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[Bender]

Rafa Benitez says Alberto Aquilani will finally get his Anfield debut against Birmingham on Monday.

The Italy international was signed for £20 million man in August but has since been recovering from a knee operation and latterly a recent virus problem.

But the 25-year-old - who played for a few minutes in the Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal - now looks set to be thrown on from the bench against the Blues.

Benitez said: "It could be the time to let the Anfield fans see Aquilani at last.

"He has been getting fitter and had a short spell in a reserve game and then a few minutes at Arsenal in the Carling Cup.

"We had him with us in Lyon last week and I did want to bring him on. But Lucas and Javier Mascherano were controlling the game.

"So we waited a bit, we did not want to change the way the side were playing, even though he could have come on. Then we scored and there was no need to use him, it was just a shame we conceded so late.

"He was almost over the virus and he will certainly be much better on Monday.
Match fitness

"He has trained well. He does not have match fitness, but the only way to improve that is to play him in games.

"We have more players available now, so maybe he can be on the bench and then come on to change the game if necessary. He will certainly be involved."

Fernando Torres also looks set to play against the Midlanders despite struggles with a groin problem.

Benitez added: "We hope to be able to keep going with Fernando. Maybe he can be available for Birmingham, we will see how it goes.

"It was a risk to play him against Manchester United, but he scored a fantastic goal and everyone was saying what a massive difference he makes.

"He played, and scored, at Fulham and I was criticised by a lot of 'experts' because he was taken off in the second half.

"They can see that he has a problem, but the same thing happened in Lyon when I took him off.

"You cannot win. It does not matter what you do, someone will always criticise you. It is too easy.

Operation

"Fernando will play if he continues to have less pain than before. Does he need an operation? Nobody really knows, we'll wait and see.

"I have had many players with this problem under my management over the years. They carried on, and sometimes you can play for the whole season with such a problem.

"But I have been surprised at what some critics have said about Torres' involvement. People who have played football for years seem not to understand that the manager has more information.

"So when they are on TV, they just talk and they do not really know the situation."

Meanwhile Liverpool keeper Reina has re-iterated his commitment to the Reds, despite the recent poor form which has called into question whether the team will qualify for the UEFA Champions League next term.

He told The People: "My commitment to Liverpool is 100 per cent. I would die for the Liverpool shirt.

"I don't want to think about not being in the Champions League. If that's what happens, OK, we'll have to think about that next season.

"What we need is to pull the strings together. People talk all the time about bringing in more big signings, but I see a squad here of 25 good players who all want to be at Liverpool."

[Kenneth]

More importantly John, Voronin knew he would miss when he got the ball.

May seem pedantic, but he didn't miss, the keeper spread himself well and saved it.

And someone said he'd been given chance arter chance, but I don't think he has. He had the half game here and there.

[Marky]

Would it be fair to say this is a must win game?

[-V-]

Well we have lost 5 league games already this season so if we want to make the top 4 then every game is a must win game now

[dww]

Voronin has not scored, nor has he provided any assists, or even provided a pass for a goal scoring chance. I agree that some of his play has been tidy, he is better technically with the ball at his feet than people give him credit for. But he does it too far away from the goal for this play to have any impact.

You would think that with a player like Torres in front of him he'd really come to life and would be a usefull player to drift between the lines and make full use of Torres, but he has been abysmal in his link up play with Torres - because like I said, he does his best play too far from goal.

Not good enough.

You talk a lot of sense most of the time but on this occassion, I think you're overanalyzing things. Voronin is ****. That right there, is my analysis.

He's just not a very good football player. He does exactly what I (A man with little footballing talent) would do if I were thrown into the Liverpool line up, playing up front: Stay the **** away from goal so I don't embarrass myself if I ever get a chance to score, and make some neat touches 40 yards away from the action where there's no pressure on me. I would also run around the pitch a lot and appear to be involved with attacks, when actually I'd just be a bystander most of the time, unless the ball accidentally comes near me, and oh god, and I would attempt to... oh wait, lost the ball, never mind.

That miss against Lyon says everything, because I knew he would miss once he got the ball.

I'm not saying I'd have him in the team above anyone else if they were fit but I really think the Voronin is unambiguously **** argument is false. He certainly isn't good enough for us long term but we need to pick a team now. I'm not sure that the alternatives would add up to a better team even if I think they are better long term bets.

The comments about doing things too deep are certainly fair enough at the minute. That he hasn't scored or assisted is certainly true this year but while he still didn't look great in his first season he scored 6 in 13 starts and 6 sub appearances in the PL which is decent enough for a backup player.

[red g]

While I don't think either are particularly ready, how much worse would amoo or ecclestone do?

Vrononin is awful to watch, he does have a footballers brain, it's just a shame he doesn't have footballers feet !!

[andrewces38]

While I don't think either are particularly ready, how much worse would amoo or ecclestone do?

Vrononin is awful to watch, he does have a footballers brain, it's just a shame he doesn't have footballers feet !!

Oh I dont know....................I think he has footballer's feet..................trouble is they are both LEFT

[DannyMan2006]

May seem pedantic, but he didn't miss, the keeper spread himself well and saved it.

And someone said he'd been given chance arter chance, but I don't think he has. He had the half game here and there.

I'm sorry mate. I haven't played football in about three years and I was a defender not a striker, and even I could have hit a ball straight ahead in front of me. He was CLEAR through on goal. He was under no pressure from defenders. He had bags of time. He could have placed it either side of the keeper. He could have tried just blasting the ball. Instead he hit a soft shot straight down the keepers throat. The only way Hugo Lloris would not have saved it is if he had dived out the way.

In my eyes it was a half hearted effort with no composure and no conviction. I would say it was a defenders finish, but at least they would have put some power behind the shot and blasted it straight at the keeper, hoping for the pace of the ball to take it in.

I can sum up how good a striker is at our club when I came name midfielders and defenders at the club I would prefer to have a clear run on goal over the striker. Nearly all the midfielders and at least Johnson and maybe Agger out of the defenders. Not a good state.

[The_weatherman]

I thought he did okay against Lyon actually. I agree he hasn't done well in front of goal and in many ways that is the currency he needs to deliver on but he links the game better and harries defenders more than babel and I think it would be easier to get the rest of the team working with him in there than Babel.

I can see why a lot of people are critical of him but at the minute he looks more low on confidence than bad too me. His movement is more what we need that the alternatives. He does at times drift from games too which is infuriating as he is an experienced player as you point out.

The problem at the minute is that we can't find the right balance and none of the options in Ngog, Babel or Voronin can really claim to be the right answer at the minute. Of the three Ngog is the only one who should be happy with what they have contributed this season.

I thought so as well, and have said so somewhere that I felt we lost something when Babel replaced him, I felt Lyon got forward better when he came off, that said he would never start with everyone fit. We as fans always put huge amount of pressure on certain players instead of supporting them, i.e. Voronin and Lucas to name two, maybe we need to ease off a bit.

[Marky]

Are the Brum going to be on the receiving end of a Reds backlash, what do you think lads?

[SK]

Are the Brum going to be on the receiving end of a Reds backlash, what do you think lads?

a scrappy one-nil will do for me.

[dww]

You'd think from Rafa's statements that Torres will start. I'm genuinely not sure how I feel about that - Brum are a poor team and seem prone to a physical approach. I think we could well contain and pressure them well without him on and I would like some of the other players to step up and take responsibility. Added to that I think you can often get a bigger impact by bringing on a big player at the end of a game rather than starting them if they are unfit. Certainly that would be my approach if I had faith in any of the other players to score.

I think we could see a very strong performance as our levels have been getting better and Birmingham are no great shakes.

[-V-]

Mixed comments from Rafa. On one hand im pleased to hear him say that the players are angry with how the season is going and are ready to fight to get it back on track but then he went on to say that although it is important to get a top 4 place, he is not desperate?

[Bender]

Mixed comments from Rafa. On one hand im pleased to hear him say that the players are angry with how the season is going and are ready to fight to get it back on track but then he went on to say that although it is important to get a top 4 place, he is not desperate?

jeez he's sounds like a madman

[-V-]

I wonder if Stephen Darby will start tonight? If Johnson is not fully fit then in my opinion Darby should start. Its a home game against a team which should not be causing us many problems