Tuesday night – Chelsea build-up

[Joe King]

Oh indeed. As in 'oh stop ****ing whinging about everything'. Anfieldanfield does the 'negative fan windups' better than you anyway

Why don't you go back to redcafe? You're obviously a manc WUM. Cunt.

[Craig_H]

Why don't you go back to redcafe? You're obviously a manc WUM. Cunt.

I may be a WUM and i may be a cunt. But i'm not a ****ing mancs



Seriously dude, you're either on a windup or you're the kind of person who'd complain about his wallet being weighed down by money

[Joe King]

I may be a WUM and i may be a cunt. But i'm not a ****ing mancs



Seriously dude, you're either on a windup or you're the kind of person who'd complain about his wallet being weighed down by money

Thats just silly. I use my card to buy things - never carry loose cash.

[red g]

That is EXACTLY my thinking too.

If we're 1-0 up at the break, even a goal with 10 mins left would make it interesting. Especially if they havent scored. If they'd scored, they'd have the slight comfort of knowing there'd be extra time if we found a third. If we're 0-2 up, they'll be absolutely ****ting it.

I dont think we'll turn it around, mind. It needs to be a night where we take all of our real chances and they take virtually none.

Exactly I don't think we will, but set out as above it is acheviable everyone to a man has to have the game of there lives

[dww]

I would like to see at least at some point us really go for it with a 3-4-3 - I think it is the best way to get as many attacking players into our team as possible.

I think Rafa will start with our more usual 4-2-3-1. A key for me is trying to get someone to swap position with Gerrard when the opportunity arises. As such I find myself in the unusual position of thinking I might start with Babel. In the end though I think I'll go with advocating Benayoun on one of the flanks as he is more reliable and this season has offered a decent goal threat.

I guess the other quite likely aggressive move is Agger as a CB.

[JermainePennant]

This is one liverpool game I will not be watching this season, I still havent got over being knocked out by those cunts last year and seeing them celebarating at our expense again on tuesday would be too much for me.

I think rafa will not go all out attack as this would play into chelseas hands, there is no worse team to play in europe in the position we are in imo, chelsea love nothing more then sitting back and just counter attacking.

[Craig_H]

How could any Liverpool fan not want to watch a Liverpool game?

[Ben_Itez]

If we 'go for broke' like quite a few are advocating we'd get slaughtered and be playing right into Chelsea's hands.

It'll be the usual 4-2-3-1 or at the most a 4-4-2 with Kuyt up with Torres.

We can really go for it in the second half if we still need the goals. We've scored a **** load of goals recently so why change it if it's not broken. Away from home our form has been pretty decent.....people might say it didnt work last week but Mascher makes a huge difference in the middle and hopefully we'll not get another mediocre performance from a half-fit Gerrard.

I'd probably go for:

Reina

Arbeloa
Carra
Agger
Aurelio

Masch
Xabi

Kuyt
Gerrard
Riera (though i think Rafa might play Babel for some reason)

Torres

[brightred]

If we pull this off it would rank up there with Istanbul.
The Blackburn game will have restored confidence and I'm sure we'll go at them right from the start.

Fingers crossed!

[Fierce]

Is Dossena fit? I think we might see him start if so

Of late he's looked a good option for left midfield, so if we need a goal, and we really do, then I think this could be seen as being able to move to 3 at the back, especially with Arbeloa having played centre back in his career

[ronniedrew]

Is Dossena fit? I think we might see him start if so

Of late he's looked a good option for left midfield, so if we need a goal, and we really do, then I think this could be seen as being able to move to 3 at the back, especially with Arbeloa having played centre back in his career

i would be amazed if he did start, i would be dissapointed aswell tbh

he needs a lot of work on his delivery into the area and also on defending, take those couple of goals away and he has been a HUGE dissapointment imo

[Joe King]

With Aurelio not playing on the weekend, he will start tomorrow. I wouldn't mind if Dossena played ahead of him, Riera has had two shocking games.

[ex_KT_red4ever]

Only one thing for it tomorrow night.....















Rush Goalie.... Ive seen the benefit of it many a night in my youth... and maybe just maybe Rafa may go for broke with Rush Goalie....


Now for the serious post...

Me and the girlfriend we're on our way back from Leeds (cracking city!) for our Easter break... and we were talking about HB and the 96 and then we moved onto tomorrows game... and when I asked her if she thought we (LFC) could get the result she said the hair stood up on the back of her neck... so far she's been on the button with getting her predictions correct... she said manure would get turned over at Fulham - where I said to her "yeah like there going to loose there after our defeat against them' but she was right... and she get the result right on most occassions... (and she beats me on my accumulators)... so... I reckon, with nothing to loose we have everything to gain... like many on here... we score early they start to panic... it keeping it tight at the back... and I think with Masch back... we could just do it...

R4E

[Rigadon]

I’d start with:

…………….Reina………………

Arbeloa Carragher Agger Aurelio

…….Alonso Mascherano….….

.....Gerrard Kuyt Benayoun.….

……………..Torres…………….

Gerrard, Kuyt and Yossi interchanging

I expect :

…………….Reina………………

Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Aurelio

…….Alonso Mascherano….….

..... Kuyt Gerrard Babel.……..

……………..Torres…………….

[DannyMan2006]

I think Rafa will 4231, and that's what I want him to go with.

I think what many people are over looking is how important a factor a fit and flying Mascherano could be to the team. I'm not gonna start blaming Lucas for the Chelsea debacle, but had Mascherano played in front of him we would have won. That said, if Mascherano had started ahead of Alonso we would have won.

My reasoning for this is that Lucas and Alonso got slaughtered by Ballack and Lampard, but whilst I think either of them could cope with a deep lying Ballack, neither was capable of marking Frank Lampard. During that game we were destroyed by Lampards positioning and expert passing to Drogba - who can hold the ball up all day long.

I guarantee that Lampard will not get the freedom of the pitch today, and that he will be dominated by Mascherano. Javier will also allow us to push forward with him acting as insurance at the back.

With that covered I would then look to our problem at not keeping possession. Well I'll go out on a limb and say we will not play as badly as at Anfield, where we gave the ball away at will, even when not under any pressure. Daniel Agger at the back will also go some way to sorting that little problem.

The final and maybe most important factor is what to do about Gerrard. Quite simply the whole result will depend on him being involved if as predicted we play 4231. He was rested on the weekend but so was Essien by Chelsea - And is Gerrard even fit enough to dominate?

I said before the first game that the key battle was Gerrard against Essien and it remains the same to me. Quite simply Gerrrard has to play like we know he can, or Benitez needs to have a tactical solution.

I've often noticed Gerrard drop deep to get possession in games like tomorrow, and whilst this obviously helps him become more involved, it simply means Torres gets isolated on his own up top. I should imagine if this becomes the case we will likely push Kuyt up to assist and revert to 442 - It was a success on the weekend. Gerrard can then switch to RW of course.

Another reason to cheer is a Chelsea team without Terry. Torres knows he has the beating of Alex and Carvalho is no Terry. I know most on here like him, but he is not a leader of men like Terry and is not match fit yet.

------------------

My final point just comes down to our players needing to be at the top of their games. At Old Trafford Aurelio and Arbeloa were fantastic. They were so good that they had me and a lot on this site suggesting we had no need to purchase full backs in the summer. Seeing them against Chelsea made me think again as both were abysmal. And from being seemingly untouchable after some outstanding performances I think most would have Insua as first choice if he were available tomorrow.

But that was their first poor game in a long while and I fully expect both to reproduce something like their best tonight.