Archangel

For all that its worth, no I dont think we will win the league under Benitez without him compromising some of the things he believes in - the above being an example - just my genuine opinion not trying to be smart and would dearly love to be proved wrong

I'd disagree, well sort of, rotation is more of a problem when you have a manager who meticulously plans every detail of the game and expects his players to just drop into the formation and pick it up seamlessly as and when required, where as managers like ferguson who tend to allow greater self expression in the way his players approach the game are more able to apply rotation with greater success. Thats why you cant compare the impact of rotation on teams who have fundamentally different approaches to the game. In short rotation has a more detrimental impact on some styles than others. The individual abilities of the players is a consideration as well but again benitez's philosophy strikes me to be more based on team ethic than individual flair which again suffers more if the individual composition of that team is subject to continuous change (follow ) Thats my theory and by god I'm sticking to it

I'm just a bit lost for words over this. There are times when I'd just love to hear the manager's reasoning for making these decisions. Not that letting Alonso go is necessarily idiotic it just seems a bit of an odd one to me. Particularly as the lad was one of Benitez's first signings

I find the notion that Parry's continuing presence in the boardroom is shoring up the anti Hick axis and therefore beneficial to the club touching if irrelevant. The real power is (and always has been) held solely by Hicks and Gillett, everything else is largely window dressing Paradoxically, whilst the dozy cretin pursues his largely ceremonial role we are bereft of a CEO who might actually be able to sort out the warring parties and get some business done. We have to live with Hicks, this DIC thing appears to be dead in the water

Parry. Not a fan Probably more suited to the giddy finances of Delia Smith and Norwich City then handling the deals of one of the biggest clubs in the world But there you go, lifes a bitch

FFS what an absolute pile of nauseous crap. The Champions League final is the pinnacle of a footballers professional career. Something these dedicated guys strive and sacrifice to acheive throughout their working lives. On the night they push themselves to the limit and go through every emotion imaginable and then to have it cut away in an instant maybe never to get close again. Actually I'd take JT's uncontrollable sobbing to Nic Anelka's professional indifference any f***ing day and then to use that incident to construct a whole anal retentive article on why it shows the failure of British sportsmen is amateur psychology at its most pig ignorant Not the first time for that particular ''journalist'' either Yeah John dont give up your day time job

You'll have to forgive me for this, but do we really need to have wide players? I refer to out and out wingers who are supposed to provide width. Seems to me to be a facet of English football that everyone convinces themselves is an absolute necessity, said enough times and you believe it to be true. I for one cant get enough of seeing Jermaine* haring down the touchline only to find one player in the box surrounded by a defensive phalanx, thats of course if the striker is lucky to get a delivery past the first defender in the first place. Or the other wonderful tactic where the ball is then pinged over to the other wing 25 yards by you know who in some vain glorious attempt to streeeetch the opposition and gain 2" of positional advantage rather keep the short snappy passes played through the centre and have a midfield unit which moves up as one - the short game or so I believe some refer to it as but then again I'm a know nothing footballing peasant so feel free to abuse * nothing against the lad in particular insert the name of anyone from the premiership here with the possible exception of Ronaldo who is a bit of a footballing freak

We are talking about Dubai Investment Corporation here arent we, I mean an organisation whose prime motive is to make a profit. Or have they registered as a charity without publicising it. Dear Mr Ansari The fans of liverpool would like you to buy us from G&H at a premium of say £50m per owner, take all the debt from the club as it stands, give Rafa Benitez an annual transfer budget of around £50m and buck the general rise in ST prices and then, you can pay your shareholders out of anything left in the kitty Why, because we think it'd be good pr for you Getting to read a bit like Alice in Wonderland here I think I dont really want to argue but like most things to me it seems the increase is just going to have to be accepted unless wage structures diminish and advertising revenues increase to a point where gate receipts become irrelevant. Which is a nice dream but a long way off Nothing personal like, but I think we (as fans) do tend to see ourselves as a little bit more important than we quite possibly are in the corporate scheme of things

I dont think there's apathy but lemming like protestations and empty guestures are not my stock in trade. We are owned by american businessmen who are currently trying to fund an ambitious stadium project by ladling the club with debt, something they said they wouldn't do. They are swine I know, but sadly this sort of thing happens particularly when you move ownership from paternalistic philanthropy to hard faced capitalism. The risks are there and the current economic climate may mean that investment funds dry up but what exactly does everyone expect. The real problem here is not so much that G&H lied to us but that actually they are not quite as rich as we'd hoped. Benitez got record signings last 12 months in defence, in the midfield and in attack purchased by more debt it would seem but perhaps its time for the manager to make more out of what he's got than to expect an unending merry-go-round of new players to compensate for the failures of the players he's bought previously.

Thats not necessarily true, but it is a risk I agree I'm a bit at a loss to understand where we are going at the moment. When Benitez was first appointed I couldnt believe our luck, I'd seen his Valencia side completely demolish us in a way that I'd only seen once before and hoped he'd make us a premiership version of that side - we seem to be a long way off that. We've moved away from dependancy on the long ball but we still have players that lose possesion too frequently and are uncomfortable at playing those quick incisive balls in the last third. It happens but not enough and not for long enough. Maybe Barry is the key here, although if its at the loss of Alonso it makes you think whether there is a plan at all.

Putting unrealistic transfer fees on certain players hasn't exactly lubricated their exit has it (I'm referring to the reported £10m for Carson and £15m for Crouch by the way)

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Chelsea were losing it under Mourinho. Grant inherited a divided squad with more drama queens than in a lloyd webber musical. Managership is more than about money and I think Grant played a key role in reversing the clubs decline and held the team together enough to close the gap on United and keep their title charge on track. A little more succesfully than a couple of other managers this season i could mention

Mourinho's recent comments are unbelievable even by his own standards. He seems to forget that Chelsea were in decline in the last six months of his managerial reign, if anything Grant stabilized the club. Seems like a funny way to show your gratitude, but then again when you deal with claasless twunts like Kenyon and Abramovich its hardly suprising

Udinese's coach may be happy for the transfer to progress but his agent says the move is not definite and that Napoli and Fiorentina are also in the frame. Looks to me that the club are keen to get the transfer money if theplayer doesnt want to stay at Udinese but the player and his rep arent quite so sure that the move should be to the premiership and appear to be hanging out for an offer from elsewhere Have read that Benitez's attitude is that he only wants players who demonstrate a hunger to play for the club and this chimes with recent comments - if the position of Dossena's agent is as it seems then I'd be suprised if Rafa was desperate enough to pursue this option even if it does resolve the Riise problem

Dossena's attitude to a move to Liverpool seems to be questionable. Perhaps Benitez should look elsewhere

We've been distinctly amateurish under Parry but even so I think thats being a bit harsh as for the season Out of serious contention in the league by early February Struggled in the cup against a non league outfit only to be knocked out by a team not much better Flattered to deceive in Europe Actually we are alot better than this

a case of buying the right legs for the table not the most valuable ones.... to quote from a certain manager with an IKEA fetish

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Its not been a good season, but we've qualified for Europe so its not a disaster I'd like to be positive about the future but the way things are its pretty difficult unless theres achange in approach Torres was an absolute revelation, better than I'd hoped for but beyond that what? Thing is, although I've heard this said several times before I now actually believe that a couple of good players and some rethinking by Benitez would see a genuine challenge Stay as we are and it'll be fighting for fourth

It was an absolutely extraordinary season with an extraordinary finale but of course we only got the treble because we were extremely lucky ergo it doesn't really count Fact is we dont get credit maybe because we are not sexy

If its not been suggested already, I think this particular season the league should be decided by cudgels and ripsaws - last man standing so to speak

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I guess Inter are testing the resolve of the american, given our current financial difficulties until we get more security, the vultures will always circle