miceal

He isn't.

Thanks for the memories Brian.

Henderson Skrtel Mignolet

Why would anyone be angry after the season we have had? I have enjoyed it so much. Of course I am disappointed, but I haven't enjoyed watching us this much for so many years.

Well, having repeated the mantra of being happy with fourth ever since Spurs away, I am now coming clean (clean-ish - I still wake up in the small hours from dreams about winning the thing, of course) and settling for nothing less than third. That would be no less than the side deserve - we are a joy to watch this year. Even though we weren't great yesterday, I thought the measure of control we exerted after the second goal was brilliant. One of the things that everyone finds harder these days is keeping control of games, and I think it's another sign of developing stature.

Can anybody clear this up for me? I have been under the impression that fourth place gets us into one of those horrible August home and away play-offs to get into the Champions' League, but third or above takes us straight into the group stage? Or has something changed, because I haven't heard anyone saying anything about the major difference this makes to a side's plans for the start of the season.

Saw Gomez as sub for Fiorentina on Monday evening and he was utter rubbish. Bad attitude, totally uninterested. Don't fancy that.

Yes, but what is his name in Ukrainian?

Totally agree. He's been asked for his views on Cardiff AND Spurs and can't quite keep his opinions to himself. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/19/liverpool-brendan-rodgers-tottenham-cardiff I am also worried that the Cardiff players will play for Mackay's honour tomorrow and that Brendan's played a part in stoking that. As well as this, we should be keeping the fact that we're desperately trying to tie up Suarez out of the media (if at all possible - I know it could be the agent that's briefing the media). Brendan's done some great things here but NOW is EXACTLY the moment to keep your head down, shut up and not give the press any titbits at all. Maintaining an air of inscrutability while we roll teams over every week should be the way.

PLEASE let's not get in to talking about wastes of money .. we're not out of that just yet.

No there isn't. Many people on this forum are living in a dream world where a club that finsihed eighth in its league, has crowds of just over 40,000 (most of whom sit in sullen silence) and whose momentum is unmistakeably downwards, can attract international superstar managers on the basis that we were once great or because we think we should be an attractive proposition. I watched us v West Ham four years ago on the telly last night and there were quite a few players who are still here. Who had left? Mascherano, Torres, Arbeloa, Babel and Xabi Alonso. Not all of them had to be sold. Now we have men like Carroll, Downing, Henderson and Adam. We can blame H&G but we should also blame Rafa, Comolli and, yes, Kenny. I don't suppose either Rafa or Kenny did what they did out of bad faith, but the contrast I saw last night between us then and now was like a waking nightmare. This season our players gave up once we couldn't get in the Champion's League an were assured of the Europa League. That has to be unacceptable.In short, we should be looking for a new broom and glad that someone like Martinez wants to come here. Time for a reality check, folks.

Ok. Will you still be a msierable b*****d when he sits on the bench at the first home game next season? If so, go and jump.

Wigan are more or less certain to be at that end of the table, aren't they? People need to take a more positive view of the man and his potential - untested at this level, as was one W. Shankly. It IS the end of an era, in all sorts of ways. And we have no right to expect we'll be in for Guardiola, Klopp etc as a matter of course. in fact, the Klopp speculation was laughable from the start. Have any of the fantasy football club people on here seen the atmosphere at Dortmund, even on the telly? Why on earth swap that for the stony silence of Anfield in front of half the crowd they have at Dortmund? Let's give it a chance - fwiw I think we're lucky to be attracting the likes of Van Gaal and Martinez.

I don't know if this has been dealt with elsewhere on the forum, but can we establish for once and all how his surname is pronounced?

I feel sorry for West Brom fans. One of those unthreatening clubs that I have always had a sneaking regard for, because they had entertainers playing for them. It wasn't just in Mowbray's and Di Matteo's time, it goes right back to the 70s - Regis, Cunnigham - and even, God help me, earlier to Tony Brown's and Jeff Astle's days. Now they can look forward to almost certain relegation and, even if they don't go down, they will hate watching their own team. And don't we know that feeling under the Hodgson.

I have always liked Agger. The 'tackle' on Torres was worth a booking and he didn't even get one. Now I love him. The tattoos are bloody horrible, in my middle-aged opinion. But people are right, this lad has character. What I really like, though, is this emerging sense of togetherness, of being a team, not just some anonymous men plus Gerrard and Torres. I think it is probably the single most important thing Kenny is doing for us at the moment. If Reina's quotations from the Spanish radio interview were accurate, he could do well to think about this. If he still thinks he's too good for us, he can go too. It's like when you're undecided about buying that bargain car and the salesman mutters that 'someone else is interested'. You tell them to get lost, there'll always be another one.

Al right. Ive been trying to keep my head and analyse. No question, the manager isn't up to it. But, we all need to get our heads round this, too. TORRES SHOULD GO. AND GO IN JANUARY IF HE'S STILL WORTH ANYTHING. HIS ATTITUDE IS A f***ING DISGRACE. No ifs, buts or maybes. He is wearing a Liverpool shirt and being paid lots and lots and lots of our money. In your hearts, you know it's true. He doesn't want to be here. Liverpool is more than Torres. We'll be here long after he has gone. We have tolerated this attitude for long enough.

There are some sad anoraks around here who don't have anything else in their lives. I worked with Brian at the Echo for a number of years and, believe me, in that newsroom we Reds stuck out a mile. He was and is a Red, a season ticket holder and, in case anyone can admit there's more to life than LFC, a fine journalist.

I think that's what they find so attractive.

They didn't think Inter were in for him, it was a six-man wish list. Surprised C. Ronaldo wasn't on it, all the same.

Thought people might be interested in this. Sorry if it has already appeared in another thread. Gazzetta asked who of these six players, in an ideal world, Morratti should buy for Inter to celebrate their centenary: Gerrard 42% Lampard 15.3% Ronaldinho 13.2% Villa 11.2% Drogba 11% Eto'o 7.2% Speaks for itself.

The fans love us for Istanbul. They probably don't remember 1965 so well. Went there to watch them v Fiorentina in a league game the season after Istanbul and the wife wore her LFC shirt. We were treated like heroes. They are currently having a new load of ref-bribery allegations made against them after some recent dodgy decisions. The good thing is that, since the draw was made, they have been losing form week by week. If we had played them back then Ibrahimovic would have beaten us without the need for anything more than one-touch training ground contributions from his team mates. As it stands now, I'm beginning to get optimistic again. Was talking to some Juve fans in Italy at new year and they said the one team all the Italians dreaded getting was us (they obviously don't follow the premier league too closely). And they were certain we will beat Inter. That may have beeen bravado, but I think we will win. God knows we need something to go right.

Samuel's injury is good news for us. I said on another thread before the draw that this was (on current form) the team I feared most of those possible. Cordoba is much slower than he used to be. He reminds me of Carra: peerless club servant but now prone to giving away daft penalties/make embarrassing mistakes, through attempting to use the defender's dark arts to compensate for loss of mobility. With Materazzi you know there'll be a moment of madness at some point. I think it highly likely that Chivu will play central defence against us. Inter have a long injury list and are still awesome in Serie A at the moment. The good news is that the games are weeks away so they can still lose form in that time. If Ibrahimovic was to play Sammi and Carra on current form it would be carnage. I would be optimistic. I just wish the venues were reversed. Their fans loved us after Istanbul. My wife and I went to a home game v Fiorentina at the San Siro the following season and wore our replica Liverpool shirts. Treated like Gods.

That's right. If you've seen any Italian footie lately you'll know Inter are really looking good at the moment. And Ibrahimovic owes us badly for that quarter final miss for Juve in 05 (the moment I knew we were going to win it). He's one of the best at the moment and has that aura about him that makes me worry. I would like to avoid Inter for now and hope their form deserts them later. They were so good a week past Sunday against Fiorentina.