Liverpool v Fulham - Prematch

Saturday 22nd November
3pm kick off

Well it may not be taking place for another six days, but we might as well start gearing up for the match now. I'm that pumped for this season I've gotta get thinking about Liverpool's next fixture so early.

After poxy internationals distacting one or two of players during mid week, they'll hopefully return rearing to go for their club again.

Now as teams go Fulham are probably the worst on their travels so this should be a very easy three points for us. They're nothing too special, especially at the back. Both team selections are hard to predict at the moment because of the internationals coming up  and we don't know who will/won't pick up an injury. But whatever XI we play on Saturday should be more than enough to beat the West London club. They're best assests are Danny Murphy (be nice for him to return) and Jimmy Bullard in the middle of the park but our central midfielders are our best assest as well and much better than their two. If we play like we did for most of the game against Bolton, then the scoreline could be embarrassing. Pass, move and this time finish will see us take another step to number 19.

Come on you Reds!!!

Yes, i don't really see much problem. I just hope it'll be like 4-5 goals to nil cause we have some goal difference to catch up. I still say Rafa picks the best 11(we need to be sure), then take players like Stevie, Fernando and Xabi on when we have a good lead.

It will be interesting to see how Rafa picks his team with the idea of a lot of players playing Internationals during the week but I hope to see a strong line-up but I know Rafa will change a little bit. I hope to see

- - - - - - - - - - - - - Pepe - - - - - - - - - - -
Arboloa- - - - Carra - - - - Agger - - - Aurelio
Kuyt - - - - - Gerrard - - - Alonso - - - Riera
- - - - - - - - Torres - - - - Keane - - - - - - -

I have a feeling though with internationals and Rafa always keeping a eye on clinching spot in the UCL during the week that you could see someone like Lucas or Pennant play cause they would be "fresher" having not been on internationals. Even then i expect us to get good win and hope we take it to them early and kill it off right away.

Then when we're having a good lead, players like Darby and N'gog can come on and have a run if they're on the bench. If we're leading 2/3 goals to nil with 15-20 minutes left, it's okay to take Stevie or Fernando off but hope some Istanbul miracle doesn't happen!

A repeat of last seasons win 2-0 with goals to Stevie and Torres will do nice but it would be good if we give them a real hiding.The chances we are creating in front of goal must surely mean that some team will get a hiding and it might as well be Fulham----Danny Murphy and all, .Just checked my records and we left it late last season to score,the goals coming in the 80 and 84 minutes.

We should win. Hopefully no internationals get injured and then i'll look into the details.

Match Day: 22nd November 2008

Time: 15:00 Hrs

I am really looking forward to a continued winning streak.

We need Torres back in form and we also need to continue to reduce the GD margin between us and chelsea. Too wide right now. Outside of hoping Chelsea catch a bad one, We nave no option but to continue winning by good Margin;

1 - 0 is a win
2 - 0 is a good win
3 - 0 That is getting the job done.

My team selection will be.


                         Reina

Arbeloa      Carragher      Agger       Aurelio

     Gerrard     Mascherano      Riera

         Kuyt      Torres     Keane

All-Out Attack! I would naturally prefer to have Benanyun on the Right and Gerrard in the Middle with Mascherano on the bench; but "If wishes were horses.........."

I think Rafa gets caught in the attempts to please our super midfielders (Mascherano, Alonso & Gerrard) so he plays one striker upfront. Truth is, Mascherano & Alonso Wont always play together if we must have two strikers minimum upfront.

Subs: Cavalieri, Benanyun, Babel, Alonso, Hyypia, & OTHERS (I still wonder how Lucas gets picked ahead of Pennant, but Rafa knows best)

Here is to a whooping of Fulham. 

It would be wise to post probable line ups after the international break, but surely anybody leaving Alonso out of the starting 11 is taking the piss when he is in this form.
I would rather see Kuyt and Torres up there with Stevie on the right and Masch and Xabi in the centre.

I think Gerrard will miss the game with the injury, but still expect us to beat theam quite comfortably

Reina

Arbeloa-Carragher-Agger-Aurelio

Kuyt-Alonso-MAscherano-Babel

Keane-Torres

^^ I'd welcome a return to 4-4-2. Especially at home. Especially against weaker opposition.

But I don't think we will get it.

I think with Stevie out we will get the 4 4 2 with Keane and Nando linking up again.

Match Preview

http://www.anfield-online.co.uk/match-preview/2008/match-preview-fulhamh/

Riera, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano, Kuyt all played full 90 minutes for their country.

A bit disappointing especially as we have concerns over Gerrard in central midfield and both strikers ability to last 90 minutes.

Babel, Reina, Torres and Arbeloa all played minor roles.

Arbeloa should be back in any case after serving his one match ban last weekend for picking up 5 yellow cards.

I think Torres dog should be picked above Dossena

http://www.lfcreds.com/reds/index.php/topic,10569.0.html

I too hope we get a 4-4-2 formation

I think Gerrard will miss the game with the injury, but still expect us to beat theam quite comfortably

Reina

Arbeloa-Carragher-Agger-Aurelio

Kuyt-Alonso-MAscherano-Babel

Keane-Torres

Would be my line up but would have Riera playing to be honest, fulham all in all is a game we should be winning. I know there are no givens in this league but we should.

I guess let Babel and Benayoun start, .
Then they'd go like 'We are 100% committed to Liverpool and rumours about wanting to leave is all rubbish!'

                         Reina

Arbeloa      Carragher      Agger       Aurelio

     Gerrard     Mascherano      Riera

         Kuyt      Torres     Keane

Hmm.. Maybe play Babel instead of Keane on a formation like that, after all, that's his natural, most productive position.

I'd go with

Reina
Arbeloa, Carragher,Agger, Aurelio
Kuyt, Xabi, Masch, Riera
Keane and Torres

Babel and Benayoun can probably come on later. I don't want to drop Stevie, but that's the formation if he isn't fit.

I don't think Hyypia can play cause AJ and Zamora are pacy.

               José "Pepe" Reina

Arbeloa      Carra       Agger   Aurelio


                 Xabi     Lucas
  Kuyt                                  Yossi

               
                 Babel
                              Torres


Rest Reira, Keane, Masch (I imagine his international game was in S.America) and Gerrard (dinged up). Give Babel a go up front, if he proves ineffective at the half move him back to LW, and bring on Keane for Yossi.

Masch (I imagine his international game was in S.America)

It was in Scotland, so there's really no need.

I'm a bit worried on this one. Fulham haven't won away from home all season. They have never beaten us at Anfield. If I was playing for Fulham, these are the sort of things that would fire me up. As we know, all these records will one day change. I think this is the worst fixture we could have right after the internationals. Not because we're not able to beat Fulham comfortably, but what team will Rafa put out ? I hope it's not a weakened team, I just hope he goes for his strongest, and rests players if and when we have a comfortable lead.
No Stevie and possibly no Keane.  Thats weakened enough for me. We have to go out as strong as possible for this one or it might come back an kick us in the arse.  Strong as poss and a 3-1 win.

Gerns I understand what you mean, but I think all in all we will not have much problem. With Fulham's away record we can only look at this as a plus because we have the atmosphere, if the fans get into it we can keep Fulham out of the match mentally and if Rafa fields a bit of a weekend team I think it will be good either way. Also with Gerrard out with his extremely "convenient injury" (No international to get injured in and guaranteed rest for the weekend). I think Benayoun will get a start so he keeps quiet and Rafa might work Nando into a start and replace him later into the game.

                    reina

arbeloa      agger    carra     aurelio

             masch      xabi

pennant                          riera
               kuyt   babel

this is assuming keane and gerrard are out, also leave torres on the bench if not fully fit, if he's fit, babel can be benched.

Do you really think Pennant deserves a game?

Fulham's poor away record isn't anything new though, they've been poor away from home for about four or five years now. I'm not worried about that record being broken at Anfield either.

I am worried about the likes of Babel and Benayoun gettin games after their recent press interviews. It gives the impression that we're gonna play anybody who goes runnin to the press. We should be makin an example out of both of them by sayin it doesn't make any difference if you tell the press you've got a cob on, you still only get picked when the manager wants to. As for Pennant, he should never wear a Liverpool shirt again, even in trainin. He doesn't deserve it, he hasn't honoured the club so F**k him.

I still expect a comfortable win, with hopefully a really strong side. Even if it is Fulham, I don't want no f***in about in the team selection.

Looks like Keane will be fit,stevie won't be though,i think we need to be more attacking against the likes of Fulham at home,no doubt they will block up the midfield?plenty of width need.Albert and Babel? dare i say mr .J.D. Pennant?

                          Reina

      Arbeloa       Carragher          Agger       


 Kuyt        Alonso           Masch         Riera


          Keane       Torres      Babel

Liverpool v Fulham pretty much explains my selection. Attack their brains out and come away with a 7-0 win

Babel x 2, Kuyt x 1, Keane x 1 and Torres x 3.

Go the Reds!

Somehow, i have a feeling Robbie Keane will be on the bench !

Fulham's poor away record isn't anything new though, they've been poor away from home for about four or five years now. I'm not worried about that record being broken at Anfield either.

Me neither. Somebody suggested that the fact they have never won at Anfield may fire them up.  Well it obviously hasn't for the last 76 years has it. Why would this year be different? Do you think they hadn't known that last year, and the year before that.

I'd imagine Rafa would put out the strongest team possible that he can.  I sincerely hope nobody is being rested for the Champions League game.

Struggle to believe somebody selected a position for Pennant, when the likes of El Zhar, Kuyt, Babel are all in my opinion ahead of him.

I'd imagine Rafa will have a bit of a selection headache tomorrow and some of the players will not be at 100%.

But we still should hammer Fulham.

i'm not worried about this one.  i think we should play an attacking formation from the offset, in order to get an early goal.  that would force them to play further up the pitch and allow Torres to run off their high defensive line.  we are due to give somebody a walloping and this could be it!

to be honest, if stevie has to miss a game due to injury, this is one of the ones i'd choose for him to miss.  we should really be able to take 3 points quite easily, but as goes without saying, we cant be too complacent either.

i expect fulham to come and defend with 10 men, so an early goal will certainly make the job easier.  the only thing i think we have to be wary of is that diving little tw*t johnson.

all in all though, should be an easy three points for the reds.

Regardless of the starting line-up, I expect a win.
Fulham are hopless away from home so it should be a comfortable win.
3-0 for me.

GERRARD RULED OUT OF FULHAM CLASH
 
Paul Eaton 21 November 2008 

  Steven Gerrard has been ruled out of tomorrow's league clash with Fulham - but Robbie Keane is fit after recovering from a shoulder injury. 
The Liverpool skipper - who was forced to pull out of the England squad for the midweek friendly in Berlin - could return for next week's Champions League showdown with Marseille.
 
"He is improving but it is still too soon for this weekend," said boss Rafael Benitez today.
 
"He is still working with the physios so he will not be fit for this game. He might be available for Wednesday but it depends on his progress. Hopefully we will have him back for the Marseille game."
 
Keane, meanwhile, will be available for selection after shaking off the shoulder problem which forced him to miss Republic of Ireland's midweek friendly defeat to Poland.
 
"I think he will be okay," said Benitez. "He was training today so he should be fit for the game.
 
"Some of the players who have returned from international games are a little bit tired, but I think most of them will be okay for this weekend."
 
Benitez was also relieved to see Fernando Torres for once emerge unscathed from an international break, with the Spanish striker on target in a 3-0 victory over Chile.
 
"I am really pleased that we had five players in the Spanish national team and Fernando did very well in the time he was on the pitch, scoring a good goal. He was sharp and that's really positive for us."

***********************************************************************************************


Well as expected Stevie is going to be out tomorrow, but we should still have a comfortable win against Fulham.

Sounds like the time Torres had on the pitch will for once benefit us, a good bit of much needed match practice for him.

I'm going for a 3-0 victory for us, will welcome Danny Murphy back, always liked him when he played for us and he always did well against the Mancs 

My scorers.........Kuyt, he's on fire at the moment, and two from Torres.


Go Liverpool 
 
 

I have to be honest without Stevie, we don't fill me confidence of creatin a hatful of chances. On the other hand, with Torres on the pitch I'm always confident of us scorin.

I still expect three points, but not as comfortable as it would be with Stevie in the side.

I think we can still win this game just that without Stevie, Fulham have one less player to fear!

Shame though, would have been nice to score a goal on his Steven Gerrard decade.

Remember to get your predictions in!

Liverpool 4 Fulham 0

Torres
Keane
Kuyt
Babbel

Remember to get your predictions in!

thanx for reminding me, almost forgot it

Paddy power have kuyt @9/2 to score first tomorrow now thats not bad odds and the form the lads on he could pay for my weekend on the piss

Liverpool 4 Fulham 0

Kuyt
Keane
Torres
Babbel

I was going to go for a 6-0 win until it was confirmed Stevie isn't playing.

I think Fulham might think they have a chance here and really be up for it. Having said that though, I still think we'll smack them. I'm going for 5-0. Torres hattrick, Dirk to continue his goalscoring hot streak and a Robbie Keane tap-in 

Depends.

If we score in the first half hour we'll win comfortably between 3 and 5 nil but if it goes into the second half goaless we may have to scrape a 1-0 or 2-0.

I'm going for the simple 3-0. Torres, Keane and Alonso.

              Reina

Arbeloa Carra Agger Aurelio

        Mascherano Xabi

    Babel    Kuyt    Reira
 
             Torres

Think Rafa will save Keane for second half, he just recovered from injury. We should win this, we MUST, to keep up with the Blues & move closer to number NINETEEN (19), 19, 19, 19...........

Hope Torres score, Kuyt score, babel score.

I hope it's a question of "by how many?" to be honest. 5-0 would put our GD way up. It'd be ideal.

Taken from the Fulham FC forum:

"There is absolutely no reason why we could not beat liverpool with our current team "


I'm laughing so hard!

I put 3-0 in for my predictions but I've got belief that a thrashing is possible. Fulham are a side that we should and better get plenty of chances against, if we're in good form(don't get cocky), you're looking at 5-0 or even 6-0.

I think we can still win this game just that without Stevie, Fulham have one less player to fear!

Shame though, would have been nice to score a goal on his Steven Gerrard decade.

Insteaf od Stevie, we have Xabi and Masch. I'd be worried.

Without Gerrard, I think just 2-0 is reasonnable, Torres and Kuyt!

Reina

Arbeloa          Carragher           Agger            Aurelio

Kuyt              Alonso             Mascherano     Riera/Babel

                                 Keanne
                     
                       Torres

Its in the bag today , we should be more interested in the chelsea newcastle game ,and hope that little michael can do his old friends a big favour and keep us at the top of the prem ,by blowing chelsea away

We want a good round perfomance today, want to see torres get back scroing and for keane to play a full 90 mins!
Think we should win 3-0 similiar to the west brom game, but we need an early goal.
3.0
torres x2
alonso

Deep down, Rafa is probably glad he doesnt have to keep one of Gerrard, Torres, Alonso, Masch, Keane, Kuyt or Riera out by choice.

Sticking to my 7-0 win.

Any idea what channel it's going to be on?

Deep down, Rafa is probably glad he doesnt have to keep one of Gerrard, Torres, Alonso, Masch, Keane, Kuyt or Riera out by choice.

Sticking to my 7-0 win.

Hope your right with that prediction 

I think Rafa will go with

                    REINA

ARBELOA    CARRAGHER   AGGER   AURELIO

KUYT   MASCHERANO   ALONSO   BABEL

          TORRES   KEANE

I think Rafa will go with

                    REINA

ARBELOA    CARRAGHER   AGGER   AURELIO

KUYT   MASCHERANO   ALONSO   BABEL

          TORRES   KEANE

I would pick your team with a slight change: babel for reira.
My pred is 4-0: torres, kuyt, reira, agger to score.

This round of matches is likely to result in sure wins for Liverpool and Chelsea, with Man Utd and Arsenal slipping further off the pace.  Any slip ups from those two would almost turn the season into a two horse race. SOme may see this as a tad premature, but the efficency of Liverpool and Chelsea this season is extremely impressive, and it would take a major meltdown for the chasing pack to catch them.  

Hope your right with that prediction 

I've had a great day so far, this would put the icing on the cake

This round of matches is likely to result in sure wins for Liverpool and Chelsea, with Man Utd and Arsenal slipping further off the pace.  Any slip ups from those two would almost turn the season into a two horse race. SOme may see this as a tad premature, but the efficency of Liverpool and Chelsea this season is extremely impressive, and it would take a major meltdown for the chasing pack to catch them.  

Premature indeed, hope your wife's satisfied!

With only a third of the season gone there's plenty of time for Man Utd and Arsenal to catch up. Obviously I prefer to be in our position than yours, but with head to heads between the big four remaining, nothing is taken for granted. Still, if we beat you at Old Trafford then we'll be in a very strong position indeed, but as I say, it's early days.

I'm going for a big 5-0 win today, I'm not as confident as Crouchinho!

We should be beating these easily, Gerrard or no Gerrard. Hopefully Fulham won't come and park the bus, but if they do we are capable of doing them anyway, I'm well pumped for this game today, and I'm desperate to see Nando celebrating a goal for Liverpool again!!

Its in the bag today , we should be more interested in the chelsea newcastle game ,and hope that little michael can do his old friends a big favour and keep us at the top of the prem ,by blowing chelsea away

Strange comment. How could you ever be moe interested in another match when the reds are playing?

Fulham are very poor away from home this season they have won only 1 point against Portsmouth.
But we have to be very careful, because from our last five matches at Anfield against them two ends 0-0.
Let's hope we will open them early and the match will be easy.

Torres, Keane, Kuyt - that's who I know are playing so far.... Benayoun is on the bench! And Aldo is going mad at him.

Match thread here


http://www.lfcreds.com/reds/index.php/topic,10837.0.html