JermainePennant

We will have to agree to disagree mate, anytime I have seen zabaleta he looks like a liability,he is poor in possesion and dives into tackles, I seem to remember him getting a few red cards aswell and i think one against us. Since mancini went there he has been looking to sign a right back and played him mostly in midfield and man city fans I know hate him, thankfully we wont be signing him anyway.

Zabeleta is shit and the only weakness in man citys first 11, they need a top right back badly and Santa Cruz is more injury prone then torres.

De jong would be the best player to replace masch, I would also take richards,ireland and if he could be got for dirt cheap bellamy.

Totally agree mate parker has had one decent season and now everyone thinks hes the dogs bollocks, this is the same guy who wasnt good enough for newcastle ffs. He is too old to be paying anything over 5m, hes slow as fuck and is simply not good enough.If we have to replace masch with someone parker would be a massive backwards step, there are plenty of players out there who are better then parker that we could get.

Figueroa is an average left back imo, he is ok definsively and poor going forward, there are better left backs out there we could get.

Hes not good enough, has a couple of good games a season and is all pace and no end product.

I have always rated robben since he was at chelsea, he is the best old style winger imo, he has great pace, scores goals and beats players for fun. I would love us to sign him, if we got him then we would have an atack to match any team in europe, cant see us affording him though.

I havent seen this guy play but 2-5m seems a bit steep for a player playing lower then championship standard football,he has one year left on his contract and seems determined to sign for us even after change of manager. We sold yossi for only 5m a proven prem player and international,I think we could have got him for 2m tops if we played hard ball, lets hope it turns out to be good buisness.

When Houllier was here the best we got in champs league was quarters whereas rafas liverpool would get to the semis most years or finals. The football under houllier was also appaling if we were winning or loosing, just everyone behind the ball and through balls for owen to run on to.If I get on to houlliers transfers ill be here all day we all know he was terrible. He also lacked class and thought he was also right, when we won the uefa cup he was at the front fighting to grab the trophy with the players while when rafa won the champs league he just stayed in the background and let the players enjoy it. Houllier even joined in them celebrations it seems and even thinks he has something to do with, when we all know under houllier we would have been out in the group stages as we would not have had alonso and garcia we would have had barton and dion dublin who were his targets that summer. When rafa left I thought it was a wrong move but I had wanted houllier gone for years before he left.Any chance of me maybe apreciating him for that little bit of success he brought here is gone everytime he comes out like this trying to make out he done some great job when he certainly didnt.

Exactly, every team needs a defensive midfielder and if masch goes he will definitly need to be replaced.I think a deal including cambiasso would be best for us and I cant think of many more in maschs class maybe de jong but I cant see us getting him.

I didnt see this one coming off so full credit to roy and the club for getting him.I think he will be a great signing, he can create and score goals and unlike most of our players can beat a player. People are saying he is injury prone and talking about how much we are paying him but he has had one major injury and since he has came back from it he hasnt kept getting injured he has just been left out of the team,it has not been like a torres injury saga. As for his wages if we were to buy a player of his quality we would have to pay atleast 10m and pay them 60-70k a week so I dont see the wages as much of an issue, he is on a four year deal also so if in a couple of years it aint working out we could sell him and get some money back.

I think we could be interested in poulsen if masch leaves, I remember seeing hodgson doing an interview a while back and he was talking about how he discovered poulsen years ago and was giving him a lot of praise. I would prefer to see momo over poulsen

Insua is a decent player and should be kept as a squad player,he is good in possesion,can cross and his defensive game will improve as he gets older.

YouTube - Raheem Sterling Montage Shit this boy has a great first touch, skills and passing aint too bad either, he will be a prem player.

Crouch would not be a good signing especially if he has to replace torres, crouch did better then expected here and was a good guy but I wouldnt exactly call him a success.When he played we resorted to the long ball too much and I think our football was better after he left. Trezuguet would be an interesting option depending on price and wages as back up for torres but I think there are better options out there.

Carra needs to be told he has to improve on last seasons form and fight for his place not be made captain making him think he will play week in week out,it has to be pepe he has the consistency and leadership skills.

Crouch was decent but lacked strength and pace this hasnt and wont improve,I would go for a younger english target man in Carlton Cole.He is stronger, quicker and more dominant in the air then crouch and also quite young. If not Cole we need a target man that can hold the ball up, please god not zamora though.

It also shows that he can make massive cock ups in the transfer market, replaceing carlos with Pistone is as bad as it gets it makes replacing anelka with diouf not look that bad, like I said I fear if gerrad and torres leave as I dont trust woy to replace them with the right quality.

Good article here about woys supposed succesful time at inter. Roy’s Italian Job. But not set in Turin: Part 1 :: The Empire of The Kop – Liverpool F.C. In a varied and much travelled managerial career, ranging from the United Arab Emirates to, well, Bristol, the biggest job that Roy has had until last week was at Inter. So, I’ve delved into the archives to see just how well he got on there. But first, here’s some background. Roy’s time at Inter overlapped with the early stages of Massimo Moratti’s ownership of the club, which began in February 1995. After finishing 6th in Serie A that season, Moratti allowed coach Ottavio Bianchi to spend lavishly in the close season to improve on that effort. As a consequence, Roberto Carlos, Javier Zanetti, Salvatore Fresi, Paul Ince, Benito Carbone and Maurizio Ganz were all recruited to bolster the squad. Meanwhile, the two Dutchmen, Wim Jonk and Dennis Bergkamp, left after two seasons each in Italy. After an indifferent opening to the new season, Bianchi was sacked and Hodgson given the job on a full time basis. Right, so on the face of it, Hodgson inherited a pretty decent first team, if you throw in Gianluca Pagliuca, Giuseppe Bergomi, Massimo Paganin and Nicola Berti with those that had been bought during the summer. In the winter transfer window, further strength was added with defender Alessandro Pistone and striker Marco Branca. Ultimately, in Hodgson’s first season, Inter finished 7th in the league, only 5 points off Lazio in 3rd, but 19 points behind champions Milan. Compare this to the previous season with a weaker squad – one place higher, but instead 11 points off 3rd (again Lazio) and 21 points adrift of Juventus at the top. Given the players recruited and undoubtedly the money spent, there had been a slight improvement, but there’s no doubt Moratti would have been expecting more. Moreover, the press have told us that Roy ‘steadied the ship’ during this year. Well, when he came to the club, Inter’s record was P6 W2 D2 L2, not a great start, but hardly an unmitigating disaster. So, I suggest that the term ‘steadied the ship’ is being somewhat generous. A harsher analysis would conclude that he had steadied the ship, but it had been rocking the most whilst he was at the helm. Throughout the season, Inter’s form was mixed, but they did rally with five successive wins during February and March. So, Hodgson’s Inter record in Serie A in 1995-96 stood at P28 W13 D7 L8 GF43 GA25, To Roy’s credit, Inter had the 2nd tightest defence in the league (behind Milan, of course) and the purchase of Branca had been a successful one, netting 17 times in the league alone. In the summer of 1996, Moratti once again backed his manager and Hodgson was able to bring in an impressive array of attacking talent, namely Youri Djorkaeff, Ciriaco Sforza, Kanu and Ivan Zamarano. In addition, Jocelyn Angloma and Aron Winter were drafted in to bolster defence and midfield respectively. However, Roberto Carlos left for Real Madrid, in what appears to have been a slightly acrimonious departure. Hodgson had openly questioned the Brazilian’s defensive qualities and had described him as tactically ‘indisciplined.’ Roberto Carlos retorted that “Hodgson uses me badly,” a quote made whilst still at the club. I now draw your attention to the following quotes made by the Brazilian at a later date about this situation (thanks to Paul at A Liverpool Thing for these): “My problem at Inter was Hodgson, Roy Hodgson. He wanted me to play as a forward when I’m a defender – I prefer to have space ahead of me to run into rather than be a winger already up there; for me it’s better to have 80 metres to play in than 20. I didn’t like the system or where Hodgson wanted me to play in it. He wanted me further up the pitch, sure, but stopped, still, rigid. The Copa America was coming up and I was playing at left-back for Brazil, so I wanted to play there for Inter too. I had to leave because I didn’t want to jeopardise my chances with the national team. If I couldn’t play the way I do I wouldn’t be able to play for Brazil. I spoke to Massimo Morratti [the Inter president] to see if he could sort things out and it soon became clear that the only solution was to leave.” Apparently, Hodgson had now deemed the left-back surplus to requirements, commenting “Pistone, better than Roberto Carlos. He goes.” Just to make the point abundantly clear, this is the Alessandro Pistone, who spent much of his time at Everton in the treatment room. In Italy, this decision is still to this day met with disbelief by Inter fans, and ridicule by the majortiy of the remaining footballing fraternity. Moreover, Moratti did nothing to prevent it. Even Fabio Capello, now the beneficiary of the left-back’s services in Madrid, couldn’t quite comprehend all of this. I present this YouTube clip of one Italian journalist, expressing to Hodgson that he felt Roberto Carlos had been forced out of the club. Needless to say, Roy was rather unimpressed. YouTube - Maurizio Mosca cazzìa Roy Hodgson in diretta! To provide some balance to this particular episode, we must note that Hodgson would later say “I’m sorry if people continue to think that I pushed Roberto Carlos out to Real Madrid. It seems to me an accusation that’s a bit ungenerous and completely undeserved.” When at Real, the Brazilian would aim one last parting shot at the man in charge of his old club, asking “Dr Moratti, is he crazy or just stupid?” Here end’s Part 1 of Roy’s Italian Job. Tomorrow, I’ll provide Part 2, looking at season 1996-97, which includes banners, barnies and a bit of David Essex (a highly tenuous link that I’ll explain) It doesnt sound as if he is as highly thought of as made out by some jornos, I will back woy as he is the manager but I am worried about what will happen if stevie and torres go as this guy scares me in the transfer market, lets just hope hes learnt from his experiences.

This is depressing, you fucks who spent the season asking or rafa to go hang your head in shame, you contributed to this as you gave the owners an excuse to sack him, great idea giving these idiots to find us a new manager wasnt it? We have gone for a guy who has been in management for something like 20 years or more and rafa has won stuff in a couple of years that eclipses this guys whole career. His best achievement in years is getting fulham to a euro final and in rafas worst he got us to the semis. His record in the transfer market makes rafa look like wenger, even at fulham where he has been hailed as a great success he has bought quite a few players who have hardly played or just been sent on loan. Its great we got rid of rafa forget all these champs league semis most years its back to the good old days of shit football, shit players and hoping for 4th at best and a carling cup.

If kenny thinks hodgson is a more suitable candidate for the job then pellegrini he is out of touch with football.Another manager who plays shit football and buys shit players.

Mascherano is my favourite current player in the team but these constant stories over the last year have changed my opinion of him.We brought him from west hams reserves where he was going nowhere and his place in the national team was in threat and he got to play in champs league and captain his national team yet the first chance to move he gets he wants to go. He dont want to play for us no more so let the unloyal cunt fuck off to barca for 30m atleast,if torres wants to go after 1 bad season then let him go aswell just not to a english club.I want to see a team of players committed to liverpool not some cunts who are just using us as a stepping stone. If gerrad wants to leave I will hold no grudge and as he has showed loyality in the past and I would be happy for him to win a title somewhere abroad and show he is one of the best players in the world.

Rafa has had one bad season but overall has done a good job at liverpool, he knows more then anyone where the team is weak and if backed will look to add the right players. He is also one of the best managers in the world and none of those mentioned to replace him are on his level, also atleast 1 of our key players would leave if he left (torres,mascherano) so it would be a backwards step getting rid of him.

I worked for a short time as a steward at millwall and can confirm every millwall fan from child to pensioner is a dickhead and they are rightly called the worst fans in england.

I really dont undertand the criticism rafa is getting for his tactics in this match, arsenal,chelsea, and manu have all got beaten there and we all knew this was a game we could simply not afford to lose so I think rafa got his tactics spot on. I would rather we played like that and keep city in our sights then go attack them and lose and make 4th place an uphill task.Man city have a lot of tough fixtures and if we win our next few games we will be ahead of them imo. Man city have a very impressive home record and we went there and didnt let them have many chances, a good away performance against a top team.