Saturday, December 1, 2007
Liverpool vs Bolton: What will Rafa do?
Apparently Fabio Aurelio is injured and won't be available at least for another week. I understand not letting the opposition know since the Brazilian is such a deadly passer, but Rafa, come on, you have my personal email address. It's not as if I would tell the world... then again. Anyhow, Bolton may have a bit of confidence coming into Anfield tomorrow after they beat Man U on Saturday, but let them kid themselves, they're still Bolton.
The Wanderers still sit 15th on the table, only scoring 12 goals in 14 matches, and to make matters worse, they'll be without their iconic Liverpool man, Kevin Nolan, and sensational upstart, Danny Guthrie. The only players that really worry me are former Reds Anelka and Diouf, but I'm hoping Carra and HyppiƤ brush off the dust from the old training notes on how to contain them. Other than that, we should be able to thrash them, as long as our boys aren't as cocky as I.
Tactics shouldn't play much of a part in Rafa's selection. I'm thinking he'll go with his most rested players on principle alone. I'm thinking Arbeloa on the right and Riise on the left to accompany the geriatric stalwarts in the middle and Reina in goal. It would be a brilliant time to let either Emiliano Insua or Stephen Darby get a confidence boosting start, but I won't suffocate myself in hope.
In midfield, I like Gerrard on the right with Lucas and Momo in the middle. Both the Brazilian and the Malian should be raring to go and I truly hope they have dominating and impressive outings. On the left, it's got to be Kewell, but probably not. Anytime I'm sure of someone getting the nod, I'm always wrong. Finally, up front I like Crouch and Torres. I really don't like Kuyt paired with Crouch due to lack of pace, but once again, Rafa does what Rafa wants. Babel could get the call though.
Who can take a Torres,
start him with a Crouch?
Who can take a Babel
and pair him with Kuyt...
The Tinkerman can
Rafa-man can
The Tinkerman can
The Tinkerman can cause he mixes players up
and makes our club world class
Yes, I'm in rare form today. Anyhow, here's my final guess:
Reina
Riise
Carra
HyppiƤ
Arbeloa
Kewell
Momo
Lucas
Gerrard
Kuyt
Torres
Bench:
Itandje
Babel
Finnan
Crouch
Leto
I went with Kuyt over Crouch because this isn't Europe. A bench of kids would be brilliant, but that just isn't going to happen. Hopefully Rafa takes more risks than I did, but we'll have to wait and see. It's imperative that Kewell and Kuyt have solid outings tomorrow. Anyhow, until then, Godspeed.
Labels:
Bolton Wanderers,
LFC,
Liverpool,
liverpool fc,
Rafa Benitez
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