Birmingham v Liverpool

Oriel

Fowler being cup tied ain't going to pose any real problems.
I can see a bit of player rotation going on here, with Gerrard probably being taken off half way through the second half again.
I'm going for comfortable a 0-2 Liverpool win...though certainly no walkover.

S.

mchurl

Birmingham havent been playing too well of late and it seems like liverpools strikers have finally found their scoring touch as well. But ni saying that, it is an FA cup quarter final and anything can happen, but im going for liverpool to take it 2-1.

ianomccabe

Momo Sissoko back in the squad tonight. Great to see!

Vokes

Not a clue how this gonna go. It may all depend on the formation Benitez plays - it looked like a 3-5-2 at the weekend.

Birmingham have problems with Dunn and Jarosik injured.

marky4

liverpools team is gonna be

reina
cara hypia agger

kronkam alonso gerrard riise/warnock



garcia kewell


crouch

well i hope its that team, and liverpool will win 3-1

ishnid

Of course, Liverpool haven't exactly being doing well against Brum of late. Two draws in the league this season (and the draw in St. Andrews was Birmingham's first home point of the season) and two defeats last season, one of which I had the misfortune of seeing in person. Time to put this "bogey team" thing to bed, methinks.

county

i can see this being a tough one for liverpool maybe a late 2-1 win for them

Kingp35

Birmingham have far more important priorities than the FA cup and with that in mind I think Liverpool will win.

Chardee MacDennis

i heard gerrard has a late fitness test? am i right? great to see momo back.. i do hope they keep the wingbacks - back to the roy evans days minus the spice boys of course....

p.pete

Call_me_al wrote:

i heard gerrard has a late fitness test? am i right? great to see momo back.. i do hope they keep the wingbacks - back to the roy evans days minus the spice boys of course....

They'll be checking the fitness of all the players due to playing only 2 days ago. Benitez was mentioning the fitness of both Gerrard and Carragher because he was saying the FA was putting the fitness of their internationals at risk on account of their match scheduling.

PHB

I think Bruce will know the benefits of a good cup run on the team, so I can see Brum really going for it tonight. That said, it'd play right into Liverpools hands, so to really go for it, he might sit back and defend, try hit them on the break. That said, he does not want a replay, it has to end tonight.

Liverpool have been playing quite well lately, but I dont think as well as some people think, so I expect it to be tight. Liverpool should win, but I wouldn't be suprised to see Brum pull it out of the bag. They are probably going down, which will only further there desire. I still crave so much to see a championship team in europe, so

HashSlinging

Can the brummies pulling this one off, they've been a thorn for LFC for a while now, form goes out the window for cup games.

Kingp35

PHB wrote:

That said, he does not want a replay, it has to end tonight.

There are no replays in these games to avoid further fixture congestion.

ianomccabe

word is momo and riise start tonight? not confirmed though

mike65

Not even going to try to predict the line up or formation, I'll just say squad rotation is the watch phase right now....

Mike.

Dont be at yourself

I'm hoping to get a look at this formation from the other night, only caught glimpses of the Newcastle game.

kaimera

As been said, B'ingham have been tricky in the last while.

I'd hope Rafa takes it more serious than last year and get some good play together.

I'll take a 1-0 win if we play well.

ButcherOfNog

I feel that pool will win this by at least 2 goals, by more if they score early, Birmingham have way too many injury problems to hope to cause an upset.

mike65

Team news

---

Reina,
Finnan, Hyypia, Carragher, Traore
Gerrard, Sissoko, Alonso, Riise,

---

Garcia

---

Crouch.

Dudek, Kromkamp, Kewell, Cisse, Morientes.

Thats my formation but wingbacks could be used again

---

Reina-

---

Carra---Hyypia

---

Traore
Finnan

---

Riise

---

Gerrard---Sissoko---Alonso

---

Garcia

---

Crouch

Mike.

county

hopefully the pool win it 2-1 as i have a few quid on it

mike65

Roflessssssss! Hyypia scores. 52 seconds.

Mike.

Johnny_the_fox

mike65

Crouch 2! This could be a cricket score if they push it.

Mike.

mike65

Traore off, Riise back and Kewell on.

Mike.

MonkeyTennis

Problem with Momos shades. Hes having a crackin game though its all gone a bit quiet now

Spider_Baby!

3-0. Crouch for hat-trick?

MonkeyTennis

spoke too soon!!

Shred

MonkeyTennis wrote:

Problem with Momos shades. Hes having a crackin game though its all gone a bit quiet now

Condensation apparently, I can see the headline in one of the rags tomorrow "Liverpool midfielder is a steamer shocker!!!":p

Gwan Crouch!

mike65

I think it might be wise to get Momo off at half time. I'd hate it if he damaged his eye in some mid-air challange.

Mike.

MonkeyTennis

Disagree Mike. He needs confidence. Read his interview on .tv. wentthrough an awful time IMO it would be great to give him 70+ minutes and let him get a few tackles in and be tackled.

Necronomicon

Fair play to Sissoko, whatever about his physical condition, the injury must have taken a real mental toll. He's slotted right back in.

segadreamcast

Sissoko is a superb, energetic, exciting player - glad I've been saying that since day one, while others said he was "rash" and such. He has buckets of energy and so, so much potential and - of the whole Liverpool squad - is definitely the one to watch for the future. Glad to see him slotting back in.


Back to the match though - 3-0, I can't believe it! That's 11 goals in three games - albeit, against three weak sides, but still, eleven goals nevertheless! This time two weeks ago, we would have been hoping for six goals max in these games... it seems as though the drought is over folks (and, it's worth noting, this drought ended as soon as Benitez issued a public challenge to the strikers...)

mike65

Its also worth noting he was willing to tweak formations too. That said as I'm not watching (listening) I don't know if its 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 or 3-5-1-1 (ish)

Just heard it said tonights is the 51st game of the season ??????! :eek:

Mike.

mike65

Cisse is warming up....hope he's not on before Crouch gets his hat-trick. Its Morientes coming on. Crouch off.

Mike.

MonkeyTennis

in the first half Garcia and Gerrard were swapping seemingly at will. Crouch may be coming off now

Dont be at yourself

Moro on for Crouch

mike65

Morientes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (heck it must be easy if he's scored! )

Mike.

county

this could be a 6 niler

Dont be at yourself

Lovely build up by Garcia and Gerrard for that one, made it look easy for Moro.

We can't stop our strikers scoring nowadays!

MonkeyTennis

out of interest on what media are people listening/watching this?

mike65

Cisse is coming on for Gerrard.

Riise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5-0. Tradmark left foot shot at about 100 mph.

Monkey I'm listening to BBC fivelive.

Mike.

county

sky sports 1

merlinsmerryman

BBC's webiste is streaming it live and have Kewell as coming on twice.

Reina, S Finnan, J Carragher, S Hyypia, D Traore (22 H Kewell) , X Alonso, S Gerrard, M Sissoko (22 H Kewell) , J Riise, P Crouch (56 F Morientes) , S Luis Garcia
Subs: J Dudek, J Kromkamp, H Kewell, D Cisse, F Morientes

Weird.

county

5-0

The Insider

Riise what a cracker!!!

Dont be at yourself

Riise with a screamer, get in!

segadreamcast

The Insider wrote:

Riise what a cracker!!!

Grrrrrrrrr.... why didn't BBC show this?!

mike65

The police are preparing for the worst when the final whistle goes and Bruce and the team have to get within spiting distance of the fans.

Mike.

mike65

Oh no 6-0! This is getting silly.

Mike.

county

6-0

evilhomer

NoelRock wrote:

Grrrrrrrrr.... why didn't BBC show this?!

Sky and BBC have a 50/50 deal on the FA cup ASFAIK.

Asolutle slaughter of Birmingham. They are all over the place, Think that Bruce is out of a job now.