If he doesn’t bring any of the aforementioned, I expect the line-up to go something like this:

GK – Charles Itandje – since the Frenchman is somewhat familiar with Toulouse, I think he’ll get his debut here. His experience against the French side, the first time Liverpool has ever faced them in European play, might be invaluable.

LB – John Arne Riise – Riise also has some experience in the French Ligue as he played for AS Monaco some seven years ago

CB – Sammi Hyypia – Carrragher needs a break after being all over the field against Villa

CB – Daniel Agger – no one else to play, despite us possibly needing him to contain Drogba come Sunday. He’s young.

RB – Alvaro Arbeloa – gives Finnan a break for the Chelsea match

LM – Ryan Babel – It’s either him or Yossi, here and on the right

CM – Steven Gerrard – will start when fit

CM – Javier Mascherano – vital in containing opponents in away matches, not sure about his fitness though

RM – Yossi Benayoun – might start on the left

F – Andriy Voronin – relatively fresh after only playing fifteen or so against Villa

F – Peter Crouch – Europe is his forte

Bench:
Pepe Reina
Jamie Carragher
Steve Finnan
Xabi Alonso
Momo Sissoko
Dirk Kuyt
Fernando Torres

We might see Sissoko instead of Mascherano as I’m not sure Javier made the trip or not. I would love to see Insua get the start on the left, just to give Riise a rest, but I’m not sure how realistic that would be. When we get Leto eligible and Kewell back, then the real squad selection issues will begin.

The match is 1030 EST. Cheers.

Speaking of Kuyt, he was simply superb and made some great passes down low. Though I still think the Man of the Match was Carragher, who was just a force in the box making play after play. The handball will always be what he is most remembered for, but if you get a chance to watch this match again, just count how many times Carra makes a stop, a block, or a clearance, you might be a little shocked.

By far, our worst player was Xabi. I don’t want to single him out, but it seemed as if he didn’t know what his role was supposed be. Maybe it was because he was paired with Stevie-G, but at times I didn’t even realize Alonso was on the pitch. Most everyone else had solid efforts and the thing about Torres’ display, is that he, like Pennant I might add, was constantly forcing the Villa defense to pay a lot of attention to him which allowed Steven Gerrard and Kuyt to gain space.

As for Gerrard, he should have had a hat trick. If it wasn’t for the amazing free kick, I’m pretty sure I’d be trashing him right now. He had a point-blank miss that was inexcusable for a player of his ability. It was the one that Gardner ‘blocked’ which Stevie-G should have put in the lower left corner instead of nearly in the middle.

The only other player I thought stood out was Babel, not that anyone else played poorly. Babel’s pace is blistering and he showed a vast improvement on the right than when he first played there in the preseason. If his runs and shots were just a preview of his ability, than the kid is going to be a thoroughbred for us for years to come.

Overall as a team our defense was superb. Everyone really stepped up on the backline, though offensively I didn’t feel we really flowed as a whole. Most of our attacks culminated in three or four passes and a shot. I’m hoping that as the season wears on, we’ll become more cohesive as a squad and resolve that slight issue, though our movement off the ball and our spacing seemed to be better. If we can give Gerrard the kind of space he needs, not many clubs are going to beat us.

* Well, in what I was hoping to be his comeback season, Harry Kewell has been bitten by the injury bug again. This time he apparently suffered a slight thigh/groin tear while in training and is expected to be out for at least ten days. Hopefully, his road to recovery will see him back on the pitch for us by the end of the month.

* The injuries keep mounting for Chelsea, but at least it was somewhat good news for the Blues that Michael Essien won’t be out for as long as first feared. The enigmatic midfielder hurt his knee after scoring against Birmingham on Sunday and will miss at least his team’s next two matches, including the one this Sunday at Anfield.

* Jermaine Pennant was left out of the squad that will face Toulouse tomorrow. Not really that surprising, he isn’t suffering from injury and the way he tore up Ashley Cole and Chelsea last year at Anfield, his exclusion is welcome if he can repeat that performance on Sunday. Javier Mascherano, Peter Crouch, and Yossi Benayoun are expected to make their season debuts tomorrow.

* Though there were some rumblings about Crouch being unhappy about his exclusion on Saturday, Benitez has put that to rest saying that he and Crouch have met and have come to an understanding. Meanwhile, the lanky striker has become somewhat inspired by his boss’ new facial hair, that he’s challenged the rest of the squad to a facial hair growing contest. Funny how Arbeloa was excluded.

* Finally, it looks like Gareth Barry is still crying about the free kick awarded to Gerrard on Saturday. Whatever, your squad was the lesser side and you didn’t deserve to even draw. Cheers.

I probably won’t get around to writing a review of this match because I had to go out of town suddenly Saturday night and got back late last night. Toulouse on Wednesday. Cheers.

Subs:
Charles Itandje
Sami Hyypia
Andriy Voronin
Ryan Babel
Momo Sissoko

Nothing too shocking except maybe Riise starting at left-mid. Anyhow, probably won’t have a match review until tomorrow. Cheers.

GK – Pepe Reina – If I was Rafa, I’d play Charles Itandje next Wednesday since he’s probably familiar with Toulouse, which makes Pepe a no-brainer here
LB – John Arne Riise – Really no choice here unless Rafa goes completely bonkers and plays Insua, highly doubtful though
CB – Jamie Carragher – If he’s fit and rested, Carra will get the call everytime
CB – Daniel Agger – ditto
RB – Steve Finnan – Until one of the kids step up or we sign somebody, I don’t think we’ll see Arbeloa starting since he can provide cover for all four backs
LM – Harry Kewell – provides much needed EPL road experience
CM – Steven Gerrard – the only time I ever see our skipper not starting is when he’s not fit, it’s against a much lesser opponent, or it’s an irrelevant match
CM – Xabi Alonso – As much as I would like to see Mascherano or even Sissoko start here, I think Rafa will put a lot of importance on this match and Xabi just has more experience than the other two
RM – Jermaine Pennant – He’s our starting right winger. period.
F – Dirk Kuyt – He’s our deep lying forward and should start a large majority of our league matches
F – Fernando Torres – I think Rafa starts him over Voronin to give him a boost of confidence and also Voronin is more versatile and is more useful from the bench

Bench:
Charles Itandje – probably won’t play anyhow
Alvaro Arbeloa – provides coverage for all the back positions
Sammi Hyypia – will not play unless definitely needed, but great to have just in case
Javier Mascherano – not sure if he’s ready to go post-Copa, but he did play a little in our last preseason match
Yossi Benayoun – can cover a plethora of spots and has EPL experience

I thought about this one a while and I came to the conclusion that we probably need to field our most experienced squad. Torres is the only one who doesn’t fit this bill, but we really need him to get off to a good start and his size and strength are invaluable.

The bench is really hard to pick because we just have so many options. I omitted a true back-up striker but Benayoun can play up there and if we have to we can move Gerrard or Kewell forward.

The hardest to pick is probably who’ll play beside Gerrard. I guess Rafa could do a 4-2-3-1 formation and playing an any two combination of Xabi, Momo, and Mascherano, but I’m not sure how experimental he’ll feel with this being the first match of the year. The thing that makes me think he’ll do this is a draw on the road is not really that bad of a result, but I’m hoping we really go for this one with all we’ve got.

I guess we’ll find out in less than 19 hours or so.

In a not-so-big surprise, we’ve sent Scott Carson out on loan to Aston Villa for somewhere around £2m apparently with an option for them to buy him at the end of next season for an additional £10.5m. Rafa has stated on numerous occasions that Carson is not for sale and at a total of around £13m, I doubt Villa will be looking to keep him.

To replace our resident super model and future England numero uno, we’ve plucked Charles Itandje from Lens of Ligue 1. All I know about him is that he has funky little dance for penalties. If I can find a video I’ll post it, but my searches have come up futile to this point. I’m still not sure we needed him, but it’s always nice to have five or six decent keeps around. Expect him to get a start as early as next week in the first leg of our Champions’ League qualifying ties with Toulouse.

Finally, Sebastian Leto is now an official member of the club, though has yet to gain international clearance and therefore will be ineligible to play in any official matches until then. I personally think he’s a very promising prospect and our future left winger. The fact that this deal has been officially completed and that he’s been given a number, 33, makes me believe that it’ll only be a matter of time before he’s approved. Cheers.