Liverpool set to make SHOCKING £4m January move!

noel - December 1st, 2008 at 7:27 pm

At 30 he’s too old & no matter how crap Dossena is I don’t want him, spend the money on a better player

bigrafa - December 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Too old to warrant a £4m price tag. We should sell Dossena and give Insua a go

bigrafa - December 1st, 2008 at 7:37 pm

Good call noel

Benishit - December 1st, 2008 at 10:03 pm

BENITEZ is shit buddy! no good in recruiting and far from being a great tactician. playing riera, benayoun and keane in the starting line up is complete bullshit. none have pace. complete nonsense against west ham! look at manu and how they play swift football. learn something beni. n poor babbel, that boy is just heating the bench. is he too young? wonder how beni can justify that wen we see rafael and others playing for manu and arsenal.

redeye - December 1st, 2008 at 11:46 pm

fuckin crap again!, Benetiz couldn’t work his way out of a wet paper bag, you’re gone bud! 3 draws against lowly teams and you think that’l win you the title? weve put too much trust in you , you’ve PROVEN yourself a total dikhead. the yanks might stink but they were right in trying to get rid of you!! and mate , when you loose get mad, get pissed off, but stop with the ” positives” all the fuckin time! JUST WIN SOME GAMES OR RESIGN.

tivyred - December 1st, 2008 at 11:52 pm

Rafael Benitez “Clearly I can guarantee that we are not going for Michael Owen.”

fernando clarke - December 2nd, 2008 at 1:03 am

benayoun is shit, n’gog is shit, dossena is shit and im seriously running out of patience with keane. i dont agree with the babel bashing, the boy has promise but how can he develop without competitive football. dont know why benitez brought on N’gog instead of babel :S happy that weretop but if we had taken the oppertunities against spurs, fulham and west ham wed be comfortable and all those matches were definately winnable.

we need a good striker, preferably young, pacey and good at finishing. we need another good winger with pace and good control/technique. Consistant RB, with three key signings the gap could well be shortened further. This season none of the players making a big impact are new. Rafa needs to re-assess the scouting of players for NOW and focus on this area rather than only future prospects! YNWA

hangabout - December 2nd, 2008 at 1:57 am

CLEARLY NOT KEEPING KEANE ON THE PITCH FOR 90 MINS IS NOT GOING 2 HELP. FFS RAFA WAKE THE FECK UP.

steven. - December 2nd, 2008 at 3:25 am

piece of lazy speculation if you ask me .. Real never let’s anyone go on the cheap ..

matL - December 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 am

yeaa play insua instead buying other defender

mark - December 2nd, 2008 at 8:18 am

at least we’re top- so there obviously are positives. we aren’t playing well at all, can’t score any goals, our defense in the LB area is a joke, but yet WE ARE STILL TOP!!! chelsea, arsenal and man united have serious problems if we’re top at the moment.

Anonymous - December 2nd, 2008 at 8:31 am

man rafa is enigma . . hes good no doubt but sometimes he is pathetic . . last night was awful . .ngog for keane ahead of babel . i feel sorry for babel .talent like him on bench and having a guy who hasnt scored in ages . well i heard lfc were gonna court bale .get him .and let innsua play for gods sake. no pt of buying talented startlets and not giving them chance. get rid of kuyt plz …ben better then him. i hope mark huge takes a liking to him and swaps him with elano …he will be good for them defensive striker …

dave in ireland - December 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 am

Interesting comments after another shocker at home ! I could not figure out how NOGO got in ahead of Ryan Babel , he was the worst prayer on the pitch against Spurs . As for Dossena , he got in more crosses than Rierra and did not play badly I thought , I was always hopeful about Insua but having watched him in the reserves against Newcastle his lack of pace against Marwood was alarming .
Sometimes I wonder about Rafa . Morale of the story , but all your money on the Mancs , 6 points behind 1 game in hand and a trip for us to come at Old Trafford ,
it a’int going happen for us this year. It should happen but it wont .

9torres - December 2nd, 2008 at 9:19 am

!5 games in, beaten chelsea (at stamford bridge) and united and 1 point clear at the top without playing well and with a pretty easy run of games the next few weeks to get our form back… I wonder if we would have taken that at the start of the season?? Especially as Rafa’s teams are always set up to finish strongly. Stop bleating!! Those calling for Rafa’s head don’t know what they are talking about, at least we aren’t losing those games like Arsenal are! Chill the fuck out and get behind the team. It’s times like this that the team needs us to create an atmosphere that breeds confidence to improve performances! Getting on peoples backs makes it even harder for them to turn things around.

calvo - December 2nd, 2008 at 9:27 am

didnt see the game last nite but as a utd supporter obviously pleased with the result.however i would have thought that against a team like west ham that babel would have been given some playing time o even start,especially as there was no torres.the guy has plenty of pace which would have exploited o at the very least stretched the hammers´defence.like ive said previously none of the teams in the top 4 positions seem to be able to string any kind of consistency so far.chelsea dropping/losing points at home,l´pool the same,arsenal win 1 lose 1,and utd cant seem to finish teams off.now the season is still very early and granted anything can and will happen,but should l´pool not remain top in a few weeks will rafa start the whole”i need cash to spend”saga.because if he does will the board trust him to buy having seen what he has bought already aswell as buying babel and not playing him?

dave in ireland - December 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 am

To 9Torres , there is nobody more behind the Reds than myself , but you have to agree that the so called”pretty easy run of games” coming up is where we are going to get unhinged , ok we are top but Chelsea are in managerial transition , Arsenal plagued with injuries and United strangely inconsistant . It is more luck than brilliance that we are top .

9torres - December 2nd, 2008 at 9:38 am

I wouldn’t put it down to luck, you can see the players are running harder and further than last season and the work ethic is brilliant, we just need to finish. Finishing is the only thing letting us down at the moment, where as it is much more complicated for the other 3. I think maybe the pressure of being at the top is getting to the players, or maybe we are just missing Torres. Either way we need to start utilising Babel, ditch the 4-4-2 and stick to what we do best 4-2-3-1.

calvo - December 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 am

i wouldn´t say that it more complicated for the other 3.i would say that the problem for all the top 4 is the lack of killer instinct in front of goal.no 1 team has shown any sort of championship winning form.
and you could say that l´pool for example have a easy run to gain confidence,but surely playing the likes of west ham and fulham at home aswell as stoke would be o rather should be considered “easy games”.
the core of each of the teams are there the talent is aswell we know that chelsea and utd have done it in the past but can l´pool?finally they are in a position that they have not been in for a long time and the fans are rightly more expectant so i would say that of all the teams vying for the league it would suggest to me that l´pool are the ones who have a complex to get over.and now comes the test for rafa,his squad now has to compete in the league and champions league,whereas in previous seasons its usually been the champions lge.so for all the running that l´pool are doing now will they be able to sustain that for the rest of the season?

Steve - December 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 am

Damn lucky to be top. Robbie Keane is playing like a boss eyed granny,think his wife must be be wearing him out. Sami hyypia is a much better striker than Robbie at the moment. The work ethic is good and that is the only reason we are still in with a chance.The finishing is generally just awful and they all should be ashamed of themselves.Supposed to be top pro’s well it helps if you put the ball in the back of the net.Come on Liverpool whats up with you.

chris - December 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm

give them a break !!! when was the last time we were going into december TOP of the league ? at least we are still in it this year.

shk - December 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm

9torres I understand what you saying and i always like your comments enjoy reading them makes a lot of sense.however i really think the whole team should pull their act together.Last night performance really frustrated me and i really do think we lack a bit on punch.It really looked like a liverpool of last season not getting results.Lets be fair we should of been at least 5 points clear of chelsea by now.The biggest problem i see is United climbing the table and they should not of been so close as they are now.Everytime we get a good result we go and mess it up in the next game.I am not really convinced we can win the title at least i hope we do.They are6 points behind with a game in hand one more slip up and we know how good united is winning the league.I also question Rfas tactics sometimes i understand why Hypia was used last night made a lot of sense.But Benayoun looked like a headless chicken and REIRA was just not doing it.Whats your take.

9torres - December 2nd, 2008 at 1:52 pm

cheers shk, likewise! We should be doing much better to be honest, the games we have dropped points in we have not been out classed or outplayed in any shape or form. It seems to be unlocking defenses that we find really difficult. Also we have no-one to lead the line when Torres is not playing, both Keane and Kuyt drop off. I would have started with:

Reina

Arbeloa Carragher Hyypia Dossena

Alonso Gerrard

Kuyt Keane Riera

Babel

I thought Babel did really well on his own in the second half against Chelsea, and Keane would thrive being closer to Kuyt and Riera to link up. The only positives i took were that yes we are top of the league. and that Dossena improved a lot from his last game! I’m glad Keane looked annoyed at being hooked, so he should, at least it shows he’s trying though

Benishit - December 2nd, 2008 at 3:16 pm

the team can win, but the tactics of rafa are making losing the title. robbie is not so fast anymore, he needs a strike partner who can drag defenders with him. means the latter shud have pace. i do not understand how he can put yossi, riera and robbie in the same line up. that is definitely too slow! babel needs a good run in the team otherwise we will lose him.

rafa: i felt we deserved to win. BS! U DONT WIN TITLES WITH ‘I FELT’. n ur rotation system is killing liver again. n stop buying youngsters if u cant play them. future is far, we need the title NOW. no wonder hicks doesnt want to spend when he sees wat rafa does with the cash

LFC 5X - December 2nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why spend £4millilon on a rubbish (in his prime) left back. I no Dossena is awful but why not play Insua?

Or Daniel Alves?

travis - December 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 am

IT IS GR8 to see ppl are finaly seeing that rafa is the BIG problem @ pool. HE engenders mediorcrity. KUYT and Keane are hard workers, But KUYT in particular is so lacking attacking flair, he would be best player at RIGHT FULL BACK as he tackles well and has a good work ethic. AS a striker he stinks. As for keane, well its time to draw a line under that one. Its like britsh mail, promises a lot, but fails to deliver. BABEL must be played more as he is quality. He’ll make mistakes but he will create a lot.Lucas MUST be traded. He is pathetic. Reira shows promise and should be persisted with. For the moment I would play
kuyt carra agger dossena/arbeloa ( purchase rafinha, and benzema in jan)
mas alonso
babel gerrard reira
Keane(due to torres injury)

The boss - December 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 am

I dont understand how you idiots think..how can it be luck when we’ve beaten everton chealsea and man u…give rafa a break and let him do his job..the problem is now we dont have a good finisher no torres..drop keane for babel

9torres - December 3rd, 2008 at 9:13 am

They think with thier mouths. They are probably “the loud one” in their respective locals. Kuyts done well this season with a fair return of goals, everyone knows what affected his form last season and people deal with things in different ways.

As for Robbie Keane i spoke to him last weekend (no joke) and asked him how he was enjoying Liverpool. He spent most of the conversation asking me what i thought of him, he obviously needs a confidence boost and wants to impress and give his best. I personally think he will come good, and i hope so for his sake as he’s a really nice bloke.

The best thing we can do for the team is to stop speculating about who will replace who and get behind the team. The atmospheres been crap the last couple of home games, almost like we knew it was going to end 0-0. Lets get behind them from the off and get the first goal scored, then we will see a different Liverpool.

dave in ireland - December 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 am

Good Morning 9torres. I would that the fans are behind the team judging from the amount of comments ! Did you think that Kuyt was jaded the other night ? The idea of him at right back is not as crazy as it sounds . Try and do a swap with Spurs for Gareth Bale , we have a boat load of candidates that could be traded , we are not actually far from a winning formula, if only Fowler was coming through now .There must be someone coming through .

9torres - December 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 am

Morning Dave. Everyone seems to have comments but a lot of it seems to be blame shifting. Yeah Kuyt looked a little tired hence my thinking that El Zhar would have been a more influential option. I personally would have had El Zhar and Babel starting ahead of Kuyt and Benayoun, if Kuyt was as tired as he looked. Pacheco is a great little player capable of unlokcing a defense or two, but i think Rafa thinks he is still a bit too lightweight to compete atm. I know N’Gog has only just signed but i am hoping Nemeth if fit will get a look in if we continue to struggle. Kuyt at rightback works on paper but the benefit of having kuyt in the team is him tracking back with overlapping defenders, his ability to cope with them running at him is far inferior to his ability to stay with them and stop them getting the ball.

Steve McMahon - December 3rd, 2008 at 10:07 am

Morning lads, im not going to go into a big Raffa or player bashing but I will try and be a little bit constructive. Fron the off the other night the writing was on the wall as to how the game was generally going to turn out, we would barely break into a stride for the first 70 mins or so and then we would get a sense of urgency without any real attacking pattern, which is exactly what happened, but from looking at the game it was very clear that the team was once gain brainwashed into a defend at all costs mode. I found it very frustrating watching our 4 defenders plus Alonso within 10 to 15 feet of one another lined straight accross the pitch, Alonso gets the ball passes it and then stands, no ambition whatsoever to go forward, the full backs (and I will hold my hands up and say that that was the best I’ve seen Dossena play for us) were once again not really helping our cause due to a lack of attacking ability by means of taking a player on, beating him and whipping in a ball, to be fair Dossena did this a couple of times alright but not enough.

I cant get into my head around what type of training that is done at LFC, for the simple reason, no one apart from Gerrard, Torres and Babel will attempt to take on a player one on one and get past him. We just dont have any real skill factor to help make us stand out from the rest, we are very strong in a lot of ways but ver weak in others.
Questions: (I would appreciate some constructive ans if poss pls)

Why over the last 4 yrs of Raffa’s reign has this element not been addressed in some shape or form?

Why do we never seem to employ a 3 – 4 – 3 formation, especially against teams that are, as every one can see, there for the taking?

Why do we have approx 50 or so pros on our books but yet we see the same shite from the same players week after week?

Why wasnt Yossi playing in the middle with Gerrard, as everyone and his dog knows that he wont stay out wide, also Alonso is not really the best attacking midfielder in the world, with Babel on the wing or even better with Kuyt down the middle with El Zhar on the wing.

I know that we can all be fantasy football managers on this site but surely some of the decision making from the sidelines has to be at least questioned about Monday nights debacle as yes the players are big time responsible, but what instructions are they under?

fletch9 - December 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 am

i dont understand how we can beat man-ure and chavski then draw to the likes of wesstham?

Steve McMahon - December 3rd, 2008 at 10:37 am

fletch9 – December 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 am

i dont understand how we can beat man-ure and chavski then draw to the likes of wesstham?

In a nut shell Manu and Chelski attack you, Liverpool can play this way because there is not much creativity req only open type football, but when a team puts 2 banks of 4 in front of the goal you need a bit of creativity to open them up and we dont have that at the moment and we havent had it for a long time.

9torres - December 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 am

Morning Steve,

“Why over the last 4 yrs of Raffa’s reign has this element not been addressed in some shape or form?”

I think Rafa has tried to address this in Babel and Benayoun, its just that Benayoun is shite and Babel isn’t allowed on the grass. I agree we need a Quaresma/Ronaldo/Nani/SWP/Giovinco type player who can come on and create, even if they dont score that many, we don’t have anyone (bar Gerrard and Torres) who puts the shits into defenders when they have the ball at their feet.

“Why do we never seem to employ a 3 – 4 – 3 formation, especially against teams that are, as every one can see, there for the taking?”

This has always baffled me too, same with the 3-5-2. I remember last season or the season before we hammered Newcastle with a 3-5-2. It’s the only time i have seen us play it, with Carra, Hyypia and Agger at the back, we have the perfect three for the job. I think it’s all about risk, Rafa think (and i agree with him here), that we have enough to beat anyone playing a 4-2-3-1. It would be nice to see him throw on El Zhar and Babel at times to run at tired defenders for the last 25min and i mean both of them, not one or the other as he does.

“Why do we have approx 50 or so pros on our books but yet we see the same shite from the same players week after week?”

I think this is down to the ability of the youth team players as i have said before. They seem to have the age of the youth player but the ability of current fringe players so get somehow caught in between. I would like to see more youth getting a chance but then would Rafa be criticised for rotating too much or for not giving the players that he has spent money on a chance?

“Why wasnt Yossi playing in the middle with Gerrard, as everyone and his dog knows that he wont stay out wide, also Alonso is not really the best attacking midfielder in the world, with Babel on the wing or even better with Kuyt down the middle with El Zhar on the wing.”

Yossi shouldn’t have been playing at all. He is a confidence player and if he isn’t playing all the time his form drops off and he becomes completely in-affective. If he has no confidence he doesn’t attempt the things that make him a decent player when on form. Instead he just slips to being a very lightweight, poor player.

mighty reds - December 3rd, 2008 at 11:27 am

to be frank lads, it has been more of luck for us to be where we are this season.
own goal against manure, deflection against chelsea, redcards against wigan and man city. 9torres pls stop defending rafa. he is simply confused. no creativity at all.

Spion - December 3rd, 2008 at 11:39 am

Try to keep a wider perspective. It’s a long season and every time has bad times and good times.

Liverpool are in a sticky patch right now but we are still top, still 6 pts ahead of Utd (ableit they have a game in hand).

Liverpool don’t do easy games. Home against teams who park the bus isn’t our strong point.

We could easily go and string 3 wins together starting at Eawood and everything will look rosy.

Some fans seem prone to polar shifts of opinion every 2 weeks. After beating Chelsea we were great, 4 weeks later after two poor home performances we’ll be lucky to finish 4th.

It’s generally never as good or as bad as it seems, it’s somewhere in between. At the end of the day, we are top without our two main strikers having hit top form yet. So for all our problems we aren’t too bad. Let’s get behind Rafa and the team and see what happens.

The booing was totally out of order.

Spion - December 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am

every team has bad times and good times

9torres - December 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am

The red cards weren’t luck, Chelsea and Arsenal had their own luck over the weekend, Arsenal that their first goal wasn’t ruled offside and Chelsea that Terry isn’t banned for three matches after his two footed lunge, and that Ivanovic (spelling?) isn’t banned for one game after numerous bookable offences. We are doing ok, we just need form to return.

9torres - December 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm

Just had a look on the sky sports website at the opta stats and LFC have the worst short accuracy in the league with only 36% of shots hitting the target.

dave in ireland - December 3rd, 2008 at 12:51 pm

Hi there 9torres . The stats dont lie , I think from reading all the comments everyone agrees that Rafa has one plan and one only , counter attack , fine away from home but has no idea how to break down a simple defence of two banks of four when teams viist our place . Pace and width and get balls in from the end line .Hull City will probably have a go at attack when they visit Sat week , should be interesting .

Steve McMahon - December 3rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm

“Why over the last 4 yrs of Raffa’s reign has this element not been addressed in some shape or form?”

What I meant by this was the rest of the squad, full backs, Alonso and the other defensive M.F. My question was about the type of coaching done, if you look at any of LFC’s games you just will not see any flair, or even attempted flair,
E.G. when Alonso gets the ball around the half way line, the world and his aunt knows that he is not going to nut meg someone, drop the shoulder, turn him etc, he will look for a long forwards ball sometimes but mainly its a square or backwards ball, the oposition can relax to a degree when certain LFC players have the ball at their feet as they know what is going to happen next.
All I am asking is that ” Can LFC’s coaching staff do anything about this or not are they / have they been instructed to do so.”?

“Why do we never seem to employ a 3 – 4 – 3 formation, especially against teams that are, as every one can see, there for the taking?”

The 4 2 3 1 set up is a great formation in europe against teams that have too much ability to just line up 2 banks of 4 in front of goal, but when your at Hope top of the EPL against a poor team, “why do we need 4 at the back + Alonso” , straight away we are handing the initative to the opposition, 3 4 3 would allow us to keep constant pressure on their back line, basically we would be Attacking more and it gives the opposition a little more to think about.

“Why do we have approx 50 or so pros on our books but yet we see the same shite from the same players week after week?”

My point here is why have this amount of players on our books, when we can’t even put out a really top class 11 let alone a good bench and yet we keep 50 players on our books. Over the last no of years we have brought in numerous players for what seems like reserve team football only, Why, when we see the same mediorce stuff from players given a starting 11 shirt at Anfield. It dosent make any sense.

And with regards to Yossi, I fully agree he shouldnt be at the club, but he is, Raffa uses him, and plays him in a position he is not going to hold for 90 or so mins and yet plays Alonso in the middle who was no real help to Gerrard in an attacking sense whatsoever.

calvo - December 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Steve McMahon – December 3rd, 2008 at 10:07 am….good to hear ya.
from someone on the outside looking in(as im not a l´pool supporter,but a football fan nonetheless).it is strange the tactics that are employed by rafa at times.(and it really has nothing to do with expenditure.) he has talent like babel,who i would use as a replacement for torres especially at home against the likes of west ham,and use him as an impact player away from home.i do rate rafa as a sound manager but not a great 1.
granted the wins vs chelsea,utd and everton were great results but as a manager,players and fans those games are not hard to motivate yourself for.
ive said previously that the one person who could undermine l´pools season could be rafa himself.
and the fact that l´pool for the 1st time in a long time have to concentrate on 3 major competitions is going into the new year is also going to be interesting.
on the subject of heinze wouldnt it be better to keep agger at all costs.and once skrtel is back to put agger as sweeper and skrtel and carra as markers or employ carra as a rb.and use what funds are available for a diego-type of midfielder.

9torres - December 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm

I’m assuming it’s just the way Rafa plays, it was the same at Valencia, there were no tricky players their, just players with an eye for a pass and masses of stamina. Even Babel doesn’t have any real trickery about him, he’s just raw pace with a powerful shot. El Zhar is the only player i have seen with a trick that can dribble old fashioned winger style. Torres and Gerrard have an obvious abundance of skill but it is intelligence and vision and speed of thought, as opposed to speed of foot.

...5 Times - December 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Mr Confort do you have a life?

calvo - December 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm

9torres – December 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm….as always enjoy and fully respect your points and none more so than what you have raised.but wouldnt you agree that with having seen how the leagues been won and knowing that teams are gonna act like west ham that it would be better for rafa to have a player like say aimar who he had at valencia?functional football is fine but can only take you so far.

calvo - December 3rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm

and dont take functional for boring or anything like that.just that intelligence is something that l´pool have i abundance but that air of unexpectancy can be decisive.

9torres - December 4th, 2008 at 8:23 am

Calvo – I get what you mean entirely, i think that could be the reason we are being so heavily linked with Elano at the moment, and also Aimar himself a couple of seasons ago. We just need someone to open these defences, my ideal choice in a perfect world would be Iniesta, he has that quickness of foot and the intelligence to pick a pass as well as score his fair share. Seeing as i’m pretty certain he would be unobtainable, who is the alternative?

mighty reds - December 4th, 2008 at 11:45 am

we don’t need anybody to open the defence. it is the system rafa employs during training. arsenal don’t have one person that opens other peoples’ defence. they do it collectively cos they have been trained for that. we have qualities that can open defences like benayoun,babel but they are not doing it because of our style of play

calvo - December 4th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

9 torres…at present it would seem difficult but perhaps diego or zarate from lazio(i think).yes in an ideal world having iniesta would be the answer.
but it does look as tho rafa has the team based around industry above adventure.so i would agree in part with the comment that mighty red came up with.
but with what rafa has had as far as cash is concerned and the length of time he has been at l´pool im sure he would have noticed that that was a part of the squad that needed addressing.he has obviously chosen to ignore it.
nonetheless its still early in the season and u guys are top with january insight anything could happen in transfer window.
Howevr if l´pool continue to pass up opportunities to stretch their lead at the top how soon will it be b4 the likes of utd and chelsea click into gear and take ur place at the top.and leave l´pool fans frustrated that rafa didnt see the need to spend what money he had wisely(i.e.dossena/keane/pennant etc)and move gerro behind torres liast season and distribute the cash around the team better.

9torres - December 4th, 2008 at 3:16 pm

Unfortunately i think it’s going to be a case of wait and see…

chris - December 4th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

i think we should use agger and mascherano as fullbacks, carragher and skrtel in the centre, gerrard and alonso in cm, reiera on the left, buy somebody for the right, and torres and kuyt / keane upfront.

Steve McMahon - December 5th, 2008 at 9:57 am

calvo – December 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Steve McMahon – December 3rd, 2008 at 10:07 am….good to hear ya.

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, for some reason I didnt read your post earlier.

I agree with your Babel comment, personally I would give him more playing time that Keane, for a number of reasons, 1. He has great pace which puts defenders in a different frame of mind that when they are marking Keane, 2. he is a strong lad, difficult to push off of the ball unlike Keane, 3. He has a really powerful shot and is not afraid to shoot, something Keane lacks on both accounts, but there is some issue with Babel and Raffa, and I dont know what it is.

With regards to the 3 major competitions, for me there is only one major competition, the League, nothing else matters.
Yes, of course keep Agger, but it would not surprise me if Raffa did sell him, it’s like something he could do. With regards to Diego or equivelant, badly needed, we have no CAM other than Gerrard, no one with the drive to go past a player and create something. This I think might be our downfall come the end of the season, we have a chance to rectify some of the obvious issues during the transfer window, but it depends on who Raffa is willing to sell.