Baz1969

The clock is ticking louder than ever for Rafa - either we start playing decent cohesive football or we'll be found out fast. We're only at top of table through pure luck. I know its early days but based on the garbage I've seen so far, I think we might be completly trashed by the Scum and will struggle to stay in top 4 this season.

Every poor fan who paid to watch that God awful shite should be awarded Man of the Match. It was fuckin horrible muck as have all our performances been so far this season. We need to start playing well fast or we're going to have yet another crisis to deal with.

Agreed. Rafa is the problem - he likes everything through the middle. That said, Kyut is not a good enough striker for Liverpool and would'nt get into any of the other top fours starting eleven. Ever.

Beating the mancs and chavs will depend on who we bring in between now and end of transfer window. Without some width and creativity we will never pose a realistic threat to any of the other big three.

Not really surprised at the result cos its early season etc etc but the performance was really dreadful. Complete lack of any creativity or imagination. Lack of width has become a really serious issue.

When did/does the Belgian season start?

I agree...Arsenal will not finish in top 4

Is that a quote from Rafa????

How come the wedding was in Ballybrack?

Malahide my hole...dosent she hail from Ballybrack?

Anyone else see Wenger being asked about Barry at Emirates Cup press conference? He said he was efter an experienced midfielder and then just smiled when asked about Barry....I think they might go after him

Bullshit. A serious title challenge is what Rafa needs to deliver this season. Worst case scenario we must be still in the thick of it till at least the beginning of April. We must become real contenders. PL is all that matters.

This has become a joke. Love to see Barry in a Liverpool team but time to move on. We dont have the money Villa want regardless of wether he is worth it or not.

Agree 100%. I want us to be real contenders in the PL more than anything else.

The money being quoted is too much but that said the acquisition of Barry, Keane and Downing will will make us much more competive in the PL.

Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | News | O'Neill stands firm on Barry Yawn

I presume he's going to be staying with Inter but wouldnt say no if he was ona freebie..

Agree 100%. To start seriously challenging for the league has got to be the priority this season.

Liverpool's sitcom is no fun for Supporters By Vincent Hogan Irish Independent Monday June 23 2008 Tom Hicks and George Gillett are, it seems, back on speaking terms. This is not good news for Liverpool FC. It means the crusade to turn the club into an American sitcom is probably back on track again. Hicks and Gillett are the Lemmon and Matthau of Premier League owners. They insist -- of course -- that they have Liverpool's best interests at heart, but that insistence loses something fundamental in delivery. It feels like it should come with the accessory of canned laughter. You see, one specialises in junk bonds, the other in leveraged buy-outs. So you can understand the queasiness of supporters when Hicks invites Sky Sports over to his home in Texas and meets them in a Liverpool fleece. It's like seeing Michael O'Leary flouncing about in a mantilla. Hicks and Gillett reek of opportunism. They've owned the club for 16 months now and, apart from the clumsy humiliation of Rafa Benitez with that courting of Jurgen Klinsmann and their own childish, spiteful feud, it's a little hard to decipher anything they've actually achieved in that time. They borrowed so heavily to buy Liverpool, a suspicion lurks that business at Anfield is now conducted as if every new day dawns as October 24, 1929. Plans for the new stadium have already been down-sized and, by all appearances, suspended. Liverpool's only concrete moves in the transfer market have been for two full-backs, a Swiss who sat on the bench for the duration of his country's mediocre involvement in Euro 2008 and an Italian who didn't even make the Azzurri's squad. Hicks has declared the commercial shortcomings of Chief Executive, Rick Parry, "a disaster". And go figure this. Under Benitez, Liverpool have harvested millions from the Champions' League, yet he now finds himself reduced to counting coins, like the hard-pressed manager of a curio stall. It's not just Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal who go shopping on better streets. It's Newcastle and Tottenham, Everton and Manchester City. John Arne Riise's sale to Roma will probably facilitate the eventual purchase of Andrea Dossena from Udinese. And if Xabi Alonso goes to Juventus, Benitez might just bow to Aston Villa's exorbitant pricing of Gareth Barry. After that? The chat boards reflect the turmoil. At worst, Liverpool are thought desperate to trim their wage-bill (Finnan, Pennant, Benayoun, Voronin, Itandje, Leto etc.) At best, they have deals already agreed for the arrival of David Villa, David Silva and David Bentley (presumably in anticipation of a pending European ruling that at least a third of every professional team must answer to the same Christian name). The disparity speaks of a bewildered following. Liverpool supporters have no way of knowing just what market they are in right now. So they look to Rafa's body language, desperate to identify the subtleties that distinguish a sanguine general from a resigned one. Rebuffed There are some consolations, mind. Chelsea have, reputedly, been flashing green-backs in the direction of Kaka, Fernando Torres and Frank Ribery only to, remarkably, find themselves rebuffed by all three. And Cristiano Ronaldo seems intent on swapping Manchester for Madrid. But, then, you think of Alex Ferguson getting his hands on another £70m and it's like hearing that the guy from pest control has sorted out your wasp problem, but can do nothing about the bats. The worst thing about Gillett and Hicks is that they have managed to feed the depiction of Dubai International Capital as some kind of noble humanitarian agency set upon a course of human kindness. They have turned Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum into a modern-day Gandhi. The idea of DIC buying Liverpool is, essentially, attractive because that of the Americans retaining ownership remains so repugnant. Gillett was, reputedly, willing to sell his 50pc share for a £75m profit this year, but Hicks blocked the deal. Why? He claims to have wonderful plans for the club. But, then, he claimed the cement mixers would be spinning in Stanley Park by now too. The cynical view is that the Americans, albeit separately, are playing a game of bluff here. That, ultimately, their interest in Liverpool FC has never extended beyond the business of profit. Certainly, you look at Hicks, at his Liverpool fleece, his Liverpool mug, his eldest son holding up a scarf and pretending to sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' (the night Chelsea visited Anfield in the Champions' League) and it looks about as natural as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen espousing a devotion to Kilkenny hurling. The word this week is that "communication" between the Hicks and Gillett families has "improved significantly". This -- we are told -- has yet to extend to an actual conversation between Tom and George themselves. Meanwhile, pre-season begins to loom and the admirable Benitez must set about formulating plans in an environment that makes the political landscape in Zimbabwe look stable. For now, his expression remains implacable. The prayer must be that he knows something the supporters don't. That deals have been done and commitments made that speak of genuine ambition. Otherwise, the sitcom prepares to subsume the football club. And great men spin violently in their graves. *** For the record, this column did NOT argue that hurling management was no place for old men last week. Actually, we argued to the contrary but the message got lost. We are guilty of many sins in this neck of the woods, but ageism is not among them. - Vincent Hogan

Oooo...interesting. Had'nt heard about mongos money probs before. Where can I read more?

Torres will be a Liverpool player next season.

He would be a fantastic aquisition but I cant see it happening. Barry will be our one 'big' purchase this summer. Everything else will depend on sales.

Ronaldo staying in England, says mother | BreakingNews.ie

06/06/2008 - 12:31:38 Cristiano Ronaldo‘s mother Dolores Aveiro was quoted today as saying her son would be staying in England. "He is fine where he is," said the Manchester United star's mother was quoted as telling Portuguese television station TVI. "The future only God knows, but what is sure is that he is going to continue in England."