Ne Moe Imya

I don't understand why no thought or mention has been made of playing Gerrard as a right back? He's struggling to fit into the side in the middle, meanwhile he's been the best right back at the club by absolute miles for years (albeit never played there because he was better elsewhere) and now the first choice in that position has gone down injured. Rather than trying to shoehorn him into a position he clearly isn't capable of playing as a lone holding midfielder, at least for the rest of the season he could be an excellent option at right back while we play Henderson, Allen, and the new holding midfield player (whoever that is) in midfield.

Am I in some sort of alternate universe where the selling club doesn't have to agree to a transfer? Because what you're blaming Ayre there for appears to be completely out of his control. If Basel won't allow us to "just pay 12m and bring him home" then your argument completely falls apart. It appears Basel and Mourinho have played this very well. Mourinho won't care that he doesn't have a place for the player at all; no one is going to criticise him for spending frivolously because that's all Chelsea ever do. And Basel have earned an extra 50% or so more than they thought they were going to simply by forcing us to wait. I don't care for Ayre, but how people can lay this one at his door is beyond me. Short of saying "either we sign him for the 12 million by the 10th or the offer is off the table" I don't see what else he could have done, and if he's a good player that the scouts think is worth more than that, surely no one would be in favour of that sort of negotiating tactic.

Not sure it will be a problem for them. The rules with the League Cup are that only the winner goes into the EL, and the runner-up gets nothing. Ergo, they'd have to come from behind to beat Sunderland and then beat City in the final. Not happening. However, since City gets that spot, 6th in the league will then get into the EL. However, seeing as United are currently 7th (and, let's not forget, much closer to 8th-placed Newcastle than 6th-placed Everton) that's hardly a guarantee. Their best chance for Europe is to pip Newcastle to 7th and hope that the FA Cup is won by a club already in the CL/EL.

At this point I'd be well happy with that. And surprised, as well. I personally don't think we're going to bring in a DM, which would be shocking if it happens as the need is plain to see. My natural pessimism about all things Liverpool-related is starting to return.

That's hilarious. Especially since I think we've basically been out of the title race since the loss to Chelsea. I personally think United are only on the very fringes of the top 4 race, the title was gone for them in October or so.

Way back in the 1-4 win at Old Trafford, Reina brought down Park in the first half for a penalty (which Ronaldo dispatched). Plenty of us were upset with Reina for the mistake, but he didn't protest at all and neither did any of us. This was basically exactly the same. Same side of the pitch, same move by the attacking player that carried the ball too far, but the same mistake by the goalkeeper who tries and fails to pull out of his lunge. Penalty then, penalty now, and even when we were the ones on the receiving end we didn't complain. 40 seconds in:

Does Mourinho still think he's in with a chance of the United job? It was always obvious he wanted it before, where he was disrespectful and snidey to everyone else it was always "what Ferguson has done there is tremendous" and the like with United. But once he failed to get the job I expected it to end. Instead today he's come out with "hopefully they will get fourth, with their pride and tradition and fight" etc.

Napoli have reportedly signed Jorginho, so that's them out of the M'Vila race I would guess. That leaves just us, unless there's another club seriously interested that hasn't been reported. I'm crossing my fingers now that somehow he'll force the issue and we can get him at the lower price we apparently are offering. The fewer games we have to see Gerrard as a DM the better, I think we can all agree.

Urgh. Sterling Suarez Erm ... Lucas? Wasn't on the pitch long enough. I suppose I'll say Sturridge then.

Played a sensational through ball for Suarez to win the penalty.

If we really want to extend his career, we should be looking at rotating him heavily and about half the time playing him off the bench. I know his legs are going so he can't show the burst of pace for extended periods of time, but coming into a game where we need a goal with 15-20 minutes left I can't think of many players that defenders would less rather see with fresh legs. Still has the intelligence to know when to pick a pass and when to strike it, and for me he'd still be a very good option off the bench at attacking midfielder.

Think if Lucas had stayed on we'd have won the game. Actually, if he'd been on from the start, as he should have been, we'd have crushed them.

Never post during the match because it's too easy to kneejerk but we were shocking in midfield that half. Need Lucas for Coutinho (or maybe Sterling) desperately. Or at least Allen. A midfielder, at any rate. I can't believe that this shower are walking the ball through our midfield with ease.

Perfect example of why the vote is tending towards "No." Never should be in that position unless at the very least he's alongside another player with pace and a good sense of position. By himself behind two attacking/pressing midfielders he's an absolute disaster today. Love him to bits, but that is a very big mistake by Rodgers to ask him to do that.

Basically, this sums it up for me. There would have to be some sliding scale based on the awfulness of the name (if something bland like "Arqiva Arena" will pay £50m/year, then "Tesco Stadium" has to pay £60 million and "The ExxonMobil Megaplex" would cost £100m). To us it will always be just Anfield anyway, so I don't know why any company would bother to give us anywhere near these figures, but if one of them is stupid enough to do it and it's not too embarrassing we should take their money.

Suarez Sterling Sturridge

He's a bit good, isn't he?

I'd honestly rather see Gerrard as a right back again. Johnson is shocking these days and with Flanagan injured, could be just the role to rejuvenate our captain's career. Probably not, but honestly, I didn't like him between the CBs tonight either, so it couldn't be much worse than that.

I can't believe how simple-minded this is, and it's a prevalent attitude on here for some reason. Of course it's better if we get our business done early, a la Sturridge. We have the player for a few extra games, they bed in quicker, and there's no chance of Spurs or Napoli nipping in and taking the player at the last moment. However, we have to understand that most of the control on how fast a transfer occurs is in the hands of the selling team. First of all, if it's a good player, like Salah, they will want them to play those last few games in January for them (just as we would like to see the player in red already). Secondly, they know that if it's a player good enough to tempt the likes of Liverpool, that they will have multiple offers. Thus, it's to their advantage to stretch things out, make noise in the press about the deal, try to shake another team into coming in and starting a bidding war. All of which means that a team such as ourselves, with a desire to get good value in the market, must sit and wait. City or Chelsea can come in and say "how much do you need to sign the deal today?" and pay a million or two more. We cannot. And unless we have a rare situation like Sturridge, where the selling team isn't playing him, the player is desperate for a move, and we're ready to pay the full asking price because we think it's still a god value, then we're going to wait. At some point late in the window the selling team will realise that no one else is going to come in, or the player will start to make his wishes known, or Ayre will finally admit that we will pay the extra million, or whatever, and the deal will be done. It's the nature of the beast in January. The selling club has every reason to delay the move and the buying club can't really do much about it except overpay. There are exceptions here and there, but for the most part, that's the way it goes.

Really need a win, even if it's a scruffy 0-1 with a goal from a controversial penalty. For this game, I'll happily take a result rather than a performance. Just need to get this fixture over with IMO, hopefully with 3 points, a few bruises, and nothing more. Not looking forward to seeing Lucas and Gerrard together in midfield. Any chance Allen is fit for this one? Even as a change off the bench after halftime, he and Sturridge coming in could make the difference.

Wow, that forum is just full of goodness. There's a thread called "Can we get 4th?" where they're pretty evenly split between those who have woken up to the new reality and don't think they'll get near 70 points, and those who are convinced that they're going to "go on a run" and beat us and Everton, and maybe Arsenal. A sample post:

Who on earth would spend 2000 quid on that thing when you could have this absolute beauty for £30: Liverpool Men's Retro V-Neck

I'm glad he's gone to Cardiff. He's a talented manager and connected with United so if he had continued to win titles in Norway you'd think the United board would start to look north with Moyesey thrashing about at Old Trafford. This way, Tan's insanity will inevitably cause a problem, maybe not this season but for sure by the middle of next season and he'll be sacked in bizarre circumstances. Hardly the kind of thing that would persuade the Mancs to ditch Moyes to pursue him.

He must be on quite high wages to be available at that price. Good left backs are really hard to find, just look around some of the top teams and once you get beyond the top 5 or 6 they are all pretty much average. I would think Real Madrid would have no problem rinsing some Middle Eastern owner for 20 million for Coentrao if he were on a reasonable wage.