alias75

the revenge factor could also work against Milan, Gattuso today was like a man possessed and if things start going against him he could be a walking red card. Im more confident than last time but its still an even game, stopping Kaka will be half the battle.

We are better than 2 years ago and they are a little worse without Schevchenko and a few of their defenders that were old in 2005 are 2 years older. But they are coming into good form and in Kaka they have the best player in the world at the moment. We need to focus on stopping him and if we can do that it will go a long way to winning the match. Last time we were big underdogs this time i think its much more of a 50/50 game but Kaka is the obvious danger that we must stop. Could be Sissoko's job to stop him like he stopped Xavi and Deco against Barcelona, or maybe it'll be Mascherano and a Brazil v Argentina game within a game.

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=4...es+Milan+repeat Rafa Benitez believes Liverpool will meet Milan in this season's UEFA Champions League final. The Spaniard has predicted that the two sides could contest the final in Athens in a repeat of the epic showpiece in 2005. Liverpool face holders and favourties Barcelona in the last 16 and Benitez is confident his troops can cause an upset again like they did against Milan two years ago. "I think the final will be Liverpool v Milan and that we will win again. It's sure," Benitez told Corriere dello Sport. Liverpool face the daunting task of Barcelona this week and Benitez has hit out at critics who have ruled out his side's chances of progressing. "In football there is nothing impossible," added Benitez. "We are ready to astonish you once again. "Whoever sees us as victims is wrong. We were the same also against Milan in Istanbul's final and to those who see us already beaten by Barcelona, I suggest to see how that match ends."

Are they like WBA but worse?

I think it was pretty telling tonight that in our most important game of the season Rafa went with Macherano and Gerrard. Rafa has always seen Alonso as his voice on the pitch in these key games. Alonso's recent form hasn't been great but he hasn't been poor either, but now we have Mascherano who can arguably play that position better. In an ideal world this will bring the best out of Alonso but i have a sneaky feeling he'll move back to Spain and maybe he'll be used to get someone we want that plays in Spain. Maybe the emergence of Pennant means Gerrard can play primarily as a central midfielder if we sign another right sided player we can now trust him and Pennant to cover the right side, meaning we probably do have 1 too many players in the middle, especially as the quality of player we have there it means 1 of them probably isnt to going to play as much as they should.

So who we signing from Spain Figaro?

What about the bright yellow kit? we've worn that in Europe too havent we?

He was the one signing this season id didn't think would make it but hes proved me wrong, hes improved as the seasons gone on which is what you'd expect for a new player at a new club. On current form he has to be in the first team his delivery is very good and he should hopefully only get better next season. I thought we'd wasted all that money based on his first few games but hes looking like a good signing.

could be used as a make weight for Richards

Wouldn't blame Carson at all if he wanted 1st team football, if it was an older keeper in front of him he should stick it out, but Reina is going to be here hopefully for the next 5-10 years. Tough to lose a very good keeper but at least after a season with Charlton his value is much more than we paid for him. Think we could get 4 million plus for him. Hes under contract here so he cant hold us to ransom and he could be used to get another player.

Agree with that, if we have a realistic chance of getting him i think we should go for it, hes someone that could be a top player for us for the next 10 years, you cant really put a price on that, 10million plus seems a lot now but hes only going to get better, even if he doesnt become real world class hes someone that can play in a variety of positions for us for the next 10 years. I think hes already shown he has what it takes to be a top PL player, physically hes as good as anyone and the other aspects of his game will improve with experience.

Think Paletta will improve greatly with a season on loan to a club in the championship. He needs to get used to the pace of the game over here.

According to the BBC this is the squad thats traveled. Not sure how accurate this is... Liverpool (from): Dudek, Arbeloa, Paletta, Hyypia, Riise, Zenden, Sissoko, Mascherano, Pennant, Bellamy, Kuyt, Fowler, Crouch, Padelli, Gonzalez, Anderson, Alonso, Agger. Likely team from that lot would be... Dudek Arbeloa Hyppia Paletta Riise Gonzalez Sissoko Zenden Pennant Fowler Bellamy

If form for the reserves is anything to go by Hobbs should be in there ahead of Paletta but Paletta seems to be ahead of him. Thats pretty much the team i was thinking maybe Insua on the bench or even starting if we're short of left sided players we cant afford an injury to Riise.

Rafa quoted in the Echo that a few of the young lads could be in the squad for Portsmouth, think that gives us a good indication of how he'll approach this game. Im expecting all our fringe 1st teamers to start and maybe even 1 or 2 young players.

Well done to the kids and Heighway but i agree a lot with the above point. The primary purpose of the Academy must be to produce players for the first team, of course thats much more difficult at a club like Liverpool than the majority of PL teams because the competition is so fierce and anybody looking to make that breakthrough has to be a very special young player. I think we have to look at the Academy as a place where top young players get the best chance to make it as a pro, occasionally someone special will make the step up, but we have to accept that this isnt going to happen every season. The way we make the Academy pay is making sure the quality of young players is such that even if they arent good enough for us they can have a career lower down the leagues, that way we can get fees for these players. Players are making the step up at an earlier age now, so someone very special aged 17-18 will most likely already be playing first team football somewhere, i dont think we're going to see many cases of a player coming through the academy and into the first team, if they are good enough they'll probably make the step up into the first team at an early age like Owen and Gerrard did. Theres also someone like Carragher that wasn't spectacular at a young age but through hard work, and unbelievable desire and consistency has turned into one of our key players, maybe some of the kids from this team could do a similar thing, i see maybe a few Carragher types but no Owen or Gerrards in the current crop.

I just think the atmosphere will be such that the players will come out firing i think having our strongest side available and being nice and fresh is far more important than 3 points against Portsmouth. Chelsea will be killing themselves for 3 points against Bolton we have the luxury of not having to do that this week, we should use that to our advantage.

Exactly you just have to have faith that the atmosphere will have the boys adrenaline pumping and they'll start much faster than yesterday. Im sure Chelsea will be cautious from the start so that should hand the initiative to us. risking anyone that will start on Tuesday would be stupid. It wouldnt necessarily have to be a bad injury though, the game against Chelsea is only 3 days after Pompey even a slight knock or muscle strain would rule somebody out. Let chelsea bust a gut on Saturday while all our starters rest and get ready for Tuesday.

Guess we'll have to disagree i think at this stage of the season the players have had plenty of match sharpness, at the end of the season its much better to be fresh, these guys have been playing week in week out for months missing 1 game 3 days after a CL game wont lose them any sharpness. I just think we started cautiously yesterday and Chelsea took the initiative, how stupid would it be if we lost 2 or 3 key players to niggles in a pointless league game. Theres only a short turnaround after Pompey for the CL game so even a small knock could rule someone out, we shouldn't start any of the players that will start on Tuesday if we can get away with it.

If the players cant get up for Tuesday they may as well give up playing football. No point risking injuries to most of our key players in a pointless league game.

Maybe Insua will start this one? We dont have many options on the left so cant really afford an injury to Riise this week. Dudek Arbeloa Hyppia Carragher Insua Gonzalez Sissoko Mascherano Pennant Bellamy Fowler

In a weird way it'll do us good, Chelsea do have a slight advantage as we didnt get the way goal and that may put a little bit more pressure on them, they are expected to get through now. But as we know Anfield on European nights is unique and if we start well and get the first goal they could buckle. I make Chelsea slight favourites but this tie is far from over.

Lets hope we can put some pressure on the ref on Tuesday night and Crouch may get the benefit a few times.

I think it depends on who you can replace him with. I think most would agree hes been a good player for us this season, but if we can sell him for a decent profit and that allows us to sign someone like Eto, or Villa then no matter how well hes done we'd have to do it, because those players are a level above Bellamy. We know how pragmatic Rafa is and if improving the team means selling Bellamy he'll do it.

Henry likes to drift on the left "when" we sign him we may need to stop looking for a traditional left winger as he plays a lot out there anyway.