Dan

We will deliver but be patientJun 6 2007 by Peter Guy, Liverpool Daily Post TOM HICKS has pleaded for patience from both his manager and supporters during the critical early weeks of the transfer window. Liverpool?s American co-owner revealed that while some activity in the market was imminent, he is unable to promise Rafael Benitez the instant signings he is keen to tie up before they return for pre-season. Since Hicks and Geroge Gillett launched their takeover at Anfield in February, neither have revealed how much they intend to make available for Benitez to spend. They did, however, reassure the Spaniard following his call for immediate action from club officials after the Champions League final defeat to AC Milan two weeks ago, that he would be backed in his plans to rebuild his squad. But Hicks said: ?Rafa is one of these people, because of the way he is, he wants everything done yesterday. ?That?s great but it isn?t always possible when you?re trying to get these targets. ?But the supporters just need to be patient because we are talking to Rafa often and (chief executive) Rick Parry is in charge of getting the contracts negotiated. ?We have lawyers working on it and I think the fans are going to like the outcome. ?Maybe we will hear something in the next week.? Hicks, however, insists that the players must also take their share of the responsibility for Liverpool finishing the season without a major trophy because of their poor away record. And he is calling for a significant improvement on the road next year, otherwise the title drought at Anfield could stretch to 18 years. Hicks added: ?Our goal is to play good football all year next year because in the Premiership you have to be so consistent and we lost far too many games on the road to lesser teams. So our goal going into the next Premier-ship season is to win games we haven?t been winning, and give Manchester United a good run for their money.? While Benitez awaits the outcome of his pursuit of transfer targets, he has revealed his satisfaction at securing two important signatures this week. Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher both committed to the club until 2011 on Monday to ensure the ambition of the manager and his new bosses to have the duo spearhead the next phase of Liverpool?s future has been achieved. And Benitez thinks the new deals for Gerrard and Carragher can only boost his chances of attracting new players. He said: ?These are two very important deals because they are about safeguarding the future of this football club,? he said. ?Stevie and Jamie both have a passion for this club and you can see that in the way they play. They are 100% committed to Liverpool and now they can be 100% focussed on their futures at Anfield. ?I think these deals send out a key message as we enter a crucial period. Other players will look at Stevie and Carra committing their future to Liverpool and understand that this means we are determined to progress on the pitch. ?When we talk to players we?d like to sign for this club, we can point to the fact that they will be playing alongside the likes of Stevie and Carra. Now these two deals are complete, we need to continue working on bringing in new players and keeping the ones we already have.?

I might consider it if it was in the back of my head

Why would they do that? (confirm that they are going to bid) Madness

Yep

I'm dreading the thought of Xabi leaving.

Funny that.... Come on I know people are getting impatient but this is not happening.

If he's an improvement on Kewell then he's f*ckin class. A fit Kewell is as good as any left winger in the Premiership.

I hope that includes Alonso's contract

What about Villa's midfield a few days later? He's limited.

Exactly. When Bascombe wheels out the positive articles everyone is happy. When they're negative he apparently knows f*ck all. You can't have it both ways. I remember when he first talked about Madrid's interest last year and how close Rafa was to going everyone dismissed it; only for Rafa to admit himself how close he was further down the line. I'm not saying Bascombe knows it all but he is one of the most well informed journalist with regards our club. It's a bit frustrating at the moment. Mixed signals coming out of the club from the manager right up to the owners which hasn't been helped by the media's constant hype about our supposed war chest. Add to this the international break everyone is just gonna have to be patient

Johnson scores more goals

He's not better than Hargreaves

You sure about that? Speaking to my Manc season ticket holder mate yesterday. He's not happy. ST gone up to £750 (up 15%) and it is now mandatory to take the cup games as well. The CL games will range from between £38 - £50 and they MIGHT get a discounted rate for Carling Cup. So, if they had a season like this one you're talking about £1250 from each ST holder with no guarantee of getting a ticket fro any cup final. Might explain where some of the money is coming from and why so many fans are f*cking the home games off.

Mancs in for Anelka, Chelsea for Pizzaro & McCarthy - seems we've got a golden opportunity to get the right striker this year if: a) the above is true b) we're preparted to stump up the cash

Well judging by Rafa's comments yesterday all seems to be fine

Tevez is exactly what we need imo but £30M is too steep. £20M would be about right.

Snippet from Daily Post this morning inside an article about keeping Sami: In any case, Benitez is likely to be in the market for a new centre-back this summer with the Liverpool manager looking to offload Gabriel Paletta. The Argentine 21-year-old has struggled to acclimatise to life in English football since arriving from Banfield last year, and made only eight appearances during the season with his solitary goal coming on his debut in the Carling Cup win over Reading in October.

He didn't literally mean that minute though

I f*ckin knew someone would post this after the Mancs signing them two. It's only been 7 days since the CL final for Christs sake. Get a grip. FWIW it now seems the mancs have wrapped up their major signings which can only be a good thing for us as there is less chance of another gazumping from Ferguson. Can't see em splashing major cash on a striker now, maybe Huntelaar.

SSN saying Mancs are close to signing Nani. Don't know if he was a target. Is a winger though.

Ronaldinho

Owen is on the move, journalist asks Gerrard would he like him back, Gerrard probably responded with the generic "anyone would like a player like Michael Owen in their team". Shocker. He probably also said that its not up to him, but down to the manager, but journo's don't always print full quotes do they......in fact they often don't print any quotes.....

Why? There are no quotes. They might have said something off the record but what's up with that? As for Villa, he's stronger and more aggressive than Owen but still not suited to the lone striker role. Not many are though.

For someone who doesn't know much about Malouda who would people prefer? Would Malouda, Kewell and Leto not represent a strong left side? I'm presuming the French player of the year will be an improvement on Gonzalez who we've sold for around £5M. So a net spend of another £5M doesn't seem too bad to me.

Have i missed something? What has come to light suggesting Tevez is off to Chelsea? Or are people just getting their knackers in a twist?