind about them a little, the only reason he hasnt gone yet is no one is prepared to pay Sevilla's valuation for him. With Arbeloa playing really well at left back and with Insua progressing nicely maybe Arbeloa wont be Finnan's long term replacement. Alves as we know can cover right back plus right wing where we still need improving (imo) Crouch has looked like dead man walking for a while now, if we can get 12million plus for him we have to take it, Babel can cover the 4th striker position but that money can be spent on someone like Quaresma. I also think Riise is on his way he simply hasnt figured in enough games this season which clearly shows where Rafa has him in the pecking order, with Insua in the wings and Arbeloa making left back his own, we should cash in while we have the chance, despite his limitations im sure theres plenty of PL teams that would pay decent money for him. How stronger would the side be and how much of a better balance would we have with Alves and Quaresma!

I like Crouch but its clear he isnt handling being rotated, when hes called upon he hasnt performed well enough to justify being a regular. We have to cash in now while he still has a high profile, ive no doubt we could get between 10-12 million for him, maybe a little more. Theres also the fact that we play a much better style offootball when he isnt in the team. I also agree that if Crocu is sold it should be Babel that takes his place and we try and sign someone like Quaresma with Babel being a backup for wide left and striker.

I think this can work if you have the right players, at Valencia whoever came in did their jobs. It seems some of our sqaud arent happy with being rotated and when their called upon their performance suffers, Crouch is the obvious example. But if you compare that with Mascherano who doesnt play every week but doesnt moan about it and generally has been superb when called upon. If Rafa is going to rotate which we know he is, he needs players that are strong enough mentally to be able to handle it, i think Rafa will have learnt a lot over the last few weeks about which players can cope and which cant.

I get the impression that Rafa thought he had 2 players for each position all of similar ability that patently isnt the case, Torres is head and shoulders above our other strikers and Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano are much better all round players than Sissoko. Wide left is still a problem but its clear Leto at the moment isnt as good as the alternatives. We know how ruthless Rafa is im sure 1 or 2 players already have their cards marked (im thinking of Crouch and Sissoko) the wide positions still havent been sorted. Id sell Crouch in the window use Babel as his replacement and also as an option for wide left and sign a quality wide player like Quaresma. Im also not convinced Pennant is good enough to be in our strongest 11 and would also consider selling Sissoko and signing a wide right player.

Lucas has to be a better option than Sissoko for those home games where we see plenty of the ball, from the little we've seen of him he keeps it simple and doesnt give it away much as you'd expect from a Brazilian, when we play at home and see lots of the ball we cant have Sissoko trying to link the play his passing is simply too inconsistent. If Leto was deemed good enough to start yesterday Lucas should be too, lets face int in hindsight he would have been more effective than Momo. I think we arent far off from seeing Alonso and Mascherano in the middle with Gerrard wide right again and given license to roam, Pennant may be a decent player but i think we have to do better and Yossi isnt a wide right player.

Im a huge fan of Rafa but i agree with a lot of that, he thinks he has 2 or 3 players for each position which is true but you get the impression he thinks they are all equal which is clearly wrong. I have no problem with rotation providing the players are happy, if you compare someone like Mascherano who comes in when called upon and hardly ever plays badly with someone like Crouch its clear some players can handle it and others can't. Rafa has to identify those players that can't handle rotation and get rid, because he isnt changing the way he does things. You get the impression now that Rafa is sticking two fingers up to his critics every time he picks a team thats worrying, theres also the possibility now that the players know that a bad result will be blamed on rotation, most of our squad are good professionals but for 1 or 2 that may be enough for them to under perform.

Benitez places a huge emphasis in training on getting the team pattern of play right, Torres has talked about the team movng together whether we're attacking or defending, given this its particularly worrying that in our last few games theres been no real cohesion, no pattern to our play, no real movement off the ball if this is what we're working on all the time in training why isnt it happening? At our best under Rafa we have resembled the brilliant Valencia team, when the team plays this way we're unstoppable, but how many times have we done that? Valencia played that way almost all the time. Whats the reason for this? Does rotation mean the players cant gel and strike up those partnerships? Defence is an area that hasnt been rotated too much and in that respect we have been very consistent, midfield and upfront is chopped an changed and it shows. Maybe the players we have arent tactically smart enough to carry out Rafas gameplan, Valencia were a well oiled machine all their players knew their jobs and did them, when he rotated the new player coming in did a good job. It cant be a coincidence that since Alonso's been missing we've looked aimless. I hope this is another case where these poor performances are a blessing in that its showing Rafa who isnt up to it, and who cant cope with rotation we know how ruthless he can be i think a couple of players already have their cards marked.

Rafa Benitez reflected on Liverpool's 1-0 home defeat to Marseille and admitted it had been a poor performance from his side. The Reds boss was at a loss to explain Liverpool's inability to create clear-cut chances and believes his team must now put the defeat behind them and focus on Sunday's Premier League match against Spurs at Anfield. "It was a poor game," said Benitez. "We did not really play well and gave ball away too much. "We couldn't create a clear chance until at the end of the game when we had a few corners, but it wasn't enough. "We know in football you need to win and what we must try to do is win our next match and see what happens in the future." Think Rafa will be pretty angry although he also has to look at himself and wonder if giving someone like Leto a start in a CL game was the right descision. Its clear our squad is strong but it maybe isnt as strong as Rafa thinks, i think the main problem isnt the quality of some of our players more that some players don't like being rotated and their form has suffered, i think this is particularly true of Crouch, Sissoko.

With the players we have in reserve he shouldnt be near the first team, why not play Babel if your not playing Riise? Don't want to judge a player on the back of a few games especially in a new country but let him play in the reserves and get used to things, not a CL game which we need to win. And tonight he was one of 9 poor performances.

Spot on since the international break we've been so poor, Porto away was embarrassing how poor we where in possession, the same tonight. I don't have a problem with rotation in principal but you need the right type of players for it to work well, i think at the moment we have a few players that arent happy playing once every couple of weeks and thats effecting their performance, the problem is they arent playing well when called upon so that isnt helping things. I think especially Crouch and Sissoko are struggling not playing often and no disrespect to Leto but he should be nowhere near the first team for this type of game.

Momo should never play in this type of home game where we have to create, hes bad on the ball at the best of times but this was so bad. Hes great in those tough games where he can spoil the opposition midfield and not give them time on the ball but at home in a game where the onus is on us to create he just gives the ball away far too much. The question is can you keep a player thats useful for maybe 6-8 games a season? Probably not.

Quite telling that Riise isnt figuring much at the moment, Rafa obviously isnt happy with him either at left back or left mid.

I agree the hype around these young players is ridiculous but its nice to see we are trying to get the best 16-18 year olds in the world, it'll be interesting to see if he plays for the U18s at all or whether he'll go straight in with the reserves. all the reports ive seen say hes very talented so while of course he shouldnt be compared to a proven world class player like Messi its great that we have another very highly rated young player. The youth cup team should be pretty interesting this year with also guys like Pacheco eligible.

Sid Lowe is the guy on Talksport, says Madrid are very upset to lose this kid they saw him as a great prospect and especially with Messi doing so well at Barce this was a chance to prove they can also develop young players. Thinks money was obviously a factor in him moving, plus the reserve setup in England is better than in Spain. Sounds like we've got a very good young player, and with the other new signings i think our young teams could be interesting to watch in the next few seasons.

the Spanish expert on Talksport is going to be talking about Bruna soon if anyones interested.

You just have to think Rafa was being honest when he said he thought the 2 strikers he selected for the game against Birmingham were the best 2 for that game, where there wouldnt be much space in behind. I guess this means Torres will play most away games where there will be more space and he could be on the bench at home against teams that will pack the defence. I think eventually Torres will become one of those players you dont rest unless you have to but for the time being be prepared for him to be "rested" often too.