beejay

I meant chairman FFS but that blew my argument out the water!

Morgan has displayed none of that since becoming Wolves manager and Rafa was already there when the club were up for sale. Makes no odds now because we are stuck with these beauts - Osama Bin Laden would have been a better choice than them f******s let alone DIC or Morgan

Eh? What on earth makes you think he couldn't afford us when Moores was selling?

I think Morgan had a bad press partly because we all thought Moores was a good custodian & Morgan was rocking the boat in a non-Liverpool Way. Well, just take a look at us now! He would have been far better for us than the poisonous muppets we ended up with.

That's complete nonsense. Morgan is on such shaky ground he is buying up his old business for a fraction of what he sold it for. And DIC are going bust? LOL. How anyone can think we are better off with G&H is beyond me

Our thanks once again to Moores & Parry. Great job guys. Unfortunately for us, Steve Morgan is another example of a ship that has sailed, same as DIC, both of whom would have been infinitely superior to the pair of jokers Moores sold us out to.

I'd rather have N'gog and the £16m we got back for Keane thanks very much. Keane was sh*te in 4 out of every 5 games but that's acceptable at Spurs.

Think we will need a new right back in the summer anyway, Arbeloa may/will be going back to Spain. Our interest in Glen Johnson was serious and he had a clause put in his contract when he re-signed re top 4 club...

Tough game but we have to go for the jugular, 3 points an absolute must so Stevie must start as Torres is out. They don't have a totem pole up front so Agger instead of Hyypia with Carra right back. I don't see that we have much choice but Kuyt up front, Stevie behind with Beny & Riera in the wide positions. If you haven't already heard the referee is....... Rob f***in Styles

who's he?

You've got problems mate

Why don't you put a bet on it

And Rafa brought 13 of those 16 players to the club. Dimwit

Hicks has his say http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle5802715.ece

That's semi-reassuring but : 1 We could have done without the caveat "this evening" 2 It doesn't say he won't resign, just not be sacked There is something going on and if it sounds like brinkmanship, smells like brinkmanship, and tastes like brinkmanship then that's what it is

Not what this says: From Times OnlineFebruary 25, 2009 Rafael Benitez's future in doubt at Liverpool after bookmakers suspend betting (Scott Heppell/AP) Benitez rejected the latest contract offer on Sunday Ben Smith Rafael Benitez's future as manager of Liverpool looks more uncertain than ever after leading bookmakers suspended all bets on him leaving the club. The Spaniard has been locked in talks over a new contract in recent months and surprised the club’s hierarchy by rejecting a fifth draft of the deal over the weekend. The news comes hours before his team take on Real Madrid in the last-16 of the Champions League in the Bernebeu. Liverpool’s league slump in recent weeks has coincided with the public dispute over Benitez’s contract talks. Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the club’s American owners, have bowed to his requests for more control over transfer policy and the youth academy, however, sticking points remain about the job security of his backroom staff and his concern at the delays in the decision-making process, given the dysfunctional relationship between the owners. Sources close to Benitez say that he is committed to staying at Anfield and that he is determined to iron out the problems that he believes make his job more difficult than it should be. Dale Tempest, from Sky Bet, said the company had been deluged by bets this morning and had already installed Kenny Dalglish as 3/1 favourite to be Liverpool manager at the start of next season. Meanwhile, Rupert Adams, a spokesman for William Hill, added: "We would be very surprised if Rafa is still the Liverpool boss by midnight on Sunday." More news to follow.

See, here is another myth recycled in the media again & again until it becomes perceived reality - that Benitez has a poor record on transfer dealings. Really? Reina Agger Skretl Alonso Mascherano Torres All top, top class Arbeloa Aurelio Insua Kuyt Benayoun All good value for money Babel & Riera jury still out We have made money on trading players such as Bellamy & Crouch; moved players on who haven't worked out without any major losses Our worst buys money-wise have been Morientes, Dossena, Pennant & Keane but even there, our losses have only been around £15m total. Ferguson, Mourinho & Wenger have spunked up the wall more than that on single players, not once but several times. Their list of expensive duffers is legendary. Yet Rafa is the one who is pilloried for his record - I don't see it!?! Some of this stems from the Keane fiasco but we cut our losses and only stand to lose a max of £2m, so why is that deemed to be so bad?

Couldn't agree more about set pieces, we are so bad it's unbelievable that a manager so methodical & driven as Rafa hasn't cracked this yet. One of his favourite quotes is the "small details" the fine margins yet we have a shedload of corners every game and never, ever look a threat. Same as free kicks, we rarely hit the target (Aurelio from 10 yds excepted). We win our share of headers all around the pitch so why can't we manage to attack a ball from a wide position? We have specialist coaches in every other department maybe we should find someone who can teach us how to miss the first defender and how to attack the ball in the box.

Sorry to say that you can detect a seachange in refereeing of our games since the so-called Rafa rant. As much as I loved him for highlighting the biased treatment Utd receive in comparison with the rest of the League, I really believe it has back-fired as the refereeing union has closed ranks. WE have had one shocker after another whereas the Mancs carry on serenely with the aid of their compliant refs. Mourinho was the only one able to break their stranglehold by an even more aggressive intimidation of referees and the FA, assisted by the London press who revelled in every "outspoken" word out of the Special One's trap. Rafa's outburst was doomed for failure unfortunately, he hasn't got the command of the english language to sustain a campaign of that sort. He has since gone the other way and refused to comment on the penalty when asked on Sunday. I was dying for him to highlight the difference between a blatant pen for us not given plus the non-sending-off of Kompany farce in contrast to Ronaldo staying on the pitch to score and Blackburn then denied a clear pen

Hiddinck would be dangerous at Chelsea on a full time basis. If he's only there til the end of the season that's OK he will struggle to change things with the imbalanced squad they have now

That's it now - the mirror can f*** right off, it's the star for me from now on, excellent article. I have a feeling the ridiculous lampooning of Rafa's Liverpool in recent weeks, reaching a vicious climax with the mirror's hatchet job yesterday, has finally been perceived as over-the-top and there may be a lot more hasty back-pedalling from the sports journos in the next week or two when we have the luxury of a break from games. Not all because there are some of the papers who despise us anyway and will never fail to stick the knife in - the express in particular with the mirror not far behind. F*** knows about the S*n we don't go near there anyway.

No. But TLW have a thread going on David Villa as a done deal which is equally unlikely

Nice to see Rafa bigging up Babel & Benayoun. Kuyt too. Who says he's a miserable sod who never gives the lads a pat on the back? We have to get more support to Torres, once Stevie went off mid-week Torres was way too isolated. Someone has to play in the hole, between the lines -,whatever they call it - & Benayoun would be my choice

100% agree but given the squad inherited by Benitez, I don't think he had any choice but to build up the strength in depth first before moving into the big-name market. There's loads of clubs who have tried to do it the other way round, Newcastle with Owen being the most obvious but Spurs always try to do the same and Man City are taking it to a new level now. They go for a big name player to keep the fans happy but don't have a team and neglect the basics like defence & a mix of sweat as wel;l as skill. There's signs that we are now changing having broken our transfer record 3 times in the last 12 months (Torres, Mascherano, Keane) and the good news about sending Keane back without a short-term replacement is that we can hope for at least one match-winner to be targeted in the summer. I also agree about the kids - would love to see a few more breaking through after the early success of Insua.

His most widely criticised decision recently (putting aside Keane) was subbing Gerrard 10 mins from the end of the wigan game after they scored, because he was tired. He got dogs abuse from all quarters for that call Looks now like the manager was right and Gerrard should have been rested a bit more.