Leo No.8

What a brilliant article by Lawton, very nicely written - I almost had a lump in my throat by the end! Interestingly I remember we went on a fantastic run when all the focus was on Crouch and his goalscoring drought. Now his surprising entry on centre stage for England may be taking a little pressure off the likes of Gerrard and Lampard in the run-up to the tournament, and may help them hugely in the same way, allowing them to prepare without too much fuss. Crouch is almost upstaging the Rooney story at the moment - it's unbelievable! I though ABC was right, I really did want just about anyone else. However, after a couple of games really watching him, I'd eaten my words. Even moreso now, it's become a positive word banquet with course after course being served on silver platters...

I'm being banned...

On the contrary, if Parry gets £10m for Cisse he should be given the freedom of Anfield. I'd take £7m if we can get it...

Thank God for his run of form towards the end of the season by the way. At one stage (after his Old Trafford debacle) I didn't think we'd be able to give him away. I genuinely thought we'd be lucky to get £5m.

No loans - either buy him or f*ck off back to France and we'll keep him. There's absolutely no justification for him going on loan, he was top scorer over there for 3 seasons running and hasn't had any injury problems since the leg break. He'd be a year closer to the end of his contract at the end of the loan as well, meaning our position would be less strong in any transfer negotiations. Tell them to pay up or stick it, simple as that.

In terms of pure agility and footballing genius; goals that actually left you wondering how the hell they did it. So many to choose from I know, but if which 3 spring to mind? First three I thought of were: 1: Marco Van Basten for Holland against USSR in the European Championship Final. 2: Youri Djorkaeff's almost superhuman scissor-kick for Inter Milan. 3: Negrete for the hosts Mexico in the '86 World Cup Finals. Overhead kicks are quality...

Width should be provided by the full-back AND the wide midfielders. For all those teams I've mentioned you can find two full-backs as attacking as Riise, Finnan and Babbel. I don't really need to name them. And Fred, I was 2 years old in 1979, so I can't say I'm an expert on that side, although I probably know all the players...

I find it incredible some people can't accept what they've seen all season from Crouch - that he is not just a good footballer but an exceptional one. I really didn't want him to sign, but then again I suppose I hadn't really seen that much of him before, and much of what I believed to be true about him was based on the same misguided conceptions people make even now because of his build. Now I have seen him play regularly, turns out I was wrong and Rafa was right - I'm sure it won't be the last time either! Amazes me some people can't accept being wrong and concede the lad is a great footballer and has proved a great signing, even for £7.5m which seemed a lot at the time. From not wanting Crouch here, I've ended up spending the second half of the season complaining about Rafa taking him off all the time! He would be an asset to any squad, whether that be from the start or off the bench as something different.

Haven't really ever seen it mentioned before, but that was really the crucial penalty Vladi took as well, hugely pressurised. Kaka and Tomasson had just scored and Riise had missed, the momentum was swinging back their way, and had Smicer missed his it could have all been different. There would have been less pressure on Shevchenko, and more on our next taker - if that momentum had still been going their way, he may not have lacked conviction the way he did striking the ball weakly down the middle. Vladi may have been seen as almost too much of a nice guy during his time with us, but when it really came down to it, to the biggest crunch of all, the lad showed he had balls of steel.

Or asking around to see if any of the teams in the hotel 5-a-side competition need a keeper, only to be told yet again to f*ck off and stop trying to geg in...

Gonzalez makes Maradona in his prime look like Gary Ablett having a particularly poor game. He is to football what Charlie Chaplin was to silent film. Are we building him up enough yet?

'In comes Leo...' The day I signed up to YNWA honoured!

I'd rather have kept Morientes than brought Heskey back - and I wanted to sell Morientes. Heskey used to have a couple of games every season in which he'd look like a world beater. The rest of the time he was terrible, and lets face it he hasn't been brilliant for Birmingham either since he left. At least Pennant has been their outstanding performer this season. We can all argue about Heskey until we're blue in the face (Lord knows we did until he left), but I can't see how anyone can dispute that in general his touch, finishing and movement were, and are still sub standard. The kindest way to express it, is he just isn't good enough to improve on what we already had up front last season. In all honesty I'd rather keep Cisse than bring Heskey back, and I'm not a huge fan of Cisse. To improve from where we were last season we need a couple of established, top-class strikers with proven records, or up and coming superstars; not ex-players whose careers have petered out and gone downhill for a number of seasons and can display a distinctly less than average scoring record over the course of many years. It absolutely staggers me that some people would advocate bringing Heskey back - it's almost beyond belief. I don't want to be insulting to Emile because he comes across as a good lad and he always tried his best, but he's just not good enough - not even close to being good enough. This isn't going to happen, and I don't know why people insist on being so bloody ridiculous in suggesting it might; it only results in people like me having to point out his deficincies and criticise him again. Enough of that went on when he was here, so just let it lie for God's sake, there's more chance of Ian St John making a comeback at Anfield than Emile Heskey.

Crouchie is starting to attain 'cult hero' status at the moment. He's a bit better than big Erik though...

The case to sign him grows stronger. Just to make it stronger still lets make up some quotes: Adriano was heard to comment 'I hate that ex-manc peeg', before going on to add 'come and get me Leeverpool'...

I see there are a few rumours around that Adriano is unsettled at Inter. There's a certain club not far from most of our hearts which would welcome a pacey, powerful goalscoring striker into their ranks. Any chance Matty? I know Madrid has been known to be a possible future destination, but I wonder what kind of fee Inter would be after if he wants out, and whether he'd be interested in England. I know plenty on here think he's over-rated, but I'm of the opinion he'd be awesome in the English league...

If there was a formation thread involving him, I think it's safe to assume he has signed...

Don't you hindsight me pal - did you actually read the post? In it, I said how great I thought Cheyrou would be when he arrived; hardly the words of someone unable to take hindsight into account don't you think? He hasn't exactly been a world beater has he? Fact is I genuinely never, ever wanted Diao; we didn't need him, and I had serious concerns over his temperament from the World Cup after I watched him get sent off needlessly in a crucial game. Is that so hard to comprehend - that I never thought he was 'the next Viera', even after he turned in a couple of decent performances? It was hardly oracle-like, just plain f*cking common sense. I think the general enthusiasm about his signing was no more than luke-warm, so just because you thought he was Pele with dreadlocks don't go starting on me.

Seeing as they've spelt the player in question's name wrong, I would imagine this isn't the greatest source of definitive transfer information...

I was hoping for: ...to tying up deals for top class strikers.

Would have loved Capello to be England manager myself; he's always spoken about wanting to come over here, and has a great record in both Italy and Spain.

Luca Toni and David Villa are the two I'm going to back. Toni is incredible value at 20-1 considering he's just become the first player to score 30 Serie A goals in a season for God knows how long. Villa at 25-1 is a fantastic finisher and has had a phenomenal first season at Valencia - he's the type of player who could score a hat-trick in the groups for me. Still think Ronaldo will be top scorer, but his odds are too short really.

As Stevie says - I think his confidence is shot now. I think he'd have done better if he'd stayed in the more comfortable environment of the French league - his lack of mental toughness wouldn't have been exposed so badly...

In terms of players who could improve us - Zambrotta would be a great acquisition for just about any club in the world. He's extremely versatile, and pure quality in any of the positions he can play in. Ibrahimovic is a phenomenal talent, but it'd all depend on the price. I actually think things have gone a bit wrong for him at Juve anyway, and perhaps he needs a move regardless of whether they get relegated, but the price against temperament ratio would be worrying. It's all very well saying go for Pennant despite his temperament, but he wouldn't cost double figures of millions. Del Piero is still fantastic but he's Juve through and through and I'd imagine would stay despite relegation; after all they stuck with him when he went crap. Trezeguet is a great goalscorer - exactly what we need really, so he'd improve us as well. I wouldn't really be interested in any of their old stars, legendary talents though they've been I think there may be some question over their motivation, and we're already strong in their positions; Nedved and Thuram I'm thinking of in particular. Any of their forwards would improve us, as would Zambrotta. But they'll probably all end up staying, making this a complete waste of time! Maybe Ibrahimovic might leave, but I think if we're willing to pay those kind of prices Rafa would prefer Torres anyway...

I don't really know whether to despise Real Madrid or laugh at them - a bit of both really. What a shambles they've made of a once great football club. Shameless propeganda this; the most annoying aspect is it's re-printed all over the English press making people believe it's true. May their decline go on and on...