Liverpool FC Forum

[BOODIDDY]

same as vila and anderlecht 3 points with the same personnel. Cisse and moro up front zenden in on the left.Play up pompey pomey get .

[jonnymac1979]

SPION STARTED A NEW THREAD WITH THIS BUT I'M DELETING IT AND PUTTING IT HERE.

All these call's for Crouch to be tigerish & Cisse to bag a few against a team we always seem to struggle against make's me wince. Because every time Rafa starts talking a physical game we seem to fail to live up to the hype. Zenden has come in for some good reviews & in my opinion was the best thing to come out of our last two games. He is'nt selfish with the ball & linked well with the forward play. Benitez seems to want to play his best eleven every game at the moment & is less inclined to tinker but Zenden has to be ahead of Riise & Kewell?

[Ciggy]

Riise fit to play

Liverpool defender John Arne Riise has been passed fit to face Portsmouth at Anfield this weekend. 
There were fears Riise would miss the match after taking a knock on his head towards the end of Norway's World Cup qualifier with the Czech Republic in midweek.
 
Riise was substituted as a precaution but the Liverpool medical staff have declared him fit for selection tomorrow when the Reds will go in search of their third straight Premiership victory.
 
Rafael Benitez reported no fresh injury worries following the international break and has virtually a full squad to select from for the clash with Alain Perrin's side.

Thank feck for that, Troare is a liabilty.

[RAFABENITEZ]

[drummerphil]

Two nil win for me,i wish i could say more 3,4,or even 5.......but are strikers are scoring at a rate of virtually 1 goal every 8 chances and until they become more clinical we wont hammer anybody.

[Ciggy]

???

[lawrenson_sarah]

I hope we get the full 3 points from this

[LFC_fan]

Risse has been declared fit to play tonight but somehow i don't think Rafa will risk him, even if he's fit, he did play the 2 matches over the last week for his country. Hopefully its warnock who gets the LB slot and not Traore. Expect Zenden to slot in at LM. Otherwise the defence should remian unchanged.

The midfield will be interesting though. Really wish that FSP will be given a run-out in games like this. Though ppl argue that one shdnt make too many changes (if any at all) to a winning team, but its games like this that we need to make full use of our increased squad. Gerrard and Alonso both had internationals over the week and Harry Kewell definitely won't be starting this one (he might not even be on the bench, Rafa'll most probably save him for the Betis game) Much as i would like to see FSP start against pompy, i'll be happy to see him make the bench in place of Kewell. Expect our midfield to line up as Gerrard, Hamman, Alonso, Zenden from right to left.

The midfield line-up is only pure speculation as Rafa has so many different options. But i'll like to see didi come into the side for this game. With Alonso pulling the strings in front of him, we should be fine. Another option is to rest Alonso, push Gerrard into the middle, put Finnan in RM and introduce "Oh no, i CAnt bear to watch" Traore at the back.

Don't think Rafa will risk Luis and he should be saved for the Betis game like Kewell. With all this talk about Crouch needing to be more aggressive, expect Crouch to start upfront. Like i said, i would very much like to see pongolle start up front with crouch like in the first champs league game against Betis (pongoelle's goal was a beauty) but either Cisse or moro will most probably get the nod. If either of them start alongside coruch, expect the other to come in sometime in the middle of the 2nd half.

In all, this is a game we have to win. No excuses. anything less than 3 points will be deemed extremely disappointing. Pompy's weakness is in midfield and with our current midfield, we should easily walk all over them. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that our strikers can do their job. Got a feeling Zenden will score (if he plays), with a couple of goals from our strikers, hopefully a certain mr crouch. He has my backing and i admit he certainly brings a different dimension to our game but being a striker, he really needs a goal now, if not to shut his critics up, at least to serve to boost his diminishing confidence.

Go Red Men 

[kopite]

Reina

                 Finnan              Carragher             Hyypia          Riise

                 Luis Garcia       Gerrard           Alonso                   Kewell

                                        Cisse           Nando

[stoney]

It's extremely unlikely that Kewell will start due to the games and all the travelling hes done with Australia. I think that Luis Garcia will probably start on the left as hes in red hot form  recently and with the hat trick for Spain however it could be Zenden.

[MilitiaRusher]

Most probable:

                    Reina

Finnan  Carragher  Hyypia  Warnock

Gerrard  Alonso  Sissoko  Zenden

           Morientes  Garcia

SUBS: Carson, Hamann, Crouch, Cisse, Josemi.

[Gareth G]

I think that'll be pretty accurate mate. I think we will take 3 point's today and another clean sheet.

[MilitiaRusher]

Official:

                   Reina

Finnan  Carragher  Hyypia  Warnock

Garcia  Gerrard  Hamann  Zenden

          Cisse  Crouch

SUBS: Carson, Morientes, Alonso, Josemi, Traore.

[drummerphil]

LIVE RADIO FEED.......http://www.quayradio.com/page.aspx?id=4

PORTSMOUTH RADIO STATION......click on windows media player or real player

[stoney]

Im going for a 3-0 win with Crouch to get one of them