fred milne

Agger would be the better bet.

I'd probably go with this: Reina Finnan Carragher Hyypia Riise Gerrard Sissoko Alonso Gonzalez Crouch Bellamy

He was you know.

Not in a million years.

Unless you tell Gerrard to sit (a waste of his talents), you would be relying on Momo to run the game from deep and I'm not sure he has the passing range and composure (at least at this stage in his career).

That's a great picture.

That's a good one but the one I was thinking of was taken a couple of seconds later.

The picture of Sami wheeling away in delight after scoring against Juve is one of my favourite images from recent years. I'd post it if I knew how....

They were both physically strong players with good stamina levels but that's where the similarities end for me. Hughes did a good job in midfield in the early part of his career but it was the move to centre-back that was the making of him.

Hughes is a good shout as one of the top 3 centre-backs but a better central midfielder than Gerrard?

Goalkeeper 1. Clemence 2. Grobbelaar 3. Lawrence Left Fullback 1. Lindsay 2. Nicol 3. A Kennedy Right Fullback 1. Lawler 2. Neal 3. Finnan Central Defender 1. Hansen 2. Lawrenson 3. Thompson Left Winger/Left-mid 1. Barnes 2. R Kennedy 3. Heighway Right Winger/Right-mid 1. Gerrard 2. Callaghan 3. Case Central Midfielder 1. Souness 2. Whelan 3. McDermott Striker 1. Dalglish 2. Rush 3. Keegan

He definitely scored in Euro 2004.

Good shout. That German lad at Man City would be perfect. I heard they picked him up on a free, too.

Slightly?

That's no surprise, as Sami is the better CB for my money. He'll go down as one of the greatest CB's we've ever had. His arrival kick-started the renaissance the club has had since 1999/2000 (FA Cup x 2, UEFA Cup, European Cup etc).

That's a better pairing than anything England could offer.

Giggs?

Not the best example.

I was actually thinking that you could argue Hyypia-Agger might be a more useful pairing than Carragher-Agger, if it weren't for Sami's age.

He was good in the air and could hit the odd decent diagonal ball with his left foot but there's more to being an outstanding centre-half that that. In the side he played in, I'd say both Wright and Scales were better defenders.

That's probably about right, although I think Alonso's form at the moment is better than Sissoko's. Maybe Crouch instead of Kuyt too.

Whilst he was no Yeats/Hyypia, Thompson was surprisingly good in the air for someone of his build.

I think you have to accept that all players come with deficiencies. The essence of a good partnership or team is that strengths and weaknesses are balanced out. You could make a case that, given Reina's qualities, aerial ability in the centre-backs is a more pressing need than pace.

I just don't think its about pre-season. My guess is that its down to some poor team selections from Rafa (e.g. using Fowler away from home, using Gerrard/Bellamy at LM) and some poor performances from key players (e.g. Carragher and Hyypia at Goodison), which in some instances may be down to a hangover from the World Cup and the amount of games we've played in the last 2 years. We always knew we had a tough start to the season when the fixtures came out but I thought we'd cope better than we have.

I don't buy that. We ended our pre-season by tubbing Chelsea at Cardiff without Sami, Xabi and Stevie. If that doesn't breed confidence, then I don't know what will.