Guillem Balague seems to think Riera is well used to opperating on the left in a 4-3-2-1 Formation and it brings the best out of him.

That's all right then.

We're going to have a fair few options if we do revert. Keane, Kuyt, Babel, Riera, Benayoun, N'Gog, Voronin (unless he exits), Pennant (likewise) for ... 2 positions (assuming Gerrard / Torres are certs every week).

Its weird one, as I saw the other Spanish Sky Sports reporter (the bald one - cant remember his name) saying he doesnt see how Reira will improve Liverpools team.

Mixed reviews so far, not only from the Liverpool fans but also the people that would have seen a fair bit of him. Think we have just got to trust Rafa, support the player and hope he is what he have been craving. He has got to be better than anything we have at present on the left.

I just hope we revert back to the 4-2-3-1 asap.

I'm fearful we won't.

The way Rafa's trying to force Keane and Torres up front together and the fact we've missed out on signing Barry (who he clearly had pinpointed to hold midfield alongside Mascherano and cover for more attacking full-backs in Dossena and Degen, something Alonso (and Lucas for that matter) isn't suited to at all) makes me wonder.

I'm hoping he's just trying to gain an understanding between Keane and Torres though. Missing out on Barry is just something we'll have to live with.

The only bonus about Barry is that he is holding out on contract discussions till next summer. This is good. I imagine Rafa will still be interested. Barry's fee would be a lot less next summer being closer to the end of his contract.

As much as I don't personally rate Riera,I do think it is good that Rafa is finally taking a gamble on a winger as oppose to getting mediocre stop gaps on the wing like Pennant and Benayoun.They are both OK players but we all knew before that they weren't going to be players for a challenging side.I feel he should have just bought one excellent player for the sum of 2 average ones so Good on Liverpool

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

--- Arbeloa --- Carragher ----- Agger ---- Dossena ---

--- Gerrard ----- Alonso --- Mascherano --- Riera -----

------------------- Torres ------ Keane -------------------


That's actually quite a good team.

However, i don't think we will play those players in a 4-4-2 formation. We'll probably stick Kuyt out on the wing.

But hopefully, we'll go back to 4-2-3-1.

And that brings me back to Arshavin. He would be absolutely perfect for that formation, and even in a 4-4-2 formation on the wing he would be significantly better than anyone else we have.

But, that never gonna happen, and now we have Riera. I'm not overly excited, but at least we've got a decent left winger now.

I still can't get over the £20M you spent on Keane. What a waste of money. Berbatov made him look a world beater.

Anyway, Riera going to Liverpool must be a wind up? The guy FLOPPED big style at City. I can't see him being the anser to all your prayers personally.

I cant really remember too much about his time at City. I think he only scored one goal from what I remember?

I am not going to judge him until I have seen him play in a Liverpool shirt, think that is the only fair way to judge him.

he has had a lot of mixed reviews though which is always a bit worrying, considering he has already played in the Premiership. Lets wait and see.

I don't remember his time at City, but from what i've read, he wasn't that bad there. I've heard he showed flashes of brilliance, and looked a decent player, but under City's manager and negative style of play he was never going to flourish.

I think we are only paying about £7-8m for him anyway, which isn't bad. At least it isn't the £20m on Keane, that's probably going to go tits up.

I'm really worried. I don't think Keane will be a big success here, and you're right to an extent- the genius of Berbatov did make him look better than he is. After all, his two finest season's are probably the last two, along side Berbatov.

However, it's early days, and Keane could do a very fine job. I just don't think he will, and certainly think we paid too much for him. But if Rafa had enough faith in him to pay that sort of money, there must be a reason why.

Well actually, i think i know the reason why, but unfortunately in lies in the wrong formation. I fear Benitez may try and force the 4-4-2 formation in the early part of the season - which could prove costly. But i guess we're now better equipped to play it than we've ever been during his reign.

If we are to play 4-4-2 though, i want to see us sign Affelay. Unlikely, as it looks like the transfer business is over, but Parry indicated there could be something of a surprise. A hugely talented devastating young winger like Affelay would be a nice surprise.

the thing we have to remember with Keane is that he is a notoriously slow starter. He didnt get his first goal for Spurs last season till the end of september. It is a matter of time before he improves i am sure.

Also you have to remember he is used to playing with a striker who drops off picks up the ball and plays passes with him. Torres is completely different he runs towards the goal with pace its up to Keane to see how he adjusts and adapts to the different stylr of football Liverpool and his triking partner play.

The only way i really see Keane being a success at Liverpool is if he moves to either the right or left and operates in a wide-forward type role. I agree that Berbatov is such a different striker to Torres and because of that it isn't going to work.

Last season we found the perfect match in Gerrard and Torres. All Torres wants to do is stand on the last defender, pick up the ball and run with it to goal. He doesn't want to be dropping deep and playing passes off to other players to bring them in (he can't pass even if he wanted to). When Owen was here Gerrard thrived on his pace and hitting long passes in behind defences, feeding him in on goal - now Fernando is here he has that again. Gerrard is a midfielder and as such will seldom overlap the forward; Torres. There could not be a more perfect match.

It's quite frustrating in a way as to why we've gone for Keane. I think perhaps Rafa intended to play 4-2-3-1 at first, but his plan has taken a bit of a detour. We were chasing Barry and had purchased attacking full-backs - this said to me we were going to use Barry alongside Mascherano to hold as he's much more natural in that position than Alonso, and then having two natural players here it would allow the full-backs to get forward with ease as one of the two would be ready to drop back and cover. Rafa doesn't fancy Xabi for this role and rightly doesn't. Now i think he is caught between said formation and 4-4-2. I don't think his plan has gone as he thought and now he's having to salvage something as the window's end looms.

Also, i think our full-backs are playing a big part in our bad start. Side players cutting inside isn't the problem - Arsenal do it a lot and to great avail. But the full-backs if this style is to work have to run down the flank, be comfortable in possession, have pace to get up and down from touchline to touchline, be able to beat a player and have a reasonable end product. Dossena is the only one i've seen have any promise. Going forward he looks good, if weak defensively. He needs to settle a lot more but he has it in him to be that attacking full-back. Arbeloa i'm not so sure, he's not terribly quick which is a problem, he lacks confidence on the ball and generally, his tendency is to cut inside rather than go outside and cross. He isn't that good a crosser of the ball. Whenever i've seen him do anything good going forward it has been him attacking the penalty box and looking to shoot. He has a pretty decent shot on him and clearly he prefers to do this than to overlap and whip the ball in. But this only congests things a great deal. Degen is lightning quick and will get forward, but his end product is a little questionable. Improve that and he'll be great going forward (probably more questionable than Dossena defensively mind). We're weak at right-back, Degen was a cheap solution an one that probably will see us back in the market next summer (or Jan). People moaned about us wasting our time with full-backs when we needed wingers but the modern way is having your width come from your full-backs.

How we are ruing missing out on Dani Alves a couple of years back for the sake of a £2m or so.

Thats the story of Liverpool. We have missed out on countless quality players because of the sake of a few million. Its pathetic.



The thing is, because most of our full backs dont have the offensive confidence and pace to get forward and create the width, our wide midfielders HAVE to do it. They dont have to go and beat three men and whip a cross in. But hit space. Create opportunities in those areas. Always be available and make clever runs.

I for one feel really confused about what Rafa is trying to do. It was obvious at first but Rafa is one of the hardest people to second guess.

Playing Keane on the left or right?That's the kind of totally mental,ridiculous thing Rafa would do so don't worry Ben.Might as well stick Plessis up front and Torres at centre back.

Or maybe stick Benayoun up front and lob 60 yard balls vaguely at him.Oh wait he's done that.........

Playing Keane at right or left wing??? In other words, turn him into Dirk Kuyt version 2.0??

I have absolutely no doubt Robbie Keane will come good soon enough.

There are obvious teething problems fitting him into the team framework and comparisons to last season's formation dont help.

Once we ger Mascharano back in and a full firing Stevie G in the side we will be a hell of a lot more ballanced.

Keane and Torres are two fantastically talented strikers, to say they can work together is to serverly underestimate them.

Good players can make it work.

So ok we havnt made the best start to the season performance wise, but this is still largely the same team that scored well over a 100 goals last year, we got to the semi's of the champs league and only lost 4 games in the league.

Yes we do need more width and variation in our play but I just think things are slightly exagerated at the moment.

At very least THIS Liverpool TEAM IS MORE THAN CAPABLE OF PUSHING Man URE, CHELSKI AND Arsenal TO THE END OF THE SEASON.

Not as a right winger. As a right forward, left forward or just behind the forward. That is a more advanced role than winger.

.........................FORWARD
LEFT FORWARD....SUPPORT.........RIGHT FORWARD

But Keane has never played in that position before.

Yup. But I think he could be very very useful in that position. Liverpool work very well in a formation of 4-2-3-1. If he was to be played in one of those free roles behind Torres I think he could prove to be a success. I dont see the fact he has not played there before as being a problem. i think that role would suit him.