Billy Talbot

Run the f*****s over with one of these.

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He defintely lacks that "half a yard in the head" thing. Perhaps him having that pace has meant he's never had to learn it. The attacking version of Micah Richards.

I thought this was all about the international traffiking of u-18s. Crewe to Liverpool is hardly uprooting a minor.

I don't think we've seen a particularly great performance from Lucas, Mascherano, Skrtle or Carragher this season in the premier league. Singling out Lucas is a bit naughty in this context. In fact, Torres has started slowly, Gerrard looked like he was carrying an injury. Reira's been missing, as has Aurelio. I can only think of 5 players that have had decent starts this season. Reina's looked good, as has Insua. Dirk's mostly looked himself and Benayoun has showed something of the form from the end of last season but has also been carrying an injury. Johnson has been outstanding. The rest by their own admission have had to have a look at themselves. Lucas is going to find it a lot easier to find his feet as first XI player when the more senior players around him start to find some form.

good point. Also reminded me what a t*** Jon Champion is. "Ellery has a record of sending off Roy Keane". As though any other action would have been remotely acceptable.

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I'm glad they banned him. It was an obvious dive and the wink after made it stonewall. I'd be infinitley more glad if they do it all the time. They've been doing it for ages for those who stamp (excepting the obvious) on other players. After this I want them to start banning the f*****s who blatently deliberately handball.

I agree. We need shut of them sharpish. This transfer window should act as an eye-opener for those who've given the yanks the benefit.

That's the best thing I've read on here for ages. Bring out your Rafatollahs. Pray to Istanbul every day. Stick Aquilani in your fantasy team come November.

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Ball retention is the most important thing against teams that press like that. Unfortunately both our centre halves (after nearly knocking each other out) spent most of the game giving the ball away.

I thought the distribution of from our central defence was the problem yesterday. For some reason Carragher doesn't want to trust Lucas with the ball... Well tough s*** Carra, he's the option... so use him. Otherwise, I agree, the only two short term solutions are dropping Gerrard slightly deeper, or dropping Carragher. We'd have less of a need for this if Agger was fit. It will be very interesting to see where Aquilani is going to fit into this team. IF he can forge a partnership with Gerrard and share the work going forwards, that will free Gerrard to come deeper in the long run anyway.

I agree we could do with a utility man, someone who can play CB and do a stint in midfield. I'm fine with Alonso's place in the squad being taken by Lucas, but who's replacing Lucas? Aquliani is something extra in the final third. Not sure about Poulsen though. Either Rafa's backing Plessis or there's a big hole in our squad.

I agree, although it could be argued (with Aquilani and Johnson) we've improved our 1st XI, our squad is considerably thinner.

I think Tevez would have been signed on the never never. I think if we had £30m in cash for Kia Tevez would now be a Liverpool player. Either that or Rafa really is a clever little squirrel.

Aye. And I quite like the look of N'Gog. At least in our build up play.

RIP Sir Bobby Robson Sad, sad day.

I quite agree. I'll be most angry if his star-jumps go skew-wiff thanks to this positional meddling. Imagine if he ends up with a wonky spine.

Swings and roundabouts innit. Bigger Club = more competition but better environment. However, our recent record is abysmal. Who in recent times has been bought as a youngster and gone on to play proper first XI? Baros? It's becoming a bit of an albatross, I'm glad Rafa is shaking some things up in Kirkby.

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Aye, I agree. I'm not being funny, but if I were Alonso, I'd be thinking twice about having that job. In our team, Kuyt, Torres and Gerrard all work to win the ball back for the team far harder than anyone at Madrid does. Xabi without the ball isn't going to be that effective at supplying anyone up front, regardless of who they are and how much they cost.

Plessis. If Alonso goes, we'd have two options. To either try to replace him with someone who'll play more games than Lucas. Or promote Lucas, and sign someone to compete with him. If we go the second route, I'd expect us to sign 2 new CMs as Masch, Lucas, AN Other and Plessis isn't where we need to be.

So does that mean we've agreed a fee that we can't afford without players sales? Or are we waiting for Silva to decide what he's doing? Or is Rafa weighing up alternatives? Or a mixture of all three? Either that or the rumours were just that. I think that covers most bases.

Rafa wants to keep Alonso. I don't buy this Rafa wants rid at an acceptable price that's going around. The acceptable price would be enough to make Rafa do something something he really doesn't want to do. I think Real have cottoned on to that. Which is what all this "he's too expensive" stuff is about. They're just trying to flush out Alonso. It's last gasp.