Skillz

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Some of the stuff directed at Kewell after we won the CL really upset me tbh. However i am an Aussie and obviously biased. It continued on well after his operation to repair the snapped groin ligament 2 days after the game! Having said that it has to be said in the end it was a small "select" group that wouldnt let it go and i suspect they wouldnt forgive him if he scored 50 goals a year for the next 5 years. EDIT - Fyds, i should point out that my being in Australia prevents me from commentating on the treatment from Anfield. My post is purely the vitriol spouted on this and in particular other forums. Dont get me wrong everyone entitled to their opinion and although i did at times defend Kewell I fully understand the frustration with him but the hate was uncalled for. As it was for the others you mention, except Diouf.

Not so sure about that. There were some pretty nasty threads/posts over the last few years. Particularly 18 months to 2 years ago.

I am too except i have this sick feeling in my stomach we will enter the race only for Chelsea too come in and start bidding. If that happens i cant see us lasting too long in a bidding war. Looks like we got out of the way for Malouda after those pricks came charging in (apparantly) after us (again?). Certainly been stuff all from us since they entered the race. I, along with most of you i expect, would love Tevez. He is just what we need but if we are to get him he will have make a stand at some point IMO. Everything we have heard from Tevez and Kia seems too indicate he is going to the highest bidder. My guess that will be Chelsea if they are interested and Could possibly see Sheva moving back if it happened.

I agree with your earlier post Leo but not this one. IMO Rafa has taken control of it and played the media, orchestrating a perception of no money because he simply does not want to seen as a club just thrashing its money about. It may seem over the top but i feel Rafa not only would do it, more importantly i believe he is capable of doing it. I personally think he is one of the best public performers i have ever seen. His rant after the CL summed it up for me, totally out of charachter. Personally, even though this signing would be a very welcome statement of intent i still want to wait and see the final squad. Long way to go and i am hopeful we will make another key signing or 2.

As far as i am concerned it is a matter of when, not if, we sign Torres. Is this good for LFC, personally i do not know, havent seen enough of him. What gets me excited is that i am almost certainly convinced that Slur Alex will not be happy. As much as i want him to resign/retire/die i respect his judgement on quality players. He has tracked this player for a long time.

I know what you mean but for us to progress sacrifices have to be made. I can't forget ES post about 18M. For me we will pay that and give them Luis. Why? IMO the deal has been done for a few days now, its just about how it transpires. In other words the clubs, in particular AM, manage it for the fans. EDIT I know ES did not make a definitive statement, its just my opinion.

Me too. Not a bad time to make it aswell. What a night. Thanks Jerzy

I know. Strange that he did though wasnt it? Lets face it, when he puts it down as fact he gets it right. When he speculates, some decide it is fact and then go off on one if it isnt true. Hence he doesnt post as much anymore and i for one do not blame him. This post was quite ingenious. I suspect he has some info but it is not confirmed 100% and therefore he just put it out there. I hope he is right. I hope he posts more often as well, regardless of whether he is giving up any info.

Elisha mentioned 18mill. There was an article earlier mentioning his buyout clause actually might be 18mill due to not qualifying for Europe. This explains the articles mentioning Intertoto IMO. Good price if it turns out to be correct and a good call by ES again. I'm getting excited, ES is very rarely wrong when he lays his cards on the table. Although it should be said he did not exactly do that in this instance, not implicitly anyway.

So does Owen, eg leaving for Madrid. If he signed an extension he might have a CL medal!

To be fair there are a lot of high quality strikers apparantly on the market this year. Considering - the others played football in the last 2 years - IIRC only Arsenal, Chelsea, Mancs and us can activate clause and all would be interested in the other strikers available - Owen hasnt proved he is back, properly - he commands incredibly high wages and therefore even at 9mill is still a big risk i would say it is not surprising at all. I suspect once one strikers goes, the others that are moving will happen soon after and eventually there is a good chance one of the big 4 will pick him up. If Henry does go i suspect Arsenal will go after him.

Absolutely no point in selling Harry now. If he fires we have a serious LW player that is hard to find. If he gets in injured at the Asian cup we are stuck with him for 1 year. No team will offer anything until the end of the asian cup, for obvious reasons. The problem we will have, if he kicks a*** and doesnt break down again, is he will attract offers of a longer contract. We will want to wait till January before we are happy to offer some what of an extension. I wonder what the HK detractors will say if he dominates in Asia (as he should) and then turns down a lucrative 3 year contract elsewhere to fight for a contract here. I say that cos if he did that and then got injured before January he will basically be finished. He is playing for a final contract and i have no doubt he wants that to be with us. Interesting time for Harry IMO. Personally i hope he kicks a*** for OZ in asia and then kicks a*** for us. Saw him yesterday on the news here in Oz and he looks very fit.

Well surely we cant afford him.

Well we have certainly done our job over the last week or so. We have now been closely linked with how many strikers, Tevez, Bent, Milito, Henry, Eto, Forlan and theres more i'm sure. No one has a clue who we are going to get. Mission accomplished! EDIT: Bloody Hell. Torres, Villa

I still feel we will sign Tevez. Whether it is possible to sign both Tevez and torres i dont know. I admit it is very possible Torres is coming here but for some reason i feel Tevez will be coming. Is it hope, perhaps, i do think tevez will give us a lot of what we need. I should point out i have no insider info and it is my opinion only but i do think Tevez will be playing for us next season.

Thats why i didnt say he was. He's in the mix though. Add in his ability to play elsewhere and he is one of the best players in the world. At the end of the day though it is very specific to your own opinion and as far as Stevie G goes he is capable of playing Def Mid, Box to box Mod, Attacking mid, right mid, left mid, right back all at a world class level. He is an individual talent that we are still waiting to see the best of. Rafa will get it right, he just needs the right players to compliment him.

To be honest, Stevie is up there for discussion as the best in the world. I'm not his no 1 fan by any means but he has to be in the mix.

Really happy to hear this. Xabi is underated IMO. He has played the main def mid role for Rafa but i expect that to go to Mash and we will see Xabi being more influential in the last 1/3 this year. We have the best centre midfield in the world, only Chelsea can compete IMO and thats mainly due to Essien.

Spot on, couldnt agree more The bold bit i agree with but what concerns me is HK playing very well at the Asian CL and then he gets a good offer from a rival (eg Spurs). I wonder if we would match it? Having said that if we dont i suspect we do not see Harry lasting long term. It is a very interesting situation IMO because i expect if Harry is as fit as he looks he will kick ass at the ACL in July.

Seeing as he appears to be as fit as he has been for a long time, i would let him play at the Asian Champs, get some matches, play for a contract with us over the first 6 months of next season. If he plays well give him a contract. Having said that some one will come in with a 3-4 year offer for him if he gets through the Asian CL unscathed. That means we have to make a decision on him. Personally i think we will let him go cos Rafa cant trust his body to hold up and thats fair enough but if he goes to Spurs and turns it on we might regret it.

What about the Kewell who made 40 appearances last season at 70% fitness. The one whose return coincided with our record winning run and played a major part of our record EPL points total. And i hope he is better than the Kewell that played the first 4 months of 03-04 cos we will have some player if we get him.

Good post. Harry's situation is a difficult one for the club. If he is sold in this window i would expect he will break down again soon. I am one of HK's biggest fans and hope desperately for him to regain full fitness, star and earn a new contract. I also have great faith in our medical dept to know when someone is shot. Therefore if he is sold in this window, as far as i am concerned it is due to our staff advising Rafa he will not last, regardless of management. If that is the case and we can sell him for a price covering his last year of wages we should. I hope he is as fit as he looks, goes to the Asian cup, stars and return in great shape. If he starts next season well we should offer him a new contract, 3 yrs only and performance based. He should accept that considering what he has delivered so far but to be honest if he performs to 90% of his ability over the next 6 months there is a very good chance others will offer very good contracts. Then Harry has to make a decision, does he stay and fulfill his dream or take the last good contract he can get. Of course we may decide to take the risk and match the offer to keep him (assuming he has performed at a very good level consistently) but this is fraught with danger. He is a conundrum, is Harry.

Mascherano Alonso Pennant Alonso was class, we cannot allow him to leave.

I agree. Momo, in my opinion. Will be disappointing to see any leave but i cannot see Alonso leaving, he simply is class. In other words Xabi is the type of player we should be signing, not selling.