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Sparta Prague (a)

Ynwa20

By Ynwa20,
in FF - Football Forum

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What do you want?  

64 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you want?

    • Patches bags a brace.
      16
    • Strongest team out, 4-0 win.
      33
    • Fish for dinner, roll on March 6th
      6
    • Carroll and Suarez get 20 mins together and no less than 3 good knockdowns.
      12

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Reacher Experienced

Reacher

Posted
Posted
Andy Carroll has travelled with the squad to 'blend' in. Surely that could aggravate the injury?

 

He's back in training mate.

 

Kennys latest press conference

 

'We all have a responsibility'

 

Kenny Dalglish has explained his decision to include four Youth Cup hopefuls in his squad to face Sparta Prague - and called upon the media to act responsibly in their coverage.

 

Jack Robinson, John Flanagan, Raheem Sterling and Conor Coady all made the trip to the Czech Republic just days after the U18s beat Southend 9-0 to keep their cup dream alive.

 

Sterling scored five goals but Dalglish believes the headlines deserved to be shared.

 

He told his pre-match press conference at the Generali Arena: "We don't have to manage the expectations of anyone apart from yourselves - you are the ones who are blowing things out of proportion.

 

"Raheem can handle it, we can handle him, but everyone just needs a little bit of help. He might have got the praise but there were a lot of other people who deserved it too. Flanno and Jack Robbo have already been in Europa League squads. I think it's Conor's first. It's fantastic for them.

 

"You've got to be very, very responsible when you're talking about Raheem.

 

"It's fantastic for him to be involved as it is for the three other lads. Obviously Tom Ince has been involved before but for the four lads from the youth team it's a fantastic occasion.

 

"We want to make sure they feel part and parcel of the football club. They are here because they deserve to be here and maybe because of the injuries we've got at the moment it dictates that they are here.

 

"They've done very well but none of them will be carried away with the result the other night in the Youth Cup."

 

Sterling is still at school, though at the moment it is half-term.

 

Dalglish joked: "We'll just be sensible with the kids. I saw some of the stories in the papers about young Raheem. We've got a babysitter organised for him tonight at the hotel and he's doing his homework before he goes to sleep!

 

"We'll make sure he doesn't miss any of his school education."

 

Glen Johnson appeared alongside the boss in the press conference and found himself on the receiving end of some glowing words.

 

The right-back has been covering on the left side of defence under the Scot, who said: "The team is more important than any one individual - without trying to undermine the importance of the individual. It's great credit to him that he's prepared to play out of position. He's England's right full-back but he's done an excellent job for us at left full-back.

 

"The team's needs come first and you can tell with Glen's comments that he fully appreciates that. We appreciate it's not Glen's preferred choice but I suppose it's better than being a substitute!"

 

Thursday's last 32 first leg tie is Dalglish's first in Europe during either spell at the Anfield helm due to a ban on English teams competing on the continent between 1985 and 1990 after the Heysel disaster.

 

Dalglish said: "It's a great honour for me to be involved with Liverpool Football Club irrespective of the competition. Being in Europe just gives it an extra little plus.

 

"It's up to us to carry on the good work that was done by Roy and the players to get us this far. It's a competition we're involved in and it only seems to be unimportant to the people who aren't involved with it. It's important and we'll be doing our best to get the result everyone wants here."

 

Liverpool are without Andy Carroll, Steven Gerrard and Daniel Agger due to injury. Asked if they could feature in next week's return leg, Dalglish said:"There is a possibility that two of those three could be fit for next week. They are all injured and we've also got Christian Poulsen staying at home because his wife is due a baby."

 

Reporters wanted Dalglish's view on how much Gerrard would be missed.

 

He said: "Steven hasn't featured in too many of the previous rounds, though I know he came on against Napoli and scored a hat-trick in the second half.

 

"As I say, though, he is a fantastic footballer. Obviously we'd much rather he was fit than injured, but it is what it is."

 

Another question was asked about former Liverpool winger Patrik Berger - who hails from the Czech Republic and used to live next door to Dalglish.

 

"He did live next door to me for a lot of the time he was there but a lot of that time I wasn't there - I was at Celtic and Newcastle," said the 59-year-old.

 

"We've just seen him and it's always great to see former players.

 

"Patrik was an excellent player for Liverpool Football Club and made a fantastic contribution to the club.

 

"It is always nice to see him - more as a footballer than a neighbour though!"

 

Sparta are currently second in the 'Gambrinus Liga' having tallied 37 points from their 17 matches so far. They are four points behind table-toppers Viktoria Plzen and are currently in the midst of a winter break. The league schedule resumes on February 28 when they will face Banik Ostrava.

 

Dalglish said: "They've lost a couple of players - they've sold two excellent players. They've replaced them with two or three signings. They haven't played too many games.

 

"We understand they got themselves into a little bit of trouble in the tournaments they've played with shirt numbers by trying to fool us!

 

"We've seen them play several times on tape and we know roughly what we're up against and we know they're a very good side."

 

A Czech journalist asked the Liverpool manager if he remembered his last visit to this stadium.

 

"Not a clue!" he replied.

 

The journalist reminded Dalglish that Scotland lost here in a World Cup qualifier, to which the gaffer quipped: "The mind games have started!

 

"I just hope the same players who played in 1973 and 1978 are going to be playing tomorrow."

 

Source: 'We all have a responsibility' - Liverpool FC

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Faustus Grand Master

Faustus

Posted
Posted

If you'd have offered me a top six finish and the UEFA Cup when the King first took charge, I'd have bitten your hand off. It's nowhere near good enough, but it would at least salvage a bit of respectability out of a shitty season and would at least show transfer targets and players in the current squad whose futures are being discussed in the tabloids that we're at least moving in the right direction.

 

I wouldn't want to rule out Champions League qualification while it's mathematically possible, but like I said, the above scenario happening would give us a decent platform to build on.

 

Strong team tomorrow, get the game won and give the youngsters a run out for the last 10-15 mins. Happy days.

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mypost Community Regular

mypost

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AGENDA:

EL 2nd Round, 1st Leg: v Sparta Prague (a)

KO: 20:05 GMT/21:05 Local 17 February

Host Broadcaster UK: Channel 5

Web: Streams

 

Game should be at 18:00 as normal, but we've got it for the home game next week instead.

 

A win would be great but I'll take a draw, (preferably an away goal or two in the bag) and win it at home if needed.

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mikeb58 Apprentice

mikeb58

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Loved Kenny's press conference !

 

I reckon Kenny wants this trophy really bad, I mean what a return that would be, to win a major European Trophy after just a few months in charge.

 

Come on you redmen let's start tonight the way we mean to carry on in this competition, let's give it our best shot.

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Paco Grand Master

Paco

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Posted

Liverpool FC manager Kenny Dalgish to shuffle his pack at Sparta Prague

by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Echo

Feb 17 2011

 

LIVERPOOL have brought a 24-man squad to the Czech Republic as Kenny Dalglish looks set to shuffle his pack for this fixture.

 

Only Steven Gerrard and Daniel Agger, both injured, and Christian Poulsen have failed to make the trip.

 

Andy Carroll has travelled with the squad to play Sparta, but he is ruled out with a thigh injury for at least another month.

 

Young Raheem Sterling, 16, who scored five goals in the 9-0 demolition of Southend in the FA Youth Cup at Anfield on Monday, could feature.

 

Also in with a chance of getting into the action are fellow youngsters Tom Ince, Conor Coady, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson. Dalglish has insisted all of them could play a part against Sparta Prague and have not just been taken to the Czech Republic for the ride.

 

He added: “We have to wait and see what we’ve got available, to see if any of them will feature. We’ve brought them along as if we have to call on them we will do.”

 

Meanwhile, Sparta coach Jozef Chovanec concedes his side are underdogs.

 

“Liverpool are a strong side,” he said.

 

“We knew from the beginning that Liverpool were definitely one of the strongest sides we could end up with. We are facing very tough opposition indeed but we purposely chose good teams in our preparations to make it as competitive as possible.”

 

“We are looking forward to the match very much because we worked hard to get as far as this knockout stage.”

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Ziggy Stardust Enthusiast

Ziggy Stardust

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I think it will be a poor game, I'd be happy with a scrappy 1-0 win. Our squad looks very week in the attacking area, difficult to predict how we'll line up.

 

We could see something like this:

 

-------------Reina

 

-------Carra--Greek--Skrtel

 

Kelly-----Lucas--Aurelio----Johnson

 

--------------Meireles

 

-----------Kuyt------N'gog

 

That's the formation I'd go for, although I'd play Pacheco instead of Kuyt after his performance against Wigan, but I doubt it. I really hope we don't see Jovanovic, especially out wide.

 

Would be happy to see Sterling and/or Coady involved, but only of the match situation is right (particularly with Raheem), there is no rush. Coady is more likely to be involved, wouldn't be surprised to see him start.

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Manny Veteran

Manny

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Would love to see us win this competition. I'm not saying it'd put us back on the map - there's a long road ahead - but it'd draw a line under a horrendous couple of years on and off the field, and it'd be great to see Kenny pick up European silverware.

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Unrighteous Grand Master

Unrighteous

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Would love to see us win this competition. I'm not saying it'd put us back on the map - there's a long road ahead - but it'd draw a line under a horrendous couple of years on and off the field, and it'd be great to see Kenny pick up European silverware.

 

Agreed... I'd love to see Kenny lead this team to victory. It'll only make everyone look forward instead of peering behind over the summer.

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