ma_chaud

please god don't let this happen. barry i can see helping us win the league, downing and riera are again just average players. going for second rate players aint going to help us win s***. i hope they do stick a £17-20m price tag on downing, maybe the p rick will realise that £18m on Barry is a worth it

damn right. and everybody bare in mind the "front four" won't remain static but will interchange. and i also think robbie keane was bought also to relieve the pressue of nando. in games nando doesn't play expect keane to play up top on his own

wishful thinking, you can only do that for a loaned player and not for a player that is actually bought and sold

so what's his email address?

yeah right.......

what that it translates as "me warm" in french

just saw the highlights. who was that commentator on bbc, he was a shocker. red card for lucas a bit harsh. IMO

you make some good points but i would have to diasagree with you on the last point. yes, keane will make an impact but if we didn't get him we would have gotten a quality striker just as good. but the point about barry is this, whilst we have plenty of midfielders, we don't have in the words of rafa, the "right" type of midfielder ie. versatile, left footed etc etc in other words barry. now, the problem for rafa is finding a player in the mould of barry. there aren't that many of those type of "right" midfielders around and that is the crux of the problem.

"mate" my blood pressure is fine. and don't read too much into my words, you can't really tell what type of person one is from what he just writes. never easy! but so that you know, i am a very passionate liverpool supporter. that's all!

but remember barry was rafas priority signing over keane. he wanted him there before keane and it has been said that rafa was p1ssed at p rick parry for doing the business the other way round. so in reality we already had the momey to buy barry without selling alonso. so the notion of alonso's money going on barry is nonesense. it was rather to be used on keane's transfer. morever, how can the owners and p rick then justfiy paying £20m on keane when he is a lot older and more expensive than barry. surely it terms of finances barry would have been the cheaper option between the two 27-28 year olds.

thats assuming rafa is still here come this time next year. rafa still wants barry, and we shouldn't be looking towards September 1 to see whether we have signed barry or not, rather we should keep an eye out whether rafa hasn't done a valencia and left. he wants his sofa and if he does't get it who knows. i get the feeling rafa still believes that whilst the transfer window is open he can get barry and if he doesn't then its trouble this is classic valencia - he asked for a striker and got a an average winger. here he wants barry worth £18m, but who's he gonna get? Riera! not even worth half the price of barry and doesn't even play in the same position. this is trouble.........

well again its not that difficult to work out. our successful formation was 4-2-3-1 last year. rafa's title winning side that overhauled barca and real madrid was palyed with two holding midfielders. he wants barry as a left footed centre mid who is versatile that can cover at left back and attack on the left wing. ie he will play alongside masch in the middle of the park and will go forward but also cover dossena when he attacks. what more do you need, he even played plessis in that position ahead of alonso agaisnt sunderland the other day.

No i'm not, and i doubt rafa is his contact, he has guillem to do that for him. it is a matter of simple logic really. rafa wants to play a 4-2-3-1. he needs two midfielders, one right footed, the other left footed, so not only can they attack on their respective sides but so that they can cover the full backs when they attack. This is the balance rafa is on about, and hence his willingness to depart with alonso. Rafa already has his attacking four of stevie g, keane, babel and el nino. with the likes of benayoun, kuyt et al being on the bench. he may buy riera as a replacement for pennant/voronin etc if we sell them BUT not as a direct replacement for Barry. they are not of the same mould. its simple really

when will these stupid journalists realise that RAFA isn't in the market for wingers. He's looking for a left footed central midfielder to play alongside mascherano in a 4-2-3-1 formation. he wanted barry, he can't have him so he will have to get someone who plays in a similar way. fin idiots

this is nothing new and B*llox journalism. i could have written that piece in my sleep. no one knows anything they chatting from the rear end

the names i've heard are ruben de la red and guti, both of real madrid. the latter being very unlikely

i also heard somwhere that hicks was getting GW involved....

But he offers hardly any threat going forward and I think we need more. Keane works hard, but also has threat. Same with Gerrard and Torres. This is his third season and I think we've progressed since his first season and now he should be a squad player as we've got better options. totally agree, he will be a squad player as opposed to a first team member

agreed, babel is going to play on the left a la henry and rafa said he's going to play on the left. sometimes i think people put out the formations they would use rather than what rafa is gong to use. sometimes we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the manager and think as he does. forget what we want, its about how rafa wants to play

but people forget that kuyt's father passed away and that obvioulsy affected him. rafa did stick with him because he is a trojan and if i do recall he did score some important goals in the champions league. and like you said yourself he was in front of crouch simply because we played a 4-2-3-1 and crouch couldnt play on that right hand side

because (a) rafa said he will put babel in the team when he gets back (b) why do people always assume that babel was ready last season. he was not the polished article and rafa made it quite clear he was easing him into the premiership © kuyt plays on the right and not the left, which is babels position. so to say kuyt will start before babel doesn't make sense. in effect you will have keane and stevie g fighting for that right hand side and i'm sure everyone they would get the nod before kuyt on that right hand side

change yossi for babel and you have the formation. 4-2-3-1 a la valencia. two holding midfielders one right footed the other left. with your four most potent and expensive forwards who are interchanging, being provided with servies from the bombing full backs. There there my friends you have a title winning team. IF they all stay fit.

because he paid £11.5m for babel last season, he paid £20m+ for torres, and £19m for keane. now to leave them out of your starting line up will be ludicrous. he even said that he's missing babel and will go straight into the team when he gets back. now add to this the fact that stevie g plays brilliant as an attacking midfielder/secondstriker last season, his strong public pursuit of barry(a left footed midfielder) and he has bought to attacking full back leads you to the fact that he will play a 4-2-3-1 sysytem. with that left footed midfielder(which should have been barry) playing alongside masch to give the team the balance that rafa is talking about, as we already have it at left back in dossena and up front with babel but we just need it in the middle of the park and thats why gerrard wont play there because he aint left footed and because he is so much better further up the field. which leaves the fact that kuyt will have to be on the bench (which is a good option to have).

that's so not true. the reason why rafa has been so animated in his pursuit of barry is because he needs two holding midfielders (mach and barry) to cover for the full backs when they are attacking. hence rafa is so keen on a left sided midifilder who is versatile. not one that just attacks but one that can also give good cover at the back. we already have masch for the right side, thats why he wants barry for the left side. we're going to line up like this ---Mascherano-Barry-- Stevie G - Keane - Babel ------Torres------- with the front four interchanging, esp stevie g, keane and babel. Kuyt will NOT be first choice. this is reminiscence of his style at valencia I've written about this elsewhere http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A39340091

what i've seen of him in pre-season is that he's a bit of a skillful player. but like with most of our new players, it's all about confidence playing for the first XI, they will prob be nervous at first but will grow. can you imagine playing with torres, gerrard and keane, i would be sh*tting myself. anyway i think el zhar has most first team appearance out of all the youth reserves if i can recall correctly.