Liverpool FC Forum

[redmikey]

i wouldn't play pennant in the womens team, give someone(anyone) a chance in front of him

                              Cavileri
darby               sami      san jose       insua

el zar              alonso      lucas         putterill
                    babel        nemeth


lets see what the squad can turn up

[Cool Hand Luke]

These isn’t much point assembling a squad and spending money on so called talented youngsters if they’re not going to get opportunities in games like these. Is it any wonder our reserve/youth players become disillusioned and fly off the rails when they can’t even get a game in the league cup even though they are too good for reserve football. Where the hell do they fit in then? Rafa needs to show some balls in this competition, in the last few years he has included too many first team players in the squad. Today he is talking about Gerrard needing a rest, but why did he include him in the squad against Crewe?

We should give the night off to Reina, Arbeloa, Kuyt, Riera, Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso and Keane. I wouldn’t even make them travel to London, having the night off for a change will give them the opportunity to recharge their batteries for the game away at Bolton on Saturday. I would rather Torres spend the week training at Melwood than travel to London and risk getting injured, save him for Bolton.

We don’t have many centre back options so an experienced pairing of Carragher and Hyypia should be able to bring some strength to the team. I noticed that Degan has been on the bench recently so it will be chance for him. We have 2 left backs, a fat lump and a Brazilian made out of glass, so we should have another look as Insua who is supposedly one of the players that is closest to breaking into the first team squad.

Lucas and Plessis pick themselves and I would go for El Zhar over Pennant considering where trying to sell Pennant. El Zhar deserves a start after showing some promise this year. After spending 1.5mil on Ngog he really should be starting this sort of game considering the lack of other striking options we have. I would like to see Benayoun play “in between the lines”, which is probably his best position because he can dribble at defences, attack the goal directly and commit centre backs.

The main things are that the team should have balance, play as many players as possible in their preferred positions, give the night off to those that have already racked up plenty of games and will play on Saturday, and give opportunities to fringe and youth players.

                       Cavalieri

Degen     Carragher     Hyypia     Insua

El Zhar       Lucas        Plessis      Babel

               Benayoun
                               Ngog

Subs

Pacheco
Nemeth/Eccleston
Pennant
Spearing
Agger
Darby
Gulacsi

[aCe']

dont really care much about the competition but wouldnt want us going out and losing by a big margin..

                          Cavalieri

Degen         Hyypia           Agger            Dossena


Pennant       Lucas          Mascherano        Babel

                       
                 Keane           N'gog

have Torres, Benny as attacking options on the bench... Plessis, Darby, Spearing, Insua to fill the other slots... not a weak linup imo and would give us the chance to rest key player (Gerrard, Carra, Riera, Reina, Alonso..)

[The Manhattan Project]

Play our under-9's team.

[Red Dotty]

Not fussed about this at all. Give all the fringe players a run and give the big guns a well deserved rest.

[NANNY RED]

Play our under-9's team.

They better hadnt youd think the coca cola cup would be cheap to go an watch well it isnt . So i wanna see some talent on display pref Xabi like.   

I am hoping to get a good look a young Steven Darby so i do hope hes in the line up. I rate this kid a lot. Its a strange one this cause i care about every game we play an i hate getting beat even in a friendly.

As far as the Redknapps go Harry i would

[Scottbot]

Wouldn't surprise me if Rafa rests everyone bar Carra for this one. I'd like to see Insua play at LB and I hope Pacheco gets a run out at some stage because he looks like he could be a player. It's a tricky one with Torres, maybe it's a bit of a risk to play him but he took a few games to get going after his last injury and that (i think) was down to two things, regaining the match fitness that gives him that top 5% of pace that makes him so special and also the confidence to really open up without worry. Because of that I'd like to see him play the first 45 of this one.

[Rush Job]

Yep I`d play Torres aswell and I`m quite sure Rafa will give him a decent run out.
I bet someone has a go saying Rafa "saved him for the league cup" though.

[Rush Job]

As far as the Redknapps go Harry i would

Well he is available, and if spurs beat us again so will you be.

[NANNY RED]

As far as the Redknapps go Harry i would

Well he is available, and if spurs beat us again so will you be.

Rush Job i cant even contemplate that happening my life was made hell for ages after they beat us the other week. were both going tommorrow but this time were gonna be sitting seperate hes with the spurs fans an im with our lot. weve got to beat them for my sake mental state at least

Id put this team out

Cavalieri, Darby, Carra, Hypia, Insua, El Zar, Plessis/lucas, Xabi, Babel, Benayoun, Torres,

Id start with Torres then bring him off after abiut the usual 60 mins just to give him match fitness

[Rush Job]

As far as the Redknapps go Harry i would

Well he is available, and if spurs beat us again so will you be.

Rush Job i cant even contemplate that happening my life was made hell for ages after they beat us the other week. were both going tommorrow but this time were gonna be sitting seperate hes with the spurs fans an im with our lot. weve got to beat them for my sake mental state at least

Id put this team out

Cavalieri, Darby, Carra, Hypia, Insua, El Zar, Plessis/lucas, Xabi, Babel, Benayoun, Torres,

Id start with Torres then bring him off after abiut the usual 60 mins just to give him match fitness

Yeh I`d go with much the same only I think Carra needs a break so I`d go Hyypia, Agger and I think Xabi needs a rest too so I`d start Masch with Lucas with (like you) Benayoun in behind Torres.
But I know you only put them (carra xabi) in because your desparate to see them, and I dont blame ya.

[NANNY RED]

Nah the reason id play Carra is i dont think Gerrard will play an we need leadership from somewhere . That also leaves Xabi to sort out the middle.

I wouldnt be supprised though if Pennant got a start on Wed though ,

The lad im looking forward to seeing if he plays is Darby ive only ever really seen him on the tellys games an ive been dead impressed with him. So im really hoping he plays some part so i can judge him away from the telly if you know what i mean

[Rush Job]

Nah the reason id play Carra is i dont think Gerrard will play an we need leadership from somewhere . That also leaves Xabi to sort out the middle.

I wouldnt be supprised though if Pennant got a start on Wed though ,

The lad im looking forward to seeing if he plays is Darby ive only ever really seen him on the tellys games an ive been dead impressed with him. So im really hoping he plays some part so i can judge him away from the telly if you know what i mean

Totally agree about Darby nan, he`s one of the young ens I`m desparate to see doing well and closer to the first team.

[The_Rock]

Can't really care about this competiton....we got bigger fish to fry (league and champions league).

What we can be sure is that almost every player who started against west brom won't be involved in this match..

[DanAn]

Cara has played every minute of every game this year hasn't he? I think he'll need a break. I would play:

---------N'Gog---Torres--------------
Babel----------------------Pennant
---------Mash-----Lucas-----------
Dossena--Agger--Hypia--Degen/Darby
----------------Cavalieri------------------


Not sure about fitness of the players but Degen, Dossena, N'gog and Lucas all need more time in the first team if fit they should start.

I'd take Torres off at 1/2 time, bring Benayoun on and play him behind the striker.