No Palletta

[Red_Polo]

play crouch at the back

good control
tall

perfect

Christ your reminding me of Emily now, the perfect defensive forward

[disco]

Momo

I was being serious

Not a lot gets past him and he's good in the air.

[Charlie_B]

Sissoko's shocking in the air!

[disco]

All he has to do is head it! He's tall isn't he!

[Charlie_B]

lol

Fair point I suppose.

[Resu]

Palletta is injured, and Hobbs wasn`t on the list the club sent in for this round. Not that I would like to see Hobbs trown in at agame like this.

[IanTheRed]

Yep, Palletta is out with a knee injury (this season is starting as ominously as 2004/05). From the IcLiverpool Post & Echo website:

RAFAEL BENITEZ has backed Daniel Agger to fill the void left by Jamie Carragher's absence as Liverpool aim to secure Champions League progress this evening.

Liverpool take on Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa in Kiev (kick-off 7.35pm) looking to defend a 2-1 lead from the first leg of the third qualifying round tie and clinch their place in the lucrative group stages of the competition.

They will do so without Carragher, who is also in danger of missing next month's Merseyside derby at Goodison due to the ankle injury that forced him off during the weekend draw at Sheffield United.

It is the first time of his two-year Anfield tenure that Benitez will be unable to call upon Carragher for a European encounter.

But the manager is confident Denmark international Agger, who replaced Carragher at Bramall Lane and also started the Community Shield against Chelsea, can deliver on his European debut for Liverpool.

"In the last two games, Agger has played very well," said Benitez. "I signed him because I knew he was a good player and have every confidence in him.

"We have a better squad now. We can manage the competitions and we can use good players on Saturday and tomorrow.

"We know that we are playing a good team. We need to score to make sure we have more possibilities to progress, but we will be without players like Carragher who are important to us.

"It's not easy when you start losing players in the first game, but we will put a good team on the pitch."

John Arne Riise is also sidelined with an ankle injury with Fabio Aurelio poised to deputise at left-back, although Steve Finnan should be fit to return on the right side of defence.

Tonight's game - which could be worth £12million to Liverpool if they win through - would have been Carragher's 80th appearance in Europe for the club and the defender admits he may be out for longer than the anticipated fortnight period.

"We'll have to wait and see but I suppose at the moment you would have to say it's touch and go for the derby," he said.

"The scan showed no damage but there's a lot of swelling and I'm on crutches. Hopefully it's not too bad, though."

Liverpool's 18-man squad - which includes the recalled Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia and fit-again Stephen Warnock, but was without knee injury victim Gabriel Paletta - trained at the Valery Lobanovskiy Stadium last night.

Benitez employed Steven Gerrard as a second striker in the first leg, but is unlikely to repeat that experiment with Peter Crouch poised to start up front. Gerrard sat out training last night with a stomach upset but is expected to be fit for tonight.

The Liverpool manager admits his team are not yet reaching their top level but expects an improvement over their performance against Maccabi in the first leg two weeks ago.

"I'm not puzzled by our form," he said. "After the World Cup we had some players coming back after their holidays and it's not easy to have all the players at the same level.

"The team is not 100% at the moment but we have confidence and quality and we will see tomorrow.

"But I think the players are fitter now than two weeks ago. We needed to improve our physical condition and I hope that we are in a better condition now."

Tonight's officials are all from Italy, with Roberto Rosetti the referee.

[univofchicago]

this season is starting as ominously as 2004/05

We really have to stay out of injuries if we are to have any chance of challenging Chelsea/Manchester United for the title. We really do. One of the main reasons behind our consistency and improvement last year was because we had a relatively injury-free squad.

[IanTheRed]

We really have to stay out of injuries if we are to have any chance of challenging Chelsea/Manchester United for the title. We really do. One of the main reasons behind our consistency and improvement last year was because we had a relatively injury-free squad.

Exactly. Can anyone who lives in London 'accidentally' trod (i.e. Stamp) on Terry or Lampards feet in one of the clubs they go to?

I'm not condoning an 'accidental' glassing!

[univofchicago]

Can anyone who lives in London 'accidentally' trod (i.e. Stamp) on Terry or Lampards feet in one of the clubs they go to?

And don't forget about the folks in Manchester. Rooney and Ronaldo. Either one of them would be good enough for me...

[dww]

Palletta is injured, and Hobbs wasn`t on the list the club sent in for this round. Not that I would like to see Hobbs trown in at agame like this.

Is there not a B list though - where in effect you can have all of your under 20 players in the squad?

[dww]

Just checked - can have unlimited u-21 players who have been at the club for two uninterupted years since they were 15 on the B-list. I guess Hobbs hasn't been here long enough for that.

[Resu]

Is there not a B list though - where in effect you can have all of your under 20 players in the squad?

Yes, but that only aplyes if you`re been at the club for two years, which Hobbs hasn`t.

[dww]

I just said that

[Resu]

Just noticed