Today's Banter: Kewell set for Cardiff, Torres may return sooner, Mascherano training, & more

- Wow, what a difference a day makes, but it's still not all roses & wine just yet. It would be great to hear that Xabi's injury is not as bad as thought, but optimism isn't my forte. Anyhow, it looks as if Harry Kewell will make the next step in his return to first team action when we play Cardiff in League Cup action tomorrow evening. That probably means he won't play against Blackburn on Saturday, but still, with his record, cautious baby steps are probably the best way to go about re-integrating him into the squad.

- Rafa has stated that Torres might be back sooner than expected. Before anyone throws the baby out with the bath water in belief that Rafa might be making another error in rushing Torres again, think about this. Benitez wants the Spaniard back fully fit and would never risk further injury. Torres wanted to play against Arsenal and by all accounts was good to go. I know rationality is not a trait of Rafa's critics, so I guess we'll just have to weather the storm of ignorance comments that the press and pundits might have in store for our boss. Fernando may return a week earlier than expected.

- Another piece of welcome news is that Javier Mascherano is already back in training. Thank Robbie Fowler. I doubt we'll see him on Wednesday, but Sissoko should suffice in that regard anyhow.

- With tomorrow nights fixture against Cardiff, Liverpool legend and current Bluebird striker, Robbie Fowler, is getting a lot of praise from a former Reds teammate and manager. Dirk Kuyt has thanked 'God' helping him adjust to English football and life in England. Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez might be planning some sort of grand return for the 32-year-old Toxteth Terror. Bringing back Fowler was one of Rafa's smartest moves both on and off the field.

- Fernando Torres is happy at Liverpool and plans to play out his six-year contract. It's good to hear that we have some positive voices coming from our squad. You taking notes, Crouch?

- Rafa has declared with his last two performances, Steven Gerrard is near top form once again. It's amazing what a couple of goals will do for one's confidence. Keep 'em coming, Stevie-G.

- Finally, Rafa has announced that he'll be resting some big names for the Cardiff clash. No big surprise, I fully expect Mascherano, Hyypia, Riise, and Reina to be get the night off and possibly Finnan, Gerrard, and Kuyt as well. According to Benitez, Leto, Lucas, and Aurelio will most likely start. I'm pretty confident Hobbs and Kewell will as well. I hope Stephen Darby and Emiliano Insua are there too. I know that's a lot of youth, but it's only the League Cup and honestly, a lot of our boys looked spent by match conclusion with Arsenal. Even our Reserves players mixed in with some first-teamers should be good enough to beat Cardiff.

Injury Updates: Torres, Alonso, & Mascherano

Well, it looks like Fernando Torres will be out for three weeks following the re-aggravation of his adductor muscle injury. Javier Mascherano didn't break anything, so his foot injury is being treated as a deep bruise. No word as to what matches he is set to miss, but I can assure you he won't be playing Wednesday in our Carling Cup tie with Cardiff. Finally, x-rays revealed that Xabi re-fractured his left foot, but the extent of his time out will be determined when he meets with a consultant tomorrow. Hopefully no surgery will be involved.

Obviously this isn't good news.

Today's Banters: Our injury crisis worsens, Wenger is a racist?, Gerrard praises Fabregas, & more

- At the start of yesterday's match with Arsenal it looked as if we were about to emerge from our current injury crisis with both Xabi and Torres starting and Arbeloa on the bench. It was all for naught though as El Nino was subbed at the half and Xabi re-aggravating his foot injury later in the match. To make matters even worse, Javier Mascherano left Anfield in a medical boot. Hopefully none of the injuries are too severe, but we'll find out soon enough. Thank God Harry Kewell is near return, Aurelio and Agger are not far behind him, and Arbeloa is back to form, I don't think we can take another major player loss.

- You gotta love stupid fans who try to exaggerate and manipulate what players say to create an illusionary controversy with their beloved club and manager. This idiot tries to imply that Jermaine Pennant is calling Wenger a racist, when in fact JP is saying that he thinks Wenger prefers non-English players, not non-White players. Only a retard would interpret Pennant's word in such a manner. By the way, there's a very good reason why Wenger prefers non-English players, and it has nothing to do with skill-level.

- Stevie-G has nothing but praise for Cesc Fabregas. The world's greatest midfielder said of the young Spaniard: "The world is his oyster. He can go on to be one of the best in the world, there is no doubt about that." I agree, Chucky Fab has all the talent in the world, but sometimes I feel his attitude and the 'South American influence' sours his performances.

Some more links to digest:
- Souness interested in Ireland spot
- Crouch for Sunderland's Jones? I say yes.
- Crouch to Newcastle? Yes, please.
- Goran Pandev in the works? Eh.

Post-Arsenal match reactions

I'm beginning to enjoy doing my post-match reaction debunking now more than ever. It's always fun to ridicule recycled opinions of matches, especially when they are manipulated by the commentators from the match and the press. Those who don't understand the intentions and motives of the media are deemed to repeat their words. I actually listened to the commentators for this match, something I rarely do nor would rather do, and I have to tell you, their comments were laughable at best. Anyhow, moving on...

Let's start with Ian Doyle's assessment for the Liverpool Daily Post. I have little issue saying that Mr. Doyle has written the best review I have read of the match so far, though I have yet to read Chris Bascombe's take. Doyle is quite fair to both sides though I don't agree with his entire view.

First, he fails to give importance to Mascherano's injury with ten minutes to go in the match. If Masche had been able to continue his shadowing of Fabregas, the Arsenal equalizer would have surely had to come from another source. Also, I thought it was a brilliant move by Wenger to push the young Spaniard forward to further Masche's negating influence.

Doyle instead puts the blame on Arbeloa, who he felt was playing too far forward which allowed Chucky Fab to beat him. At the very least it was a communication or tactical error. Looking back, I bet Rafa now would have pushed Sami forward and put Arbeloa at centre-back, but hindsight is 20-20 and what is done, is done.

A couple of other points from Doyle is that he gives recognition to Rafa's formation change, which will probably be ignored in most match reviews, but then he praises Crouch, I'm not sure why though. For the first time in a while, I agree the lanky striker actually looked as if he wanted to score, but after about ten minutes he returned to his useless form. Doyle also noted Eboue's card-deserving flop in the box when he received a slight-nudge from Carra though tried to make it look like a knockout punch. Moving on...

Sam Wallace of the Independent wrote a clearly-biased and insipid review that takes about as much stabs at comedy than Andrei Chikatilo. Mixed-in with asinine comments about player's hair and boardgame references, were cheap shots at Benitez and orgiastic Arsenal praising. If Arsenal were so good, why didn't they win, Mr. Wallace? Hitting the sidebar is not hitting the back of the net. Anyhow.

The most entertaining and baseless reviews always come from the opposition's bloggers. Most believe they were the better side and I can't flatly disagree with that assessment, but if anyone thought the Gunners dominated, well, you're delusional. As I said prior, hitting the bar is still a miss, and to base your opinion on that is just self-deception.

My favorite has to be insidearsenal.com's review. If you want to undermine your own valuation of a match, simply quote a match commentator in the opening sentence. Good to hear you can think for yourself. If you want to make yourself out to be a clown, do it again in the second paragraph. Gees.

Anyhow, other than being seduced by Andy Gray and clearly manipulated by the commentator's lip service, this guy fails to realize that fate is a two-headed monster. Anybody can 'woulda, shoulda, coulda' but the end result happened for a reason. Saying 'with a bit of luck, a solid wall, some composure in front of goal and an accurate final ball we would have stolen the spoils', is just ridiculous.

He also likes to spew stats, but incorrectly assesses whether or not they are either a determination of a side's performance or if it is a good result. He first writes that Arsenal had 63% of possession in the match, which his true, but believes this matters somehow. It doesn't, you can have 80% possession and lose 10-0, it only matters what you do with the ball when you have it.

Then he tries to make us believe that Fabregas' 86% passing completion percentage is good 'for this kind of match'. Really? Well, I guess if that's a good passing percentage 'for this kind of match' than Dirk Kuyt (100%), Steve Finnan (94%), Hyypia (89%), Xabi Alonso (86%), and Steven Gerrard (89%) are better passers than Chucky Fab. I don't believe that at all, except for maybe Xabi, but hell, Mascherano had a subpar match passing-wise, but still completed 83%. Laughable.

Liverpool vs Arsenal: the line-up

Here it is:
Reina
Riise
Carragher
Hyypia
Finnan
Voronin
Mascherano
Alonso
Gerrard
Torres
Kuyt

Subs:
Itandje
Babel
Benayoun
Crouch
Arbeloa

Voronin to start on the left... interesting, but he did so with Bayer Leverkusen at times and has played over there for us briefly as well.

Liverpool vs Arsenal: What will Rafa do?

For this match, I'm praying that Benitez thinks both Xabi and Torres are fit enough to start. If so, we could possibly field are best side this year yet.

The only good thing to come out of Jermaine Pennant's injury is that Gerrard is probably our best option on the right now. I used to be one who was opposed to our captain playing there, but that was mainly because Pennant is naturally adept at that spot and his form seemed to get better the more he played that position.

With that said, I feel we will see Stevie-G start over there tomorrow. Ryan Babel and Benayoun are options, but I think Yossi is more likely to feature on the left and we have to start our best available eleven, which leaves the Dutchman as the odd man out.

Unfortunately I don't have any inside sources at the club unlike every single Rafa rotation critic, so I don't know who's fit and who's not. All I can do is speculate whether or not Arbeloa or Kewell can go tomorrow. My guess is that Arbeloa will start and Kewell might be on the bench. King Harry only played the first half of our Reserves match on Thursday, so I think there is a possibility he could contribute in some capacity.

Well, here's who I would play if possible:
Reina
Riise
Carragher
Arbeloa
Finnan
Benayoun
Mascherano
Xabi
Gerrard
Kuyt
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Hyypia
Sissoko
Crouch
Babel or Kewell

I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow. I don't feel that Arsenal is overconfident and we certainly aren't feeling good about our form of late. A 2-2 draw seems to be somehow stuck in my head, especially with Howard Webb calling the match, but I'm hoping we get all three points. Anyhow...

Today's Banter: Jimmy Ryan gone, Torres, Xabi likely to be fit for Arsenal, New stadium costs rising, & more

- Jimmy Ryan will make his loan to Shrewsbury Town permanent in January. Good luck to the lad and hopefully he finds success with the League Two side. I know I criticized him in the past for not wanting to make it with a formidable club like our own, but honestly, if the kid just wants to play football than kudos to him.

- Xabi Alonso looks to be almost a sure thing to start on Sunday versus Arsenal while Torres is looking more and more likely to feature as well. I wonder if Harry Kewell might also be an option as he only played the first half for the Reserves yesterday? That might be rushing things though and with Kewell's track record, probably not the brightest of ideas.

- The new stadium, which is expected to be ready by 2011, was originally supposed to cost around £250m. Now Tom Hicks is saying around £400m is more like it. That's quite an increase in cost which is sure to come out of the supporters' pockets. The thing that most disturbs me about this article is Hicks saying, "There are far better investments I could make than buying a football team." Why do I feel like he's giving me the service?

- Should we feel sorry for Peter Crouch? David Prentice seems to think so. Unfortunately his article appears to lack a bit of logic, especially when it says things like 'They managed two more efforts after his introduction, and this time finally breached Besiktas’ goal' and when further speaking of that match, 'But Crouch looked predictably rusty and wasted the kind of chance he was gobbling up six months ago.' First insinuating that Crouch had something to do with the goal that Gerrard scored, which is far from reality, and then saying he was 'rusty' possibly due to lack of playing time, makes no sense. If Peter Crouch can't take advantage of the opportunities allowed him, then when will he? Predictably rusty? You've got to be kidding. He plays football nearly everyday in training, but apparently he's still 'predictably rusty'. Get off it. It's going to be a long, long time before I get the Marseilles match out of my head, when he was clearly not playing for us.

- Finally we have good ole David Moyes still moaning about Clattenburg's performance last Saturday and now how Liverpool and Benitez in particular reacted to being 'gifted' the three points. Get over it Moyes, maybe you should have played Tim Howard last year when Man United came to town. The Premiership is a corrupt league, except it or rot.

Today's Banter: Kewell is back!, Torres still out, Rafa does what he wants, & more

- It looks like there's a good chance both Harry Kewell and Fabio Aurelio will feature for the Reserves versus Newcastle on Thursday. It would be brilliant if we had everyone healthy by the first match in November.

- Unfortunately Torres' return will have to wait until Sunday, hopefully by then he'll be ready to go since it's Arsenal and all. Obviously that means that the Spanish striker won't be available for tomorrow's crucial Champions League clash at Besiktas. No word on whether Xabi will be available either.

- Rafa will sub Gerrard again if he sees fit, so get over it. This is Rafa's team not Stevie-G's and certainly not yours. By the way, fellow Liverpool fans, don't listen to all the spew from the press and especially learn to laugh at what fans of other sides have to say, they don't know nor care what's best for our boys.

- I worry when Benitez starts to praise player's character, particularly when that player is as experienced as Sami Hyypia. To me it means our long journey with the Finnish Legend is nearing an end.

- Finally I hope our boys back their words tomorrow and get us the three points. Anything less would be devastating. Dirk Kuyt and Javier Mascherano seem to be taking this upcoming fixture very seriously, which is good to hear, but knowing Benitez they'll probably both be on the bench when the opening whistle blows tomorrow. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Riise wants out?, Torres back for derby?, Babel loves his shuteye, & more

- According to Aston Villa striker John Carew, John Arne Riise is unhappy and would like to join his fellow Norwegian at the London club in January. Apparently the ginger left back is not pleased that he has to share playing time with Arbeloa and now Aurelio due to Rafa's rotation. Honestly, I don't want to see him go, but if he's a disruption in the clubhouse than so be it. Also he hasn't exactly been setting the world on fire when he does get to play. Other than the League Cup match at Reading where he came on as a sub and set up a Torres goal, I can't really recall any stand-out performances from him this season. He should probably think about this a little more before making such a rash decision. If he goes to Villa, will Martin O'Neill use him at left-mid occasionally, like Rafa does? Also he should consider Europe and actually having a shot at winning cups. I guess it really comes down to if he wants to play more or if he wants to be a part of a top club.

- Apparently Torres' injury is not as bad as initially reported and could be back Saturday for the Merseyside derby. That would be outstanding.

- Ryan Babel lost his chance at a starting spot for the Netherlands in their Saturday Euro qualifier at Romania when he overslept twice missing team meetings and a meal. Sounds a bit odd, I mean, I know he needs to be responsible, but couldn't one of his teammates have made sure to wake him up? Sounds like the normal team camaraderie of a Holland camp. Anyhow, I could care less, the less he plays for his country, the less chance he has of injury or fatigue when he returns to Liverpool. 'Big talk' Van Basten originally wasn't going to play the 20-year-old at all, but he still made it on to the pitch as a second half sub for Arjen Robben.

Some more links:
- We might be pursuing AS Saint-Étienne attacking midfielder/forward Pascal Feindouno
- The official site is catching Paul Anderson fever
- Everton defender Alan Stubbs doesn't think Liverpool are contenders

BREAKING NEWS: Torres Injured

Well this certainly isn't good. According to multiple reports, Fernando Torres tore a small muscle in his right leg during training for Spain today and is expected to be out eight to ten days. I would assume that rules him out of the Everton clash. Hopefully it's not more severe than thought. Click on the links to read more, but that's pretty much the gist of it. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Kewell nears return, Reserves draw at United, Stevie-G expected to captain England, & more

- 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 like Harry Kewell could return sometime in mid-November. According to Rafa, he could start training with the first team as early as next week. I hope he comes back and stays healthy, surely one more episode of injury will be his last with us.

- It sounds as if even the Man U Reserves get the calls. According to this report, Lucas Leiva was clearly tripped up in the box in our boys' 1-1 draw at Man U, yet was booked for diving. I didn't get to see the match, but it sounds as if we were unlucky not to win and were thoroughly dominating. Our inability to finish also seems to have had a trickle-down effect.

- With John Terry out due to injury, it looks as if Steven Gerrard will get the nod to captain England in their Wembley match with Estonia tomorrow. I guess that means he'll get to start over Lampard. Wow, two shocking revelations in one small segment. Hopefully Steve McClaren will stick with Gareth Barry as Stevie-G's central midfield partner as well.

- Steve Finnan, despite frequently sharing time with Arbeloa at right back, is the latest player to come out in support of Rafa's rotation policy. He believes in it, true fans don't bother questioning it, so who exactly is making a ruckus over it? People who have won more accolades then Rafa, of course.

- Fernando Torres has decided to stop diving. Not sure when he began. I can't once think of a time in a Liverpool kit when I can accuse him of the act. One thing I find amusing is that he says Steven Gerrard was one of the main catalysts in getting him to not even think about cheating in such a manner. I may love Liverpool and our Captain, but he's definitely done so for club and country in the past. So far this year though, he has yet to resort to such techniques.

- I posted a link to the Fernando Torres Story pt. 1 the other day, so here's part 2. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Torres injury, Kuyt injury, Rafa worries, & more

- Apparently Fernando Torres sat out training today for Spain and is a doubt for his country's match with Denmark on Saturday. The 23-year-old striker is said to have a left ankle 'knock'.

- Dirk Kuyt has officially pulled out of the Netherlands' two upcoming Euro-qualifiers against Romania and Slovenia due to hamstring issues. It is unclear when he will be able to return, but he has returned to Liverpool to receive treament.

- Rafa is worried that the timing of the international break could further hurt our side. The last time we had such a break, we were at the top of the table, coming off our two best scoring displays. I honestly think that a little change in atmosphere of some players might do them well. Let's just hope they all come back injury free.

A couple of more links:
- We are keeping an eye on a French starlet named Menez
- The Fernando Torres Story pt. 1

Today's Banter: Cisse injured?, Benitez demands defense improve, Fabio wants love, & more

- Apparently Cisse was injured in practice at some point in the last couple of days and may or may not be able to go tonight. I'll be shocked if he isn't at least on the bench. I expect him to start though and I'm not playing this up to mind games, but it wouldn't surprise me.

- Despite the fact that it's been thirty years since we've allowed less goals in league play and that we've yet to concede a goal from open play with Pepe in the net, Rafa still demands improvement on the defense. I have to agree. We were lucky not to allow a goal against Wigan. When Agger comes back, it'll be a lot easier though.

- Fabio Aurelio wants to repay the fans for their loyalty. The first Brazilian ever to play for Liverpool, Aurelio has finally returned from a devastating knee injury he got against PSV last April. Going into that match, the 28-year-old was showing signs of improvement and finally adjusting to the English game. I think the big thing with him was patience on the ball. Early on he tried to force things, but as he got more relax, his skill and style really came through. I just hope he doesn't revert back to his old ways.

Some more links to digest as we wait to take on Marseilles:
- Kudos to this fellow American blog for banning the Sun
- Bolo believes Rafa can lead us to the Premiership title
- Does Fernando Torres have obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Anfield Banter awards for September

Player of the month

This one is tough. Benayoun has made a strong case with the last two matches. His strike against Reading was crucial as it kick started the goal-scoring machine, not to mention it was a beaut. Obviously his cheeky score against Wigan was important as well. If it weren't for the Porto fiasco, Mascherano would be walking away with it and Riise has had his moments, but I think it has to go to Torres. He does so much on the pitch even if he hadn't scored at all the whole month, he'd still be a candidate for this accolade.

Goal of the month

There's really only three candidates here: Babel versus Derby, Yossi versus Reading, and Yossi versus Wigan. I'd have to give it to Yossi versus Wigan only because of it's importance. All three goals showed plenty of skill.

Assist of the month

Riise to Torres versus Reading was the first to come to mind, so it's got to be that one. Gerrard's through ball to Torres in the Reading match was nice as well.

Unsung hero of the month

Arbeloa, easy. He's played every minute of every match at three different positions. Though some of his performances have been subpar, we have yet to yield a goal from open play, so he's got to be doing something right.

Liverpool 1, Wigan 0: Yossi plays, we win

I wonder if we'll hear any nonsense about Yossi not starting today as to why we barely pulled this one off. Probably not, I figure the memory vacuum will take care of all the Rafa rotation bashing. Anyhow, on to the match.

Wigan should be commended for a well-played, well-executed game plan. We were really lucky to come away with three points as they were the better side and missed a couple of relatively easy opportunities in front of the net.

Overall, we were not a top side. We seemed to lack motivation as a whole and were timid about scoring. Wigan stuffed the box when we had the best chances to score and our attempts to do so were characteristic of keystone cops. Our lack of ability to be creative, utilize the whole field, and movement off the ball was quite evident in these cases.

Individually, Yossi stole the show with an absolute class strike. I posted a video of it in an earlier post, but I'm not sure if it's working or not. The Israeli seemed to revitalize our side the minute he stepped onto the pitch, especially Gerrard.

Our defense was surprisingly appalling at times, particularly Hyypia. He talked about how he's never had pace earlier this week, but it's never really hurt his performance. Today it seemed to as Wigan quickly countered set plays which left the heavy-footed Finn well out of position. It forced Carra to make some tackles that frankly could have been called penalties, but were not.

We grinded out the win and I'm happy about that, but better sides would have at least drew us. I know I complained about Pennant not cutting inside enough, but he did it a little too much here and as a team, we failed miserably at using the entire pitch, especially the deep flanks.

Kuyt was simply not fit to wear the shirt. He really needs to dig deep and get more creative. I'm not sure what his issue was today, but he was our worse player by far. Anyhow, I gotta go. Cheers.

Liverpool 1, Wigan 0: the goal

Here's Yossi's phenomenal goal from earlier today. The Israeli saved us from another embarassing draw. Cheers.

Liverpool 0, Wigan 0:halftime thoughts

Well, I missed the first ten minutes of the match, but from what I've seen we're dangerous to score, well, at least Torres is. If he doesn't score in the second half or at least set up a goal, I'll be surprised.

As a team we seem to play well in brief stretches, but for the most part look like a bunch of unfocused eight-year-olds waiting for ice cream. Pennant has been the most baffling, at times he looks fantastic, while other times he looks like he's never played the sport. At one point, he had the ball at the top of the box and should have blasted it, instead he laid it off to Riise, who was far over on the left and had defenders in front of him.

Speaking of Pennant, when did he become Wigan's punching bag? Koumas could have probably got a straight red for trying to break his leg on a blatant attempt to do so and towards the end of the half one of the loser Wigan thugs threw a punch at him. It's ridiculous not to expect JP to retaliate when the ref is letting the Lactics get away with assault.

As for the rest of the side, Kuyt and Gerrard are invisible, though no one has played bad. I don't think Stevie-G is fully fit yet, but with Xabi out and the inexperienced Lucas as the only real option, there's little choice. I guess we could play Sissoko, but that would almost guarantee a draw.

Anyhow, second half is about to start. I think we can win this, but I won't get my hopes up. We really need a Riise belter.

Liverpool vs Wigan: the line-up

Here it is:
Reina
Aurelio
Hyypia
Carragher
Arbeloa
Riise
Mascherano
Gerrard
Pennant
Kuyt
Torres

Subs:
Itandje
Benayoun
Sissoko
Finnan
Voronin

Once again, Rafa isn't messing around. I wonder how Voronin feels about the rotation now and really don't care how Crouch feels. I'm thinking Rafa is taking the Ukrainian's age in perspective and since he played well against Toulouse, maybe the gaffer is thinking of holding him for Marseilles. Babel's also getting an extending vacation, I hope he's okay. I do recall him limping off in the last match. I'm just glad I dropped him from my fantasy team. Anyhow, I doubt I'm going to get to see this match, I have company coming into town, but I'll definitely watch it tomorrow and have a report by Monday plus (hopefully) lots of goal clips. Cheers.

Liverpool vs Wigan: What will Rafa do?

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.

The Tinkerman tinkers again and we're still unbeaten

I love the muppets out there who are so proud of themselves by proclaiming that since we won last night, they were right by chastising Rafa for not playing Torres last Saturday. Of course, in actuality they are dead wrong. Again. Rafa played Torres as part of ten other changes to the side, which means all that bitching and moaning about Benitez' tinkering was all for naught. It was Rafa's rotation that gave us the win last night, plain and simple, but let's ignore the facts of the matter.

Aurelio made his first start of the year at left back. Arbeloa made his first start at centre back. Itandje made his first start ever for us. Finnan, who did not start against Birmingham, did so last night. The midfield had four different players starting in Leto, Sissoko, Lucas, and Benayoun, and of course, Crouch and Torres started up front, not Kuyt and Voronin. Call me crazy, but it looks like he rotated to me.

Another good point is that Torres probably wouldn't have scored a single goal if it weren't for the performances of Benayoun, Leto, Riise and Gerrard. Benayoun, as I stated in my final review, was crucial in taking the initiative and being the leader in the midfield. Let's fail to see that if it weren't for a cheeky through ball from Leto, a brilliant dribble and lay-off by Riise, and the vision of Gerrard, Torres could very well have went away goalless. The big difference between his performance and let's say Kuyt's and Voronin's from Saturday was that he did what he was paid to do, finish.

If you still don't realize that it was just a poor overall performance that earned us a draw on Saturday and not the exclusion of one single player, than I advise you to stop writing, because you're only going to continue to make a fool of yourself.