Cantrell20

Taye Taiwo or Ziegler,both available on a free transfer. Otherwise, I'd try to tempt Jordi Alba or Schmelzer,who has just 18 months left on his deal,two young attacing-minded full-backs. If we spend more than 6-7 mln,Criscito,Tremoulinas or Stefan Radu from Lazio would be nice. Aurtenexe from Bilbao, a promising 19 year old,could also be an option. His deal is due to expiry this summer. Already got a call-up to a national team,although he could turn into a second Insua.

Gary Cahill Taye Taiwo Thiago Alcantara Kevin Gameiro Ricky Van Wolfsinkel Reto Ziegler Etienne Capoue Ashley Young Keisuke Honda Arda Turan Charles N'Zogbia I expect a massive clear-out in the summer and a lot of departures.

Agger Torres Agger - fuck off Trucker Paddy

Sure TruckerPaddy,that's why we boasted a reputation for being defensively sound and solid at the back. Ironically,with Agger/Skrtel and Aurelio/Insua we conceded very few goals as well and in whole 2008 and first half of 2009 played our best football in last 20 years, both in terms of results and style. Kyrgiakos,Insua and Aurelio, as he arrived on a free transfer, are all value for money. Skrtel, tracked by Bayern,Chelsea and AC Milan (according to Marcotti,quite a good source to say the least) wasn't a bargain, but is a decent defender - that's what you get for 6-7 mln mate. And Agger was superb in the first half IMO, very good against Bolton and made just one,but costly, error against Blackpool. P.S. At least you don't claim Agger is on 120 grands a week - do you still think Jovanovic (not Jovanivic, one of 4 our players' surnames you can't even spell) is on 90, as Daily Fail reckoned it's only 60, still exaggerating, as I don't believe Johnson gets 120 grands a week, as they published.

That's the last game with Roy in charge as far as I know from an impeccable source. Liverpool insider,supporter through and through, who appears in the media very often. Met him coincidentally today and chatted for a while. Can't reveal who though. I'm being serious by the way and expect slagging off if I'm wrong.

I spoke with one of our legends autobiography ghostwriter coincidentally a few days ago, he told me Joe is already transferlisted. Might look for a move abroad,many Spanish clubs, like Malaga or Villarreal, are in for him. Agger,Kuyt,Maxi and Johnson from high-profiles might follow in the summer. Not to mention Konchesky and Poulsen. Meireles future still isn't safe. He's considered too old,not prospective enough and being very much in the mould of Carrick/Motta/Bodmer - so offering nothing special in the middle of the park, just presence. He'll be 28 soon and we need someone with ball-winning skills and someone able to dictate the play, which Stevie can't do really, can he? Therefore either Lucas or Meireles will leave in the summer. Gerrard will be dropped back to CM, Honda, who seems a deadcert now, will most likely play off Torres in the hole. So, a new DM instead of Poulsen (Diarra,Matuidi,Capoue,Inler,Joel Obi are scouted according to him) and someone like Sahin (6mln euro release clause) may join intead of one of the Raul/Lucas duo. Anyway,Joe Cole is already on his way out and I'd put my money on his departure.

We bought Aquilani for 17.4 million,paying only 5 upfront. And apparently Juventus will pay all the money upfront. Signing Konchesky, letting Insua leave on a free transfer and including difference between Paul and Emiliano wages we lost around 10 million pounds on this signing. Hodgson instead of Benitez another 9-11 million. Joe Cole - 26 million pounds in 4 years including signing on a fee and 3.5 agent profit.

By the way, I have no idea, where to put it, but just made me laugh. Thats what Bascombe sent me via private message on twitter. You're a tosser you. Fuckin knobhead. Speak to you any time u like. But you won't will you?.... Chris has TLW in his pocket according to RAWK, so I expect a quick ban here...

He didnt mention Reina as a good transfer. I wonder if you agree, thats your avatar anyway. On the other hand you pick Zorba in your sides at times, he laughs him off in the article. Just asking.

Benitez should of left much a better squad than he actually did, still our squad is far better than people think. Under Ged, in his last two campaigns, we averaged 62 points in the league. Got knocked out in the CL group stages and even in the poor UEFA Cup we reached only quarter finals on two occassions in a row, while in this so-called worst season since Souness or even early sixties we managed to get into Europa League quarters, knocked out on away goals, bearing in mind wrongly disallowed Benayoun goal. Last season was depressing and awful, but a season earlier was brilliant. Code72 You miss the fact Benitez left second youngest team in the league, something you cannot say about the squad Houllier left. Not to mention youth set-up, developed and filled with some genuine startlets, what cannot be said about Sinama-Pongolle and Le Tallec. Jury is out on Suso, Pacheco, Silva, Sterling and few others, but all look promising. Squad Houllier left had most of his good signings, like Smicer,Henchoz,Hyypia, Dudek and Hamann on the wrong side of 30. If you look at the backbone Benitez left, in Mascherano, Aquilani, Reina, Agger, Torres, Skrtel and Johnson, as shit as you think it is, all of them have age on their side and are likely to improve, just entering prime of their careers, something you cannot say about 2004 side. If a 2004 squad was really better than the one Roy inherited, why only this during summer transfer window we shipped out Aquilani, Benayoun and Mascherano, all of them to European giants and title contenders in their respective leagues... Johnson, Agger, Kuyt, Torres, Skrtel and Reina could follow during press reports. 3-4 of them at least. That makes it 6-7 players leaving for top sides, better than Liverpool at the moment. In 2004 there was...nobody, except for Owen, who wasnt Ged signing. If you mention money spent by Benitez, please include fucked up Owens contract, thats why we got less than half of his value and already lined up Cisse deal, which consumed all our net spend during that transfer window. Picking Carragher as a centre-back under Houllier is laughable - he played only 13 games as CB for Ged. Benitez, as much as he struggled with players development, he made Carragher world-class centreback. Roy makes Agger a left back, he played as an emergency left back for Benitez as well, replacing Insua with Agger will be suit your logic well. Wonder why you dont include Maxi. You hate Kuyt, probably thats why you put him there. Benayoun definitely had a bust-up with Benitez and had Rafa stayed any cooperation might appear to be impossible. Still blaming Benitez for Yossi departure is silly and dumb. If he hated Benitez, I have nothing against it, why has he left after his departure then... Put Maxi and Benny in the squad, suddenly looks different. And Carragher is a better centreback than he was when Houllier left. Actually, he wasnt a centre back then. Dudek - Reina Finnan - Arbeloa Carra - Carra Hyypia - Skrtel/Agger Riise - Aurelio Smicer - Kuyt Murphy - Alonso Hamann - Mascherano Kewell - Riera Gerrard -Gerrard Owen- Torres Just asking if thats how you compare our team ranked second in the league nearly two years ago and the squad Houllier left. Have a strange feeling thats the way you see it - 60 points is better than 86 points.

Trucker Paddy Jovanivic Jovanavic Jovinivic Which from the above is correct? None of them. It's Milan Jovanovic, as simple as that.

As far as I know jury is still out on him, but fanbase is very divided about Houllier. Admitting Villa aren't as big as Liverpool is, even though was plain obvious, hurts Villa fans as much as O'Leary constantly mentioning his Leeds spell. And Ged's evaluation of the team, consistent member of TOP 6 in last three campaigns, that they're 7-12 team like Stoke or Blackburn didn't help him either. 20% of wins in the league isn't any good, but lowering expectations, something we know well from our experience with Roy, is giving him no favours. If I were at Anfield on Monday I would definitely chant his name, although find Carragher interview very inobjective and personal, while Ged's conduct after departure was nothing short of disaster. Respect him, but not my cup of tea. Neither him nor Benitez are welcome as our future managers.

Purple Nose I know about Degen, Cavalieri, El Zhar and Plessis on loans. But if they buyout clauses are activated, we will obtain money listed next to their surnames. Same with Aquilani. I included him on the list, but you didn't suggest he's gone already:) Nothing against you, I share most of your opinions, but read it more carefully. Wilson and Pacheco on loan makeweights.

To sum up, following players are the ones most likely to stay at Liverpool beyond this season, not necessarily featuring in club long term plans. 1.Reina 2.Johnson 3.Skrtel 4.Agger 5.Aurelio 6.Lucas 7.Meireles 8.Gerrard 9.Kuyt 10.Joe Cole 11.Maxi Rodriguez 12.Fernando Torres 13.David N'Gog 14.Jamie Carragher Martin Kelly, Dani Pacheco, Suso, Shelvey, Danny Wilson, Thomas Ince, Daniel Ayala are definitely a part of club long term future, but as they're all below 22 until 31st of December A.D. 2011, they don't have to be included in the provisional squad, British quota doesn't apply to them, too. From the list above we have 10 non-British players and 4 so-called homegrown talents. We can't register more than 17 foreigners, so that leaves with 7 empty spots for foreign players in the team. Selling Poulsen, Babel, Jovanovic, Konchesky, which are dead-certs to part ways with the club will not only free up funds and space for players from abroad, but will make our squad even more narrow, if that's possible. Degen,Cavalieri, Aquilani leave after their respective loan spells next year too. Releasing Kyrgiakos doesn't look a distand possibility, as he's out of contract in the summer, 3-5 young centre backs await their playing time and taste of first-team football, he also occupies a valuable foreign spot, which is better to reserve for an attacking player. English centre backs are more available and not as overpriced as attackers in my opinion. Riddance of the deadwood leaves with these positions to fill in the team: left back centre back second-choice goalie if Gulasci isn't ready by now anchorman or deep-lying playmaker 2-3 wingers 2 strikers - shadow striker and one goal-poacher, otherwise someone with aerial presence 7-8 new faces look indispensable for Liverpool future team. If Kyrgiakos is kept as back-up, we desperately need one more British player, not Scottish in the team. If he's released, it can be avoided. Still I would sign one English player to boost the quota as Carragher is on his last legs and might retire soon and Wilson, perhaps his long-term successor because of his Scottish heritage and coming to Liverpool several months too late to become "homegrown" talent in the future, will be always considered "foreigner" in UK. Bearing all above in mind I would sell: Konchesky - 2-3 mln Degen - 1.5 mln Darby - 0.5 mln Cavalieri - 1 mln Brad Jones - 1.5 mln Spearing - 1 mln Eccleston - 1 mln Poulsen - 3 mln Aquilani - 13 mln El Zhar - 1mln Plessis - 0.5 mln Riera - 3.3 mln Jovanovic - 3-4 mln Babel - 6 mln Nemeth - 1 mln Bruna, Mavinga, Irwin, Bouzanis, Mendy, Saric - 2 mln That gives around 43 mln pounds. I also put expected add-ons, already negotiated installments and buy-out clauses of several players from above, like Riera, El Zhar or Aquilani. NESV will give some financial injections - we won't be flush with cash, but 10-15 million pounds of net spend, something not seen at Liverpool for over 2 years seems realistic. All in all 55 million pounds should be at Commoli and new manager disposal. And seven players to buy, I assume Gulasci, homegrown talent to the letter of the law, can be Reina understudy. If we go for some foreigner on the free transfer, it's good to buy English centre back, bearing in mind Carragher career sunset and Wilson problems. Gary Cahill is my preferable choice. He'll have 12 months to run on his contract, so any offer between 6-10 million will be enough. Let's say 8 and Wilson with Pacheco, who can learn some free-flowing stuff there should suit Owen Coyle. For left back I don't mind Insua coming back and pen a new deal and stay as a long-term back-up. He's 21 and homegrown, isn't an exciting prospect, but bodes quite well for the future, definitely better than Darby. For the first-choice I'd for quick and strong Marcel Schmelzer, member of brilliant Borussia team this season. He's good going forward, but mainly a defender, something like Chivu at Inter or Ivanovic at Chelsea playing as full-backs. Would give Johnson more freedom. His deal expires in 2012, so I assume 6 million pounds will be enough. Still 40-42 million to spend. I'd go for Capoue, who reminds of Redondo a bit. Good passer of the ball, great movement when going foward. Great physique, speed and height. Makelele and Scheinsteiger in one player. Toulouse willing to cash in on him, 9 million pounds his price tag is reported to be. On the left wing Mata and Arda. Arda as a left-sided playmaker a la Hleb or Pires in Arsenal. Mata more direct and suited to counter-attacks. Both entering last 18 months of their respective contracts. Mata might be worth around 10-12, Arda closer to 7. Something like 15 million pounds to spend yet. 3 more spots for foreigners. Keisuke Honda looks a great all-rounder up front. Reminds me of Van Persie a bit, could be a playmaking-striker inviting others to play, something Kanoute does well for Sevilla. His price could exceed 10 million pounds, however should be less than 15. My final 2 signings would be free transfers. Having 2-3 million pounds will be enough to tempt Allessandro Matri and Gael Kakuta. Matri is a fox in the box and would complement nicely to an impressive strike-force of Torres, Honda,N'gog, Kakuta and emergency striker Dirk Kuyt. Kakuta bodes well for the future, hot prospect, available on a free, if only compensation isn't as high as for Sturridge. He'll be under 22, so won't have to be registered, but will be homegrown soon after all, just like Pacheco. One spot for a foreigner to spare, in case we get an foreign back-up keeper.

The thread needs to pick the steam up and kick off virtually, so I'll go first. Second reply was far too simplistic, you can't make a fire-sale and get rid of everyone at once. Babel and Itandje are the most alarming cases, unless Louis Van Gaal gets fired from Bayern and can turn Babel into a world-beater or a deep-lying playmaker as he did with Scheinsteiger:) Back in the real life, N'Gog and Lucas deserve one year extension and their form should be evaluated next year. No pay rise of course. Aurelio is a decent back-up and it's yet to be found out on what contract he actually is on, we won't get much money for him anyway, so would keep him to see out his deal. Kyrgiakos is no long term solution as good signing he is, but if we're really short of money, we should adress attacking part of the team. Agger is on his way out according to any Danish paper I read, new centre back will join side soon probably, Kyrgiakos can stay for one year more until Ayala, Wilson and Kelly eventually mature. If a transitional period like that is needed, then I'd like him to stay. Next summer we'll have the last chance to earn real money on Maxi, so he should be closely moitored. Eccleston won't make it here, face it. So sold as quickly as possible, just like Spearing and Darby. Any way to bolster transfer kitty is needed at the moment. Two most worrying cases are Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres. Next summer he will most likely join some European giansts, not in history books but formiddable, to quote Roy, in real life. If he refuses to pen a new deal, we have to sell him, as simple as that, to avoid "Owen in 2004". As much as I like Dirk and his commitment on the pitch, he has 18 months on his deal, good reputation, deservedly, in Europe and is on the wrong side of 30. He doesn't fit in the NESV profile, is on massive wages, believed to be around 75 000 a week, has no pace, which Commoli underlines as crucial for a winger and to make it worse for him, he starts to pick injuries. So his sale should take place as soon as possible, otherwise offer him an extension on much lower financial terms than the current ones.

Here we have the contractual situation of out first teamers. I don't include Pacheco and our loanees, Plessis, Aquilani, Degen and El Zhar as come rain or shine they will be offloaded next summer and including Albert Riera installment (3.7) will add around 20 million pounds to our transfer kitty. Pacheco belongs to the B team and we don't know what future holds for him. Players like Kuyt, Aurelio, Eccleston, Babel and Lucas are entering last 18 months to run down their deals, so we have to decide, whether to cash in on them or prolong their stays at the club.Transfer window is just around the corner, another "most decisive in the modern history of the club", discuss, who should be on his way out of the club, who to stay, whom to give a new deal or a payrise. Any reliable info regarding current wages very welcome, apart from Trucker Paddy claiming Jovanovic (not Jovanivic) is on 90 grands a week. Cheers. Brad Jones - 2013 Pepe Reina - 2016 Charles Itandje - 2011 Glen Johnson - 2013 Paul Konchesky - 2014 Sotirios Kyrgiakos - 2011 Jamie Carragher - 2013 Daniel Agger - 2014 Martin Skrtel - 2014 Danny Wilson - 2013 Fabio Aurelio - 2012 Raul Meireles - 2014 Steven Gerrard - 2013 Joe Cole - 2014 Maxi Rodriguez - 2013 Lucas Leiva - 2012 Jay Spearing - 2012 Christian Poulsen - 2013 Jonjo Shelvey - 2014 Milan Jovanovic - 2013 Ryan Babel - 2012 David Amoo - 2014 Dirk Kuyt - 2012 David N'Gog - 2012 Fernando Torres - 2013 Nathan Eccleston - 2012

Iantn Insua got 4-6 depending if you include assists to Mascherano vs Everton and Torres vs West Ham goals, Johnson got 4 including worked penalty at White Hart Lane. The only more prolific in assists pairing was Ashley Cole and Branislav Ivanovic. Cheers

Dossena is streets ahead of Konchesky. At least he plays for Top 6 Italian outfit, in a starring role at times, and is considered one of Top 5 best left wing backs in Italian football. As poor as he is defensively, he can be an attacking threat. Insua might be on the par with Konchesky in terms of positioning sense, but is much more composed and can offer something going forward. Konchesky thanks to assist at Maxi goal has the same amount of assists as Insua in his first season, so he's likely to get better. Insua get international call-ups, Konchesky can't get the sniff of them at the moment. Insua has better assists per games ratio than Patrice Evra and Gael Clichy, worse than Baines only, whose assists come from set-pieces mostly. Insua was to blame for 8-9 goals last term at most, Konchesky already has 5.

Trucker Paddy I know it's pointless, but I felt like a true celebrity posting it, so I'm a happy man now. But looking back at it now, he might be more encouraged to read TLW rather than RAWK,which he frequents apparently and gave them an exclusive interview. Wouldn't like him to base his opinions on the club on RAWK mental talk. BTW, where do you have your numbers of Jovanovic salary from? I'm no Dominic King fan, but at least we can call him a "source". No way he is on 90 grands a week. 2.5 million signing on a fee - yes, that's what he boasted of in Serbian press. But nobody would have given him such a succulent offer.

Roy won't stay regardless of results. We have to be somehow within a touching distance with Top 4. I remember myself moaning three years ago when we were 12 points behind the leaders come new year and eventually finishing 11 points behind the champions, I yearn for those times now:) Ancelotti job isn't safe either, Van Gaal and Rijkaard might replace him soon. Felix Magath also on Chelsea radar according to some of their ITKs. I don't put faith in whatever they say, still the lad who is their "DJ Phal" and get all the team info spot on admitted Ancelotti asked to rescind his contract, but the hierarchy above him rejected it. So there is still a chance he may leave and join us in January:) I think owners are prepared to finish 6th this season, that would excuse selling the likes of Kuyt,Maxi,Agger and consider them a failure and open a new dawn:) There is a high likelihood Ancelotti will walk out of the club come the end of the season, so if Torres and Reina promise they will stay with Roy in charge until the summer, I think they will keep him in the job. Kenny comeback seems unlikely. The only high-profile available may be Van Gaal, but that's just for 2.5 years, then he joins some national side. Ideal time to let Emery,Klopp and Villas Boas show their true ability:)

He's very average, worse version of Andy Carroll or Mario Gomez. I do believe we need a target man in the mould of Edin Dzeko or Marco Borriello, no Heskey anymore, it's outdated and won't suit our freeflowing passing game Comolli will hopefully introduce next season with the new man in helm. I think we should keep an eye on the likes of Eren Derdiyok, Youssuf El Arabi, Hoarau (19 months on his deal) from PSG, Romelu Lukaku (19 months on his current contract) and hot prospect from Eredivisie Tim Matavz. Preferably Dzeko of course, but only in case we sell Torres. I doubt we will get him any cheaper than we sell Nando, but he likes the only striker able to match his ability and available in the transfer market soon. Of, almost forgot - Adebayor on the cut-price deal. Kidding.

I fully agree with every single bit written by JuanGalonso, suprise for me to be honest. The points total we had still missing out on the title was unbelieable, unfortunately Mancs scrapping onenills week in week out with some dodgy refereeing had their best season in years. 86 points is the biggest result not to seal the title since Premier League kicked off, enough to win it last year and it seems enough to walk it with some margin this season. I agree Rafa didn't go for the jugular and played games without sufficient intensivity and pace many times, but all the stats prove we played attacking-minded football throughout the campaign. Yes, it was direct, slow, dull at times, methodical rather than free-flowing, but we scored 77 goals, by far the most in the league that season. Also held the record for best goal difference. Had unbelieable 43 points away from home, third best result in the Premier League ever. The biggest ball possession, the most shots on and off target, remarkable run of 6 games out of 8 in the league and CL with at least 4 goals on the scoresheet. We also created the most chances as far as I know, courtesy to OPTA statistics project. Few people know we scored more goals and had better goal difference than Invincible Arsenal from 2003-2004. And recorded the highest total of comebacks in one season in Liverpool history, second in Premier League history. It's true by all means, that adventurous footie we played in last three months make our play look better than it was in previous 5-6 months. Had we won the title, everyone would remember fantastic Keeganesque football from last three months or even whole season, now we cry over spilt milk and mention Benitez over-cautious approach, which is true to some extent. Still think we were unlucky then, hitting the woodwork 15 times (most in the league, just like last season), suffered injuries to Gerrard and Torres, who started only 14 times between each other, Mancs lucky season didn't help. Pain is perhaps bigger than in 2002, because we really seemed good enough to lift the title. I think, that had we signed Darren Bent instead of Robbie Keane and bought a winger with more pace than Riera we would definitely win it. So Rafa made also mistakes in recruitment field (I think that man to man our team from 2007-2008 was even better, with more depth), wanted to correct the mistakes a year later with less rigid and more free-flowing Johnson and Aquilani, but to our horror he reverted to his defensive worst after promising start, most goalscoring start in our Premier League history. I still don't get how quick our decline was - under Ged it was a steady 2 year decline, even though we weren't that high under him. Under Rafa it was a quick a sudden downfall. In one year Rafa destroyed what was built in several years, maybe heights we reached made fans turn theri backs on him even quicker and the rapid progress of AV,Citeh and Spurs made it from bad to worse. Few people on this forum remember we amassed more points last season than in Ged's last season.

I find it brain draining, that Rafa is to blame for signing Poulsen, whereas very few people on these boards give him actually credit for signing Alonso. Rafa is no genius by any means and his man-management leaves a lot to be desired, but not giving Benitez credit for signing Alonso and doubling his value, reaching the price tag of 30 million pounds, unsellable for 15 the year before, was a masterstroke. It needs to be noted, that during last year we lost Arbeloa to Real Madrid, Alonso to Real Madrid, Benayoun to Chelsea, Mascherano to Barcelona and Aquilani to Juventus. Majority of them was disgrunted and fed up with clubs financial constraints. It must have made impact on our squad quality, including making profits and narrowing squad for 4 consecutive transfer windows. Jury is out on Benny and Mascherano, but Aquilani, Alonso and Arbeloa from last season are stand-out performers in their respective clubs. Aquilani is second best ranked midfielder in the league, Juventus are yet to concede a defeat with him in the squad. Alonso is a backbone of Real, while Arbeloa was chosen the best right back in the league by Marca. Compare it to Arsenal starlets leaving the club, like Hleb, Adebayor or Reyes, who don't impress that much. We lost 5 players to to top ten clubs in the world in the space of the year. Reina and Torres could easily follow. Kuyt, Agger, Johnson and Skrtel could get a game in top four team in any league in the world, that's where offers for them come at least. Anyone Houllier left a better team than Benitez should ask themselves how many we could sell in 2004. His tremendous signings like Hyypia, Henchoz and Hamann were already on the wrong side of thirty, while Benitez left a team with an average bench (some of it has to be put down to lack of financial backing at the end, some to his transfer incompetence), but a comlete backbone with of 6-7 players only 26 averagely. In addition, he left a second youngest team in the league (OPTA stats), with three best players signed by himself in Reina, Mascherano and Torres all with the best years ahead of them. Benitez left a worse team than one year ago (under Houllier we were on downhill for two years to be fair and didn't deal with so many off-field problems, which definately hampered the squad), but how come 3 of them join European giants, another 2 could walk into any side in the world except for Real Madrid in Reina case and quite a few ones had top teams setting their sights at them. Milan for Agger, Juve for Skrtel and Johnson, Inter for Kuyt (best Dutch player at WC according to Cruyff). According to Tutto Sport, Turin based paper, Juventus tabled offers for Albert Riera (5 million euro) and, surprise surprise, Sotirios Kyrgiakos:) Team left by Benitez was younger, more sellable, second youngest in the league, with safe contractual situation (no Owen cases like in 2004) and with a very good youthful set-up with top coaches and many starlets. This team averaged 74.5 points per season in last two years, 73 in last 4 years. Ged's Liverpool averaged 62 in his two final seasons with the club and overall 10% points less, which quite a lot, than Rafa's Liverpool at the same time. In last two years of Houllier reign Liverpool never went out of UEFA Cup quarters and was knocked out in CL group stages, while Rafa's got one UEFA Cup semi and CL quarter. Ged's average distance to the league winner was 25 points, Benitez had 14.5 yo the league winner in his last two campaigns. Rafa should have left a better team and deserved a sack after some disastrous aqusitions, but all the stats prove Benitez left a better team. Apart from the Houllier team winning the Champions League, which is clearly an Houllier merit, under whom we always bounced back and were called "Comeback Kings, weren't we"?

Benitez has got nothing to do with the whole situation. He's relationship with Carra must have been hard, even though he made him a world-class centre back for 3-4 years he wasn't invited for his testimonial. Never got backing Hodgson gets every week. No plaudits and warm good bye like with Houllier. Moreover, instead of acknowledging some nice stuff we had under Rafa (as much stuff was bad) after his departure he and Stevie praised Houllier quite a lot, even before his arrival at Villa Park. It's even visible in his autobiography, that he criticises Benitez more than Houllier. I liked both of them to a certain extent, but think Carragher isn't fair-mined in their judgements. I don't want to raise issues of Carragher contract extension (issue of lost dressing room started 3 days after him mentioning a necessity to leave at some point) or declining Benitez to start at right-back at Riverside Stadium nearly two years ago. Overall, Jamie is a proud and self-confident guy. He mentioned his ballplaying skills, even indirectly comparing himself with Rio Ferdinand. He resigned from playing at national level when wasn't a first-choice centre back. As Xabi said, Carra feels he's always right. Time will tell what part he played in Benitez sacking (Bascombe won't tell us I guess), but the split in the dressing room is very visible. Stevie not celebrating Torres vs Sunderland, Carra shouting at Torres and Nando silencing him, Reina and Mascherano publicly backing Benitez with Monster criticised by Carragher very soon after his transfer. Carragher saying "it's players to impress the manager, not the other way round" referring to Torres and Reina. Also saying "commit or go" in one of the interviews in the summer. Torres and Mascherano possible targets. Add to that Pellegrini saying Liverpool senior sources wanted an Englishan (Carra admitted in the summer "it was time for a change and get back to British way") and you can see Pepe Reina and Nando might not be happy with the choice now:)

Mate, you must have mistaken me for someone. I can't recall a single thread I posted referring to Carragher in any way. I'm not a regular poster here, had less than 200 posts so far, so you can skim them in 10 minutes to find out you are blatantly wrong. Cheers.