Sending the "kids" is disrespectful to the "kids" and the club, A few on the field and a few on the bench sure, But going out to play a match with the attitude that it is ok to lose is not the liverpool way and why we have lost our way in the last few decades.

Don't agree - altho I think there is an acceptable middle ground.

I think we can field a term to win V Sion - we need to win as losing a home game in group situation could be costly but we can also rest some prior to the very important derby

Taking the derby first my team is the team I suggested a few posts back only with Milner not Hendo.

V Sion
Bogdan
Clyne Gomez Toure Enrique
Ibe Firmino Allen Moreno
Ings Origi

This includes Clyne, Moreno, and Ings who would start the derby for me but all 3 are fit lads who want to play so I am happy to do that.

With the 4th CL spot under threat in this country, wouldn't it be wise of Liverpool to take these types of games more seriously? The same would apply to Everton, Spurs. Arsenal and United could possibly be affected by it too.

I think the Europa league problem for English sides last few years its playing weaker sides and assuming they will still be good enough to beat middle ranking European sides.

Its proving time and time again its not

Completely agree - it's a poor attitude to have. If we're in a competition then we should aim to do as well as we possibly can for the duration. To go into any game thinking "we can afford to lose" isn't an attitude or mentality I'd ever want to employ because it's dangerous.

It's never ok to lose, no matter what the competition. If we're in it then we play to win it. There is acceptable middle ground.

Imagine being one of those "kids" who was thrown out there with everybody expecting them to get a beating... what a confidence booster for their careers at Liverpool that would be.

Who's expecting them to get beaten? The side that played in France equipped themselves very well. Plenty of youngsters, players all new to each other and they did fine.

The Everton game is more important.

Keep everyone fresh for that game I say.

I forgot Lallana - he could play too - maybe instead of Moreno or perhaps put Moreno at LB and play Lallana in midfield. Then there's Rossiter too - so we do have options, maybe less so for the defensive positions but hopefully V Sion there will be less need for that. I think some first choice players should be on the bench but hopefully we will not need to use them.

Another name - Texeira - anyone know anything about where he is. I know he broke his leg playing for Brighton at the end of last season but I can recall him being involved in some of the preseason games but since then he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Is he injured again? Or loaned out or what? - cos I think he is a good player too who we should give a chance to.

I'd start Lallana in Coutinho's position on Thursday, and leave Coutinho on the bench.


Got 69 points on Ultimate this weekend, subbing Kone for 1pt Gomis turned out to be a good move since he got me 6 pts. Would've been 7 if the idiot kept his shirt on when he scored. It's nice when you don't forget about it.

I've done what I normally do and made my changes early, with the usual plans to re-evaluate throughout the week, and finalising on Friday. Yaya Touré's down as 75% chance of playing, that could change before the weekend.

Arsenal & Chelsea doing their level best to reduce our CL places, then! Would make the EL all that more important. Why are PL teams so terrible in Europe lately?

I think it's partly because previous successes have lulled them into a false sense of security where they think they can rotate their squads and still win. There is also an ongoing preference to prioritise their A-teams for the PL games at the weekend.

Last night Arsenal once again neatly highlighted the jeopardy in resting even a couple of first-teamers these days. But, for us this week, the Everton game just has too many important aspects to it that I can understand not taking chances with, and resting, the likes of Mingolet, Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno, Lucas, Milner, Coutinho, Sturridge and possibly even Ings. ( ideally I put Clyne in that list as well, but I don't know who'd play RB in his place? possibly Can? )

Beyond the Premier League's self-created hype machine as being the best league in the world, in reality, it probably isn't. We don't have many 'top', 'top' players. We're also a wide open league so any team can beat any other... that makes it more competitive and you could argue that our teams have to work harder than those from the continent.

Do our teams strike fear into the opposition? I'm not so sure?

Studge won't be playing then.....for the best.

I'm not sure anyone beyond the incurably gullible have ever believed 'the best league in the world' hype. That said in the second half of the last decade the PL did dominate the latter staged of the CL. Our pedigree was undeniable even if our teams did tend to fall at the final hurdle. The drop off in European form since 2010 is marked, despite Chelsea's success in 2012. Where as before not making the semi-final stage was seen as disappointing, PL teams are struggling to make the quarter-finals. Funnily enough this obvious decline coincides with Liverpool dropping out of the top 4 to be replaced by City who have shown no form in Europe at all.

I have a theory. Since 2010 the PL as a whole has got substantially richer. All the teams have benefited greatly from the increased domestic and global TV deals to the point where I think todday the lowest PL teams receive more from TV money than Utd used to get from TV and CL combined in 2010. As a result the importance of CL money to the top teams is less significant. Secondly while the pool of top quality players is always going to be roughly the same, more teams in the PL can afford good players which dilutes the quality of the squads in the top teams. A good player can now earn the same playing for almost any PL team as they previously would have got as a squad player at Utd or Chelsea. We're also seeing the impact of this in the PL with the dominance of the top teams being questioned. They should still end up at the top end of the table by the end of the season because they have better squads but the quality of first teams is much more even across the league.

Sturridge not called up for England squad, but Ings is.

Delighted for them both, in different ways of course!

Can someone remind me how we are playing in Europe after our 14/15 season?.

Is Enrique injured, because he still can't get into the team even when we're resting half the squad! If he's fit then what's the point in him being here? We seem to be paying him just to turn up at training for a few days. We might as week post of his contract.

England gets 3 Europa League places - one for finishing 5th and one for each of the domestic cup winners. Since the winners of the domestic cups (Arsenal and Chelsea) already qualified for Europe by virtue of their league positions, the spare qualification places reverted to the league's 6th and 7th placed teams.

Actually looking forward to seeing Origi and Ings up top together (if we're playing 2 up top).

Are we on some BT channel tonight?

BT Sport europe

good start by us.

Liverpool 1 up. Lallana scores

Typically of Liverpool. 1-1

Lallana and Origi look up for it, at least...

Not entirely sure what Moreno is doing on the bench when we're playing with wing backs. Seems odd to play Ibe way out of position when you've got a player who can play that role naturally.

I'd also like to see our goal again. We saw one inconclusive replay from an awkward angle and Owen is absolutely certain that Lallana was off, having mentioned it 2 or 3 times since.

Started well, looked like we might score a few but we concede and all the confidence goes.

since then we've been very poor and its very frustrating to watch.