Liverpool FC Forum

[tubby]

I really hope Babel gets a chance playing up front. He shaped up very well when he came on v's Chelsea and nearly scored a cracker.
Dont want to see him getting frustrated by a lack of first team football.

Yeah he looked very comfy playing the lone striker role, much better than Keane did. I have a feeling though he will only be utilised in that position in emergencies.

[GYBS]

This is a big must win game - cant afford to ruin the result on sunday with a poor result here . Thinl our cb pairing goign to be crucial to counter the threat os crouch and defoe . would love to see big sami there for his advantage in the air but worried he may get burnt apart by defoe so think agger going to have to look after defoe and carra going to look after crouch . this going to be a hard game - in some ways harder than sunday .

[aCe']

mmm... tough one to call but it being a home game i think a win is surely a must..
Crouch and Defoe are a real handful when given time and space but i dont expect us to allow them either...
Key to me is stopping their left side (Traore and Belhadj)... two very technically gifted and tricky players who can open up defenses with their runs...

Shouldnt be much trouble stopping them if we play our game and try to keep it simple and compact when we dont have the ball.. nothing special about them and id even go as far as saying that if we score early on .. with the confidence levels we are at atm this could turn out embarrasing for them yet again !

[heimdall]

This is a big must win game - cant afford to ruin the result on sunday with a poor result here . Thinl our cb pairing goign to be crucial to counter the threat os crouch and defoe . would love to see big sami there for his advantage in the air but worried he may get burnt apart by defoe so think agger going to have to look after defoe and carra going to look after crouch . this going to be a hard game - in some ways harder than sunday .

?? WTF How can playing Pompey at home be harder than trying to beat a team with a 4 year unbeaten record??
Why are you all so worried about Crouch, there was a bloody good reason why we sold him you know!

I'm predicting a 3-1 win to us.

[GYBS]

Its called complacency after such a big win at the weekend .and we sold crocuh cause he wanted to start every game no because rafa didnt want him - remember rafa wanted him to sign a new contract . he is still a dangerous player .

[Paul 08]

Portsmoth won't be easy they may have lost harry but the pompey players will want to show they are god enough with out him so we have to play like we did against chelsea so not stoke

[Bermenstein]

This is a big must win game - cant afford to ruin the result on sunday with a poor result here . Thinl our cb pairing goign to be crucial to counter the threat os crouch and defoe . would love to see big sami there for his advantage in the air but worried he may get burnt apart by defoe so think agger going to have to look after defoe and carra going to look after crouch . this going to be a hard game - in some ways harder than sunday .

?? WTF How can playing Pompey at home be harder than trying to beat a team with a 4 year unbeaten record??
Why are you all so worried about Crouch, there was a bloody good reason why we sold him you know!

I'm predicting a 3-1 win to us.

I Think what GBYS means is that this is a new kind of pressure for Liverpool.

Being at the top, Staying at the top. The pressure to keep on winning now.

This is now the new test. Not being the underdog.

So games like Liverpool V Portsmouth become tough. Just like the Stoke game, where teams will come and defend in numbers, hoping to hit on the break.

[JC_81]

Crouch and Defoe are a real handful when given time and space but i dont expect us to allow them either...
Key to me is stopping their left side (Traore and Belhadj)... two very technically gifted and tricky players who can open up defenses with their runs

Entirely agree with that mate.

Crouch and Defoe are good strikers, but they both rely heavily on chances being created for them (neither are renowned for creating their own chances out of nothing).  Therefore they can only be as good as the service they receive.

I'd make no special changes to our back line for them (such as bringing in Hyypia to deal with Crouch in the air), I'd simply make sure we sent out a strong team with our usual tactics, and as long as we control the game and take our chances we won't have to worry about Crouch and Defoe.  Their left is the danger though, no doubt about it, but as long as Kuyt does the same job as he did on Cole yesterday we don't have to be too worried about that threat.

The most important thing for us is mentality for this game.  If the players show up expecting just to have to show up to win then we probably won't.  We need to be on our toes.

[GYBS]

This is a big must win game - cant afford to ruin the result on sunday with a poor result here . Thinl our cb pairing goign to be crucial to counter the threat os crouch and defoe . would love to see big sami there for his advantage in the air but worried he may get burnt apart by defoe so think agger going to have to look after defoe and carra going to look after crouch . this going to be a hard game - in some ways harder than sunday .

?? WTF How can playing Pompey at home be harder than trying to beat a team with a 4 year unbeaten record??
Why are you all so worried about Crouch, there was a bloody good reason why we sold him you know!

I'm predicting a 3-1 win to us.

I Think what GBYS means is that this is a new kind of pressure for Liverpool.

Being at the top, Staying at the top. The pressure to keep on winning now.

This is now the new test. Not being the underdog.

So games like Liverpool V Portsmouth become tough. Just like the Stoke game, where teams will come and defend in numbers, hoping to hit on the break.

spot on mate

[kunilson]

them losing 'arry may have come at just the right time for us, we need to take advantage and really go for this one........nothing less than 3 points. and a convincing win would be nice

[account deleted by request]

Next 4 matches :-

Next up for big four (and Hull)

*Liverpool
Tomorrow Portsmouth (h)
Saturday Tottenham (a)
Sat 8 Nov West Bromwich (h)
Sat 15 Nov Bolton (a)

I would think we should be in with a good chance of 12points out of 12 especially if Torres comes back sooner rather than later.

*Chelsea
Tomorrow Hull City (a)
Saturday Sunderland (h)
Sun 9 Nov Blackburn (a)
Sat 15 Nov West Bromwich (a)

I would expect Chelsea to get 12 points ..... but we can always hope!
*Hull
Tomorrow Chelsea (h)
Saturday Manchester United (a)
Sat 8 Nov Bolton (h)
Sun 16 Nov Manchester City (h)

Presumably the end of Hulls top 4 ambitions but a little luck and they could do us a big favour.

*Arsenal
Tomorrow Tottenham (h)
Saturday Stoke City (a)
Sat 8 Nov Manchester United (h)
Sat 15 Nov Aston Villa (h)

Hard run of games for the Gunners but a win against the mancs could see the mancs desperate for points.

*Manchester United
Tomorrow West Ham (h)
Saturday Hull City (h)
Sat 8 Nov Arsenal (a)
Sat 15 Nov Stoke City (h)

Routine 9 points with only the game against Arsenal to be concerned about..... but you never know!

[Lando_Griffin]

Let's hope they come to attack, not sit their a*ses in front of their goal for 90 minutes.

[redsince2001]

i don't care how ...we win ...as long as we WIN !
but  some of the movement at the bridge was excellent ...
(specially that passing flowing move satrting from our box to the other end only
the final pass from gerrard to reira was a touch heavy ..otherwise ould have been one of the goals of the season )


anything similar to that and this one's in the bag ;-)

[Owzat]

Same again for me .... same team, same formation as against Chelsea, and hopefully the same result as last season. Bring Torres on to get a little run out once we are comfortably infront. If Gerrard or Kuyt need a rest take them off after the third goal goes in.

I am feeling quite confident 

I'd keep the same defence, perhaps play Kuyt and Babel up front with Pennant on the right and Riera on the left. Save Keane for the spudz games coming up, we've given Keane plenty of opportunity up front and I think we need to try alternatives, not saying he should just be permanently benched, but how many chances do others get? No league goals, Kuyt was slated bigtime for his poor goalscoring record in the league, all it is with Keane is "give him more time", "he will come good", blah blah blah. How about Babel or N'Gog or anyone else getting a look in, you can bet they wouldn't get regular starting slots if they scored two in 12 starts.

Will we win? We should, it is at home and Rafa has lost only once to Pompey. Our home record against them is a bit patchy under Rafa, two wins but also two draws.

Last four at home vs Pompey

04/05 Liverpool 1-1 Portsmouth
05/06 Liverpool 3-0 Portsmouth
06/07 Liverpool 0-0 Portsmouth
07/08 Liverpool 4-1 Portsmouth

Oddly enough we played pompey at home last season the game after we'd played Chelsea away, albeit in the League Cup (lost 0-2) That was on the back of three defeats in four games, away to Reading and at home to the mancs being the other two defeats.

Pompey aren't the best travellers, last season they won nine but also lost nine on the road. This season they've lost half their away games. Man City stuck six past them at COMS, Chelsea put four past them at SB and away in the League Cup just days after that Man City pasting.

Portsmouth away

07/08 P19 W9 D1 L9 F24 A26 PTS 28
08/09 P4 W1 D1 L2 F3 A10 PTS 4

They can leak goals, they conceded three away to Braga last week, which is another reason to play two up front.


Liverpool of last season, even at times this season, would probably struggle in this. Maybe this is the real test of our credentials, we can't afford to take our foot off the pedal and a lot of other fans are knocking our title credentials as they're just waiting for the first slip up. In truth I think a lot of us are fearing it too, we need players to hit scoring form and we can't keep hoping and waiting for one above all others to come good when it could be that blind faith that costs us points. Torres and Kuyt are our form scorers, if Torres isn't available then Kuyt arguably should be playing up front. He may miss a few, but he has the knack of scoring when needed. Only one of Kuyt's goals this season has not won us the game - and against Standard Liege his goal won us the tie. Keane's goals have gained us one point we might not otherwise have had, one that we could have lived without. Two in that AM game might have made all the difference though, one won't see us through but two might have left us needing one point from three games ..............

[Number 9]

Next 4 matches :-

Next up for big four (and Hull)

*Liverpool
Tomorrow Portsmouth (h)
Saturday Tottenham (a)
Sat 8 Nov West Bromwich (h)
Sat 15 Nov Bolton (a)

I would think we should be in with a good chance of 12points out of 12 especially if Torres comes back sooner rather than later.

*Chelsea
Tomorrow Hull City (a)
Saturday Sunderland (h)
Sun 9 Nov Blackburn (a)
Sat 15 Nov West Bromwich (a)

I would expect Chelsea to get 12 points ..... but we can always hope!
*Hull
Tomorrow Chelsea (h)
Saturday Manchester United (a)
Sat 8 Nov Bolton (h)
Sun 16 Nov Manchester City (h)

Presumably the end of Hulls top 4 ambitions but a little luck and they could do us a big favour.

*Arsenal
Tomorrow Tottenham (h)
Saturday Stoke City (a)
Sat 8 Nov Manchester United (h)
Sat 15 Nov Aston Villa (h)

Hard run of games for the Gunners but a win against the mancs could see the mancs desperate for points.

*Manchester United
Tomorrow West Ham (h)
Saturday Hull City (h)
Sat 8 Nov Arsenal (a)
Sat 15 Nov Stoke City (h)

Routine 9 points with only the game against Arsenal to be concerned about..... but you never know!

The mighty all conquering HULL CITY will do LFC a favour and beat Chelsea and UTD!