alias75

Did really well there yesterday, gave the team plenty of energy which is something we really lack. Given that performance would you try him there more often especially in those home games when he might not figure in midfield? He does play at a high tempo which is something we need in that type of game, at times yesterday it was like he was playing at twice the speed compared to some. Rather than him not play at all in certain home games would you play him at right back and give us that energy?

We currently have 3 saleable players whose loss wouldn't really affect the first team. Dossena, Lucas, Babel we could probably get around £20 million for those 3. Use that money on a top class attacking player and use Insua to replace Dossena. Might leave us a little light in midfield but with another attacking player (plus hopefully more with whatever money Rafa has) we can always use Gerrard there too.

Arbeloa is fine, also if money is tight we don't need to be wasting £5 million or so on a position where we're ok in. Lets get the attacking players we need, the defence and midfield is fine.

If they get relegated they'll have to sell him, the problem might be teams like Spurs or Man City offering silly money.

Have to say Downing is somebody thats impressed me the last month or so, hes been head and shoulders Boro's best player and has shown a pretty good attitude in a poor team. Against us he was far and away their biggest threat. I know he gets plenty of stick but if your looking for a proper winger that runs with the ball and can put in good delivery hes one of the best thats available at the moment that we could realistically sign.

It hurts to see it but this is the bench mark at the moment that we have to aim for. Its up to the teams around them to step it up and challenge them. Im really looking forward to the day that Ferguson gives it up, im sure he'll want to get number 19 before that happens though.

the difference is also when the Utd squad players come in they're coming into a better team because they have a core of better players than we have. This is another reason for strengthening the first team instead of strengthening the squad positions. Those fringe players that maybe don't look good enough might improve if they're playing with better players. You only have to look at some of the Utd players that have left Man Utd like Butt, Phil Neville, while they've done ok at other clubs they clearly looked better at Utd because they were playing with better players.

Rafa Benitez refused to call time on the title race after the 2-0 defeat to Middlesbrough - but admitted the Premier League was now Manchester United's to lose. The Reds slumped to only their second league defeat of the season after Tuncay added to a Xabi Alonso own goal. A victory for Chelsea over Wigan means Liverpool now sit third in the Premier League, seven points behind Alex Ferguson's front runners. Benitez said: "Before the game it was difficult and after it is more difficult. We will see against Sunderland and try to improve but it depends on United now. "If you want to stay at the top of the table you have to score. "I will not say too much because for me it's clear that in the first 20 minutes we created five chances and you have to take chances if you want to win. "We had some problems and injures - some players were tired but we had chances. We were in control for the first 30 minutes. Middlesbrough did well in the second half." Liverpool's day got worse on 77 minutes when the returning Steven Gerrard had to be withdrawn after picking up a knock. However, Benitez revealed afterwards that the injury was unlikely to keep him out of Tuesday's visit of Sunderland. "He had cramps. I don't think it will be serious," said the boss.

I think most of our squad players are ok if their coming into a full strength side, the problem is when we're missing a couple of key players and we have to play 3 or 4 of them together they're not good enough to lead the team. We need more players in that "key player" category like Man Utd have and then you don't feel the loss of key players as badly.

Maybe for some games, (im not sure thats a bad thing) but i still think for most home games you can go with 2 forwards and Gerrard. Afterall you have to assume thats the reason Keane was signed.

Reading Rafa's post match comments at least he identifies the missed chances and poor attacking play as costing us. I know it doesn't take a genius to notice these things but sometimes you do wonder with Rafa. Missing good chances is something that has cost us all year and again it boils down to the quality of the attacking players we have, top quality attacking players take those types of chances more often than not. Again thinking of possibles to sign somebody like Tevez i think would be perfect for us, he can play as a second striker, has the work rate that Rafa loves and scores goals in this league. Playing him with Torres and having Gerrard in behind them would give us 1 extra attacking threat compared to what we have at the moment with Gerrard playing behind Torres.

I think the point is you don't buy 6 world class players with the money you buy 2 and by strengthening the first team you also strengthen the squad, theres also the argument you could make that fringe players like Lucas, Dosenna, Babel that have been hit and miss could improve when called upon if they're playing with better players. As alternatives i think Maxi is one possible for the right, id also like us to sign a second forward type player that can play with Torres and allow us to play those 2 plus Gerrard in the same team.

I think the posts above re: Rafa summed it up, hes very rigid in the way he plays and that relies on individual brilliance especially in attack. Thats fine if you have 3 or 4 great attacking players, we have 2, and they've hardly played together this season.

i can understand that argument when Rafa first got here, he needed to rebuild a whole squad of players so i understood why sometimes he went for players in that 5-6 million range. But we're now passed that stage, whatever you think about the squad its now Rafa's squad, so we don't need to take risks on mid range players that might work out and might not, we need to go after top quality players that can come straight into the first team. Of course sometimes you can sign quality players like Skrtel or Agger for 6-7 million which is great but i think generally to get top class attacking players you have to spend big money to get them. I do think some of the squad players Rafa bought aren't good enough but id rather we kept them and spent whatever money we had on proven quality, than spend it replacing them with other squad players, theres always a chance some of those fringe players can improve when surrounded by better players.

Agree but i think the best way to strengthen a squad is to strengthen the first team. Instead of buying 3 or 4 £5 million players to beef up the squad sign 1 or 2 £20 million players that can come straight into the first team, that in turn benefits the squad as 2 players that were previously part of the strongest 11 become squad players. We have 13-14 players that can come into the first team and do a good job consistently, 4 or 5 of those are key players and need to play most of the time.

Obviously deciding to cash in on Keane in January has made the situation even worse, that was always a risk and not replacing him another risk. At the moment Torres staying fit and playing well is vital to how well we can do which for a club of our size shouldn't be the case, there should be money for the manager in the summer and at least 2 top quality attacking players should be priority. I don't care too much about tinkering with the fullbacks or midfield lets get some attacking players that can make a difference where it really counts i.e scoring and creating.

I think the problem is they're fine when Gerrard and Torres start but when they're missing they're not good enough to step up consistently. I think those 2 are good enough to be part of a squad than wins a title but we shouldn't be relying on them because they're not good enough often enough.

the lack of quality attacking options is clearly whats costing us at the moment, we've seen it with so many other teams this season you can play quite poorly but quality attacking players will make the difference. If Torres and Gerrard don't play almost every league game for us we're not going to be able to sustain a league challenge over 38 games. Until that is addressed we're relying on the form and fitness of 2 players. Man Utd have 4 world class attacking options and 2 or 3 a level below that. Chelsea have Anelka, Drogba, Lampard, Ballack, plus 3 or 4 a level below that Arsenal probably have 2 top class attacking players but their 2nd tier is much stronger than ours with players like Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott, Bendtner We have Gerrard and Torres and then your relying on Kuyt, Babel, N'gog, El Zahr, Benayoun, Riera that simply isn't good enough if those 2 key players are missing for any length of time.

Of the starting 11 only El Zahr id say isn't good enough, the problem is our attacking 3 were El Zahr, Kuyt and Babel with Gerrard behind them which simply isn't good enough. Until we dramatically improve those attacking players we'll never sustain a challenge for the title because without Torres and Gerrard playing almost every game we simply won't score enough goals. You compare our attacking options with the other top sides and we're clearly 4th best, even Arsenal have more attacking options than us.

Its difficult to pin point whats going wrong because the one thing you could say about this team under Rafa is we're tough to beat, we very rarely lose games by 2 goals and very rarely show that little fight. I can take drawing or losing a game when we miss lots of chances but when you lose a game in that manner it does raise several questions, i guess on the plus side you could say its been a long time since the effort has been that poor even if there have been some poor performances. Once again its the managers job to motivate the players but the players are the ones that play and good professionals don't need motivating. I think the bottom line is we have a core of maybe 12-13 players that are of the required standard to be part of a Liverpool FC squad, the rest when called upon simply aren't up to it. On top of that we have 3 or 4 key players that simply have to play almost every week because without them the team is lacking. Obviously we've missed 2 of those for large parts of the season. The lack of striking options is obviously one that you compare us with the teams around us and we're severely lacking. We have 1 world class striker, Man Utd have 3 world class strikers plus Ronaldo, even teams like Arsenal, Chelsea have many more attacking options than us, you look at the drawn games and the lack of striker options is clearly to blame for most of those. Kuyt is our #2 striker which tells the story, Babel and N'gog shouldn't be anywhere near a team looking to win a PL.

3-2 pen Bolton, watching the rugby now so wont be able to update theres a stream here.. http://www.livesoccertv.com/channels/liverpool-tv/ not the greatest but it'll do.

3-1 HT been a pretty entertaining game very open some good play both both teams.

3-1 Irwin

2-1 Amoo the final is over 2 legs think this is the quarters

dont think so