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I've been thinking about this - has Downing contributed more to our team than Riera did in the same periods when they first joined the club? My impression is no, but their impact has been similar. I think Downing has put in some excellent crosses which his teammates have not been able to convert, but Riera from memory was fairly decent at beating his man. Slightly more inventive on the pass too, but Downing is more economical. I do have to stress though, it's impressions. Which was definitely biased (in favour of Riera) by an excellent performance on his debut against Man Utd, coinciding with the first time we beat them in the league after 5 years or something. Positive association and all that...

They happen to have amazingly gifted technical players who can receive the ball in very tight spaces and lay it off to another in a similar situation, or turn on a sixpence.

Perhaps a contributing factor is that playing beside Carragher just puts him under too much pressure, makes him nervy and he loses confidence as a result?

We've been very good up until either the final ball or the finish. Need a goal to come off Suarez's backside and maybe he'll nab a hattrick.

Scored a few as well...

Like what Suarez does, basically.

Even then Suarez had a very good chance to even the match (think it was before Adam got sent off)...

Is he not a totally different player, and a different type of player now than he was when he first joined in 07? My first impressions were of a tidy passer of the ball, who was sound technically, would keep play flowing and recycle possession well, with fairly good movement. But also required a lot of conditioning due to lack of physical strength. We know that Rafa wanted him to redesign his game, and for me he lost his way for about a year being neither here nor there by way of attacking or defensive inclination. That was the 08/09 season. I remember being at the Burnley home game in 09/10 and thought he absolutely bossed the game. First glimpse I caught of Lucas being the player that he is today. And then about a year on, he made his mark against Chelsea in the 2-0 home win. But even then, I'd wager that no one could even imagine him putting in the kind of display he did against City on Sunday. And incredibly he has elevated his game even further this season, especially in the past couple of months. Wasn't so long ago - as recently as end of last season - when many said he could do with giving away fewer clumsy free kicks in dangerous areas. Justifiably too. For me his defensive game is right there for all to see now, and I have a feeling it won't get too much better than his performance against City. The exciting part is that his attacking game has so much room for improvement. And I think we caught glimpses of how good he will end up on Sunday. I suspect he's unlikely to get forward much more often than what he does now because of his role in the team. However, I see him eventually averaging 3 or 4 significant attacking plays a game - forward runs, surges from midfield with the ball, defence-splitting passes - but makes them count because he's picked the right moments to contribute offensively. I don't think this is a purple patch, but a coming of age. And he's not even going to hit his peak for at least another 4 years...

Lucas Adam Reina

Superb game today. Thought he showed a bit of ability to control the tempo of play at certain periods. Needs to be getting into positions to have a pop - like he did for the goal - a bit more often than he does.

From what I've seen the argument is that because the top managers haven't given it a go, he can't be good there. For me the only reasons you even think about having Johnson further up field is if: a) you have a right back who is good enough in attack whilst being better than Johnson in defence; AND b) you don't have a right midfielder who is top class And at the moment, we have Kelly and we don't have that top class right midfielder. Maxi and Kuyt are our top two I'd say - both good and solid players, but not top class. Johnson is a goal threat too, both on his left and right feet. As DH mentioned he is able to beat a man from a standing start, but as others have argued he might not have the positional intelligence to play right midfield well enough. IMO Johnson is a right back all day long, but given the above circumstances there is defo a case to play him further up field.

Have people forgot that Rafa played Finnan at right mid at the start of his tenure at LFC? In theory Johnson at RM is a way better fit than Riise or Aurelio at LM or Finnan at RM. And he also played there for Redknapp at Portsmouth too. Even Degen played RM at Stoke a few years ago, albeit due to a slight injury crisis. But he played there nonetheless. If the examples above had not been tried already, is Johnson not the most likely - by far - of the lot to succeed playing further upfield? For me the prospect of having Johnson AND Kelly down the right, theoretically having very complementary and complete attributes is very intriguing and something I'd love to see. Only issue is that it's a partnership which would (again in theory) work best against the strongest teams, and it's risky to experiment in big games (tomorrow in particular).

Decent deal that I reckon...

That was nice, but the reason I highlighted the Havant goal was because it required a bit more technique than hammering it the way he did against Steaua...

I look at Henderson and think - there's a pass and move footballer. More cameos off the bench where he can nab a few goals late in games and I think he'll kick on from there confidence-wise. Downing isn't bad at all too - he's played left, right and even as a central mid before. Certainly has football intelligence in his movement. Again, confidence issues I reckon. So why aren't we as dynamic as we were last season? Are we trying to make Suarez the focal point of the attack when he was as much a facilitator / link as he was a goalscorer last season? Or is Maxi the one that makes everyone play that bit better because when he moves everyone - us and the opposition - moves with him (I don't think so)?

Does anyone remember his first goal for us? In the FA Cup against Havant (and somethingamajigy). It was a beauty...

Weren't their chance creating stats being highlighted as one of the main reasons we bought them? I loved the way we played at the tail end of last season - movement and interchanging galore. Overload the penalty box...

Enrique was either trying to play offside or didn't know he had players behind him. Also poor defending in the first half when we cleared Mata's cross/shot off the line - he lost his man and just turned his back. Almost as bad as Flanagan for Sunderland's equaliser... Adam was superb 1st half. Impressed with his ability to run with the ball too, gives us more options.

There was a game plan and Carra didn't fit in. I think he still sees Carra as part of our best partnership, but certainly good to see that players who are playing well stay in the team. Skrtel was superb as well.

Sounds about right.

This identity thing is a load of bull - trust Neville to get it wrong about Liverpool eh (I too heard him say that then - and duly shouted at the telly in response). Under Souness/Evans we lost our way despite having loads of British players at the time. We were used to success - was a loose defence and lack of bottle (despite the pretty football under Evans) our 'identity'? Houllier won the 3 trophies and gave us our pride back with a mix of foreign and British talent - winning trophies is our identity. Rafa brought us no.5 and made us a team to fear in the CL - and did so with the likes of Alonso, Garcia, Reina, Mascherano, Kuyt, Torres and Reina: talented players who played with passion for the club no less - being one of the best teams in Europe is our identity. When Kenny came home our 'identity' was returned: because it was robbed from us when that fraud was in charge, and having the King back in his rightful place made it even more special. Yup. McAteer (who is sound and certainly nowhere near as thick as he's made out to be) was very kind in his reply but you could see he was holding it back big time...

Well said - agree with everything except for the comment on Carroll.

Looked like Helen was almost in awe of him. He was joking about how easy it was to convince Gerrard to stay during the 04 summer too (thought there was a cheeky grin at the end of that explanation). Talked alot about Istanbul but it was more pleasant than I'd expected. He was also asked about how Ferguson was "Mr. Ferguson" to him, not Sir. Rafa addressed that the way you want any Liverpool manager to do so. McAteer was right behind him on that count...

Top man.

Drogba is athletic. Carroll is lanky and awkward.