Lanus

Robbie Keane. (as i posted in another but was off topic a small piece)... works hard, is a good team player and can finish... the guy gets goals every season and is perfect for the role of 2nd striker.

We are getting better at breaking teams down. I think if everyone can sit back and be patient, they will see a better liverpool... also we do need to bring in another striker soon. Robbie Keane would be a good buy that i don't hear anyone talking about. Works hard, intelligent (team player) and can finish.

my initial reaction was that the f*****s have made us look bad but after reading some reaction from supporters of other teams (including utd), they agree that liverpool shouldnt give the money away. There will always be the usual crowd that will try and use it against us but if you ask me, the only club that have come out of this looking bad are Luton. They might have a few extra people on their side but let's be realistic here... they've just fired us up for it, so hopefully we'll do well

I wouldn't have given them any money. Luton are in the trouble they are in because they haven't been running their club properly. I think they have some cheek to ask for the money in the first place, nevermind to go and badmouth us when we refused it to them. As for this talk of what's a few 100k to us??? are you mad

If the owners wont back Rafa then Rafa will leave. he knows the team needs serious strengthening in order to challenge... why should he stay and fail if he isn't being backed financially? the thing that bothers me is, if the fans lose faith in a man who is so obviously a huge success then the owners will too and that will be our first step towards the achievment and glory that you only see at cluibs like newcastle utd. Ya , pretty soon we'll be looking back at the Rafa years and thinking how lucky we were.

this taslk of them wanting a profit is just that. If they are in a hole finacially then they'll take what they can get... don't be suprised if they make a loss people. Wouldn't reflect on us though, just a need for them to sell due to a lack of available cash (loan crisis).

Am I the only one who thinks Rafa's latest round of spending was a success? he gets so much stick but he can only buy the players he can afford. The one time he pays for a top player, he hits the jackpot... I dunno where this anti rafa talk is coming from to be honest.

the results maybe but the performance against Wigan wasn't that bad. Ive said it before and i'll say it again, Benayoun for Pennant in that exact same line up and formation and we'd have won comfortably. Pennant isn't the worst player in the world but he can't beat his man like benayoun and is nowhere near as creative as him.. Some of Benayouns link up play is excellent. As for the Houllier stuff, well he just wasn't good enough. With rafa we have a higher profile manager who can attract players that Houllier couldnt. Like it or not Rafa put us back on the map. I'm not saying he is a man without mistakes but it's very clear that he needs serious funding. I for one am looking forward to a future under rafa (if he'll stay).

The effect of missing Agger hasn't been in the media much at all alright. We have missed him though and I can't wait for him to be back.

No wonder they're calling you names. The team don't OWE you success. We aren't entitled to win the league, the best we can do is support the team and hope that the lads do it on the pitch. Jeuss you swear it's been hell for us lately? Did you sleep through the f***ing CL finals or what?

he was superb against wigan. I am one of the few who actually think we played well enough against Wigan. I think we'd have won it very easily had we started with benayoun instead of Pennant.. the amount of times that man did nothing with the ball is frightening. Beayoun gets loads of stick and I don't know why.. it wasnt just gerrard who saved us against Derby .. Benayoun links up well with Torres on times too... far more incisive than anyone else in our squad.

Interesting alright. The only thing I can think of is that we aren't playing as progressively when we are away and Torres just doesnt get the same quality of ball.

Brilliant post, couldnt agree more. An empty seat would have a better efect on team moral than a booing fan. The whole point of a supporter is to support the team, it doesn't get any clearer than that. I will tell you one thing too, in 2005 when we went all the way to the CL final, when everyone thought we were a tie away from going out at each stage it was our fans who gave us that extra quality. it wasn't luck. The atmosphere in each of the big home games lifted the players. At half time in the milan game, we were singing... what other team would be singing at half time of the CL final when yer 3-0 down? That is the magic of our fans.... why not now!? you want the league? then f***ing sing like you do for the CL games and you'll bloody well get it.

Good post. What you said about the basic 'chasis' of the team getting stronger is exactly why I think we are in fact progressing under Rafa. I think he has shifted from buying squad players to buying players who will claim a place in the first 11 and make it there own.. Torres and to some extent babel (as i think he will eventually). people might look at our team and say we have the same number of weak positions as before but that isnt really true as the positions that we might have seen as strong before , are rock solid now. I do wonder though, if the owners have any cash at all... would it be possible for Rafa to raid valencia.. what with their clear out and all. Vicente anyone? there are others too.

Why can't he wait years for the youngsters to develop? If Rafa wasn't going to buy all this potential then who will? the guy that replaces him?? It'd be 'too late' by then too. Rafa has patience, because patience brings success. Let's at least offer him our own patience and let him do his job in whatever manner he wishes.

Ronaldo was younger than babel so he would have had more potential... anyway they are completely different players but I totally disagree with the idea that he was a panic buy. I think that his purchase was quite wise... he's a player with potential but also with enough ability to make an impact immediately.

Can't wait for us to play again jesus, get this game out of memory... not sure rafa will recover from this.. sounds very much like the Houllier situation. A few knee jerks throw in the towel on him and then a few of the othe start to think twice (which has just happened)... then support will al cave in. if we loose the next game, rafa is done for.

where the hell did that come from?

excellent to see that it isn't all doom and gloom. The league might be over for us but I still find myself looking forward to games and thinking what Torres will do to the opposition today. he is a frightening talent and possibly the best striker in the premiership at the moment. Rafa might frustrate people but He is in turn frustrated at the owners over not being able to sign more of the likes of Torres.

you're dad was exactly right though and it's what sets us apart from the likes of newcastle who will never be a force and it's because of their impatient board and fans. we need to get behind the team and give them unconditional support.

Ya, I really do hope that the owners give Rafa a good bit of cash to spend on one or 2 players. Get in even just one player who will play to a level where he will just be far too good to rotate and instantly you'll see an improvement. Maybe that's it though, Torres was such a success that people instantly thought, ok we've got our 20 goal a season striker, why aren't we top? Before we were reliant on Gerrard too much.. now we're too reliant on Gerrard and Torres. Let us sign another player that we'll be too reliant on 1 is grand, 2 is better but 3 is the beginning of a wonderful team.

I think the purchase of Torres was the first step in the drastic improvement of our first 11. Having said that, do we have the money now? Are the owners broke or is it all a smoke screen...? who knows, but another top class striker is needed. Going back to Rafa's signings though, i tihnk he's done pretty well.. I think the likes of Alonso, Torres, Babel and more are players that we just wouldnt have been able to attract to the club before Rafa took charge.. they'd have gone to man utd or the likes if Houllier was still in charge.

for one , yes the rafa players you named are better than the Houllier players. I notice though, you picked the worst players.. compare the entire set of signings from both managers.. you'll notice that most of Rafa's bad signings were in fact gambles as they were pretty cheap or, squad players. Also you said we are too reliant on Torres and Gerrard... do you not see anything wrong with that statement? Before the talk was that we were too reliant on Gerrard... now there are 2 world class match winners in our team. This isn't chelsea, we spend our money in dribs and drabs but our last big signing was a massive success.. I don't need to go on and talk about the potential of Babel do I? Building a premiership winning team is more than another Torres-size signing away but why do we not trust the man who brought us this incredible striker only just this summer?

You make a good point there. It's one that non liverpool fans make to us the whole time of course, but we're not entitled to the league. People see us as a stagnating club? I don't understand that at all.. you could say that we're in 4th or 5th like always but since the time of Roy Evans and Houllier, the premiership has been getting better and better. It's not a case of IF we are improving but how fast we are improving in comparison to the other clubs. The premiership is now the best league in the world but it wasn't when Rafa took charge. The point you made above is very valid as a lot of people don't see the possible downsides to sacking Rafa. We could end up like spurs... You might say that they sacked Jol because of his poor performance but I'm sure there will be some on here who will remember that 3 games in the spurs board released a statement saying that he might get replaced due to the poor start or something like that... let's not be like that please.

All is not well, you're right there but to say we've stagnated is just insane. We now have a 20 goal a seasosn striker, that is an improvement. The fact that you Rafa haters can't accept the rate at which we are improving is your own problem.