Reds facing defining moment

Mon, 02 Nov 07:58:01 2009

Rafael Benitez is hoping against hope that Fernando Torres is fit to face Lyon in Liverpool's crucial Champions League match on Wednesday.

The Liverpool manager took a gamble by substituting his star striker after 63 minutes with the scoreline locked at 1-1 against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday, but his decision backfired when Fulham scored two more goals for a 3-1 victory.

Benitez said: "We needed to do something to protect the player. We were more or less in control of the game. If we had left him on the pitch maybe we would have lost the player for a month."

He added: "It was a difficult decision but we decided to start with him because he can do a proper warm-up. But we decided to take him out at 60 minutes. The last time he played 80 minutes it took him four days to be fit."

To make matters worse, they had Swiss defender Philipp Degen and captain Jamie Carragher sent off in what proved to be the worst possible preparation for their big European encounter.

It means the Spanish striker, who equalised Bobby Zamora's opening goal with a brilliant volley for his 10th league goal of the season, is touch and go to be fit for Wednesday's Group E match which could shape Liverpool's entire season.

Defeat could see them go out of the Champions League at the group stage and with Steven Gerrard doubtful with his groin injury and Glen Johnson suffering from a calf strain, the Liverpool injury list shows no sign of easing.

 

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  1. Need a complete change,pool going nowhere.

    From farsical, on Mon 2 Nov 1:14PM
  2. City will take fourth spot from Liverpool this season.­ That's my guess.

    From santos, on Mon 2 Nov 5:16AM
  3. AZFAR: Are u on drugs or just Stupid, look at the team­ Raffa put out on Sat at Fulham, then look at the­ players he took off the park, just dont know what goes­ on in your brain.
    Raffa has spent much more than MU,­ CHELSEA and ARSENAL, and what have you got, a team­ looking over their shoulder at Villa, Fulham,­ Sunderland and Wigan all catching u up, open your eyes,­ Raffa is a total and financial disaster for­ Liverpool.
    Failure to progress in the champions league­ this season and failure to qualify for next seasons­ champions league will lead to a Liverpools financial­ disaster.

    From Alan, on Mon 2 Nov 4:56AM
  4. We [liverpool] lost because of injury and the transfer­ of alonso.I admited that rafa mistakenly sell alonso in­ order save barry.Liverpool wouldn't lose if alonso­ here ,they might draw or win with one goal.The defeat­ against chelsea is rafa's weakness.But against­ sunderland [beach ball],lyon[injury gerrad n torres]­ and fulham[red cards carrager and degen.This is not­ rafa's mistake,i think we should give rafa chance­ until aquilani , gerrad ,johnson and others recover­ from injury.The owners did mistake too they promise 2­ give 20 mil plus amount of money they sell players.If­ that happened maybe our transfer budget will be 20 plus­ 30 plus 10[leto and arbeloa] so must be 60 mil
    but we­ just spend 20 mil[aquilani] and 11 mil[johnson anther 7­ mil is the amount porsmouth need to pay 4 crouch}
    if­ they give the remaining we should capable by now.

    From azfar, on Mon 2 Nov 3:01AM
  5. will Loser'Poo' lose yet again,against Mighty­ Lyon???..giggles...

    thumb up=yes

    thumb­ down=no(you'hv been Brainwashed as a slave)

    From Those Rats likes Bin dippin for free Cheeseburger, on Mon 2 Nov 2:59AM
  6. Out of Europe this season and failure to qualify for­ next season would be a financial disater for­ Liverpool.
    A Any prospective buyer would shun any­ future plans to buy.
    B Failure to attract star players­ in the next close season.
    C Possibilities that both­ Gerrard and Torres would leave.
    D Support would drop­ and further finacial hardship would follow.
    E TV income­ would fall.
    Maybe, just maybe Liverpool would follow­ the path of Leeds.

    Please dont blame the Yanks, they­ put their money up and Raffa spent it.
    Alonso leaving­ hmmm he was forced out by the actions of Raffa last­ year when he was openenly chassing Barry.
    Sorry­ Liverpool, just rewards await, how the mighty have­ fallen.

    From Alan, on Mon 2 Nov 1:29AM
  7. Some people thought Rafa made a mistake when he let go­ of Alonso, but you need to understand if a player wants­ to go he will not give his 100% commitment if you force­ him to stay. That is what happend to MU with CR7.

    From c41ng0ku, on Mon 2 Nov 12:27AM
  8. Have faith! At this point of time when we have injured­ players, we need to sacrifice some games in order to­ buy time for the players to be fit. We can manage to­ lose points to lesser teams coz they are not the ones­ we will be chasing when we approach season end. But we­ cannot lose points against the title rival. If Torres­ played full time against Fulham, we may not see him in­ the upcoming Lyon game or even if he played he will not­ be 100% fit. Lyon is a MUST win game. That is the­ gamble Rafa took. We'll see what happen then.­ Meanwhile always remember YNWA.

    From c41ng0ku, on Mon 2 Nov 12:25AM
  9. rafa may be spending lots of money on players but you­ got to admit he was forced to let go good players­ before he can buy with little money. many people seems­ to forget this fact. the problem is with the yanks. the­ money that was gained from selling our good players­ like e.g. Alonso being used to repay their huge debt.­ Yanks MUST GO

    From AsianFootie, on Mon 2 Nov 12:24AM
  10. its all gone quiet over there....rafftas cracked, the­ team second rate, the crumbling stadium,bickering­ owners,beach ball came first ...now they have thrown in­ the towel....even the liver birds have bird flu...the­ one trick pony is lame and the dimosaurs like carragher­ and gerrard have gone ferrel.....they could make a­ reality tv show....Glory glory Man united....FACT!

    From stuartxland, on Sun 1 Nov 11:51PM
  11. i am sick of all this rubbish on these threads about­ raffas has not had the money,,,,,,,fact is he has had­ enough and wasted it on rubbish and he has let the best­ players and good squad players leave­ too,,,,,,hamman,crouch,pennant,finnan,risse,hyppia,garc­ ia,keanne,arbeloa,

    i bet our subs bench is the weakest­ in the prem

    From BEN, on Sun 1 Nov 10:53PM
  12. Wasn't Loserpool's defining moment last Sunday?

    From Stevie O Jay, on Sun 1 Nov 9:18PM
  13. Sid # 8 - When you said
    " Where do you get the­ idea­ that your squad depth is improving and how do­ you­ conclude that your young players coming through­ are the­ best in the country? "

    Didn't you­ mean

    " Where do you get the idea­ that your squad­ depth is improving and how do you­ conclude that your­ young COMICS coming through are the­ best in the­ country? "

    From Stevie O Jay, on Sun 1 Nov 9:16PM
  14. Harry: POST 3: 'faith in the rafalution' If­ you think sliding down the league and going out of­ Europe in Nov is the way forward then your head must be­ as empty as Torres trophy cabinet. Benitez has spent­ more than Ferguson, your squad is thin on quality and­ to win the europa league you have to play 32 matches,­ do you really think your squad is any way near good­ enough to win it and compete in the premier league.­ What are you going to do throughout the winter when­ more players become injured? Where do you get the idea­ that your squad depth is improving and how do you­ conclude that your young players coming through are the­ best in the country? Benitez is on the ropes, and he­ knows it, hence the bad decisions he's making. Mind­ you we have one thing we can agree on. RAFA MUST STAY!­ Yak! yak! yak!

    From Sid, on Sun 1 Nov 7:56PM
  15. YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA­ YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA !!!!!!
    YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA­ YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA­ YNWA !!!!!!
    YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA­ YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA !!!!!
    THIS­ SONG IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE WANKERSTER UNITED FANS­ AND FOR THE FAMOUS DINOSAUR FERGIE!!!
    I THOUGHT­ DINOSAURS WERE DEAD BUT IS STILL ONE ALIVE !? A ­ DINOSAUR WHO CHEWS GUM?THAT'S A RARE SPECIE!!!!!­ ONCE AGAIN....YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA YNWA­ .......................

    From neagigi91, on Sun 1 Nov 7:08PM
  16. I think is time for benitez to know or realized that­ carragher is the worstest deffender in the world , the­ big fool should have hang his booth by now i think, and­ the american business men are the people ruine­ liverpool fc , they don't know how to manager­ soccer american's are only good in basketball and­ bball i think they should hand over it to someone we­ can spend money on buying player's to achives what­ liverpool want.. sometime u will want to put the blames­ on benitez and some other players , but i think benitez­ is trying as a coach like ryan babel i don't know­ what liverpool is still keeping him for h's not a­ good player anymore..he should be loan to division 3­ leaguei think .....liverpool player's you all­ should wake up from your sick bed ­ pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee i beg u guy's in the name of­ God i'm one the liverpool fan.Love one... i think­ the fans u see to the American's owner they are­ ruinnin liverpool now bcoz they don't wanna spend­ money on buying player and they need trophy

    From MichealJ, on Sun 1 Nov 5:15PM
  17. uefa cup

    From KruRedza, on Sun 1 Nov 4:38PM
  18. Hi...At times like theses...we have to close ranks and­ back our team ..and that means every part of Liverpool­ FC

    From teinqui, on Sun 1 Nov 4:37PM
  19. if we lose to lyon then were out of the champions­ league and the financial impact would mean selling­ players. however this could be a benefit in disguise as­ the players to go would be voronin and degen and­ dossena and we would be likely to win europa league,­ looking at the other squads in the competition we are­ far superior. ofcourse id rather stay in and have a­ good run i europe but to beat lyon and fiorentina is­ difficult with the injuries we have. i like rafa and­ think we shuold support him, this period has been­ unlucky for us but not rafa's fault, we cant keep­ up with the spending power of chelsea and united so to­ still be beating united for the last 3 matches is a­ great achievement. our squad depth is steadily­ improving as we do things teh right way through are­ academy and reserves, the talent we have coming through­ now is probably the best in the country, some bought on­ the cheap like; N'gog, Mavinga, Ayala, Nemeth,­ Pacheco, Insua and Plessis, and our local lads;­ Spearing, Eccelstone, Darby, Kelly and Amoo. i think­ this season isnt out of reach yet but however it turns­ out we shuold keep faith in the rafalution because­ stable clubs are always the most successful in the long­ term.

    From Harry, on Sun 1 Nov 4:21PM
  20. Benetiz needs to go now, his methods are not working­ (zonal marking/ Greek defender i can not pronounce or­ spell or want to for that matter.)
    He thinks Ngog is a­ replacement for Torres (Joke).
    His decisions baffle ,­ substitutions are bordering on daft and he has or will­ lose the crowd.
    We are on a worse run than Hull and he­ will be next for the sack (Brown that is).
    So Rafa do­ the decent thinmg and hand the rins to King kenny and­ waltz off to Real Madrid.
    PLease Please Please !!!!

    From shaunjane2005, on Sun 1 Nov 3:13PM
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