Tuesday night

[lucas]

Lucas was decent against Inter Milan in both games last season and improved as the season went on. He is steady on the ball and rarely gives it away. I was impressed with him for much of last season, especially away at Newcastle when he played in the middle with Stevie. Give the lad a chance. He is still young.

What is up with Masch? Will he be fit for Tuesday.

[El Jefecito]

Is turning all smug and snobby is regular characteristic that crops up whenever someone has a different opinion?

No, I'm like that all the time.

BTW takes one to know one

[Craig_H]

I wouldnt need to be 'one' mate, nobody could miss it in your case.

[El Jefecito]

I wouldnt need to be 'one' mate, nobody could miss it in your case.

You could do with posting some substance mate. All the little barbs and put-downs are fine, but, there must be more to you, surely.

[pondus]

At the end of the day AA doesn't rate Lucas, other people do. No-one's going to change their ****ing mind anytime soon so is there really any ****ing point dragging out the same discussions over and over ffs.


Onto Tuesday... I agree Rafa is the master of away performances, we will win comfortably. No point rushing Torres either

I think Tuesday night will be a tough test, but you are right, this is Rafa's favorite games it seems and he usually gets his tacticts spot on! Hopefully Torres is fit and ready to go as I think we will need his pace and ability to hold up the ball.

[rage]

i would like to see points on the table and not end up in a position where we are sacrificing a league game to stay in the champions league. if masch is injured then i would like to see gerrard start. last year we played people like leto and payed a price in the earlier games. i hopw we have learned from this mistake this year

[slimbimjim]

I can't ****ing believe SBS Australia have decided to show the Chelsea game instead. ****ing cunts.

[Joe King]

I think Rafa knows with a game like Stoke on the weekend, we can play Gerrard and take him off if we get a good result around the 60th. Likewise Torres, if thats the situation. I would like to see Torres back for the Stoke game so he can tune himself for the Everton game. I still think we have the quality to beat Marseille. Keep your eyes peeled for Tyrone Mears

[hockin_monster]

If there's one area of Rafa's reign that has been pretty close to flawless it is this. Away from home in Europe. Tactically, Rafa rarely, if ever gets it wrong on the road in the Champions League. I believe it's these type of matches that he looks forward to the most.

We've gone to places like Inter Milan and Barcelona and won.

We've got results at places like Chelsea, Arsenal and Juventus.

We've spanked the likes of Leverkusen, PSV and Marseille when the pressure was on and everyone thought we were in for a tight game.

I am not worried in the slightest about Tuesday night. We'll beat them.

Obviously a little bit of guesswork based on injuries. I don't think there's any point rushing Torres back. Of all the injuries, hamstrings aren't something worth taking risks over. I doubt Mascherano will make it either. Babel deserves a start and I can't see our eight million pound left back Dossena being dropped for two matches on the spin. With that in mind....

--------------Keane
Riera----------Kuyt---------Babel
---------Alonso---Gerrard
Dossena---Skrtel--Carra---Arbeloa
---------------Reina

--------------Keane
Riera----------Gerrard---------Babel
---------Alonso---Masher
Dossena---Skrtel--Carra---Arbeloa
---------------Reina

I'll take that. I expect he'll be fairly defensive minded with two holding type players.

[anfieldanfield]

--------------Keane
Riera----------Gerrard---------Babel
---------Alonso---Masher
Dossena---Skrtel--Carra---Arbeloa
---------------Reina

I'll take that. I expect he'll be fairly defensive minded with two holding type players.

I'd be staggered if Dirk doesn't start.

[hockin_monster]

I'd be staggered if Dirk doesn't start.

He probably will, I'd just prefer to see someone quick, given that Keane is perfectly capable of chasing down a ball, as we saw on saturday.

[Reece]

Fabio Aurelio has been ruled out of Liverpool's Champions League Group D opener against Marseille on Tuesday night.
The Reds touched down in the south of France on Monday lunchtime following a 90 minute flight from John Lennon Airport as they step up preparations for the start of their European campaign for this season.

Rafael Benitez has brought an eighteen man squad to face a Marseille side who are currently unbeaten in the French league and lying in second place after five ganes.

But Brazilian defender Aurelio - who excelled against Manchester United at the weekend - has been left behind on Merseyside to nurse a minor calf injury picked up during the 2-1 victory on Saturday.

Javier Mascherano has travelled though, despite limping off at the weekend, while Lucas returns to the squad after arriving back from international duty.

Liverpool squad: Reina, Cavalieri, Arbeloa, Degen, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Dossena, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Benayoun, Babel, Lucas, Riera, Kuyt, Torres, Keane.

[Joe King]

The drawback to Aurelio is that we will never get consistency from him. We are lucky in the sense that we can play Dossena at left back who might do good in tactical matches in the Champions League. I don't expect Mascherano to be rushed back.

[NicoBernetini]

Never seen Anderson brushed off the ball for utd.

Lucas all the time, he is far to lightweight to be a centre mid at the moment. In europe though its different as the refs are a lot stricter, in the premiership however no chance.

He doesn't have outstanding pace, or power, or ability in the air or bursts of energy so this 'box to box' midfielder category isn't really shining.

[Dessy]

Never seen Anderson brushed off the ball for utd.

Lucas all the time, he is far to lightweight to be a centre mid at the moment. In europe though its different as the refs are a lot stricter, in the premiership however no chance.

He doesn't have outstanding pace, or power, or ability in the air or bursts of energy so this 'box to box' midfielder category isn't really shining.

Not everthing that shines matey........Give the kid a chance. Technically he's very adept, he has an eye for a pass and he's a very clever footballer for his age.

That said, I agree his build is such that he will get buffeted from time to time but his quality will win through and I expect that he'll improve even further over the course of his career at LFC. I wouldn't say he's gonna be a physical player as such although I'm pretty sure he'll learn to look after himself out there but I'm quietly confident that we have a star in the making with this kid.

Only my humble opinion of course.