Repington

Chelski have a bye to the next round; they play FC Copenhagen.

Negredo would be a logical replacement for Torres as we did a good deal of preparatory work on his transfer in parallel with the negotiations with Ajax for Suarez.

There should be a premium demanded of any English club - £100 m to be paid in full now.

Close it will be Redknapp and Gary Neville as their pundits.

Reina; Neal, Hansen, Lawrenson, Alan Kennedy; McDermott, Souness; McManaman, Dalglish, Barnes; Torres. Subs.: Grobbelaar, Nicol, Hughes, Gerrard, Ray Kennedy, Beardsley & Rush.

If Hodgson's training methods are so effective how is it that Fulham failed to win an away game all last season? Hodgson is quite simply not up to the standards expected of a Liverpool manager; not in his coaching ability, his handling of players, his tactical acumen, his reading of a game, his judgement of player or his handling of the media; he remains a mediocre mid to lower level premier league manager.

A new manager is the priority.

I'd play the following side: Reina; Carragher, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Insua; Lucas, Mascherano; Gerrard, Aquilani, Riera; Kuyt. Subs.: Cavalieri, Agger, Spearing, Rodriguez, Babel, Pacheco & N'gog.

Ajax and Achilles?

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To be fair Boersma's Italian cousin is the Roma physio.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much!"

It comes of reading Proust at an impressionable age.

No; rather more reliable sources than that! Though regretably not first-hand information I believe it to be more likely to happen than not.

I gather from second-hand sources that Alonso is likely to sign for Real Madrid before the start of next week; when he's due to join up with the Liverpool squad to fly out to the Far East; for a fee of around £30-35 m. Liverpool will then sign Silva for around £25 m & Aquilani for between £15-18 m as Alonso's replacement.

Javier could well get his wish; it will be interesting to find out where Tevez went from Rome and with whom he was meeting.

Liverpool are in a strong position vis a vis the 'Top Four'. Raf will be in control of signings for the first time and will look to add depth to the squad to allow it to function whilst coping with injuries to key players; hence the putative signings of Johnson, Barry and Silva. It is also unlikely that both Torres and Gerrard will miss as much of next season as they have of this. United will be increasingly crippled by their debt repayment schedule; an additional factor is that their loans are with US bank whilst their income is in Sterling; hence the reason for not having signed Tevez. There are serious doubts that one or both of Tevez and Christiano Ronaldo will not be at Old Trafford next season; other than in the Away dressing room; both Scholes and Giggs will be even more peripheral and Hargreaves must be considered unlikely to last a whole season. Turning to the other members of the 'Big Four' Chelsea are heading for a summer of turmoil with either Ancelotti or Rijkaard arriving and a host of current first team players likely to depart: Bosingwa, Balletti, Carvalho, Ballack, Malouda, Kalou and Drogba for instance. As for Arsenal Wenger is already preparing the supporters for the signing of two promising players whilst van Persie, Adebayor, Gallas and most importantly Fabregas are all weighing up their options.

Its a testiment to how far Benitez has brought the club as a whole that tonight's game is nowhere near as important to the future of Liverpool Football Club as was the case in 2005.

El Zhar could play as a right wing-back.

Cavalieri; Johnson, Skrtal, San Jose, Insua; Lucas, Plessis; El Zhar, Keane, Babel; N'Gog. Subs: Hansen, Derby, Huth, Spearing, Hammill, Pacheco, Nemeth.

John Lyall couldn't get a work permit for a talented young Dutch utility player - Ruud Gullit.

Kuba (£7 m) and Zaki (£6 m) in and Benayoun (£7 m) and Pennant (£6 m) out.

I'd like to point out that their first goal should have been disallowed. The referee indicated an indirect free-kick, the Arsenal player scored direct from the free kick and the referee then allowed the 'goal'. I don't hold a grudge however and I doubt that I'll still be complaining of this incident come the new millenium. If we don't improve next season we can always replace Dalglish; who is looking a little unwell; with an ex-Red who is doing so well as manager of Rangers. I'm sure that Souness would bring back the glory days to Anfield.

For Alex Ferguson the football manager I take my hat off; for Alex Ferguson the man I put it back on again.