Kite

Don't think thats true. Sturridge and Coutinho have added immense quality, Mignolet came here cause he wanted to escape mediocrity, Toure is not young! Neither is Aspas, though he is obviously a less proven quality than Toure. Alberto could be another Coutinho yet, he has definite quality about him. Overall. I think people's expectations of our shopping list are exaggerated this summer, perhaps from the early Mickatarian dalliance, but we have improved over this time last year (the Suarez situation aside).

Six players that weren't here last preseason, fighting for first team places in the season ahead. And most likely there will be at least one more joining them. It's hardly the stuff of debacles!

You mean like signing Coutinho and Sturridge? People seem to forget these only joined us a few months ago. I don't think there's an endless pot of players who are both top drawer and willing to stay out of European competition - like who has signed so far, for a non-european competition competing club, that you consider would have signed for us if we'd had, as you say, more ambition?

Out of interest, who did you have in mind there exactly?

In the Champagne League even? While you're not even in your cups yet?

The transfer request will save us several million so it makes sense that we can then "allow" him leave for proportionally less. It would be worse if he insists on a move, gets petulant about it all, yet doesn't make a formal request so still expects the loyalty payment from the transfer fee (along with his agent getting his "negotiation/enabling" fee too etc etc)

It's a better plan than buying more albatrosses like Downing and Carroll surely?

Which isn't a bad thing, in itself, anyway, given we have a replacement. Would he have signed, do you think, if we offered him a contract that had new wages, i.e. ones more commensurate with his squad position and form over the last two seasons or so?

I would have liked to see him stay another year here but wouldn't have offered him an extension on the contract - his form has been poor for quite a while now and his wages are very high, it wouldn't be in our interest to extend his contract on those terms.

Pro-active means starting early; we made enquires for Mignolet when we knew Pepe had his eyes on the door and before Valdes said he wanted to stay another year The fact that Pepe didn't get the contract offer he was expecting, this time, is irrelevant to the fact that we aimed to get the position sorted to our best advantage early. Which we did.

Good point. Think someone may have sexed the story up there a bit?

Puzzled by that question too, it's almost as though there's a collective will that he is?

Graham Norton in a skirt would have looked harder.

4 across, 2 down.

Reina must have a really s*** agent if he's been left completely unaware of a move like that. I have to admit, I find Reina's picture of the events very hard to believe here. There was talk of a loan move quite early on, when Napoli failed to get their number one choice keeper, where we stated we wanted to sell only (I expect because Napoli weren't willing at that point to cover Reina's full wage). I'd say Reina agreed in principle to the move but perhaps the final, recent, confirmation of that move may have caught him by surprise. It makes no sense though for him to claim he knew nothing of the move.

Sounds perfect to me. We don't need to pay to be replacing Enrique, getting a South American International in for nothing sorts out his competition nicely

Ah they have, it would have been impossible not to - even the non-event of redeveloping Anfield has been costing them money, plus there's paying off Hodgson and Kenny (among others), they've written off a loan of about 40 million too I believe, all before we go anywhere near the net spend debate.

The 300 million yes but they have put more into the club since buying it, it's that part I was referring to.

Good saving today. The punch out at the front post was particularly good I thought. Certainly he's left me not fearing Reina's departute with the performances so far.

Really like the look of him so far, hasn't been all that competitive obviously but like the way he's quick, stays on his feet, and tends to hound the attacker into a mistake. Hopefully he's going to be great.

Did anyone think they would know football though? Or would "Sheik XXX" know football for that matter either? FSG made the mistake of trusting people they believed knew football and were burned by it - I think it would be acceptable to give them some latitude for that? Though I expect that currently they're feeling a bit nervous that they've blown their investment too, as much as we're all feeling nervous that we've blown our chance to re-establish ourselves properly.

Be a bit small time if that's the only reason

I don't understand why a company in Qatar would want to spend so much money (more than on the first team shirts) on training kit anyway?

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