Davvo

That's not Lucas's problem, unless you're trying to say he's a thick footballer. His problem is physical and mental, not tactical.

Absolutely. Great to read some perspective.

Don't be, moaning about drawing away at Arsenal would be more reason to feel stupid.

Well battled lads, desperately unlucky not to nick it at the end there. Some appalingly bad shouts in here after Arsenal got back in it mind.

ha ha, 'half a dozen g*******s have been having a go at you on some internet forum boss, you best back track'

maybe wants more speed on the outside as they almost end up playing as fullbacks for part of the time.

If Chelsea are in for Butland, maybe Courtois is being lined up by Barca ? Reaching I know, but just as feasible as them going for Pepe.

I'm not massively happy bringing a young keeper on to be honest, much prefer to see tham have a good year or so on loan at a good level. If the scouts have been watching him at Birmingham, then maybe they'd know if he's ready for that kind of commitment I guess.

Yea, £100k+ per week for an average centre half is the exact opposite of what we've been trying to do. That kind of money should be reserved for top quality players,as others have said there should be great quality defenders available for less than half that.

yeah I said 14 points in the next bit, slip of the fingers.

Buy and loan til/if Pepe leaves ?

You're right, we won 4, lost 2 against the BIg ThReE that year. More than double the points we got against them in any other Rafa season. Infact, the next best 3 seasons combined only total 14, so it shows how important those games are, and how difficult they can be to master consistantly. Takes time to put together a consistantly good team too, without sugar daddy money.

Think we got beat in one of those games? Can't be arsed checking but on first glance earlier we got 11 points, may be wrong. Either way, it's not actually much of a red herring, seeing as the best of those 6 seasons against those top 3 teams, was also the closest we got to winning the league. And we're still in the Europa now, going through in the last group game as we did that year. The only difference is the league cup where we made the final, though I guess we won an extra game in the fa cup this season. Either way, when you look at the games on paper, there are huge similarities between the 2 seasons.

We did, we dropped points against teams nearer the bottom.

Just pointing out that those league games against Chelsea, Mancs, Arsenal are tough. Rafa struggled in 4 of 6 seasons, average in the 3rd, superb in the 5th, so it's incredibly harsh to be battering Rodgers for not having beat one of them in his 4 attempts thus far, especially as we deserved to win 2 of them. It's madness, they are important in the race for 4th, and will be a big pointer as to whether we succeed in that race, but it's where we stand in May that will dictate whether we've progressed, not just in those 2 games.

It is incredibly interesting to compare that season with this, points achieved, inconsistancy of results, virtual mirror image. We were never really successful over Mancs, Arsenal, Chelsea in the League under Rafa. 3 of his 8 wins in 6 seasons came in 08/09. They're tough games, 2 of the managers have been there forever, and the other team has spent gazillions of pounds.

Lost home and away to the Mancs and Chelsea that first season.

All true, but that eg £3.5M could in reality be anywhere from £0 upwards, as Blackpool have not yet accepted a fee from anyone. Right now he's worth more to them as a player than cash in the bank.

recent ?

Mike Phelan. Case closed.

and pass the pound.

I guess the issue is why so desperate to make and find excuses for Chelsea's manager, but not Liverpool's ?

I'm not sure National Service is the best course of action.

That's because people look at your avatar and laugh, sympathetically. The words you write kind of get lost

Without question he looks overplayed. Shame really.