Ronnie Whelan

Aguero could single handedly win this but the rest of them are spineless.

They're fucking horrible bastards are united. I'd like city to win 12-0 with a mass brawl and Rooney Kung-fu kicking a city fan getting an 9 month ban in the process.

It's like choosing whether to be eaten alive by a pack of hyenas or a crocodile.

I really hate them but it wouldn't be a bad thing if Chelsea win their next few games and win the title before we play them. Their minds mightn't be as focused and if we're chasing 4th you never know we might get a result there.

I think it's better if United lose because they have a tougher run-in. I still think even if city lose they would pull it together and get 4th.

When he broke through at the Mancs, I thought he was going to be world class for years. Instead, he became complacent and happy to be United's 12th man for a few years before deteriorating into a shocking defender at a shit team. What a waste of talent....no wonder Keane let rip at him.

Dealing with Ian Ayre is exactly the kind of gift that Parma need!!

Brendan is a very good manager and if he's given time, he'll do a very good job with us. I actually think on the whole he has done a very good job with us - the second half of his first season we were excellent, last season we came from nowhere and should have won the league and this season we started disgracefully, but until the last two games, we were in with a shout of top 2 and an FA Cup win. We still have a chance of a trophy and we may yet get top 4 even if that's unlikely. This season was always going to be the acid test for him - a young talented team going through a hangover from throwing away a title, who also had to deal with losing the third best player in the world. The problem of having alot of mostly young signings to bring into the squad did not help with the added problem that we might be Liverpool, but to the moden world class player from Germany, Argentina or Spain, our light doesn't shine as bright as Chelsea, City, United or Arsenal - Alexis Sanchez an example of this. The big test for him now is to get Sterling and Henderson to sign their deals - Sterling might be pretty much gone but Brendan needs to use his man management skills to at least get him to sign a new improved deal even if there is a clause that he leaves next season if we fail to make the Champions League. He's still a long way from being world class, but he has the talent to be so and furthermore he is the kind of player that title chasing teams have, which is the level we need to aim for. Fuck this top 4 lark, lets aim higher. Henderson is what he is - a very decent player. He wouldn't come close to starting in the great Liverpool sides, but he's not the type we should be selling. Like Sterling, he's not going to be out of place in a title winning team - even if I'd consider him more bench quality in a title chasing team. The message should be clear - Liverpool sell only when they want to. With Suarez, we could hide behind him being a Latin and wanting to go to a Latin country, with Sterling and Henderson, we would look like a selling club. That's how big players would suddenly view us, if they don't already. We still have a very exciting team and I expect them to become better in the next 12 months. A few more exciting signings like Vietto coupled with a few good pros like Milner and we can grow as a team - I actually would love to see us get a few grizzled pros who mightn't be what they were as players, but would give great advice and guidance to our young team and see us over the line at places like Palace, West Brom and Stoke. The likes of Ibe coming through really excites me, plus a few more like Rossiter, Williams, Sinclair and O'Hanlon possibly being around the squad. Next season, we shouldn't settle for anything less than coming within 5-10 points of winning the title - maybe I'm old school but any Liverpool team should believe they can win it and I'd like that to be the message. That's how I will judge Brendan, but for me he has done enough to deserve that extra season to get that that chance. If next season, he gets schooled by Van Gaal like he did a few weeks ago, then I would worry. For now, lets give him a chance. The competition really isn't as good as made out. Chelsea have Mourinho and some great players, but they wouldn't scare me like the Chelsea of circa 2005/6 might. City have a major rebuilding job, even if they throw loads of cash at it, their new players will need time to settle in. Arsenal are not going to greatly improve in my opinion, while United could be really dangerous if they spend their money wisely - I'm unsure if they will to be honest.

It's not impossible by any means, more improbable. Arsenal are going to come second in my opinion, so I'm not going to mention them. United have about 5 tough games left and they could drop points in all of them. It's a pity that they play Arsenal last, as if Arsenal are guaranteed second or third, they will have nothing to play for. I see them losing to City and Chelsea in their next two games, drawing with either Palace or Everton and drawing with Arsenal. City will go on a run I think. They have been feeling sorry for themselves, but when push comes to shove, they will get into gear over the next few weeks with their big players coming to the fore. We really need to win all of our games. I see us winning all bar Chelsea away and maybe dropping points at Stoke, but I don't think it will be enough. Stranger things have happened...here's hoping. I see it ending: Chelsea Arsenal City United Liverpool Spurs

Did Clive mention that glorious night in Turin when United "somehow" came back against Juve, or that "balmy night in the Nou Camp"? Sorry, I was watching Homeland.

He might be an absolute world class tit, but Lawro has to be in pretty much every best eleven in my book. Him and Jocky were unbelievable together. If I had to I'd say that Lawro and Jocky were the best defenders I've ever seen live and I include Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta and McGrath in that list. I have to disagree that the legendary Souness/Whelan combo or any of our other great players wouldn't have cut it today. They were much tougher men than the players now and they had to play in horrific conditions - as one poster put it, they weren't any worse as athletes, just very different. I think that's a great point. Pretty much all of our stand-out players from that era were undisputably world class players - world class trumps the likes of Joe Allen or a Burnley player every day or era of the week. Rushy would eat up the Premiership, while Kenny would be the best player by a mile. Barnes would piss on the mediocrity of the league and on better pitches would be even better. The likes of Nicol would put down the ale and fit into whatever was required of him and would be even better as a result. Ray Kennedy needs to be mentioned more by the way!!! Absolute beast of a player.

English referees are tragically bad. I nearly piss myself every world cup or european championship when the bbc or itv make snide, condescending remarks about the Bulgarian, Malaysian etc referee that takes hold of the England or big games in the tournament, as if English referees are top class. Then you find that the games reffed by the English turn out to be the ones with all the "talking points".

Great point. He was a phenomenal player. I do think that with alot of scousers and I include myself in this, we are attracted to a wayward spirit like Suarez or a character like big Jan or even a fella like Kenny who doesn't give a shit about what the media thinks of him more than a guy like Keegan, who was a bit more of a goodie two shoes and loved by middle England. I do think this affects how Keegan is viewed by us, along with the fact that he left us for $$$$. (Obviously no one can compare to the King).

Was watching BT last night and Liam Brady reckoned that Herrera was the luckiest man in the stadium and that if he had caught Stevie properly, it could have been a leg breaker. He put Stevie's reaction down to being seriously pissed off with the tackle by him. Obviously, Stevie deserved the straight red, but it's nice that someone in the media can be objective when it comes to the Mancs.

It's all a matter for discussion and debate and the only thing that can't be debated is that we have had a huge amount of fantastic players down the years. Stevie deserves to be either first or second - he's played in a few mediocre teams (by our standards) down the years, but he never stopped being a world class player. Can you imagine him in one of our 70's or 80's teams - he'd have been even better. With alot of these polls, people's cult heroes come higher than they deserve which means that more deserving players like finish below where they should. I think Bascombe got it pretty spot on to be fair with a few discrepancies. I love Carra but no way is he higher than Ray Kennedy, Thommo, Terry Mac, Phil Neal, Alan Kennedy, Ronnie Whelan or Steve Nicol. He shouldn't be higher than Sami either. As much as I love Robbie, I would have Jocky ahead of him. Jocky contributed so much to the club in every way that he's in my top 5 everytime. My top 5: (1) Kenny (2) Stevie (3) Souey (4) Jocky (5) Barnes Rushy would be at number 6. Lawrensen, Callaghan, Keegan and Suarez would make up the rest of my top 10. In the 11-20 section, I would have the likes of Phil Neal, Ray Kennedy, Crazy Horse, Terry Mac and Billy Liddell (I never saw him but old timers would have him in their top 5 everytime). Robbie walks into this section comfortably. I'd probably put Torres and Alonso in here also if it is based on playing ability, which is precisely what it should be based on. Michael Owen would have a case to get in the top 20 - certainly top 25.

I had a horrible feeling all week that we would be turned over by the Mancs. I have this feeling that we will beat Arsenal. Anyhow, I think Chelsea and City will beat United. City will get their act together and be too good for the Manc's, while mourinho hates United (it's probably the only thing I share with the cunt) and would love to Lord it over them at their place. No one knows what Arsenal will turn up there - personally I could see them beating the gunners and I'd have more faith in a team like Palace beating them. Arsenal are always good for a brain freeze so they may get dragged into it again. I think we will drop points at Stoke and Chelsea. We probably can't afford to drop more than 3-4 points so let's wait and see. It's not over yet.

Awful yesterday. As much as I rate him, yesterday showed how much he needs to improve to be classed as a really top level player - messi, suarez and aguero could be played as wing backs and still look top class.united's largely mediocre players did a job on him, not the AC Milan defence of 1994. However, we should move hell and earth to keep him - if we sell him, we look even more like a selling club, rather than a club going places and that impacts on our ability to sign top players. Sterling is right to get the best deal for himself. Football is a business and LFC wouldn't give two shits about him if he was an ordinary kid from West London, just like they don't every year when loads of local Scousers are told they aren't good enough. That's the name of the game rightly or wrongly.

Wilson, Sinclair, Brannigan and o'hanlon are all very good with Rossiter the biggest talent of a very good batch. the big thing is that next season they go out on loan to a good club like Derby or maybe a good continental club in Belgium or Holland. Loans can make or break the confidence of talented young players.

I've too much respect for the older blues and even old Bill Kenright to want them to go down. Years of great banter and the best and friendliest Derby in world football with them means that for Reds of my vintage, I can never hate them like Chelsea, United or West Ham. The problem is that the younger ones are fucking total beauts with fuck all class. They glory in putting one over us, while blues 20-30 years older used to glory in winning titles. My brother is a legend of a blue who worked overtime to help me go to Rome in 77', while my nephew who is a decent lad away from talking about liverpool football club was roaring in my face when City beat his club 3-1 to dent us winning the title. His blue mates thought it was hilarious, while older blues looked on thinking what a total gobshite he was behaving like. When my generation of football fans is gone, the Merseyside Derby will be nearly as hate filled as the Old Firm.

United are a brand but like all brands a period away from the limelight (in this case the Champions League) and they are going to really suffer. It's obvious that they threw money at players and paid over the odds in the summer and they took the ultimate gamble of it being enough to get them in to the Champions League - if they do make it in, then I guess it's job done, if they don't, then they are in a bad way. Suddenly, Di Maria will be thinking "fuck this Europa League shite, I'm a world class player" and he'll be hooring himself out to PSG etc. On paper, I like alot of the players they have brought in, but paper doesn't win you trophies. The brand is only important if you're winning. Chelsea are a more supported club than us and United in Indonesia, Japan, China and Brazil, while we and the Mancs clean up in places like Dublin, Belfast and Norway. The 12 year old in Glasgow might support us or the Mancs because his old man is a fanatic who idolised the King or George Best, but the 12 year in Japan will be thinking "fuck that over the hill Rooney, I like Hazard". If our decline has taught anything, it is that the bigger a club, the harder they fall. United have us as a bookmark for what could easilly happen to them. I don't buy that they will just find a formula and be transported back to 99'. Chelsea have a great side with a top class manager. City have massive financial muscle and some great players, while we have some amazing young players and one of the best young managers around imo. Arsenal are frighteningly secure financially and aren't going to be moved out of being a perrenial top 4 club easilly. Spurs have very good players and a very decent manager. BTW, I would say it's worth a cheeky fiver that Fergie will return to manage them for a few games. I can see Van Gaal having a major blowout.

There seems to be a really good core of players in the u21 team that could make the step up or at least make a good career in the game and hopefully make us a few quid in the process if they don't succeed here. Rossiter and Sinclair look pretty nailed on to play in our first team in the coming year or two or be at least in the squad, but Brannigan, Wilson, Canos and O'Hanlon really impress me too. The key thing is that they get loan moves to the right clubs who will encourage them to play football. Ibe to Derby is the perfect example. He went to a good Championship club with a decent footballing manager in McLaren with good players around him and he grew from the experience - he could have just as easilly gone to some shitty no mark team playing hoofball and got lost along the way. Maybe, we could also think about a link up with a good Dutch,Belgian or Swiss team to broaden our players and get them playing against teams like Basle, Ajax or Anderlecht.

Most of our legends were bought cheap or came up through the youth/reserve team. A good barometer of how competitive our reserve team was and how hard it was to get into our first team back then was that Bob had to choose between Sheedy and Whelan initially in our reserve team. There are probably lots of other examples if we looked at the reserves back then. I heard Rushy say that the reserve team would often give the first team far more competitive games than they would get on a Saturday. United were blowing money back then on flavour of the month players. Spurs were similar enough and to a degree Arsenal were.

Brendan visits Rome to say a few prayers and shag his bird and suddenly we're spending 75 million.....

Some fair points there and you are right - they are five points ahead in the league which right now is all that matters. Should they make the top 4, then they will have a summer of heavy spending and re-inforce their image as being a Champions League club. If they get their spending right then they will be around for a long time. I've been a Liverpool fan for a very long time so I'm not some 12 year old living off LFCtv. We are a flawed team right now and as I said in my post we have a few more mountains to climb before we reach the summit, but I stand by my feeling that our long-term future is very good while they face some uncertainty. It's hard not to be positive about some of the players in our team such as Can. De Gea has been worth 15 points to them alone this season and has single handedly saved the blushes of a bang average defence and mediocre midfield - he might as well be given Player of the Year now. They have players I would love to have like Di Maria and Falcao, but neither are performing that well. Mata isn't looking the top class player he was at Chelsea, while Van Persie is no longer the world class he was several years ago. Rooney is a mercenary and will fuck off if they go another season without Champions League football - a scouser who leaves Everton for a Manc club isn't going to be too loyal to United. The bigger they are the harder they fall - we have learnt that only too well over the past 25 years and we may have several more years of getting schooled by clubs like Chelsea. Here's hoping that United have to learn just like we did.

United are absolutely atrocious. Unfortunately, they have the knack of saving themselves in games. The thing is with us, we have a very good manager (still very naive in alot of ways tbf) and a lot of brilliant young players like Moreno, Can, Sterling etc who will only get better and better. We have scope to become a really top team, even if I think we have a few more mountains to climb in the next year or two before we get to the summit. They on the other hand have a guy who was a very good manager in the past but isn't doing it for them and hasn't got too many years left in him anyway who they will have to replace in the coming years, and a load of world class talent that is either past it or not performing, added to expensive additions that might not really amount to much like Rojo and Shaw. If Moyes had them playing like this last season, there would be uproar. They remind me of us in around 1992.