cotter

we're certainly more direct than united and arsenal, but i think we're also very capable of playing it on the floor too. i don't see it as a problem at this stage and think it's very much part of the way many of the great liverpool sides played. it was only really kenny's side of the mid-80s that played consistently sumptuous football. i think the attacking side of it is something that will continue to devlelop with quality of players and greater defensive confidence anyway. for all ferguson's attacking intent it wasn't until he added carrick, vidic, van der saar and evra that the current side that they really started to dominate games consistently. the same could be said about pallister, bruce and schmeicel in previous generations. the team rafa had at valencia with aimar, vicente, barraja et al was all about short, quick passes. i really don't believe any of the other sides you mention pass and move better than this liverpool side, although they may be more intense in their approach. the ability to slow a game down - which is something i think we're probably better than anyone else in the league at bar chelsea - has served us really well in europe and isn't something i'd want to see us abandon in the league. we just need to keep adding the right players.

i've been looking at that for five minutes trying to work out what he is saying. and i've come to the conclusion that it's "bummer". and why does his head shrink?

mourinho inherited a side that finished second and got to a CL semi-final, to which cech and robben were added. he then went and spent 60 million on drogba, carvalho, ferreira. it's certainly true that you don't need tactics when you're spending that kind of money. what's your view on avram grant?

not at all. the style of football has improved out of sight, we keep the ball far better than at any time under houllier, we are consistently difficult to beat, we have the top scorer from open play in the league (only one of his goals coming from a set piece). we've scored more goals this season than for a long time, lost fewer games, achieved over 70 points for the second time in three seasons (how many times did we achieve that under the previous regime?) which teams exactly play more aggressive, attacking football than us? one with a manager of 20 years, and far bigger spending capacity over that period. and another who while spending less has not won as much as rafa from a much stronger base. anyone else? when rafa took over we were the fourth team in the league by some distance (and had struggled to fifth in the season before that), had just lost owen and heskey, and were trying to play a counter-attacking game with aging and injured players. arsenal had won the league in record-breaking fashion, chelsea had just found their sugar daddy, and united had dominated the english game for fifteen years and were spending more than ever before on individual players. that kind of defecit doesn't get turned over in the blink of an eye. the fact that we've competed with and in some cases out-performed these teams in the last 4 years has made people lose sight of where we really were.

you've the memory of a goldfish if that's what you truly believe. and utterly unrealistic expectations.

any of you cretins watch ferguson's teams during the six years he failed to win a thing? more simplistic bollocks from the sack rafa brigade.

amazing that with all these shite defenders they managed to go through the whole of the last world cup without conceding a goal. they're starting to produce some good young players quite regularly now, too.

that said & done thing in the observer is consistently brilliant.

exactly. there's speculation and planted stories in the locals and nationals every day of the week. whatever you think about the correct way to do business it's a bit weird to start going off on one in the way he has.

if we're using the media to unsettle him it's fair that o'neil's a little pissed off, although it's nothing new. and ultimately he's been as guilty of making this bigger news than it might have been as anyone at liverpool has. i don't accept that the only time you should be negotiating for players is once the seasons over though. i think you need to act early, which is exactly what parry has been criticised for not doing on countless occasions, not only by rafa but by fans too. united were tapping up tevez last season, and it wasn't as though west ham had nothing to play for, or as if it affected their form. berbatov's another. as is bentley.

avram grant is the perfect example of what an average manager can achieve with a great squad of players in the short term. do you fancy them to go onto dominate european football for many seasons under him?

he takes no responsibility for signings or their academy. none. in fact, according to rossell, he was against bringing in ronaldinho in the first place. basically he had to keep a very talented squad of players organised, happy, fit and motivated and with the help of ten cate managed it to do it for two seasons. there have been plenty of average managers/coaches win things at real and barca, because their system of ownership and buying power means they'll invariably have great players to work with. if guardiola goes onto win la liga next season i won't be hailing him the second coming either.

rikjard's poor. he's an avram grant or a del bosque. laporta and his sporting directors brought well early on, and the academy was ripe with talent. they had a very good team for two seasons, but rijkard failed to keep them motivated. they have missed sandro rossell who brought in and was close to many of their better players, particularly ronaldinho, and probably ten cate who was capable of instilling a bit of discipline and organization.

kind of forces our hand that he won't sign a new deal. 8 mil now or an unhappy player who can leave for nothing next year.

degen was really highly rated three or four years ago, and as you say he had a decent world cup as part of a swiss defence that didn't concede a goal. my only concern is that he's proved injury prone since. dortmund have also had a terrible few years selling their best players because of financial problems and he may well have stagnated there regardless of his fitness record.

he's no slower than fabregas. you're just throwing 'defensive' around to suit a redundant argument. is that all alonso is to you. last time i looked he was one of the highest rated passers of the ball in european football. he's gone off he boil this season, but that's a different argument. there are loads of teams playing three centrally. fabregas/flamini/hleb. iniesta/xavi/toure. gattuso/pirlo/kaka.

deco's an utter cunt also.

the emphasis is all wrong. the big or the quick or the brave get promoted first in this country. 7-year olds playing competitive football on full size pitches with parents screaming on the sidelines for them to get stuck in ain't the way.

we don't have a coherent policy in place like those clubs do. and we haven't been producing players with the same success as a result. it needs a football man with a long-term vision, experience of the process and knowledge of the club to shape things.

benitez worked at madrid's academy for ten years. it's probably fair to say he knows a bit about this. and while they might produce only a handful of players that are good enough to even make their squad, they also develop a huge percentage of top pros who go onto play for spain's other clubs. between them i think barca and madrid have had a hand in producing something crazy like 30% of the players currently plying their trade in la liga. it's a reality of the academy system at the biggest club that very few will actually make it. obviously you have to promote some, but just as big a part of it is developing talent that may not be good enough for liverpool but can regularly churn out players for the wigan's or blackburn's of this world.

johnson is shaping up to be the best english centre mid of his generation. he's a future england captain. speak to any manchester city fan they rather lose richards.

apparently when he was manager of nancy he would often vomit after losing games.

a better comparison is fabregas, although not at his level yet. he's been patchy. at his best he looks a quality passer of the ball with a good understanding of when to hold and when to push forward. too often though he looks like he's just happy to get it and give it, and not particularly willing to get involved physically. he'll be very good when he starts to take on a bit more responsibility and confidence.

i think we've gone backwards defensively this season, but in the previous two we've been as good as anyone. agger's been a big miss, carragher's been under par, and skrtel's been settling. i think there are grounds for optimism on that front, but agree with those who say full back is where we need to improve. i think we've out-played united at anfield on a few occasions over recent seasons, without always getting results. we're obviously behind them in our evolution. whether we've spent more money them than or not, ferguson was building from a far stronger base than rafa was. you're all over the place here. overlapping full backs are critical to a system that relies on attackers that cut in field onto their stronger foot because they give the side all it's width. arsenal do it with hleb and clichy/van persie and sagna. barca do it with messi and zambrotta/ronaldinho and sylvinho. these are the teams you are constantly bigging-up. no? i think evra is a major player for the mancs, and far better than anything we have going forward. clichy/sagna, belletti/cole (admittedly he's been pretty poor) or bridge are also consistently better going forward than anything we have. we have our rooney. and ronaldo's don't grow on trees, he took two or three years of regular premiership football to reach his current level, let's see where babel is then.

did the marathon a few years ago and would have ice baths after a long run. sorts you out good and proper. far less aches and pains the next day.