Right so, I gonna be positive bout this one and say were gonna break Chelsea's 4 year undefeated home record next Sunday. I'm hoping for a Crouch and Torres partnership up front and a 2-1 win. Think positive lads and ladies!
A win at the bridge would be a huge turning point in the season and Rafa's reign as manager i believe. To win at the bridge and break their unbeaten record would such a moment for the current crop of Reds. Big performances needed by all of the starting X1 and 3 subs if needed.
with some of their best players missing(terry/fat frank/drogba) this should be a good time to play them - even with the replacements they have - a positive 11 is whats needed out there - my line up would be Reina Finnan Carra Skrtel Riise Penant Masch Alonso Babel Gerrard Torres. Sneak a 2-1!
0-0 draw I feel... although I'd love to see us take their home record away, I cant see it happening next week. In saying that, Rafa needs to be positive with his line-up. Crouch & Nando up front would do for a start.
This lineup reminds me of wigan, i know your saying Gerrard up front put he cant do that,he always pushes back. Crouch with Nando for me.
reina finnan carra hyppia aruelio pennant gerrard masch babel crouch torres so many out of form players for us at hte moment. Even with a "depleted"chelsea line up I reckon we will lose. 2 nil. a draw would be a great result.
lfc4good this is a make or break game for raffa,i think he'll have to go for an all out attacking team with fat lamps not likley to be playing give gerrard a free role,crouch and torres up front i recon 2-0 will do
Even with them missing half their team they are still hard to beat and have Anelka up front now so have some firepower again. The Bridge is our bogey ground, we are playing utterly sh!te at the moment and thats against crap teams that cant defend or score, something the Chavs can do. Id be surprised if we managed a draw to be honest, and if we lose I wont be surprised at all. It might sound defeatest but you have to look at the form of both teams before making pie in the sky comments about going there and winning, we havent done that in years even when we are in form and play well there.
i remember similar scenario five years ago, we had not a hope and the New Zidane scored the winner. Maybe Kuyt will be the hero
What I would like to see us havin a go at the chelski from the start. Crouch n torres up front, some wingers as opposed to full backs on the wings. Then we might have a chance of beatin them, they’re fairly depleted at the moment. I expect to see kuyt playin and a very defensive line up all round though. They still have a lot of quality and if they’re allowed come at us from the start we could be in trouble. Hopefully I’ll be wrong tho…..
I reckon there's a good chance of Carra, Finnan, Kewell, Pennant and Kuyt all starting. They are 5 of just 6 players not on International duty. The other is Itandje but I have a feeling he won;t start
Would be great to see crouch and torres start this one, crouch will be busting himself for a good preformance after the league cup sending off. Should be going for this game, an away win in the bridge closing the gap on chelsea would be great for confidence Will echo the opinion though that rafa will go for Kuyt, unfortunately, and would be suprised if it isn't a negative line-up all round. Even so even if we were positive a draw would be a great result.
I think its a strange position Crouch is in at this stage, I think he knows Rafa doesnt rate him anymore despite having done nothing wrong apart from score goals something Voronin and Kyut cant do to save their lives. IMO he is only playing for his own pride and the supporters these days when he gets a go, Im sure he is secretly hoping Rafa does go otherwise he is gone. Problem is Rafa will sell him, keep Kuyt and Voronin and buy some other outcast or dig up a bosman and claim he has strenghted the team. Considering we need to beat Chelsea, no, hammer them to at least salvage some respect which other teams have lost for us, just look at Sunderland coming to Anfield and genuinely thinking they could win as proof, I expect Rafa to go for a ultra defensive 4-5-1 formation with Gerrard, Masher, Lucas, Kewell and Pennant across the middle with Torres up top, being the most unlikely formation makes it the most likely with Rafa.
I fully expect kuyt to start - no two ways about it. He may even start both riise and aurelio down our left side to curb SWP and belletti.Crouch and babel will prob be on teh bench. I think we're on a hiding to nothing here - considering we're playin crap, have schizophrenic team selections and are leaking goals from set pieces with reckless abandon i think 3-0 or 3-1 to chelsea. Not being negative, just totally realistic. IThe correct way to approach it is - well, we're crap, we play crap predictable pedestrian football, are overwhelming underdogs realistically and struggle to beat any team above 6th in the league, why not just go out and give it a hell of a lash. Babel and yossi on teh wings with beanpole and el nino up top and at least go down fighting. The submissive whimperin manner in which we've succumbed to defeats in these big games the past few yrs is crushing - at least look like yee give a damn.
+1 Well said lad, instead of being ultra defensive why not give it a go for a change. But while the current manager is still in charge we're just gonna have to keep on putting up with negativity as per usual 2-0 chelski
Good man, line it up for yourself so that even if we beat Chelsea it's not good enough. Do me a favour, being the first team to win at the bridge in what, about 100 games wouldn't be good enough? Start supporting and less of the agenda in the comments mate.
If you are going to take a pop at me for not supporting the team at least include the part of the sentence proving my point about minnows now coming to Anfield expecting to get something which means they have lost respect. Sunderland was our first league win of 2008, and beating Chelsea, while it would be sweet would be nothing more than a band aid on our severed limb of a league season.