Away run will show Liverpool's standing

Nov 8 2006 Red Watch by Andy Proudfoot, Daily Post

WITH four successive home games successfully negotiated, we're back on our travels this evening for the first of three more testing fixtures.

Birmingham, Arsenal and Middlesbrough have not been our most successful hunting grounds in recent years, the FA Cup quarter-final rout last season apart, so we'll have a better idea of our current worth at the end of this little run.

If the likes of Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch are to be believed, confidence has been restored by the victories at Anfield, and we can look forward to some vastly improved displays in the next 11 days.

Seeing is believing however, and there remain nagging doubts that this team has the resilience to withstand the sustained pressure that a team like Arsenal can impose.

The last three visits to Arsenal have been fruitless, and frankly we've been blown away each time.

It's a difficult match to approach: if we really believe that we're on a par with them, then it's tempting to play our normal game and take them on. This might be seen as tactical suicide however, since few teams get the better of Arsenal in an open game.

On the other hand, are we suited to the sort of aggressive, in-your-face pressing game that the likes of Everton and West Ham have employed to good effect against them?

Both sides matched their five in midfield and closed them down voraciously.

Sissoko and Gerrard will of course not want for effort, but it's a fact that we're not as physically imposing as we have been.

I remember 'he-who-must-not-be-named' from down the East Lancs Road commenting on the size of our team during the Houllier years, and the likes of Garcia, Gonzalez, Zenden and Alonso, though bringing other qualities, do not possess a great physical presence.

So it's a tough call for Rafa, and his choice of tactics will need to be spot on, and carried out with commitment and discipline by the players, if we're to take advantage of the Gunners' stuttering form at their new home.

Watch out for Mr Nasty >>>