alias75

I havent given up hope yet, i get the impression that Alves is a pretty loyal person and our early interest in him may be the key. Also the fact that Madrid are in Spain could work against them as the player may want a new challenge in a new country. Still think this could happen next season.

Im currently in Oz and it was in their press this morning that Neil is about to sign, the way the article was written made it seem it was a done deal. Could be a decent right back option if Krongkamp is going plus he can cover centre back.

hes bound to be faultless the next time we play Charlton! Im going to be interested to see how well he does with less pressure on him. He has put in some good performances for us but most games featured at least 1 c**k up. Still remember those long legs saving the day a few times especially during the CL run wish him all the best.

I probably havent watched him play as much as you but that perfectly summed up my opinion of him from the time i have seen of him. Hes no frills but does everything you'd ask from a striker scores goals and works for the team his attitude is first class. I think footballers with that type of attitude can go far and are much more valuable than someone like Ibrahimovic who may have more ability than Kuyt but shows it once every 3 or 4 games (or when they feel like it) whether Kujt is in form or not you are guaranteed a level of commitment from him which will always benefit the team. Whenever ive seen him play i always think that hes the perfect Rafa player because he will give everything hes got for the team. Thats not to belittle his ability because he has plenty of that too, but i think his greatest assett is his attitude, very similar to guys like Shearer and Lineker who both werent technically the greatest players but made the most of what they had and made up for that lack of ability which a great worth ethic and an ability to find the net regularly.

may not have signed though plenty of trialists play in friendlies.

Going to Switzerland in the mountains is great preperation, also playing teams 2 and 3 weeks ahead of us in terms of fitness can only help in the long run. It gives the players a reality check im not sure when Hafia start their season but we should be closer to them in terms of fitness also when it gets to playing the first league game we may be at a higher level having played these friendlies and also the game in midweek. Of course ideally you wouldnt lose so badly but almost every goal conceded has been an individual error, mostly from players that wont figure much this season anyway.

We have to remember too for a lot of our first team players that was only their 2nd run out. Gerrard and Carra havent played before the last game and Alonso either im sure Rafa knows what hes doing, the players will rest from now until wednesday and should be ready for that one. Playing games while your also doing a lot of fitness work is bound to affect how the players perfrom im sure Rafa has it all worked out, of course it would be better to win these games and get some confidence up but a win on Wednesday im sure will erase all memories of these friendlies.

I guess you've got to trust Rafa and the way he does pre-season its all about getting the players right for Wednesday and the following games. The players have commented how tired they've felt during the games because the training has been so tough and im sure the players have told to be careful with a big game on wednesday. We have also played teams well ahead of us in terms of fitness and im sure that was a deliberate descision to give the players a reality check. Hopefully when the serious stuff starts the players will be ready.

Thankfully only one of them is a 1st teamer, but our squad players should be good enough too, hope its a bit of triedness with the pre-season, the key is to start winning from wednesday onwards. Bit worried about Finnan, has he figured in preseason yet? We're going to need our first choice back 5 available.

Never great to lose a game 5-0 lots of individual errors throughout pre-season, lets hope the last 2 games are the wake up call the players need. Huge game on Wednesday and now they know they cant take it easy.

We havent been able to get him on the ball enough this is where we miss good passer like Alonso and Gerrard in the midfield, when hes had it hes looked a little nervous maybe, i think once hes done a few good things his confidence will grow, a couple of times he could have taken his man on or taken the shot but chose to pass, i think thats just a lack of confidence. I know these games are all about fitness and Grasshopper are well into their season but i would like to see us a bit more organised. We're supposed to have at least 2 options for each position but in this game we're still playing people out of position and with only 1 up, im not sure if Anderson is supposed to be supporting Bellamy but he hasnt been that close to him all half.

Grasshoppers are obviously much fitter and better organised, we have too many players playing out of position im not sure why since we have plenty of players for each position. Defensively we look all over the shop really and im not sure where Anderson is supposed to be playing. One bright spot is Sissoko who looks ready for the season already.

Formation? ----------------Reina----------------- ----Hobbs-------Hyppia---------Paletta Anderson-----Zenden--Sissoko-----Riise--- Pennant-------------Bellamy------------Gonzalez

Team in full: Reina, Paletta, Hyypia, Riise, Hobbs, Anderson, Zenden, Gonzalez, Pennant, Bellamy, Sissoko. Subs - Carson, Kromkamp, Gerrard, Carragher, Crouch, Traore.

Think its live on channel 5

http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?..._Nightlead.html could be back on according to SportingLife the article also says Diao and Troare could both be off to Charlton.

Pennant is still only 23! thought he was around 25/26 seems like hes been around for ages although he was only 15 i think when he signed for Arsenal.

Agree about the lack of pace but the signings of Gonzalez, Bellamy and maybe Pennant all of a sudden changes the potential team from a very slow one into a very quick one.

I still think Alves is Rafas #1 target whether it happens this season or next. Obviously a lot can change in 12 months but Finnan is in his 30s now and will need to be replaced sooner rather than later. Another year light on his contract Alves would be in a stronger bargaining position

Still very confident that Alves will be a Liverpool player, maybe not this season but Rafa will be patient and get his man for the right price, next year he'll have 1 less year on his contract and that can affect the fee. Finnan will be 31 next season and we will have to find a younger replacement for him soon. (assuming Krongkamp isnt it) Think Pennant will be a good addition to the squad, obviously gives us the right winger we need but also frees up Garcia to play in his best position (just off the main striker) and also means Stevie doesnt have to play there as much next year. As for the striker id be happy with Klose, havent seen muchof him in domestic football but was impressed with him for Germany, scores goals and leads the line well, think him and Bellamy looks a very good partnership.

How do Newcastle manage to spend all this money without any success on the pitch? First Owen now Duff with not even European football guaranteed this year. Are they a potential Leeds Ud?

Ithink its good business someone like Trezeguet for example may not be the player he was a few years ago but for the price we could get him he has to be a better option than some of the domestic options being mentioned. If Andy Johnson is an £8.5 million player and we can get someone with Trezeguets pedigree for less than that, thats good business and he will score goals in the PL as hes proved throughout his career for France and in Serie A. Also someone like Ibramhimovich could be signed now for a relatively small fee and moved on in a year or 2 for a big profit.

depends on the opposition...

If this money allows us to sign Alves then i think its a great bit of business. Alves is what 23 so if he signs he should be in the first team for the next 5 years at least all being well. With the buy back clause it means in a couple of years if he has impressed and with Finnan coming to the end of his career we could get him back when he has a real chance of pushing for the first team if he hasnt improved enough then we've tripled our money on the player and signed Alves too (hopefully)

Wigan have had a £5.5 million bid for Heskey accepted (thank f*** for that)