Liverpool v Arsenal - Sun 28 Oct 4pm (Pre-Match)

Sunday's clash with Arsenal is shaping-up as a MASSIVE game for Liverpool Football Club'S 2007/08 season.

After the Carling Cup last season - some of us will be shitting it for the next 4 days - others will be hoping it's an opportunity to put so many wrong things, right.

What will it be? Which Liverpool will turn out - what will Rafa's plan be...?

One thing we CAN influence on Sunday is the atmosphere - we really need to get behind the team - more than ever. Library silences will kill us... and the Gooners outsinging us will really get to the players confidence even more.

I personally am NOT looking forward to Sunday - think it could be a very, very painful experience. They looked awesome last night in their 7-0 massacre of Prague and could have had 14.

We on the other hand, find it very difficult / impossible to score. Huff and puff and can't blow the house down ...at all.

Lady luck - come down to Anfield in a Liverpool shirt on Sunday - you will be badly needed !!

COME ON YOU REDS!

In Rafa (we still) Trust.

If they score early we could be in trouble.  We have to keep it tight for the first 20 mins.  Gerrard should be played on the right, hopefully alonso will be ready with mascherano.  And Babel should play up front with Torres and gerrard and babel can combine roles.

This is a good game for us as it could be the only real medication of regaining our confidence with a good result.

after seeing their 7-0 thrashing of prague i think we are in serious trouble. we REALLY need agger, alonso, kewell, torres and mascherano back now. i cant beleive hyypia got 2 own goals in the last 2 matches?!

We really need Agger, Alonso and Torres back.
If we can win this....it'll be a HUGE confidence booster.

I’m sorry but I don’t think a 7-0 beating of Slavia Prague means we are going to get steam rollered by I will grant you a very good Arsenal team, this is Liverpool we are talking about not a gang of beetroot farmers from the eastern block (apologies to anyone from Prague) and we are playing them at Anfield where hopefully some cobwebs can be shifted and the moaning buggers in the stands (you know who you are!) will actually get behind the team for a change and sing themselves hoarse.
It is not Arsenal we should be looking at it is our own team, something is greatly amiss at Anfield at the moment and whether it is down to Pako’s departure or the likes of Alonso’s absence I’m still not sure, but one thing is certain I will never go into a game at home to anyone believing we are going to get tanked! Quite the opposite actually because I actually think last nights game will serve to rally the troops, the fans will show everyone why they are the twelfth man, and I honestly think the players will pull a good game out the hat and beat Arsenal, I will only be upset if we drop two points and only get a draw as for me a loss just doesn’t enter the equation were the Reds are concerned.

yeh im hoping for the same outcome Glenbuck, and im usually optomistic about everything but the way weve been playing of late, all i can think about is about the marseille game and how sh*t the crowd was for us then.

come on anfeild raise your F***ing voice!!

Not looking forward to this one at all , the way things are going I can see us being beaten 3 or 4 nil..........

I think Sami has to be dropped to be honest as he is so far off the pace and his reactions are awful of late, sayin that tho we have no one else!....

im going to be positive about this. They have just crushed a poor side 7-0 at home. We have lost 2-1 away to a poor side. Arsenal were flowing we were sloppy. Therefore Arsenal should win on Sunday no fuss!

Which is why I think we will win 2-0. Our lads will be hurting from last night Arsenal will be buzzing so im expecting our lads to get about them get stuck in from the first tackle to the last. Arsenal play lovely football but have they had a tough fixture this season? Have they been tested?

One thing tho whoever is lucky to be part of the 45 thousand will ye for f**k sake get behind the lads for 90 mins
of course we can beat Arsenal we are LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB

Y.N.W.A

i think weve solve the problem of who to buy in january, a new defence for when our best four are out injured!

Not looking forward to this one at all , the way things are going I can see us being beaten 3 or 4 nil..........

I think Sami has to be dropped to be honest as he is so far off the pace and his reactions are awful of late, sayin that tho we have no one else!....

May be it's about time then that we gave Hobbs a chance, let him show us what he can do.

I love Sami Hypia, he has been a tremendous asset to Liverpool over the years, but I think his better days are over, unfortunately for him.

Let's face it, Hobbs can't be any worse, he's young will have the speed that Hypia hasn't got, and with Jamie alongside him......can guide him through at least till Agger comes back??

MsGerrard, thats a good idea! hopefully he could be as good as the youngsters at arsenal? he might as well get as spot now. im sure hyypia wont be playing any games now for abit

yeah, Hobbs is rated highly so why not? like you said he MUST be faster than Sami so theres a start, its not as if Arsenal are gonna be bombarding us with long balls so heading shouldnt be a massive issue, I would like to see him given a chance as you said the way things have been recently I doubt he would be any worse..........

I really hope we get our act together tho on Sunday.......

after seeing their 7-0 thrashing of prague I think we are in serious trouble. we REALLY need agger, alonso, kewell, torres and mascherano back now. I cant beleive hyypia got 2 own goals in the last 2 matches?!

Why do we need Kewell back? Hes a great player yes but we've done without him for over a year and done quite well. Admittedly if hes at his best yes we can definitely do with him but he'll never be ready in time for Arsenal

I am praying that Alvaro is back on Sunday - we badly missed him last night.

Massive game for Hobbs - but he who dares wins... Rafa WHO DARES - WINS.

My team would be:

? = if fit.

* = wince.

           PR

SL     JC    JH/AA? FA?/JAR*

SG     XA      LL         YB

          FT?/RB   PC

Going to be watching this game from behind the sofa me thinks...

I have a bad feeling about this one.  Worst of all, I will be watching it with my in-laws who are all fans of the arse.

We somehow have a habit of rising to the big occasion and for big matches. Something inside me says that the boys can rip Arsenal apart...I believe we have a much better side than Arsenal on paper, its just a matter of us executing that, and playing with OUR best starting 11, and not looking to compensate for Arsenals best starting 11.

Champions are champions because no one can beat them at their own game....we have to formulate a best starting 11, have faith and belief in that...and the rest will come....We shouldnt have to worry about changing players for supposed "tactical reasons"....other teams can do that when they play us...If we're constantly changing our starting 11 to suit other teams, we must be low in confidence in our players and capabilities. If Rafa shows confidence in a starting 11 consistently, the boys will deliver...

I have a bad feeling about this one.  Worst of all, I will be watching it with my in-laws who are all fans of the arse.

On the contrary - I am looking forward to this one.  We nearly always raise our game for these big clashes.  We lost 6-3 against them and won 4-1 at Anfield last season.

That probably equates to a 0-0 this time round!

I expect Alonso and Torres to return at the weekend and I think these two could provide a real spark for us.

Sunday's key to success: Best form of defence is ATTACK.

Back-four isn't clear - but would give Lucas a full game in midfield...

SG XA (holding) LL RB

with

FT & PC up-front - not sure where the crosses will be coming in from though (wing-backs maybe ...SF? JAR?)...

We have to put mascherano on fabregas otherwise he will kill us.Now for team selection.


Reina

Finnan  Carra  Agger/hobbs arbeloa

Gerrard  masch (lucas)  alonso   Kewell/benayoun

         Babel   torres/crouch

If  arbeloa isn't fit then I'm going with 3 at the back(very risky especially if agger misses out but needs must) ,with gerrard and benayoun as wing backs as both are defensely sound when we need to be and hence bringing lucas into the starting XI.

Up front I've gone for babel and torres as they both have pace,and a mixture of guile(torres) and unpredictable(babel) and crouch(if called upon) to win knock downs and drag their defense around ,leaving space for others to attack.I think this team has a good balance and would cause trouble to any defense.

I know this might seem risky but there's no way I'd have Hyypia ,JAR or JP in the team as they are liabillaties and I'd rather see the team above get hammered trying than  with those three messing it up.

IN RAFA WE (ALWAYS) TRUST                 YNWA

Why do we need Kewell back? Hes a great player yes but we've done without him for over a year and done quite well. Admittedly if hes at his best yes we can definitely do with him but he'll never be ready in time for Arsenal

because obviously hes a talented winger that we havent had and we NEED a top winger, so i dont see why you would ask that? if you know of a better winger at this club then i think you should tell rafa as im not sure he knows of him yet

It seems to me that lately we have been picking "reactive" teams...
as in that we seem to be picking players to try to react to the oppositions style of play.
What has happened to the Liverpool style of play where WE dictated the terms on the pitch
we have the players... but it seems its our game plan that needs adjusting

One thing that the Gooners have done exceptionally well this season is to control the style and tempo of the game
If we pick yet another "reactive" side this Sunday, It will only be through pure arse or an act of individual
brilliance that will see us hold our own let alone win this match...

Having a think back, I'm not really sure what our game plans have been this season, we have no organization in either
attack or defense, the only player that seems to know what his individual job is at the moment is Reina

and I do know that our midfield have had a few injury's, but surely the "rotated" players are still in on the game meetings.
at present they look like they have just been drawn out of a hat 2 minutes before kickoff

we have no combinations, co-ordination or gameplan....the only constant Ive noticed so far is Rafa's substitutions with 20 min's to go...

We will come good, of that I have no doubt, but alas, like in previous underperforming seasons...
it will be just that little bit too late, and unfortunately for us, yet again, so early in the season its time to stand up and be counted..
or this season will be be lost to us

Dave
The "Frustrated" Warrior

Crouch does seem to have got the measure of the arsenal defense, so I'll put him in. That being said I dont believe that arsenal's defense has been put through any sort of real test yet so nando will probabaly be a good choice. I think possession seems to be the name of the game and we need to especially get Fabregas out of the game.

Heaven help us if we put Momo in against them...

We will come good, of that I have no doubt, but alas, like in previous underperforming seasons...
it will be just that little bit too late

I'm having a difficult time listening to all this negativity from all you people.  Too late? - we haven't lost a game yet in the league and we're 4th with a game in hand.

It really is at times like this that a clear dividing line is always shown between the local die-hard support and the non-local experts.