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Carling cup tonight and if I'm honest i fancy liverpool to win this one with relative ease.

we have named a young squad and this is obviously very low on the priorities, liverpool, meanwhile, have named a fairly strong squad. Also benitez has said today it is very important now they are out of the FA cup to win tonight.

liverpool are 5/6 with hills to win it in 90 Min's and i believe they should be backed at this price, i think they were the same price as this on Saturday to beat our 1st team, lol, so are good value at this price to beat our kids/reserve team.

any thoughts?

I'm staying faithful and have a couple of quid on our youngsters at 4.4.  I can't see why everyone is so quick to write Arsenal off.  At the weekend we were 'underdogs' but look what happened.   The youngsters will be out to impress and try hard I hope.

Liverpool have named a side?  Benitez doesn't usually name his team until an hour or so before the match.  He's hinted that it'll be a strong side - but I can still see some of the main players being rested.

....and Dudek will be in goal.

I'd be happy if we get to the final in the league cup.  Last time we got knocked out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round, we lost in the final of the league cup, and went on to win the Champions League...

If it's a young Arsenal line-up, and a half-decent Liverpool team, then I'll go for Liverpool with the home advantage. 

squad

 ;ashamed;

Got any Janet and John books I can borrow...

draw 3.75 betfair


its a first leg.....like the draw here

no 1st leg tighty its a 1 off knockout >:?

is a 1 off knockout, that means I like the draw, extra time, penalites, sudden death, goalkpeers taking them etc etc

 ::)

lol

thing is - whilst i wanna win 2nite i dont think our fringe squad is capable of winning the cup and it might be better to get knocked out here than against Sp*rs in the semi or Chelski in the final.

Imagine the grief us gooners would get if they beat us even if it wasnt our 1st team!

In the final I think Wenger would play a full team tbh.

Possibly in the semi too.

Arsenal appear to have a full strength squad and i very mcuh doubt hell play a weak team. Im not saying theyll win, but big value at 4.4 or whatever graham said they were.

 ;D

Love your confidence.  You should be saying that he won't get a chance to play his strong team if he doesn't play them tonight.  Although Dudek is in goal...

we have got to 2 semis in 3 years and he hasnt fielded a full strength side either time.


we havent got anything like a full strength squad. i believe there will be just 1 starter that started the game on saturday and thats the keeper who is 2nd choice anyway lol

We are playing with absolutely nothing like a full strength squad and I would not bet on Arsenal tonight with Nemesis' money,  ::) even @ the seemingly enormous 5.6 available on Betfair.

Home banker for me, my advice would be to snap up the almost 4/5 available.

 Wenger will not risk William Gallas who could feature against Blackburn at the weekend after battling against a thigh injury.

First team regulars such as Thierry Henry, Gilberto and Robin van Persie have all been rested, leaving Cesc Fabregas and Kolo Toure as the only players who can be considered as automatic picks for the first XI.

Julio Baptista, Johan Djourou, Justin Hoyte and Theo Walcott will find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being the senior members of the squad, with unheralded youngsters such as Mark Randall, Matthew Connolly, Armand Traore and 16-year-old Henri Lansbury included in the 16.

Liverpool boss Benitez is likely to resist any similar changes.


full strength lol?????

liverpool is slightly weakened aswell only dudek and gerrard start who started for them saturday.

same as arsenal 2 players who started saturday start tonight, almunia abd toure.

liverpool's bench is strong with alonso, garcia and co our bench is very inexperienced.

not much between the starting XI's though, i think gerrard may be the difference should be a good game

liverpools team looks as weak as arsenals.

the bookmakers have priced this game up thinking liverpool would play at least a strong outfield team.

therefore 3/1 should be taken by anyone serious about betting.

i wouldnt want to lay more than 2/1 on them in this 3 horse race

Brilliant goal

On the weakend teams front I think some managers, probably benitez more than wenger (as wenger has always taken this approach), now think that they will look like a smaller club by actually trying to win these games. They seem to see it as a status symbol to be able to disregard this competition. The reality is that they can't. Neither of these teams will be winning any trophy's this year if they don't win this game. (okay maybe Arsenal in the FA cup if they avoid the big boys)

and again... but contrasting!

and again... but contrasting!

Keep the faith  :D

Have we found our first Sports Bokker?

Can we play you every week please ?

Are Liverpoo actually trying ???

if i am the sports bokker i will say we will lose every game  rotflmfao.

still think we need to keep it tight for the 1st 15 mins. i take it alonso and crouch will now come on.

LOL... loved the celebrations at the penalty - then he scores at will three minutes later. Looks like he's settling in. Liverpool deserve to be embarrassed here.

WE WANT 10

5-5 draw you mean? ;)

Goal

6-3???

That's a tennis score!!!

 ;D ;D ;D


 Td Th

3-6 is an embarrassment  :o

First time they,ve lost 6 at home since 1914 according to Martin Tyler!!


 Td Th

Great Walk on...
The ones in defeat are are always the most emotional .....


 Td Th

I met that Alliadiere in person when he was at Celtic last season.

He's some size of a boy . Built like a light heavyweight.

Nice goal son!!


 Td Th

 :o

Was either of those Semis Vs Spurs? Surely they were both in seasons where you had a chance of winning the league too. This year you don't.

It may be your only chance for a trophy this season so I would guess it will be a more experienced team.

Why we didn't play a better team tonight is beyond me. Our season now has nothing to play for other than trying to beat Barca. LOL!

smug.  ;hattip; ;bumwiggle;

mmmmm.....I went out to watch the match.....some of the group were not into footy so we stayed in a bar that didn't have the game on......

Did I miss much?? ;grr;

rotflmfao

I completely agree that Dudek had to be kept and Kirkland sold and Carson loaned out... ::)


to what extent does the recent run of results begin to put pressure on Benitez?

You trying to wind me up? ;)

This time 2 years ago we lost to Burnley in the FA Cup 3rd round and we went on to win the European Cup (for the 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th time)

Champions League and FA Cup in 2 seasons! Nuff said.

Martin Keown

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4396/1101940314400fw1.jpg)

 ;tightend;

How dare they!!!!!!  >:(

People looking at that picture will think that he is in someway related to us!!! The cheek of it.......

 ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend; ;tightend;

a premiership winner

a thug

i belive that if he didnt win the CL he would probably be sacked. that win has bought him some time

Anyone betting on them winning the CL again?

I disagree.

Weve gone from a team struggling to make the top 4 every year to a side that will.

We're capable of winning cup competitions and we've shown streaks of consistency that if harnessed correctly would have us competing more closely at the top with a good start to the season.

Champions League or not Benitez has us going in the right direction.

I've heard a lot about Arsenal's "transitional period" in this thread, it is wrong to think Liverpool are any further along than you guys. We were a right state after Houllier left with our team and our finances.

Don't forget this "under pressure" manager finished way above Arsenal last season and is ahead of them again already this season, not to mention the superior trophy count over the last two years - which is the ultimate measure of success.

I doubt you'd consider Wenger to be under pressure too would you?

I havent commented on Liverpool in this thread but there can be no argument that Liverpool are a top 4 side and arguably slighty ahead of Arsenal at the moment.

But, when i say Arsenal are in transition, they are.  An old squad is slowly being replaced by young players.  No more Pires, Bergkamp, Campbell, Vieira, Keown, Parlour etc.  Week in week out now Arsenal play teenagers in the premiership.  I have not seen that in over 15 years when the likes of Adams, Merse and Rocky got a chance.  Now Theo, Djorou, Fabregas (all teenagers) are involved almost every week and players like Hoyte, Clichy, Eboue, Senderos, Adebayor, Diaby, ae much older.

Arsenal have had to do this as the squad was getting old and finances were tight coz of the new stadium.  The stadium is now built, the debt has been refinanced into a much more manageable way and we have a squad for the future.

Being completely objective i am not sure if Liverpool are going in the same way and lets not forget you potentially have the difficulty of a new stadium purchase to come (tho i am not sure how much will be contributed by council and grants).  I look at the squad and im not sure the manager knows what direction he wants to go.  Too much money spent on average players like Bellamy, Pennant, Gonzales Aurelio, Zenden etc.  Surely this is not what you want.  Plus I look at the younger players and there isnt much shining through - Warnock seems to have been around for ages.  Either he is going to make it or isnt but for me he just looks like another one of those Stephen Wrights (?) you had that was ok but you knew would never make it and ended up at Sunderland (?).

This is my point - Chelsea for the forseeable future will have the money to do whatever they want.  Man Utd have a mix of money, youngsters plus world class players at the moment and Arsenal have 2-3 world class players with a young crop to come in.  Liverpool have 1 world class player, some good players but not much coming through.

With Liverpool i see neither transition or a finished product and i think that is most Liverpool fans concern (I spent a lot of time yesterday on the Livrpool forums reading their thoughts) and whilst a lot of it would have been knee-jerk reaction there is still a lot of unhappiness.

Good post Triple X but the players you mention such as Zenden, Aurelio, Gonzales, Bellamy etc are budget buys. Not exactly what we're after but none of them are big money losses.

No they aren't the players we'd ideally like to buy. We looked at Diaby and Walcott but as Benitez himself said we couldn't compete with the money being paid for them. To get us where he has considering our state after Houllier I think he's done very well. We also looked at Cristiano Ronaldo, same story there.

It's not that we don't want the best youth players it's that we cant afford them.

Benitez is a huge fan of investing in youth. If this DIC takeover happens I would bet every great young player is contested by Benitez.

Now look at these players:

Zenden - free, Aurelio - free, Gonzales - 4m, Bellamy - 6m (because of a clause in his contract) - all of these can be sold for a profit. When you have financial worries at your club these are good signings.

That's 4 players (Boro's best player 2 years aho, B'Burn's best player last year, a player Benitez knows well from Valencia who helped him win trophies, and a decent young winger with lightning pace) for £10m.

I'm not sure Liverpool fans who are getting down about it all are being totally realistic to be honest. We ARE a club in transition.

We've reached the point now where Houllier's rubbish has all gone and we'll only be buying players better than the ones we already have. Now it could get interesting for us in the transfer market. Especially if the takeover happens.

i hope u r right as i personally believe the title race has to be a 4 horse race so its down to Liverpool and Arsenal to get their act together.

Benitez is a good manager with a track record but his problem is he doesnt know what his best 11 is and that is something that Fergie and Wenger both know.  As a result the inconsistency comes down to his decisions.

That being said most people would say that Arsene Wenger is the 2nd most successful manager of the last 20 years - and after winning the double in his first full season in 98 he won nothing until the next double 4 years later.  Albeit we came 2nd every year, lost an FA Cup Final to a last minute winner (AND A BLATANT HANDBALL BY HENCHOZ ON THE LINE!!) and a European final.  So it doesnt all come at once...



 

He rotated when he won two league titles in Spain too. I think it's just his style.

As for Henchoz.... "Errrr welll....... i dunno..... it hit the powst!" LOL!

Benitez today:

Rafa Benitez has called on the Anfield board to back him with more money and to move quicker in the transfer market.

The Liverpool boss has taken the unusual move to condemn his club's own actions in the transfer market as he feels The Reds are missing out on some top talent.

Benitez was speaking after seeing Arsenal's second string tear his own reserves apart on Tuesday as they cruised to a 6-3 victory.

"If Arsenal can play nine reserves and score six at Anfield, people should be asking why," said Benitez.

"It's not because of one game, it's because of many reasons.

"There is a lesson for the whole of our club. That lesson is that if you want to compete at the top level you must be able to spend a lot of money - not only on your first team but on the young players and the reserves.

"My scouting department has done an excellent job but sometimes we go too slowly as a club to make signings we need.

"We need to work quickly. And when we do, there is not a lot of money. Arsenal spent £4million on Abou Diaby, £4million on Denilson, £8million on Theo Walcott and Julio Baptista is a £22million player.

"We had seven players with first-team experience and still we could not win."

Benitez did confirm the club were in the process of tying up deals for Sampdoria's Danielle Padelli and James McCarthy of Hamilton.

"We are signing a young Italian goalkeeper on loan with an option for longer," said Benitez.

"We have also been working for many weeks to sign James McCarthy, a young Scot [from Hamilton Academicals].

"These are deals we are doing because we want to build for the future. But without spending money it is difficult.

"Arsenal have two or three players, for example, who we were monitoring but couldn't sign because we didn't have enough money."

Courtesy of SkySports.

Baron - you and Benitez make it sound like Arsenal are so rich and Liverpool are so poor.  I thought it was the other way around?!?

Pennant - Kuyt - Bellamy - Aggar - Crouch.  Thats £30 mill between that lot.  All of them are not great players and money could have been better spent elsewhere.  Benyitez himself admits he overspent on Pennant but that he was forced into it as a panic buy to get width in the team.  We spent the same money on Rosicky, a PROVEN international who has a great scoring record from midfield internationally.

Benitez mentions Denilson, Walcott and Diaby.  Forget Baptista, we havent paid a penny for him!!  All of these were able to be made because of Wenger's astute transfer policy - not because he has a huge chequebook.  His net spend will be one of the lowest in the premiership, WAY lower than Liverpool.

But 9 times out of 10, when he spends he gets it right and can even still sell on for more.  Lets not forget in August we got £2mill for Cygan, and even got almost £2 mill for Pennant (thank you for that!!).  Plus the year before we got £13 for Vieira.  The net spend is hardly in the positive.

I am now going to find out how much NET we have spent under Wenger!!  Back Later!

If memory serves, Diaby only cost about £2M/£3M hardly "breaking the bank".

Benitez has spent £94m since he has been there, with very little coming back the other way, £6m from heskey and £8m from owen. Houllier spent £110m.

FM but how much money do you want to spend.

triple X said about wenger's net spend, this is quite hard to know for sure because alot of our buys are "undisclosed amounts" i beleive it to be around the £35m not bad for 10 years in charge

I really have been disappointed with Benitez purchases since he has been at Liverpool. It seems that all he is interested in is average Spanish players he knows "can do a job" and English players who have talent, but seem to blow cold more often than not.

Yes that sounds about right - could not find a league table of net spenders but found a couple of places quoting that Wenger's net spend is approx £3.5 - £4 m per season.

Not much at all!!

Yes Wenger is in a different league in the transfer market compared to ALL managers. Panicbuyor ;) is coming good, as is Van Pervert ;) - I wish spurs had him!

Still, Liverpool are ahead of you in the league - I wonder if it will last...

"You only sit when you're singing"

Nem - you coming to the home of football for the 2nd leg??

I see that no ticket details are out for either leg yet as the police are getting heavily involved - trying to stop both clubs giving the usual 15% to each other!!

even in such a mickey mouse cup should still be a fiery night both on and off the pitch.

As for Ad-e-bad-day, he actually is coming quite good.  Thing i like about him the most is that he tries so hard.  Hes like a slightly less skillful Kanu, but with bags more pace and 100% more committment. As for Van - Nutcase, he is absolute quality.

It goes back to what i said in an earlier thread - every single player for Arsenal in the best 11 (other than Clichy) is a regular international and that really makes the difference and with age on their side too, should be a good sign for years to come.

Berbatov is looking quite good for you guys too.

Only at home and against 2nd rate teams in the UEFA Cup ;ashamed; He does look class in these games though (I'm quite amazed that we got him!) give him a season and he will be banging 'em in home and away.

The semi final will be some game. It's fucking rigged that Chelsea got Wycombe :D but it would be a fairy tale if we can beat Arse and then Chelsea in the final - micky mouse cup or not!

I'm not confident though ::)

im going to the home leg, i cant honestly remember the last league cup game i went to at home. i went to west brom away about 2 years ago and that wasthe 1st league cup game i went to for about 7 years i think

I went home and away in 1987 - will try and get a ticket this year.

in 87 i went to home, away and the replay!!!

to think halfway thro the 2nd leg we were 2-0 down!!

This 14 year old boy at the time could not believe the comeback

Rocky RIP - You were my 1st hero in football and will never be fogotten.

I was only 7 - lol.

I went to the home leg and the reply - not the away leg. :D

08-Feb-87     L.C. Cup SF (1L)     41,256     A     Arsenal     W      1     -      0     Allen C                         
01-Mar-87    L.C. Cup SF (2L)    37,099    H    *       Arsenal    L    1    -    2    Allen C                   
04-Mar-87    L.C. Cup SF®            41,005    H    *    Arsenal    L    1    -    2    Allen C

Amazing how low the crowds were in those days. Highbury's capacity was 57,000 (or 54k?) and Spurs was 48,000.

If we could use Wembley for this years S/F's, both games would be sold out - without doubt

yep what that doesnt show is that u were 1-0 up in the 2nd leg and also 1-0 up in the replay.

The replay was at WHL as u won the toss of the coin

Think it was Viv Anderson and Rocky in the 2nd leg and Rocky and Ian Allinson in the replay.  Obviously we went on and won the final v Liverpool with Champagne Charlie scoring the winner.  Think it was the first time that Ian Rush had scored for Liverpool and Liverpool had not won or some silly stat like that....

As it happens, probably the best game i ever saw at Highbury was the semi-final second leg the year after where we beat everton 3-1.  It was just an amazing night and the atmosphere was electric.  Shame about the final v Luton (THANK YOU GUS CEASAR!!) Oh and the most left footed player ever Nigel Winterburn playing right back and missing a penalty at 2-1 to us.


Memories hey - have we done a thread of best home and away games u ever went to?

Yes, agreed, but you are buying youth players as your first team was/is already good.

Benitez is still cleaning up after Houllier's first team shambles. Every season/transfer window he's had to buy between 3 and 6 first teamers! Wenger hasn't had to do that for years!

Now that we have a semi-decent first team I think things will change.

EDIT:

We've signed (or are close to) 5 youth team players this window. One Scot, one Italian, one Swede and Two Arentinians.

Oooh don't forget winning the CL netted us about 35m apparently.

"The remarkable 4-0 dismissal of Fulham at Anfield on December 9 ensured Rafa's 50th league win - in less than two and half years. That's a better record than both Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger over the same period."

I have to laugh at this thread.

One Champions League, one FA Cup and another CL final in 3 years. £ for £ the best manager in the last 3 years.

Under pressure indeed.

But when will they try to win the Premiership?  ;whistle;