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Granted the timing isn't great but it was love as soon as their eyes crossed...

Spurs do have a manager and Sigurdsson has given an interview saying "I like him and the ideas he has. He has faith in me and I'm looking forward to working under his leadership." But maybe Sigurdsson liked living near London when he was at Reading, maybe he was motivated by the higher wages Spurs offered, maybe he genuinely believes they have "world class players" and "play good football", maybe he liked the vision presented to him, maybe he has been told Van der Vaart is off, maybe he didn't fancy his chances of dislodging Steven Gerrard, maybe he just doesn't like Liverpool as a club or a city but you are probably right that he simply went off Rodgers as he is a shit manager.

Like many others I was disappointed that Sigurdsson chose to rebuff our offer in favour of Spurs – it is never pleasant when a promising player opts for one of our direct rivals. I think Sigurdsson is very much in the Frank Lampard mould; excellent goal scoring record, good set piece delivery, an eye for a pass but lacking any real burst of pace. However, the air of despondency that has greeted his decision is unwarranted. He would almost certainly have been competing with Steven Gerrard for the attacking midfield role and there is only one winner there in my opinion. Admittedly Stevie’s fitness record hasn’t been great over the past few seasons but we also currently have Adam, Henderson, Shelvey, Aquilani and Cole who can deputise in that position. This begs the question ‘how much would Sigurdsson really have improved our first XI?’ and my view is that he is a worse option than Gerrard but possibly a better alternative than most of the others. Now you have to weigh his potential contribution against the “opportunity cost” of acquiring him. Our team desperately needs a proper right winger, cover for Lucas, and another option up front in order to push on. I firmly believe that the introduction of a skilful right winger would improve our team far more than having another central midfield option. I would much prefer if we concentrated our funds on the areas where we are most deficient as this should see us make the greatest improvement in the shortest time possible. Sigurdsson would have cost us around £11.5m in his first year in transfer fees and wages (if reports are to be believed) and I’d be prepared to wager that is quite a chunk of this Summer’s budget. Rodgers has shown that he has the ability to identify ‘budget’ players that fit in to his preferred tactics. He deserves a lot of credit for bringing the likes of Michel Vorm, Scott Sinclair, Neil Taylor, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Fabio Borini, Steven Caulker and Leon Britton to Swansea during his tenure as well as giving Joe Allen an opportunity. I have always suspected that this eye for a bargain was one of the principal factors that attracted FSG to Rodgers. While Sigurdsson has recently been much in demand where was everybody when he left Reading and Hoffenheim previously? I have no doubt that Rodgers and his team are currently scouring Europe and beyond with a view to unearthing players that can make a significant contribution to LFC. If we can sort out a few key weaknesses this Summer I won’t be losing any kip about missing out on Sigurdsson as there are plenty of others that can step up to the plate. It is frustrating watching our rivals sign players when we haven't a clue what is going on but we have frequently called for a return to doing our business in private so it is a bit churlish to complain! It will take time for the new players and tactics to bed in but I am confident that we will perform much better than last season for a variety of reasons.

Spot on Coop and you could arguably add Adam to that list. I think Sigurdsson is potentially a very good player and I would like us to sign him. However, I would be very annoyed if his signing prevented us from improving the weakest areas of our squad such as the right wing. I think upgrading our problem positions would result in us progressing far more than providing another option in an area in which we are already well stocked. Our squad is a little unbalanced and you could argue that our priorities this Summer should be a right winger, cover for Lucas, a pacey goal poacher to give us something different up front and possibly another option at left back if Robinson isn't ready to step up yet. Sigurdsson would be great if we can get him provided we don't have to sacrifice any of the above. Istvan Kosma; The players I would consider expendable are Brad Jones or Doni, Danny Wilson, Maxi, Aquilani, Cole, Pacheco and Eccleston. We have obviously already seen Aurelio and Kuyt depart. That would result in a saving of roughly £24m a season on wages alone according to the figures I've read.

It strikes me as a rather glib remark on Werner's part - of course everybody would like our wage bill to increase in line with increased turnover but that certainly does not mean that we have limitless funds to blow on wages. Every pound we spend on a player that is not contributing to the first XI is wasted money. Both Werner in your quoted text and John Henry have acknowledged that there is a lack of depth / quality in our squad and our league position does not reflect our wage bill. This is what Henry said: He wasn't referring to a lack of players when talking about "depth" but rather a lack of quality and value for money. We can't spend infinite amounts of money due to limited resources and FFP so our only option is to replace non-performing squad members with better players if we want to improve. Getting rid of the duffers is going to be the hard part.

Mike C; I find it impossible to know what to believe with all the idle speculation tossed about in the media - a frighteningly high proportion of what is published is absolute bollox. Our massive global fan base generate a lot of clicks and advertising sales for media outlets so any "news" relating to us helps increase profits. What I do know is that Aquilani's value is amoritized over the length of his contract so he will have an "asset value" of approximately £6.8m in our accounts. His wages do not count towards FFP as he was signed prior to June 2010. If we release him from his contract we immediately chrystalize the loss and we have to make it up elsewhere to comply with the rules. No easy task.

I fear wage demands are going to be a serious stumbling block for us when trying to attract players this Summer. We are saddled with a number of exceptionally high earners that are contributing little and John Henry has highlighted the lack of "value" provided by fringe members of the squad as a major issue for the club. FSG cannot simply assume they will find takers for Aquilani (£80k+ p/w), Cole (£90k), and Maxi (£80k+ but has at least made a contribution) etc. and this is likely to impact on our financial plans for next season. Until such times as these players are moved on, I suspect FSG will be extremely reluctant to sanction large contracts for new players. I have read in the past that we are close to breaching the wages / turnover limits for FFP as things stand and I would be very surprised if this wasn't to the forefront of FSG's mind. We also have players such as Skrtel, Suso etc. that will be angling for new and improved contracts. It is very disappointing that we find ourselves in this position but I can't see us attacting the calibre of player we need until we address the legacy of overpaid unflushable turds.

A journalist told me yesterday that Fallows was first approached prior to Brendan Rodgers' appointment - I haven't heard anything directly so that is why I presented it that way.

The appointment of Dave Fallows is an interesting development. Manchester City recently completely overhauled their scouting system and Fallows was an integral part of the new setup in his role as “Football Scouting and Recruitment Coordinator”. Fallows was second in command (Mike Riggs who headed up the Scouting Dept. was recently poached by QPR) and appears to have been involved in assigning scouts, filtering the reports that came back, preparing recommendations / presentations on the club’s targets, and compiling a database of scouted players. Following the influx of Arab funds, City established an extensive international scouting network which is complemented by the ProScout7 database and video systems, a statistical database and video analysis tool that monitors 130,000 players from 130 countries. Liverpool and Swansea both use the same system and we recently extended its use to the Academy to create a database of every player’s long-term internal development. We also recently signed a partnership deal with OPTA (City are also OPTA clients). It appears that Fallows may have been appointed directly by the club rather than on the recommendation of Brendan Rodgers and this represents a significant new departure. In the past each new managerial regime appointed its own Chief Scout who was inextricably linked to the manager – Gerrard Houllier / Alex Miller, Rafa Benitez / Eduardo Macia etc. Even when FSG tried to move away from this model by appointing Damien Comolli, the new Director of Football cherry-picked Steve Hitchen, Spurs’ French-based scout, as his Head Scout. The traditional approach creates two major problems – there may be a perception (rightly or wrongly) that the scout is not providing a truly independent assessment of his boss’ preferred targets and the club will almost certainly lose the scout’s expertise if his boss is replaced. By appointing a suitably qualified candidate directly, FSG can ensure that any analysis furnished is independent and the scouting network will not break down if other senior personnel move on (which should also reduce compensation payments). In the past there have been question marks about certain managers’ relationships with agents (*cough* Willie McKay *cough*) as well as the alleged use of unlicensed Italian agents. A direct appointment should provide the necessary checks and balances to avoid even the suggestion of impropriety. More importantly, we would never again face a situation where we are heading into the most important transfer period of the year without the proper infrastructure in place. Following Comolli’s appointment we disposed of a number of long serving scouts and, now that his connections have also gone, our scouting system has been decimated. Fallows will have quite a job on his hands to re-establish our network but at least he has recent experience of fulfilling such a task and is already familiar with our club’s systems. Based on Ayre’s recent comments, I suspect that we will form a transfer committee comprising of Brendan Rodgers, Dave Fallows, the Head of our Medical Department, Michael Edwards (Head of Analytics) and somebody with their finger on the club’s financial pulse. I expect the club will pursue our new manager’s preferred targets but he will have to satisfy the other members of the committee / FSG that any acquisitions or disposals make objective sense. Hopefully this change will consign the spectre of Cheyrou, Diouf, Aquilani, Downing et al to the past and we can start to get real value for money.

I suspect Kuyt will be followed out the door by Maxi, Cole, Wilson and Darby as I don't think they possess the mobility and/or ability to excel in the style of football that Rodgers favours. We appear to be making overtures to Gylfi Sigurdsson and, if this transfer goes through, I think that Charlie Adam will join the exodus as we already have Gerrard, Shelvey and Henderson who can cover this area. The two exiles who I feel could still have a role to play are Aquilani and Pacheco as both have good technical ability. However, neither of them have shown that they have the necessary mentality or consistency to command a place in our team . If they excel in pre-season and show they have the desire to play for LFC they may be able to convince our new manager that they deserve a fresh chance. Personally, I think this is very unlikely and I can see them both being loaned / sold late in the Summer. Getting rid of the above players would knock around £17 -20m off our annual wage bill without adversely affecting our squad. Even if we have to make a few partial payoffs and accept low fees to clear these players off our books, it would still free up a massive amount in wages and make up a lot of the shortfall caused by our failure to secure Champions League football. It will be a mammoth task to dispose of all of the deadweight but it is a key step if we are going to progress.

Don't get me wrong - I am definitely not championing the appointment of Roberto Martinez! I was just speculating on the characteristics which may have made him attractive to our owners. I think his appointment would be a further clear signal that the owners have absolutely no intention of pumping significant sums into the club from their own resources. The only way we are going to be in a position to compete again is if we regain our Champions League status and that is a big ask in the current climate. I do think we underachieved last season and I expect us to improve significantly. There is a chance that Spurs will lose Modric, Adebayor, Defoe and possibly others so may not be as competitive. Similarly, who knows who will be appointed at Chelsea and which players they will bring in to replace the likes of Drogba, Bosingwa and Kalou - Terry, Lampard et al will be a year older and there is no guarantee they will like the new regime. Will their recent success make them even more unwilling to accept a change of tactics? Arsenal may lose Van Persie to Man City - where would that leave them?

As it became increasingly obvious over the past few days that Roberto Martinez is going to be our next manager, I have been trying to work out what qualities have attracted FSG to him as he certainly would not be my preferred candidate. It has repeatedly been pointed out that Wigan have only narrowly avoided the drop for the past three seasons and Martinez has finished lower in the league than his predecessors - understandably this hasn't instilled a lot of confidence in our supporters about his ability to successfully take up the hotseat at a much higher profile club. However, I was surprised to learn that during Martinez's three year tenure at Wigan they have taken in almost £10.5m more than they have paid out in transfer fees. Personally I think this paints his achievements in a more flattering light - despite having repeatedly lost his most valuable players (resulting in a significant net profit on transfers), Martinez has managed to keep the team's performance consistent. Doing a lot more with less if you like. This wasn't the norm under Bruce or Jewell. Despite spending more than £35m net last season we only managed to finish 9 points ahead of Wigan. I hate the way the media constantly drone on about Moneyball when they talk about our owners but I do think they are adopting a business / analytical approach to the appointment of our next manager. In terms of points per pound spent, Martinez has consistently achieved a return that would rival almost anyone in the division. Most people now realise that FSG are not going to pump vast sums of money into LFC and "efficiency" appears to be their sacred cow. Martinez, in fairness to him, has shown that he can deliver a certain return even without the benefit of investment. Traditionally the biggest clubs in England have sought to appoint managers with a track record of success / silverware. However, the advent of the Premier League / Champions League has meant that trophies are increasingly being won by a small pool of elite clubs who enjoy the largest revenue streams. I suspect that FSG have attempted to objectively 'value' the achievements of managers at smallers clubs and have focused on the returns that they have generated from the resources at their disposal. The logic is presumably to establish which managers have achieved 'success' through managerial skill rather than financial might. On this basis, Martinez has delivered excellent returns. In terms of other factors that might make Martinez attractive to our owners, he is a bit of a media darling and FSG may feel this would help repair our tarnished image, he is presumably on a relatively modest salary at Wigan and FSG have previously indicated their desire to reduce our wage bill, the concept of working under a DOF will not be so alien to somebody from Spain, his teams are frequently praised for the "attractive" brand of football they play and his side's performances generally improve in the latter half of the season which arguably suggests that his coaching delivers results once the new players have had an opportunity to absorb his methods and bed in. Time will tell whether he will be a success and it is a very big gamble on the owner's part. I am particularly anxious about his total lack of European experience but I guess he will have to learn as he goes. I am prepared to give him a fair crack.

I am becoming increasingly convinced that Roberto Martinez is nailed on for the job. AVB's agent has been distancing his client from the position claiming they are looking for a club with "a strong technical plan, that is solid and durable" and indicating that his client will reject any offers that do not meet the criteria. This sounds to me like they are engaged in a face-saving exercise in case AVB is not appointed. They will undoubtedly claim that the "Liverpool project" was unsuitable if he is overlooked. In contrast, Wigan have confirmed that permission has been granted to speak to Martinez and the latest reports are that he has flown out to Boston for a second meeting with the owners. The John Barnes interview published on the club website looks like a PR strategy designed to pave the way for the appointment of Martinez - the attempt to redefine what constitutes "success" for club managers, the emphasis on the need to instill a footballing philosophy within the club (Martinez has repeatedly been championed for "sticking to his footballing principles), the plea for the new manager to be granted time to implement his vision, the possibility of appointing somebody young who has not won anything and so on. Out of Martinez and AVB I would favour the latter's appointment as I think his preferred tactical approach is a better fit for the players already on our books. However, I will back Martinez fully if he is chosen as he does try to play a progressive style of football and, hopefully, Steve Clarke can address any defensive frailities. I will be shocked if Martinez is not appointed by this day week.

In fairness to Diame, I think his ommission was mainly due to a perceived "lack of commitment to the cause" as a result of his refusal to sign a new contract. With Wigan in such a precarious position Martinez turned to the players he felt were most likely to give their all to preserve the club's top flight status. He perhaps felt he couldn't be guaranteed that with Diame as he appeared to be off in the Summer anyway. I am not sure how closely people have watched Diame but he is an absolute powerhouse, likes a tackle, has some measure of skill and can pass a ball so we could do far worse in terms of a backup defensive midfielder on relatively modest wages. Here is the obligatory youtube clip:- [YOUTUBE]eD8_ktkuoDI&feature=fvwrel[/YOUTUBE]

Our squad is chronically short of players with the pace and skill to beat players one on one. Suarez, Bellamy and Johnson were the only ones who did it with any consistency this season and it is no surprise that they were three of our most creative forces. When teams drop deep to defend we need more players who are able to beat a man in order to open up space or else we just end up passing back and forth in front of their back line - this is a large factor in why our possession stats were so high but goal return so low. All too often the "chances" we created were speculative shots from distance or balls aimlessly tossed into the box from deep. It is blindingly obvious that the top teams in England over the last decade have always been littered with players that could consistently go past players and unlock defences. United have always recognised this, Chelsea had it with Robben, Cole and Duff and City, Spurs and Newcastle improved immensely when they got the likes of Silva, Bale and Ben Arfa. We need to sort this out in order to improve.

I have always liked Aquilani and I think he is a far superior player to the likes of Adam. However, all the indications are he does not want to be here and his wages are very significant. In addition, I can see us playing two up front a lot more next season and I am not sure whether he would be trusted to play in a two man midfield here ahead of Lucas / Gerrard / Henderson etc. His injury problems appear to be behind him and he has performed reasonably well for two of the biggest clubs in Italy over the past two seasons so I would be shocked if there were no suitors. We need to stop accepting unfavourable loan deals and just make a decision on his future. At £5m he would be a bargain for any Italian team and he should take a wage cut if necessary if he is so desperate to return home.

For a long time I have felt the biggest problem with our squad is a lack of balance rather than quality - we always have one or two positions where we are "making do" such as Kuyt / Henderson on the right wing or Spearing covering for Lucas. If we get a right winger, striker and defensive midfielder we will go a long way towards bridging those gaps. Arsenal look as though they are going to improve if they get M'Vila, Podolski, Verthongen (apparently they are keen), Wilshire (back fit), a RB to replace Sagna and manage to hold on to Van Persie (and keep him fit again next season). The rest I am not so sure about; will Spurs shell out the cash for Adebayor and hang on to Bale? Are Chelsea about to lose Drogba and what are they going to do about an ageing Lampard and Terry and a fading Essien? Will Newcastle hold on to all those players that served them so well this season - Ashley loves a big offer? How will they cope with Europe? All we can do is try to improve our squad with the available resources and see where that takes us. Newcastle have shown that savvy purchases and a bit of luck with injuries can see a club make massive gains.

I agree with TK-421 and others who are saying we can improve without necessarily shelling out vast amounts. Personally I would be delighted if we signed the following:- Jackson Martinez £6m Junior Hoillett £3m (compensation) Luciano Narsingh £6m Mohammed Diame Free Sterling, Robinson, Gulacsi and Shelvey should also feature much more next season. I genuinely believe those changes alone would improve us immensely. The really hard part will be shifting the players that are surplus to requirements - Maxi, Dirk, Joe Cole, Aquilani, Brad Jones, Aurelio and Danny Wilson.

I am sick of square pegs in round holes and would much prefer if we just bought a right winger to play on the right wing. Simples. Fulham appear as though they are about to land quite a coup - Luciano Narsingh and Oussama Assaidi from Heerenveen for a combined £10m. Narsingh has been the top provider of assists in the Eredivisie for the past two seasons and is the main reason Bas Dost has been banging in goals so regularly. He has good acceleration over the first few yards, great balance which allows him to wriggle away from players by changing direction quickly but most of all he is fantastic at picking out players in the box. He has been called up to the provisional Dutch squad for Euro 2012 and looks great value at that price particularly as he is only 21. Exactly the type of player we should be taking a chance on. Imagine a winger who took on full backs and provided an excellent delivery. Oussama Assaidi is very skillful too and is a full international for Morocco - great bit of business by Jol if he pulls it off. [YOUTUBE]qMTe-Z4WEG0[/YOUTUBE]

JJ has excellent technique (don't see where MD1982 is coming from at all!) and is very composed on the ball for a guy who only recently turned twenty. His vision last night was excellent at times and he has the ability to play great early passes to open up space and avoid being dispossessed. He also clearly has an eye for goal and has been unlucky not to have scored more often thus far. He doesn't have blistering pace and for that reason I don't see him developing into a clone of Gerrard as he lacks his dyanamism. I think he would be far better modelling his game on somebody like Alonso who constantly changes the point of attack and dictates the tempo of games. Like Xabi, he is able to play long and short passes with ease and he appears to be prepared to compete for the ball too. His closing down last night was very impressive and was a pleasant surprise. Previously I though he was destined to become an attacking midfielder in the style of somebody like Riquelme but, if he is prepared to work extremely hard to improve all aspects of his game, he can become any type of midfielder he wants. My one criticism is that he can over-complicate things at times and concede possession by trying something more elaborate than the situation requires. If he learns the value of keeping possession he will be a monster of a footballer in three years time. We are lucky to have him and he will undoubtedly get plenty of games next season.

The Board needs to clarify whether they intend to appoint a new Director of Football as soon as possible. I fear they are postponing any announcement on Kenny's future until after the end of the season and everything else has been put on hold in the meantime. Other clubs appear to be stealing a march on us in the transfer market. Arsenal have already secured Podolski (at a relative snip) and appear to be closing on M'Vila, Chelsea picked up Marin (for buttons) and are apparently sniffing around Hazard along with City, and United have been linked with Kagawa. The worrying thing is that the fees being mentioned are pretty modest given the quality of the players involved. I would be in favour of the appointment of a DoF if their remit was confined to the scouting of potential signings and negotiation of transfers / contracts at all levels within the club. Ideally, the Manager would identify deficiencies in the first team squad and the DoF would come up with a list of potential recruits who are available within the club's budget. The Manager would then select his preferred targets and agree the allocation of resources with the Board. It is unrealistic to expect that the first team manager would have time to fly around the world scouting players, meeting agents and thrashing out agreements given his other commitments. Unfortunately our club does not have a recent history of strong leadership at the very top level which has either resulted in targets being missed or the manager being forced to take on too much responsibility. This is a fault we badly need to address if we are to improve. I'm not sure whether we simply need an excellent Chief Scout supported by an executive who is an experienced negotiator and possesses an ability to meet budget targets. The negotiation of deals should not be left to the First Team Manager as their skill set relates to the football end of things and they generally have minimal experience in a commercial setting. Our senior executives seem to be rightly focused on increasing club revenue and furthering the stadium plans so perhaps we need to bring in somebody to address the requirements on the football side of the business during this busy period. Hopefully this will happen very soon or we will end up missing out on potential targets and be forced to join the post Euro 2012 / Olympic scramble. Preparations for next season are going to commence very early given our participation in the early stages of the Europa League and our American tour so we have a relatively small window within which to do business and integrate new players. We need to see some action from the club now to avoid a needlessly frantic and panicked Summer.

Jay had a nightmare last night and gave up possession far too often on what should have been straightforward passes. However, all players have poor games and many others have escaped this type of backlash when they have dialled in performances this season. Part of the problem is Spearing hasn't built up sufficient credit from previous performances, a la the likes of Gerrard, to warrant overlooking a horror show. As others have said, I wouldn't be inclined to get rid of Spearing just yet. Admittedly he will never be a world beater but I still think he can provide the type of cover the likes of Gibson, Park and O'Shea have provided the Mancs - filling in for cup games or less important league games when others are injured / rested. Unfortuantely injuries to Lucas and Adam have forced us to play Spearing much more regularly than would otherwise have been the case and he does not currently merit being a first team regular. I don't see many people arguing that Henderson or Adam have been a whole lot better this season and they cost the club large transfer fees and enjoy much higher wages - apparently £65k per week in Henderson's case. Our squad is never going to comprise 25 top class internationals as they all expect regular appearances and receive large wages. If the likes of Spearing, Kelly and Robinson can fill in around the edges this should give us more money to spend on "core" players. Spearing showed last season that he is capable of doing a job for us and I don't see any reason why he couldn't play 15 - 25 games for us in future in the Europa League, domestic cups and the odd league game against lesser teams. The key is that we use the money we save on wages / transfer fees to buy real quality for the first XI and that didn't happen last year.

Fair enough but I suspect that is exactly why Comolli was sent packing. We clearly need to buy players if we want to improve and the owners will either bring in somebody else to implement a different strategy or entrust Kenny with that responsibility. I will be shocked if we don't adopt a very different approach this Summer and hopefully it will bring far better results. At the very least, we need to look outside England.

The pessimism expressed by some of our supporters is unwarranted. Newcastle have shown that if you buy the right players at the right prices it is possible to make dramatic improvements in a short space of time. We have a lot more cachet and financial clout than Newcastle so there is no reason why we cannot attract the type of players required to at least challenge for the Champions League places. Our defenders and goalkeepers are on par with any of the clubs currently sitting above us in the league so there is no need for any investment there. Our problems this season (and last) have been in midfield and up front and these areas need to be addressed. If we were to adopt the following strategy when revamping our squad I have no doubt we would at least claim a Champions League spot next season:- Sell / Release Brad Jones, Fabio Aurelio, Joe Cole, Alberto Aquilani, Charlie Adam, Maxi, Dirk Kuyt, Danny Wilson, Dani Pacheco Buy (One player from as many of the following categories as finances will allow) Right Winger - Lucas Moura (Sao Paolo) Eden Hazard (Lille), James Rodriguez (Porto), Ibrahim Affellay (Barca), Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli) Left Winger - Iker Muinian (Bilbao), Marko Marin (Weder Bremen), Dries Mertens (PSV), Christian Tello (Barca) Centre Midfield - Kevin Strootman (PSV), Yann M’Vila (Rennes), Javi Martinez (Bilbao) Striker - Luc Castaigones (Inter), Luuk de Jong (Twente), Ricky Van Wolfswinkel (Sporting), Leandro Damiao (Internacional) Loan (Only if we cannot buy a player from the relevant category above) Milos Krasic (Juve), Adam Johnson (Man City), Nuri Sahin (Real Madrid), Emmanuel Adebayor ( Man City), Seydou Keita (Barca) Free Transfers Junior Hoillet (Blackburn), Mohamed Diame (Wigan) Obviously I have no idea if the above is achieveable but it is intended to show that there are plenty of options out there if we are prepared to look outside England and hopefully our scouts have identified a long list of affordable players that can address the glaring deficiencies in our squad.

Buzzing after that win and it sets up the rest of the weekend nicely ... the weather is good, the beer is chilled and all is right with the world. Great to see Carroll get a second late winner in the same week - that should really give his confidence a boost. While he did miss a sitter at the start of the second half he didn't let his head drop and got his reward. He is now getting in goal scoring positions more often and perhaps with his confidence high he can start tucking a few more away. He also did a fantastic job in defensive situations and took a lot of pressure off a nervy Jones today. He deserves a lot of plaudits for his performance. Fair play to Stewart Downing too for putting in a few excellent crosses today. Carroll was blocked off well by Baines in the first half from one and should have buried the chance early in the second - you can't really have a go at Downing if he is loading the bullets and others are missing the target. Honorable mentions also for Skrtel (again) and the irrepressible Luis Suarez - he just never stops. There were admittedly a few issues with our starting tactics and team selection but that is for another day's discussion. Roll on Wembley again. Come on Redmen.