I have to admit I was quite surprised to see Torres start in the Carling Cup tie with Reading on Tuesday and I would be quite surprised to see him start tomorrow at the JJB after only three days rest. Last year we made mince meat of the Lactics with a 4-0 victory there, but that was as we were making our strong push up the EPL ladder and the best player for us that day was Craig Bellamy.
Some positives about this year's match-up is that former Liverpool Academy product, Paul Jewell, and their captain that day, Leighton Baines, are no longer there. Plus the Lactics are suffering from a major injury crisis that will see Landzaat and Heskey, among five total casualties, unavailable for manager Chris Hutchings. Basically I'm saying Rafa shouldn't expect to need Torres to win there.
In keep, I don't think we'll be seeing Itandje again until at least our opening FA Cup tie, so Pepe shall return. In front of him I see no reason why Riise won't be on the left, Hyypia and Carra in the middle, and Arbeloa on the right. I know I sound like a broken record, but Arbeloa needs a day off soon before he get burned out. This may be the match, but I doubt it with Finnan playing the full 90 on Tuesday.
At midfield, order shall be restored with Babel on the left, Gerrard and Mascherano in the middle, and Pennant on the right. Babel should be a key as pace is something the Lactics appear to have trouble with. I expect Masche to hang out in back even more than usual and Stevie-G allowed to go buck wild.
Up front, I think it'll be Kuyt and... maybe Torres, though Voronin seems to be the logical pick with him not playing in the mid-week. I would love to see Babel up front with Kuyt, but the only way that would happen is if Harry Kewell was available, although Benayoun could start on the left. The only problem I see with that, is that Yossi would have to restrict himself to the left side instead of having free-range as he did against Reading.
So here's my final answer:
Reina
Riise
Carra
Hyypia
Arbeloa
Babel
Mascherano
Gerrard
Pennant
Voronin
Kuyt
Bench:
Itandje
Torres
Finnan
Benayoun
Lucas
If we haven't scored nor look the threat by the half, expect Torres to be brought on, but I have a feeling that Kuyt is going to bring the pain. Also Hobbs might be on the bench instead of Lucas, we'll just have to wait and see if Rafa is going to ease the perpetual Reserve captain into the rotation. Cheers.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Liverpool vs Wigan: What will Rafa do?
Labels:
Benitez,
Fernando Torres,
Gerrard,
Harry Kewell,
Lactics,
LFC,
Liverpool,
liverpool fc,
Rafa Benitez,
Steven Gerrard,
Torres,
Wigan,
Wigan Athletic
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Three of our on-loan kids have a good chance of seeing action today as their respective clubs are in action for the Johnstone Paint Trophy. ...
-
Like clockwork, the problems plaguing our side once again reared their ugly heads. We couldn't score despite plenty of intrusions into ...
-
For the past few days I've been mulling over data from the obscure to the obvious for a number of reasons. I really want to get an idea...
-
As I sat around with some friends this past Sunday watching some NFL and patiently awaiting the US-Brazil friendly in Chicago, I got to thin...
-
Nathaniel Clyne gets no respect. The 23-year-old right back put up some solid attacking numbers last season and was more of a catalyst in t...
-
Let's take a look at some key statistics from last season: (league rank in parenthesis) LFC MCFC ...
-
It's getting old. We are not good enough to challenge for even a Champions league spot and that's becoming more apparent by the mat...
-
Before last season's 5-0 drubbing at White Hart Lane, Liverpool had lost five straight matches there. The Reds are 6-5-11 in 22 Premier...
-
Since when did it become a sign of intelligence to be negative? Cynicism is one thing, pessimism is another, but negativity is not the act ...
-
- Well, coming from the official site certainly makes it sound more... official. Though he may not be back in time for the derby, it looks ...
No comments:
Post a Comment