alias75

Agree a proper wide player with pace is needed, in situations like the 2nd half and the last 20 against Blackburn that type of player would make us much more effective on the counter attack. Poulson's a strange one but thankfully hes clearly out of the picture for the time being, even brought Spearing on at the end. Was a huge waste of money, he was terrible for Juventus last season and appalling during the last world cup. The "moneyball" approach doesn't rule out signing older players but theres a big difference signing someone like Gary Mac on a free transfer and spending £6million and big wages on someone like Poulson or Konchesky. Don't think we'll be getting many players in 30 and over that involves a transfer fee from now on.

Thought Meireles did better than that, nicked a lot of ball from Chelsea and worked really hard, his work for the 2nd goal alone should give him at least a 7. Lucas MOM but lots of good performances today.

Didn't expect that performance at all, first half was excellent and shows what a difference an in form Torres makes to the team. 2nd half was nervy but thats to be expected. Thought the midfield was excellent, Lucas and Meireles constantly nicked balls and broke up the play. 2nd half was reminiscent of what happened in the last 20min v Blackburn and we need to learn to stay composed and counter better, but some really encouraging signs.

thought he was consistently one of our better players last season, but first impressions are hard to shift, he has improved a lot, but he was never as bad as some claimed.

Given every first half of every game this season thats highly unlikely.

Yeah he did use wingers on their "wrong" sides at Fulham but they were still proper wingers. Duff on the right is a traditional wide player even if hes cutting in more often. At the moment we're using central midfielders in those wide positions far too much for my liking. On the right side maybe we can get away with it because Johnson does get forward well but we're lacking someone on the left. Its also affected the effectiveness of Meireles because hes often being asked to play out of position, hopefully that'll change once Kuyts fit.

Thats a fair point but at the moment it also means Meireles is being asked to play somewhere hes clearly not comfortable (or as effective) so getting someone thats used to playing there has a 2 fold effect, it should improve us in that position and it allows Meireles to play where he should be playing. The left hand side is the one im more concerned with because we do have Kuyt and Maxi that can play right side and as you say Johnson can get forward well but on the left Jovanovic hasn't really shown enough in terms of end product and Konchesky just isn't good enough or athletic enough to get up and down the pitch and give us that width. Someone like Ashley Young who can play wide left and could be available in January could be a decent signing?

I know its something we've been talking about for years but it seems even more relevant at the moment, Roy played with "proper" wingers at Fulham so ive been surprised he didn't try to sign any. At the moment we're playing Meireles everywhere except his proper position, and yesterday Shelvey was asked to do the same. Kuyt coming back obviously helps the situation a bit but even hes been converted to a wide player. Despite small improvements over the last few games our attacking play is still very poor, is it because we don't have good enough quality or is it because of the way Roys setting the team up? I do think having a proper wide player especially on the left would help with the balance of the team, allow Meireles to play where hes best and give us another attacking threat we don't have out there at the moment.

I think there has to be a balance, the manager has to have some control over the type of players he wants to bring in. If Commoli is here to identify potential targets and then the manager picks the ones he wants that could work. I don't think it can work if someone else is signing the players. That said given the signings Roys already made im all for someone else targeting players.

Rafa can't win, if Inter do well this season its Mourinho's team if they do badly its because of him. He also gets the blame when we lose

and we'll probably sell Agger to help fund it

The scary thing is however surreal and crazy you try and make these posts the real thing will be even more crazy and even more surreal. Ive lost count of the times ive thought actual Roy quotes were someone on the wind up in the last few weeks.

Carlton Cole, SWP, N'Zogbia ....

I do think it would have been a tough start for whoever was managing the team but answer this question... Given that we have seen the back of G+H and got new owners who would you prefer to be managing the team given that there should be decent money to spend? Rafa proved in those first few seasons that he was more than capable of building a team when he had half decent money to spend, the fact is during the last 3 seasons under G+H his net spend was £10million over 3 seasons. How can anyone be expected to improve the team considerably with that amount of money, while others like Man City, Spurs, Villa even Sunderland are all spending considerably more. Looking back people will realise Rafa overachieved given his resources. We have consistently been 3rd / 4th in terms of money spent and wages we're now probably closer to 5th yet the expectations to win the PL are still there its just not realistic. But Rafa showed during the season we finished 2nd that he was building a very good team and given the standard £20-£25 million to spend i have no doubt we would have got stronger and stronger. The fact is he had his hands tied in the transfer market for the last 3 years so it was no surprise last season was a poor one (also the injuries to Torres and Gerrard) so we dropped a manager on the back of 1 bad season despite the good progress we made before then year on year.

Alan Brazil and Houghton laying into Benitez on that radio station just now. The best bit was Brazil saying he hoped Spurs beat Inter tonight and then Roy has a go back at Rafa to which Houghton said "He's got more class than that" I guess they've both missed the constant comments about Rafa and the players he left behind over the last 3-4 weeks!!

Rafa was continually asked about it during a press conference for the Spurs game. Its only right that he gets a right of reply seeing Roys been blaming him for most of the negatives this season. He also said something about Rafa and Kenny that was clearly untrue so Rafa was just reminding everyone it was him that brought Kenny back to the club.

I worry about the whole back 4 to be honest, however good the Greeks been hes been up against players that suit his style next week he'll be up against the strength of Drogba and the pace and movement of Anelka, Malouda etc... think the whole defence is going to struggle.

And Carragher on the right up against Cole and Malouda!! It could get ugly next week, i have no doubt Roy will be super cautious but thats playing into their hands really. Drogba seems a little off the pace though so i bet hes pleased hes playing us next week.

If we start to climb the ladder and away from the relegation zone i think Roy will be here until the end of the season but im sure whatever happens his position will be reviewed by the owners. Their not stupid, they will listen to people, they will know the fans aren't happy with him, but unless we're in serious danger of being relegated i think they might hold fire. I think their being very careful to be seen as not rushing into any rash decisions, and the truth is any decent manager is probably not going to be available mid season (Pellagrino aside). I have no confidence in Hodgson that hes going to do anything spectacular, the quality of players he has here probably means we'll finish top 10 but if we aren't involved in a relegation battle nearer to January i think they'll keep him. But the new owners aren't idiots, they'll know how unhappy some key players seem to be playing under him, the start of next season is a fresh start so hopefully those players can be persuaded that money will be spent to improve the team and hopefully a new manager will be brought in.

Oh no hes been at it again!! More gold from crazy Roy! 'In training, I can't have practice games where each team plays a 4-4-2 because I don't have the front players to do that.' 'That's clearly not enough. A club like Liverpool shouldn't have to rely on non-specialists like Dirk Kuyt or Ryan Babel "doing a job" up front when they are primarily wide players. 'We have the same problem with the reserves. We don't have any strikers and a winger called Nathan Ecclestone has to play up front. For the record Kuyt's a striker thats been converted to a winger, Ecclestone has always been a striker, and not long ago Roy himself was saying he saw Babel as a striker and how he never got the chance there under Rafa. Guess hes forgot about Pacheco too, can't see him staying here if Roys here for any length of time. Think Jovanovic was also a striker that can play out wide too.

Hazards more of a wide player from what ive seen.

Yeah i saw those rumours and that he was being watched just heard it could definitely happen in January for around £10million

Eden Hazard in January? anyone else heard this?

Maybe but i can't remember Rafa doing too much of it with players he was relying on to go out and play for him. He might have made comments about players that he got rid of or made clear had no part in his plans but Roys basically saying that some of his squad players that hes relying on aren't good enough. And lets be honest its not the first time hes done that. Rafa's man management wasn't great but i just don't see what this type of comment is meant to achieve except covering his back because he knows hes not up to the job and is getting his excuses in before hes gone. Babel is probably the only expensive (over £10 million) player that hasn't worked out (thats still at the club) the only other expensive failures still here are Roys signings!

"We have got a lot more expensive failures on our list than good players that we have brought in for next to nothing" - RH He really knows how to give his players confidence doesn't he? I wonder if he includes Poulson as an expensive failure?