alias75

All the pressure is on them for the 2nd leg we have nothing to lose, thats the worst we've played for a long time and it coincided with a very good performance from them. A lot can change in a week, they might get a few injuries to key players, we're more than capable of going to Chelsea and getting the first goal which would put them under a lot of pressure. Think this game shows how key Mascherano is in these big games, his energy and presence in the midfield was badly missed. Onwards and upwards.

Obviously strongly favouring players that didn't travel last week, hopefully this team is good enough to continue the head of steam we've built up, id be a lot more confident with Mascherano in there mind.

Watched the game and was pretty impressed with him (and the whole of the France U21 team) the one problem i usually have with strikers like N'Gog is they physically have all the assets you need but don't have the game intelligence to use them effectively. But the most impressive thing about him was his movement which was very good. He had a couple of good chances both were good saves by Harte, but he played the lone striker role really well and linked up the play really well.

More links with Albiol in the papers this morning too. Obviously Valencia are in a terrible financial state and Rafa might have a head start with a few of their players. Certainly makes sense to look at Spanish players given the ones we already have here and how well they've all done.

Owens technique isn't good enough to be a support striker, he would be a decent option to have on the bench if you wanted to rest Torres or if we needed a goal but he isn't good enough to be a regular starter for us any more.

No the story said we tried to sign him before Arsenal did. My point is if this is the type of attacking player we're looking at im happy because i think this is what we need.

I hope that we were in for Arshavin because i do think that's the type of player we need, basically a better version of Benayoun.

according to the Mirror we have £100 million to spend in the summer and the targets are David Villa, David Silva, Gareth Barry and Valencia from Wigan. Also in the mirror said we made a late bid for Arshavin after we sold Keane but by then he had agreed to go to Arsenal.

Cost of Man Utd team that started against us... Van Der Saar £2.5 million John O'Shea - £0 Patrice Evra - £5.5 million Rio Ferdinand - £30 million Nemanja Vidic - £7 million Christiano Ronaldo - £12.2 million Michael Carrick - £18.6 million Anderson - £15 million Ji-Sung Park - £4million Wayne Rooney - £27million Carlos Tevez - £10million (paid for the loan) Total = £131.8 million Cost of Liverpool team v Man Utd Jose Reina - £6million Jamie Carragher - free Fabiano Aurellio - free Sami Hyppia - £3million Martin Skrtel - £6million Javier Mascherano - £17.1 million Lucas Leiva - £6million Dirk Kuyt - £9million Steven Gerrard - free Albert Riera - £8million Fernando Torres - £26.5million Total = £81.6 million (figures taken from http://www.transferleague.co.uk)

Barry won't cost anything like £15 million, he'd be in the final year of his contract in the summer, reckon it would be under £10 million. Also it was widely reported that Johnson has a release clause in the new contract he signed allowing him to sign for a top 4 team. Interesting that its 4 English players being linked here, obviously with the 6+5 rule looking like its going to happen thats certainly something you have to consider. Wouldn't mind Johnson, Lennon, and Barry, hopefully we re-sign Agger and if we do theres no need for another CB.

Really happy about this, could mean good news re the ownership of the club too. But i really feared for the team without him.

He has the perfect role model in Mascherano to learn from, somebody thats a similar size but that hasn't stopped him becoming a world class player. Personally id sell Lucas in the summer sign Barry and promote Spearing to that 4th choice midfield position, you could make the argument that Spearing is more suited to the English game than Lucas, plus with the 6+5 rule on the horizon it would help with our quota of English players which is something you have to consider at the moment. Think we could sell Lucas and sign Barry without it costing us too much, because Barry will be in the final year of his contract, we could possibly get him for under £10 million.

theres plenty of games for all of them, Mascherano often doesn't play in those easier type home games, Alonso has missed a few this season through injury, tiredness. Theres also the option with Barry to play him on the left side of midfield much like Dossena's been doing towards the end of games, plus he can play left back. If your aiming to be a top team challenging for the PL there are plenty of games for everybody, Man Utd have lots of top quality international players that don't play every week, and they don't have too many problems.

I don't think anyone is suggesting signing Barry means getting rid of Alonso or Mascherano but it would certainly strengthen us if he replaced Lucas. Quite a few times this season we've lost Alonso to injury or because he was being rested and the team suffered, having somebody like Barry in that situation obviously keeps us strong. Theres also the fact hes English which has to be considered since the 6+5 rule could be brought in, and he covers 3 or 4 positions in the team. In the last year of his contract too i think we'd be foolish not to sign him because he is a top quality player, and if we've learnt one thing this season its our strength in depth isn't good enough to compete with Utd over the course of a season. For the right i think Maxi is a realistic affordable option, maybe not the real flair we need but an improvement in that position. I don't think we're that far off, a few new attacking players that give us an extra 5% might be enough to turn a lot of these draws into wins.

and Barry moves a step nearer his dream move...

We need to strengthen the squad by strengthening the first team. I do think we have 13-14 players that are good enough, the results against the other top teams prove that when we're near to full strength we are as good as anyone. Torres and Gerrard have hardly played together this season and there's no doubt in my mind if they'd been fit for the whole season we'd be in a much stronger position in the league this season. But that doesn't hide the fact that we're lacking at least 1 maybe 2 world class attacking players. break the bank on a world class attacking player like Silva or Ribery and that would go a long way to turning those draws into wins. I think we could get Barry pretty cheaply given his contract situation and just those 2 signings immediately strengthen us quite a lot, and give us a few more options.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/85424381...53%2c85028698|0 He's either a Trekkie or that's 5 times!

do the crowd on these Anfield European nights make the difference?

Think the Gareth Barry transfer could be back on the table, looking at Villa's fixtures compared to Arsenal's i think they'll struggle to make top 4. Barry will be into the final year of his contract next season and so we could sign him for significantly less than they were asking in the summer. Still think Rafa would like him, in those home games when we don't need 2 defensive midfielders he'd be a good option plus he can cover left back so we can sell Dosenna. Id also like to see another 2nd striker signed not just 2 wide players, for certain home games we could then play... -------------------Reina---------------------- Arbeloa------Carra----Skrtel----------Aurelio --------------Stevie----Xabi------------------- ---****----------*****------------****------- ------------------Torres------------------------

Tomkins talks far too much sense. Id love to see him on sky sports with the usual suspects for an hour.

Not once on this thread does anybody suggest he plays there permanently by the way. But for numerous home games he hasn't been needed in central midfield and hasn't played, when that happens do we miss his energy? could he give us that from right back? on yesterdays showing for certain games i think he could.

Think that points been covered already (a few times) im not suggesting he plays there all the time, what im saying is in those games where he usually doesn't figure at all would it be worth playing him at right back, because the energy and drive he gives the team is something we badly lack. He's missed quite a few home games this season when we really don't need 2 holding midfielders, but hes obviously one of the truly world class players we have (albeit in midfield) but even at full back that energy he gives the team could be useful in those home games against teams that aren't going to attack us. So to clarify im not saying make it permanent, and im not saying you play him there against teams that will attack us. But there are a number of games we play, especially at Anfield where we don't need him in midfield but could use that energy at fullback. So we play Gerrard and Alonso in midfield, Mascherano at fullback and Benayoun where Gerrard usually plays, giving us basically 1 more attacking player on the field and a right back that maybe offers more going forward.

Think the point is against those teams that come to attack at Anfield you'd want him in midfield, the games im talking about are the sort of game we've drawn at home this season where teams come to defend. In that type of game having fullbacks that can get forward well is probably more important than having fullbacks that can defend or are sound positionally (although im sure that would come with more games there)

Ok thats slightly different then. Surprised he didn't play there against Boro though, was that the managers decision or did Carra also feel tired for that one?

Interesting about Carragher, if he asked not to play there against Boro too id imagine Rafa wouldn't be that happy with him because having Skrtel playing out there certainly handicapped us in that game. The one thing you'd expect from Carragher is he'd put the team first. As for Mascherano im not suggesting playing him there all the time but there are a number of home games where he's not really needed in midfield instead of losing him from the team altogether at least now there is another option, we badly need that type of drive and energy.