Timão

Simple: Money. Bayern have previous for this and I am not surprised it has happened again. They look at the key players of those teams that come close to them (or, briefly) overtake them and make them offers they cannot refuse. For many it does not work out, but if Bayern come calling few German players (or even Lewandowski) are able to resist. If Dormund lose him as well as Götze, it will be interesting to see how they cope.

This. A Spanish championship and a CL semifinal...terrible season. It just shows you the extraordinary standards they set themselves over the last few years. I will say though that they have problems in defence and I think, overall, their squad is not all that fantastic once a few are missing through injury and suspension.

That is absolute shite. 6 league titles, 3 CLs in 9 years is domination. Don't let the facts, though, get in the way of a good argument.

One can aruge about the names but not the essence of the point made here. I think it was Steven Kelly in TTWAR who once made the point that in our glory years one of the things that set us apart was the fact that three top man (manager, Robinson and Smith) all had some knowledge about the other two's jobs. As a result, there was constant feedback between the 'football' and the 'business' side of the club, for mutual benefit. There is nothing wrong with the 'suits' wanting to know of - and have na imput into - the football side of things, the manage is, after all, their leading employee. However, this obviously only works if there is mutual knowledge. It is encouraging, if that is the right word, that our owner accepts the fact that he does not know a lot about football and is seemingly doing something about it. Making proper football appontments though would surely spped up that process. Let's hope it is not too late by the time he gets there.

Are you saying they should NOT have turned up for the memorial?

Straight and to the point, I like it.

What na utterly pathetic post. clearly there would be division if Raf came back, just, to be fair, as there is division at the moment over Rodgers. What that has to do with the 'point' of being a Liveprool fan I do not know.

He may not have the best squad, he's still been shite with Chelsea though.

Coventry at home 1997, Sunday after the grand national. Win and we are top of the league, went 1-0 up and ended up losing 2-1, good team but soft as hell. Never got over the fact we did not win the league that season, it still bugs me today.

Spot on, this. I have said this before, we are a very weak team mentally and it is one of the biggest challenges that Rodgers faces at the club. We were like that in 96/97, excellent to get to the top, terrible when it counted to stay at the top. 08/09 was similar, great to get to the top, then lots of silly draws and a couple of defeats, great again when we were chasing Utd. It's the culture of the club. If Rodgers can sort that out, he'll take us a long way.

Of course he is, because he is an ididot who likes talking shite but, unfortunately, thinks he is some kind of fountain of knowledge, backed up by tons of useless stats. No surprise really.

Totally agree with you on Rafa. Rightly or wrongly, he is being judged not on his whole career but on the last few years, which have not been very good, for whatever reason one may point to. For me, his last good season was in 2008/09, in football terms that is an awfully long time ago. Again, rightly or wrongly, he has a reputation as someone who cannot get on with his superiors and who looks for trouble, as if it is something he needs to prosper. In no other club will he ever find a chairman as laid back and hands off as David fucking Moores, so that reputation spells trouble in terms of him finding another job. Chelsea was precisely the opportunity to show 'hey, I'm still here' and he must have been counting on winning the League Cup to prove that point. As for Guardiola, I think he may have a tough time at Bayern, especially bearing in mind that he will take over a team which is, currently, near perfect: they will win the league by about 15 points, score lots of goals, have conceded a grand total of 8 all season, play nice football and could yet win a treble (as last year, when they ended up with nothing). It will be really hard to better what Heynckes has done this season, all at a club which is not know for its patience unless you are a friend of Ulli Hoeness

It is actually amazing, considering how shite we have been over the years, how many fans of other clubs still feel the need to talk about us. There are mancs on a few newspaper blogs who comment on EVERY single Liverpool article. Used to work with an Arsenal fan who never shut up about us, talked more about us than he did about his own team and this was when they were very, verry good. We still 'get' to people which always gives that little bit of hope that, one day, we'll be back. A bit of self-belief would not hurt.

Which is why it is not going to happen. I predict us to go up 1-0, press a lot,concede sucker-punch goal and then huff and puff in the second half. Great performance today, though. As for Borini, my 82 year old father in law has dislocated his shoulder 6 times in a year and a half. I was there for one of them, and he screamed as loud as Borini did. Shame for him, but for us best to get rid quick in the summer.

Is there any doubt that we are a very, very weak team in terms of mentality? We have been for years and years, which includes some of the technically better players. We are, of course, also not all that good, thoguh I do think we are better than our results suggest. Could you see Utd throwing away leads at Arsenal and City in successive games? Me neither and that is a mentality thing as much as a quality thing. In fact, letting a two-goal lead slip away against Arsenal, a team so weak mentally it is frightening, should be some kind of punishable offence. Whether Rodgers is the man to get hold of that problem is another matter, but the fact he has identified it is a first step.

Spot on. We have been in decline for decades and the current manager and owners are paying the price. It is, of course, up to them to sort it out but they will not do it in a season or even 2 or 3. It is, of course, their job to sort it out and it would be very nice if we had a football man in the boardroom, but even if we had, patience would still be required.

I am sorry but that is just rubbish. No manager can do anything about what other teams do. If we get more than 52 points this season we will have improved because it is not down to Rodgers if other teams around us improve or decline more than ourselves. The whole thread is a shocker. Dave had it spot on, if Gerrard had scored the pen we would not be talking about it, if Kenny waas manager and had us in this position we would not be talking like this. By the end of the season, if we are below 52 points, by all means talk about the manager, but the constant sniping after every bad result is just pathetic for a man who has been here for less than a year.

You and your posts are so pathetically bad that I am actually beginning to enjoy them.

Hit a nerve, has it? They sacked a manager who finished on 52 points after spending more money than any Liverpool manager in modern times. They gave him a nice pay-off. Agreee with it, don't agree with it, fine by me, but they did not treat him 'like a cunt'. Waht an absolute load of emotinally overloaded shite.

They do, of course, and that side should have been good enough to beat Oldham. The only thing I would say about Rodgers is that I think he sends mixed messages. You can either say 'I don't care and will use the cup to experiment' or you can say 'I'm goiing to take this seriously'. He does both. Apparently, he does not care about the defence but up front I will play a full strength side (minus Gerrard). It's almost like he is saying to the lads at the back: 'Don't worry, I don't trust you, but we'll be okay'. You can't have it both ways.

Raw player, but lots of potential in a position we really do need strengthening. As for those who say we should have signed Paulinho (yes, that's you Funneeee) They do not play the same position, Paulinho is older (he'll be 25 this year), Paulinho is a full Brazilian international and plays for the current South American and World Champions...other than that, quite right, we should sign him.

I live in Brazil these days and used to live in Rio, so used to watch quite a bit of him, though the standard of league football here is not all that great. We'll see if he can adapt. Could be a real coup or could be one of those players who, after two tries at big European clubs, goes back to Brazil in a couple of years, filed under 'What might have been'.

I know and I am not writing the lad off. I lived in Rio when he was breaking through and he certainly has talent. Should have waited with the move and played in the top division here for a couple of seasons I think, just like Oscar did before moving to Chelsea. I would be delighted if we got him, though I would not pay much more than what has been stated so far.

Seeing that he played about 30 games for Inter in a little under three years, I am not sure they are all that keen on him. Would not pay much more than we have apparently offered. As I said, talented but unproven.

Did well for Vasco when he first got into the team, though they did play in the 2nd division at the time. I think he only played about 10 top division games before he moved. He is classic case of someone who moved too early, victim of the pressure put on him by his agents and investors, as well as the hype that always comes here when they is a new attacking prospect. I think he will be a good player in time but would be really wary of paying too much for him. Very unproven.