Anfield Red

Rafa Benitez has named his starting 11 to face Man City at Anfield today, with Glen Johnson not making the bench. There is however; a rare start for Ryan Babel.

Liverpool face Man City at Anfield today after the break for Internationals, needing nothing less than a win. Rafa is still without Torres but after some treatment in Serbia; Riera, Benayoun, Aurelio and Johnson are fit to play – but who do you think should be in the starting line up when the match kicks off at 12:45?

Rafa Benitez has named his starting 11 to face Birmingham City at Anfield this evening, with David N’Gog replacing Fernando Torres upfront.

Monday night football returns to Anfield, as Liverpool and Birmingham City prepare to do battle in the Premier League. There’s a lot at stake in this match — especially after both Aston Villa and Tottenham won over the weekend.

A win would pull the club within a point of the fourth spot in the league, and I think we’re all in agreement that getting back into the top four should be top priority right now. There’s not much we can do about the Champions League, as we need a result from Lyon to keep our hopes alive. Regardless of the Champions League dilemma, we do control our own destiny when it comes to the league. And no matter which way you look at it, we’ve got to get three points tonight.

Follow along tonight with AnfieldRed’s Live Blog of the match. I’ll be here 10 minutes prior to kick to get things started. Live blog follows, after the jump!

In times like these when there seems to be a black cloud hanging over our beloved club, I like to take a moment and watch highlights of this match. Sure, it’s probably not right to keep looking into the past every time something in the present is going wrong, but for a moment, just one moment, I’m able to relive these glorious moments at Old Trafford last year when we took it to the mancs on their own pitch.

Sunday’s match, like the one back in March, is one where a season could be revived or lost in a mere 90 minutes. Last year, we needed those three points to stay within striking distance of United. On Sunday, we’ll need those three points again for the very same reason: to stay within striking distance.

No Gerrard. No Torres. No problem? We’ll see how that last bit goes tomorrow afternoon, when Liverpool travel to the Stadium of Light for a very tricky fixture against Sunderland.

You can follow the Sunderland v Liverpool game live here on Anfield Red as Jonathon Feyerherm from Soccerlens covers the match via live blog. He’ll be around about 5 minutes prior to kick-off, so don’t be late!

Another international break has come and gone, and with it comes the prospect of league football, as well as a critical Champions League match mid-week and the mancs next weekend.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to consider the match at hand against a very tricky Sunderland club that currently sits in eight place only two points behind Liverpool. This isn’t the same Sunderland we’ve seen in years past. No, this is one that should be treated as a mid-table club with a bright future.

Whilst it’d be easy to walk to same squad out this week, I’ve got a feeling Rafa will be mixing things up a bit after defeat at the weekend against Chelsea, plus a dreadful match against Fiorentina proved that we’ve got some big holes to fill.

So let’s all assume Gerrard and Torres will make the weekend. With that in mind, I want to hear from you all on who you think makes up the best starting XI for the match against Sunderland.

Leave you squad in the comments below.

Liverpool face Leeds Utd at Elland Road tonight in the Carling Cup; and with some of the big names set to be rested; who do you think should be in the starting line up?

The Carling Cup is notorious in the early stages for top flight teams fielding youngsters & squad players, so who do you reckon Rafa should pick to try and impress?

Pepe Reina is usually given the day off for Carling Cup games, so Cavalieri is expected to be given a run out, but we still need to put out a decent side. I reckon we should go for a 4-4-2 as follows:

Cavalieri,
Darby
Kyriagkos
Agger (if fit, if not then Carra)
Aurelio,
Kuyt,
Mascherano
Lucas
Riera
Babel
Ngog

Who do you reckon should start?

Liverpool’s Champion’s League dates have been confirmed, with the first game at home to Debreceni VSC.

The CL ties are as follows:

September

16 Debreceni VSC (H)
29 Fiorentina (a)

October

20 Lyon (H)

November

4 Lyon (a)
24 Debreceni VSC (a)

December

9 Fiorentina (H)

Liverpool find out who they will be facing in the Champion’s League group stages today, but who do you want us to be drawn against?

As one of the top seeds, Liverpool will face one from pot two, three and four. Below is the full list of teams in the draw:

Pot 1

Barcelona (ESP)
Liverpool (ENG)
Chelsea (ENG)
Manchester United (ENG)
AC Milan (ITA)
Arsenal (ENG)
Sevilla (ESP)
Bayern Munich (GER)

Pot 2

Olympique Lyon (FRA)
Internazionale (ITA)
Real Madrid (ESP)
CSKA Moscow (RUS)
FC Porto (POR)
AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Juventus (ITA)
Glasgow Rangers (SCO)

Pot 3

Olympiakos (GRE)
Olympique Marseille (FRA)
Dinamo Kiev (UKR)
VfB Stuttgart (GER)
Fiorentina (ITA)
Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Girondins Bordeaux (FRA)
Besiktas (TUR)

Pot 4

VfL Wolfsburg (GER)
Standard Liege (BEL)
Maccabi Haifa (ISR)
FC Zurich (SUI)
Rubin Kazan (RUS)
Unirea Urziceni (ROM)
APOEL (CYP)
Debrecen (HUN)