Magic8Ball

Man, I hate us being poor

Keep him, he wants to stay - he can cover RB, LB and CH - Distin can't do that

with half our first team Spaniards or Spanish speaking, we may as well be

Reira's the new Barry -- We were rumoured to be in for Distin for 3m if he can play RB and CH then that's Arby's slot covered

Cool, maybe we could plan an Academies tournament over the summer - call it the Iberian cup and get the Portuguese, Spanish and English academies to play each other

Arsenal and Liverpool in BIG bidding war June - 25 - 2009 The daily round up of Spanish news speculation has been collected and the best one that we have come across is that Liverpool and Arsenal are both in a bidding war for the same player and that the figures mentioned are big. Now when they say big they are talking between £15 million and £20 million and while the name of the player was not mentioned on Spanish radio it is believed to be a Valencia player The reporter said that he has been told by a reliable source that Liverpool and Arsenal have both made bids for the same player and when pressed he said that it is not a player from Barcelona, Real Madrid or Sevilla, when pressed even further on if it was Valencia, he just said no comment and let out a laugh. Some easy deduction means that it is either Silva or Mata that is the player that they are bidding for, however by all accounts Silva is heading for Real Madrid if recent reports in the British papers are to be believed. So it seems that Juan Mata is the target and the figures of between £15 and £20 million make sense Be interesting to see how these two debt ridden clubs can afford to bid so high and who will end up with him. poor source http://www.footylatest.com/arsenal-and-liv...idding-war/6592 interesting story, could we be in for Mata ??

A Spanish Villa, who'd of 'thunk' it ? - what we really need is a (left) lateral trequartista of the same quality of Torres and Gerrard ie another matchwinner

Do we have an academy in Spain ? do we have academies in the Americas?

Nice to know someone cares, thank you . TBH this transfer season I've noticed most/all the papers have an anti Liverpool bias, so I'm taking everything with a pinch of salt and not believing anything till Rafa confirms it. I take your point, we've not lost anyone yet and may have added an attacking RB ( the British Alves) yet according to the media we're losing our CM. To me it feels like 'important' people somewhere are scared of our continued improvement.

simple answer is can we afford the target without selling? I would suggest we're 5-8m short on our primary target and we're hoping for a couple of sales first to get our man

damn you - you should have taken the plunge http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ju...kraft-ownership

Problem is, it may not be easy to sell Babel, or Voronin for that matter. So if we get a Striker we have Babel sat there losing value. Hell it's proving hard to sell Dossena and to further depress you http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...n.html?ITO=1490

I'm not sure we want Negredo we have Babel and N'gog and unless Babel's sold there doesn't seem much point in Negredo

well he's an unsung hero, the NYTimes has a whole article on Xavi and nothing on Xabi

Mata seems to score more and set up more goals

agreed, would much prefer Mata to Silva

Because Spain play a game that suits Villa more than Torres. Torres doesn't play well for Spain when Villa's playing. I think the opposite would be true if Villa and Torres played for us

plus the psychological after effect of losing to the USA

Just didn't expect Spain to be losing to the USA - weird

You're joking right ?

By JERÉ LONGMAN Published: June 23, 2009 BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa — In this, the hometown of J.R.R. Tolkien, it seems fitting that Spain’s attack is controlled by a hobbit-size midfielder. Xavi Hernández, left, slipped past Ji-Sung Park during Barcelona's 2-0 win over Manchester United in the Champions League final. Xavier Hernández, known simply as Xavi, is only 5 feet 7 inches, but he exerts an outsize influence on a soccer game with his movement, his ability to play in and out of tight spaces, and his preternatural calm and anticipation. He takes free kicks and corner kicks and plays as a human accelerator, controlling the pace of a game by putting his foot on and taking it off the gas pedal. “It’s really important for a team to have a player like Xavi,” said Gerard Piqué, a central defender and teammate of Xavi’s with Barcelona and the Spanish national team. “You have confidence, because he never loses the ball.” Spain will face the United States on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup. The Americans are well acquainted with Xavi (pronounced SHAH-vee). He scored in a 1-0 exhibition victory over the United States last year. Weeks later, he was named the outstanding player at the 2008 European championships, having facilitated the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Germany in the title game. Last month, Xavi was named man of the match in Barcelona’s elegant 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the European Champions League final. He and his central midfield partner, Andrés Iniesta, controlled the game like puppeteers, needing only their feet, no strings or wires, entertaining the crowd at Rome’s Olympic Stadium with a joy and tranquillity in their performance. Each assisted on a goal, Xavi’s scoring pass coming on a perfectly chipped cross in the penalty area to Lionel Messi. “He is so precise in the way he can find the little spots to get the ball, play the ball quickly, move, get it back,” Bob Bradley, the United States coach, said of Xavi. “His ability to control the game, to be on the ball, dictate the tempo, he’s tremendous in all ways. One of the best players in the world.” Spain is the No. 1-ranked team in the world, having won 15 straight games, an international record. A victory over the United States would extend its unbeaten streak to 36 matches dating to November 2006, surpassing a record set by Brazil in 1996. “The idea is to continue this run and try and make it better,” Xavi said. In three matches at the Confederations Cup, Spain has scored eight goals and surrendered none. Its only complaints have been about the dry field conditions, which slow the ball, and the buzzing of vuvuzelas, the plastic horns blown incessantly by South African fans that entertain some and annoy others. Iniesta is not here, shelved perhaps for two months with a recurrence of a thigh injury. But his absence has not been acutely felt, what with a Spanish midfield that still has Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fàbregas to link with forwards Fernando Torres, who had three goals against New Zealand, and David Villa, who has scored in all three of Spain’s matches. “Their midfield is probably the best in the world right now,” Sacha Kljestan, an American midfielder, said. Xavi, 29, and Iniesta, 25, have been speaking by phone. Even apart, they are together. “I am missing Iniesta in the team,” Xavi told reporters last weekend. They have been teammates for so long, few can remember one without the other. Xavi joined the Barcelona youth system when he was 11, Iniesta when he was 12. They lived at La Masia, as the Barcelona youth facility is called, an 18th-century country residence located near Camp Nou stadium. And they learned the free-flowing style of passing and ball control that demands soccer be as attractive as it is successful. “At Barcelona, the physical aspect has never been the most important thing,” Xavi told the BBC recently. “The emphasis is always on technique. That’s why every footballer wants to play for this team. That’s why people go to the Camp Nou, why people take their children, their wives — because it’s enjoyment for everyone. It’s football for the people, and it means so much more when you win playing beautiful football.” The Spanish national team features four Barcelona players. The influence is so strong, Bradley said, that it can feel as if you are playing against both teams at once. Vicente del Bosque, the Spanish coach, said the United States should be a formidable opponent with its speed and its desire. Kljestan told reporters, “It’s time for them to lose one,” adding, “I think we can match them physically, some things with the ball in attack.” To attack, though, the Americans will need to possess the ball. And that is easier said than done against a team with Xavi in central midfield. When Manchester United surrendered the ball in the Champions League final, it often seemed to need minutes to get it back. “I don’t think Iniesta and Xavi have ever given up the ball in their lives,” Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, said in appreciation and exasperation. “They get you on that carousel and they can leave you dizzy.” Iniesta has described the intricate system as “receive, pass, offer, receive, pass, offer.” Roy Hodgson, the manager of Fulham in the English Premier League, served on a technical study group of the Champions League final for UEFA, soccer’s European governing body, and considered Xavi to be the most influential player on the field. “Most important of all is the tempo of their passing and their ability to change that,” Hodgson told the UEFA Web site about Barcelona, remarks that also apply to the Spanish national team. “If you pressure them, they’re very good at playing it first-time and they’ve always got lots of players around the ball willing to receive it. But if you don’t get around them, they hold the ball and suck you in, and the moment you come forward, they pass it.” The United States had better be prepared to chase. Sounds like a Rafa player http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/sports/s...r/24soccer.html

we need more of these deals when we sell our youngsters. The question is how long do these deals last, while the players at the new club or just for the length of their first contract ?

That's some future planning there, setting out plans for a future without Xabi and Gerrard. TBH the only future planning I'm interested in is winning the league. Winning the league has got to be worth 100m - it's a new stadium, it's getting the best players, it's getting more CL money it's restoring the pride of being back on the perch to many supporters - So I wouldn't sacrifice the league for a mere 35m, I'd ask Xabi and Mash for one more push and offer them new contracts

Doris and Glena for the Right

Disney are buying Setanta's rights; so it's good to assume Disney will take a look at the LFC channel idea - personally it should be streamed from LiverpoolFC.com to all e-ticket holders anywhere in the world