Toni

thing is we may be forced to rest some of our key players, alonso/gerrard/hyppia/carra in particular hope it wont back fire. FORMATION TIME ...................................Carson.................................. Finnan..................Carra....................Agger................Riise. Garcia..................Gerrard.................Sissoko................Kewell ..............................Nando.................Cisse.......................... Subs Dudek Hyppia Alonso Hamann Fowler. If we are winning Gerrard out, Didi in.

Alonso was worse than momo vs chelsea....alonso seems off form at the moment...his last 3 games were poor by his standards, perhaps he needs a rest. i think momo is a better option than Didi. Although Didi doesnt lose too many balls, he is far less effective than momo throughout the match...with didi in the team the whole team plays 10yards back than when momo is on the pitch. didi is a great player to bring on when you want to defend your advantage...when you need to score momo is the better option and considering our strikers goals to game ratio, i think didi will rarely feature this season, except to offer a rest to the other mifielders

It is a known fact that we need a bigger stadium to compete with the elite in the transfer market. However Throwing all your energy and funds while not shopping at Harrods (as Kev says) to fund the stadium is a big mistake. The team's biggest defeciencies need to be adressed. Thus a RW and a ST are imperatitve buys next summer. we cant enter next season s competitions without first adressing these major issues, even if it may mean that we must spend a bit over the top. we must make the next step now or we will stagnate again like we did under houllier. We must first give Rafa enough funds to complete his jigsaw, which imho is near completion, in financial terms imho 30mill are more than enough, then with a good strong, relatively young team, firing in all directions we can maximize our efforts to enhance the income revenue for LFC.

no true red can loathe any other team, more than manure!

carson/dudek.....dilemma....one of them will be not be very happy in the next few weeks....

Spot on, every word! totally echos my thoughts.

We need an Owen+Fowler reunion next season. keep crouch and either one of nando cisse.

John Barnes (Digger!!!) one of the main reasons why i fell in love with LFC. Absolute genius...On his day he could make LFC unbeatable.

leo give sami an 8 and you d be spot on.. sami is having a really great season...absolute rock in defence...wil be very very very hard for Agger to take his place just yet.

A forward, if a good player chooses to do the best move every time, may it be a shot or pass. It s not about "balancing your own instincts" (whatever that is)...It s about good decision making and choosing to do he right option every time. Our strikers do not score enough and Rafa is far from happy with their return, in fact he loaned Fowler. No petty excuse can suffice to justify our strikers poor return of goals.

prices are expensive as it is a small island, thus land area is limited and the demand is high. At present we have one golf-course and are in the process of building another.

same here in Malta...we have a local channel called the 'sports channel' and shows every single game of the PL..havent missed watching a single LFC game all season.

How do you think LFC fared in the transfer-window? utter total disgrace expected us to do better satisfactory good chuffed Finally the dramatic Jan transfer window closed...Spill the beans.... EDIT: how the feck do you make a poll where guys can tick in the boxes instead of stupid balack unclickable round spots??????

Disagree. Cisse doesnt seem to have enough technique, or track back enough to play at RW. Finnan doesnt possess the necessary skills pace and trickery to play at RW..has a decent cross in him,Great RB but is certainly no RW. Gerrard, can play at RW, but we lose out in the middle, one of the better options though. Kewell is a LEFT wing, thus is obvious he is more effective on the left...him and JAR at LB, great down that left side.. krompkamp, only saw him vs pompey, strikes me as a natural RB, but cant make a judgement on him yet. Garcia is the best bet on the right imho. Summing up one has to agree that buying quality players during the January transfer window is a very difficult, for obvious customary reasons, but IMHO the mistake of not securing a RW, who would have given us more possibilities and options and different styles of play down that right hand side, was made, and was made during the Summer. We could be closer to the chavs at this time of the season, but everyone errs, important thing is to learn from them and move on. I dont know who failed to secure a Rw for us last summer, may it be the board for not giving Rafa some leeway in exceeding the transfer kitty, or Rafa himself to rigidly observe his mandatory rule, 'not to be held at ransom'. Sometimes if a player is fundamental to your plans one can exceed the limits in favour of the long-term goal, like we did with Agger, where we approx paid 2mill over his 4mill value...Next summer i am expecting us to buy a very good RW.

He certainly has loads of pace, very good balance and has a good feel on the ball....certainly has the potential to make the grade...fingers crossed he does.

Tosh may have a point....... link Fowler was Rafa's pub plan Monday January 30 2006 Rafael Benitez has revealed the idea to re-sign Robbie Fowler was hatched in his mind after he celebrated last season's Champions League semi-final triumph over Chelsea with the Kop legend in a Liverpool pub. The Anfield chief ended up sharing a drink with Fowler and his best pal Steve McManaman in a local pub, surrounded by joyous Liverpool fans celebrating their club's progress to their sixth European Cup final. Benitez, who has confirmed interest in Deportivo La Coruna winger Victor has all but ended, is delighted he has finally captured the player who impressed him so much in the chance pub meeting after the victory over Chelsea. He said: "I first thought of the idea after the Chelsea game, he was in a pub - only with a soft drink - with us and we were talking about football. "Steve McManaman was also there and you could hear all the fans saying 'you should sign Robbie on again' and things like that. "I am always thinking about my strikers, I always have confidence in them, but the idea was always in my mind. "Then in the last week I analysed Robbie and tried to know what he could give to us. I had a meeting with him and explained my ideas for him at the club. "Then I decided to sign him, he was talking to me with his heart. I could see the passion, he was top scorer here and he clearly has great intelligence about the game. "He has all these things as well as passion. You can now see the reaction of the supporters.'' Benitez has allowed Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez to join Real Sociedad until the end of the season, having failed to get a work permit for the youngster. The only other departure before the transfer window closes is a possible loan move for Florent Sinama-Pongolle, with Liverpool having three offers for him. But Benitez is clearly not going to move on Djibril Cisse, despite plenty of speculation. Benitez said: "Robbie has the mentality for the English League. Cisse and Morientes can score goals and they have done that in France and Spain, but Robbie is different. "He has different movement, different qualities. To start a game is too soon but he is working with the coaches and he will play soon. I hope he can play some part of the game against Birmingham. "Robbie understands he must work for the team, he knows it is not about individuals."

stating the obvious, we have a large squad and rafa can use the rotation policy...we have able back ups in every department now most notably GOD himself, except of course right wing, so far. (correction we dont even have a right wing at Liverpool, a bit of a rant yes cos i want a RW)

can you kindly elaborate a bit on this, please? is he an above avreage type of player? How many 'levels' is he behind Robben, Duff, J.Cole, SWP, etc?? Gracias.

i think the main reason signed robbie on loan is because of ?We?ve signed a player with so much passion for this club,? Benítez said. ?He will act as an example to every player here in how much he loves Liverpool. It?s a boost for the team, a boost for the fans and a boost for Robbie. hopefully he will also prove a valuable asset on the pitch as well. C'mon Robbie!!!

Considering there is only a very slim chance, we will overtake chelsea in the tile race... Considering we have a good, solid enough squad to do very well in the CL. (even win it again) Considering the true fact that in Jan it is more difficult, more expensive to buy quality. Considering rafa s obstenity not to minimally pay over the price value of any player( which imo can cut both ways) I doubt we will buy that RW we all yearn for this Jan. If a mistake was ever made, it was made in Summer, now prices are too high and theres little at stake to pay huge amounts of money on a player...it is understandbly preferrable to sit, tight wait until summer and then assess your options more rationally and peacefully. However still cant understand, what happened last summer, why LFC bid so late for simao/bonera?

maybe because it was a really great solo effort...he dribbled a man and in very cool fashion placed the ball out of the keeper s reach, from a difficult position and into the net. crouch s goal is also very good, but although he finished superbly he was only one on one with keeper and in those situations i expect nothing less than a goal from a striker. my tuppence opinion.

What is the best goal you have ever scored for Liverpool? I think the most important goal I've scored was the one in Istanbul to get us back to 3-1, but one of the best was probably against Middlesborough at home last season. That was a nice goal on the eye but the most important was definitely the one in Istanbul. You already look like the complete player but are there any parts of your game that you feel you can improve? Yes I'm still trying to improve every day. I train to improve, I don't just train for training's sake. I'm still trying to learn loads from the coaching staff here and off my team mates because you can never stop learning and improving your game. Can you explain exactly what you were thinking just before you kissed the European cup in Istanbul? It was just a big weight of my shoulders really. It was obviously a big disappointment to lose in the Carling Cup final and as a captain you wonder if you are ever going to lift a trophy. It was just a relief that I could lift my first cup, and being a European champion made it the greatest feeling in my footballing life. As Liverpool captain how excited are you about what Rafael Benitez is building at Anfield? Very excited. There's been a lot of improvement from last season, we've just gone into the fourth round of the FA Cup, we're in the last 16 of the Champions league and we're also tucked in nicely in the league with a couple of games in hand. Things are looking really good, the team's getting betterand better, the squad's getting stronger and he's still after more players so the future's looking bright for the team You're obviously a very proud Liverpudlian but after recently calling Kevin Nolan a good scouser and Mike Newell a good scouse manager, do you see being scouse as a great quality in people? It's nice as a scouser to see other scousers doing really well. Kevin's flying at Bolton and it was important that I let people know that I'm not going to deliberately try and hurt someone on a football pitch, especially someone I know really well. I know Mike Newell as a friend as well as a Luton manager so its nice to see people from our area doing well. What did you think of Wayne Rooney's comments that seeing you lift the European cup made him feel sick? I'm not surprised. I'd probably get a similar feeling to him if Man Utd were to go and do it - that's just the rivalry between the two clubs. It's great to see Wayne doing well because he's a great mate of mine from the England set up and he's absolutely flying at the moment. I think a couple of years down the line we'll be talking about him as one of the best players in the world When you're on the pitch do you ever have to stop yourself from laughing at some of the things you hear from the crowd? Now and again. The Liverpool fans have got some great songs and they're really sharp. It is funny. How much are you involved with Rafa when it comes to bringing new players to the club - does he ever consult you? No that's got nothing to do with me. That's between the manager, Rick Parry and the staff, but he has spoken to me about certain players and if he asks me for my opinion then I'll give him an honest answer. He might ask me what a player is like off the pitch and if I can help him to make a decision on that player then fine. I'm planning a night out after Liverpool play Spurs - can you recommend anywhere good to go in town? There's loads of good places. I'll probably be out myself if the result goes well and have a nice bite to eat with my missus. There's a lot of good places, it's difficult to pick one.

seems rafa is not that interested

Saturday, 21 January 2006 Birmingham v Portsmouth, 0-1 Bolton v Man City, 2-1 Everton v Arsenal, 0-2 Middlesbrough v Wigan, 2-2 Newcastle v Blackburn, 1-1 Tottenham v Aston Villa, 3-1 West Brom v Sunderland, 1-1 Sunday, 22 January 2006 Chelsea v Charlton, 2-2 Man Utd v Liverpool, 1-3 Monday, 23 January 2006 West Ham v Fulham, 0-0