Poolfrog

I think you need to lie down in a darkened room. Fair play to the lad, he scored, but talk of him for the world cup is madness. I'll be surprised if he gets a contract with us. He looks like he's pulling a tractor when he runs. He couldn't possibly have less pace if he walked everywhere. Not up to it anymore I'm afraid, which is why we offloaded him in the first place.

Frankly they can all go. I saw enough of Fowler before he left and was glad he did - and he isn't defying logic and improving with age from what he's shown. Get rid. I suspect Crouch will stay but I couldn't care less if he went

All our second strikers are total rubbish and not worth even considering so I would have played 4-2-3-1, Rafa's favoured formation. Hamann and Alonso in front of the back four with Alonso going forward when we attack, Gerrard in an advanced central midfield position behind Crouch with Kewell left and Garcia right. It would have been far more balanced than the formation we did put out and let's face it, couldn't possibly have presented less of a goal threat than last night.

I thought they were very average and they don't have a cat in hell's chance of getting past the next round Last night was nothing to do with organisation or tactics. We got past their defence enogh times to have the game won by half-time. They rode their luck, we were incompetent. They'll go out next round. End of.

I would disagree. Benfica are poor. Any other team left in would have turned them over last night. They scarcely threatened our goal over two games but scored 3 goals. We should have scored 4 in the first half alone. We lost through our incompetence rather than their brilliance and I have no doubt at all that whoever they get in the next round they will get knocked out

You've nicely covered both theories. The Liver Bird's stance is very like a cormorant drying its wings. Cormorants are one of a number of seabirds that don't have waterproof feathers so stand with wings outstretched to dry off before diving again. It can also raise its head feathers to resemble closely the Liver Bird crest But the other theory is that it's a stylised eagle. In heraldry, a bit of licence is taken with the precise morphology of animals. I think the cormorant one is more likely as there were likely to have been many of them in the area when Liverpool was developing centuries ago although, as someone who takes an interest in nature, I've never seen a cormorant in the Mersey over several decades

Fowler looks even worse than the bloke we offloaded years ago. He's got to go too

Fowler has shown absolutely zero that would justify his getting a contract. He came on with about 20-25 minutes to go and I actually forgot he was on the pitch. It took him a quarter of an hour to touch the ball. There's no room for sentiment - ditch him as well as the other two halfwits up front (I'm assuming we're keeping Crouch although I can't see why)

You may not hail from Liverpool, but I can assure you that the notion of many "old school" fans - amongst which I include myself - changing their support to a rugby team is laughable. Rugby has never been popular with the man on the street in Liverpool. The most famous rugby league player in the world (whoever that may be - I have no idea) could walk along Lime Street and not a soul would recognise them, despite Liverpool's close proximity to St Helens and Widnes. In rugby union, possibly that Wilkinson bloke would be recognised by some, but only because of his constant media exposure, not through knowledge of the game.

I go there more often than I'd like, to meet mates. It's not much of a place really. It's the bar to the adjoining hotel, so quite pricey and I'd guess they'll show the Arsenal game rather than ours

I was there. Good game, particularly as a lot of pundits thought they could actually beat us with "Supermac" up front. In fact we won at a canter - never got out of second gear. In fairness to their fans, was chatting to a few of them in central London afterwards and they were very philosophical and took defeat very well

If he's been the best English right back - debatable in itself - it doesn't say much about the competition. All he's got is an appetite for work. He wouldn't get near the squad in Italy, France, Germany etc and, to be honest, if he was right-back at somewhere unfashionable - Wigan, Bolton etc - he wouldn't have got a look-in either

Liddell played the vast majority of his career on the wing as an orthodox winger - and sometimes at centre-forward - so not a midfielder in the accepted sense

Yes I blame zonal marking for the disastrous statistic that we've only kept 17 clean sheets - 3 more than Chelsea. Rafa's got it wrong again apparently

It was precisely what I expected from him 3 weeks ago - ie a lot of hype but very little end result. Anyway I'll predict here that in the 12 games we've got left and any appearances he makes in Europe he won't score more than 3 goals. I'll be amazed if he even reaches that target - penalties aside of course

A bit of a meaningless statistic that just plays into the hands of the likes of sky who believe football didn't exist until the "premiership" began. How many points we got from when just the name of the top division was altered doesn't mean anything. It's not as if we started playing 12 a side or introduced 10ft high goals. It's just the old first division but from an arbitrary date. I'm more interested in what we've done in all our time in the top flight compared with others Yes but it's only during the arbitrary period when we started to call the top division by that name. Means nothing As I said...........emperor's new clothes. He's knackered - a couple of crosses and one good effort last night and a tame header against wigan? Good luck to him for getting £25K a week form us for so little.

I think it's like the emperor's new clothes with fowler to be honest. The lad's clearly way past his best but people are bending over backwards to accommodate him, while giving no such consideration to the other strikers. He looks ike he's running in quicksand - as slow as molasses. He was totally anonymous last night apart from one effort and I would have taken him off long before he did go off. No contract for him next season methinks

Hyypia had just gone up for the set-piece. When the chavs are losing (like the CL semi) the Special One's brilliant tactic is to put Huth - a centre half - on and punt endless long balls for 30 minutes. Quite different to having Hyypia up for a dead-ball, as most centre backs do during a game

That is of course a matter of opinion - and in a sterile game from an attacking point of views, not saying very much. He had one soft header that the goalie could have thrown his hat on and that's it. The fact that the other forwards on view didn't do much adds to the illusion

Defoe - no good SWP - no good Victor - no idea

Agreed - and both Man U and Chelsea played very cautiously against us in both matches - 5 across the middle, one up front and relying on set-pieces - exactly what some on here are accusing us of doing. Reina has had very little to do in either game from open play. There's a fine margin between success and failure. Both games were dominated by us for long periods, but we just lack a convincing strike force - and Fowler's not the answer

Dream on. United are very much on the downgrade. I can't remember a game at Old Trafford where the home team created no chances from open play in 90 minutes. In a very weak CL group Man United's limitations were exposed for all to see If Arsenal continue to drop points Man U might sneak into fourth spot - and then only because the other teams just behind are just no good. But finishing above Liverpool is way beyond them

I agree with the first part but didn't see any sparks of "magic" from their front two, who were anonymous The difference is that they were the better team against Chelsea, but were very much putplayed by us

He did!

On the Bolton goal, what absolutely no pundit mentioned was that as he was catching the ball, a Bolton player blatantly jumped into him from behind and a foul should have been given. On the radio it sounded like he was standing there unchallenged and fumbled the ball. If it's shown again, you'll see what I mean. He's kept I think 15 clean sheets in 20 games and yet someone on here slags him off - unbelievable