Liverpool FC Forum

[redmikey]

fowler is cup tied and thats all.

has anyone heard about kewell is he injured because to me it looked like his groin had gone again and i can say from personal experinece that it hurts like fook and it is not a quick fix...any news ?

       my team( if kewell is out)

                  pepe
finnan     carra   sami       warnock

gerrard   xabi momo          jar

            fowler crouch

[adamnbarrett]

Rafael Benitez has hinted he will give some of his key players a rest during tomorrow night's FA Cup final rehearsal at West Ham. 
Although the Reds can still finish the Premiership season in second place, the Liverpool manager believes some of his stars will benefit from a pre-Cardiff break.
 
Robbie Fowler is available again after being cup-tied at the weekend, while Stephen Warnock, Didi Hamann and Jan Kromkamp will all be hoping for a starting place at Upton Park.
 
"We know the game tomorrow is not going to be the same as the one in Cardiff," said Benitez.
 
"I will decide today whether to rest players. I must see how the players are, but it will be an idea to give some players a rest.
 
"We have to be careful."

-----------------
as rafa says tomorrows game has no impact whatsoever on the fa cup final. I expect West Ham will also be resting players. I think Rafa has made the right approach because you never know what is going to happen. 2nd place is an outside chance, manure still have to play chelski, we are counting on them to lose twice and us to will all our games. I think I'd rather have all players injury-free for the cup final than get 2nd and lose our main players to injury.

[sendô WHU]

I think Liverpool will win the league game, as so far in the cup West Ham have lost in the league a few games previously to all the teams they've put out so far, so we'll be on course to win at cardiff.

In all seriousness, I don't expect either manager to rest swarves of their first teams. Neither side has much to play for in the league (West Ham only really have a top half finish to aim for, Liverpool have an outside chance of finishing 2nd), and the cup final is still over 2 weeks away, so it should be a good game.

[2520years]

I enjoy watching West Ham sendo, and I think a lot of people have got respect for their footballing traditions.  It should be a decent game, but I wonder whether some players are at the stage of avoiding injury, with the FA Cup Final and World Cup coming up.  We'll see.

[Scottbot]

Should be an interesting game. With 2nd place pretty much out of our grasp Rafa has already said he will rest a few players. The Hammers have qualified for Europe by way of reaching the Final so it's likely Pardew will do the same. I figure Fowler, Agger, Kromkamp and Hamman deserve a run out and I'd love to see young Anderson with a place on the bench for this one.

I fancy it to finish 1-1

[Lando_Griffin]

and the FA Cup final is a way off.

I'd go with a pretty familiar team VS West Ham,

                                      Reina
     
Kromkamp                 JC               Agger               Riise
                            Sissoko                         
                                                Alonso
          Gerrard                                                  Kewell
                                 Fowler
                                          Crouch

he can't play, can he?

This is my line-up for the league match you silly sod! 

[bng89]

and the FA Cup final is a way off.

I'd go with a pretty familiar team VS West Ham,

                                      Reina
     
Kromkamp                 JC               Agger               Riise
                            Sissoko                         
                                                Alonso
          Gerrard                                                  Kewell
                                 Fowler
                                          Crouch

he can't play, can he?

This is my line-up for the league match you silly sod! 

Yay we have Jesus Christ playing for us (JC above Sissoko)

[TheoRacle]

Just to be a bit different, how about....

                         Reina

        Kromkamp     Carra       Agger
                       
                          Hamman
Gerrard          Sissoko                    Riise


     Garcia       Morientes      Fowler

I highly doubt that we'd use such a formation but I think it would be intersting while still resting Crouch, Alonso, Sami and Kewell. That midfield and back three should still restrict the Hammers' dangermen IMO Harewood, Ashton and Benayoun while Garcia, Morientes and Fowler should be more than capable enough to score 2 or 3 against the Hammers defence. Either Gerrard or Riise can also get forward in support and score in this setup.

The stats show that West Ham have scored a healthy 48 goals this season however they rank as the third worst behind Sunderland and West Brom for actual shots made (an average of 9.31 per game compared to our 15.49 which is still the highest in the league).

I read on another forum that Pardew has a habit of putting out slightly weaker sides when he knows that he'll be facing the same team in an upcoming 'important' game. Apparently this is to avoid the psychological damage of seeing his first choice 11 losing the first game.  Sounds like bollox to me but you never know...

Liverpool 2-0 for me.

[Bad Bob]

I read on another forum that Pardew has a habit of putting out slightly weaker sides when he knows that he'll be facing the same team in an upcoming 'important' game. Apparently this is to avoid the psychological damage of seeing his first choice 11 losing the first game.  Sounds like bollox to me but you never know...

He certainly did that against Bolton, Theo...

He played Anton Ferdinand as a central midfielder in their league match to rest a few starters in anticipation of their FA Cup tie a week or so later.  They ended up getting sliced apart, with some lovely goals by Stelios and even a bicycle kick beauty from Gary Speed.

As such, I'd be very surprised to see their strongest side on the pitch tomorrow.

[Lando_Griffin]

Just to be a bit different, how about....

                         Reina

        Kromkamp     Carra       Agger
                       
                          Hamman
Gerrard          Sissoko                    Riise


     Garcia       Morientes      Fowler

I highly doubt that we'd use such a formation but I think it would be intersting while still resting Crouch, Alonso, Sami and Kewell. That midfield and back three should still restrict the Hammers' dangermen IMO Harewood, Ashton and Benayoun while Garcia, Morientes and Fowler should be more than capable enough to score 2 or 3 against the Hammers defence. Either Gerrard or Riise can also get forward in support and score in this setup.

The stats show that West Ham have scored a healthy 48 goals this season however they rank as the third worst behind Sunderland and West Brom for actual shots made (an average of 9.31 per game compared to our 15.49 which is still the highest in the league).

I read on another forum that Pardew has a habit of putting out slightly weaker sides when he knows that he'll be facing the same team in an upcoming 'important' game. Apparently this is to avoid the psychological damage of seeing his first choice 11 losing the first game.  Sounds like bollox to me but you never know...

Liverpool 2-0 for me.

I personally wouldn't put Kromkamp at CB.

[TheoRacle]

I dunno Lando, I reckon Kromkamp and Carra could see off Harewood and Zamora comfortably particulalry with Gerrard and Hamman/Sissoko in front of them. Similarly, Carra, Agger and Risse with Hamman/Sissoko infront of them should be able to curtaiul any Hammers forays from our left. It goes without saying that there'll be no where to go down the middle.

[TheoRacle]

I read on another forum that Pardew has a habit of putting out slightly weaker sides when he knows that he'll be facing the same team in an upcoming 'important' game. Apparently this is to avoid the psychological damage of seeing his first choice 11 losing the first game.  Sounds like bollox to me but you never know...

He certainly did that against Bolton, Theo...

He played Anton Ferdinand as a central midfielder in their league match to rest a few starters in anticipation of their FA Cup tie a week or so later.  They ended up getting sliced apart, with some lovely goals by Stelios and even a bicycle kick beauty from Gary Speed.

As such, I'd be very surprised to see their strongest side on the pitch tomorrow.

Pretty suspect tactic if you ask me Bad Bob. Surely Pardew would figure that we wouldn't necessarily play our strongest side either so it seems very negative to assume you're going to lose and therefore try and protect moral.  I think I'd do the opposite i.e play the strongest team or close to it and go for the win at home to try and get that confidence needed for the final.  If you lost you'd still have 90 mins to study the strengths and weaknesses of various match ups and professional players shoudl be fired up by the loss and want revenge anyway.


I'd rest my players against West Brom if fatigue was a concern.

[Flashard]

I have a good mate who is Hammers mad and he is completely adamant that we will win 3-1 in the league. He then gets even more excited as he feels that all season those teams the Hammers have played in the league and been beaten by, they have then gone on and beat in the FA cup. He has got me worried and part of me is thinking we should lose.

Oh what am i thinking.

He is going to the game and is likely to get tickets for the final. Bugger it.

3-0 for us. 

[Blind_Ref]

this story says harry will be out for 2 weeks

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story....00.html

[ynwa]

hard game for the reds i sthere any footie streams for the game