Reading Vs Liverpool (Carling Cup) Live on SS1 Its interesting to see what team will line out..my guess is a understrength one. Our next away Prem match is to Wigan so should we use this game to get our top players into some proper form or give them a week off and blood the youngsters some more?
Whats an understrength team though? Dont think we can afford to think of any of our games as more important than others. We should beat Reading and thats the end of it. Drawing our last three games is just not good enough.
I think our first team squad has so much strength in depth this season, that we are going to see alot of first team players involved here. And if last season is anything to go by, Reading will field an under strength team, so I'm confident of coming away from this one with a 2-0 win for the Redmen.
Cant see Reading taking this to serious, with their main concerned been staying in the PL' it should give us a chance to blood a few young players & also get back to winning ways! No point trying to second guess Rafa! but I'll give it a go Itandje Darby (SanJose/Arbeloa) Hobbs (Insua/Aurelio) Yossi,Momo,Lucas,Leto Lindfield, Crouch With Torres on the bench
here's my shout GK: Charles Itange (forgive the spellings) RB: Steve Finnan (Stephen Darby might get in here) CB: Jack Hobbs CB: Carra or Arbeloa LB: Fabio Aurelio LM: Sebastian Leto CM: Lucas Levia CM: Momo Sissoko RM: Yossi Bennayoun S: Peter Crouch S: Nabil EL Zahr (although I don’t know why Torres is in Squad if he isnt goin to play him)
Going by Itandje warming up pre birmingham game i hope he's not playing, he could'nt catch a cold. i actually thaught it was Sissoko. He's shocking!
although you can;t 2nd guess Rafa I;d be surprised to see Sami or Carra feature. with Agger out, we have no other cover
according to the tv today it looks like young jack hobbs will start alongside carra with itandje in goal (sorry terry) so lets see if hobbs can do better than the pre season games, he is one for the future and should play in these type of games to get valuable first team experience
On less! Rafa wanted to see how Carra & Hobbs play together! To be fair to the lad in pre-season he played the holding role in midfield & not his preferred positions CB I know Aurelio needs games under his belt coming back from injury but I do hope Rafa starts with Insua its only a matter of time before this lad breaks into the team & becomes the number one LB at the club the sooner the better for me! also might be a good game to give Babel a run in his natural positions up front but! cant see it happening
My guess is: Itandje Finnan Carra Hobbs Aurelio Benayoun Momo Lucas Leto Torres Crouch Gonna be a tough game, although I think Reading will probably play some fringe players also. I’ll go for a 2-1 win.
I would have thought Hobbs would have gotten a run out in centre mid seeing as that was where in played pre-season. Still, looking forward to seeing plenty of the young emerging talent on show tonight.
That would be the 11 I'd more or less guess will play tonight. Is momo fit and in the squad though? I'd have SG in for Momo/Lucas and possibly Darby for Finnan at RB
Think Rafa wants to see can he hold his own centre back 'cos of our shortage of fit central defenders at the mo with Dagger out. He could be needed in a Prem game if Sami or Carra picks up a knock. Would like to see Spearing get a run centre mid though
lets all hobbs gets a chance we are short on cover at centre half and the experience will do him good my 2 cent; Itandje finnan hobbs carra auereilo yossi lucas momo leto crouch voronin will reading put out a weakened team like in all cup competitions last year?
My 11 for tonight: 30. Itandje 17. Arbeloa 23. Carragher 46. Hobbs 12. Aurelio 6. Riise 11. Benayoun 21. Leiva 33. Leto 15. Crouch 19. Babel
What would peoples feelings be if Rafa starts Torres tonight ? Surely this is the one competition that you do "rest" your bigger players and give the lads not playing as often a run out.
I would doubt that Rafa would risk Stevie and Torres in tonights game and Carra as well. I would be nice to see Babel get a go up front he would be lethal there
dont matter what team rafa puts out 2nite, changes are for this game, not match against birmingham last sat. still raging over it! whats the point starting torres 2nite, last saturday was way more important and if he does start him, is 2nite more important then last saturday??