Leo No.8

If money is limited, it'd be insane to spend £10m on a position we already have nicely covered, absolutely mental. Finnan has been one of our most consistant performers for the last couple of years, and (touch wood) isn't injury prone. Its all very well saying Alves could push Finnan for his place, but £10m would be his price and it really would be an enormous chunk of cash when we're so desperately in need of a striker and a right winger at the very least, preferably two strikers.

There aren't many more attractive clubs to go to at the moment with Rafa at the helm than us, but one of a very small number is Barca. He's already in Spain and knows the league, plus speaks the language. And into the mix they haven't got anyone all that brilliant in his position. Oleguer is OK, but Alves would expect to be first choice. If I was him I'd go to Barca in all honesty - if he has offers from those two clubs I'd be very surprised if he stayed or came to us...

Diarra is quality but it's the one position in which we don't need to sign, Abidal I'm not sure about myself, Nasri I haven't seen anything of (or haven't noticed him I suppose), but Ribery I think could give us a lot. He is a diving, cheating little fella but he reminds me a bit of Beardsley in his play as well as his looks. I mean he's got some scarring down one side of his face from the crash but he was hardly going to be the next George Clooney regardless was he? Stop trying to make me feel guilty - I'm sure he has no problems with the ladies despite his features...

I'd salute and offer to go in the knack as long as Silvestre wasn't my commanding officer...

I'd change my allegiance to the Third Reich if Silvestre was picked in front of me...

I am anxiously awaiting the ABCAFTs 'Annual Bruno Cheyrou Award For French Talent', to be hosted by Stevie H, to find out if this guy is worth signing... The only player in France I've seen enough of to be enthusiastic about is Ribery, and he's so ugly I'm not sure I want him here anyway. There doesn't appear to be that much young talent coming through over there at the moment...

Good article Knox - enjoyed it. Very much the way I feel about Owen myself...

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In the words of comic book guy from The Simpsons. Worst - journalism - ever.

I'm shocked Makaay isn't in the squad. Its great to have a natural goalscorer on the bench for if you're one down. Who starts up front for them - RVN and Huntelaar? Kuyt plays on the ruyt for the national team doesn't he...

If Eto'o signed, it'd drive me crazy - my tongue would be hanging out at his passes and goals...

Pahars is actually 'playing prone' as he's been forced to play in a couple of hundred games during which he should have been injured...

That really is crap. Lets all be pessemistic - as Fowler has been signed up it must mean we've got no money. FFS I bet you're a good laugh on a night out...

Wonder if Nicol would consider it - he is a manager over there of course, but being our reserve team coach is fairly prestigious and could present the opportunity to take over when Rafa moves on someday if he did well...

Riise couldn't have wished for a better manager to work on his defensive game. Rafa's methodical approach to players' positioning and running throughout games has done wonders for him. I'm very happy with Riise at left-back now. He makes the odd mistake still, but there hasn't really been anyone better in his position in the Premier League this season...

The support of fans on the international scene is always far more fickle. Loyalites always lie with clubs at heart, and McAllister having spent most of his career in England wouldn't have had that backing at all. If he'd played his whole career at Celtic I'm sure there would have been a lot more tolerance to him missing a vital penalty. I'm certainly not excusing it, its absolutely ridiculous but true nonetheless.

Gary Mac was a wonderful footballer, and is clearly a fantastic bloke. I don't think many players can have won so much affection being at a club for as short a time as he was with us. He was majectic in the treble season, an absolute legend. However, Scotland fans felt the need to hound McAllister out of the international game after he missed that penalty against England, regularly booing and abusing him. Puts 'The Tartan Army' in a good light that does. The bitters of the British teams they are for more reasons than both playing in blue. How can you hate a player for missing a penalty? F*cking morons.

I bet there are a few clubs in Spain kicking themselves that they missed out. Nicely done Rafa and Paco...

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A few good headlines there. 'Marian Maid up' for a start...

I must admit I'm no Nobby Stiles expert, but I thought he played right-back for England. Please feel free to educate me...

My problem with all that is Zanetti, Cafu and Salgado are all past their best. You can't say 'Cafu a few years back', I mean how many years back do we go? Could we say Nobby Stiles is the best full-back in England still? I'll give you that Zambrotta is probably more talented and you could argue he's a better player than Finnan, but for sheer consistancy I wouldn't swap Finnan for anyone in the world right now. Do you really think Ferreira has been phenomenal this year? I'm not sure you'll find many people to agree with that. He's quality, but has been fairly disappointing this season overall. Eboue, I actually think will become the best right-back in the game - he is one of the most talented young full-backs I've ever seen. But right now he's still developing, and has only played at the top for 6 months. It amazes me anyone who watches us play week in week out would favour anyone over Finnan. I love the fact that I know exactly what I'm going to get from our right-back every time he lines up.

Totally disagree Mike - if Heskey had Crouch's football brain and first touch, he'd be a world beater. Emile has incredible pace and power, which is why if he's in gear and the ball is given to him in the right areas he can be devastating. Problem is, people talk about how he could have been this and that, well I don't think he could ever be any better than he is. The great players marry the physical and technical attributes with a football mind. I always felt Heskey's movement off the ball and reading of the game were atrocious. For a man of his pace, he hardly ever got behind opposing defences. Why? Simply because his running off the ball was so poor he was easy to track. The same fault meant that despite his immense size and strength, he rarely attacked crosses into the area - he was woeful at timing a run into the box to meet the ball and head home. Add into the mix the fact that he struggles with his finishing and severely lacks confidence, and I'm afraid it was absolutely the correct decision to let him go. Just because the strikers who have followed Emile have disappointed as well doesn't mean we should have kept Heskey. He was fantastic during the treble season - after that his good performances were every now and again. I've also got a soft spot for Emile, he always gave his best and seemed a nice lad - too nice perhaps. But that doesn't mean I'm going to kid myself into believing he didn't fail to deliver during most of his Liverpool career.