beejay

I've just come back from a briefing on RBS. While it is business as usual their global banking & markets division are being blamed for their crash and they are targeting the top end loans - described as £200m+ - to withdraw from so they can go back to traditional lending.

Of course we will go for it now, but we don't have the recent experience of being in the mix at the dog end of the season and that counts for a lot. The League is the toughest mental & physical challenge and Chelsea have to be big favourites but Liverpool have the history to fall back on and that has taken lesser teams than this one to major trophies.

Wouldn't say never because if we keep Rafa we will win the title. no doubt about it to me, it's a matter of when not if. But we could, just could do it this season after the start we have had and the fact that we have yet to hit anything like top form. Torres, Keane, Babel, Mascherano, Agger & to a lesser extent, Gerrard, have yet to reach peak form or fitness which is cause for optimism should they all start to perform as the season develops.

After all, he f***ed Flo didn't he

Rooney, has to be

I think Rafa's decision to sell Xabi was personal, a by-product of Paco's acrimonious departure which split the camp. The Barry move was planned months before the end of the season and it made plenty of sense, with Barry an excellent foil for Gerrard at international level & providing the left-sided balance we have lacked for years. I'm not certain that the hatchet has been buried, Rafa's not the forgiving type although he is a pragmatist. I can see us having this debate right up to January when the rumours will start up again but fair play to them both - Xabi has shown he is a warrior & has the class, work-rate & consistency needed to be both playmaker & holding midfielder while Rafa has elected to play him in every game.

What Murph is trying to say is that he has nothing against gay sexuality - he just doesn't like it rammed down his throat.

He has been pretty good imo but he doesn't close down his winger quickly enough and this is a real weakness in his game

Someone needs to tell dossena to get his foot in, he stands off so much that teams will deliberately target him for the fact that he can't turn easily and he doesn't tackle. Not great traits for this clubs most expensive defender. Hopefully all these managers have seen something in dossena that I am just not seeing for us.

Barry has made no attempt to renew his contract despite having a bumper offer from Villa. So he is keeping his options open as well. Hopefully it's not as simple as Barry in means Alonso out but unless we find some cash from somewhere that's the likely scenario - we buy Barry with only 18 months left on his contract so Villa reduce their price and we unload Xabi for the same price.

http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Foo...so-on-Juventus/ Xabi leaves the door open...

To put things into perspective, If you had purchased £1000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago they would now be worth £4.95. With HBOS, earlier this week your £1000 would be worth £16.50. £1000 invested in XL Leisure would now be worth less than £5. But if you bought £1000 worth of Stella Lager one year ago, drank it all, then took the empty cans to an aluminum re-cycling plant, you would get £214.

yep, sloppy language I meant HBOS but they have not gone bust (yet) but are lined up to become part of a non-scottish bank. Can't imagine Brown letting RBS become another to fall into "foreign" hands the SNP will have a field day. It's last chance saloon now if the Govt & BoE don't get off their fat asses and take firm action the banking system will collapse. It really is that bad, we could end up with the Govt having to nationalise them all

Nah, they won't let another scottish bank go under. RBS shares fell to 90 but back up to 111 still 25% down from the close yesterday, they were over 600 a year ago.

Firdt they lose their shirt sponsor who went bust and now the owner's bank has disappeared down the plug hole http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4257428,00.html RBS are teetering as well, amazing times we live in, who is next ffs

Bale, Barry, Valencia, Lennon Any 2 from 4

Enjoy the moment, keep your feet on the ground, prepare for the next game. That's all.

Jeez, glass half empty again eh? We are winning games comfortably, to the extent that - instead of rotating players to keep them sharp - the players are coasting through games. We are becoming a much better passing team, staying patient, making the opposition run & cover so that they are doing all the hard work and getting tired physically but also mentally because it's tough to keep chasing shadows. PSV had given up after 4 mins last night and yes, we did take our foot off the pedal but still went through the gears when we had to. I'm enjoying seeing this side develop, we are starting to look like a red machine. At times last night you could see the work done on the training ground we were so organised, stifling their play and when we have the ball we move it around the pitch into space so much better than I've seen for many a long season. We are very solid at the back, pass the ball on the ground, dominate possession, are in control, we have our share of match winners and the best bit is that some of the lads have not yet hit top form (eg Torres, Keane) but are now threatening to do so. Added to that, we have some top class players champing at the bit to force their way into the side (eg Agger, Mascherano, Babel), our reserves & academy are bristling with talent, we have some coaches alongside Rafa who are making a big difference and my glass is half full.

Rafa has hinted there won't be many changes to Saturday's team apparently

Riley is a massive homer so we can expect loads of dodgy free kicks around our box. We have to be on top form at the back at set pieces because that's their biggest threat. They had plenty of success against us down their left last season with Lescott playing well forward so I can see Kuyt being deployed in a spoiling position wide right. This is a game to set our stall by playing solid, like an away game in Europe, f*** Sky & their "negative, defensive Liverpool" keep it tight, nick the lead then take them on the break, bore the pants off Andy Gray & Monkeyface but come away with a win and 3 points.

Owen has made some monumental mistakes in his career and he should have arranged for his agent to be buried alive in some geordie bogland for his sh*te advice but he is still a class player & a great goalscorer. If he came back to us on reasonable wages for £2-4m and was humble enough to accept that he starts on the bench then personally I would be made up to see him back where he should never have left and I reckon that goes for the vast majority of our fans irrespective of the handful of bitter tw*ts who booed him when he came back

Great opportunity to ease him back into the fold tomorrow night, I will look forward to seeing him play again he is such a class act

He is nowhere near as bad as Atkinson or quite a few others either (Bennett, Riley, Stiles, Halsey etc)

Eh? The autocup scheme still applies for euro games doesn't it???

It was no more over the top than my celebration on the kop at the game. Does that make me a c**t as well?