Team for Stoke

[Craig_H]

The obvious thing would be for Benayoun to replace Babel. But i'd go 442, assuming Skrtel is fit:

Reina
Johnson Carra Skrtel Insua
Benayoun Mascherano Gerrard Riera
Kuyt Torres

Subs:
Cavalieri
Kelly
Dossena
Lucas
Babel
N'Gog
Voronin

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Don't see sense in dropping Lucas he played well against Tottenham.. One of very few that put in effort.

[Montana]

I guess it's gonna be:

Reina
Johnson
Carra
Skrtel
Insua
Lucas
Mascherano
Kuyt
Gerrard
Benayoun
Torres

[Marky]

Don't see sense in dropping Lucas he played well against Tottenham.. One of very few that put in effort.

Yep. Him, Johnson, Mascherano and Yossi when he came on were the only players that looked bothered.

[Rafael Benítez Maudes]

riena

black johnson carra skittles insua


kuyt monster lucifer dossenna


babybel torres


and if things are bad at half time ( we aint winning by 2 goals)


i'd change to this

reina

black johnson carra skittles insua

kuyt mash gerrard riera

benny
torres

[wiw]

Personally I'd keep the same team and put Riera on the left and Benayoun on the right. We won't beat these through the middle imo.

We just need express ourselves, create the space. We know we can win, so don't give up the chase. Stoke will always hit you and hurt you, defend and attack. There's only one way to beat them - get around the back

[Craig_H]

Personally I'd keep the same team and put Riera on the left and Benayoun on the right.

We just need express ourselves, create the space. We know we can win, so don't give up the chase. Stoke will always hit you and hurt you, defend and attack. There's only one way to beat them - get around the back

[Exiled_red]

Regardless of the team we put out we need to start our home games at a higher tempo against these sort of teams, when we do that we tend to win the games comfortablely, when we don't we tend to struggle in them!

[wiw]

Apart from those 2 changes, obviously Keep the same shape I probably meant

[Craig_H]

Regardless of the team we put out we need to start our home games at a higher tempo against these sort of teams, when we do that we tend to win the games comfortablely, when we don't we tend to struggle in them!

We do need to yes.

We wont do it though.

[saj]

Personally I'd keep the same team and put Riera on the left and Benayoun on the right. We won't beat these through the middle imo.

We just need express ourselves, create the space. We know we can win, so don't give up the chase. Stoke will always hit you and hurt you, defend and attack. There's only one way to beat them - get around the back

That's quality - can I save that as my signature?

[wiw]

That's quality - can I save that as my signature?

If you like Do you not recognise it?

[Craig_H]

You should use it saj. But maybe add a bit to it?

I came up with this, so see what you think:

So catch me if you can, cos i'm a scouser man,
And what you're looking at is the master plan,
We aint no hooligans, this aint a football song,
Liverbird on my chest, i know i cant go wrong...

Just came up with that off the top of my head, what dya think?

[Exiled_red]

I'd be tempted to try something like

Reina
Johnson Carra Skrtel Insua
Kuyt Mascherano Benayoun Riera
Gerrard
Torres

Perhaps with Gerrard and Benayoun interchanging.

I'm almost certain it won't happen but I think it gives us more attacking edge from midfield as we shouldn't need the two holding midfielders at home in these types of game. It also maintains the Gerrard and Torres partnership whilst hopefully giving them move of the ball. I'm not having a go at Lucas, I thought he had a decent game on Sunday (compared to most) but I'd just like to see a bit more of an attacking threat which I think Benayoun can provide, I know some may think he's not thbat suited to the role, but I think he could potentially do it well.

[BigChief]

Exiled Red, I like the look of that team. We have 'attack' written all over it. And against Stoke we probably only need Masch to defend deep as they won't attack much.

However, these are the kind of dynamic changes we will never see from Rafa unfortunately (i.e. use Benny instead of Lucas). Maybe Demento would (e.g. putting Giggs into the middle) but not Rafa. :-( I'm not expecting more than a draw from this game.