Benitez has a duty to put England first

[CarraLegend]

all that has happened is that Stevie is nicely match fit for Saturday.

 

Shouldn't we wait and see first?

[abc]

Thought he played well, but defensively he got caught out of position a few times.

 

Thought he covered the backline very well. In the first half he made two important interceptions, both of which were subsequently highlighted by the MOTD crew.

 

As for Gerrard, I was watching closely, he was not too involved in the moves in the first 20 minutes. In the second half he saw more of the ball, and there was more space for him to attack. Defo not as influential for England as he is for us, even with the license to play further forward.

[fyds]

i reckon playing 160+ minutes in four days after a few weeks sitting it out will have taken its toll on Gerrard. i'd be damn surprised if he started against pompey.

Was thinking the same thing - he looked cream crackered way before the end.

[Rimbeux]

Was thinking the same thing - he looked cream crackered way before the end.

 

 

Cos he was steaming about trying to be everywhere. I thought it was an odd game from him in some parts, almost like he was trying too hard to make an impression in the second half, trying to get a goal or something. There was a time after half time when the game opened up dangerously for England (all the back four made errors and had a wobble under pressure) when I thought he should have sat in for a bit and help keep the ball, but he was bombing ahead of Owen half the time, almost as if he'd been given a hurry up to get upfield. Barry was excellent

[growler]

the thing is, you know next game that lampard and rooney will walk back in, regardless of the performance tonight. Thats why players get hacked off at MancLaren and england. It doesn't matter how well you do, its how big you are as a name. Lampard and Gerrard should be playing for the same spot in the england team, with Carrick, hargreaves and now barry playing to play along side.

[Alonso]

the thing is, you know next game that lampard and rooney will walk back in, regardless of the performance tonight. Thats why players get hacked off at MancLaren and england. It doesn't matter how well you do, its how big you are as a name. Lampard and Gerrard should be playing for the same spot in the england team, with Carrick, hargreaves and now barry playing to play along side.

Not forgeting Beckham for SWP and G Neville for Richards.

[McBain]

i reckon playing 160+ minutes in four days after a few weeks sitting it out will have taken its toll on Gerrard. i'd be damn surprised if he started against pompey.

 

Deffo wont be in my Fantasy Rafa team

[Cunny]

Don't forget we have Porto on Tuesday.

I can see Xabi and Momo starting against Portsmouth with Gerrerd on the bench.

Gerrard and Mascherano will start against Porto.

[Tommy Cockles]

Was thinking the same thing - he looked cream crackered way before the end.

 

Well that was kind of my point. He will have benefited from the run out and will be fitter for Saturday as a result.

 

Had he not played the England games (as many wanted) then he would have been out for a month at the time of Portsmouth. As I did point out earlier in the thread, not that I can be bothered finding it, or indeed that anyone is ar*ed...

 

As it is now he should be in decent enough nick. Sure he could have been kicked up in the air, but so could he be in training or on Saturday.

 

I don't really care for international football but I thought that these games were actually well timed for Gerrard (subject to him feeling fit enough to play) from a LFC perspective.

 

High quality reserve games

[D.Boon]

Lampard and Gerrard should be playing for the same spot in the england team, with Carrick, hargreaves and now barry playing to play along side.

 

Undeniably correct. I have Hargreaves ahead of Barry still only because i think against really good teams he is a better disruptor of play

[Stevie H]

can see gerrard being on the bench saturday.

[Leo No.8]

Torres played a full 90 for Spain last night as well (scored and was excellent by all accounts).

 

I wouldn't feel entirely comfortable without him or Gerrard playing from the start; those two give us that pace and thrust so we're a bit more laboured without either.

 

Personally I'd start both and if they tire taker them off for the last 20-30 minutes. Yes we've got the CL on Tuesday but if the league is to be our priority this year then we need to put out our best team possible in what, as has been said is a big game in terms of defining the season.

 

Give key players a rest at home to Birmingham if necessary.

[Raj]

did you enjoy the 'team' performance?

 

 

 

I'd rate the performance as an 8/10. There were a lot of positives, hopefully SCS will realise that the best 11 players do not make the best team. I was really pleased for Heskey too.

 

Hopefully the re-emergence of Heskey and Barry will mean that we never have to see Alan Smith and Jermaine Jenas in the squad again.

[Huyton_Red]

I wouldn't feel entirely comfortable without him or Gerrard playing from the start; those two give us that pace and thrust so we're a bit more laboured without either.

 

I would agree with that

 

Rest them for the porto game, saturday is more important that Tuesday for me, but as other posters have said I think we will go sissoko/alonso and crouch/voronin sat and mascerano/gerrard and kuyt/torres tuesday due to the internationals, mind you I think voronin played twice for the ukraine, dont know about Kuyt so he may start with crouch on Saturday instead of voronin

[Falconhoof]

I can't see Gerrard playing, he looked fatigued for much of the game last night.

 

Kuyt was a sub (unused I think) for Holland last night, Babel played 90 minutes.

[Tommy Cockles]

I think Gerrard will start, they were his first games for a few weeks, his fitness has built as a result. Its early in the season, both England games were at home ergo no travelling. I can't see a problem. Portsmouth have a pretty forthright style, I think we need his presence.

 

IF there is a choice in starting at either Porto or Portsmouth ( incidentally have we ever had consecutive games against teams starting with PORT...) then I think Pompey is the choice, but I don't see that it needs to be a choice, personally. He's a fit lad, rest him against Birmingham if he needs a rest.

[fyds]

Fit lad yes, but not match fit and they threw him in anyway. His legs will be like lead today, he'll be stiff as anything. I would be very surprised having played two competitive internationals and run himself ragged while carrying an injury and without prior match fitness if Rafa plays him.

[IgPig]

I reckon Rafa is more likely to rest him for Porto, if he's reasonably OK.

 

He's never been too bothered about resting Gerrard in Euro games, much to the bafflement of Andy Townsend and Robbie Earle.

[Tommy Cockles]

Fit lad yes, but not match fit and they threw him in anyway. His legs will be like lead today, he'll be stiff as anything. I would be very surprised having played two competitive internationals and run himself ragged while carrying an injury and without prior match fitness if Rafa plays him.

 

Fair enough, but then you only get match fit by playing matches, which what he has done.

 

No doubt he is stiff today but a massage & a light train tomorrow & he should be OK.

 

Wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't play but wouldn't be surprised to see him start either. Mascherano's travels surely rule him out after all.

 

Anyway we'll see, looking forward to going down there, and they've even given us a roof...

[Rimbeux]

Fit lad yes, but not match fit and they threw him in anyway. His legs will be like lead today, he'll be stiff as anything. I would be very surprised having played two competitive internationals and run himself ragged while carrying an injury and without prior match fitness if Rafa plays him.

 

 

Depends on the player, I remember Rafa saying some players needed up to 72 hours (48 for most) to fully recover from playing whereas others, I think he mentioned Momo, could play next day if needed. From the way he's used players I'd say Alonso is in the longer bracket, but not Gerrard. I think it's more key that he was able to run around as he did yesterday for 90 mins, 2nd game in 4 days after being three weeks out, showed he had more in his legs than on the Sat. We'll see I suppose.

[Coyler]

Depends on the player, I remember Rafa saying some players needed up to 72 hours (48 for most) to fully recover from playing whereas others, I think he mentioned Momo, could play next day if needed.

That was when we had Pako ...

[cymrococh]

That was when we had Pako ...

I know footballers are thick, but surely they can remember what they did before and just do it again.

[Coyler]

I know footballers are thick, but surely they can remember what they did before and just do it again.

Have you seen Bolton this season?