Guz

Part of this I think Rafa looks at how good in posession Arsenal are and how much running we'll have to do. Kuyt is absolutely vital to this and has been playing alright recently too. He will be alongside Torres, Mascherano and Gerrard as absolute definite starters (in terms of our midfield and attack). Given this, the only way Crouch will play is if a) Torres plays 'wide' i.e. either the role Babel or Kuyt have been playing recently b) Alonso is dropped and Gerrard partners Mascherano in midfield with Kuyt and Babel wide right and left c) Gerrard plays on the left in place of Babel as a flat 4 in midfield alongside Xabi, Masch and Kuyt

I know it's not going to happen, I'm just debating your logic that it should happen. Mind you a goal down to Chelsea last year and Rafa pulls out a shock to everyone by dropping Alonso and sticking Gerrard in with Mascherano. The only way to accomodate Crouch would be to play him alongside Torres and Gerrard in place of Xabi. Not really expecting a similar move this time round though but who knows.

Who supports Carra at right back then? Kuyt did a lot of hard work in our half last wednesday, if we're not asking Torres to play as a traditional wide man on the right then we're going to be inviting pressure down one side of the pitch. If Crouch is deemed to be more dangerous than Torres than Crouch should start upfront in place of Torres. But that of course is crazy

Are we really going to ask Torres to be putting in the sort of work Kuyt did on the right last wednesday just to accomodate Crouch or are we going to let the lad who has ripped apart so many teams at Anfield this year just do his thing? Unfortunate for Crouch but a no brainer surely.

What? At home under Rafa everytime we've gone all guns blazing at them we've come out on top apart from earlier this season. Ok they're a better team now than 2 years ago but european night at anfield, we're not gonna come out and sit back on a lead are we? Give arsenal hope and dampen our own crowd?! First 20 minutes atleast let's go out there and try to flatten them into submission. At home, wall of noise all around the ground, fast high tempo football - we are capable of destroying anyone in the world. Let's try and do it. Remember first half against Barca last year? 2-1 up from the first leg but first 45mins we absolutely anhialated them (although somehow failed to score).

What? At home under Rafa everytime we've gone all guns blazing at them we've come out on top apart from earlier this season. Ok they're a better team now than 2 years ago but european night at anfield, we're not gonna come out and sit back on a lead are we? Give arsenal hope and dampen our own crowd?! First 20 minutes atleast let's go out there and try to flatten them into submission. At home, wall of noise all around the ground, fast high tempo football - we are capable of destroying anyone in the world. Let's try and do it. Remember first half against Barca last year? 2-1 up from the first leg but first 45mins we absolutely anhialated them (although somehow failed to score).

He says we will be defensive but then goes onto say it's difficult to control the game at Anfield becaus we like to go forward looking for a goal. Strange really. Not too bothered about comments about the way we play in europe, particularly last wednesday. It's the sort of performance that I'm sure we've turned in many a time on the way to five european cups and one that has given us a slight advantage in our hunt for a sixth. Not arsed how we do it

Any scenes of the away crowd bouncing?

Babel needs to get the ball to his feet or ahead of him to run onto in the final third. Not 10 yards from the half way line. Gonzalez, while not being as talented as Babel, suffered the same thing last year. Our players don't know what to do with the wide players in the side. Too many balls at a time or pace where the defenders can double up or whatever. Babel and the rest of the side need to learn. Excellent result and at times excellent defending with superb work rate/ethic but our ball retention in the 2nd half against Arsenal was f***ing awful We will be pushed on more at home and attacking more especially in the first half on Tuesday so hopefully Babel can have a right go at their RB

If it's relative to some of his own form then yeah it's exceptional. But if we had someone of Torres' quality, for example, even on just one wing I think it would make a f***ing HUGE difference to our play.

Chris Brass overhead kick surely

Or neil f***ing warnock

In the pre match conference before both finals against Milan didn't he give answers/interviews in Spanish, English and Italian? Thought that was impressive too.

Ref was pretty good tonight I thought bar the one penalty shout.

Reina Arbeloa Skrtel Carra Riise Yossi Lucas Alonso Pennant Crouch Kuyt or Voronin

Many reds going down without a ticket and watching the game in nearby alehouse????

Parry couldn't say anything while he was still Hicks (and or Gillet's) bitch. It seems like he's been taken completely out of the loop and is free to say things in public without repercussions. Mind you, after what Gillet said on Friday it was hard to deny it.

Yes thank f*** we have Carra to scream his b******s off at everyone around him anytime we conceed a goal. I think Jerzy still wakes up with night sweats thinking about Jamie shouting at him.Dont understand why the huge debate really. The team, first half were f***ing brilliant. Sami and Skrtel were brilliant, Torres took his goal superbly, Kuyt worked his b******s off, Gerrard was f***ing brilliant , Riise was decent and looked better than he has done for a while. We beat the blues**** ffs, enjoy it people

We're not home and dry yet. Obviously Arsenal are still in the title race and Brum are fighting for their league status too so those will be tricky away games. Shouldn't balls it up from here though

For all the posession they had in the 2nd half Reina barely had a save to make. Should've killed the game off but a good win

Anyone got any streams ?

We weren't in the financial position to be spending £12m on an unproven teenager, especially with us chasing Cisse.

Pongolle was tougher on the ball than he may look and certainly moreso than Le Tallec. Pongolle scored a few goals for Recreativo last year didn't he? Maybe a 1in3 ratio, something like that. Any idea how well he's done this season?

I agree. Build themselves up for a year and then start introducing them gradually. Pongolle showed a few glimpses of potential but I can't recally Le Tallec doing much to be honest. I don't remember him being THAT good against Juve although I can't fault the determination or work ethic of anyone that night. His assist for Luis' goal was a fluke though surely and the ball was meant for Baros...I reckon Mellor's knock down against Olympiakos was aimed at Riise too but thank god it went to Gerrard instead

All those european teams are in the cup though and we are treated as outright underdogs. The players can go in with the underdog mentality for the whole tie and not worry about it. We'd be gutted if we went out but would get over it quite quickly probably because we DEMAND less (in terms of a result, not effort etc.) in those games. The players can't go in with the same mindset against the mancs especially and to a lesser extent Arsenal and Chelsea because we want to beat the c**** and expect us to do so more than we do Barcelona or Inter. We revel in the underdog mentality too much and until we shake that off and go into games against the best teams in this country with a set of testicles and belief that we're good enough we'll continue to struggle in these fixtures (away from home definitley) IMO.