I don't get why he HAS to play Gerrard against Chelsea. I understand why SG wants to play, of course he wouldn't let a ****ing toe problem stand in the way of a big match. But if Liverpool are going to be one of Europe's best clubs then they can't rely so much on one guy. Why sign Masch, Alonso, and other such high-quality players if one guy's going to be indispensable? I think it would do the team well to play this one without him; there's only one Steven Gerrard, but so long as they're unwilling to face the best squads without any one player they are not really a top team.

You boys with me on this?

broadly, yep

in the very biggest games i'd play the three of them together anyway and sacrifice a frontman, especially seeing as Torres looks like he can be a handful on his own.

I'm sure micky and raging will jump down my throat for this, but stevie G is a little bit of a luxury player in the sense that he rarely plays to a strict plan. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but against the best midfields they are going to exploit the positioning on the break.

yesterday i seen a movie by Al Pacino " Any Given Sunday"

if you seen the movie you know what i mean, some people like what they are doing it who they are they cant rest.

It like they are workholic with there job expect for Stevie he is a footballer

What about the fuss that's been made about Rooney and Ronaldo not being available for United? That's only two players omitted from a squad and people are worrying so are they not a big team now?

All teams rely on one or two players and need thse players or they don't have that 'edge'.

For Arsenal, it's Fabregas.

For United it's Rooney and Ronaldo

For Chelsea it's Essien, Lampard and Terry.

For us it's Carragher and Gerrard.

These players are indispensable to their respective clubs and should play in all the big games if they're available.

I think if it was against one of the weaker teams in the premiership gerrard could concievably sit out, but this is a massive game and rafa will want his best players on the pitch, mascherano, alonso, sissoko are all excellent but they're not in the gerrard mould.

I agree with raging in that most teams have a player or two who are undroppable and who play through the pain barrier. These players almost become talismanic,

Best example i can think of was cantona at united. They were a great team without him but he put them on a different level when he played.

Its been mentioned before but with Liverpool's aspirations this season its imperative that we do well against the big teams, already the game on Sunday is a 6 pointer therefore we must use the best players we have to exploit that.

Agreed Liverpool shouldn't be a one man team and to a certain extent they are not but Gerrard is undoubtedly irreplaceable therefore the risk in my opinion is warranted.

OW, your point about Gerrard being a luxury player, I understand what your getting at but don't necessarily agree with it. You look at all the big teams - Chelsea have Lampard with a holding player in Claude Makélélé, Lampard floats around midfield whilst Makélélé holds the midfield. The same can be said for United with Scholes/Ronaldo and Carrick/Hargreaves or Kaka and Gattuso etc etc. The difference with our luxury player is that he can actually get back and defend as well.

Liverpool have suffered of late because we have not allowed Gerrard to play in his best position, we have stuck on the right wing and negated half his game. Now we have an abundance of options so that Gerrard can push up and move around the pitch with either Alonso, Macherano or Sissoko holding midfield.

Back to the original point, Liverpool are a world class team hence the two Champions League Finals in three years but recently we have not had the squad to compete at that level in both the CL and Premiership. We probably do now but every world class team has one or two players who cannot be replaced (Ronaldo, Terry, Ronaldinho, Kaka etc) and ours is Gerrard.

What about the fuss that's been made about Rooney and Ronaldo not being available for United? That's only two players omitted from a squad and people are worrying so are they not a big team now?

All teams rely on one or two players and need thse players or they don't have that 'edge'.

For Arsenal, it's Fabregas.

For United it's Rooney and Ronaldo

For Chelsea it's Essien, Lampard and Terry.

For us it's Carragher and Gerrard.

These players are indispensable to their respective clubs and should play in all the big games if they're available.

Raul for Real, Tito for Roma, Pavel Nedved for Juvy ( even when many of the player went out of Juvu because of the regulation to the 2nd divison NedVed stood by them)

anyway i though Rooney and C.Ronaldo will be mature this seasonbut they are not. Yes they are young but they are not that young and every season they have to do something conterversal

Mick, I certainly didn't mean to degrade the accomplishments of the past three seasons, I only wanted to suggest that the team could take a step further if he weren't so indispensable.

Essien is NOT that kind of player for Chelsea, Terry isn't even, or at least wasn't before they sold Gallas.

And as far as your point about (previously) not being able to compete in both EPL asnd CL, that kind of affirms my point. They DO have the players now, Gerrard shouldn't be so heavily relied upon anymore. Two years ago was another story as they diodn't have the players they have now

And RB, neither Rooney nor Ronaldo have that status at United, so long as Scholes and Giggs are around there is no attitude of dependence upon those two.

Mick, I certainly didn't mean to degrade the accomplishments of the past three seasons, I only wanted to suggest that the team could take a step further if he weren't so indispensable.

Essien is NOT that kind of player for Chelsea, Terry isn't even, or at least wasn't before they sold Gallas.

And as far as your point about (previously) not being able to compete in both EPL asnd CL, that kind of affirms my point. They DO have the players now, Gerrard shouldn't be so heavily relied upon anymore. Two years ago was another story as they diodn't have the players they have now

And RB, neither Rooney nor Ronaldo have that status at United, so long as Scholes and Giggs are around there is no attitude of dependence upon those two.

one player who is very foos at Chelsea that they brough him from Real. Even after Real sold him start no looking good he is a midfielder for France, Patrick Viera. THat guy is called the shield because every team he played for Real and Chelsea they where pretty strong , he is very underrated because he is on the defense