Gary Gekkaloys

Klopp will surely find a plaice for him in the team.

Hopefully someone will be in the office when the hospital faxes his results through.

It's hard to chews the worst pun so far tbh.

He's been putting in some really polished performances this season.

Need to extract myself from this thread pronto.

Klopp and Keita need to improve their relationship too: they're molar opposites in some ways.

Naby just needs to make a better impression, then Jurgen will get to the root of the problem. We should all know the drill by now.

False Nine?

Nice piece from David Conn in the Guardian

From the Beeb:

And he really gets why Liverpool fans wanted H&G out, doesn't he?

If you read that on TLW, I think something was picked up the wrong way - the Torres leaving remark was a dig at Tony Evans.

Oops! So you were I'll get my coat.

I know that Hodgson won't be given a long term contract given the ownership issue but shouldn't managing a club like Liverpool, even if it is in a temporary capacity, be a more attractive proposition than you're making it sound? I mean who knows, if Hodgson does well, the new owners might extend his stay. That's got to be in his thinking too ,shirley?

Yossi would probably have been sold if Rafa had stayed, but shouldn't player transfers be a matter for our new manager? Maybe the deal was well advanced and the player has his mind set on it, hopefully this will be the last transfer that is agreed this summer before we have a new man in place.

I suppose the decision to sack the manager would be more palatable if it was likely to be accompanied by the appointment of a replacement of similar caliber and the prospect of signicant investment in the squad. Its the kind of thing you expect big clubs to do when they have had an awful season like ours. It's the seeming absense of both that makes the sacking seem illogical and ill thought out, imo. If say, Pelligrini was appointed, the exodus of Gerrard, Torres and co. was avoided and real money was available to the new manager then maybe the pro Rafa people might have an easier time accepting it.

I think I detect a certain bias against Benetiz in there though! The manager should be the most important man at the club and as far as I'm aware, his demand for control over transfers is not entirely unprecedented.

A couple of seasons ago, the popular theory was that Gerrard's best position might be playing wide with the freedom to drift infield like Nedved or Ronaldinho. I don't think we've seen enough of him playing off Torres to compare him to Kaka in that role.

Dunphy also sez: "Liverpool have hardly a player that would get in the Arsenal, Man U or Chelsea teams"

From the Offal Peter Crouch has been restored to Liverpool's attack for tonight's all-important Champions League clash with Besiktas. The England international will lead the line alongside Andriy Voronin as the Reds go in search of their first victory in Group A. Fabio Aurelio will also start while Fernando Torres has recovered from his adductor injury and has been named on the substitutes' bench along with Dutchman Dirk Kuyt. Team in full: Reina, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Hyypia, Carragher, Mascherano, Gerrard, Benayoun, Riise, Voronin, Crouch. Subs: Martin, Finnan, Kewell, Torres, Babel, Lucas, Kuyt.

Well I'm not saying Kuyt = donkey, but I don't think his first touch is good enough to play that role - holding the ball up and bringing Gerrard, Babel and co. into play. He didn't see much of the ball in the first half, in fairness, but when he did it was usually straight back to Blackburn in about 2 seconds.

Our passing and build-up play from the back has been appalling in recent games. Carragher and Hyppia are both missing Alonso's presence in front of them and consequently are punting fat too many aimless balls upfield. Playing Sissosko and Gerrard together was a terrible decision given our recent form as neither player is comfortable in the often thankless role that Alonso plays. It's not right that we miss one player as much as this, but we do.

When we get Alonso and Agger back, cut back on the rotation a bit and sack Parry, everything will be hunky-dory.

Allowing Gerrard to play to his strengths in a two man central midfield asks an awful lot of his partner. If Gerrard is operating in the areas of the pitch where he is most effective, then there is always the possibility that we can get out-maneuvered in midfield. Without Alonso in the side, we don't have a player who can help keep possession going from back to front while Gerrard concentrates on doing what he does best. I'm not sure we can afford to allow him to that in a orthodox midfield, unless he plays on the right. Of course it would help if our defenders were more productive in bringing the ball out themselves - I'm all for a good defensive clearance when the team's under pressure - but the constant, directionless lumping of the ball forward by Carragher and Hyppia in recent games has been depressing.

He doesn't score enough goals