Hyypiä dropped for Liverpools Champions League uefa squad

[Pablo]

No offence to Steve Irwin (or Martin Kelly), who by all accounts is a promising young talent, but he wont get anywhere near playing a Champions League game this season, he's only just been called up to Melwood this season. This new rule does have some logic to it, but having to leave Hyypia out is a real shame.

[Darkon]

if FM08 is anything to judge by, any squad need to meet the two following criteria:

4 players trained in the club before the age of 16.

8 players trained in the country before the age of 16.

The 4 homegrown (club trained) players also count towards the 8 total. So that is proberly why Hyypia has not been included (unfortunatly)...

[Angryred]

You can review the squad again after the next transfer window

[Exiled_red]

And no El-Zhar? Anyway, there's 9 locally trained players in the squad already is there not?

Who's the 9th?

I counted Carragher, Darby, Kelly, Gerrard, Pennant, Spearing, Irwin and Keane.

Eccleston and Flynn are in the B list so don't count towards the quota

[bobbyfallon]

hyypia may not have the pace in the league but has for europe IMO- shame we wont see him in europe again.. is rafa is cashing in in january????

[redsarebest]

When you look at the options I dont envy Rafa the decision. I reckon it was either Hyppia or Degen would have to be left out.
Personally, I'd have gone for Degan on the basis that Carra could cover RB.

I take it the B list players dont count fully or surely we could have found a young goalie instead of Hansen

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

hyypia may not have the pace in the league but has for europe IMO- shame we wont see him in europe again.. is rafa is cashing in in january????

No

[redlancer]

When you look at the options I dont envy Rafa the decision. I reckon it was either Hyppia or Degen would have to be left out.
Personally, I'd have gone for Degan on the basis that Carra could cover RB.

I take it the B list players dont count fully or surely we could have found a young goalie instead of Hansen

supose if we look at it from a PL perspective its the right choice.

[Fierce]

Surely this is just for the group stages?? Nothing to suggest he's beeen dropped permanently

[Darth Marty]

I guess Rafas hands are tied somewhat by the laws but maybe id have looked at different options. Samis presence would have been vital im sure.

Shame and may come back to haunt us. Id rather have el zhar than pennant too if that was possible.

[Pablo]

As dww said I suppose it makes sense in so much as he's getting on in years and can't really play weekends and midweek, it takes him too long to recover. I would have preferred to have him as cover in the Champions League rather than Prem though as its a bit slower paced and suits his game more at present.

[JonesLegend02]

Could be a serious mistake to leave out Sami. Wise old heads are more vital in Europe than anywhere else.

Surely this 'home grown' rule is a restraint of trade? I'm all for the EU keeping its nose out of football but I'm amazed they haven't tried to stop this. Maybe Sami should be the next Jean-Marc Bosman.

[Parm]

To be fair it makes sense to me if you have to drop one person make it the one player who is least likely to be able to make an extra match each week. Not that I'm especially happy about it but I think it makes sense.

true, Sami has struggled in the past a bit with3 games a week. We should eb ok to get out the group stages and then we should eb able to re do the list

[Tee]

true, Sami has struggled in the past a bit with3 games a week. We should eb ok to get out the group stages and then we should eb able to re do the list

But the point is he wil not be playing 3 games a week. If he is lucky he will get the odd PL game, the Carling and Fa Cups, and he should have played a role, albeit a small one, in the CL - at best he would play 1 or 2 games a month!! He must be very disappointed.

[slimbimjim]

Could be a serious mistake to leave out Sami. Wise old heads are more vital in Europe than anywhere else..

Well he did give away a freekick for Chelsea's goal in the Semi CL. I do think he has something to offer but it's time to look at the future.

I'm sure Rafa had a chat.