The walters step over

To be fair to Rooney, it's widely acknowledged that the reason that he did his exclusives with the S** was that they had found out about his visits to certain brothel - like establishments. He gives them his views on all sorts of dull b******* and they don't print the gory details, unfortunately the Sunday rags also knew about his hobby and ran the story. The S** then stitched him up and printed their version - "Auld Slapper" etc anyway. I know it's easier to dislike someone when you simplify things but not everything is in black or white. As for his sending off, IMO the pressure placed on him was huge and with senior players refusing to take responsibility and step up to the plate (esp. Lampard and Beckham) it just seemed inevitable that his frustrations would boil over.

I agree, he left Anfield so hopefully his injury is as serious as we hope and his leg has to be amputated, that will go some way to making me feel even the the horrible, wicked things that he has perpetrated against us loyal, decent and fair fans. Hopefully, his mental state will deteriorate and he will end up a wife beating drunk (possibly including a spell in prison). From there perhaps suicide would be an option? Let's hope so!! He deserves everything he gets the evil b******. How dare he have been so disloyal to us? The greatest fans on the face of the planet! p.s. come on Stevie and Carra! You can do it! Just don't mention your shirt being set on fire on live national t.v. Steve and you'll be alright (as long as you don't even think about leaving because then we'll have to threaten the safety of you, your girlfriend and both of your families). And Carra, forget about the abuse you got from the stands for the first three years of your Liverpool career because we now love you!! * * Obviously, this is subject to change,if you go through a bad patch we still reserve the right to boo and swamp the radio phone ins to proclaim how you're the worst player in our history - it'll be like 1999 all over again!! There are some people that seriously need to grow up on this forum, revelling in the misfortune of one of the best players to pull on our shirt over the last ten years is just petty and childish. For what it's worth, my opinion is that if he has done his cruciate then Owens game will degenerate so much that we could well see him retire in the next 1-2 years. Why ANYONE would take pleasure in that is really beyond me.

That's amazing!! You know precisely what was said in Madrid, you really do have great connections! Is it that you know "someone at Real Madrid, but you can't tell us who?" Or, more likely, is that an rumour you heard and you're just repeating it as fact to try to shore up your argument? I'm even boring myself by continually going on about this but in interviews with the national media Paul Jewell stated that he knew that Owen was "desperate" to rejoin us (which is why Wigan, when they tried to sign him, offered Owen a clause in his contract so that he could return to Anfield as long as we paid Wigan the full £12m that Wigan were going to pay for him - I presume that this is the basis of every £12m clause in his Newcastle contract story that you keep reading about in EVERY newspaper). Mickey Quinn did an interview in the Express whereby he said again that Owen wanted to come home but that after agreeing the contract with us hadn't heard anything else from the club for a few days. Perhaps Jewell and Quinn are just liars, or perhaps Owen really did want to rejoin but having found out that his wife was pregnant again decided that after putting up with taking s*** off Madrid his main priority was just to come back to England and maybe hope that we would come in for him again this summer. BTW, have you actually seen Bellamys injury/goalscoring record? Still, as long as he kisses the badge and tell the media what "great fans" we are we should be happy.

But, because it's pecisely because they are playing together that Gerrard ISN'T playing in his club position. There's no doubt that Owen was s*** on Saturday but he still remains our biggest chance of scoring goals in open play, just ask yourself what is more likely to happen - Lampard having four or five shots from distance (like he did on Sat) and one going in, or Owen being played in on the keeper twice and scoring at least one? For two and a half years now Eriksson has came out with the same old rubbish about the Gerrard/Lampard midfield - "they are intelligent players, they will work it out, blah,blah,blah." The trouble is that they haven't worked it out, Lampard just refuses to be the sitiing mid during games which leaves Gerrard twiddling his thumbs in the centre circle whilst fat Frank fires in shots from all distances and angles and taking all the plaudits. There was at least two occasions in the game where Lampard could (and Gerrard would have) slipped a short pass behind the defence for Owen and Crouch to run onto with just the keeper to beat, instead he shot from 25 yards, this looks great and gives him good write ups in the papers but it isn't very usefull for the team overall. I still think that we'll get to the quarters, but if Sven doesn't allow Gerrard to be the main man in midfield and persists with playing Lampard with him then we'll lose a lot of creativity and drive and end up coming home early from a tournament that we have a genuine chance of winning.

Congratulations, you've managed to say something utterly idiotic but make it seem like a considered, well thought out argument. He managed to finish as the leagues top scorer in his first two seasons for us and maybe, just maybe the fact that for the bulk of his career with us he was playing in a negative, long ball team (although, I realise to some people this was actually because the entire team was built just so that he could score and take the glory - obviously the games where we didn't create a single, clear cut chance where actually his fault). In an interview I read with him he pretty much blamed Houllier for his hamstring problems in that when he had the first serious one the medical team were telling him if he rested and followed their advice then he shouldn't have any other major problems, unfortunately Houllier was also telling him that the fans wanted to see him play and that he owed it to us to help the team get results. He showed what he thought of the club by continuing to play (and score) even though he new it was inevitable it would lead to further problems and the ensuing row between the medical staff and Houllier ended with Mark Leather being sacked. I only say this as an example because some of the anti - Owen posts on here ( he didn't care about the club, he only plays for the money, blah,blah,blah) are pretty childish and simplistic. I don't think he will be here next season, and I don't think that he would win us the title even if he was but to trot out the same old spiteful bulls*** when discussing him I think does him, and us a huge disservice.

The best way of doing that would be to drop fat Frank, play Carrick as the holding mid and allow Gerrard and Beckham the freedom to swap places when they felt the need. Play that way and we'd see the best of: Crouch - because he wouldn't be isolated up front as he sometimes has been for us as he'd have Owen feeding off his knock downs. Owen - see above. Gerrard - he would FINALLY have the same licence to roam as he does with us. Beckham - Can still deliver his crosses from the right, but also could come inside with Stevie going right when he needed to. Can't see Sven having the balls to drop Lampard though, shame really because we could go pretty far if he allows his most dangerous players (Owen, Gerrard and Beckham) the freedom to play the way they want.

I wouldn't say that UEFA were paranoid at all, the G14 are only interested in their own needs (which you might say, is fair enough), however the more influence they acquire then the more likely the European super league. This, IMO would only lead to the destruction of the domestic leagues in Europe. How would you feel if in ten years time our 23 (fingers crossed ) titles are derided in the same way as the F.A. cup, UEFA cup and league cup triumphs because the only trophy that will matter will be the super league title? Would you bother going to/watching on telly any of our games if there was little chance of us winning the super league/being relegated (because the ONLY way the G14 will start the break away will be if there's a guarantee that none of the teams can be relegated and other, non-member clubs taking their place). In a practical way, it's a good thing that we're on the inside p****** out, but I would much rather the G14 didn't exist at all.

I would imagine a lot of planning went into signing Crouch and Morientes

Ibrahimovic has had a bad year, but I think part of that was due to a fall out with Capello. Last year he was brilliant (except for the games against us ), He's got all of the skill and technique that Crouch doesn't AND he scores goals. According to Marcotti, there are a lot of managers around Europe waiting to see what happens to Juve before they commit themselves in the transfer market. IMO, we could do a lot, lot worse than either of those two.

Juventus are in a whole heap of s*** at the moment due to trying to control referees in Italy over the past few years. According to Gabrielle Marcotti, if the league decide to send them down to the second division (which is apparently VERY possible) then there will be a firesale of players as players activate their relegation release clauses. If there is a chance that we could get the likes of Zlatan and Trezeguet, wouldn't it be better to wait and see how things pan out in Italy, rather than rush things and end up with players like Kuyt and Defoe? And are there any other players that we could use from the Juve squad?

The answer to that is WE should care why Defoe isn't playing for England. We should care because (at the age of 24) he doesn't have ANY European experience, so the only way we could judge if he's good enough to play Cl football is to see how he's done internationally. We should care because he hasn't shown that he can fit in with England ( 1 goal in 16 apps), yes, the majority of those apps are as sub but doesn't it worry anyone that with the talent England have defoe just hasn't looked as though he fits in? I've heard too many phone in shows where Spurs fans have been criticising Defoe for being too selfish and playing for himself to wonder whether it is such a good idea to get rid of Cisse (who's scored more goals than Defoe at all levels of football) and replace him with a player that has a virtually identical, but not as successful, style of play.

He started this season as the number one choice for Spurs, with Keane on the bench. He didn't make the most of it whilst Keane kept his head down, worked hard and had an impact when he came onto the pitch. If you contrast this with the way that Defoe has had virtually f*** all impact when he's come on as sub (for spurs, and probably more tellingly, England) then I have a pretty bad feeling about him signing. If Rafa continues to rotate his squad next year (which he will) then I would rather we kept Cisse than take a punt on a player that hasn't really set the Premiership alight and hasn't shown at all that he's willing to put the team first. It's a shame that Rafa seems more willing to chew off his own feet than go back for Owen this summer and would rather sign someone nowhere near as good. Obviously, I wish him well if he does sign, but I can't help feeling that this time next year we will be discussing which strikers we should sign in the summer that would help turn us into genuine contenders.

It's part of the E.U employment laws, I'm not an expert on the details but any club could (in theory) buy out the last year of a players contract if that player is over the age of 24. I think it's based on how much wages the players get, if they earned £1m a year then the buying club (or the player) would have to pay a multiple of that to be a free agent. In Spain, they have a system whereby EVERY player has a buy - out clause in their contract. Say the clause is for £10m, then any interested club that deposited £10m in the Spanish F.A.'s bank would have the opportunity to speak to the player.That was the way in which Perez forced Figo into joining him and because Madrid had lodged his buy out (I think it was about £38m) with the F.A. there was F*** all Barca could do about it.

On the first point, nobody would say that Stevie G doesn't care about the club but he came within inches of leaving us twice over the last two years - is he not a "true red"? Also, there seems to be little doubt that Rafa (or his agent, at least) held tentative talks with Madrid AND Inter a few months ago, should we hope that he leaves for such disloyalty? The point is, Owen had a chance to join the biggest club in the world and he took it. It's dissapointing, but entirely understandable given the state of our club at the time - and for those that think he had it planned for months and "did the dirty" on us then the fact that he and his missus had to stay cooped up in one hotel room for three months would indicate that he is telling the truth when he says that it wasn't something he was cooking up with his agent for months in advance. It's fairly obvious that he does care for the club, the fact that he attended our games during his winter break, the fact that he (according to Gerrard) was the first person on the phone to congratulate the lads after Istanbul, the fact that he stated that he wanted to re join us last summer. To me, any discussion about whether or not he should/will come back this summer rests on these questions: Is he better than what we've got? YES Would we be a better team if he's a regular in it? YES Could we get anyone better? NO, in my opinion the top of the range (Shevchenko, Eto'o, Henry) will never join us. Everyone else that seems to get mentioned (Bellamy,Defoe,Bent, Kuiyyt,etc,etc) would be a gamble, either we would need them to step their games up a level, or we would need them to adapt quickly to English football. There are too many people who want to cut their noses off to spite their faces, when in fact their faces haven't really done anything wrong.

That's fine in theory, but can you name a striker as good as Owen that would join us? Bellamy - attitude problem, premiership goalscoring record isn't that great. Defoe - again, goalscoring record not that great, very little (if any) European experience and has struggled to make any sort of impact at international level. Bent - great goalscoring record, but can he make the step up? Anyway you look at it, any of the above three would be a gamble as to whether they could make the grade at a club the size of ours. We could go abroad and buy a highly rated foreigner but as Morientes has proved, a reputation on the continent doesn't always translate to goals in England. Owen (whatever you think of him) has proven himself time and time again, and in the words of Paul Jewell (quoted in the Times) was "desperate" to rejoin us. It may be that the people that have met him have been lied to by Owen and that he is some kind of evil genius that played LFC for fools whilst convincing them that, actually, he's a pretty decent guy that would really,really like to play for us. To me, it seems obvious, if it's a choice betwenn a man that we KNOW can do it, or taking (yet another) gamble then I would go for Owen every single day of the week.