I wish Lady Luck would look down at us and grant us a win in every remaining game and let the Scum draw against Boro, and lose against Arse & City! I can’t bear the thought of 18 – 18. 19 – 17 and Fungus retiring with a broken heart sounds good to me!

Nice blog their Gerry, I hope everything is ok with you, these past weeks must have been difficult.

The Mancs dont need luck they have the referees.

I hope manure and Arsenal kick the crap out of each other on the CL. It could help Boro who lost today at Arsenal. They will be really desperate against manure at the weekend and should be fighting tooth and nail for a point or more. They did us 2-0 after we beat Real Madrid in the CL. Could lightning strike twice?

This weekend we will have the advantage of playing after the other matches, plus an extra day’s rest. Is there any news on whether Stevie G will be ready for the Newcastle game?

Great blog as always, Gerry.

Concerning the lack of luck I certainly agree, but those who go on about the Mancs and the awarded penalty against Spurs should at least consider whether we are ever given that kind of favors against “smaller clubs” ourselves. In my opinion, the bigger clubs always have an unfair advantage with the referees when they face less wealthy and successful clubs, and that applies to Liverpool just as much as it applies to the Mancs. I fully understand that the Hull supporters were upset following the free kick awarded to Mascherano when he wasn’t really fouled, which directly led to that amazing goal by Alonso. Every referee makes at least a few bad decisions every game, and I don’t think that free kick was necessarily a good example of the preferential treatment given to big clubs. It is my opinion, however, that referees find it more difficult to turn down penalties in places like Old Trafford, Anfield and Stamford Bridge than KC Stadium or White Hart Lane (although the rule applies to these places as well when the opposition is a smaller one).

Super stuff,Gerry

Too true,anything is possible Gerry and i do hope.

Whats important in the overall scheme of things is that we`ve made significant progress this season.

Long may it continue.

Well said Gerry!

I think there are games where it becomes so obvious to be talking about luck (Arse & Chav draws) yet to think back on all our draws…

I think, in at least 7 of those 4 games, if we’d nicked 1 goal at the right time, we’d have turned them into 3-1 wins… like we did on Sat at Hull. That game was heading for 0-0 if I’ve ever watched one.

I actually wrote an email to my mate with the words “if the Everton v Scum semi was like watching paint dry, then 5 minutes into this game the paint was well and truly dry and waiting for its 2nd coat!”

But then we get the free kick, and even then, the rebound fell nicely for Xabi to have a 2nd go…. you get a break when you need it… and it puts you in a position to put the game to bed.

Sachem… I have to disagree with you. Macherano was fouled. You could certainly argue that he was going down anyway, but why their player stuck a foot out, when Masch was already on his way down, I’ll never fathom! Especially right in front of the ref.
If you’ve trailed after a running player for 20-30 yards and make any contact and he goes down… Ref’s are gonna give it 99 times out of 100… that’s footie 101!

Likewise, Gomes more or less had to come out and make that challenge, and if he didn’t time it perfectly, it was gonna be a pen, since EVERY manc player goes down in a situation like that.

I think that challenge is gonna go either way though… depends on the ref you get. (The ones on the books at OT are gonna give it every time, the odd few who aren’t would have waved it away.)

But as a keeper, you simply have to get your hand on the ball in a challenge like that, or you’re next action is to shrug your shoulders in the face of a yellow card and face a penalty.

Both game changing incidents.
Basic footie, but strokes of luck too!

What concerns me is the manner of the come-back. Surely that gives them enough confidence now to bristle over the line?
All we can hope for is that it breeds a little complacency, coz they’re all arrogant fuckwits to a man and may think they’ve got it wrapped up again now. (we can but hope!)

I had Spurs down as the game they would drop points. (damn you ‘arry!)
Now it’s down to Citeh, the Arse… and maybe Hull? Anyone hoping for ‘boro to do anything against these cunts is clutching at straws, I think.

But hey…. “it’s a funny aul game, innit” and maybe, just maybe, ‘boro will get “that stroke of luck.”

Well, I know I will be eating my humble pie gerry, cos I predicted we will be finishing 4th again this season with our skint squad; which is why I am really enjoying this season despite many disappointments. I am really proud of my players and the manager for having got this far. Having said that, some of the contributing factors to our upward gain, is (1) long term injuries to many of the major arsenal players and (2)surpisingly shite performances from chelski and the mancs.

As to our game against hull, I was a bit annoyed with the typical south-american type laziness from insua that led to their goal. That was just criminal the way he didn’t track back. I am hoping he has learnt from that experience.

Like aitch, I also thought that tottenham could get something against the mancs, so I was truly gutted with the end result. But there’s still a chance, so I will remain positive. Boro funnily enough always seem to play well against the mancs in the latter half of the season, so you never know.

Good work Gerry.

Hyde, whilst Arse have had injuries dont forget we have had Torres and Gerrard out injured for large chunks of the season.

If you say our achievement is also down to the shite performances of Chelski and the Mancs then that is rubbish. What about our shite performances in which we had drawn? or lost? (Boro). This EPL season has been tougher with more teams capable of producing a result, so the likes of Chelski and Scum dropped points.

ryan giggs player of the year? come on…

I know they’re not the smartest group of people we’re ever likely to meet but fuck me what an absolute joke the PFA are. Ryan Giggs? The best player in England this season? For fuck sake…..

Haha Ryan Giggs, player of the year, you’re having a laugh. I respect him, but player of the year going to someone who has only started 12 league games all year? What a joke, and really what an insult to someone like Gerrard. Stevie has missed games through injury, but certainly played more minutes and been more influential than Giggs. Ah well, individual awards are secondary anyway.

When is luck really luck, and when is it something else? Howard Webb’s penalty decision wasn’t luck, it was incompetence, much like most of his performance in our game against Arsenal midweek. Gerrard’s disallowed goal against Stoke was refereeing incompetence too, not luck. The question is, why does such incompetence so often fall in Man U’s favour at crucial times? That’s probably not luck either, just referees are like everyone else – they EXPECT Man U to win, and psychologically they almost can’t help but make the calls which help make it happen. I believe most referees are mentally weak, especially the English ones.

Lads lets not get caught in the self pity bucket, otherwise we end up no better that Alladyce complaining about respect. Fungus complaining about Rafa and others ranting, Bruce complaining about big teams. O’neil continually complaining about refs decisions.
.
We had a fair share of luck when we were winning while playing shit. Although the luck deserted us in January, it still helped us in the league standings as other teams lost while we were losing points.
.
Lets not forget the penalty against A/Madrid, the Lampard send off at Anfield, the send of a Arsenal, the luck against Hull at Anfield and low and behold the deflected off the arse goal at Stamford Bridge in the first round.
.
And finally Spurs buying Keane back, now that’s luck.
.
With regards to the Man U penalty, I have yet to see a view of the penalty where Gomez touched the ball. As such if he didn’t he had been skinned and the player went down. (yes he went down easy but that’s football). If that had of been Torres then we would be screaming for a pen. And lets face it we had some penalty decisions this year.
.
Finally Kinny, love your stats but Boro won’t beat United, they only had 1 shot against a cruising Arsenal. Arsenal and City are our best chances.

Let’s comprehend giggs’ winning the award is in recognition for his performance over his whole career. I think it might piss off some of his own colleagues, though LoL! Unbelievable selection.

Hey Hyde, whereabouts in Japan are you? Just booked a 4 day lads trip to Tokyo in June with some mates, but never been before…

Look at it month by month.

We had a marvellous March, an average April so now we need a magnificent May!

we don’t play on Tuesday again, so no more 4-4 draws.

Well written, Gerry. I am still waiting for the karma of 1989 to return the title. There is still hope but it is diminishing fast, until it is mathematically impossible, I still believe in this karma 1989. ^_^

Seeing Webb so easily award a penalty to the Scum, I’m not surprised Giggs won the PFA. The Scum now practically owns the FA much like how Juve owned the Italian FA prior to Calciopoli. If you know what I’m insinuating here, good for you.

As steve the red says, May has only begun. May it be a marvelous month for us and a miserable one for the Scum.

Even if the worst happens, as long as we do our part and win all our matches this month, we can have our heads held high and tell the world we will not be going away so easily and let the Scum ride into the sunshine as they wank themselves silly.

andy, I’m located in Roppongi, tokyo, although I tend to be out on business trips across the country.
Here is my e-mail address; hopefully, if your trip does not coincide with one of my outings, we can get together:
[email protected]

Hi Andy Wirral, I work in Tokyo but I’m based in a neighbouring city. Perhaps if Hyde is busy I can show you around or we can all meet up for some drinks and banter: [email protected]

I think the PFA was rigged by the people in charge anyway. Absolutely mind boggling.

I too was frustrated to the point of not being able to sleep by the Spurs result. Even my Man colleague had switched the TV off to go to bed only to be delighted by the change in fortunes the following morning…bastard…

Anyway I will be cheering the Arse against the Mancs for the semi finals. Its a shame Arsharvin is Cup tied…

That should read Manc/Scum Colleague.

Does anyone have any inside information on the Liverpool ownership/takeover. Until recently there was some promising news that the Kuwaiti Consortium were back in, then it went quiet, then all of a sudden on a number of reliable news sources we are linked with a GBP 500m takeover only for it to be quashed by Hicks…!?!?

As our league hopes are gradually fading by the week I am lowering my expectations and looking forward to the summer transfers already. That’s not to say I’m giving up but I had hopes for Spurs to at least get a draw. Now my hopes rest on Arsenal, City and dare I say Boro, Wigan and Hull…

Hi Gerry. The match against Arsenal was nothing short of astounding. We won 12 corners to nil; had the ball 57% to their 43 (remember at the Em?); didn’t register a single save by Reina, to their ten; and had 24 shots on goal (versus their eight), with 14 of ours on target to their four!

All four of their shots on target were actually goals!

I’m not one to envy others, but even then, that stat’s remarkable. It’s not that we’re now porous at the back, but more a reflection of our attempt at winning and scoring goals.

One thing though about this whole season, it’s clear the Reds are back and that Rafa’s the right gaffer for this talented squad. People (including the media) might not want to admit readily, but the fear factor for the Reds is back, and with a vengeance at that!

Another thing I’ve learnt is how much character this team has. We’ve been breaking all glass ceilings above us – wins (or unbeaten records) against fellow Big Four members; making Anfield a fortress again; wins on the road; Torres scoring more on the road than at home; LFC not being a two-man team; scoring from all over; winning after disruptions e.g. the international break, Liverpool confirming they’re more than defence by leading the league in goals scored in back-to-back seasons, etc.

Rafa continues to instil a pride, swagger and never-say-die character. I didn’t know I could be prouder to be Red!

I remain more than positive that we’re on the right track. I’m also not fully convinced MUFC has necessarily walked away with this one.

YNWA! Not ever!!!

Gaz you said in post #12 “I`ve yet to see a veiw of the penalty where gomez touched the ball”.

What game were you watching man?

With all due respect buddy,you need to get some glasses if you think Gomez didn`t touch that ball and if you already wear some get new ones,specsavers will suffice

I`m not going to go on about the luck the scum have,you are right there Gaz,we don`t need to be sounding like a bunch of bitters.We just take it and move on and hope lady luck will shine on us enough times to win the title.Highly unlikely as it stands but we won`t give in until its over.

They still have 5 games to play there may be a couple of twists yet.

Nice blog Gerry.

Rafa Benitez has spoken about Liverpool being in the title race with only 4 games to go. Thats a big improvement and it has echoed a lot of the experienced point of view here at Kopblog.

FS, hope you remember our little argument regarding the ‘experience to win the title’ thing. Well, i must admit Rafa speaks about the same thing. So i guess it was a right statement by you.

The way Mancs came back against Spurs showed a lot of their character and attitude to win. Lets not deny that fact. But i just wonder whether all those goals were possible had Howard Webb not given that penalty decision. After Spurs went up by goals, i was sure that Mancs will atleast drop points if not drop all 3.

Gerry is quite right in stating that we need the lady luck to smile back on us. Middlesbrough might be a tricky game. If they dont drop points in that game i dont think they will drop 6 after that.

Manchester City are woeful away from home. True they got a victory at Everton but even taking into account the derby match factor, i dont see them stopping ManUnited.

For us the difficult one will be the West Ham match simply because they have developed into a decent footballing side.

thir13, you are right, Reina didn’t register a single save against the Arse, which is a shame because if he had made just one save we would have 2 more points than we currently have. The one that went straight under him would have been a good one to save!

I haven’t read the blog or the comments. Sorry lads, I will catch up later. But I’ve been drunk all weekend. The only way to cope. But strangely enough, besides the hangover, I’m not feeling as bad as I expected. And I’ll tell you why…
No matter what happens at the end of the season, I know we are back – proper back.

Going for a curer.

I must admit, I predicted a battle with Arsenal for 3rd place this season. So have the humble pie readied with some gravy.

I was absolutely gutted when the mancs staged that come back – aided by Howard Webb. Spurs was one of the teams I had down as a possible slip up for the scum. Now it’s straw clutching big time until the end of the season. Relying on the likes of Boro, Man City, Wigan and Hull to get a result against the mancs. Doesn’t look good.

Thanks Hyde and Yokohama – I’ll definitely be in touch as the trip gets closer (we’ll be arriving June 4th I believe). Much appreciated guys.

Hyde from what I’ve read about Roppongi (many clubs and other drinking establishments) there is a fair chance we’ll be spending some time there!

LB, I thought Spurs were going to get something from the game too, but the way they fell apart after the dodgy penalty was pretty atrocious. You can’t play 45 mins against Man U and get away with it. Just take heart that there aren’t many easy games in the EPL these days; Boro and Hull are both fighting for their lives, so that is something, and the Manchester derby could provide something unpredictable too (look at last season). Really the only game I hold no hopes in is their game against Wigan… I’d say they can count on 3 points from old Brucey in that one.

Don’t forget Arsenal LB.

My Pre-season prediction was that we would finish 6-10 points behind the champions. I didn’t stupulate a placing.

Why play 3 holding players V Hull?..Scotland, and Gomez are both named in the Championship team of the season and would be available cheapish from Swansea and Espanyol.How about Geovanni for Anfield?.He could play wide right or as a striker?.86 points would of won the title every season pre 2000.4 wins and we will be well set up 4 next season.

Burgerman, who were our three holding players against Hull?

@Burgerman

Lucas played in an advance role. So if you are including him as a holding player its not right.

Al, Masch and Lucas were the holding players.Only Alonso has a record of scoring.Babel on the right with Aurelio on the left would of provided more balance.We were lucky to win on Saturday-though not as lucky as the Mancs.We have played much better and still dropped points.Only one left sided player in the starting 11.

@Burgerman

Sometime i think you are a supporter of some club in between Manchester United and Liverpool. I dont want to sound harsh here but I just mentioned before your post that Lucas played in an advance role. And the reason why he was played by Rafa was to give the team formation more flexibility. We were not lucky to win on saturday. We were a bit nervous at the back but no way you can say that we were lucky mate.

Cannot agree with you on that Burgerman.

Anyway, I see that Bayern have sacked Klinnsman. I shudder to think that G&H were actually thinking about replacing Rafa with this guy. Hopefully it is a lesson well learnt.

I didn’t mention Arsenal because they are the obvious hope to take points off the mancs. In adition to the Arse we have to rely on the other sides I mentioned. Which depresses me. People talk about the PL being more competitive and teams more likely to beat each other. Well I disagree. If the mancs get more than 90 points it proves to me that there is just as much cannon fodder in the PL than there has ever been.

I just read a short article on the main TIA site regarding Babel’s time at Anfield looking all but over. Can’t get into the squad on a number of occasions. Couldn’t get a place upfrotn when Torres was out and Keane was sold, Riera is ahead of him, Benny is in the form of his life, we had 2 left backs in the starting line up at Hull and even El Zahr seems to be ahead of him as a right wing option.

It looks as though his Anfield career is finished doesn’t it? May as well sell him and put the funds into the Silva kitty

Just checked my prediction and I remember saying to LB, humble pie was defiantly out on the table at that point, we would finish in the top two at least with an outside chance of taking the title, but within 6 points of the eventual champions. However in the Kop blog competition I did have us finishing first on 87 points (not too bad) but I had Chelsea second with the Mancs and Arsenal following.

Lucky Burgerman? What game were you watching.

Good blog Gerry I think were luck deserted us the most is the soft goals we have let in all year after dominating games, Spurs away, and the score draws at home, also If I think about it, all the chances we created but did not convert during that middle patch did not help our cause.

The Keane saga and trying to accommodate him in a 4 4 2 when he did not suite a 4 2 3 1 and Torres was injured did not help our cause either. So little factors that we would have learnt from and hopefully with Parry gone and Rafa in control of transfers these situations will not arise again.

I did some research on Rafa’s transfer dealing and his success in the market is nothing short of remarkable. I will post the stats in the off season, but not taking into account the assets (players still at the club) he was made a profit with all the players he has bought and them sold on. Not bad when you consider some of them where 3rd or 4th choices and sometimes forced onto him.

Still think we are in with a shout and I don’t think ManU will be relishing a trip to Wigen, hopefully after a Rugby league match in the rain with the pitch all cut up and muddy. This and the Man City and Arsenal game could give us something to cling on to.

@LB

Well LB, i would like to state that ManUnited might end up getting 90 points simply because they have actually accumulated that many points. And if you look at our top 4 teams going head to head against the other top sides of Spain,Italy etc we are actually beating them fair n square. Real Madrid are a perfect example. They won against Seville the other day in a hostile ambience but could handle the pressure of playing against us.

So i would reckon the top teams in England are stronger by some distance and hence getting more points.

How on earth did Man City beat Everton at Goodison?

I meant to say Real Madrid could not handle the pressure.

Somnath I don’t think you understand my point. I don’t think the PL is competitive. A competitive league to me means a large number of clubs are close in terms of quality. In the PL you only ever get 2 clubs in a title race and the top 4 are so much better than everyone else sometimes you wonder why the others even bother turning up. The big 4 do well in the CL but how do the other teams do in the UEFA cup? Everton and Villa are useless against teams like Standard Liege and Hamburg for example.

There are 4 good teams and the rest are cannon fodder in my opinion. Fail to beat any of the other sides and we consider it a poor result isn’t it?

A really weird game that, LB, although the Jagielka injury didn’t help. Hopefully, robinho does not have a day off and plays like he did at goodison against the mancs.

Keith the mancs will be relishing their trip to wigan. Remember their trip there last yr? Or coronation should I say? The Wigan chairman declared what an honour it would be to have Utd crowned champions at the JJB. And that was before a ball was kicked and Utd needed the 3 fucken points to win the prem! Wigan sold all their home tix allocation to utd for the coronation leaving wigan fans ticketless. And Taggart complained about the pitch so wigan re-sod the fucken thing for him!! Relishing it? You betcha.

@LB

You mentioned ManchesterUnited getting 90 points. In that way i compared the big four of the major leagues across europe.

I am not too sure about the UEFA cup performance LB. For example Tottenham were not to keen to progress in UEFA cup simply because they were more concerned to save their place in the premier league. What i mean to say that the demanding nature of our league puts a constraint on lesser teams to perform well at both the stages. On the other side, clubs of lesser leagues look forward to prove a point in european competitions.

But yes overall, i think the rest are way behind but that again is because the top 4 are simply too good.

I wonder if Howard Webb will be getting a League winners medal?

haha, LB. he probably will. as well as rob styles.

i think there should be some props awarded to benayoun’s recent displays…or at least some chatter in here.

anyone notice how he is playing so incredibly well now that he is playing in his preferred role? i would hesitate to even bring stevie back there with benayoun playing as he is. still, that’s silly to say, because the gerrard-torres partnership is lethal to say the least. i think benayoun can still offer a lot from the wide left, but he has more of a defensive responsibility there, so can’t do as much making runs through the backline. i’d hate to see him move on due to lack of playing opportunities…him and agger, although it seems agger is a whiny child who has an agent in his ear about money.

YNWA

LB, does Giggs qualify for one? If not, then I say give it to Webb. Its only fair.

I read that Agger turned down a 4 year contract that was worth £10m. Works out to around £48k per week. Months ago I had read that he wants £70k per week. Incidently Carra is on around £80k per week.

He should get it. 48k?? They’re not even offering 50?! Whats with the 48?! At least try and find some middle ground! Offer him 60, see what happens ya know? 48 is an insult to a man of his talent. Well if we lose him we’ll know where to point the finger of blame – at ourselves. 48k? Surely that cant be right LB, can it? Whats the source? Well if its true then it appears despite Parrys departure its business as usual at Anfield. Another potential fuckup waiting to happen?

Well Digger the contracts are usually valued over the entirity of the term. So rather than it stipulate “£48k per week” it’ll say “£10m over 4 years”. A bit like a normal job where they will tell you your salary is £30k per year rather than £2,500 per month.

By the way the source was Chris Bascombe in the News of the World so I’ll leave you lads to decipher the potential reliability of the source. Lol.

Regarding Benny has indeed been fantastic of late. I no longer see any moans about his decision to play for Israel the other week…. Something has inspired Yossi. I still think he’s a bit hot and cold though. Now however, the hot is very hot rather than the luke warm it used to be. And the cold is rather mild compared to the freezing cold that it once was.
Is he doing enough to keep Gerrard out of the position behind Torres? Hell no! Gerrard has 21 goals in 38 appearances this season and god knows how many assists.

Another factor to consider is the recent increased income tax higher earners have to pay in the UK. It’s gone up to 50% of earnings over £150k per annum. It used to be 40%. That is a lot higher than Spain and Italy I believe.

I don’t think it’s worth debating whether or not Agger should have accepted a certain contract when the source is NOTW… not really fair on Agger, that mob make an art form out of spewing forth garbage. Let’s see if he signs on, if he doesn’t then we might hear the full story.

Still shaking my head at Giggs getting the POTY award… apparently “as reward for a glorious 18 year career” – hmmm I must have a different idea about what “Player of the Year” means… perhaps Sami and Carra were close to nominations then.

Read the blog catching up with the comments, but after reading a few of them I have to say this… Did anybody see Jermaine Jenas’s comment about the penalty…
“The referee seemed to have made his mind up at half time that he was going to give them something.

And he’s supposedly the top referee in the country. And ask yourself this… if it happened at the other end would he have give it?

But there’s no point in crying over it now. What I will say though is, I’ve seen stranger things happen. I remember when we won it in 1986. Everton only had to get a result at Oxford and they would have won it. And if I remember rightly Oxford had already been relegated. What I do know is Everton battered them, and I mean proper battered them for 90 minutes, but the ball just wouldn’t go in. And then one Oxford’s players scored with more or less the final kick of the game. Dalglish rattled one in at Chelsea, and that was that – Champions.

And who can forget the night Micheal Thomas made us all cry.

So, don’t give up all hope just yet.

Middlesbrough v Man Utd,
Man Utd v Man City,
Man Utd v Arsenal,
Hull v Man Utd,
Wigan v Man Utd,

I see a few don’t fancy Boro, but, in all honesty, I always had/still have more hope of them doing something than Spurs. Boro have had some good results aginst them in recent times.

Then there’s the City game. As you all know anything can happen in a Derby and that Robinho is a lazy bastard. But remember how he turned it on against us. He does like the big games that lad. And I also hope Hull are still needing points when they meet. So, all’s not lost just yet.

And I think I said this in the last blog, but… although I hate saying it, it might just suit us better if the mancs win their semi final against Arsenal. Ideally, I would like to see a very close and really bad tempered couple of games with Arsenal just losing out. I think that would make them absolutely determined to fuck up their title chance.

But if Arsenal go through, I worry they won’t be arsed when they play them and will also rest key players for the Champion’s league.

But anyway, yes the finish line is now coming a bit to fast for my liking. But why throw in the towel now. I’m not and I hope to fuck the player’s won’t either.

Yeah Andy usually I treat stories in the NOTW with contempt but the Bascombe articles are not usually too far from the truth. I realise he doesn’t have the inside track now as he did when he wrote for the Echo but I’m guessing he still has sources at the club. He ghost wrote Carra’s autobiography so you’d think he has an in there.

I don’t want the mancs getting anywhere near the CL final. I hope they get slaughtered over the 2 legs, get slaughtered by the press, a few mind games from Wenger so that they go into the Boro game all bent out of shape and lose points. Then at the Emirates in the return leg hopefully they get a controversial decision given against them like a penalty or a red card. Wenger to say he didn’t see it. They then play Man City with their minds still on the CL debacle. City get a point. Then against Arsenal, the gooners are confident and have their swagger back with some youngsters and Arshavin in the side and play Man u off the park winning 2-0. We then brush Spurs 4-0 to lift the title.

I really see the Mancs dropping points at Boro.

It’s a tough fixture, Boro away sandwiched in between the two CL games with Arsenal. Purple Nose is going to have to rotate the squad up there, so anything’s possible.

Boro are fighting for their lives and they always seem to play the top 4 tight at home. United have fared better than us at the Riverside over the past few seasons, but it’s not an easy place for them either.

April 2008 2-2 draw
Dec 2006 Boro 1-2 Mancs
Oct 2005 Boro 4-1 Mancs
Jan 2005 Boro 0-2 Mancs
Dec 2003 Boro 0-1 Mancs
Dec 2002 Boro 3-1 Mancs

3 wins for the Mancs, 2 losses, & 1 draw in their last 6 league matches up there. They’ve dropped points in half of those matches.

We’ve still got a chance, don’t give up just yet.

That league fixture between the Mancs and Arse is a tricky one. For those of you thinking Arsenal may not field their best squad, keep in mind that Arsenal still have a lot to play for in the league.

With the new change to CL qualification for next year, the top three finishers go straight into the group stages, but the 4th place finisher is no longer seeded in the draw for qualification, which means they could play the fourth place team from Italy or Spain, or third place German team.

Arsenal trail Chelsea by six points in the league, but they host Chelsea at the Emerites on May 10th. If Arsenal could take all three points, that would cut the deficit to three points.

Interesting LVC, I think Arsenal will be going to Old Toilet to win regardless but now you mention that 3rd place incentive I’m encouraged even more. Sadly we need a couple of poor/mediocre sides to take points off the mancs as well.

Well, read all the comments so…
Somnath, I made that point in the last blog just to keep a few people’s hopes up. It wasn’t meant to say we have no chance this season. It was to point out my belief, that even if we do lose it this season, we will be lifting the title in the near future.

I also said, the lads would be gutted when they looked back on the season and realised where they’d lost it. But I think them lessons have already been learned. Not long back we would have drew, maybe even lost, that game on Saturday.

It wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t as good as some of our performances in the last few weeks. But we stuck at it and got the reward for it. Somebody mentioned Insua not tracking back. They are right. He fucked up bad there, but he’s only a kid and will learn. But the reason I’m mentioning it is… did you see Pepe bollacking him?

There’s a time Pepe would have just had a word with him, but he gave him a right lashing. And that’s what I’m on about – learning lessons. Pepe had seen a similar thing happen 4 times against the Arse and he was determined it wouldn’t happen again.

As for the Arse…. LB I had the same argument with a mate of mine this morning. He’s of the same opinion as you. I still think the mancs winning would suit us more. But I hope to fuck you lads are right.

FS, I’m taking the Gerry philosophy which is if we are in any doubt, to remember that the mancs are a bunch of cunts and whether its a game of tiddlywinks or a game of football any defeat for them is good news for us.

That was one of my favs from Gerry.

Rafa Benitez on the playing surface at the KC Stadium:

“It was a terrible, terrible pitch, really difficult to play,” he said. “The ball was like a rabbit and it is difficult to catch a rabbit.”

“It was dry and long, terrible. If you lose you can say that is an excuse but we won, so I can explain it was difficult to play on.

“Pepe Reina was under pressure every time he tried to play the ball.

“We needed to be patient and try to pass the ball. We were a little bit under pressure.

“Credit to them, they played with 10 players and they were still pushing.”

Hopefully the pitch is even worse when the mancs get there.

FS, you might find this an interesting read – just stick the h in front of it, you know the drill….

ttp://timesonline.typepad.com/fanzine_fanzone/2009/04/hull-city-reds-under-the-bed.html

LB

Your quote from Rafa on post number 62 had me in stitches. Howard Webb should be investigated by FIFA, UEFA and the Serious Fraud Office.

There are two ways for Arsenal to avoid the new, tougher Champions League qualifiers:

1. Actually win the damn thing and directly enter the Group Stage as Title Holders.

2. Try and go for the 3rd automatic league spot.

Even if they do beat the Scum, it’s still a 50/50 chance that they’ll win in Rome, so Wenger would still be motivated to try and knock the Chavs off and secure an auto spot, just in case.

Though their game against the Chavs is just 4 days after their second leg with the Scum, it’ll depend on how long that second leg is played.

If they fail to gain points on the Chavs, then they’ll definitely stay 4th, and their match with the Scum a week later would be reduced to a mere academic affair.

Read the link LB. I’ve never had any problem with anyone supporting LFC wherever they are from. We’ve spoke about that loads of times. But I do agree with some of the points that bloke makes. the thing is, like you said earlier yourself, the league is now down to a 4 horse race, and even that’s only in the more open seasons. And I’ve read a couple of disturbing things recently about the Premiere being cut in 2 with half the clubs. Also, the European super league has been rearing it’s head again. And sadly, this becomes more believeable when less and less kids support their local teams.

there’s no way of stopping it though, mate. In fact, it’s only going to get worse. And not to drag this up again, but it’s one of the reasons a club has to challenge now before winning it. It used to be far more open. There used to be quite a few teams that would get promoted from the old second division and go close to winning the first. We won it ourselves in our first season after being promoted. But how are the likes of Derby County, Nottingham Forest, even Everton, going to become champion’s again? Only the Chelsea way. And how good that is for the game will only be known in the future.

Look at what’s going on at Southampton. I used to have a flower pitch in Southampton, and I still go there quite often. You see more Man U and Liverpool shirts on kids than you do the local team. Same in Pompey. I don’t think that’s any good for the game. We need a strong league with well supported clubs up and down the country, but if something’s not done about the situation how long before it becomes like Scotland… a boring 2 horse race, where you can spot the eventual winner before a ball’s even kicked.

FS, how long? We’re already there.
I know you were just making a point comparing us to the SPL with the 2 teams thing, but who outside “the top 4″ have finished in the top 4 in the last 6 or so years?

Everton in ’05 is the only one that springs to mind.

Oh and one more thign about Lady Luck.
Don’t kid yourselves for a minute into thinking any team ever won anything without luck.
Scum have had it for 10 years.
The Chavs found it in the last few.
Even our great Team of the 80s rode their luck.

Luck will only take you so far. You’ve gotta have skill and talent too, but you do not win over the long haul without your fair helping of luck.

The key is to not ignore it when you get it and relentlessly blame it when you don’t.

Did Scum get lucky with the penalty. Of course they did.
Can Spurs feel hard done by that decision? Yes.
Did that excuse them then going on to completely capitulate 4 goals in 30 minutes? The fuck it does!

LB-post 54 just what i needed to here, i could actually see your eyes glowing an drewl coming out your mouth as you wrote that one!!:D hahahha

Not quite I’d say Aitch. But like I said, it will only get worse. I just don’t know how to stop it. Maybe some sort of draft system like they have in th states might work, but I’d hate that. In fact, I hate the game being tampered with in any way. Maybe the lower clubs should be given more of the TV money. Even a manc said to me a few years ago, I wish Liverpool would get it together. It’s getting boring. Bet they don’t feel that way now though.

Anyway, do you watch that Steve Cohen prick on the yankee telly mate? What a twat he is, eh.

goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/04/27/1232811/referee-howard-webb-admits-he-got-manchester-united-penalty-deci

Now he comes out to “apologize”, thinking people won’t associate him with Ferguscum. Well it’s a bit too fucking late for that, innit?

I think it is sad that the PL is turning into Scotland where you already know who is gonna win he league before a ball is kicked. It’s boring – not for us of course because we are challenging for the first time in years.

But in general its boring to see the same teams over and over dominate the league.

I think they should distribute the TV money more evenly for starters. I also think they could implement a salary cap. They have this in the NFL. A team has a maximum annual amount of wages they can pay their squad.

For example £30m per year for the whole squad – Gerrard gets £5m per year, Torres gets £4m per year and then there is only £21m to spread across the rest of the squad. It means one club cannot have a team of all star big name players. There will be a couple of big name players on big money, some veterans on smaller wages and some youth players. With this system its really about how good your scouting system is.

This system also ensures that clubs don’t go broke paying players’ wages. I think its the wages that cripple most clubs whenever they get relegated from the PL. If Newcastle get relegated they are truly screwed. Most of their squad are on long/medium term big PL level contracts – with no clauses in there regarding any cut in wages if the club go down.

Roarin Red, regarding #54, too right I was enjoying that scenario as I was writing it!

It’s quite pathetic what people are coming out with to justify Ryan Giggs winning the PFA award. I haven’t heard one convincing argument yet. This article sums it up perfectly…

LAST night, Ryan Giggs was crowned as the PFA’s player of the year. Some expressed joy at an honour long overdue, yet there are plenty who question quite what he has done to deserve it.

Giggs’ legendary status, both at Manchester United and in Premier League history, is beyond dispute.

But the key to this award lies in the title. Player of the year – with the emphasis on the year.

It’s a difficult concept, of course. By very definition, though, the general idea is that each professional footballer in the country votes for the best player in the English game over the previous 12 months. Yet still they came up with Giggs.

A man, it should be noted, whose form has been so out of this world that, despite an absence of serious injuries, has started just 12 league games for United this season.

Not even Rafa Benitez, at the height of his rotational powers, would have left out his outstanding player so often.

What’s more, Giggs’ league performances have been so appreciated by the general public that he is currently included in a massive 2.2 per cent of the 1.9 million teams selected in the Premier League’s official Fantasy League competition.

Three times less than Tottenham Hotspur’s flop signing from Blackburn Rovers, David Bentley.

Giggs has undoubtedly had a better season than Bentley but his role as a squad player at United these days has rendered his player of the year award nothing short of farcical.

His form is magnificent for a 35-year-old, but such awards should place no store in the details inscribed on a birth certificate. Even Giggs’ place on the six-man shortlist was generous.

A great servant to the game and a genuinely nice guy, he has been consigned to such dubious company as former BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner Zara Phillips and ex-US president George W Bush. Few understand how they won either.

When he received his award, Giggs trotted out the old line.

“It’s right up there with personal accolades – it’s the best to have as it’s voted by your fellow players,” he said.

But it seems the consensus of his fellow players is not worth as much as it first appeared.

It is the risk with many public votes. Call it John Sergeant syndrome.

Indeed, the PFA have only served to devalue their own award with this winner.

When you glance through the list of former winners, it is assumed you are looking at the best player from each year.

This time it will have to say ‘2008/09 – Giggs (sympathy vote)’ and that is a great shame, not least for the player himself.

His contribution to the game should have been honoured instead with a lifetime achievement award.

It has been a year without a truly outstanding candidate, true, but United team-mate Nemanja Vidic may have reason to feel a little aggrieved.

So, as the awards continue to go back in time, Paul Scholes can already start celebrating winning next year’s prize and the 2010/11 honour is likely to go to William ‘Fatty’ Foulke.

As for Giggs, he might have just the place for his new trophy – alongside his favourite chair in the Old Trafford dugout.

He should get plenty of time to admire it there.

The National Football League has a salary cap, and it’s done a good job of helping to level the playing field. It’s not the cap alone that makes it all work, there’s also the draft, free agency, and trades.

The difference between the NFL and Premier League is that there is no competition to the NFL. Thhe NFL is a closed shop. It’s only played in the US, and there’s no need to worry about a rival league coming in to outbid you on players.

If there was a salary cap in the Premier League, it would put the league at a disadvantage to La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga when it came to signing players.

The only way a cap would work is if UEFA went to a salary cap for all of it’s member leagues.

Yes UEFA would have to implement it for sure! Otherwise the best players would just go to where there is no salary cap.

Don’t think the draft and free agency would work in football though.

The person I feel sorry for MOST in this whole debaucle is Giggs himself. He’s one of the few players in the recent history of Man Utd that I have any time for at all… and I assure you that’s the shortest of short lists.

He deserves a liifetime achievement award, but he wasn’t even the best player at Scum, let alone the best in the Prem!

As you said LB, its more farcical than…
… a debate about whether Scum will be aawarded a penalty in any of their remaining games???????????

—-
As regards the salary cap, I don’t think they should follow the U.S. model, its more farcical than… er… the PFA award.

I don’t care how fuckin good you are at your job, you don’t deserve 5 mill a year… especially if the other 8 or 9 guys who work their arses off every game, and contribute to you looking like the test-tube-bastard, genetically recombined, laboratory-grown, love-child of George Best, Pele, Maradona, Eusabio, and David Bentley (thrown in for comic relief )

By that math, SG gets 5 mill, FT 4 mill, but Xabi, our player of the year by a country mile gets only 2 or 2.5 coz that’s all that’s left? How long will he stay before he fucks off to a team where he gets to be the 5 mill guy?
Look at the Agger situation, greed and parity go hand in hand.

A salary cap needs to be just that. No player can make more than the gross national product of a 3rd world country… Period!

If FIFA implemented a 40k per week MAX doctrine that was enforced, then we’d see a lot more parity and perhaps players wouldn’t just be mercenaries then?

Of course that’s never gonna happen, I’m not naive.
Players have too much power to let it happen.
The cat is amongst the pidgeons and the horse is long gone from the barn, but some sort of across the board ruling is what’s needed.

80 fuckin K per week… ludicrous!

—
FS, I never caught the radio show, but used to watch Cohen on the Football Phone-in show. I have to say that he has made the attempt to “appear” more even handed lately, but from what I hear from a friend who listens to the radio show, despite it making his blood boil (not sure I get that, but to each his own,) he’s far less even handed and less likely to hold back his opinion of LFC and scousers.

Every now and then I tune in just to see what they’ve got to say about certain things that may have happened at the weekend, but the show is so much about MLS now, that I generally can’t be arsed.
They like to bang on about the quality of MLS teams, as though they’d hold their own in the fuckin League 1 let alone the Championship. Totally pandering to their audience…Sad really.

I haven’t got a clue how to solve it. And like I said, I hate any tampering with the game. But the gulf between the clubs is just going to keep getting wider if nothing is done.

I think we have to admit if arsenal buy the defensive players they need we will go back to being the 4th best team in the premier league .chelsea And arsenal have under performed this season and united thought they had it won and took there foot of the peddle .if we do not buy the 3 or 4 quality players we need we will go backwards.i think united will regress when ronaldo goes cos he’s a Flat track bully and ferguson is on his way out and the chav’s are on a downward spiral arsenal are the long term threat we need to keep improving are team every year(not squad )and we will prevail btw we definitely need to keep hold of Agger defenders who can play dont come along that often YNWA

Can’t agree with any of that, except Arsenal will be the team to beat next season. I’ve been saying that for ages though.

Funny thing is Arsenal have a salary cap and as a result their better players fuck off every summer which is why I think they have not been a threat for a few years.

Yeah, Arsenal are 3 players away from being a team to really worry about, and the thing about it is they don’t the ever-so-hard-to-find desequilibrante (or whatever the fuck) players… what they need are a younger Dunne type and a Masch type player.
Easier… and cheaper… to find.

Chavs…. could go either way. I reckon if Guus stays we’ve got something to worry about. If he goes, they’ll have some issues to sort… not the least of which will be total squad unrest, coz they all like him, and the possible departures of Dogbreath and maybe one or two others as a result. But it go either way for them.

Sam for Scumj to a certian extent.
Tevez appears to be off, and say what you want about Bennett, what made the difference against Spurs wasn’t the pen decision, it was the introduction of Tevez from the bench. He chased EVERYTHING down and got the crowd riled up and subsequently his teammates ramped upt heir effort.
Fungus is fuckin NUTS playing Berbatool over The Ork.
(I know FS will disagree with this , but Tevez is THE ONLY Scum player I would want at LFC… the rest can fuck off… he’s a workhorse like Mascherano… er, but with a bit more skill… though as I said previously, can’t see where he’d “fit into Rafa’s system”?)
If they stumble and let us take the Prem on goal difference (my prediction since January) AND they lose Ork and Ronaldo (though speaking of the GDP of 3rd World Countries, that will give them a mint to buy replacements) then I reckon they just might have problems… hell they have done this season and aren’t half as good as everyone thinks they are… in spite of their 2nd half against Spurs.

We on the other hand could always use 3-4 world class players, but I don’t think we need thhat many. 2 will do the trick. This squad is developing nicely and just a bit more (and they’re well capable of it) from the likes of Riera, Lucas, Babel, Ngog, El Zhar and we’re there.

Very good point LB. I hadn’t really thought of that.
Oh well, I’m off just like to make a point meself though…. when are people going to realise it’s not the club or Rafa who are fucking Agger about. The ball’s in Daniel’s court.

I really have to type slower, or check myself before posting. Sorry guys.

I meant “the Arse don’t NEED the hard to find player”
and “Same for Scum” (though my typo has given me a new nickname for them Scumjizz Millionaires!)

Just about to turn off seen your comment Aitch, wanted to ask again, if you ever saw that cunt Steve Cohen on the american footy shows?

As for the other 3 top teams… I think both the mancs and Chelsea could go into a bit of a decline. Can’t be arsed typing now, but I’ll explain it if needed. But Arsenal will just keep getting stronger over the next few years.

Arsenal should have kept Lassana Diara. He’s at Real Madrid now playing great. Imagine him next to Fabregas now?

FS, I’ve watched Steven Cohen on his telly show as well as listened to him on his daily podcast. His hatred for Liverpool is well documented, and it really gets on my tits when he gets started.

The daily podcast (World Soccer Daily) is something I listen to somewhat regularly. They have a rotation of guest correspondents (Tim Vickery, Andy Brassell, Phil Ball, Graham Hunter, Misha Sher, and even former ref Graham Poll) who have some tremendous insight into football around the world (La Liga, Serie A, Prem, South America, Bundesliga).

Cohen is a Chav supporter, and he goes out of his way to slam everything Liverpool whenever he gets a chance.

last paragraph of Comment #74 FS

I agree about Diara, LB. I think Arsene’s problems go beyond the salary cap though. His problem (er, aside from the fact that he’s, you know, fuckin French) is he doesn’t allow for anyone to feel they’re greater than the team… he’s had some ego problems (both his own and his players.)

AND he hasn’t accepted that in the Prem, if you want to have cute boys playing pretty, pretty football, you need at least 2 or 3 ugly bruising fuckers willing to stick their heads in when tackles are flying.

but those are well easier to find than the Faberge Egg players.

Just watched Newcastle vs Pompey… awful. Looks to me like Newcastle are going down. They just can’t display any quality at all. They really look a poor side now. Owen had a chance to win it but fluffed the chance. Next up… Anfield. We should really give them a good hiding. If we don’t win that game by at least 3 goals we’d have had to play extremely poorly.

Watched it as well LB and Portsmouth were the best team by far. On that type of form we should do them with something to spare.

Steven Gerrard should be back as well.

FS, and Ivjcmac as you have probably heard, Mr Steven Cohen has gone and landed himself in the S**T. He came out with another beaut of a statement around the aniversary of Hillsboro’ to the effect that the root cause of 96 people dying was 6-8,000 ticketless Liverpool fans outside pushing their way in. I kid you not! This is the host of “Premier Football Radio Show” in USA.

I’ve been picking up some of the podcast stuff and he’s stirred up a storm indeed. 442 have cancelled their sponsorship and there is talk of boycotting the other sponsors as well as, Cohen claims, death and kidnapping threats to him and his family.

He is one nasty langer with a big hang-up about Liverpool, and not just the supporters but the city and the people in general.

F.S I was wrote steven Cohen an e-mail last year
Telling him I was tired of him taking the piss out of Carra and Gerrards accents,
I mentioned the fact he never made fun of Terry
or Lampards poor attempts at speaking English.

He never had the Balls to reply to my e-mail.
I won’t watch the Phone in show he does now with
Nick webster another southern, and a prick .

The only decent one on FSC is Keith Costigan
who is a huge Liverpool Fan.
I got to meet him a few years ago when they did a show on Friday nights with Cohen and Nick Geber,
who always wore Liverpool shirts on the TV show.

I don’t know if Cohen said or did anything untoward around the 20th anniversary… he may have learned his lesson when he almost got clobbered at a live radio broadcast in Santa Monica last year.

He’s actually been fairly even handed with LFC this season (probably a smoke screen for the advertisers) even taking Webster to task a few times on some comments he made about LFC… (sill wears his “I lost my hubcaps at Anfield t-shirt” though.)
He was even very objective in his opinion of the Chavs in the first half of the season under Scolari.

Fuck all will get done about Cohen though, since Fox is owned by the same people who own the Sun and NotW.
If they did nothing about MacKenzie and the headlines in the U.K., their not going to do anything about Cohen in America.

ttp://www.epltalk.com/steven-cohen-blames-liverpool-fans-for-hillsborough-disaster/5915

ttp://www.epltalk.com/steven-cohen-offers-liverpool-fans-no-hillsborough-apology/6074

Add an h

Please add a w

ww.epltalk.com/steven-cohen-blames-liverpool-fans-for-hillsborough-disaster/5915

ww.epltalk.com/steven-cohen-offers-liverpool-fans-no-hillsborough-apology/6074

well if we are talking about having a level playing field, the most fair but the daftest way is to do what the MLS is doing (or used to do, maybe the guys located in US can help out here).

If I remember correctly, in the beginning of the Major League Soccer, the league bought the players, and then the players were allocated to the teams on an orderly basis.

The only problem with that is, the players would not want to come to the premiership for fear of landing in somewhere like Newcastle!

Either that, or Uefa stamps down a rule of transfer cap fees for all eurpean teams; i,e, there is a limit to the amount of money that one team can spend in the tranfser window. Spend all of it on a super player or spread it to increase the depth, the choice is yours.

I still think though that the premiership is pretty competitive in comparison to the spanish league. Maybe the Italian league is beginning to clash a little but that is mainly down to the corruption scandal.

I think it will take smarter minds than us to figure out a solution Hyde…. but the MLS model won’t work.
Its a mess.
The Galaxy were a decent team before Beckham joined. Now half of them are playing like shit, or don’t give a fuck, coz they are making 1/16th of what he makes per week!
Having one uber-star making gazillions, just pisses all the other players off.

look what happened to Man City in the aftermath of buying Robinho and flirting with paying Kaka all that money. the lads they’d built it all on, Ireland, Dunne etc, went to pot for months!

Here we go again.

guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/28/rafa-benitez-liverpool-gareth-barry

I got this from the Liverpool Daily Post website:

RAFAEL BENITEZ has been handed his summer budget – but may have to sell players to ensure he can land his main targets.

The Liverpool manager is already planning to raid the transfer market this summer as his side stands on the verge of their best Premier League finish of his five-year reign.

Benitez admits that the circumstances of his side’s season – they go into May and are still in with a chance of pipping Manchester United to the title – makes it more difficult to improve the squad.

But the Spaniard is determined to boost his side’s chances of ending their championship drought by bringing in more quality players in the forthcoming window.

“Every single year it is important to sign good players, the right players. This year will be the same,” said Benitez.

“We know we have better players than before and it will be more difficult to find better players than we have now.

“But still we have to do it.

“We are working very hard during the whole season, looking and watching players. I think that we will be ready.”

Benitez has warned, however, that he is still financially constrained when it to comes to landing his top targets.

He has made the top three most expensive buys in Liverpool’s history over the past two years with varying degrees of success.

But splashing out on the calibre of player needed to take Liverpool to the next level could lead to something of an Anfield exodus in the summer.

“We are not talking about names and money,” added Benitez. “We are working on targets and we will try to do things as quickly as possible and as cheap as possible.

“More or less I have an idea (of how much money will be available). Clearly we have to work hard and maybe we will need to sell someone.

“We’d have to sell players to increase the money we’ll need, I think so.”

Nothing new there then, eh. I suppose it’s down to who gets sold LB. Meself, I’d like to only let go of the likes Intjande, Vronin, Degen and maybe a few kids who aren’t going to make it. But I have a feeling we will see a few senior pros go – Babel, Dosenna, Agger. I suppose all we can do is trust that Rafa gets it right.

As for that Cohen fella, thanks for the replies lads. He’s a complete prick that, isn’t he. How the fuck he keeps his jobs is beyond me. If you had a similair siutation in any other country, (like in Africa recently) he wouldn’t dare blame them for their own fate. If it happened to anyother people in England, he wouldn’t dream of spewing his bile. You’d be hard pressed to find a more biggotted nasty piece of work. It amazes me how people like this stay in work.

He used to be a Spurs fan, then suddenly turned into a Chelsea fan. That might seem a bit trivial considering what he’s done and what I could say about him. But to me, it shows exactly what sort of man he is – not an ounce of loyalty, no shame and not a bit of character.

He’s that disgusting, I’ll leave it that. I can’t be arsed discussing vermin like that. But don’t worry, things are being done. He will feel the backlash. He won’t get off scott free. And, I doubt it will go this far, but with a bit, quite a huge bit, of luck he won’t be appearing on American television for much longer.

As for the leveling the field for all clubs, like I said, I have no idea how they’d sort it out. And like Aitch said it will take sharper minds than ours. So don’t hold your breath. We are talking the FA, UEFA and FIFA here. And we all know, if brains was dynamite they wouldn’t have enough to blow their hats off.

If Rafa has accepted that he needs to sell players to get his tranfer targets then it becomes obvious that the underperformers will be put on the selling list.

Before that keeping the current players who are crucial to us is important. Yossi will be given a new contract, i think so. Need to sort out the Agger situation.

Then can move on from there.

Selling Lucas, Riera,Itandje,Voronin,Agger,Degen and Keane will bring in £25 million.Add this to the £20 mill in the annual transfer fund and we can get 5 decent players.Anyone betting on G or T To finish top scorer in the Prem?.We can stuff the Geordies 4-0.

FS, if a senior players needs to go, which seems likely, I would opt for Babel. Agger is a given, if he wants to stay, and I think Dosenna deserves another year, at least.

Babel has the footballing qualities and physique, but he has went backwards this season and I am not sure if he has the fight in him to meet the challenge. He should get quite a few quid as well.

I will not even comment on that fella Cohen, but ‘disgusting’ is about right.

BTW, I got around to reading the HD article, whose link was posted in one of the previous blogs. It sure did highlight quite a few things that I never about it. That comment from Lord Justice Stuart-Smith is out of this world! I swear that you would never get tired punching that fucker.

Let’s hope Anne Williams wins her case on the European courts and gets the justice she deserves.

If Babel continues to be left out of the squad of 18 it suggests Rafa wants to sell him. I think he’ll listen to offers for Dossena. Voronin is an obvious one. Itandje and Pennant will leave on free transfers. I can’t see any club wanting to buy Degen and the player himself will not want to go anywhere so I can see him staying put. Time will tell with Agger.

So say £25m + sales.

Babel £8m
Dossena £4m
Voronin £4m

£41m in the kitty?

Desequilibrante £21m
Right back £10m
Gareth Barry £10m

You think Rafa will try to get the Desequilibrante first and then sell to buy for the other positions? It’ll be interesting. I feel this transfer window is crucial.

LB, is 10m the price for Barry?

Ah well what can you do Lurgan mate. Some people are just horrible biggotted bastards. So feck him and the rest of them. I don’t really want to discuss it either. I just wondered if our stateside lads had seen/heard him.

Anyway, like I said, I’d love to hang on to all our senior players – Dosenna, Babel and Agger included. Who knows, we might yet. But I can’t see H&G coming up with the dough that would take. And I think the annual budget well may include the Robbie Keane money, and, if it does, Rafa will have to make up the rest.

The only way he would be able to do that is by selling some senior players. Babel has been saying he wants to stay and try, and I think he’d be worth gambling another season on. But it might be too little too late. Agger, who knows. I feel it could go either way, but if he walks it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

So, then you have to start looking around for who else could go. Obviously Dosenna is first in the frame. But I think that would be a shame. I don’t think he’s suddenly going to become a world beater, but he’s shown enough to convince me he’d be a very handy squad player.

Lucas, can’t see it. Too young to just cast off, and Rafa obviously rates him very highly for the future.

Then, besides the dead weight (Degen, Intandje, Veronin) I can’t really see any places where we can cut players.

Riera? Nah. Surely he’s done enough to get another season.
Sami, think we need him for at least one more season, especially if Agger goes.
Xabi, not a chance after this season.
And that doesn’t leave many other options.

So, like I said earlier, we’ll just have to trust Rafa to get it right.

How did Degen pass his medical?.If he stays 4 years-that is £6 mill down the swanny!.Centre back position will need 2 players if Agger leaves.

Missed your post while I was writing LB.

I reckon if we get the 20 million off H&G and at least 15 from Keane, we might well hang on to everyone.

Has Hertha made the CL? That’s 4 for Vronin if they have. And I think Intandje will just be freed from his contract, if they can pull it off after his memorial service behaviour.

So that would be the 40 mark right there. Not sure if we’ll still go for Barry. But I can see the majority of it being thrown at a desquilibrante…
Villa?

Then like you said a decent right back
Johnson?

And a few back up players.

FS, I had a look at the bundesliga the other day, just for this reason.

Currently Hertha are back into 2nd position but, unfortunately for us, there is real competition for CL positions. Here are the current standings with 5 matches to go.

VfL Wolfsburg 57
Hertha Berlin 55
Bayern Munich 54
VfB Stuttgart 54
Hamburg SV 54
Schalke 04 49
Borussia Dortmund 49

BTW, Voronin managed to get himself red-carded in the last minute a few matches ago but he should be available again for their next fixture but don’t quote me on that one.

So it’s touch and go if they get the CL place and we get our 4-5m.

FS, I have a feeling Barry might still be on Rafa’s radar especially if he gets a decent offer for Dossena. We all know Rafa really likes Barry as a player and the price would have come down a lot. I don’t think it will be priority though as the form of Alonso has meant our first choice midfield is sorted. BTW Lurgan, the £10m for Barry was just a guess mate. I don’t have a clue how much Villa will accept for him with one year remaining. O’Neil did say he wouldn’t stand in his way if he wants to leave after this season if they haven’t qualified for the CL.

I watched Glen Johnson against Newcastle last night and he was a bit careless and played poorly at times. In general though he’s been outstanding for 2 full seasons. He can also play right wing. We know that Rafa likes versatility. Remember Rafa tried to get Dani Alvez who can also play right wing. I think it would be worth getting Johnson. Pompey probably won’t get relegated now so he’d cost a pretty penny.

Then there is the desequilibrante that you’d expect to take up the bulk of the cash. Other than Silva, I don’t know who else would be on Rafa’s list of targets.

If we sell Voronin and Babel. Consider that Keane was also sold. Rafa might feel he needs a back up striker. Or will he feel Ngog and Kuyt can fulfill the job?

Obviously if we lose Agger we’ll have to get a centre back.

Another small matter is what is going to happen at board level as July 25th approaches?

FS, you must be mellowing in your old age, I reckon this is the first time I’ve ever seen you speculate on players…

I think Rafa will go in for Silva, quickly and quietly, probably with an offer to them which includes Babel plus cash. Unfortunately I think Valencia are so cash-strapped, they’ll be swayed by big cash offers from the likes of the chavs or Man City. I do hold out hope though.

If we lose Agger, basically whatever we get for him, we need to spend on a replacement so that’s just a break-even deal.

I think it’s an interesting situation with what we should be doing in the striker department. I don’t think we should be looking for a partner for Torres, as that experiment failed with Keane. Whilst we’ve got goals amongst the likes of Kuyt and Benayoun, I think we still need that backup striker who can step in when Torres is rested/injured, perhaps as part of a 4-4-2 with Kuyt the other striker.

I remember talking about this earlier in the year and I actually think Rafa might try again with someone ready-made while he waits for the likes of Ngog to develop. Someone not necessarily young either, perhaps with only 2 good years left in him, hence not too expensive and not toooo fussed about spending time on the bench when Torres is fit. I’ll have a think about who I think could fit that bill to give you an idea of what I mean…

Right-back is a glaring one, I think Rafa will dig up a bright unknown on that one, not someone ready-made from the Prem.

I forgot left-back. I think Dossena deserves another year – if nothing else, to get his price back up – but keeping him leaves us with 3 left-backs, which is really 1 too many. We really should’ve spent the Dossena money last year on a decent right-back, but perhaps Rafa will make that swap this summer.

Adriano had his contract cancelled at Inter recently. Is he worth gambling on? Would just be wages – no transfer fee.

A bulldozer up front, may not be a bad call LB. Would he be a ‘Rafa-type’ player though? Not sure.

I think holding on to Agger is so much important for us to have a good transfer window in the summer. Going by Rafa’s transfer policy i dont think he will buy someone overpriced. So if Silva is not worth the money asked by Valencia, i dont think he will be purchased.

Talking about selling players: I think for Babel we will get good offer. Voronin is another one who will be wanted by Hertha irrespective of whatever happens to their league position.

Yes Barry will be in Rafa’s radar. But ofcourse this season we will have all the bargaining powers.

I would like Lucas,Itandje,Voronin to be sold. Get Barry,Johnson and another player(A striker). Retain Babel and Agger. Thats my opinion.

Lads I really can’t see Barry coming to Anfield after last years debarcle. The poor bastard was hung out to dry by both us and AV. Plus I think he’s had a very quiet season.
.
Also on the striker who likes sitting on the bench with splinters in his arse, remember it’s a world cup year and no one wants to be sitting around. Even MO.
.
Still however think Ork is a Rafa type player, he was the one who changed the game on the weekend. Will be very expensive though.

Gazman, I think that Barry would be willing to come to Anifeld. In fact I believe that it is our shout if we want him our not. O’Neill threw him the CL bone with Villa but now that has failed we hold all the aces. Would not be surprised in the slightest if he was our first signing this summer.

Agreed, Ork is too expensive, considering we already have a guy who does pretty much the same thing.

To me Barry gives a lot of flexibility in our midfield. If he is bought our midfield will be even more stronger with a chance to rotate and rest.

@Gaz

Its true that he is having a quiet season. The dream of qualifying for CL is gone. His asking price will go down too. It might just be the right moment to buy him.

How about Antonio Valencia of Wigan?

Don’t agree with the quiet season bit for Barry. As far as I remember he had an outstanding first 2/3 of the season.

He, or villa, read it as you want, have just imploded under the manager that is MON, in the last third.

BTW, I used to think that MON was a superb manager but now I am starting to have my doubts – no plan B being a front-runner. This is one area were Rafa defo holds the upper-hand.

Antonio Valencia is being eyed up by Man Utd. Besides I’d prefer to have a left winger that can do a number of things which is why I keep going on about DS. I’m sure there are others of his ilk. I just can’t think of any right now.

Somnath, signing Barry, Johnson and a back up striker…. do you think that improves our first team? I’d like to see a better player operating where Riera is at the moment. You know there is a problem when you have 2 left backs in the team with one left winger on the bench and the other left at home.

I rate Tevez but he’d be too expensive and would he fit into our system? Another Robbie Keane situation there I reckon.

Adriano is definitely not a Rafa type player but neither was Bellamy.

If we bought Silva, Barry and Johnson and sold Babel, Voronin, Dossena I’d be as chuffed as a fat kid with a big piece of chocolate cake.

Lurgan MoN might be an annoying bastard but I think he’s done a great job at Villa. Remember where they were before he got the job.

This 25 mill plus player sales is just the type of Rafa ploy to make sure that teams do not try and over price their players he is interested in. Don’t write off Silva just yet, I still believe Rafa will work on that one quietly behind the scenes. He will fulfill the role of wide and in the hole striker we need.

I would like us to hang on to most of our players, but a right back is essential and Johnson would be a good punt. Agger will hopefully stay with Sammie moving on, but we have a few very good youngsters in San Jose, Kelly and Huth that will be brought up to the first team. With Carra, Skertal and Agger that will be enough.

Vorinon, Intandje, Pennant and maybe one or two youngsters that they think wont make it will go. I hope Babel stays but if we get a good offer he might go. With a Silva type player, cover for Torres would be Babbel, Ngog, Kuyt and Nemeth will be brought up to the first team squad and that’s plenty.

Then, if we are sold who knows who will be brought in. I do not want to see a major clear out and a lot of new faces as that will just disrupt the team and take even more time for us to gel. We are looking really good and a wide / striker and right back is all the cover and upgrade we need for next year.

@ LB

As i mentioned before buying Silva will depend upon the price he is available at.

I mentioned striker because i felt we dont have someone playing the absence of Torres. I can understand what you mentioned on the Valencia thing, moreover Kuyt is doing a fantastic job there. Rafa is the best person to tell whether Ngog can do the 2nd strikers job.

Even i would be happy if we get the players you mentioned. I think Babel can be given one season more.

Hello all,

that scum Cohen has made me feel angry and ill….the worst part is that he is preaching his bile to an audience who dosent know better (present company excepted) Its the equvalent of saying 9/11 was the victims fault cos they condoned governments intervention in the middle east……….eugh, just got up and dont want to start the day like that so, moving on…..

I reluctantly think Babel should go…..After the flashes he shown in his first season he has gone backwards and after his attempts to engineer a loan move back to Ajax earlier this year and his body language in many games this year I dont think hes got the heart to make it here……shame,

Dossena has the making of a good player, he has lost weight and worked hard to get on top of the pace of the prem. Hes never going to be a maldini, but can put a good early cross in and with the extra fitness and italian guile should hopefully make a good box to box full back.

It appears to me Agger is playing games a la Owen, which indicates that he really does not understand who he is playing for (or dosent care) in which case, sell him while we can. A great shame cos he is a huge talent, and we would need a replacement immediately but if hes playing games with the club its not what we need……if its something else then get it sorted and get him signed up now!!!

so with maybe 8m for Babel and 4 for Voronin (and his ponytail!) we are looking at 32 – 42 m transfer kitty, should get a decent desiquili-thingy and sort the right back position out. no suggestions there,

one final thing; Barry, ok as a squad player at the right price (or maybe even right back) but NOT at the expense of Xabi, no way!

Keith, I’d give Hyypia another year extension. I don’t think the young reserve centre backs are ready to be first choice back up yet. By the way Jack Hobbs was named in the League 1 team of the year. We’re likely to get £400,000 for him.

Some speed would be nice in the wide areas. Riera, Dossena, Aurellio, Arbie and Kuyt – I reckon I can beat all of these guys in a 60 yard sprint.

Andy, it’s not that I never speculate on players, I don’t like to do it mid-season. It usually just results in a game of fantasy football, with all sorts of star names being mentioned. No harm in that, but then it usually degenerates into a sulking why didn’t we buy him him and him, instead of him and him. And by the time it finishes the manager and players we do have are getting slagged off. So I normally swerve it. But it’s near that time now, so I see no harm in having a bit of a natter about who might come and go.

I said ages ago, I didn’t fancy Johnson from a defending point of view but the lad is a great prospect when going forward. He’s very comfortable on the ball, has a decent passing game, can get a cross in and has a tremendous shot. So could well be worth a punt. But like LB said, he would cost a few bob, and on top of Pompey not getting relegated, he just signed a new long term contract. So that might be that scuppered.

I also think Rafa will probably pull a rabbit out of his hat and appear someone we don’t even know about again.

So, I’d rather just stick to this…
for aguments sake, let’s just say we buy, Barry, Villa and Johnson. Think of the flexibility and options that would give our team/squad. Fuck me, it would brilliant. We could make subs and change formation at the drop of a hat. With them additions, I can’t see any system – from park the bus to full blown gung ho attack – that we couldn’t deal with.

But like Andy said, it would disrupt a few things…
Babel – probably spell the end of the road for him. Bennayoun? Gerrard as second striker. And would he be prepared to play on the right when asked? Who’d be prepared to sit on the bench for long spells?

Still, if we could get that sort of talent and they could give us them amount of options, I think we’d have to go for it.

As for Dosenna, not only is he handy to have as a left back, he’s becoming quite a utility player. His defending has definetely improved as he’s got accustomed to the pace of this league. But it’s going forward where I think he comes in handiest. He’s put in better shifts in the wide left position than Babel for quite awhile now. His crosses are more than decent. He can beat a man. His passing is more than adaquate. He’s like a charging bull with the ball at his feet. He’s practically impossible to knock off it, but he’s got decent touch/control. And to top it off, he can come inside and nick the odd goal.

So, even though it wouldn’t surprise me to see him go, I would like him to stay. And I think his critics say more about themselves than him when they’re slagging him off. This scapegoating of players nowadays, is quite ridiculous. all it really does is show up people and their closed minds. It’s fair enough to have a go at a player when they aren’t producing, but to refuse to give credit when it’s due is, as our drunken friend would say, beyond the pail.

Just catching up with the comments. See the talk has switched back to Silva. No I haven’t mistaken the 2. I stuck with Villa as he was the one I mentioned earlier. But I actually think Silva would be the better of the two for our team and set up. I think he could be accomodatted with out as much disruption.

As for Riera, lads give him a break. He’s fucking knackered. Think back to what he done when he first arrived. With a near full season behind him, and a proper pre season to come, you will get them sort of performances again – only better and for longer.

FS, I’m prepared to give Riera a break and keep him in the squad. But if we were to get Silva I’d have him playing left, Kuyt right, Gerrard behind Torres and Riera sitting behind Sammy Lee in the duggout. My hypothetical team:

Reina
Arbie Carra Agger Insua
Masch Alonso
Kuyt Gerrard Silva
Torres

Subs: Cavelieri, Skrtel, Johnson, Barry, Benayoun, Riera, Ngog

I agree Keith. Sort out RM and RB and we’re good to go. Just get Silva and Johnson Rafa and lets win this fucker. Do your buying and selling early so squad is assembled and ready to hit pre-season focused and chomping at the bit like a fucken pit bull lunging at sirloin fucken steak. And tell Nando he’s taking a dive this Summer. Thats right. Your going down in the 12th (90th min of last game!) lad and spain and some bollix tourney called the confederations cup can fuck off.

Digger I’m afraid Torres is very much looking forward to the Conferations cup. As is Alonso, Arbie, Riera and Silva (so would probably be knackered if we signed him).

LB, you know how loyal I am to our players and manager. But I’m also a ruthless bastard when it comes to LFC. Any player, and even Rafa, if there’s a better alternative and we can get them… well, then it’s tatty bye from me.

I learnt that as far back as Shankly. He was ruthless when it came to offing players. He learnt his lesson by hanging onto his first great side for just a bit too long. He never done it again.

When I was younger I’d get broken hearted to see a favourite leave and be replaced by a stranger. I was near sucidal when Bill himself threw the towel in, and I thought we was doomed when Keegan walked. But look at what we got as replacements…. Bob and Kenny. I soon learned.

Confederations cup: 14th-28th June, South Africa

Group A
Spain

South Africa
Iraq
New Zealand

Group B
Brazil
Italy
Egypt
USA

I wonder if Keith sill be taking in any matches….

Must confess now that c.l semi final day is here Im more frustrated than I thought I’d be. Feels strange not to be involved this yr. But thats a great testament to Rafa and though it’ll be tough watching today wishing it was us he deserves great credit for making us an almost immovable object in Europe. Anyway, question time for Redboy and FS: what game is Agger playing and what ball is in Daniels court? He’s requested 70k, which he’s worth. We’ve offered 48k. He rejected it. Balls in our court no?

a while back someone mentioned adriano. the boy is a nightmare. rafa will NEVER go for him, no chance. i would not recommend it at all.

one of my best mates comes from albania and has been a massive inter supporter since childhood and he is so glad to see the back of adriano.

then there is the statement his agent said about how he will probably not play anywhere in europe again. he wants to go back to brazil.

yes, he is a tremendous talent, but he wasted it…like ronaldo (the real one), but earlier in his career.

i dont think valencia will want to go to man u, unless all he cares about is money. if he has any inkling to actually play football during his contract, i would think he would consider us more than utd… nani, ronaldo, that serbian kid, etc…wings very much covered, unless they sell…

Fair enough Alec on the Adriano idea and can’t disagree with you regarding him.

But Ronaldo wasted his talent!? Twice world player of the year, twice European player of the year, 2 world cup winners medals, 2 Copa America winners medals, 2 La Liga titles, 1 UEFA cup, 1 UEFA cup winners cup, 1 Spanish cup, 1 Dutch cup, 1 Brazlian cup. All time top goal scorer in world cup finals. Club goal scoring record: 324 goals in 458 games. International goal scoring record: 62 goals in 97 games.

Also consider he’s had 3 crippling cruciate ligament inuries and suffers from hypothyroidism.

I ask again Alec mate, he wasted his talent!?!??

LB

I agree with Alec on Adriano. I will, hoever, add that Adriano has a few issues to sort out. I believe he lost his father about a year ago and that is bound to affect him. Hopefully he can sort himself and regain his appetite for the game.

Damn, that should be ‘however’.

Bayo, I agree too.

But what about Ronaldo(the real one)? I’m waiting Alec….. lol

ok, LB, i didnt mean to say “wasted his talent” when referring to ronaldo…i meant to say that unlike ronaldo, adriano seems to have had a major breakdown off the pitch a lot earlier in his career than ronaldo did. didnt mean it the way it seems to have come out. of course everyone knows the quality of ronaldo…i was simply referring to his off the field problems (like adriano’s) that came later in his career.

kno ‘wha i mean?

Digger, I’ve said me piece on Agger in here loads of times and I stick by it. Whether you choose to belive me or not is up to you, but I’m not going to start telling tales in here. Let’s just say the lad is a bit un-conventional and we all know how highly Rafa counts a players Mentahtaliteee.

On the good fron though, the latest word from Rafa is they are still talking and trying to work out a new deal. Hopefully that will sort it. I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but… I rate Agger as much as any of us do and I will be gutted if he leaves.

But if he does walk, sometimes you just have to have faith and believe things are down for the best for the club.

And just to make sure nobody gets the wrong idea from that, I want to say this…
Although, I don’t want to repeat stories about Agger, it’s not because it’s some big nasty secret that has to be hidden. He hasn’t been taking drugs and drinking like some people tried to spread about. He hasn’t even really been in any bad trouble. The lad’s just a bit wonky uptop. He does have some strange habits. He does do some pretty mad but not real bad things. He makes some mad decisions. So, let’s hope he makes the right one, but he’s just as likely to walk away from the whole game as he is from LFC.

I know what you mean Alec. It was a shame to watch the end of his career. I know he had some terrible injuries that accounted for most of that. But sometimes, like a champion boxer, footballers should just walk away and leave the great memories instead of the slippery slope.

A triangle on the forehead doesn’t help either.

Ok Alec, I understand now. Even so I think injury and health had more to do with Ronaldo’s decline than any personal demons. There was the episode before the 1998 world cup final but other than that nothing comes to mind. As for Adriano, I don’t know what happened to him. The last confederations cup he was electric and the seasons leading up to that tournament he was great. Since then he’s been very poor.

I remember the BBC football pundit team taking the piss out of Matthaus and Ronaldo during a couple of tournaments. I thought it was very disrespectful. Those are two LEGENDS of the world game and you got guys like Linekar, Ian Wright, Hansen and Lawrenson taking the mickey. All of which achieved sweet fuck all at international level.

cheers, LB. i agree, ronaldo did have to deal with some major injuries during his prime which probably led to a lot of his off-the-field issues.

adriano seems to be completely uncontrollable…even someone like mourinho couldn’t get him in line and focused. when mourinho went over to inter i was talking to my mate (the aforementioned albanian inter supporter), and he was saying how mourinho was exactly what the team needed in terms of getting a collective team-mindset spread throughout the team. they had too many individual personalities interfering with their football (adriano, ibra, materazzi, etc). ibra seems to have been straightened out, but adriano has gotten worse. sad to see, but he’s got a poor head on his shoulders and clearly not very good people around him.

speaking of ibra, he is supposed to be moving on in the summer. i dont think we would be interested, but he could be the start of a bunch of striker movement throughout europe… i could see aguero, eto’o, and ibra all moving somewhere new this year.

oh and LB, its shocking the punditry these days (by that i mean the last 10 years even). mindless idiots that dont know their ass from their elbow. even retired quality players seem to have no clue how to say anything remotely accurate or intelligent once their in front of a camera it seems.

Understood FS. I understand YOUR position and recognize you’re privy to more delicate information than I would be. I also recognize that you rate the lad as we all do and so it appears does Rafa. What I’m having trouble understanding is the contention that the ball is in Daggers court. He’s rejected a reported 48k deal and rightly so. He’s worth arguably double that and is the future of our defense. So the ball is in OUR court now. He knows it. We know it. Offer him what hes worth and get the deal done, no?

Not that simple Digger mate. Funny that the conversation going on besides this about a proper nutter. I don’t think Daniel is that bad, but he’s not the easiest lad to deal with.

As for just throwing money at him and why we haven’t, it probably boils down to a few things. But consider this, he’s hasn’t exactly been a rock of our defence in the last 2 seasons. We haven’t done too badly without him. Do we just say, “Yeah. Ok Danny. You can have more than Arbeloa, Aurelio and Skrtle. And you can play whenever you like, no matter what the others are doing.”

Bit over simplified, but so is saying just give it to him. I will trust Rafa on this one.

As will I, he found him after all. And I believe Rafa will give him what wants in the end so why the song and dance I guess is my question? I thought removing Parry was supposed to expediate contract negotiations! Not protract them! I just feel that maybe its the club playing games on this one not the player. He requested 70, pay it or tell him he can begin speaking with other clubs. Dont insult him with 48! Insulting the guy is hardly conducive to congenial negotiations! I guess we see it differently mate.

Digger I take it you are not the CFO of a business then?

P.s Fatty, the lad can hardly be blamed for injuries over the last 2yrs can he? And as regards paying him more than arbie, fabio and skertl? Yeah I’m cool with that. Thats the way the system works right? The better players get better paid. We can pick up hoofers (carra, skertl) a lot easier than we can ball players, your hansens, moores, baresis, sammers etc. Those kind of centre halves are diamonds and we have one. And Rafa knows it. I just hope the deal gets done.

Correct and right Lurgan! What gave it away?

Well, Digger I think you are summising quite a few things and only looking at them from one point of view – Agger’s or yours and you want him to stay.
I honestly think it’s far more complicated than just saying he’s our best defender so pay him what he wants. You’re right in that he can’t be blamed for picking up injury’s. But why do you think they took so long to heal?

On top of that, to just say, I’ve got other options so I’ll wait until I’m ready to speak to the club really isn’t on. We’ve stood by through thick and thin. We’ve paid his wages, showed our loyalty and just how much he is wanted. I don’t think repaying that by saying things like… “He has to look me in the eyes and say it,” is the best way of returning such loyalty.

So yes. It seems you are on the side of the player, and I am solidly behind the club. So, I suppose we’ll just have to differ on this one.

Fair enough big fella, we’ll leave it there cos I’ve just watched henry skin ivanovic and thats something I wanna see more of heh heh

Digger you’re fave game is Monopoly then.

In addition to handing Agger 80k per week and the keys to Montse’s bedroom, we should just give Valencia 50 mill for Silva and pay him 100k per week to get the deal done, right?

Why didn’twe just give Aston Villa 22 mill for Barry? Oh yeah wait, I remember now, its Real money, not monopoly money made on a printing press in a Mellwood basement.

I’m sorry Dig, I don’t mean to be so combative, but it really gets me when people start player speculation.

We need the right player at the right price, who’ll fit into the system we play, with the players we have. Not just the superstar du jour.
And what they make will be the result of hard negotiations… otherwise, just pay everyone whatever they want, and go into administration.

I don’t think there’s a single person in here that doesn’t rate the lad, but Agger has been in-n-out of the team… and he’s quality no doubt, but he’s yet to prove that he can be relied upon week-in-week-out, so he should take the 48k and renegotiate in two years after he’s put in a season of real graft and class!

I’m barely watching it Dig. I’ve got it on in the background, but not taking that much notice.

Up until now, I wasn’t that bothered about getting knocked out. And since then, I’ve avoided all the hype and not really paid any heed to any of it.

But now, looking at it, it’s annoying me. We should be there, and I should be right behind the goal with a few pints in me, singing me head off with the flag up.

Missed your post Aitch. I wouldn’t be that bothered by speculation. Did you read what Rafa had to say – move quickly and cheaply as possible to bring in the right players at the right price.

That’s what’ll happen.

Half time…

Must admit I haven’t watched this closely but I think we’d have been ahead against either of them. From what I’ve seen Barca are playing some nice pretty football but haven’t done much with it. Chelsea have got the breakthroughs they’ve been waiting on and fucked them up.

I know it’s ridiculous to say after our Chelsea result, but based on tonight’s performance, I reckon we could have done either of them, especially if we played them with that high tempo passing game we’ve played in the last few weeks.

I know it FS (and I know Dig knows it too)

…its all the fantasy footy stuff that gets me.

Suggesting we get relegation team cast-offs like they’d somehow “be better than Arbeloa or Dossena” I just find disrespectful of those players.

But to each his own, I guess…. go get this guy from colombia, coz he scored a hat-trick of overhead kicks on a you-tube video (not realizing he’s only scored those 3 goals in over 15,000 minutes of footbal played.)
…and he’d only cost us 30 mill!

Speedy Gonzalez anyone?

Yeah defo FS and Torres would have buried that Drogba chance too no worries. Did you see Hiddinks reaction after he missed?! Classic! Penny for your thoughts Gus? ‘you beeeepin useless beeeeepin beeepnt!!’ Thanks Gus! Aitch I was more of a Battleship kid. You dont think he’s worth 70k then I take it?

It’s actually not that bad in here Aitch. There’s other gaffs far worse. But this is what happens, the likes of Zaki scores that stormer against us people start saying we should buy him. I think he’s actions since should have showed what rubbish that sort of knee jerking brings.

The best one I came across recently, that Kanchelskis scores a stormer. It was a lovely goal, ran the ball from back by his own area, along the left wing, got inside their half, let loose with an absolute missile. Loads of knobheads say he should be our left back, even after you point out to them the last goal he scored was from a porky mis-hit cross against us in the 2006 FA Cup final.

I just laugh at that sort of shenanigans. But what gets on me nerves is, the same knobs then start having a go at the players we do have. Madness, but one of the curses of the internet.

Just avoiding watching too much of this game to be honest. I think we could have won this, and looking at it on the telly it’s annoying me knowing I could have been there, having a great craic. I love Barcelona. It’s a great city.

What does Dig know Aitch? That Daggers worth 70k? Damn straight I know it. What you on about bro? Who on this blog has ever said relegation castoffs are better than arbie or dosser? Who in here has ever called for a hat-trick scoring columbian from you tube? Who’d cost us 30mil apparently?! You having a bad day bro?!

Fuck me. I should be booking me trip to Rome now. This is absolute cack. Chelsea are a fucking disgrace. Barca are there for the taking but not a pair of bollacks between them.
Chelsea sitting back, there for the taking Braca about as good as Arsenal in the days when you had to threaten to shoot them before they’d actually shoot themselves.

It’s not rocket science ffs Braca… stop trying to walk in or score a goal from the half way line. Get within a credible range and have a fucking go.

Barca are shite. Chelsea are worse. But I reckon Chelsea could easily knick this 0 – 1. And then go down as champions of the universe in the english papers.
Really getting on me wick this game

yawn.
shit.on.stick.

Now now lads. Chelsea got what they came for. And lest we forget, we had our chance and they beat us fair and square in our own back yard no less so I dont think they’re that bad! They went there with a plan and executed it perfectly. How many times have we done that in the past and enthusiastically patted ourselves on the back? No point crying over spilled milk eh? Next year lads, next year, we’ll get our chance again.

That was football for girls and gays.

Digger I have no qualms about us not being there, you’re right – we’ll be back. however next time the p*ndits speak about Liverpools attacking intent, they need to remind themselves of this game.

and examples win no arguments, for every one of mine you’ll have yours, but cant resist – we went to barca and put 2 in and won.

and now to root for the goons tomorrow.
YNWA

Football for gays and girls….
They should have all worn nylons, make up and carried hand bags. Barca all pretty little passing with no end result.

Chelsea absolutely bollackless – not a pair between them. They could have took that witha bit of bottle.

The diving, crying, play acting, rolling on the floor as if they’d been shot without being touched… instead of a post match interview, they should have had an acceptance speech, thanked their Mam, Dad, God and the Academy.

Football for gays and girls, indeed. Both teams were a disgrace, but Drogba’s acting and diving was so bad, I actually felt embarassed for the shameless shyster.

As for the Chelsea fans…. don’t get me started.

FS the part i loved was when drogba was down with a supposed HEAD injury and writhing in the chelsea penalty area with barca on the attack and the referee still didnt stop play – i mean you must really have a reputation for that to happen.

He was worse against us Fatty, but yeah he’s a disgrace. Yeah bhavster you wait and see how the papers make the chavs out to be some reincarnation of Beckenbaur-esque defensive genius tomorrow. Fair play to em, not many keep Barca scoreless, but the media tomorrow will be insufferable. As you say lets just pray to all thats holy that Arsenal do the mancs, or life really will suck balls!

Dig, wasn’t it obvious by my comment in parenthesis in #155 that that comment was NOT directed at you? Calm down lad.

Firstly NO Agger is NOT worth 70k.
No one is, Not SG, not Torrs, not Kaka, or Messi.
No one on this planet should be getting paid 70k a week, when their daily job consists of showing up for 4 hours of training and playing a fuckin game of footy twice a week.

I know a lot of people will disagree with that, and I’m well aware of the reality of the Prem as it exists… but I’m sorry, we’re starting off on a fundamentally different platform for this argument, so NO, Agger is NOT worth 7ok a week.
If you wanna think that, then fine, but its something we’ll never agree on.

Doesn’t make either of us right or wrong, but we live in a world gone mad, and its that mentality is the reason why…. so I’m staying firmly planted on my high-horse on that issue, Dig.

Now if we could get past that.
Agger has had one good season followed by a season plagued by injury.
In that season, he has returned to fitness and had several good performances and a few dodgy ones.

Again, not doubting his talent, but is he the 2nd coming of Alan Hansen? Well he showed he might be in his first seaosn, but he’s looked a bit more like Torben Peichnick (or however you spell his fuckin name) this season.

Again, Dig, lets not get sidetracked here. I’m not arguing the lad’s talent.
But he needs to take what’s on offer… which is a significant pay raise… following an indifferent season… and knuckle down and put in a few good seasons, then get his big pay raise, when he renegotiates (from a position of strength) in two years.

After all, where else is he gonna be revered by the Kop AND get to play on “magical European nights”???

Forget this 70k bollocks…Sign for 48k (or negotiate to 50) Danny lad and sign just as soon as someone puts s fuckin pen in your hand.

Be a Kop legend and eventually make a mint, or make more money playing in the UEFA cup at Valencia? Hmmm… tough choice that one!

Bhavster, Barca were no better. Shocking display of play acting. We’d have done either one of them.

All this hype over Barca…. Harlem Globetrotters of football, all flash no substance. We’d have closed them down and hit them on the break. No point in saying this, and I suppose it sounds like sour grapes, but I’m certain we’d have come away with a 2 goal lead from there.

I’m just as sure that will get pulled apart in here an all. But feck it. At the top of our game I reckon we would tonk them. The lads must be kicking themselves after watching that.

No prob Aitch, not going off the rails here, just thought you were lol! Anyway, disregarding your position for a moment and joining us in the world gone mad (the real world!), everything in business has a price, a market value, and Dagger and his agent have accurately (imo) named their price. Given that madness, and taking into account his obvious talent and the current going rate for a player of that talent, do you still think he’s not worth 70k?

Again, you can have that discussionw ith someone else, coz it has the word “worth” in it.

I’ll answer the question “should we pay him 70K, though I think I already have.

Not disputing his talent. Never have.

FS has alluded to (and he’s probably thinking, “ang about, I did wot?”) the idea that Agger’s head might not exactly be right and not knowing anything about that, all I can say is, I see it.

Your a kid. Your at LFC. The Kop loves you.
You’ve been out injured, getting paid a comfy sum of dosh.
You haven’t been able to wrestle your spot back from Skrtel, an aging Carragher, and en even more aging Hyppia (not saying he can’t, saying he hasn’t.)
You’ve been offered a new contract, with a pay raise, in spite of having been out injured for most of the season.

The manager has said he wants you. The fans want you.
Simple… to me… sing Danny lad, sign. In two years you’ll have a Prem medal, a CL medal, and an FA Cup medal. In that time you’ll have lived MORE THAN comfortably and you won’t even have to ask twice for 80k, they’ll just hand it to you with a smile and a handshake!

So no, we should not be offering him 70k, RIGHHT NOW.
Will he eventually be (er… ahem.. word sticks in throat… coughs…) “worth” that much?
Okay, I’ll concede that.

Quite frankly, how anyone who would bite their hand off for 5k a week, if it meant the opportunity to wear a red shirt and carry their spit buckets to and from the field, let alone play in front of the Kop, can argue this point, is really quite beyond me.

How dare you! I’m worth at least 10k a week! All joking aside Aitch, I see your point, I do. But I think your being a little short sighted on this one bro. We spend what, 11mil on potential (babel), looks to be a bust, 8mil on….something! (lucas), looks to be a bust, 7mil on a left back(!), looks to be….capable of the odd solid cameo appearance but we shouldent spend70k on solid gold? That rarest of footballing commodities: an outstanding ball playing goalscoring centre half? Odd priorities no bro?

Watched first half of Chav game reminded me of Stoke at Anfield they were
that sh*t. Before the game they were going for the away goal after the game
it was a great defensive performance .If one of the lower teams in the Prem
play that way against Scum / Chavs it’s bad for football and if Scum /Chavs
nick a late winner,it’s a victory for football .( unless we do it ) then its lucky.
These Commentaters are so full of sh*t with their bias opinions and tomorrows
papers will be full of the same .
Got tickets for Legends V Allstars should be a good night ,seeing some of my
childhood heroes though i dont know who’s playing.
Still tickets available and it’s for a good cause.
YNWA

Odd priorities?
Different argument. You’re quoting purchase price of other players, not what we pay them per week.

Look I get your point Dig. If Agger had just come off the sort of season that Xabi has had, or Carra has had, or Arbeloa even, then I reckon he’d have an argument for demanding more money.

But he hasn’t he’s been injured and coming back from that injury, he has struggled to displace others and walk back into the team.

Again, not doubting his ability to do so next season, but it doesn’t put you in the best bargaining position, so in that situation 70k is asking a bit too much.

I work contract mate, have done for over a decade. And I work in a business where you are only as good as your last project.
I’m not shoving that in there as a “fuck you, you don’t know what you are talking about” ( and if you saw some of the low-ball contracts I’ve negotiated for myself, you’d understand I’m most definitely not) its just that when you work that way, you have to try to negotiate the best price you can, based on how good your previous project is/was and that’s pretty much how football works (Diouf 10 million coming off the World Cup… 5quid & a packet of pork scratchings subsequently… not that I’m comparing Agger in any way to the Spitman)

But on simple negotiation principle, Agger’s not in the best bargaining position. He’s coming off an injury season with what… something like 14 appearances?
He wants a new contract, we want to give him a new contract.
He wants more money, we offered him more money.

Honestly, what is he making, 30-35k a week or somthing?
If its close to that, then we’ve offerd him a 30% pay raise… to take him to 48k …and you think its some sort of slap in the face… that’s crazy talk, my friend?

If we have offered him 48k, it’ll probably get settled for 50-54k, but to hold out for 70k (when the owners don’t have two cents to rub together between them… and the manager needs to sell before he can buy???) is just poor negotiating skills on his and his agent’s part… surely you see that part of the argument too Dig.

Like I facetiously said earlier, it ain’t monopoly money, and LFC is not a charity organization, its a business, AND we ain’t the Chavs or Scum (Thank Fuck) AND … well the lad is good, but he’s no Torres or SG (who I also wouldn’t pay 80k per week, but that’s just me )

… I reiterate… take the 48k, play for fans who appreciate you, and win some silverware Danny Lad, or you might be watching the dynasty on tele, instead of being part of it.

Wow! Are you sure you negotiated low ball contracts for yourself?! Cos you’ve convinced me! Well maybe not completely, but I definitely see your point. Especially about Dagger negotiating from a position of strength or lack there-of as the case seems to be. And yeah those examples I gave were different argument, I was just making a comparison in terms of risk – a shot in the dark vs a sure thing – in other words we know what we’re getting: an Ace, so just lock it down, ya know? But I defo see your point.

Let the love-in begin…
coz I see your point too Dig… though as I said, I’m defo old school when it comes to this idea of what a person is “worth” … sadly its why I don’t have more money to my name.

My Dad taught me (along with teaching me the liverpool way) to do an honest days work for an hoest days pay.

In my line of work, I always love it when I’m working alongside, or offer guys a gig, at a fixed price, they agree to do it, then bitch and moan about how they are not making enough and deserve/are worth more!

You knew the price going in, and you AGREED to it coz you wanted the job… so shut the fuck up and get on with your work, bitch!
In that sense, you are worth the price you put on your head, don’t bitch and moan later.

And when it comes to playing footie…. don’t get me started… oops you did and I thus vented forth my spleen on the matter … but fuckin ‘ell, 70k per week to play footie?

Pay me 70k per YEAR and I’ll slice my wrist and sign the fuckin contract in blood… especially if it means pulling on the red and running out at Anfield!

I hope he gets his head straight and signs, and if he manages to get more than 48k, I won’t necessariy begrudge him it, coz I don’t have blinders on, I know the score, but its all a bit silly…. its LFC… take what you’re offered and sign… beeeyatch!

On a different matter…

Does anyone know the exact deal with Tevez’s contract? Isn’t he on loan to Scum still, or did he actually sign a contract?

And what type of contract, coz isn’t he still “owned” by his agent, or did they have to tear that up per FA rules in the aftermath of the Wet Spam/Sheffield lawsuit?

Well seeing how we are all speculating, rumour doing the rounds that a massive offer has come in for Man U’s number 12 WEBBinho, however Man U won’t speculate on his future until they secure the title.
.
All jokes aside, if Agger doesn’t want to play for LFC lets make some money out of the lad. Yes we might lose his ball playing ability but we might also gain someone cheaper who’s going to blossom. Does anyone think that the Wheater fellow may go quite well for us defensively.
.
In regards to the winger issue, if we buy a winger it has to be a right one, or SG must go there. We need some genuine pace out wide on both sides. Reira has had quite a good season and overall done himself proud, however he isn’t blessed with blistering pace, lovely skills though. I think he’ll be staying.

I know FS doesn’t rate him much, but I do.

He absolutely made… no… WAS the difference in the Spurs comeback, and I know that’s just one game, but i reckon…

he runs like Dirk Kuyt,
tackles like Mascherano
and when he wins the ball, passes like Xabi, or shoots like Fernando
(okay that last part was totally over the top, and just for a larf, but he can pass and score.)

…but more importantly Tevez is ONE UGLY MUTHA and “no one ever won the league without at least a couple of ugly fuckers” in the team!

Scum Now: O’Shae, Gary Nipple, The Ork, Rooney, Evra (fuckin hideous!)

The Chavs: JT (bit harsh, but fuck him), Drogba, Lumpy, Essien, Alex (urgh!)

Us in the 80′s: for 10 years the team was full of docker’s butties… and we won everything going!

Plus… Everton have twigged to our secret weapon of the 80s and will win the FA Cup because of it…
THE AFRO!

So maybe this summer we buy Tevez, Silva and one player with an afro … result… The Treble!

Was kinda gutted that we didn’t use our Masch to have a quite word with Tevez when he was set to leave West Ham.

Me thinks a Torres-Tevex forward line would have been (dare I say it) the final piece of the jigsaw!

Speaking of potential transfer targets, me also thinks Werder Bremen’s Diego is a prome candidate fer our vacant No7 shirt. He was part of Robinho-kaka-Diego holy trinity that won Santos the league a few years back. We could offer 15m + player deal (Voronin – Bundesliga’s FEARED hitman).

I was disspointed with Barca’s performance yesterday. For all their attacking prowess, they should have scored atleast once.

Chelsea cant play like that in the 2nd leg and that might leave gaps open for Barca to strike. Barca have the El Classico this weekend and with the title race not over by any means, they are in more a tough time.

1: We couldn’t afford Tevez when he was at West Ham. How long did we take to pay for Masch. I rate Tevez but think themoney would be best spent elsewhere. He’s owned by some dodgy cartel. He’s cost Man U at least 10 million already. They don’t own as much as a pimple.

2: I like Aitch’s ugly idea. I might even get a game.

3: It’s not about the money with Agger. That’s his agent. The lads already tried to walk away from football on a few occasions. Believe me – he’s a bit flakey to say the least. But he can’t be disruptive to the team, or Benitez would just off him now.

4: I agree with Aitch about the money. It’s obscene what some of them earn. Sadly it’s the way it is and there’s no going back. But then it was no better back in the day before Jimmy Hill and Johnny Haynes smashed the maximum wage rules. The director’s just pocketed all the dough then.

5: Rome 77, you’ll have a great time. I went to one of them Legends things in North Wales a couple of years ago. Great night out. And I got to talk to Ian Rush. Could hardly contain meself from jumping on him, cuddling him and saying, “I Love You, Rushie Lad!”

6:That game was woeful last night. Both team’s were a disgrace. Just a shame they both can’t lose the next leg. But I still hope Barca can pull it out. Chelsea make me physically ill. The constant little niggly fouls, the cynical stop them by any means attitude, the play acting, the diving, the park the bus and hope shitting it style of play. As someone already mentioned, if it was Stoke they would be getting lambasted as the Anti-Christ of football. And – even though Chelsea were far worse than any work horse side I’ve seen fighting for a point in the league – you were right. Whoever said it, they are heroes all over the telly, radio and papers today. We’d have got ragged for a performance like that. But there again, we wouldn’t have done that… we would have won.

7: What I really came into say…

Anybody seen the tramp and the proffessor love in that’s going on? Cannoddling up to one another, all lovey dovey. It’s quite funny really.

Arsene Wenger…
“Yes the relationship is better nowadays. We get on very well.”

Of course you do, you cracked twat. You haven’t challenged them for nothing for years. You wait and see how you get along with him if you beat them tonight, you stupid auld gobshoite.

I think Aitch is right about Agger’s contract issues. If he’s been offered £48k a week you’d think it would be negotiated to around £54k. After an injury ravaged couple of seasons he can’t really expect more than that. What throws a spanner in the works is if Milan or Barca offer him £70k. Then it’ll be tatty bye and we buy a centre half and pay him £35k a week There’s also Hyypia’s contract. It expires in June and I haven’t heard any noises about him getting another one.

LB: somebody mentioned Wheater earlier on. I can’t be bothered trawling back to find out who. But they are close to the truth. We inquired about him earlier in the season. email me anyway…
[email protected]

FS, check your email…..

LB check yours

Well what a disaster of a match that was last night. Drogba was an absolute disgrace. It’s got so bad I am not sure who I hate the most between Chel$ki and Manure. Let’s hope to fuck that it’s not these two teams again in the final – I would only be happy if it was the first CL final to be cyclone affected and UEFA kept the trophy until next year!

Aitch, thanks for taking up the baton with Digger and I think your ugly factor could be worth investigating more.

Digger, I hope that your business is doing well in these tough economical times.

Is anybody on that facebook? I got sent a thing from there. Somebody try and dig it up. You’ll all love it. I won’t say too much, in case someone can find it and give you all a laugh.

I don’t know how to work facebook. But if it’s like youtube and you just have to do a search, it involves Kuyt, Bennayoun, Masher and an autograph hunter. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in ages.

FS, the better half has an account there, so it must be simple to use

I could do with a laugh. What search do you need to put in?

Why are we being linked with Downing and Santa Cruz?.Is it worth taking a punt on Hangeland (Fulham)?.I wouldn’t refuse 20 mill for Alonso.The right side of the team is our big weakness.Johnson looks a stone overweight-not worth 12 mill.Time to give young Darby a chance -Arbeloa has 11 yellows in the Prem this season .

Burgerman, don’t take this the wrong way, but you crack me up every time – when I read your comments, I always picture an crazy old guy in the corner of a pub muttering random things into his pint.

That’s gonna be hard not to take the wrong way, but do your best

FS – more clues on the funny thing, or a link… I don’t think Facebook works like youtube.

Andy, and again burgerman don’t take this the wrong way, but that opening line was a classic.

Here you go lads….
ttp://www.lfconline.com/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=445229

Just stick the H on front. Watch the gobs on the lads. All hilarious in their own way. I don’t know who’s reaction is funniest.

Kuyt – the dirty dutchman.
Yossi – the prudish jew.
Mascher – the naughty scruffy kid from the Bario

Does Yossi even know what’s going on

Haha nice on Fatty… Mash’s reaction is the best, he loves it!

Yeah mate. The one I first saw was a bit longer than that. Yossi clocks it and spins away. I just found their reactions funny. Kuyt having a good hard look and then laughing. Yossi pretending it’s not there. Masch giggling behind he’s arm like a naughty kid. Suppose it’s not that funny really, but it tickled me. I suppose it was relief from that cack last night.

On last night’s performance, I’m sure we could have done either of them. I suppose you can say, Chelsea done a job, despite all the theatrics and horrible spoling tactics. That Alex is a yard dog. But Barca…. feckinell, are they the Harlem Globetrooters or what. I love that Iniesta, think he’s a great player and gets over looked a bit because of Messi. And he played well last night at times, but the carrying on’s out of him… well, he made Dropba look like a stand up guy.

FS, Andy, I don’t think that 0-0 is such a great result for Chelsea.

On paper it’s a great result but I still expect Barca to do them, especially if Chel$ki come out and try to play some footie.

Can you tell I’ve got bugger all to do today. Waiting on me Grandaughter. Think I’ll take her out somewhere nice. Can’t wait to get back to work.
But Lurgan mate, I keep hoping the same thing… Barca are capable of scoring at The CuckooClock. That’s me new name for Chelsea’s ground. The fuckers only pop out when there’s a goal and then pop straight back in.

But, I think, Chelsea will be to strong for them now. They will play that horrible grinding football that they are capable of, and probably beat them from set pieces after Dropba has thrown himself all over the gaff to win them. I can see it being a header from a foul that will do for Barca… Dropba does his Platoon poster dive. Fat Frank drives one in – bash, big porky header in the back of the net. Hopefully not from that bastard John Terry. I can’t bear that fella.

@FS

Completely agree with you on your comments about Arsene Wenger. And do you think Arsenal can beat ManUnited over the two legs?

I don’t know if it’s a good thing for us if they do win Somnath. I’ve thought about both sides of the argument… Arsenal win, sends Man U into a confidence crisis. Other clubs pick up on it and go all out for the win – especially Boro and Hull who are both facing a relegation fight that they can escape with a couple of decent results.

My own first thought was if Man U win, Arsenal might become determined to wreck their title chance – especially if it’s a very close and bad tempered game.

The only trouble with that is it would Man U being in the final. Hopefully Barca could get through and do them, but I doubt it. But the mancs getting to the final still might be the best outcome for us.

If Arsenal beat them and get through, will Wenger and the team really try to beat them in the league, especially when it will mean a very hard game and the risk of injuries. I can’t see that, especially if Arsenal can’t overtake Chelsea and take 2nd place.

So, I really can’t make me mind up. We have a word for it in Liverpool – flapping. And to be honest, I am and I’m just praying and hoping whatever happens it will work out best for us.

Biz is going great Lurgan thanks, ya gotta spend money to make money rodders, ya pay peanuts you get monkeys – just a couple of truisms that I run my business by Lurgan. Dont think you’d make it with me though mate, I’m looking for leaders, guys on the frontline, lads prepared to fight a battle on there own, not go around backslapping and cheerleading others who have an original thought, ya know what I mean?! Dont take it personal, I’m just not looking for the ‘what he said’ guy right now!

Guys, have any of you read Max Munton’s article out on the main site today? “Why Liverpool will win the Leauge this season”

It’s an absolute breath of fresh air, and it also
mirrors exactly what I believe will happen. Don’t ask me why, I just really believe we will do it.

I even e-mailed Max to commend him on his article and told him that alot of us in here still belive it too!

Fat, I think the best thing for it is to say fuck all the permutations and just go for the ideal scenario… the Mancs lose to Arsenal in the CL, are distracted by the semis and lose to Boro this weekend, and then lose to a desperate Hull side in the last game of the season.

I completely see your logic though – that the team with the best chance of beating them in their league run-in, in normal circumstanaces, is Arsenal… and if they’ve made the CL final they are unlikely to go all-out in that league game. Can definitely see that.

Hmmm now I’m flapping. Because perhaps the ideal scenario is that they make the final and have to suffer a shattering loss (hopefully to Barca), just days after suffering a shattering premiership-losing defeat to Hull on the last game of the season.

What’s crucial though is that the Arsenal CL tie remains alive after the first game tonight – you’d expect it should be, but a 3-0 or so to the Mancs would be a bit too easy. 0-0 would be fine though.

@FS

yep got your point. Afterall at the end of the day it should benefit us. But if ManU goes to the final, i can see them winning it. Barca might prove to be a more difficult opposition but i am not too sure whether they can prevent ManUnited from scoring. Lets see what happens at Stamford bridge.

Digger, it’s good to hear that your business is still afloat and I do know what ya mean.

BTW, is backslapping not part of being a leader? Aggghhhh, you got me all confused again.

A score draw would be even better, the Mancs would then be sweating because Arsenal have scored
in the away leg. 2-2 tonight would be good.

Look, we want the mancs beaten in every game they play. Easy.

It’s not going to happen though, is it LB?

I’d settle for them losing twice in the Prem and us winning the fucker on goal difference.

Despite their lack of confidence at present, I think we will still need to be at our best to beat Newcastle on Sunday. But of course I think we will beat them.

Our toughest game will be the trip to West Ham, never easy.

I expect us to boost our goal difference when we visit West Brom.

Tottenham at home. I hope we go into this game knowing that we have an even chance of landing the Prem with victory, what more incentive could we need?

If the mancs beat the arse I can see them being lifted and they’ll beat Boro and City. If they get a dodgy result tonight and a player or 2 injured then we’re laughing. If the arse knock them out of the CL I could see them slipping up in the derby due to anxiety expecially if we win our match before they play theirs.

The point I’m making is we need them to have as much dodgy results as possible. We want the atmosphere in their camp and among their fans to be full of anxiety when they play. Not joyous due to them going to Rome.

I just can’t see how them getting to the final of the CL final will hinder their league form. It didn’t last season.

The CL final is a full 2 weeks after the manc vs arse league game so I can’t see Wenger playing a weak team. Plus they still might be able to go above Chelski. Thus will have something to play for. 4th place in the league is a lottery because its an open CL draw for next season. They could get Bayern in the qualifying round. Wenger will want 3rd place.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez expects to have captain Steven Gerrard fit to face Newcastle on Sunday.

The midfielder has resumed training after a groin injury which has kept him out since 8 April when the Reds lost 3-1 to Chelsea in the Champions League.

Benitez said: “Steven is doing well and is training with the rest of the team.

“I think he will be fit and available for Sunday. It is good news for the team and for him because he can be a key player over the remaining games.”

Cheers Lurgan, Ya gotta speculate to accumulate right?! Having Stevie back for the toon game will be a massive boost too Steve. He almost invariably has a blinder against the barcodes and always grabs a goal or 2 when we play em. All in all we should take them methinks.

7-0 I reckon

Lads did you see the beginning of the Newcastle Pompey match? Seems the Chavs are not the only ones handing out free plastic flags to generate an atmosphere. Every fan was given a flag and there was also a fat bloke on the pitch before kick off with a big flag singing Geordie anthems to get the crowd going.

The match then kicked off and it went downhill from there.

i know others have talked about the absurd theatrics at the camp nou last night, but my word, no one has mentioned daniel alves. yes the boy is a classy right back…not much of a defender, but incredible attacker, free kick taker, and able to run back and defend in an instant (a la roberto carlos). that said, he is possibly the worst diver/actor the football world has seen in a long time. and i’m not just saying that on last night’s match. i have watched barca play a lot of matches in la liga this year and he does it in every match.

he would never be able to get away with that in england, except for if he played for the mancs or chelsea, otherwise even his own supporters would boo him for his antics. its embarrassing, makes a mockery of the game.

how about the academy awards of football first team??? let’s get a competition going

alves, drogba, ronaldo, gilardino, and inzaghi are all shoe-ins…looks like its gonna have to be a 4-3-3 line-up

Klinsmann was the best diver in the world but cut it out totally when he came to the EPL. If we had signed Dani Alvez I have a feeling the management and players would have told him to cut it out.

I don’t mind a good dive. It’s the faining of injury that annoys me. A good dive however is good gamesmanship in my opinion. Masch went down like he’d been shot at Hull, we got a freekick and scored. Any complaints? None from me. Pretending your hurt though that pisses me off. And what Drogba did against us when he was off the pitch writhing around, got ignored so decided to roll onto the pitch so the game would be stopped. That is ridiculous and will only be stamped out if players consistently get yellow and red cards for it.

LB your 214 comment made me burst out laughing! Post of the day bro! Alec I remember years ago, Italia 90 or USA 94, Valderama went down like he’d been hit by a sniper. So he’s rolling around, wincing, stretcher comes on – the whole 9 yards. Anyway, he’s getting stretchered off, face still contorted in apparent agony and as soon as the stretcher crossed the sideline, bang! Up jumps Valderama looking to get back on the pitch again! Me and me da rolled around the place laughing! Funny as fuck…

Talking about laughs Digger, did you see what Pepe did to get his 10 game ban?

Yes LB I hope to take my Son to see Spain and Brazil play, he is a big Torres fan. I down loaded Liverpool’s number 9 and he plays it all the time (10 years old) We have our own version of THicks and Gillet over here it’s called the SA football Association, they appointed Parreira for a ludicrous amount of money he quit, (home sick) and advised them to hire Santana who has only coached at club level and only in Brazil and it has gone down hill from there.

The best football we played was under Troussier but he was too much of a disciplinarian for the spoilt twats over here but he got them playing some really good football.

I would ignore all the speculation because it is just that. I think Rafa should be able to convince Agger to stay and they will compromise on the finance bit. We have some really good young wingers coming through Hammel, Anderson, I don’t expect many players to come in 2 possibly 3 with just the deadwood to hopefully go, Peanut, Vorinon, Intandje and Sammie (not saying he is deadwood but there is a rumor he rejected a coaching position to continue playing). The money we get from the youngsters we sell, Hobs etc will go to bring more youngsters in. There will be a few youngsters with another year under their belt that will push hard for a first team slot. I hope Babbel stays as I still think he has potential and with all the noise he is making it seems like he wants to. A good preseason under his belt in a settled side will do him good.

I remember when all Man U bought Carrick in the summer Carrick and I thought what the hell they will never win it with just that. They won it, all they needed was another year for the team to settle and gel with the extra cover in the midfield. So all those people who want more people brought in be careful it will put us back. A bit more cover at Right back with maybe another attacking option could be all we need with the youngsters stepping up.

I still think we are in with a decent shout this year.

I did LB. Holy fuck! He totally lost the plot, completely left the reservation like. If he’d had a gun he would have shot him! What I couldent believe was that none of yer mans team mates decked Pepe. I mean I know they’re pro’s and all but when something like that goes down its fucken go time! Ah….I’m getting teary eyed here thinking of my own brawling….errr….playing days!

so THATS how you defend a corner?! woeful defending from arsenal.

lol, tommy smyth just commented “john oshea looks like cafu out there” hahahahahahha

Where is the Max Munton article ?

I hear what keithsa said in post 221 but i remember season 87-88 when we introduced aldridge/barnes/beardsley/houghton.It totally transformed the team and the club and took us to a different level.if the right players with the correct attitude and intelligence are bought and added to the current mix anything is possible.YNWA

arsenal look woeful. now we see what happens to them when you dont gift them 4 goals. they have played the exact same as they did us…completely unthreatening, only this time utd didnt give them a few goals. good ol’ united, the easy road to the CL final.

YNWA

Ps i do no Aldridge started at the end of the 86-87 so put your almanacs away

I couldn’t stand watching another manc win, so didn’t watch the game yesterday, but did watch the chelski and barca game.

Shite, what shite game. I am really gutted we didn’t go thru, cos we would have slaughtered Barcelona, they were absolutely shite. As someone said eariler, iniesta was the only little lad doing anything, the rest were a joke. And the media calls them the best attacking team in the world. I think Cruyff will be crying, that team that he had was something (my fave were stoickov and laudrup). Gone are those days now for barca. That really shows how crap the spanish league is; they were playing like a bunch of wimps. Chelski did very well to nullify their attacks, and got the job done. Another chelshit and manc final on the horizon, I’m afraid, but I’d rather have that cos barca could never beat the annoying mancs.

Really pissed off we’re not here.

I don’t think Chelsea are through yet by a long shot. However I totally agree with whoever it was that said they will throw themselves all over the park, as usual, winning free kicks to pump into the box and hope for a Fat Frank Deflected Special to get them through. Anyone who dares watch the game, count how many times Dropba hits the turf – we should run a lottery actually – my guess is 18 times. But I still think Barca can get a score draw and go through.

As for the Mancs, I only saw the highlights of that one too, but the bad news is that they appear to be back in some better form now – they created a lot of chances and really should’ve won by 3 or 4. I’m not sure how much Arsenal can be blamed for that, but regardless, the last thing we need is the Mancs getting their confidence back. I agree with LB – every dodgy result/performance by the Mancs is good for us. I’m just praying they underestimate Boro this weekend to put the seeds of doubt back in place.

LB… please don’t tip us to beat Newcastle 7-0!! We are equally in danger of not being ready for a dogfight this weekend, Newcastle will bring a lot of attacking threats with them. I’m confident we’ll do the job, but the last thing we need is assuming we’ve got 3 points in the bag there already.

Andy, I watched the manc v arse game. Arse were terrible, it seems wenger didnt take note on how we peformed against them.

Ill paint you a short picture, Man Utd had 60%+ possession. Why? Because Arse decided to sit every extremely deep. Man Utd could stroll 10-15metres into arse’s half and not be challenged. Their wide players were also not pressured and they had it easy (hence managed to make soo many chances, with crosses etc.)

Plus when arse had the ball they gave it straight back. I think they had 2 shots on target, both virtually passed to Van De Sar. FFS they were trying to walk the fucking ball in, most of the time passing it to a player with 3 mancs around him and losing it.

Watching that game pisses me off that we didnt beat Arsenal. They only drew cause we gave them clear cut chances.

I watched the Barca game and found it quite amusing, I couldn’t tell the difference between Chelsea and Barca when they hit, rolled and screamed in pain. All bullshit artists.
.
I found the situation where Henry got smashed quite amusing too. Not because he got smashed but because Drogba was explaining to a Barca player it was just two players clashing together, no foul of any type. Well Mr Drogba you would have managed to slide yourself into the box from Henry position, with dare I say the slightest of touches.
.
Xavi and Henry the only ones who genuinely got hurt and continued on, the rest including Chelsea players just f–ing bullshit artists.
.
Did anyone notice Platini there enjoying the Barca music at half time. very cosy with the Barca staff.

Akka I’ve chatted to an Arsenal fan at work and he ran me through the game – seems to me like Wenger didn’t go into the game trying to win at all, he tried to outsmart himself and gave his players defensive instructions…. the problem being, most of his side have probably almost NEVER gone into a purely to defend when playing for Arsenal. So, they didn’t really know how to pull it off, in the end they were just lucky not to concede more goals.

That’s why I think the 2nd leg will be a much different story – Arsenal will play their natural attacking game and put the Manc defence under pressure.

Arsenal did well not to concede more than 1 goal. But i wonder how they can prevent ManUnited from scoring at the Emirates.

I am a Liverpool fan. But perhaps more importantly, I am also an ABU fan, you know- Anything But (Man) United. Thus I do hope Arsenal will overcome them at the Emirates.
Looking forward to the Newcastle game this weekend, to give them yet another 5-1 thrashing?

Knight, 7-0

Liverpool reserves 5-1 Newcastle reserves
San Jose
Ngog
Plessis
Pacheco (2)

Neilob, The Max Munton article is the main article on the main site of TIA. you can’t miss it!

Sorry Neilob, it’s now been moved to two articles below the “Gerrard in line for return” headline.
Still on the main site.

LB!! I’m coming to London to kick your ass if you’ve put the mockers on us…

Andy, I know at this time of the season we’re all tense but if you can’t be confident about destroying Newcastle at home in the run in you really don’t deserve to even look at the Premiere League trophy. If I asked you to hand pick a fixture at this stage of the season who would it be and where?

Don’t get me wrong I’d take a scruffy 1-0 but I just think with 8 days to prepare, the return of Stevie and the absolutely ineptitude of the barcodes, we’re gonna kick some serious ass on Sunday afternoon. And guess what? I’ll be in Liverpool. Not sure if I’ll be able to get a ticket (my mate is on the case) but if not I’ll be in a pub/bar somewhere taking in the atmosphere.

Digger, take a look at this compilation…

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmAo0uiarvA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.liverpoolbanter.co.uk%2F2009%2F04%2Fhelp-choose-liverpool-fcs-grea.html&feature=player_embedded

Just stick the h on the front.

I am sure most of you have already seen this but it always worth a watch:

liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/2009/03/16/man-utd-v-liverpool-fc-fanzone-100252-23157694/

Haha LB it’s not that I’m not confident, I just don’t want to tempt fate that’s all. And the last time I heard people in here predicting 6-0′s and thrashings was when we played Fulham at Anfield.

4 is our number this year anyway, so it’ll be 4-0.

LB, watched the link, nice left he had, didn’t he, I am just not crazy about his right foot.
But you know what struck me most about the footage? As great as digger (the real one, not ours LoL!) was, you have to admire at the fact that there were so many great finishers in our squad. I mean, the majority of the finishing touches were no sitters. Imagine having digger in our squad now without torres, and you get my drift.

Raffamuffin when we bought Beardsley, Barnes and Aldridge it was because we sold Rush to Juve for 3 mill and Kenny was about to retire and concentrate on the Management side. That’s where the famous quote from the Juve president came about, “Liverpool spent our money better than we did.” The reference to Rush not fitting in at Juve.

Rush sold to Juve for £3m.

Beardsley: £1.9m (English record at the time)
Barnes: £900k
Aldridge: £750k
Total: £3.55m

Not bad business eh?

Barnes for 900K. What a bargain that was. It wouldn’t even buy his right bollock now.

Don’t forget it was 22 years ago though lads!

But yes, still outstanding value.

Kenny Dalglish signed from Celtic in a then British record transfer fee of £440,000 in 1977.

LFC bought two of the finest footballers of all time for a combined fee of £1,340,000

Makes you think doesen’t it?

Well I hope Rafa and the lads don’t have LB’s sort of confidence. There’s still a job to be done. But, having said that, I think we should be alright. The only thing that worries me… our comedy defending from the last few games.

That goal for Hull was very worrying… Hull down to ten men, but Geovani popping up like an extra man with no marker. Very lax from Insua. And we all know what happened againt Arsenal and Chelsea. So, I’d like to see the defence going back to basics – just fucking defend, no silly errors, hoof it long when necessary, keep it tight as a Naun’s twitch.

As bad as Newcastle are they are capable of scoring. We can do without that. And I hope LB’s right there… play them like earlier in the season. Smash into them, keep them pegged back, show no mercy, go for as many goals as possible, rack up the average, get the crowd going, put the shites up the Mancs who will be watching.

Believe it or not, this is one of the games I’ve been hoping they will drop points in. I still think it’s more than possible…
1: Middlesborough have everything to fight for.
2 the mancs have a CL game on tuesday to worry about.
3: They’ve only just played a CL game on Wednesday.
4: It’s an early kick off, 12:45 Saturday. Hard to field the same team and keep any momentum.
5: So, rotation. Ferguson has already said he will make wholesale changes.
6: Injuries – mancs defence will be hit again. Crackhead is probably out. Their going to stretched and the defence is still suspect and not out of it’s blip.
7: Boro are a bit of a bogey team for them.
8: Their knackered.
9: Boro are rested.
10: I fucking hate them.

11: Boro have not lost at the Riverside in 2009.

Anyway, here’s something to cheer you all up…

In the 1965/66 season, Manchester united were going for a then unheard of treble – league title, European cup and FA Cup.

They were top of the table and looking good for the title when they lost to Everton in the FA cup semi final.
They also lost the semi final of the European cup and…
Drum roll….
They ended up second in the league to…. Yep – Liverpool.

On top of that, a little birdie told me… there’s a very good chance Nemeth will be on the bench for this one, and, if things are going right, he will get on the pitch at some stage.

Lads, copy and paste this into your web browser. Just stick the h at the beginning. It’s a diary from Michael Ballack – hillarious!

ttp://yusofhafiz.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/secret-diary-of-michael-ballack-ja/

FS… “#10: I fucking hate them.”

CLASSIC and perhaps the “only opinion” that will get absolutely no argument in here!
(though some might suggest “hate” was actually being kind )

For the sake of argument, would it be a bad thing if the Chavs and Scum met again in the final?

Okay, I know the simple answer to that is … YES DICKHEAD, OF COURSE IT WOULD!

… but here is a thought (all completely speculative of course)

first… the chav and scum supporters get twatted by the ultras.

second… can’t see the Chavs losing a 2nd one (let’s face it, if JT hadn’t been wearing his high-heels they’d have won the last one) so I would well fancy the Chavs over Scum (perhaps they are even the best equipped of the 3 teams to beat them, albeit with their bruising and diving??)

third… Would Roman then fuck off with his shiney precious? (leaving the Chavs to fire-sale their glaacticos in the summer, thereby dropping back to the mid-table team they always were?)

fourth… no CL medal, and no PL medal (coz we’ll pip them on goal diff) … the press crucify them and Fungus for letting them down and not winning an “unprecedented quintuple… and Winker & Tevez fuck off for greener pastures, and they are left to rely on Rooney and an aging Giggs and Scholes.

Can you tell I’m bored… can’t wait for Sunday!

Hi guys, haven’t commented in a while, but I’ve been reading. FS, dead-on about our getting back-to-basics on defending. Insua was roasted by Pepe and Carra for that brain-fart. He’s a quick learner that Emil kid. Watch the clip again – Carra’s body language is classic.

I do like the thought of history repeating itself – like from ’66. I’ll use that myself over the weekend.

Wow, we can be so quick to judge in here sometimes.
I’ve pretty much let this go, but since it has resurfaced, I’ve got to get this off my chest. Go easy on Insua for fucks sake!

While it was certainly Insua’s job to get back, since he was after all the left-back on the day, if you are gonna watch it again, as aiyic suggests, then do try to notice, that Insua had been puched up the left side all game AND was in the opposition box at the begginning of the move that led to the Hull goal.
In fact… Xabi and Masch are both trotting back as though we’d just scored… Insua had to leg it from deep, past both of them.

Sure, he’s the left back, and its his position to cover, but maybe, just maybe it wasn’t entirely the kid’s fault? (I’m just saying.)

Aitch @ 254,

If any uk team is to win it now, its better to be the “scumbag millionaires” No southern team has won old big ears and if the Chavs do history will put them down as having bought it….For the football they have played I would like to see the arse win it, (and be the first southern/london team to do so) but on the other hand, after Arsene Whingers bitter, nasty comments on our triumph in Istanbul the day after I hope they dont cos of him (jeez, i sound like a confused hormonal teenager!)

couple of other things; LAY OFF INSUA!!! hes looking like one of the best prospects in years but at his age confidence is vital if he is going to be the player we think he will be…….also please no more predictions……(Its not me hormones, its me nerves!!!)

YNWA

Jeez Aitch, nobody is judging, or slating Insua. It’s just something that is part of the learning process for him.

I don’t wish to go on about it either but, Insua was ahead of Giovanni before the cross came in, and certainly wasn’t legging it – trotting, more like. He was just guilty of ball-watching – a simple mistake by a young guy – which he’ll be more aware of in future. Sorry to be pedantic, but he was well in position to challenge Giovanni. That’s all I’m saying.

Aitch, here it is:
h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWyUf0y31xo

I think regarding the Agger situation we should build the back four around him we need someone at the back who is comfortable on the ball and doesn’t treat it like a hot potato and can carry the ball forward hansen like and commit people and open up teams.rather than the circle the wagons and hope we nick a goal football we used to play.if carragher is on £80k a week then pay Agger the same the lad is very talented but he needs to play more regular to improve.obviously he Would have to concentrate more and stay focused and cut out silly mistakes but i seen to remember the same things were said about rio ferdinand at one time .he is our most talented defender thats why other top teams are after him.are any top teams after any of our other defenders? I rest my case YNWA

Yeah okay Rafamuffin. You’re right. Rafa’s wrong. Rafa’s being a twat and just won’t pay the lad anything he demands, play him where and when he wants, and look him in the eyes and say Daniel I love you.

Aitch, no one’s slatting Insua. I brought his mistake up right after the game. Not to slag the lad off, in fact, I said it was the sort of mistake kids will make from time to time and he’d only learn from it. So, no harm done.

I brought it up to say how good it was to see Pepe bollacking him because we needed to cut them mistakes from our play for the rest of the season. I also said, had it came in a game after we’d just played a couple of clean sheeters, Pepe would have probably just have had a wee word with Insua and told him to keep focused. But because it came in a game after we’d let in 8 in our last couple, it was good to see Pepe raging and making sure it wouldn’t happen again.

Last seaon I said the kid to probably make the break through was Insua. Not after brownie points. I also said I was only repeating info I’d been given. The same lad has told me Nemeth might get a chance on Sunday. But that’s not certain. The lad’s not a confident of Rafa. He’s son is at the academy and he’s very close to the reserves, youth and academy squads. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s entirely wrong about on Nemeth on Sunday. I can’t see Rafa gambling on kids at this stage of the season while we’re still in with a shout.

But I don’t give a fuck who plays. I just want 3 points. I have a sneaky feeling Boro could do us a favour on Saturday. Hopefully they’ll injure Wayne Rooney for the remainder of the season an all. That bastard keeps getting them off the hook time after time.

Also regarding Agger i should have added if rafa sees him as a bench warmer get a good price for him and let the lad go he deserves to explore his talent not let it wither away in the occasional cup game or coming on for the last 5 minutes to run the clock down YNWA

The mind boggles

FS Look at barcelona’s defence the other night marques/pique/alves these guys are footballers not just mobile stoppers .i am not trying to criticize rafa i just think total football is a ideal every team should be aspiring to .its basically a stuart pearce versus paulo maldini debate i now rafa wanted alves but it didnt happen.i just think if you have one of these players who as the italians say can “create the game”we should do our utmost to keep them at the club.and at no stage am i suggesting rafa who i appreciate more than any manager we have had since paisley does not have his finger on the pulse of this club.I just think dagger may be slipping away and i Would hate to see that happen obviously this is only my opinion i dont just want to nick a title i want us to dominate over a long period.ps during our period of major success werent most of our center halfs ex mid fielders.you have to ask yourself terry and carvahlo are not better defenders than skertel and carragher but they are better footballers sorry if i have caused offence i just want what we all want liverpool to kick arse YNWA

I think the point is you want to build a defense and a team around a centre-half who (a) wants to play football and (b) really wants to play for the team. By all (rumoured) accounts Dagger doesn’t want it … for example like Jamie Carragher wants it.

If Agger is not interested then fuck it you cant shine a turd ,But i stand by everything i have said.I just think if you celebrate the likes of terry above the ferdinands of this world its wrong.its interesting that capello made rio his captain before he got sucked into english mentality of the least talented player who does well is the most deserving YNWA

Rafamuffin, maybe you missed the last few Agger debates in here. There’s not one of us who wouldn’t love the lad to sign, stay for years and become an LFC legend. And most of us would agree that he has the talent to do that. The problem is, does he have the desire. Sadly, it’s looking like the answer is no.

But Rafa is still trying to sort it out. So, who knows. Maybe it will all be okay in the end. But look back at what’s happened. It’s not down to Rafa or the club.

Okay, what part of “While it was certainly Insua’s job to get back, since he was after all the left-back on the day,” in my #154 comment was in any way ambiguous???

I know no one was slating Insua, but aiyic I’m sorry, “judging him” is exactly what people were doing. Its what we all do every day in here about this player or that, this tactic or that, team selection, opposition, referees, etc.!

Go back to the top and scroll through the post-match postings.
Insua got the blame for that goal. I’m saying he was only at partial fault, and you can bet your arse Rafa will be having a quiet word with the lad, but I bet you he has a more vocal word in Masch and Xabi’s ears, coz he’s a man that sees the bigger picture!

I suggest you find a different clip than the uTube one you posted, coz that only shows the end of that sequence of play. I can’t suggest one, but games get shown 2 or 3 times here and I watched the game twice.

I said in my comment, that I was not disputing that it was his job to get back, and yes, he slowed down, but even right at the beginning of the 3rd goal edit in that utube clip, you can see Insua passing a trotting Mascherano, who had a good 20 yard start on Insua at the beginning of that play when it was cleared from the Hull box.
Alonso too, was 20 yards ahead of Insua and trotting back. Insua passed them both to get where he got!

I did not suggest Insua shouldn’t have kept legging it and got there, but what I am suggesting is that Alonso and Masch were both better placed to get back and make that challenge than Insua, both are far more experienced than the lad and know better, and neither got bollocked by Carra or Pepe!

Find a clip that shows the whole thing!

Pepe should have knocked him out

Good point Aitch, we should defend as a team and if Xabi and Masch were in a good position to get back but didn’t, then as you say, they should shoulder some of the blame.

I don’t think we will have a stroll in the Anfield sunshine against Newcastle on Sunday afternoon, but I do think we will win.

The most important thing before that is that Middlesborough get something off the Mancs.

Aitch, I totally get your point, but nobody is saying Insua is useless and should not play. I think I was the first one in here to get pissed with insua for his mistake, but that comment was not intended to say that we should sell him. I still think he is our best left-back; he just needs to learn from his mistakes. Masch sometimes, unexpectedly turns off from a game, as you say. I can remember the tevez goal from berbatov’s pullback when the mancs opened the scoring against us. That was shocking the way monster did not track-back. The important point is that the lads learn from the mistakes. Luckily for us, both the masch incident and the insua incident did not cost us the match.

BTW, the reserves have thrashed the toon reserves by 5-1. Maybe we should let our youngsters play!

But seriously, I am hoping that sg can add to his tally when he returns because it would piss me off severely if winkerwanker becomes top scorer.

I can see Alan Shearer getting one jammy win and becoming the second second second coming up in Geordie land. Come Sunday, I’ll be flapping that much, I’ll be convinced it’s going to be against us.

We really should have no problem taking all 3 points, but I’ve seen strange things happen and it’s been one of the strangest seasons I can remember. But I’ll wait until Sunday to start really worrying.

I was just thinking, if Newcastle do go down, moving for a few of their players wouldn’t be a bad idea, but there’s only one I’d take… Bassong, the young centre half. He’s not a bad player that lad. I’m sure he’d turn into a bery good at one at a better club and playing with better players around him. In fact, with their defensive problems, Arsenal would be wise to have a look at him. But then if we do, it’ll just start all that Agger speculation again. But then we’ve already looked at Wheater and we have to start thinking about replacing Sami no matter what happens with Agger. Oh well, just a thought.

Just about to post that, but an interview with Mascherano just came on. Bit strange. Very hard to trust these interviews on TV, especially Sky. The fuckers just edit them to suit their agenda.

But I’ve just seen Mascher say, if Tevez leaves Man U, he can bring him to Anfield. But then he said, he will wait for the end of the season before deciding on his own future. Probably selective editing. Probably loaded questions. Probably tweaked out of him. But I think someone needs to coach all our players on how to deal with the media… talk to them. They have to. But tell them fucking nothing!

FS, Masch has 3 more years left on his contract so his departure would mean big money for us. Doesn’t worry me too much. I think its a none issue anyway. As you say a loaded question.

Agree with you on the Bassong situation. He looks a good player and I think we should swoop when Newcastle get relegated regardless if Agger signs or not because Hyypia hasn’t been offered a new deal. What about getting Martins on the cheap as back up striker?

Seems I’m the only one not worried about the Newcastle match. The biggest danger is our own complacency and I can’t see Rafa and Sammy Lee allowing the players to believe they just have to turn up to win. Not at this stage of the season. If they show the right attitude I think we’ll give them a good flogging.

7-0

Love the confidence LB. But watch this….
ttp://www.footyfilms.com/footyvideo.php?vid=463fa50e4

That’s why I first went on about Insua, not to slag the lad off – to make the point that our defence needs sorting out. Watch it up Xabi’s goal. I know it’s only highlights, but we were bad.

I think it’s just end of season nerves. I flap like fuck meself, so it’s got to get to the lads. Like you say though, Sammy and Rafa should have that sorted out for Sunday.

Something else on them highlights…
Watch Kuyt’s celebration after his second goal. I only just noticed it. You’ll have to look closely. It’s only shown the once, and it’s gone in the blink of an eye.

But I tell you what…
he needs reporting for that. It was a terrible thing to do. It was absolute contempt for Phil Brown’s Hull. Phil’s a good lad, done lots of good things for the LMA. He didn’t deserve that. And he’s worked with Big Sam, but then The Tramp must have been to sozzled to notice it and tell his lap dogs what to say in the press conference.

Get in Dirk lad. Wish I’d have seen that earlier. As for Bassong. Yeah. I rate the lad. So, like I said, regardless of the Agger situation a bid might be a good idea but only if we can nick him for way below the asking price, which would be high. I don’t think bidding for a centre half is a bad idea at all. Sami’s not going to last much longer and Carra, although he will hate it, shouldn’t be played as much next season. But would lads as good as Bassong or Wheater want to sit on our bench? Can’t see it meself. Maybe we should trust on the kids we have for that position, or even bring in a new promisisng youngster. Besides, I think there’s better places where we can spend the budget. And I agree with Keith on that, 2 maybe 3 quality additions and we’ll be good to go.

But anyway, try and catch The Diggler’s second goal celebration… concentrating on supporting our coach and manager. Nice one Derek, lad. Oh and he got a flash of gash after that. Good day out for Dirk that.

BL, I’ll still take 5-1. heh heh.
having said that, I do hope Newcastle will survive relegation at the end.
I am predicting a big shocking hiding from Borough for the Mancs, 3-1.

Sorry LB.

Would it make sense to sell Alonso for 20 million?.Torres to score first in the 14th minute in a 4-0 win.

Hyde, we have both Stevie and Nando on 13 Prem goals, two less than the Wanker and Anelka.

I don’t expect a goal fest against Newcastle, but I am very hopeful of us getting a few at West Brom. The Hawthorns has always been a good ground for LFC and I certainly can’t see it being any different this time.

OK LB, I’m not going for 7-0, but…

If there’s any betting men out there, I’ve got a couple for you. Torres to score a hat-trick at 9/1. He’s due, and I can’t see him going the whole season without a hat-trick (I don’t recall him getting one this year anyway?).

2nd bet – Torres at 12/1 to then finish top goal-scorer in the Premiership. After his hat-trick he’ll be on 16 goals, just 1 behind Ronaldo. And when West Brom come out to try and beat us and save their skins, we’ll cut them apart, Torres for another 2 or 3.

Now, back to flapping, I HATE going into games where everyone expects us to win. We’re so much better when no one expects us to win.

How long was Wilko @ Leeds b4 they won the title in 1992?.

Hi Chaps with all this center back debates everybody is missing the point. The reason Sammie’s contract is not going to be extended is because we have three quality ones Carra, Skertal and Agger (until I see him sign for another club I believe Rafa will talk him round)

We already have a ready made replacement for Sammie in the reserves, San Jose. This lad is quality has a good left foot, is good in the air, big and quick and has already been on the first team bench. He needs experience and next year he will get it. There is also Kelly and behind them Ayala and Huth, hence the reason for selling Hobbs as he was not going to be the best of the bunch.

I watched Degen play and while he was O.K. going forward he left a lot to be desired in defense. Yes he was blowing and was just back from injury and yes we where trouncing the Bar codes, but still I did not like what I saw. So for me right back is an absolute priority over everything next year. Arbie is very underrated by all and sundry and when he was missing he left a huge hole in the side.

I would like to see Anderson and Hammil given a run out preseason to see what they can do out wide. However if we can get a utility striker come wide man (Silva would be perfect, I also see we are linked to a Croatian) I would spend all our money on these two positions and get the best available. Keep everybody else except those that Rafa has already discarded, bring up Nemeth to join Ngog on the bench and we would be good to go.

Take note of Bruno and Pacheo (17 and 18 respectively) what great feet and such class and talent, both wide and in the hole type players. It won’t be long before they are in the first team squad. Both Ngog and El Zhar had good games for the reserves and before you say yes but it was just New Castle, they are sitting 4th on the log. We have had a dismal season with all the injuries and players out on loan.

Once and for all, Barry was last years news and is not needed if we let Alonso go it would be sheer madness at any price. We have to keep this team together and add just a few new players each year as natural attrition and upgrading takes place.

Keith, I agree with you on our promising youngsters, but centre-back is one position that we cannot allow mistakes. If it is an unimportant game, I would not be too worried about slotting someone from the youth, but for premiership games, we would want a back-up with premiership experience.
Wheater, Bassong, and for me, Hangeland, are great players to have as a back-up, but as FS says, they will probably not be willing to give up a guaranteed starting-line-up.

I am interested in knowing how Martin Kelly is developing; it seems like the lad prefers to operate as full-back, but his height is certainly appealing for a centre-back.

there you go lads, danny boy is staying: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N164226090501-1330.htm

YNWA

there you go lads, danny boy is staying

ttp://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N164226090501-1330.htm

Hyde we have three well established centre backs that will play all the CL and Prem games, Wheater is a youngster and is only in his second year and Bassong is even younger. San Jose is about the same age as Bassong and just a little bit younger than Wheater. If he was at another club he would already be playing in their first team. Now would be a good thing to start playing him in the FA cup early rounds and the Carling cup so he can gain experience. Playing against our first team day in, day out is certainly a lot more challenging than some of the Prem clubs. I remember Rafa saying that he would have no problem throwing San Jose on when he was on the bench. It will be interesting to see if he means that and brings him up to the first team squad next year.

With our limited budget I would rather all the money go on a top class right back and a wide, in the hole striker, then compromise and spend money on a Wheater and Bassong when we have quality cover for our three main centre backs. If money was no option then sure why not bring in some extra cover with Prem experience, however if that was the case I think Rafa would have offered Sammie an extra year extension if he did not think San Jose was capable he has the opportunity to.

Great news about Agger I thought Rafa would sort it out.

One comment re: Sami Hyppia.

You simply cannot buy that sort of calm disposition. A player has it or doesn’t. There have been a fair few games where Sami has lost the plot physically, but I can’t recall him ever losing it mentally… and that’s a priceless commodity.

The trick is, he’s still got a few years left in them legs if he wants to keep playing.
So can Rafa convince him to stay on in some sort of player/asst. coaching role, or will he move on to keep playing?
He’d walk into any Finnish side, or any 2nd tier club anywhere for that matter, and Hanging up your boots is a difficult decision to make if you love the game.

I hope we find a way to keep him around, his presence will rub off on the youngsters!

bhavster, you might be jumping the gun a bit there. That article says a deal is almost done, and Rafa is “hopeful” …not that Agger has signed.

As far as Newcy game goes…
What’s different about this game than the rest of our season?

If we get a goal inside the first 20 minutes, we’ll settle, control and bag 4 or 5.

If we don’t, it’ll get all nervy and tense and we’ll struggle to a 2-1 win, or worse case, a 1-1 draw.

but I think we’ll get the goal.

Oh and Newcy players worth a punt… Bussong, Martins and that young, tall, striker kid, whose name I can’t remember.
The rest are useless on a free transfer.
Harsh maybe, but as they say in the States, that’s my nickel’s worth!

Can’t get the link. I don’t have LFCtv. Wouldn’t give them yanks me money. But that’s great news. I can’t see much going wrong Aitch if Rafa has said he’s close to signing. Great news on Masch too.

It was a bit weird watching his interview this morning. I thought it was the usual Sky bollax. But it seems someone has been sneaking round him. Glad to see Rafa putting a halt to that.

As for missing the point Keith, I think you might have yourself old mate. If you look back a bit, my comments reflect your own… I agree wholeheartedly, we have a team that can on from here and win trophies for many years to come. I also agree there should only be a couple of additions, three tops, and they should all be proven high quality players. And you’re also right about this aswell… once we’ve filled these important slots, an addition or two each season as a bit of an upgrade or to replace an aging player will keep up us in business for many years to come. And you’re also right that players will start coming through the ranks. I’ve had a wee whisper Nemeth might get on the bench Sunday. And Pacheco is an absolutely cracking little player. I don’t think he’s far off. His size is a bit worrying, but I doubt he’ll grow much more anyway, maybe a couple of inches tops. But he’s a solid little fucker, and I think he’ll develop well. He could become a Gascoigne type player – short, solid, low centre of gravity, good football brain, tricky tricky feet, good shot and great eye for a pass. I really do have high hopes for this boy. But there’s quite a few that could make it, and loads coming along behind them. So, I reckon our future is very bright indeed.

I remember the barren years under Shankly. People think it was all glory. There was 7 years without a sausage. Funny enough, it was about my favourite time on The Kop. They were great days on the terraces, but the party when we finally won the title… fuck me, I remember it like it was yesterday. Imagine what it will be like after all these years. I know the dear old Kop has seen better days, but let’s just hope we see the roof coming off it on the 24th of May.

And I don’t want to jinx anything, but I have a sneaky feeling Boro might just start us on the way tomorrow.

Here you go LB. It does happen…
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L8DSko4u6E&feature=PlayList&p=F90543F25EA1243E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=61

And you know what… Tottenham were a great team thn and they had 2 world cup winners, Ardilles and Villa, in the team.

I can’t see much going wrong with it either FS, Rafa doesn’t usually make a statement on a player unless he’s sure of something…

…but in so far as this whole drawn out Agger saga… If I was Rafa, I wouldn’t be saying anything, even moments after Agger signs and puts the pen down…

… I’d be hiring a porn-industry fluffer to spend 10 minutes blowing the ink on his contract dry, and only then, state “Agger is staying.” (know what I mean?)

… perhaps bring a couple Scotland Yard Forensic Handwriting Experts, to authenticate the signature, and get the Queen to put some sort of “official” seal/stamp on his contract…

… then have the photo taken of him and Agger shaking hands, and holding up his shirt!

…er… not that I’m synical or anything

It’d be a bit of a boost if he signed tomorrow morning, started against Newcy and scored the first from 30 odd yards, though wouldn’t it?

Am I the only one dead-against a manc coming to Liverpool? What’s with (not here) Tevez love-in?

Aitch, you’re nuts. Aiyic don’t like the idea meself. Never could get used to Ince with a Liverbird on his chest. But that’s not the reason why I’m dead set against Tevez coming. In fact, in this day and age, and after the Heinze affair, it might be funny to put one up the mancs. It might even be enough to make the tramp’s head explode. How that man hate us.

The thing is, one the money. Is Tevez worth 30 million quid, not in my book. Do we really need him? Again, I don’t think so. Is he that much better than Dirk? Not 20 million quids worth, that’s for sure. But to top it all off, what would be the point in blowing all our budget in an area that we are pretty well covered in?

Keith’s right… first priority, cover at right back. It’s the position where we really suffer from a lack of players. Carra’s to slow now. And remember Skrtle’s nightmare there.

I know we all keep screaming out for wingers. But, on the right – Riera, Babel, Dosenna, Yossi, Aurelio, even Insua can all do a shift there.

Right wing, Kuyt, Yossi, El Zhar, and even Gerrard. So plenty of cover there to.

That’s not to say I don’t want a winger, a proper winger. Or that I think we shouldn’t look at getting cover for either side. But I think we must sort out right back immeadiately. Of course Rafa knows that more than anyone, and I’m sure he’s already working on that with the most urgency of all positions.

A shame Micah Richards went off the rails. He looked a great prospect and I think he would have blew Man Citeh right out to play for us. But sadly, he’s just another fella who let the money and fame go to his head. I wouldn’t mind he’d only had one decent season, and not even a full one at that.

So, that’s why I usually end up just saying I’ll trust Rafa in these matters. I would have said, buy Richards last season. Johnson seems to be the shout by fans now. But I’m sure Macia and Rafa have different possibilities.

Aiyic mate it depends which way you look at it. firstly i would love tevez at liverpool i think he’s a work horse and giving the chance would come up with so many important goals. I’ve told all my manc mates if they let him go their losing a top notch player.
Secondly the fact we hate the manc supporters so much we like to do anything that fucks them off,an believe you me if he was running away arm in arm with steve g celebrating a goal with his melted face hanging off him it would fuckin kill and i mean kill the mancs that thought alone would personally want us to get him but deep down i think he’d fit right in and do the business.

Come on slouth see the light an join ur deformed half brother kyut(sorry dirk) at the pool.

Nah aiyic, you are not alone.

You’ll notice the reference “he’s the only Manc” was made… and even that is somewhat begrudgung.

But hey, we’ve brought a few Blues over to the Way & the Light, back when THAT was the absolute NO-NO of football transfers, so if Tevez did come and said something along the lines of…

“fuckin theater of dreams, theater of preens more like it. Hated every minute playing for them posers, and their fuckin clown-nosed manager. I have always respected the Kop and look forward to playing in front of them coz they are the best in the world…”

then maybe we could find it in our hearts to forgive his flirtation with the prawn sandwiches???

(or not too… I accept that!)

Let me put it this way. And you have to stick with me, because it’s hard to explain. There are those who would love us regardless – so this hypothetical doesn’t have that scope.

On a scale of 1-100 of how you love Liverpool. Let’s say you’re at 100 now. Now, let’s suppose Alex Ferguson came in as the new manager – where would your love for Liverpool be. Let’s suppose it went to 60 (we’re all different, let’s just say), or even 35, whatever.

Now how much would it drop if Tevez came in? We all have our own score – but isn’t it fair to say that any dilution of your love for LFC is hard to take.

I just can’t stand the thought of winning the league with an ex-manc who’s has already won it with them. The old photos, the goals scored against us and the media starting every sentence with the prefix; former Manchester Utited player, Carlos Tevez. Aaaaghhh!

I think he is a super little player that Manchester don’t deserve, I still wouldn’t want him. But some things are sacred.

Aside from anything else, he’s not thaaat much of an upgrade anywhere on the pitch.

The main thing with tevez is he’s not worth blowing our entire budget on he seems like he does not want to leave man u .i remember when baggio left fiorentina to go to juve .the scene when a fan during a game between the two teams threw a scarf at Baggio when he was walking down the touchline after being hooked and he put around his neck and looked really sad.it was like he got married but was pining for a ex love.he wants to stay at manure but they dont want him.we need players who want to play for us and not ones who see us as a bolt hole. ps i know this was not the case with the divine ponytail but you know what i mean.also hope Agger signs on the dotted.YNWA

i’m with ya aiyic- and ironically i would love to here the sentences start with, “ex manc comes back to haunt team he now hates” because when its all said and done its about what ya can throw in the faces of the peolpe that give ya the most stick,and in northern ireland its man u – liverpool 50/50 ya cant go to get your daily paper without meeting one of them cocky rotten bastards. sign him up…fuck them up.

Well I’d eat my hat if Tevez ended up at Anfield.
I don’t think we could afford him and I wonder where he’d fit in ? Tevez plays best the free role behind the main striker … hmmm, seems like we got that one double-covered, Stevie and Benny. On the right is Dirk, … so where does he go ?

The only thing is I do think he’d love to hook up with Mascher. Tevez is from a poor part of town and eventho’ he’s already raking it in, top of the tree, biggest franchise on earth etc.. I’d say he’d love it playing with a fellow Argie and a guy he gets along with. And I get the feeling, however much he obviously loves scoring and wants to be loved by the fans etc.. that really he is not getting the love from the top down. It’s business at Franchise Utd and he is a pawn really.

Guys, I think Rafa is not buying Tevez. Is he worth 30 Million Sterling? Bah! Stg17 million is more like it. Rafa is just winding up Old Whisky nose…

Let me state quite categorically that I would not spend 30 mill on Tevez. That was nevermy argument.

I wasn’t aware that is the price Scum have slapped on him. Is it?

I was under the impression that the nature of his contract was perhaps still a bit dodgy, and NOT a traditional contract, therefore the deal would be with his owners and not with Scum who are a 3rd party owner (or has all that been cleared up due to the Wet Spam/Sheffield lawsuit)
and that as a result, his asking price would not necessarily be the same as if he were owned by Scum in a traditional manner.

That being the case, perhaps we could snip him for 10-15 million and, even though that’s still a bit rich for our current blood, it then becomes something… maybe… worth thinking about.

Anyway, the likelihood of it happening is probably a gazillion to one either way, so fuck it…. but to compare buying Tevez as a player, to replacing rafa with Fungus is … er… sorry just a bit laughable.
Most of us openly stated we would revolt if Jose Maurinho was brought in… the very notion of Fungus is … abhorent… nah that don’t do it… well words don’t exist!
I’d be suicidal!

aitch, he is owned completely by a third party. utd’s deal was a two year loan, similar to our original deal with monster masch. the value that his ownership MSI is putting on him is supposedly 30 million pounds. i dont think he has done anything to suggest he is worth that kind of money. thats getting into the pricerange of the supposed, “world’s best players.”

which is funny to think about cause torres only cost 20 million. come to think of it, many of the “best players in the world” cost very little from their current clubs:

messi – next to nothing.
ronaldo – 12 million.
torres – 20 million (ok, thats a lot, but not like 30 on berbatov, veron, shevchenko, and other heroes)
gerrard – nothing
kaka – 7.5 million

either way, tevez is not worth 30 million, and to argue otherwise seems ridiculous.

yes he is a good player, but unless he is available for much less, i can’t see rafa going for him…which brings me to my next point: does rafa want him?

i dont really think he does because his is not a position for which we need cover. and i will trust rafa’s judgement completely for what he does…but i think this tevez fuss is a smokescreen.

The worth of Tevez and how he’d fit in to the team are all irrelevant to me. Yes, he is way over-priced. Yes, there is doubt as to where he’d fit in. But all this pales into insignificance to the dulling of the sheen of any success with an ex-manc in the team.

Aitch, you say “to compare buying Tevez as a player, to replacing rafa with Fungus is … er… sorry just a bit laughable”. You’re not getting my point. I’m not emphasizing about Rafa being replaced. I’m just assuming the position was generally up for grabs, and it turned out Ferguson got the job. It would never happen I know, but to make the point – imagine how you’d feel if it did. And like I say, lets say you loved LFC 50% less. Now signing Tevez would *not be the same* as getting in Ferguson – but would you love Liverpool even 1% less. I could live with it, but it would take *some* of the good out of it if we won a trophy with him in. But I don’t want any diminishing of any success due to the stigma of having to perceivably rely on one of Ferguson’s old players.

So in short; if Ferguson has a stench of Manyoo, Tevez has a whiff. Neither are acceptable to me.

“ok scousers, you won the CL, but needed an an Manchester United cast-off to do it”. I would find this the hardest thing to take. No thanks!

Roarin-Red, you’re not really with me. I’m saying the opposite to, “sign him up…f**k them up”.

I’m just surprised that no-one is saying that they don’t want a manu reject – and are getting into the nitty-gritty of putting a price on his head and pontificating about where/how he’d fit in. And how he’d buddy-buddy with Masch. Jeez! Most LFC fans hate utd with a passion – so how is it anyway acceptable to deal with them.

Especially after the way they treated us on the Heinze inquiry. Now we come sniffing back at their door? No way Jose! Fuck them!

I was secretly glad Ferguson wouldn’t deal with us on Heinze. Ince was *just about* acceptable because he wasn’t a direct signing.

If we only sign one player this summer; it should be Silva. And that Cana guy from Marseille looks like an decent upgrade of Lucas.