Kindred

I'm sure Id read that as well. Just been trying to find the quote on .tv, but can't find the one that I seem to remember. All I could find was this: 'I have agreed to sell my shares to assist in securing the investment needed for the new stadium and for the playing squad' (Moores) I'm sure there was another quote referring to it though, as a prerequisite to any deal being concluded.

On a more positive note Hicks is keen to show fans the finished design for the club?s new stadium, to be built close to the current Anfield ground in Stanley Park. ?The design is now final, it?s spectacular and I can?t wait for everybody to see it,? he added. ?I think our fans will love it, it?s very creative architecture, very contemporary but also unique to Liverpool. ?It is all centred around the Kop. It will be the symphony stage that plays to the symphony hall.? here

I just caught the end of the liverpool 'chat' on 5live and I think it was Johnathan Ledgard saying that as well (high profile player in the bag) and also that he was under the impression that Eto'o was the number one target up front as Villa was thought to be too lightweight to stand up to the premiership.

Splitting hairs perhaps(!) but he often seemed to accelerate away for the first few yards and then the defender would almost catch up again! With someone like Henry, when he broke clear, there was never any catching him. Like you say, I think over 100m there would be a few players who would have been as quick as him.

Ive got one of those video clip montages of Alonso from his first season when everyone was raving about him and the most noticable thing is just how much time and space he has on the ball. Noone really knew about him then and everyone assumed as he sat so deep he couldn't pose too much danger. How wrong were they! Of course whats happened this season is that the opposition has woken up a bit and got people alot tighter to him alot quicker, which has maybe taken him a while to adapt to but I think over the season he has adjusted to it and begun to dominate games again. He would be a big loss, particularly if the 4231 thing happens on a regular basis, as I think he would be key to making that work.

To be honest, I never thought that Owen was that 'pacy' - contoversial perhaps!. He was certainly quick but I think what he had over defenders was acceleration over the first 3-4 yards that enabled him to pull away. That is what I think the last few years will have taken from him. His other main attribute was his composure in front of goal. I can only recall one game where he 'failed' in front of goal - ((IIRC) Leverkeusen away under Houllier, where he had 4-5 genuine chances, some one on one, and every one went wide or was cleared). I think that attribute will still remain, which is what makes him a 'possibility', because when hes up & running he will score goals. You can argue whether or not he would fit in with our style of play mind. But because he does (almost) guarantee goals, that puts him ahead of people like Bent for me and when you really look at the other options around Europe theres no guarantee that any one of them will suit the premiership or settle in with their families. Its also unlikely that he would play more than 30 or so games a season under rafa anyway, what with rotation, which is probably a good thing for him really giving his body time to recover properly between games. I think 'if' rafa wants him he would quite easily put everything that happened in the past behind him, because it would be in everyones interest to do so. Of course there is no guarantee at the moment that Owen is fully recovered and he would have to play a full part in the England games coming up before parting with any money for him. But then every transfer is a gamble in one way or another and I tend to think that rafa will probably go for someone out of left field anyway!

Rafa agrees - "I always say the same thing. What is the difference between 4-3-3 and 4-5-1? Only whether you play the wingers deep or high. Then if you press the other team they will play deep, 4-5-1. And if you cannot press them because they are stronger than you, they'll play 4-3-3. People talk about systems, but maybe they don't know a lot about systems. "At Valencia we played 4-2-3-1. And here, when we play our best football, we play 4-2-3-1. When we control the game, when we score goals, we play 4-2-3-1. What's the difference? It depends on the second striker. If he goes back to defend, it's 4-2-3-1. If he stays up, it's 4-4-2. It's the same. The system is only designed around numbers. The most important thing is what the players do." (it is from a while ago mind!)here

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4312?

He's also on the bench according to LFC.tv!

3-0 up at half time. Linfield Fowler Pennant (25yarder!)

I would guess that it is something new as its not advertised on their website schedule but they went to the trouble of advertising it on the tv.

I remember that one! IIRC when he came on whenever England got the ball they gave it straight to JohnnyB - which may help to prove his point. Also remember his freekick against Holland later on and the explosion of emotion from him after that.

One of my all time favourite players. He always used to say that his greatest asset was balance - in that he could easily ride tackles and keep going the other side (which is almost frowned upon nowadays in the get-a-touch-and-go-to-ground-era!) Regarding England, he maintained at the time, that the problem was Liverpool kept the ball and England didn't. For Liverpool half the time he would lay the ball off first time, doing nothing spectacular apart from playing his part within the team. With so many more touches of the ball within a game he was always bound to have more opportunities to do something special, whereas for England as soon as they got the ball it had to played forward and to have an attack at goal or lose possession. Also at that time all the non Liverpool press, largely, only got to see the highlights of Liverpool games and assumed he just did the special stuff all the time. He felt Chris Waddle suffered similarly.

The full Europe XI squad Goalkeepers: Oliver Kahn, Grégory Coupet, Iker Casillas. Defenders: Paolo Maldini, Jamie Carragher, Eric Abidal, Lilan Thuram, Carles Puyol, Marco Materazzi, Fabio Grosso. Midfielders: Gianluca Zambrotta, Steven Gerrard, Juninho Pernambucano, Florent Malouda, Luis Miguel, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo. Strikers: Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Alessandro Mancini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson.

I did read somewhere, a short while ago, that Owen was available this summer for what he was sold to Madrid for, as some clause in his contract. Can't remember where now though or how the author would know, (possibly the Times?). ???

Yes, it is simplistic logic. But if Gerrard had fired all season like he has done previously then he would compare favourably with Ronaldo for goal output. Just comparing the strikers and not attacking midfielders, which is what this thread is about, then our strikers do actually compare quite favourably with Man Us for their goal output. Equally so with Arsenals strikers. Drogba is having a hitherto unheard of season by his normal standards and is full to the brim of confidence & belief and he is also getting the lions share of his whole teams output. Their other strikers are actually not doing quite so well. I think that 20plus strikers are few and far between- as someone else pointed out, even someone of Owens quality has never done it. That was basically all I was trying to say.

Theres a few threads at the moment talking about goals, so I thought I'd actually have a quick look at the stats for this season and dump them in here! Coutesy of BBC top six scorers (all games) for the top 4 teams: Crouch 13 Kuyt 10 Bellamy 9 Gerrard 8 Fowler 7 Luis Garcia 6 Ronaldo 16 Saha 13 Rooney 12 Solskjaer 10 Giggs 6 Scholes 6 Van Persie 13 Henry 12 Adebayor 10 Silva 9 Julio Baptista 8 Aliadiere 4 Drogba 29 Lampard 17 Shevchenko 11 Ballack 5 Kalou 4 Essien 4 Take out Ronaldo, whose having a season like Gerard did for us previously and also Drogba , whose just gone mad! - Man U have 3 strikers scoring 10-13 goals each, same for Arsenal, Chelsea have one on 11 and one on 4. We also have three strikers scoring 9-13 goals each. I'll leave further analysis, if required, to others but it kind of shows were not that disimilar to the other 'big' teams and at least provides some stats to work with rather than just guess work.

Anderson played & scored in the last game. The new guy Duran had a good first game as well.

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Warnocks on MOTD2 right now - his comments might be interesting!

A touch can be anything from a brushing past of arms upwards (in realtime!). A lot of players nowadays will go to ground for this kind of touch, regardless of whether it has actually affected them in anyway and whether they are able to keep on their feet and get a cross/shot away. As far as Gerrards incident is concerned, that was clearly more than a 'touch' (!), but equally he 'played' for it, knowing full well what the likely outcome would be. In the current climate, hes done nothing wrong.

I think this was one example of the majority of penalties that are awarded nowadays. It was as much a penalty 'won' as 'conceded'. If any player feels a 'touch' of any kind in the box from the opposing player, they will go to ground, thereby 'winning' the penalty. Its rare to see a player charge into the box, receive a 'touch' and continue towards goal. Technically, this may be against the spirit of sportsmanship, however if the player does not go to ground the penalty is far less likely to be awarded by the ref, even if it was a 'genuine' foul. What Gerrard did was 'clever' play within the current conditions & standards of refereeing. The defender was nieve at best to expect to get away with it right under the refs nose.