Liverpool Vs Portsmouth

monkey9

Absolutely huge match. This would be so typical of Liverpool to drop points after the great win against Chelsea. So important to keep this run going. Torres is not going to be risked for this one!

jesus_thats_gre

Being at home, it is absolutely critical that we win this match. Can't see anything but United and Chelsea wins this week.

mike65

Torres is out as far as I know. Still who needs him?

---

Reina
Arby-Carra-Agger-Dossena
Kuyt-Gerrard-Alonso-Riera

---

Keane-Babel

Subs - GK, Hyypia, Auerlio, Masch, El Zhar, Pennant, Yossi (or Torres if fitt-ish)

Mike

wcarey1975

As far as i can make out he's fit. Whether he starts or benches is another story. I dont care who scores but as long as it's a win. Arbeloa for the winner anyone???

ROCKMAN

As Utd fan I hoping for " the first game under a new manager freak result " but my head can only see a home win

rosboy

Torres is definitely out. From Rafa:

"Fernando is very close," said boss Rafael Benitez today. "Maybe he'll be okay for the weekend, but he cannot play tomorrow. "We will see how he is over the next two or three days and then make a decision for Saturday.

"We have some problems after the Chelsea game. You know Keane had an injury, while Kuyt and Alonso also had some knocks. We will have to check on them but I think they will be okay for the Portsmouth game."

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161858081028-1312.htm

wcarey1975

rosboy wrote: »

Torres is definitely out. From Rafa:



http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161858081028-1312.htm

My bad hadn't refreshed didnt see the story. I'll get my coat :cool:

rosboy

wcarey1975 wrote: »

My bad hadn't refreshed didnt see the story. I'll get my coat :cool:

It's OK....but you've used up you're lifeline now. No more mistakes or you're outta here:p

Sherifu

Hope we won't slip up after beating Chelsea.

RasTa

Easy Pool win.

Dub13

RasTa wrote: »

Easy Pool win.

Hope so.

dfx-

mike65 wrote: »

Torres is out as far as I know. Still who needs him?

Liverpool?:P

I'd expect Anfield to be even quieter than usual with expectation high...they should get it 1-0 nevertheless.

raven136

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Being at home, it is absolutely critical that we win this match. Can't see anything but United and Chelsea wins this week.

i fancy hull for a draw against chelsea,momentum can bring you places.

mada999

really need to win this.... corresponding fixture last year was liverpool 4 Pompy 1.... more of the same please !! come on the pool!

Thanx 4 The Fish

Am looking forward to it, going straight from work, leaving early for it. Any Irish Kopites coming over Dub ?

Dub13

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Any Irish Kopites coming over Dub ?

Only a few on there own nothing planned as a group.

kingshankly

I think big Sami might get a start tomorrow night to pick up crouch it's important we have width so we can stretch portsmouth you could see pennant

Jazzy

pennant could well start alright. might see keane and kuyt up front in a 4-4-2 with reira on the left.
id have mascherano and gerrard as the middle 2 then.

hoping for a win. think its important to keep a clean sheet too

Dont be at yourself

If Babel is fit and there are doubts over Keane, I'd like to see Babel lead the line. He did very well when he came on.

My fantasy rafa:

---

Reina
Arbeloa-Carra-Agger-Dossena
Benayoun-Mach-Gerrard-Riera

---

Kuyt-Babel

internelligent

Love this question on Crouch:

Journalist: Without giving any secrets away, how do you practice when you haven't got a six foot seven player in the squad? How on earth can you prepare?

Rafa: It's about beating him in the air, so we will use Mascherano against him!


:D:D
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161861081029-0819.htm

ibh

kingshankly wrote: »

I think big Sami might get a start tomorrow night to pick up crouch it's important we have width so we can stretch portsmouth you could see pennant

Never though of Sami being thrown in. Won't be good for Agger's confidence to be playing stop-start though.

I would like to see us stick to the 4-2-3-1 rather than go with Pennant in 4-4-2. Riera, Gerrard and Kuyt in the 3 behind Babel up top.

Usually a surprise though. Hope it's not Yossi though. He can have an impact from the bench, but not good enough to be starting.

Boggles

Liverpool hammered them last year on the back of 2 defeats by Reading and United, personally I don't think what happened at Chelsea will have a baring. Crouch and Defoe are starting to click and I think they do have it in them to get a goal at Anfield, Crouch 11-1 to be first scorer, 5-1 anytime scorer and 10-1 to get the last goal. Prob value in anytime scorer.

2-1 the Scouse.

kingshankly

the important thing when facing crouch is being alert for the second ball carra is a great reader of the game so we should be ok mind you defoe can be a handful hope james isnt in inspired form

SWAR

ibh wrote: »

Never though of Sami being thrown in. Won't be good for Agger's confidence to be playing stop-start though.

I would like to see us stick to the 4-2-3-1 rather than go with Pennant in 4-4-2. Riera, Gerrard and Kuyt in the 3 behind Babel up top.

Usually a surprise though. Hope it's not Yossi though. He can have an
impact from the bench, but not good enough to be starting.

Agreed. I think Keane has a slight knock and may be rested, besides I'd love to see babel get the chance to lead the line:

---

Reina
Arbeloa-Carra-Agger-Dossena

---

Mach - Alonso

---

Kuyt - Gerard - Riera

---

Babel

SWAR

BABEL SET FOR MORE STRIKING ROLE

Rafa Benitez today praised the contribution of substitute Ryan Babel in Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Chelsea - and revealed we'll be seeing a lot more of the Dutchman in his preferred striking role.
Having already scored the winner from the bench against United this season, Babel was again introduced to great effect at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Brought on as a lone striker for the final 30 minutes, the 21-year-old helped keep Chelsea on the back foot by stretching the defence with power and pace.

Benitez said: "When we signed Albert Riera we thought of Babel being more of a striker.

"Ryan is still a young player. Some Dutch players come to England for only one or two years. In this case, this is his second year and he was injured at the start coming back from the Olympic Games.

"But he is giving us something more and I was really pleased with him the other day at Chelsea. I think that was the perfect game for him.

"At that time we needed pace and power and ability, so we could cope with the two centre-backs. He could beat them, it was perfect and really good for him."

Nine of Babel's 11 Liverpool goals have come as a substitute, with 27 of his 58 appearances arriving from the bench.

Benitez believes the Holland international remains most effective as an impact player for now, but is confident Babel can soon make the progression to producing the same threat over 90 minutes.

"Clearly there is a massive difference when you are talking about a player with pace - normally their stamina levels are not the same," said the Anfield boss.

"To do the same thing 20 times at maximum intensity, it's not easy, so they need time to rest. For these kind of players to play 90 minutes at this pace and high tempo is impossible. That is the reason why he can make a massive difference in 20 to 30 minutes."

Meanwhile, Benitez dismissed the suggestion Liverpool do not have enough experience at being front-runners after the Chelsea victory opened up a three-point cushion at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

"The people in the staff – Sammy Lee, Mauricio Pellegrino – have experience and the players have won the Champions League, which is a massive trophy," said Benitez. "We have some experience of that. I have won the league in Spain, too.

"The first year we came from behind at Valencia, but the second year for a long time we were on top of the table. If we can stay there in three weeks' time we will start feeling pressure. But that is good.

"People said we were like a machine in that second season. We had the balance. We were attacking very well and defending well.

"We lost the last game against Albacete 1-0 when we were champions and by just scoring one goal we would have scored more than Real Madrid, who got something like 71. We also conceded fewer than anyone else. So we had the balance. Being a machine was a compliment."

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161862081029-0936.htm

Karmafaerie

2-0 or 3-0.

DeadSkin

A good time to meet Portsmouth with Harry doin' one from Fratton Park.
I expect a few changes with 3 games in 8 days for Liverpool, one of them being a tricky away game to Spurs the weekend.
Keane played with an injection the weekend, so wouldn't expect him being risked until the Spurs game.
Anyone know if it's on the box?

ibh

DeadSkin wrote: »

A good time to meet Portsmouth with Harry doin' one from Fratton Park.
I expect a few changes with 3 games in 8 days for Liverpool, one of them being a tricky away game to Spurs the weekend.
Keane played with an injection the weekend, so wouldn't expect him being risked until the Spurs game.
Anyone know if it's on the box?

Not officially but over on Irishkop they mentioned pubs that were showing it.

Think Arse V Spurs is only game officially on tv.

monkey9

ibh wrote: »

Not officially but over on Irishkop they mentioned pubs that were showing it.

Think Arse V Spurs is only game officially on tv.

What pubs are showing it??? C'mon, Divulge. Would love to see that live!

DeadSkin

Ah, I'm sure I'll find a stream later for it

Karmafaerie

I'd imagine Pennant will start today.
He did well against Wigan, despite all the flack he got.
I think he deserves a shot.

ibh

monkey9 wrote: »

What pubs are showing it??? C'mon, Divulge. Would love to see that live!

Dunno mate. They were talking about pubs in Dublin.(Tallaght and Northside) But i didn't know any of them.

I know in Dundalk there are a few pubs who seem to get satellite from Middle East or Scandanavia and it gets most big games regardless of time they are on.
Think i'll just watch a stream cause i can't be arse trying to find a place that's showing it.

If you're in Dublin, get onto irishkop.ie and you might know some of the pubs. I can't access the site in work..:(

Boggles

For some reason the United and Liverpool matches are on very limited channels tonight, even the pubs that usually show the games from forgeign stations may not have the obscure channels both these games are on.

A crappy stream or football first me reckons.

oobydooby

From IK, There was talk of the Cuckoo's nest in Tallaght definitely showing it and the Woolshed being a maybe (Woolshed being the sports pub just beside UGC on Parnell St)

Tricky one for Liverpool but it might be a good time to play Pompey. Personally, would like to see Babel and Ngog up top, although if Rafa changes the team about a bit and the result doesn't go our way, the moronic goblins will re-emerge with their halfarsed punditry about how Rafa will never win the league...

My guess:
Reina
Arb Carra Sami Dossena
Pennant Alonso Gerrard Riera
Kuyt Babel

monkey9

Jaysus, i'm not going to Tallaght to watch it. Might catch the old Shamrock Rovers out there. Terrible disease.
If anyone finds out of any pubs in town showing it, can they post them?!!

Gelio

Liverpool should win but you never know.
It would be good for team confidence to knock in 3 or 4 goals.

zAbbo

I think it will be something like.

---

Reina
Arbeloa-Hypia-Agger-Dossena

---

Gerard - Alonso

---

Kuyt----Keane--- Riera

---

Babel

Gelio

zAbbo wrote: »

I think it will be something like.

---

Reina
Arbeloa-Hypia-Agger-Dossena

---

Gerard - Alonso

---

Kuyt----Keane--- Riera

---

Babel

Is Keane fit to play?

ibh

zAbbo wrote: »

I think it will be something like.

---

Reina
Arbeloa-Hypia-Agger-Dossena

---

Gerard - Alonso

---

Kuyt----Keane--- Riera

---

Babel

No Carra??

I don't see it happening. We need to ensure that we follow up a good away win with a home win that's expected. I think Carra will be the first name down.
Maybe Rafa will surprise me. Hope Alonso keeps up his good form. He's been one of our best performers this year.

kingshankly

zAbbo wrote: »

I think it will be something like.

---

Reina
Arbeloa-Hypia-Agger-Dossena

---

Gerard - Alonso

---

Kuyt----Keane--- Riera

---

Babel

i cant see carra sitting this game out think the team could be

---

reina
arbeloa-hypia-carragher--aurelio
pennant-alonso-macherano-riera

---

gerrard

---

---

kuyt

---

monkey9

I think it'll be the same team as Sunday, except maybe if Keane isn't fit enough, then Kuyt up forward and Pennant taking the right side!

noodler

I think we have alot to fear from Defoe and Crouch. If we don't shut down their supply then they can cause alot of problems.

Id love to see Babel get a start up front but then who do you bring on if things aren't going our way?

Come on the Pool!

Karmafaerie

iraqgoals should have it, and their streams have been very, very, good lately.
I'll let you know when I find out more, but there'll be a few streams at least.

ibh

Karmafaerie wrote: »

iraqgoals should have it, and their streams have been very, very, good lately.
I'll let you know when I find out more, but there'll be a few streams at least.

Cheers. I had a good one for the Man City game and i can't remember which it was..

DeadSkin

Keep an eye on http://www.rojadirecta.com/. Nothin' there yet.
Also www.justin.tv is worth a look.

SWAR

Ye probably all seen this before, but worth a look. I think it's £10 per year to join and gives you quite a few streams...I usually find one that works; however I only use it for Champions League Games as i live in Abu Dhabi now and they show EVERY live premiership game on Show Time (Show Sports).

http://www.free-football.tv/

monkey9

SWAR wrote: »

Ye probably all seen this before, but worth a look. I think it's £10 per year to join and gives you quite a few streams...I usually find one that works; however I only use it for Champions League Games as i live in Abu Dhabi now and they show EVERY live premiership game on Show Time (Show Sports).

http://www.free-football.tv/

Did you buy Man City?

SWAR

monkey9 wrote: »

Did you buy Man City?

No that was my brother Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan...:P

~Rebel~

i have a feeling we might see a bit of a rout with liverpool winning by a few goals. Liverpool's confidence being sky high as well as a wish to show they deserve their position, together with Pompy losing Harry, possible ingredients for our first comfortable win of the season!

SWAR

~Rebel~ wrote: »

i have a feeling we might see a bit of a rout with liverpool winning by a few goals. Liverpool's confidence being sky high as well as a wish to show they deserve their position, together with Pompy losing Harry, possible ingredients for our first comfortable win of the season!

That would be ideal but don't forget teams sometimes raise their games with the appointment of a new manager, which would be my only worry. I know Adams has been there for a while but a lot of the players may be out to impress...am still quitely confidant tho.

Weren't Boro and Man City comfortable wins!!!

staker

should be a win for the pool tonight. will be interesting to see babel making the most of his chances if keane is out as well.
hope he starts and does.