Toddler

Not been on here for a while, but old timers will vouch for me. 2 mates snowed in in Wales so got 2 spares for today if interested. Upper Main Stand. DM me. Ta

Shame on those nomarks today that failed to step up. I appreciate that Stevie' s head was gone, and that others could go as well. So that's why you need leadership throughout a team. Someone to get a grip and remind the shameful wasters that this was Stevie's last game and they owed it to him to put in a performance of a lifetime. No one did that. Shame on them! Three things Rodgers: Leadership. Most important of all. Kenny was building this before he got the boot. Say what you will about the players he brought in, but he identified leadership across the team. From keeper to centre forward. There was a leader in every area of the pitch, so if one has a bad day, someone else steps up. Thats what the Liverpool teams of the past, that have actually won stuff, have always had. Next season we have a huge problem as there are no identifiable leaders. Henderson has potential but we saw at Wembley that he can go missing. That is excusable. We are all human. So we need leaders throughout the team in anticipation of those days. Secondly, goals. We have a team that passes beautifully from time to time, but it is a simple mathematical equation. Goals for. Goals against. Sterling....10 goals or something similar. Not acceptable. Ballotelli. No one I have ever spoken to understands that signing. I will say no more. The key is in the scouts. Nobody could have replaced Roger Hunt. But we did. Nobody could have replaced Keegan. But we did. Nobody could have replaced Daglish. But we did. Nobody could have replaced Rush. But we did. Need I go on? Aldrich? Fowler? Owen? Torres? Suarez...that has been a problem! All replacements came from below the radar. We don't need to raid Real Madrid and Barcelona. We need to find the next one they want to poach off us in 5 years. We've done it before. We need to do it now. Thirdly. Percentage points and learning to win. And that is your bread and butter, but also what you can do through signings. Again, Kenny was teaching the squad how to win. Two cup finals in his first season. One cup. You have taken us to Wembley. Well done. But build on that. Recognise how important that was. Man City came from nowhere. No trophies in 30 years. They won a cup first and built on that. We crumbled last season because your team didn't know how to win. We have failed too many times this season, because we don't know how to win. In 2001 we won 3 major trophies with a one season wonder. The level headed, experienced Gary Mac. Next season we lack leadership (point 1) we also lack that winning experience. We need a Garry Mac. Djokovic went from a nearly there athlete to a world class winner when he realised that if he upped his game by 2% he would win Grand Slams. Those fine details and percentage points are the difference. If you see us slipping a couple of percentage points, then change it. Don't bring in a Balotelli that drops us 20% instantaneously! Recognise what works and don't accept second best. Bring in the experience to raise those percentage points of performance when we need them. Emerging talent is important. But they need guidance too. I am off now. But feel better. Someone share this with Brendan will you. today was a mixture of pride and emotion in Stevie's last game, and shame at how badly we sent him off. Just not acceptable. Sort it!

You are spot on there. A yellow card in the first half and they would have had to think twice - maybe even run the risk of a red given the number of cards they picked up for fouls. Ref did not help today for sure. But we should never rely on the ref so I won't lay all the blame at his door.

24 years of hope feel like they were shattered today. I'm old enough to feel that pain and can't look at the progress we've made on last year. It was that close! I know it's not over, but it's out of our hands and it wasn't this morning. Mourning is a horrible individual - brilliant in many ways, but still classless and a million miles away from a footballing genius. He had a plan and it worked but it was nothing like football. It was like watching Bolton under Allerdyce. We were off the pace today - the balls didn't fall right - our touches weren't right - but that was all down to his plan. He took the pace out of the game, knowing that we play best when we play at pace. Allerdyce! Ironic that he so berated him not so long ago. If we have blown it then good luck City - I just hope Chelsea never win a thing again - they deserve nothing. I am 45 today. Worst birthday of my life. The only saving grace is that I gave my ticket away to someone who had to fly back from Turkey especially for that game! Tomorrow maybe things will look different, but don't even bother trying to show me a silver lining in this particular cloud today. I have to take the family out now for my birthday and try to look interested! I hate Mourinho!

I'm in!

Yes. Thank f**k!

Scored four and now defending to save the game for all we can! How does this happen?

. You can pop round to mine cos I'll be ready to end it all!

Said at the beginning I wouldn't be happy until we score 5. Definitely thinking that now with Ngog coming on.

. No, you and me both!

Please let Suarez score so that his flood gates open for the rest of the season.

Suarez misses another one...thank f**k for Henderson following up. Come on red men!

. Yeah and now he can't score to save his life! Conceding three at home is dire. Scoring three at home should be a guaranteed home win....unbelievable!

Bugger. Thanks for confirming for me though. Can't understand why the club didn't send out the usual messages to ST holders and members, unless it went in my spam. Ta.

What's going on here. Offal and BBC showing the game as postponed. I've had no message from the club and can't find anything on the website. Is that weekend being used for Sunderland's FA Cup match? They're not shown as playing in the FA cup fixtures? I've just arranged a load of work to make sure I was in town for the Monday night game too! Is it officially being rearranged or are we waiting for more news? Anyone know?

Upper Centenary, £49, single ticket going if anyone is interested? PM me with your contact number and I'll put you in touch with my mate who will see you at the turnstile with my ticket cos I can't make it myself.

Carra's got a calf injury, but Lucas should have started, not Allen. Second half, got to batter them and turn up like we have been playing over recent weeks.

At first glance you look at the potential team with no Sturridge and no Courtinho and Sterling's recent poor form and you wonder how on earth we'll do this. Then you remember the 2005 squad and Pongolle and Mellor getting us two goals before Gerrard's clincher and you start to believe! Come on Red Men! I'm off on my way soon for a few pre-match bevvies to get my singing voice on!

I'm working in London midweek while we're playing Spurs - seems wrong not to be going to the match. Don't suppose anyone can help out with a ticket?

There's an article in this morning's Independent which will hopefully generate some more signatures. For clarity, the epetitions now is one to bring the inquest forward before Anne succumbs to her terminal cancer, rather than just to have new inquest as was the original petition. So the link a few posts above from Coro is the right one. It only has 26 odd hours and on it, so get signing if you haven't already.

Why would you not go into a new season with anything other than a positive outlook?

Someone please tell me that the Times article saying that Bellamy will return to Cardiff is just drivel from another Murdoch inspired anti-Liverpool paper. To think that all our transfer efforts are going into shipping out Carroll and Bellamy just fills me with dread for the future! Say it ain't so!

This looks like a desperate move. He won't improve in any style of play that Rodgers would endorse if he's going on loan under Alladyce. So the only reason can be in the hope that they will eventually buy him, so clearly we can't find anyone willing to plaything near a reasonable price at the moment. So rather that try and work with a striker we paid £35 million for Rodgers would rather jus stop him out at any cost. I feel sorry for AC. He can hold a ball up and lay it off as he's shown at the end of last season and in the Euros. Surely he at least deserves a chance to try and fit in to a Rodgers team?

With the confidence of a tabloid reporter with nothing to lose if they are talking sh**e but full of their own self importance if they happen by luck to have hit on something that turns out to be true by pure coincidence..... I can emphatically announce that AVB will take the Baggies job! He fears that a second failure at a Premiership Club will mark the end of his Premiership aspirations after the recent Chelsea dismissal. If he is to return to the Premiership so soon, he needs a safe club where expectations can be managed. He also wants a 'project' and therefore needs a club that wants to develop with a certain style and an effective structure that he can influence from top to bottom. Whilst Liverpool might present that opportunity, the expectations of Champions League football in his first season will be too much. Expectations at the Baggies, on the other hand, are simply of Premiership survival next season and perhaps a cup run. Anything more than that would see him held up as a folk hero in the Black Country. Failure to secure CL football at Liverpool or even a league position reflecting that aspiration by Christmas, could see him getting the sack again and therefore becoming persona non grata in the EPL. If the Baggies can meet his financial demands then they could offer the 'safe project' he desires and the opportunity to re-establish his reputation in England. He has also been in contact with the club, which has gone under the radar with all the focus on Liverpool nationally and more on Villa within the midlands than on the Baggies, suggesting this is more than a speculative theory. You heard it here first!

Good point, well made! I fear another period in the wilderness! There's still time for a surprise change though - perhaps Van Gaal will f**k them off and at the last minute they'll be forced to accep Rafa with a long term prospect of Carra as his number 2.....I can dream!