anfield

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Yes sorry forgot the link, basically it was Rafa saying that Torres told alonso and Pepe to relay his "come get me" message to Rafa. Also that Pepe's wife had spoken to Torres's other half and had said they were there to help out in any way.

Love the comments from Torres about him and his friends becoming Liverpool fans. The best part is Also love the bit about Pepe's wife playing her part in the negotiations well done Pepe and the Mrs. Looks like we can expect a winger or two soon.

There's no doubt torres will do better than Kuyt and co.....he's just in a different class. I'm just saying we could make it easier him by not parking the midfield in front of our defence......

Or easier yet tell our midfield to push up a little. There is a reason Manure has the ability to make any striker (read Saha) look good. The solution to this problem isn't to spend 26 million on striker (Im not complaining), its to add speed and creativity to the midfield.

If we don't change our playing style, it doesnt matter who we buy, they will have a hard time scoring goals. All the criticism of Crouch and Kuyt is frankly unfair because many times they either play upfront with zero support from the midfield, no one to pass to and no one drawing defenders away.....either that or they have to drop deep to get the ball. Enough of this BS of playing two defensive midfielders........then we will have some successful strikers.

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so is that a yes or a no?

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Time and again we've seen the lack of mobility from our midfield. Ball goes into opponents box, our strikers are there but our midfielders are busy dawdling around their holding position. There is zero support for the forwards which to me explains why so many of them fail here. Signing Torres is not going to solve thsi problem. Its been an issue since the time of Houllier and Benitez doesnt seem to have managed to change that. Playing two defensive midfielders doesnt help either. Neither Masch or Sissoko look like they will ever score and Alonso is not exactly prolific either. We need to focus on playing only one of Masch, Alonso and Sissoko in the center either with Gerrard or with another creative player. And this is regardless of whether we get wingers or not.

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Well said Anny Rd. I have been vacillating back and forth as to what is going on but you have to admit that in the face of the media barrage and insider sources of all being not well behind the scenes, its hard for people to keep from panicking. To top it all off was Rafa's extraordinary outburst (any club fans would react that way.....imagine ferguson or wenger saying that) followed by Manure's quick big money buys......all culminated in mass hysteria.

People need to get a grip, we have far greater priorities than another striker

Agreed, it stuns me that people will let Luis go but want to keep Kewell. He has done absolutely nothing for us in his time here. Aside from constant comments about how "if he comes back to his best we are all set".............if fowler came back to his best we would have been all set as well. Hope truly springs eternal. If we lose Luis and do not get Torres, I'm going to be seriously pissed. 19 defensive midfielders, one crocked aussie and absolutely zero creative talent in midfield is what we have now

Calm down people, that looks like only the inner structure without the outer shell

freakin heck, if that happens, we should take some lessons from Atletico on how to sign big names

Ah, I suppose thats reason to take him seriously. However, Balague as a source has had a poor record the last few years.

Does he have any qualifications as being a reliable source beyond being Pablo your spanish friend?

When will we ever learn? The longer we wait, the less likely this is to happen.

Garcia was inconsistent, but thats the price you pay for signing creative players. They don't dazzle every game. IMO one of the huge reasons strikers fail to succeed here is the lack of creativity from the midfield. Letting Garcia go is a huge mistake unless we sign a replacement. I'm not certain Benayoun is even as "average" as Garcia.

Don't get me wrong, its not a slur on Alonso, rather because we have so many quality defensive midfielders, only Garcia and Kewell fall into the flair category. For any striker to succeed, he needs a fast moving midifield to back him up. Garcia was the only midfielder we have had who provided that kind of exciting movement. In summary, the depth of our midfield means we can afford to sacrifice Alonso, we should be looking to sign more players like Garcia, not letting him go....

I would rather have swapped alonso, our only real flair player is now gone. Would have been exciting to see him and Torres rather than Torres and 3 defensive midfielders.......

He doesnt say Riise is leaving as part of an Owen swap deal. Just that Riise is leaving and we are getting some LB from Spain for 11 million pounds............