Wigan .v. Liverpool

[Daz]

Back to the league and 3 points seemingly a must. Will Rafa be pigheaded and bench Torres again.? Surely not after last night.

My prediction, 0-2, Torres and Gerrard

[kelly jones]

Back to the league and 3 points seemingly a must. Will Rafa be pigheaded and bench Torres again.? Surely not after last night.

My prediction, 0-2, Torres and Gerrard

im going the game saturday if torres is not playing im going home!!!

[Kopite]

I hope he plays FT and Bennayoun, thought Yossi did really well last night drifting in from the right. Great goal too. You can never second guess rafa but. here is my shout for the team.

Reina
Finnan
Carra
Hyypia
Riise
Bennayoun
Gerrard
Sissoko
Babel
Torres
Kuyt

If this is the team and its a BIG if, i t would be the first competitive team this season without Arbeloa, but I stand corrected on that.

[Kopite]

another point, i didnt really think Mascherano had a great game last week V Birmingham like people say. Yes He made some super recovery tackles like he does but HE give the ball away numerous times aswell. I like the lad but It annoys me when people see 2 good contributions and say he was "great" but forget about 3 bad things.... for that reason I dont think he will start sat

[redeagle]

If Torres is dropped..regardless of the champions league match the following tuesday I will go ballistic.

I expect him to partner vornin up front.

[carramagic]

I would definitely like to see Yossi play - he has really impressed me. Pennant wasn't great on Saturday but is in great form so would like to see him play if fit also. If these two were wide would be interested in seeing Ryan Babel play up front with Torres, as I think he's more of a striker than a winger

[Phil!]

Pepe Reina
Steve Finnan
Sami Hyppia
Carra
Riise
Yossi
Stevie G
Mascherano
Babel
Torres
Kuyt
Strongest 11 apart from Agger-Hyppia i think should start most if not all games

[foreverred77]

...................................reina.......... .................................................. ......
finnan...........carra.......................hyppi a...............arbeloa......................
.................................................. .................................................. ........
yossi..............gerrard...................masch ................babel.......................
.................................................. .................................................. ...
..........................torres.................. voronin........................................

[YNWA]

Is it on tv?

[King of the Knackers]

Is it on tv?

Yeh its on Setanta Sports 1(i think thats the channel) on Sat.

From Setanta below actually

Rafa Benitez has refused to guarantee Fernando Torres a starting place in Liverpool’s next match against Wigan despite the Spaniard’s hat-trick in The Reds’ Carling Cup win at Reading.

Torres struck three times in Liverpool’s 4-2 win at The Madejski Stadium on Tuesday and in so doing gave vindication to Benitez’s decision to spend £24 million on the highly-rated star.

True to form, though, Benitez, who frequently rotates his side, refused to confirm Torres as a starter at The JJB Stadium, claiming the striker is at his best when given space to run in behind defenders.

“It was a terrific game for Fernando. When he gets space he can kill defenders,” said Benitez.

“If Kuyt, Crouch or Voronin were bad players I would play Torres every week but I have four very good strikers and that is why I will keep changing them.

“I cannot guarantee Fernando will play on Saturday because that will make it easy for Wigan.

“He knows why he wasn’t playing against Birmingham last weekend and he understands my reasons.”


He has to start Torres - he is our best striker by a country mile and we cant afford to not win against Wigan.

Benayoun has done well in the games for us so far,but Benitez seems to have this mentality that when playing away from home we need to start our physcially tougher players.
Dont think he regards Benayoun in that category (obviously last night was different) but i may be wrong or maybe Rafa has seen the light and will start him on Sat.

[King of the Knackers]

If Torres is dropped..regardless of the champions league match the following tuesday I will go ballistic.

I expect him to partner vornin up front.

That games on the Wednesday, just reminding you in case you are going over! ;)

[sean]

Hopefully we'll kick into gear in the league and take away 3 points from this one. Its an away game so always going to be that bit tricky, but I'd be looking at a 2-0 wins for the Reds.

[LOU2]

we need to win this one and use torres for the full 90 minutes and only wen we are comfortably ahead think of even taking him off. beleive me i think hes pretty energetic and doesnt need another rest for a long time. think they should give lanky boy a bit of a rest sorry bit harsh there but he is lol.......

[sameold]

Has to be 3 points. No more messing around.

[The Kopfather]

I do hope he plays torres but i have a funny feeling he won't. If he doesn't play we should still have enough to beat wigan (but i said that before the brum game as well)

3 points a must and i'm sure we'll get them

[sean]

There seems to be alot of feelings floating around that Torres must start this one, or else :rolleyes:

Listen, if Torres doesn't start, then he doesn't start. Should we end up drawing 0-0 again I'm sure Rafa would be lambasted left, right and centre for not starting Torres. But we have 3 other very decent strikers who should find Wigan a doddle. Kuyt will most likey get a go on Saturday, meaning Voronin, Torres and Crouch will be fighting for one position. I for one would almost hope Torres doesn't start, and we go out and win 3-0, because this Torres not starting ranting and raving is getting a tad obsessive and boringly predicable at this stage.

Rant over.

[REDHEART]

Hi lads new to the site.Lucking forward to some good debates with ye lads so......................here goes my first reply.Yes i will also go ballistic if torres does'nt start on saturday.Rafa is really starting to get up my nose with his team selections.Paying 26 mil for a top striker and all the talk of the prem being the number 1 priority and he does'nt even pick his strongest 11,very frustrating and annoying.I also think last saturday's game would have been ideal for Yossi.The type of player who could open up a defence like the birmingham one.like to see him given more of a chance even in the middle with stevie g.No need for a holding midfielder in a game like that,sure they just sat back and defended.And yes Mascherano gave the ball away a plenty against porto also but stevie g does it in every game and i don't hear to many ppl pick up on that.

[megager]

I dunno. I would have thought Birmingham was a gimme. I think Torres with one of Voronin/Kuyt/Crouch is always our best combination, I would rest Torres in Europe and cups if you have to rest him. We want the league more than anything now!!

When Torres is up front he has great awareness and movement, and creates opportuinites for his strike partners simply by creating space with runs. His partners then find more room and often score (Voronin in particular)

Any other combination drawn from Voronin/Kuyt/Crouch simply is not as potent from the outset. Defenders dont need to be on their guard as much as these guys dont creat the space or have the pace over a short distance that Torres offers.

My rant is Torres must always play league games, no exception. I got blisters on my finger tips

[REDHEART]

I dunno. I would have thought Birmingham was a gimme. I think Torres with one of Voronin/Kuyt/Crouch is always our best combination, I would rest Torres in Europe and cups if you have to rest him. We want the league more than anything now!!

When Torres is up front he has great awareness and movement, and creates opportuinites for his strike partners simply by creating space with runs. His partners then find more room and often score (Voronin in particular)

Any other combination drawn from Voronin/Kuyt/Crouch simply is not as potent from the outset. Defenders dont need to be on their guard as much as these guys dont creat the space or have the pace over a short distance that Torres offers.

My rant is Torres must always play league games, no exception. I got blisters on my finger tips


absolutly.torres should start all the leauge games so why does he not.raffa is a goon

[sean]

raffa is a goon

First of all its Rafa, not raffa :p

Also, to go calling a man who has taken us to two European Cup finals, an FA Cup and has set us up for plenty of future glory a goon is pretty blasphemous imho.

[REDHEART]

First of all its Rafa, not raffa :p

Also, to go calling a man who has taken us to two European Cup finals, an FA Cup and has set us up for plenty of future glory a goon is pretty blasphemous imho.


exactly it's your opinion,and thats mine.he breaks my balls tbh.and the football is just not good enough.truth

[megager]

I worship Rafa, but if we didnt make the champions league final last year, he might be under a lot of pressure now.

I love the guy, and I sing the rafa songs loud and proud. But if he continues to dabble with the first 11 and we drop points a lot of people will grow tired, as redheart has.

By the way Red heart, you fairly hit the ground running there. To call Rafa a goon in your second post shows guts. I foresee many controversial comments from you on the site. Makes for great debate. Welcome and we look forward to your posts.

[sean]

By the way Red heart, you fairly hit the ground running there. To call Rafa a goon in your second post shows guts. I foresee many controversial comments from you on the site. Makes for great debate. Welcome and we look forward to your posts.

Couldn't agree more with your assesment of Redheart, he drew his lines in his first post saying he was looking forward to plenty debates, and by the looks of things he ain't gonna let anyone down :D

Welcome aboard mate.

[REDHEART]

i'm just sick of all this rotation now.it's just very hard maintain any sort of consistency when you keep changing all the time.i mean he spoke last season at one stage of the mistakes he made in his team selection's with too many changes,and now he's still at it.i thought he would have learned hie lesson.i just can't see how the football can be good and entertaining either with all the chopping and changing.why not wait until a few months into the season ,or when we get injuries.but not after six games.i just could'nt beleive torres started last night.surley he's got to be starting the leauge games and if it's not working out then change things,but at least give us and him a chance to see.

i've come away so many times after watching liverpool games feeling very very frustrated with the quality of the football and the team selections.the football is too slow and can be erratic.too many player's giving the ball away cheaply.i think reaching the c/l final covered over alot of cracks last year.rafa has no excuse's now.he's been given the money he wanted.

[RedNip]

We need a win here we don't want to fall any further back in the league so this one is real simple play or best & strongest eleven we'll win if Rafa starts f**kin around with the team starts thinking to much about the opposition we'll struggle! Simple As....

[fitzpatrickgary]

absolutly.torres should start all the leauge games so why does he not.raffa is a goon

rafa a goon i think not u sure ur name is not big sam and are from the newcastle area
id like to see torres start with kuyt and yossi given another chance since he played well at reading but whoever starts 3 points is a must

[REDHEART]

rafa a goon i think not u sure ur name is not big sam and are from the newcastle area
id like to see torres start with kuyt and yossi given another chance since he played well at reading but whoever starts 3 points is a must

Well i don't hear of too many ppl agreeing with his decisions at the moment so..........................

[Fowler's God]

the team will be:

reina
finnan
hyypia
carra
either aurelio/arbeloa
yossi
stevie
masche
babel
torres
voronin

[Alex Raisbeck]

Get the focus back, get the goals flowing, get back on track.
Three points please Redmen.

[Beano]

Is there any word on the knock Torres picked up in the 2nd minute against Reading - any swelling after the game or is he fit to play ????

[thirty]

heskey not playing for them has to be a bonus for us, he had got some good form back and his confidence was high after his ebgland call up, their other strickers are not threatening at all

[yodabenitez]

Football supporters are a wonderful lot really.

The man who broke the Madrid / Barca hegamony in Spain and delivered 2 CL finals winning one in four years is a 'goon'.

Why is this hugely capable man a goon? Because he makes selection decisions that he thinks are in the best interests of LFC. The 11 that started against Birmingham should have been more than capable of getting the result necessary.

How many years did it take blotchy face to build a title winning side?

I would prefer to see FT start league games also but it ain't my decision. Criticism and argument are fine on these things but I think insults and name calling should be left to the tabloids.

In any event if you listen to Benitez it's about players being fresh during the course of the season not tired, there is a difference.

[Elnino_the_kid]

Reina , Finnan , Carragher , Hyypia , Arbeloa , Pennant , Gerrard , Mascherano , Babel , Torres , Voronin

thats your starting 11 tommorow , well my opinion anyway

[megager]

Football supporters are a wonderful lot really.

The man who broke the Madrid / Barca hegamony in Spain and delivered 2 CL finals winning one in four years is a 'goon'.

Why is this hugely capable man a goon? Because he makes selection decisions that he thinks are in the best interests of LFC. The 11 that started against Birmingham should have been more than capable of getting the result necessary.

How many years did it take blotchy face to build a title winning side?

I would prefer to see FT start league games also but it ain't my decision. Criticism and argument are fine on these things but I think insults and name calling should be left to the tabloids.

In any event if you listen to Benitez it's about players being fresh during the course of the season not tired, there is a difference.

I am a goon!!! and proud:D

[callyno3]

reina
finnan
hyypia
carra
arbeloa
benayoun
gerrard
mascherano
riise
torres
kuyt
3 points a must !! Fancy stevie G to fet back to form after some poor performances.

[REDHEART]

Football supporters are a wonderful lot really.

The man who broke the Madrid / Barca hegamony in Spain and delivered 2 CL finals winning one in four years is a 'goon'.

Why is this hugely capable man a goon? Because he makes selection decisions that he thinks are in the best interests of LFC. The 11 that started against Birmingham should have been more than capable of getting the result necessary.

How many years did it take blotchy face to build a title winning side?

I would prefer to see FT start league games also but it ain't my decision. Criticism and argument are fine on these things but I think insults and name calling should be left to the tabloids.

In any event if you listen to Benitez it's about players being fresh during the course of the season not tired, there is a difference.

point is last season he admitted he made mistakes with his team selections,that there were too many changes to much rotation.so i take it he has'nt learned from his mistakes as he's making the same mistakes again imo.

last season was a huge backward step from the previous season in the leauge in terms of were we finished how far behind we finished and the quality of the football.for me the quality of the football is still not good enough.not entertaining enough.

are you entertained by the football liverpool play.

for me it's not all about winning.i want my team to produce good entertainging,quality football.success will come with that i think especially with the players we have.

fo me it's very hard to maintain any sort of consistency if ya keep chopping and changing all the time.give players a chance to get used to playing with each other.there's only 1 way to do that.

there's no disputing rafa's achievments in europe.but tbh the football in the european games is boring.maybe thats just europe.the leauge is what your measured by,it's the yardstick,it's your bread and butter.

a very frustrated liverpool supporter.

[robbie st leger]

Birmingham was a crap result but were much better off than this time last year so it's not all doom and gloom however it's these matches we need to perform better at and bag the 3 pts as mancs and chelski will get better so we need to keep the slim margin we have in our favour - 3-0 to the reds!!!

[REDHEART]

point is last season he admitted he made mistakes with his team selections,that there were too many changes to much rotation.so i take it he has'nt learned from his mistakes as he's making the same mistakes again imo.

last season was a huge backward step from the previous season in the leauge in terms of were we finished how far behind we finished and the quality of the football.for me the quality of the football is still not good enough.not entertaining enough.

are you entertained by the football liverpool play.

for me it's not all about winning.i want my team to produce good entertainging,quality football.success will come with that i think especially with the players we have.

fo me it's very hard to maintain any sort of consistency if ya keep chopping and changing all the time.give players a chance to get used to playing with each other.there's only 1 way to do that.

there's no disputing rafa's achievments in europe.but tbh the football in the european games is boring.maybe thats just europe.the leauge is what your measured by,it's the yardstick,it's your bread and butter.

a very frustrated liverpool supporter.

and the point about keeping players fresh.sure he could have started torres against postsmouth rested him at porto started against birmingham and rested against reading.same difference really.:confused:

[Beano]

While everyone is calling for Torres to be a must in the starting 11 , i feel that it's time Pennant is dropped and Yossi get a run in the team.

He has impressed me so far while i get so frustrated watching Pennant. I was screaming at the tv for him to be subbed before he got sent off in Portugal.

Riise might have a tough season too - looks like Arbeloa is getting a game each week and has become a firm fav with Benitez

[Alex Raisbeck]

reina
finnan
hyypia
carra
arbeloa
benayoun
gerrard
mascherano
riise
torres
kuyt
3 points a must !! Fancy stevie G to fet back to form after some poor performances.

Wouldnt say he has been poor.

So he hasnt scored a 30 yard screamer to win the game in the last minute.
Neither did anyone else....

[foreverred77]

This is a message to redheart, look eveyone was frustrated with the game with birmingham and especially the performance but tis gone now and nothing can get those 2 points back,check out paul tomkins on the lfc official website he usually speaks sense and puts things into perspective, not having ago at u cause i like every other red was gutted with last week, lets get the season back on track tom at wigan.

[clarni]

Reina
Hyypia
Riise
Arbeloa
Carragher
Gerrard
Benayoun
Mascherano
Sissoko
Voronin
Kuyt

And hopefully Torres will come off the bench to score another hat trick

[Beano]

--------------------------reina--------------------------------

finnan -------23 carra gold - Arbeloa --------- Riise-------------

Yossi ----- Stevie G -------- Mascher ----- Babel---------------

----------------- Crouch -------- Torres ----------------------

[YNWA]

Looking forward to a nice riot this afternoon, another 4 would do me!

[JOE]

The big question for me is whether Torres will play...After previous failures to secure three points, I think we might, just might see him get two games in a row...

[marko]

RAFA PLEASE !!!
Start Torres!!:confused:

[REDHEART]

This is a message to redheart, look eveyone was frustrated with the game with birmingham and especially the performance but tis gone now and nothing can get those 2 points back,check out paul tomkins on the lfc official website he usually speaks sense and puts things into perspective, not having ago at u cause i like every other red was gutted with last week, lets get the season back on track tom at wigan.

no probs m8.no offence taken or anything like that.it's not just the changes that frustrate me it's the quality of the fooball aswell.too many long aimless balls in some of the games e.g. first half against sunderland,last week against birmingham.too many player's giving the ball away cheaply.the football in alot of the games can be a bit slow too.too many good attacks break down all too easily.i'd like to see midfielder's come and take the ball of the c/b's and work it from there.does'nt happen enough for me.pennant gets a lot of the ball in good wide area's,but still feel he does'nt provide enough good crosses for the amount of chances.he should be wiping in them balls.now in saying that i do beleive h e has improved since he joined the club.:)

now it is still early in the season.and if some of these player's are to gel i think they need to be playing together regurley.and surley he has to start torres today.to guy is obviously hungry to play after his hat- trick midweek.does this not show he's also a player bang in formyou've got to be playing player's in form imo.

[Gerrard85]

for the love of god play torres 2day!! please dont let me down rafa

[foreverred77]

torres playing yipee!

[JOE]

There is a Rafa... (sorry god)

[Elnino_the_kid]

Torres is looking menacing again , all we need is 1 goal and the floodgates will open

Half time 0-0

[RedWally]

Kirkland is doing well. Is Pat Dolan dieting??

[D5Hoop]

Torres is looking menacing again , all we need is 1 goal and the floodgates will open

Half time 0-0


Brick wall defence , need a score soon.

[redeagle]

aaaaaaaaaaargh...

need a goal out of somewhere!

[D5Hoop]

aaaaaaaaaaargh...

need a goal out of somewhere!


get in ................:)

[D5Hoop]

get in ................:)

Not good to see the crowd trouble :mad:

[RedWally]

Very well taken goal by Mr B!

W

[i8blueshite]

http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=1423084

Link for Goal

[D5Hoop]

http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=1423084

Link for Goal

That was quick

[i8blueshite]

http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=1423087

Fighting in the crowd after first goal :S must of been a few reds in the Wigan end

[D5Hoop]

3`points and job done.

[i8blueshite]

Great result, long time coming but thats a great win !

Cmon the Redmen

[redeagle]

lol, how we managed to win that is beyond me. Well done rafa for bringing on yossi so early.

More improvement need though.

[scousedub]

Games like today are the ones we would have drawn last season, so happy days!

[RedWally]

Dodgy at the back.

[The Kopfather]

Yossi, you little egg

Back to winning ways

Come on the brums

[Alex Raisbeck]

Just what the doctor ordered.
Think Riise has seen better days.

[Gerrard85]

very happy with 2days result. wasnt the greatest performance by any means but the lads got stuck in and grinded out a very important win. any team challenging for the title has to win games like these and to still be unbeaten this season at the end of september is very impressive. have to admit i was very against signing yossi and didnt think he wud make it at anfield. but two cracking goals in two games has really turned me. we wudnt have won 2day without his creativity and lethal finishing. he's now scored more goals then pennant at liverpool! keep up the good work yossi

[thirty]

a win is a win as they say, we played poorly, hard to pick out a player who played well, our sub yossi got man of the match so that sums up the performance of the starting 11, kuyt very poor again, i would rather see yossi play in behind torres but that will never happen

[YNWA]

Yossi came on at 56 mins, thats an improvement from Rafa's usual, all they need is the extra few!!! :D

Great win, Yossi looking good, two goals now in two games, and really went for it, we always say make a name for yourself when Rafa throws ya on when we're not looking too good, and Yossi certainly did!

[Fowler's God]

The performance was desperate lads in all fairness. Auerlio,Carra and Mascherano were the only players who started that deserve praise. Torres wasn't given the supply he needs, Stevie G as usual tried the spectacular pass every time and didn't come off. Yossi came on and brought something different. The result was needed but things need to improve from now on. Wigan passed us off the park in periods of the game and Arbeloa is a not a right back, Big Sami although a legend will get caught out against better opposition so badly need cover at centre back which we don't have.

Rafa is the man to lead us to the title but needs to change things earlier. Pennant was awful, only for he setup the goal apart from that he did feck all. Babel should have been used. We might have a good squad depth but worryingly the quality there is worrying when we can't break down Wigan or get supply to Torres regularly.

[REDHEART]

http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=1423087

Fighting in the crowd after first goal :S must of been a few reds in the Wigan end

was thinking the same meself.was'nt too lomg after the goal the troulbe started as far as i can remember.:confused:

[carramagic]

Thought Riise was poor and Arbeloa awful - he got skinned more times in one game by Koumas than Finnan has done in his whole liverpool career. Arbeloa is a good player but not a patch on Finnan. Finnan has gotta start right back in the next game. Didn't think Carra was great today. Pennant wasn't himself but in fairness remained willing to attack and set up the goal. Brilliant composure by Yossi

[Beano]

As per my previous posts - Riise looking out of form and Yossi proving he has earned his spot in the team.
I think Yossi could take Pennants place although i did think JP played better this week than in previous weeks - still not good enough for me

[foreverred77]

3 points in the bag thats the main thing i tht aurelio distrubution very poor today.

[Steve]

very good performance by Yossi and by Carra too...it was a fundamental match...

great result.

[LOU2]

good 3 points on the table should start to build confidence and with confidence comes more goals

[sean]

Sweet result, and at we've gotten our league season back on track. Was a little nervy towards the end myself but we can look forward to the Spurs game next Sunday looking to start a bit of a run in the league.

[reder]

http://www.d1g.com/video/show/?id=1423087

Fighting in the crowd after first goal :S must of been a few reds in the Wigan end

Was a proper scrap. Went on for a good few mins. Thats the tail end of it. About 6 or 7 rows of people going at it big time. Police just stood there and watched it. There were minor incidents in other home stands as well during the second half.

Poor performance overall but a win is a win.

[MCCARTS]

What a great turn and goal. Torres looked good and sharp

[fitzpatrickgary]

fantastic turn and finish by yossi he has played well in the last two games
we didnt play well but got three points, last season we would have lost a game like that .

[rampant hair]

Was a proper scrap. Went on for a good few mins. Thats the tail end of it. About 6 or 7 rows of people going at it big time. Police just stood there and watched it. There were minor incidents in other home stands as well during the second half.

Poor performance overall but a win is a win.

hardly............... 4/5 lfc in home end found out when yossi scored and were jumped on by gang of wigan and chased out . Police couldn't get to them in time as they were blocked by other Wigan fans

[Pimboli]

What a great turn and goal. Torres looked good and sharp

Torres looked good for a 15 minute burst in the first half but seemed to be on the edge of the game for most of it I thought.

Although I didnt agree with the comment that Torres' performance after the game vindicated Rafas rotation policy (I do believe Torres/Kuyt should start every league game) it did prove Torres isnt a machine that we can expect to net against the crapper teams each week.

[rampant hair]

the midfield was completely bypassed by our long balls from Carra/sami and the full backs, masch was poor and SG on the fringes. 'the best midfield in the world' song is ringing hollow at the moment.

[Trevinem]

completely agree with you mate. why have a midfielder like SG and play long balls from Reina and Carragher all day! Sure if that the way Rafa wants to play it he should ask Niall Quinn to come out of retirement!! Penneant is rubbish. Id start Yossi over him anyday

[carragherisgod]

Relief. Thought it was going to be another one of those "oh to many days we had last season" results. Hope this is our turning point. We really do need a good run. I feel if we get a good run we'll actually pull away from the other contenders. I don't think Arsenal have the quality throughout their squad to make a lasting challenge. If they keep their key players fit they'll be there or there abouts though. Chelsea are rubbish at the moment. Can't see them challenge either. I think it's us or Man Utd to be honest.

[Pimboli]

completely agree with you mate. why have a midfielder like SG and play long balls from Reina and Carragher all day! Sure if that the way Rafa wants to play it he should ask Niall Quinn to come out of retirement!! Penneant is rubbish. Id start Yossi over him anyday

I thinks its Sammi's fault, he has always favoured the 'hoof' and when Rafa talks about playing the ball over the top for Torres he probably thinks this is what that means.

It is something that is creeping back into the Liverpool game and Crouch has gotten most of the stick for it with Liverpool trying to use his height but as we all know Crouch is probably the crappest header of the ball at the club, he just angles his head and lets the ball hit him.

[Kopite]

When we have struggled in away matches last season and the season before we are not going to suddenly this season play brilliant football and hammer teams away from home. The 3 points is the "b all and end all". Great goal from Yossi, people flared up about FT not starting V Brummie but maybe is was Yossi that we needed for a bit of magic. Shame he missed it because of his faith but thats life. Hes a good lad.

[Fowler's God]

the midfield was completely bypassed by our long balls from Carra/sami and the full backs, masch was poor and SG on the fringes. 'the best midfield in the world' song is ringing hollow at the moment.

How you can say Mascherano was poor is beyond me. He was our best player along with Carra until Yossi came on. The midfield we started with didn't offer much. Gerrard seems to be in another world when he is trying to pass a ball he was poorer than most on the pitch. I mentioned it earlier he trys the spectacular pass to often and gets us into trouble. He needs to stop trying them all the time, a simple pass wouldn't go astray..plus his comments before the game didn't help in questioning Rafa's selection. He is supposed to be our captain at times he doesn't act like it off the pitch as well as on it.

When we lose possession it just seems normal and no one reads the riot act. If you watched the Premiership last Saturday night, John Giles although a eejit at times made a good point along with Souness when possession was lost with a bad pass or that the player would get a rollocking in their day but it just seems the norm with us. Stevie needs to do this more i believe and stop acting like a muppet in the papers questioning his manager not the sign of Captain Fantastic he is made out to be when he pops up and saves us on occasions its great don't get me wrong but theres more to been a Captain than doing that. Setting an example for the rest of the players to follow. At times like these i wish sometimes Carra was the Captain...

[rampant hair]

You are criticising gerrard's passing and saying masch had a great game?

His passing was appaling. One (hollywood/spectacular ball) especially straight into Kirkland's hands. Got dispossed a couple of times too, taking too much time on the ball. Gave away some stupid free kicks. He was way off the pace as he has been since coming back from Oz. Michael Brown looked good in the middle which sums up BOTH our central midfielders

[RastaRed]

We won ugly like all premiership contenders should do. Masch is class, one of our better performers(and there wasnt many)on Sat, rather have him than that headless chicken Momo any day of the week. SG still looks rusty but will be back to his best soon enough, Yossi with his 2nd cracker in a week should be starting, can open up defences but the most worrying thing about Sat was Riise and Arbeloas performances which were absolutely shocking