Anfield Fox

Anyone see the front page? Very misleading. Makes out that the player is involved.

Some people fail to understand it's a two part process. You sack the manager and find a replacement. Sack Rafa and where is your replacement? Who would come in? Would they want to bring in their own players? Would some of our star players want to leave? Would the new manager put forward a new 5 year plan? Where is all this money going to come from? Stick with Rafa and he may just get it right. Sack him now and it would be madness. Only 6 months ago he got us to a Champions League final. Something has gone wrong, he needs to fix it. Not a single manager hasn't been through a bad patch. This is Rafa's. Lets support him.

Something obviously happened between Rafa and Crouch. Rafa supported him when he went 20 games without a goal. I have no idea what happened but Rafa likes "nice" players like Xabi, Kuyt, etc. Then Crouch starting dating models and doing Robot dances. Maybe that had something to do with it, i don't know.

Fair enough. You are probably right. Not a big club. Unique would be the right word. On one hand they have a huge stadium, a large fan base, a lot of money and expensive players but on the other hand they haven't won a trophy for 40 years. There probably isn't another club like them in Europe.

I'm not Harry's biggest fan by any means but you have to give him credit. Maybe he knew it was a dead end job but a chance at a big club and a huge pay day regardless of success was a given. Credit where it's due, he stuck with his club.

Look forward to seeing him play. Jamie is 30 this month and Sami will be 35 this year so we really needed another player at the back. Here is hoping him and Agger can form a partnership at the back for the next 10 years. Not eligible for the CL though i presume.

Keane or Defoe. Would both be reasonable, neither are too old despite being around for so long and Defoe especially would be cheap with his contract up. I could say i want Villa or Berbatov but being realistic those would be my picks.

Is that a joke? Emile probably wasn't good enough for us but he was a decent player. Pace, power. Did't score many but set them for Michael on tap.

I can't remember the last Liverpool striker as bad as Kuyt. There were those that didn't score but set them up. The ones that didn't set them up defended. The ones that couldn't defend could pass the ball 5 yards. The ones that couldn't pass the ball 5 yards could at least run. The ones that couldn't run had a decent first touch at least.

Tomorrow will say a lot about us. In the past (and im talking 15 years here!), whenever our rivals drop points and we have a game in hand we usually blow it.

thank you stevie!

What is interesting is the decline of players making it from our academy recently. The difference in quality is astonishing. Even the least successful of those 90's players got us £3m each in Thompson and Wright. 90's * Jamie Carragher * Robbie Fowler * Steven Gerrard * Dominic Matteo * Steve McManaman * Michael Owen * David Thompson * Stephen Wright 00's * Neil Mellor * Stephen Warnock The good news is that things might be looking up. Also two of our lads made it in last months "50 Most Exciting Teenagers In The World Game, World Soccer". Apparently the last time they made a list a few years ago, the majority became big players Nikolay MIHAYLOV (Bul) - Liverpool Gerardo BRUNA (Arg) - Liverpool

Isn't there a chance that we will play away first? Since both Milan teams were drawn away for the second leg. Lets hope.

Lost 3 out of the last 4 games

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...89520-20254098/ Reds stadium shelved By David Maddock 15/12/2007 Liverpool are poised to scrap plans for a new stadium after a bid to borrow £700million to fund the development was hit by the credit crunch devastating money markets. The club's American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks will be forced to settle for a smaller loan. That will mean an embarrassing U-turn on the proposal for a 76,000-seater arena and leave less cash for manager Rafa Benitez to spend in the transfer market. It is not the news Benitez will want to hear as he prepares his team for their crucial Premier League clash with Manchester United tomorrow and plans for a long-anticipated meeting with the US duo on Monday. Advertisement Hicks had asked his Texan architects to rejig the designs for a replace for Anfield, with revenue generation a key element in the new £400m scheme. But they will have to go back to an initial 60,000-seat plan or redesign again on a much smaller scale.

lmao! classic!!

Bitters or Mancs? Breaking on BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7140110.stm Raiders target Gerrard's mansion The luxury house of Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has been burgled while his wife was at home. The 27-year-old's wife Alex Curran was present when four masked men broke into the property in Formby, Merseyside, on Tuesday night. Police received a call from the house saying a masked gang had stolen items of jewellery. The England star was away playing in the Champions League against Marseille at the time of the incident. Merseyside Police have described the incident as a "confrontational burglary". It is not known if the player's children were in the property at the time. Three weeks ago striker Dirk Kuyt's home in Woolton was targeted by thieves while he was away on international duty with home country Holland. The Merseyside home of Jerzy Dudek, Liverpool's goalkeeper from the 2005 Champions League final penalty shoot-out, was burgled in June 2006.

Sevilla

Thanks! Nothing about Fernando

O/T but i didn't want to start a new thread. Does anyone have a link to that injury site? Lost it and can't remember the url

At the moment Rafa's priority is the game on Tuesday. It would safe guard his future for the near future at least and give him the funds he wants next month. Even though everyone wants the league, i have no doubt he would rather win on Tuesday and loose to the scum if he had to choose, even after our defeat yesterday. Truth is his team was wrong yesterday but we should have enough players to rotate for 2 big games in 3 days really. That said injuries just haven't helped.

Bit worried with that TBH. No holding player to break up the play unless Stevie does it. I would have put Masch in there. Oh well, can't say it isn't an exciting one!

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/sport/footba...98487-20192166/ Rafa's in clear EXCLUSIVE By Simon Mullock 02/12/2007 Rafa Benitez was last night told by Liverpool's American owners that his future is secure. Dallas-based billionaire Tom Hicks, who along with George Gillett paid £218m to buy the Merseyside club 10 months ago, finally broke his silence on the row which threatened to blow Anfield apart. Hicks contacted Sunday Mirror Sport to insist that Benitez (above) is safe. Hicks said: "George and I will be in UK between December 13 and 17 and plan to meet with the manager then. We get along just fine with Rafa. A small difference was escalated into a huge issue, which was unfair to Rafa. He has the team playing very well now and we have big games ahead of us." Benitez will appreciate that Hicks has publicly stated his willingness to put the episode behind him. Reports last week suggested Benitez was on the brink of the sack after voicing his frustration at being blocked from setting up transfer deals for the forthcoming transfer window. Hicks was said to be particularly angry, but he now seems to have accepted the Spaniard's demand that lines of communication across the Atlantic are improved.

Good points Steve & Cobs. Hadn't thought of that. There is a small incentive for teams knocked out in the last game though in that a win will earn them 500,00 Swiss Francs, a draw 250,000 but a defeat nothing. Of course in this day and age it makes little to no difference to the players on the pitch.

My house! My house!!