Magic8Ball

shame I'm sure Valencia have quite a bit of youth talent worth taking a close look at and this would be the time to get them - Our Cheif Scout Macia should know

will he bring enough from these sales to buy top youth talent ?

How many more playing years has Barry got ? Sure he'd be an upgrade on Lucas, but I bet not by as much as we'd hope for, the main thing is he would balance the CM pair being left footed and being able to move from DM to a more advanced role easily.

To be honest I don't think Barry's going to take us up a level, he'll make us more consistent and maybe allow Lucas to develop his attacking game ( if he's still here) but we need someone like Ribery, Silva, etc to take us up a level and it seems we can't afford that sort of talent (if it's already known about). It's going to be a long hard summer

sssh I'm hunting wabbits ( that wascally wabbit will be mine)

It was in the cup against Bolton I think, that's where Kewell's Liverpool career started its slide. He picked up an injury from one of fat Sam's thugs and that was that. With regards to Cisse, that's a weird one. He did score 19 goals from a predominantly wide position. While it's true he lacked foot-balling intelligence, he was always a goal threat. I think Guy Roux was part of the problem, he built a team around Cisse and wouldn't let him go until he'd effectively spoiled him. Sometimes with players like that you need to get them young where you can mould them. I think Babel's an example of that, I would have preferred him a little sooner than we got him, or I would prefer him as more of a finished article. As for Spit the dog, NO COMMENT ( so disgusted he played for us).

Oddly enough, given who Souness expected him to emulate I wasn't disappointed with Clough. But you do have a point, no one seems to be able to play well in the No. 7! It's interesting, hearing Rafa talk of the desequilibrante I still feel we're missing him. I take the term to mean "unsettler" and/or magician someone you just cannot mark out of a game, someone who does what King Kenny could do and can do that consistently. Our current team is packed with good/great passers of the ball, but we're lacking someone who can dribble through a packed defense like a hot knife cuts through butter. Messi's the closet thing to that I've seen in the modern game.

Litmanen was fragile and injured a bit. I do remember one game where the played with Fowler, they seemed on the same wavelength which was a street ahead of the rest of the team ( sorry to mix metaphors). Shame really as together I thought they could unlock packed defenses and would have been our best strike partnership since Fowler and Collymore ( who I forgot to add to my list of players who disappointed).

Don't know about you, but for me that was Harry Kewell. I remember watching him play for Leeds (hated them almost as much as Brian Clough did). He was skillful, elegant and a joy to watch. The speed the control, I just couldn't wait to see him in a Liverpool shirt. Ironically, I rarely saw him in a Liverpool shirt and most of the time it was disappointing, just goes to show sometimes greatness doesn't transfer across teams. The best game I recall of Kewell was that great wing display against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi's, single handedly he seemed to get us into the final. Had me thinking of what could have been had we got Kewell before his injury spell. Other notable mentions: Ince, Thomas (well he was ok at Arsenal), Morientes, Reidle, Zeige and Litmanen ( who I had such high hopes for ) anyone else got players who disappointed them while in a Liverpool shirt ?

Hope it's knawing at them, winding them up. At the same time hope Villa are recovering, I note few villa players in the England squad, so that should be good for them. Has Babel been called up ? - if not, now's the perfect time to work on his crossing, left foot and right foot. He may not have the intelligence of Benayoun, Ribery or Silva but Babel could do a similar job for us ( not as well probably) if he COULD provide width from either side. Don't care too much for the internationals unless its Spain, Brazil, or Argentina , hope our boys come back unscathed and ready to rumble

Don't know if that's true or negotiation. If true it almost certainly means Silva to Barca ... having said that I can't see Barca letting Henry leave as he's one of their top scorers. Perhaps Silva to Barca could mean we get Keirrson

The 30m is just a negotiating position, he's one of their more saleable assets. Thing is Silva doesn't want to leave Spain, if that's still true Barca is where he'll go IF THEY MAKE A DECENT OFFER. Rumour has it that Barca are after Ribery. If they get Ribery then there's a chance he'll come to us unless Madrid make a big enough offer. That's why I think there's so much noise about the Silva deal. In part I think it's to let him know we're interested, hoping he'll hold out for us. I guess this summer the teams with the money are Barca, Real Madrid and Man City ... yeah City ( what has happened to the world? ). However, other than Robinho I doubt any player with Talent will want to go to City. I'm assuming players want to win things. So for all their money, they're a paper tiger. Most likely, they'll only get players that want to go there, going there and they won't get players like Messi or KaKa.

I like silva, I think he's what we need. If I were to name 3 players that would suit us it would be Silva, Arshavin, Ribery My concern is I dont want us to turn into Arsenal, and one measure of the difference is scoring goals and winning matches. Hence I bang on about goals and assiststs as these are simple clear measures that SHOULD distinguish a talent from a Pennant. Kuyt manages 10 goals from out wide for our team I would expect more from Silva and Ribery ... so far there's littke evidence they can do that. Would I want Silva here? YES but for 20m I would expect goals and assists ( lots of them)

much as I love the idea of Ribery and/or Silva I don't think either scores enough

His name is Arshavin and we almost got him too, if it wasnt for the keane deal taking so long

Well seems to me if we are in for Silva - it's likely to be at the expense of Babel ad we could be looking at a Christmas tree formation with attacking FB's This would mean man marking Gerrard would be pointless as there would be silva to think about too. could mean we're reliant on FB's for width -which down the left would be easier with Barry as he could cover at LB when the LB attacks. So a balanced team.

Is he THAT good ? so Silva for Babel then ?

personally I think that would have worked ( the midfield ) now as you say we're in a different phase. I used to dream of Arshavin and Silva but as Arshavin is at Arsenal we only have Silva as an option, the only worry is he doesn't seem to have the physical strength to do well in the premier league... but then I would have said that of Benyoun! edit: where does Silva play for Spain, LHS ?

absolutely, this is fergies gamble - he's hoping we stumble at fulham and it takes the pressure of his team - now if we beat fulham ( say a comfortable 2-0) then the pressure is on utd, and if they don't get a goal in the first half they could implode Hopefully all our boys will be back and fit from the internationals, I wonder how many of fergies men are at internationals ?

that assumes we re-sign agger I would also like us to sign Keirrson, he looks an exciting prospect

Big Mo (sounds like a size 18+ person) - Ferguson hopes to relieve the pressure on his boys - he's gambling that we wont win .... if we don win, oh boy is he in trouble !

had we played them before the break some would have expected a goal bliltz -- thing is Fulham will be a test of whether we can win the league this year. Given our recent goal haul I would say all remaining teams except arsenal are likely to play us using a packed defense. Fulham will be a test as to whether we have an answer to that problem

Any win over Fulham so long as it's not too draining is what's required - after the break the pressure of needing to score 4-5 will be gone and most fans will take a 1-0

Van Persies mentality could be a doubt too

Barry would allow the left back to be more attacking as if needed he could comfortably drop back and cover