beejay

It's not so much the fans giving up on him, it looks for all the world as though he's given up himself. He does all his best work well away from goal and just doesn't get in positions where he can score (or more to the point, to miss). His body language suggests he is plain unhappy to be here, he is so lacking in the verve that used to be a feature of his game. He reminds me a bit of Sol Campbell in the lead up to him walking out on Arsenal - a once great player who can't cope with the fact that he is no longer in his prime and his talents are deserting him. Hope I'm wrong but he seems mentally shot to me and both the club and player would benefit if he moved to a less pressurised environment. Maybe Everton, like.

This beats Will eating his hat. HR, this post is gonna be saved until the summer. Anyone else?

Fowler v Fowler - about the same Crouch v Heskey - Sorry Kev, Crouch is much better Morientes v Baros - Both work their a*** off but the end product is sh*te. Anyone see Milan's one-man miss-of-the-season competition for villa v blackburn saturday night? Cisse v Owen - No contest. So the stories went, the reason we sold Baros was so we thought we had Owen sewn up. Keep Crouch & Fowler, buy Owen and/or Defoe.

I still think there is hope for him. He showed every sign at the beginning of the season that he was learning from his mistakes and was a key part of the pass and move style that we enjoyed up to xmas. He has been very poor since then but frankly, so have the team as a whole. We have lost that high tempo, compact style - with movement as a team and fluid interchanging of positions - and have regressed to safety first long ball. Garcia's strength is in unlocking tight defences and I would persevere with him for the rest of this season.

No need to panic yet because most of those below us are also busily shooting themselves in the foot but if we don't beat Fulham on Wednesday, on paper our easiest game left, we could be in trouble. The confidence is draining out of us at a rate of knots at the moment and it gets to the stage where every game looks tough.

For all those who are saying owen isn't the answer, who is then? No doubt we will have a list of foreign players like Kuyt, Ronaldo, Villa blah blah. Well Cisse was supposed to be 10 times the player owen is and Morientes had a huge reputation. Neither have cut it with us so how can we be so c***sure that the likes of Kuyt will be an instant success. What we do know is that Owen is a proven goalscorer for every club he has played for (and especially us), is worth every penny of his £12m release fee, is only 25 and would return to the fold a wiser, chastened person who, having seen the grass isn't greener, would want to play for Liverpool the rest of his career.

Eh? Rafa sold Owen summer 04, bought Morientes Jan 05. Maybe he wanted Kuyt & Owen summer 05 instead of Crouch & Baros but not Nando.

That's a nightmare I keep having. We are struggling and have been since xmas but have managed to dig out a few 1-0's to keep us above the pack. But if we do collapse from here - and we are capable of a bad run given our form and confidence - there could yet be a horrible turn to the season.

NHE, sorry you feel that way. I can only think you couldn't have been in Istanbul on 25th May 2005. Or the Chelsea semi-final. And won't be going tonight. Of course the fans make a difference - to the club and the players - and even though it costs me far more than I can afford, it's worth every penny. Even a 0-0 v Charlton or a long trek to Portsmouth on a sunday night, because that's what makes the big games taste so sweet. I'm dead proud of our enormous fanbase. Anywhere you go on this planet you will find someone in Liverpool colours and it always makes me smile (scousers here, scousers there, scousers every f*** where) and to my tiny brain it's got f* all to do with a brand.

The nerves are getting to me already. Won't be able to relax until I get in the ground, after that I'm not me, I'm just a part of the Kop.

The most important thing at the moment is that we get past benfica and get a result at arsenal. All this other stuff can wait until the end of the season. How can rafa be demanding x million now when by the end of the season we may be european champions again and fa cup winners plus 2nd in the league meaning we could have twice x million to spend?

He looks more than frustrated, it is clearly doing his head in to see us squander so many chances and to have so few options in the one area he has highlighted for a year - right midfield. It probably has nothing to do with the actual size of the budget but everything to do with the club acquiring his key targets. By all accounts we came close to Owen, Defoe, Simao, SWP & Pennant but ended up with none of them at the time. With Agger, Rafa secured his main target when the opportunity arose for a 2nd time and we agreed to pay a bit more. He wants to do the same with his top targets for striker & right midfield without having to sell a valued member of the squad to fund it.

Must admit, I've been looking for Newcastle's results all season praying they carry on losing so they don't sneak into Europe, in the hope that this £12m escape clause is true. Gutted to see them on a winning streak now but it's probably too late for them anyway.

He is very limited, he does lack game intelligence, he doesn't work hard enough BUT I would still rather see Cisse play up front than Morientes because he is far more likely to score and his pace into the channels means we are far more likely to retain possession in the opposition half. For all those who say he is garbage not carnage my favourite goal this season (and I am not a cisse fan as earlier posts will testify) was the killer third away to everton. It showed he does have the ability to score out of nothing and at a crucial time. We desperately need better strikers but on the payroll now he merits a start ahead of Morientes.

I see what a few people are saying about consistency in selection but Cisse' atitude and performance when he comes on dosent afford him that sort of honour. Morientes has been given time and games to play his way into some sort of form, and whilst I feel that he IS working hard, he isn't getting himself into the positions to be dangerous in and also we're not producing enough for him to be on the end of. Crouch, in his long goal drought was showing some form through his ability to introduce players into attack, and when we have him in the side and playing well he is a focal point of our attack as we can lump it to him and he keeps it, something that just wasn't happening enough last night. Also I am far more confident we will score when he is in attack than any of our current strikers. Fowler needs to improve his fitness and was probably bullied a bit last night, (although we didn't get enough ball to him or support the front two) but he has shown glimpses of brilliance and he is a natural finisher. Out of the four main strikers we have, I'd pick Morientes, Crouch or Fowler over Cisse any day. I don't think that he has the main attributes of a 14m striker, infact the only thing in his game that I rate is his pace, because it forces a deeper line, thats it! About the only thing that has surprised me this season is his goal against Everton.

Have to say I agree, he always plays better on the right cos he can get himself a yard and he's actually not bad at crossing. The only thing is that when he does cross the ball, he doesnt look up to find tht he's 50 yards up from play and theres no one in the bloody box! I feel like such a tool now having compared what a good deal we got on Cisse compared to Drogba. Im not saying I arte Drogba as one of the best in the worl but at least he makes a nuisance of himself, works hard and scores the occasional goal. Cisse where so you begin!!

I'm glad someone pointed the fact that he's weak out because all I ever here from commentators is his pace and power. I'm sorry but if he has any power of body or mind he hasn't shown it often thats for sure!

We have lost all our creativity at the moment and to me, it stems from Gerrard carrying an injury and not being as dynamic as usual and Garcia struggling for match fitness and any touch. The strikers can be blamed for not creating much in their own right but the deeper problem is that there is no support in attack, little invention or drive from midfield so we are digging out results from being a tackling machine and well organised.

Sissoko plays for us

Hmm. Had the same feeling before both Leverkusen games last year. It's probably more to do with this tie being a banana skin and many of us celebrating when the draw was made, so now we've had the time to think about it, it will be no gimmee (and it won't). The thing I remember about the manu game in lisbon was that Benfica played with a very high tempo and Utd were far too cavalier when attacking meaning that if they lost the ball (which Ronaldo in particular did on countless occasions) they were wide open for the fast break. We have to play the game at our pace and draw them onto us so we are the counter-attacking team. They are a dangerous side with a pumped-up crowd so we have to be patient, ride the storm and take the chances when they inevitably come.

Oops, Yeah I meant that one Absolutely disagree though, has all the quality we need and Zaragoza are on fire up front, something like 30 goals between Milito and Ewerthon. Everytime I've seen him (via sky) he's been star of the show! I think that Liverpool need a Cisse like player to play off Crouch (Moro), but it just isn't Cisse. He shows glimpses of brilliance, Cisse, but it just isn't enough. I wouldn't mind a tricky in the whole player either but firstly we have Garcia, who we've missed for parts of this season because of form or otherwise, second because Cisse gets offside or doesn't anticipate a through ball so often its ridiculous. When we play with Crouch and Morientes, although we have the ability to keep the ball up, with their ability to hold up play and keep the ball. But it totally nullifies any counter attacking options we have and therefore defences are able to hold a higher line because we have no threat in behind them. Maybe I'm being ultra critical but thats why if we had a more speedy and reliable forward we'd be creating and scoring more of the opportunities that we make already.

According to sly sports Ronaldo is unhappy! You never know I've really been impressed with another Brazilian though, Edmilson of Zaragoza, he is some player. Diego Milito is a convenional English forward, good in the air, tall, powerful and fast enough. But Edmilson is on another level to him, lightning fast, knows where the goal is, great shooting ability and beats players effortlessly, I'll be very surprised if he isn't going to world cup. Other than that I wouldn't want to gamble on a player I haven't seen before so Darren Bent looks like a superb player and one who'll only get better for a bigger club. Defoe's a good player but I feel Bent will be great! Seeing Aimar play against Barcelona reminded me of what a great player he is aswell and like other Argies he's gota bit of grit about him. Gets injured a lot though. Thats my two cents worth anyway

Tuesday accoring to beeb

TV will have us on the 6.30 sunday night slot I bet

LMAO Crying here I hate that no nothing twot too