Raj

champions league winner would swing it for me.

We're on 58 points with 8 games to go. If we win 4, that would give us 70 points. Spurs have a tough run in and i dont expect them to catch us. Still to play Arsenal, Man Utd, etc Arsenal are on 47 points with 9 games to go. To beat our total they would have to win 8 of these games. Thats a very tall order. We need to focus on ourselves and with our run -n, we are capable of getting points at all remaining games.

1) No 2) Yes 3) No 4) Yes 5) Yes 6) Yes

it depends on the quality of player we bring in and the opposition we play against i prefer him on the right as we have a better balance centrally with Xabi and Momo. if we have a top quality right winger and a strong centre forward, gerrard can play off the striker in a 451 depending on who we play against. at least we have the option of being tactically flexible

what he said.

impossible to say without knowing who we purchase in the summer. with the current squad. right wing.

but thats the issue. is someone available, who has the right quality, and at the right price to shift Gerrard from right wing? i'm not so sure, especially with our problems up front, which i think are far more acute. .

i think he'll stick with one and rotate with gerrard. excellent news, i missed that. thanks

If true, I stand corrected and will be even more made up 3 players that will improve the squad for budget prices. i've seen aurelio play a few times and is a decent left back. Gonzalez will definitely offer us something different, with his pace and touch. Not seen Paletta, but he's an Argie defender and as long as he's quicker than the last Argie defender we had here, we should be ok. Also, enables us to spend more money on the 2 strikers and right winger we need.

No. Though he is a fantastic, opportunist striker Morientes?

my understanding is that the fees are like this - Gonzalez - £3 million Paletta - £2 million Aurelio - Free

On more occasions then i can remember. appalling ref. I would prefer it, if refs had the b******s to come out after the game and explain a controversial decision from their point of view. I would be a lot more sympathetic to their situation then. They may well have made an incorrect decision, but if its explained to all, then surely that would go some way to appeasing fans, managers and the media? If i'm not mistaken, the only referee who has done this, has been Graham Poll. And he was widely praised for doing it, against the advice of the assessors at the game.

i think this is pretty much nailed on. a hell of a lot of rumours flying around about this. gonzalez, paletta and aurelio for approx £5million in transfer fees. seems like good business. now the hard part of getting the right winger and strikers we need.

If fit and able, I would always choose Alonso, Sissoko and Gerrard in the same team. I think they compliment each other fantastically well. Whether that's in a 451 or 442, would really depend on the opposition and our ability to purchase a right winger of any substance. I hear what you are saying about a powerful striker in a 451, but they are few and far between. I can only think of RVN, Makaay and possibly Kuyt, who would be able to provide the link up play and goals that are required. And neither of those would come cheap, if at all. Which is why I believe, that on the whole, we will persist with 442. that is a possibility, but most of liverpool's most effective attacking play, has occured when Gerrard has license to attack freely. I think Momo, is more than capable of providing cover when Gerrard does roam, plus we have an extremely strong right back, which enables us to play this way. i think all the discussion of playing gerrard in the middle is pretty redundant, unless we sign a top quality right winger. and he will have to be very good if he is to surpass gerrards performances this season.

Momo and Gerrard do raise important questions. I do think the loss of Momo has been felt quite profoundly. I believe that Alonso and Sissoko should play in the middle, if we are playing 442. They complement each other very well. I prefer having Gerrard on the right, not only for his outstanding crossing ability, but it enables him to attack without constraint. My concern about Gerrard playing centrally in a 442, is that he exposes Alonso when he breaks forward and we lose the ball. Alonso doesnt have the pace to recover in situations like this, especially against top class opposition who break quickly. I would like us to get another right winger to rotate in this position. This would enable us to change tactics and play Gerrard centrally against weaker oppostion where his defensive responsibilities are not so great.

agreed. it does seem quite strange. i'm usually ok, although the more texts i got from terri, the more apprehensive i became. i feel more disappointed now that we are out, more so now, as we could have been playing Barcelona. not surprised your work colleague is worried, it must be a novel experience getting to the QF of the CL. if he needs any tips on how to handle it, you'll have more than enough experience to offer him

steve bruce.

Totally agreed. i feel worse today then i did after the game, where i just felt deflated. Would have loved to have taken on Barca. Might not have got through, but at least we would have been able to challenge the strongest team in the competition. Plus, it would have been a good away trip. Raj

inter and milan were due to play at home this week. they moved the game so they didnt have 4 sets of football fans knocking around milan

outrageous bit of skill, before an excellent finish lyon are looking strong too. with a handy draw in the next round, they could go all the way

ffs give him a break. he's been with us for 8 months. he's played well for the majority of the time, but he has not scored as many goals as he/we would have liked. its a big step up for him and i think he's shown that he can make the grade. benitez and the other players realise that he is pivotal to how we play at the moment. i'm not excusing his lack of goals, but the burden of goals falls on the team as a whole too. morientes, cisse, kewell, etc have not scored enough goals either. these are arguments that can be levelled at each of these players. he knows he has to improve his goals tally, but lets see how he performs next season. i fully believe that he will not only improve his goals tally, but will improve his all round play too. i feel that he has been a positive signing, but there is more to come.

thats fair, but unless he's going to change tactics, i cant really see how lampard and ballack would function together. ballack is a better player than lampard (imo), and he takes up the same positions as lampard. would essien miss out? in some games possibly, but they would lose a certain amount of solidity in the centre. It would put a hell of a lot of pressure on Makelele. not to mention the knock on effect it would have on the morale of the squad. where would gudjohnsen fit in? would he be happy with the reduction in games he would play?

so its safe to assume that you mean shevchenko. i presume they're including crespo in the deal, which would make sense. anyone know how old shevchenko is now? 29? 30? still leaves them with a problem of who to drop in midfield....

considering Morientes is so slow, i do wonder why he always seems to play deeper than Crouch. i would have thought he would be better suited to playing as the lead striker and using his movement (opposed to pace) to get into scoring positions. when he plays deep, he doesnt have the pace to get anywhere near the positions he should be in when we cross the ball

hindsight is a wonderful thing, and although i dont disagree with any of your points, if we had taken either of Garcia's or Crouch's chances the game would have turned out differently. We would have been 1-0 up with over 60 mins to play. This was the key, not the non-selection of hamman or anyone else.