MFletcher

It would be handy if any of our Russian supporters could confirm this story as the rubbish it most likely is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Carvalho_da_Silva "CSKA Moscow Radio have announced Carvalho has agreed a four year deal with English club Liverpool F.C. He is currently out of contract and has been linked with clubs from all over Europe." Rubbish I'd say, but still.

So the left winger is responsible for Riise's hoofing and inability to pass? Give it a rest. The guy will always hoof the ball forward, shoot from ridiculous distances etc. He's a limited player, who is OK defensively and a liability in possession. He is easily the weakest member of our entire defensive unit and I would fully support his sale. This isn't meant as a criticism of him. He did reasonably well yesterday. But one good game in a year and a half says it all about his quite limited ability.

Roy of the Rovers reads Fernando Torres comics.

It won't go down very well at all, but pretty much everything he said is true.

Gerrard Torres Lucas

He skips past players as though they're not even there sometimes. Rafa is blooding him into the team in exactly the right way. I think he's going to be a superstar in the next few years - the dribbling, the shot, the technique... he has it all. I'm really, really excited by how good he could become for us.

This man must not be able to live without the oxygen of publicity. He's always giving interviews. That's his second in the space of a week.

I pronounce it Mas-ker-an-o. I haven't a clue what the correct pronunciation is.

If Torres had taken the penalty and missed, and Porto had went on to equalise - there would have been an outcry. If the scoreline had been 2-0 instead of 2-1 then I'd have given Torres the penalty - but not with only a one goal difference.

Torres Finnan Masch

Dirk was very, very close to his father. It would be no surprise if his death devastated him and he's still not quite over it. He'll come good. I have full confidence he will. I rate him highly and think some of the rubbish spouted on this forum about him in recent months has been shocking.

He was woeful last night. Absolutely woeful. He was a show pony in the away game as well. I wouldn't want him anywhere near the club. He dives and showed little to no heart last night - he should be ashamed of his performance.

Considering that income from supporters makes up a good chunk of their income, I'm inclined to think they'll have to listen to the support. The sheer volume on Wednesday should send a strong enough message that sacking Rafa would be terminal to their hopes of profiting from us. We could make life very difficult financially for them.

Is there anywhere I can see that? I've looked on Youtube etc. but they only have it from when Babel gets the ball.

As Taylor is under 23 and English, would we not have to pay compensation for him in some way? He certainly wouldn't be a completely free signing in the way that Voronin was. I could be mistaken of course.

That's my view as well. Rafa thinks about the club every waking moment. How to make us better, how to take us forward. The Yanks can't be arsed doing anything for another two weeks. It's a no brainer.

I was thinking that myself. It would create a huge talking point and all media outlets would pick up it. The players coming out to the Rafa song as opposed to YNWA - which is an iconic image at Anfield - would certainly show the depth of feeling for Rafa amongst the fanbase.

I certainly believe he's only worried about himself. This guy was paid a huge bonus for appointing Rafa as manager. I'm aware it is one of the few feathers in his cap, but surely his f***ing job is to appoint the best man for the job? He doesn't need a huge f***ing bonus out of it as well. I also believe he favoured the Zippy and Bungle deal over the DIC one as it would allow him to continue in his post and continue to collect his extortionate salary.

The problem is that the Glazers weren't going about trying to undermine and remove Ferguson. Regardless of what any United fan may have thought, they've left him alone to do his job and did what the board are supposed to do - sign the cheques and not question the manager's judgement on footballing matters. Our problem lies in Hicks' ego trip and apparent determination to remove one of the best manager's in the world from his post. And I am being serious when I say that he'll probably be replaced by A) Mourinho or B) an American. Such events were never going to happen at United.

Gillett has always impressed me when he's spoken. Hicks has always come across as someone who isn't the sharpest tool in the box. He isn't an impressive speaker either. Gillett has been remarkably quiet on all of this. It's a very, very strange situation.

Hicks is a complete clown as far as I can see. I will be f***ing furious if this arrogant yank comes in and ruins our club in the way he's threatening to at the minute. I want to hear from Gillett on all of this. Hicks seems to be instigating the crisis with his press releases and interviews. f***ing idiot he is. Those at the game need to get the Rafa banners out in force and sing his name for the entire game.

Already above.

Bascombe is a clown though. I understood his reasons for moving to the NOTW, but some of the s***e he has come out with since starting there has been nothing short of disgraceful. And the owners are clearly naive. They don't have any experience whatsoever in "soccer" and seem to think that leaving everything until mid-December is acceptable. The CL point is thrown up, but what does a potential two extra games to mean us? What if we go out in the round of 16? Have we really made that much more than if we were knocked out in the group stage? As far as I'm concerned, our transfer budget in January shouldn't hinge on whether we progress into the next round of the CL. Sure it would be worth 3 or 4 million quid. But surely one of the reasons that Moores sold up was to ensure a higher transfer spending for the manager. If guys who have the wealth of Gillett and Hicks aren't able to cover an unexpected cash problem then what the hell are they doing? The stadium appears to be completely financed out of debt, with that entire sum being guaranteed against the club. This was something they explicitly stated they would not do at their original press conference. Hicks' comments during the week really riled me as well. "That's what we told him and I guess he didn't like that." Arrogant tosser. Of course he's not f***ing happy, He's trying to plan for the future and to improve our club to the point where league titles each year is expected and finishing second would be failure. How can he do that with two hands tied behind his back and a refusal to financially back him until two weeks before the window opens? We could be looking at our third and fourth choice players by that stage. Hicks and Gillett won me over with their initial press conferences/interview and apparent willingness to back Rafa in the market. I still had suspicions, but they seemed to want to be "custodians". My view now is that the summer spending was nothing that couldn't have been funded under the previous regime - given the CL run and increased TV revenues. If they really think that their statement during the week and Hicks' ridiculous interview in the Echo will make fans side with them then they are sadly mistaken. I know I sound like an anti-Hicks/Gillett supporter. But if Rafa Benitez - a man who has taken his clubs to two La Liga titles, one UEFA Cup, one Champions League, another Champions League final and an FA Cup - tells me that the new American owners - with zero experience in "soccer" - don't understand the transfer market and need to realise that waiting until mid-December isn't good enough... Well, I'm inclined to believe what Rafa says given that he knows the game and market more intricately than any of us could even pretend.

Gerrard Lucas Sami