andyfm

I have the problem of being a moral vegetarian who hates most vegetables. The worst are people who reply "Oh, I'm virtually a vegetarian myself except for the white meat and the fish. And I like the occasional burger."

Bah humbug! I am indeed a forumite, just a very very quiet one due to severe digital laryngitis and a misplaced timezone. Andrew Moss

1. A famous cowboy - Billy the Kid 2. A number you have to memorise - PIN 3. A type of cheese - Wensleydale 4. Something that flies that doesn’t have an engine - Bird 5. A famous Scotsman - Robert Louis Stevenson 6. A famous David - the one who twatted Goliath 7. Something on your body you can open - Mouth 8. A reason you would want to avoid someone - Snogged their bird 9. A famous Welshman - Harry Secombe 10. Something that Father Christmas does when he comes to your house - Drinks alcohol 11. A non-living object with legs - Chair 12. An animal associated with a nursery rhyme - Sheep 13. A yellow fruit - Lemon 14. A slang word for a girl - Bird 15. An ABBA song - Dancing Queen 16. A word used to describe a very hot day - Boiling 17. A word beginning with Z - Zebra 18. A decoration you would hang on a Christmas tree - Bauble 19. A Christmas film - Bad Santa 20. A famous soap opera - Brookside

He had this brilliant technique of running while bringing the ball forward with the outside of his boot. It allowed him to run as fast with the ball under close control as most players could run without the ball. I was mystified at this so tried it out and it works. So why the fuck does no other bugger do it? Great player, and I disagree that he was inconsistent (he often got doubled up on or manmarked). His last season he was playing with an injury. He'd be ace in the current team.

They kill puppies! :telloff:

Blimey, that would be like hiring Don Revie after Shanks left. Utter madness.

I can only go on who I've seen (70s onward). out and out striker - Rush second striker - Dalglish midfielder - Souness winger - Barnes fullback - Nicol center back - Hansen keeper - Clemence

To be fair, Riise was here a long time and if after a couple of months you reckon Dossena is at least that level then we haven't lost anything. He needs to get his fitness up and get used to the speed of the game (there's a reason we usually beat Italian teams in Europe after all, tempo). No judgment from me till the end of the season.

They are not likely to slag off their manager to a Liverpool fan sober. You had to catch them drunk.

Plenty of mancs wanted Ferguson out just a couple of years back.

Erm, Posh Spice... :whistle:

You've got to respect Whelan's opinion that Rafa is a shit manager. Whelan was a pretty shit manager himself so should recognise the signs. Obviously the Spanish league titles, UEFA Cup and European Cup finals were all inexplicable blips caused by gamma radiation. From wikipedia... On his departure from Anfield, Whelan became manager of Southend United and also worked with clubs in Greece such as Panionios and in Cyprus such asApollon Limassol but most notably with Olympiakos Nicosia. His greatest success as a manager, was with Panionios in 1999, when his team reached for first time the quarter finals of a European competition, the Cup Winners Cup, when they were eliminated by SS Lazio with 0-4 and 0-3. He now works on the after-dinner circuit and does a spot of punditry.

I don't think it's quite that simple. The 2006 team needed new players to get better or even stay at the same level. With Kewell's demise and Gerrard's insistence on being central, we lost 2 quality wide players instead for the next season and therefore regressed. The new formation has been necessary to make Gerrard as effective from the central role he craves as he was from the right that year. If we can add just 1 effective wide player, we will be a better team than 2 years ago no doubt. If Babel improves in fitness and consistency, we would be a better team with no addition.

Rafa has been here 4 seasons. Initially he was blocked from bringing in youth players from abroad by Heighway as Rafa had no jurisdiction over the academy, so let's call it 3 seasons. The young players he has brought in have since helped win the youth cup twice then the reserve league. 2 or 3 are now on the fringes of the first team squad, and both Plessis and Insua have got a couple of first team games recently. Give it time and more will come through, of which maybe a handful will make it. It is very difficult to get the right player who is still young and raw, so affordable enough for us, yet ready to be blooded full time. Look at Walcott, he's still not first team at Arsenal after a couple of seasons. Are we saying Wenger has no idea how to handle youngsters either? Rafa spent 11m on Babel and that was the first time he felt the squad was strong enough to make that a priority. Naturally he has been rather inconsistent in his first year adapting. You can only blood one or two at time (see United and Ronaldo, now Nani and Anderson). You also have to look after their physical development, which is different for each player, plus ensure their confidence is not destroyed by playing them too much too early, or in a poor side. I think we will see if Rafa's eye for a quality young player is good in a couple of years time.

They have 3 top quality experienced attacking players to our 2. That is 100m to 70m. If we have the cash to buy another one, the right one, then brilliant. That is the cash Rafa is trying to free up by switching the squad players out this summer. However, no point spunking our one shot with that money on a Forlan, Veron, Shevchenko or Quaresma. We need the right player, like Torres.