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Game is on the 22nd of March. Going for 18 points, lets get it done Redmen. Potential line ups are welcomed.

Anyone here have access to Xbox Live and have a 360. If so then add me to your Friend List and i can kick yer butt at various 360 games. Gamer Tag - Coop5499 Feel free for other people to add their gamer tag to this thread.

Anyone familiar with it?

According to very well-placed sources in the City, our club has taken out not one but two specialist loans with the Professional Sports Team at Barclays Bank: one in the summer to pay the Robbie Keane transfer, and the other in January to cover 'short-term associated costs' (which i think means covering player wages). This is worrying on so many different counts - firstly because one has to ask where all the money in the RBS loan has gone; secondly becasue we're just piling up debt, at high interest rates; and thirdly because using a third party to finance transfers could, arguably, be said to be against the spirit of the new FA transfer regulations introduced after the Tevez deal, because it effectively meant that keane was mortgaged by Barclays. For people who don't think we're in financial trouble, or insist that it's no more than that faced by other clubs, let me spell this out: we're taking out loans not only to pay for transfers BUT also to cover player wages. Wil lthis mess ever end? I'll obviously add more info as and when over the next few days/weeks.

Fucking boss this, watched the DVD of the concert the other day, some standout performances, but this is just fucking superb. [YOUTUBE]8c7x2JD_j-0[/YOUTUBE]

Aug 29 2008 Liverpool Echo TODAY’S news that plans for the new Liverpool FC stadium are to go on hold is just the latest in a series of hammer blows for Reds fans. Unsurprisingly, it is claimed it is just a ‘short-term’ delay. But many supporters, and even experienced analysts, will suspect it is, in truth, a clear indication that controversial American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett simply don’t have the financial clout to build it at all. They have already piled their own personal debts – including a crushing £30m annual interest bill – onto the club and, in turn, its supporters. Today’s news is bound to lead to renewed calls for them to go. Particularly if they do not have the money or the methods to take one of the world’s greatest football clubs forward. Who can blame the overwhelming majority of fans for wanting rid of them? And fast. It’s well known Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai, the world’s fifth-richest man, remains keen to buy the club from them. Everyone who has Liverpool FC’s best interest at heart surely now feels that is the best option. This week, ordinary fans joined Liverpool legends Phil Thompson, John Barnes and John Aldridge and academic expert Dr Rogan Taylor at a public meeting called by Share Liverpool FC and the Spirit of Shankly group to demand the Americans leave. Liverpool has had enough. If today’s news really does mean the owners can’t give Kopites the stadium they deserve and dream of, then why not just admit it? Then the club – and all concerned with it – can move on. ECHO comment: Liverpool fans deserve truth - Liverpool Echo.co.uk

is a frightening place eh? if you think its bad now (during my youth) wait and see what it's going to be like when my kids are growing up! people getting beaten to death because they are gay? imagine how the lad felt in his last few minutes of life... one minute he was having a party and having a laugh with his mates, the next a well known thug turns up and starts to beat the shit out of him simply because he was different. if the twats that done this arn't thinking about how the lad felt already, someone should make them. surely that would play on their minds and make them feel sorry for what they've done... then again, some people just don't care. it's heartbreaking to me to think how the lad was feeling and i don't know him or know anybody that does. it's scary as fook how these scallys can physically harm another person to such an extent and not feel bad. i'v got a gay mate, sometimes he's a bit excentric and some of the little gay things he does are annoying but you can easily laugh about it. i stayed in his flat with my girlfriend once while he went away and some of the DVDs and magazines we found we're grose, but then, you can still laugh about it. i could never dream of beating him up because he is gay. obviously we don't know the circumstances yet but if it comes out that the lad had bullied someone or what ever it still doesn't require a gang of inbreds to come round and kill you. there is a way of dealing with things that young people seem to have missed out of their learning. i'm am genuinly considering moving out of the city and built up areas when i start a family. you would hope that in a little village somewhere the kids will be safer but we'll see. there are so many great things about this city that would stop anyone wanting to leave but the amount of scum who are happy to live and die as scum is plain wrong. sorry if that was a bit long, just felt like i could do with letting a few things out. cheers if you read it.

I have been quite critical of Rafa over the last two seasons as I feel he has made numerous mistakes that have impeded our progress. However, there are a number of little signs that it might finally have clicked with him what's required to win the league in England: whether by choice or necessity, he seems to be thinning the squad down a bit. he is signing players for key positions who are experienced in this country and in the prime of their footballing lives. he has steadily brought in more and more players with genuine pace (Torres, Babel, Keane, the two new full backs apparently). he is increasing the number of reliable goal scorers and maximising the goals from existing ones by using them appropriately (ie Gerrard in attack). he's bringing in more leaders/characters (The Chief, Keane, Barry). he is providing width from the full back positions. he is settling down the changes into a reliable system. Now I'm well aware that he is more than capable of confounding all my growing hopes for the new season by doing a few mad things like changing the formation or dropping Gerrard back into the centre of midfield, but as things stand right now, I am more (cautiously) optimistic than I have been in a good while. I think there are still some significant question marks over the side, many of which will be answered soon enough when we see what happens. I also feel that the squad is some way short of matching the strength of those of The Mancs and Chelsea. However, as long as Dossena is a player, our first team now is as good as anyone's in my opinion and Rafa looks like he's finally learned many of the lessons English football teaches. Here's to hoping.

Sorry to piss on a few parades whilst enjoying the signing of Keane but i feel that quite a few Liverpool fans, especially the non-forum supporters are losing sight of what is actually going off at Liverpool. The reason i mention this is many people in the media wonder why as Liverpool fans we want the owners gone when we have signed players like Mascherano, Torres and now Keane all for close to £20 million. It sounds great on paper when you can say the owners have spent x amount of money on transfers but how much since they arrived as Rafa had to recoup on sales. You also have to remember that the owners have put fuck all of their own money into the club and any transfers made are either from player sales or bank loans plunging the club further into debt. Now i know that many teams will sign player via loans from the banks but in our case we are chasing Man United and Chelsea who will think nothing of spending £30 million on a player but what happens when we have no squad players to sell. We are currently getting rid of the deadwood at the moment but who can we sell next season to bring in some new players as well as paying off the huge interest payments we will incur on our current loan. The stadium fiasco looks like once again the club is going to be a laughing stock and if the new ground does not get built where do Gillett and Hicks get their cash income from? Whilst we look forward to tonights friendly and the upcoming season lets not forget the threat that is on Liverpool Football Club in Gillett and Hicks and lets do everything we can to get them out of the club.

Does anyone seriously think this is going to happen, and more to the point does anyone think it actually OUGHT to happen now? i wonder if the financial costs - probably more than £500m now - are such that it no longer makes commercial sense in the way that a £70-90m stadium would have done in the 90s (thanks again DM and RP). Look at Arsenal - Wenger admitting that he needs to find £24m a year from sales for the next 24 years, and they can't sell the flats at Highbury that were supposed to cover some of the costs. Even if this comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, if Arsenal can't make the finances work, charging £900 for their CHEAPEST season ticket - then how on earth can we up in Liverpool? Simply put - can we really afford it and does it make sense? The Yank Cowboys won't get the money and to be honest I doubt they'll take the financial risk any more. These days you either need a rich benefactor (DIC?? Thanks again DM) or a commercial partner (ie tesco for Everton; Manchester Council and government grants for the City of Manchester Stadium). We don't have either. How long before redeveloping Anfield is presented as an option again or - if the Govt is called in to the Kirby scheme - groundshare with the Bluesh+te rears its ugly head again?

LIVERPOOL 4 Fulham 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) - Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Luis Garcia, Mark GonzalezHalf Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 9 Dec 2006 Star Man - Daniel Agger At half time on Saturday I sat there thinking how similar the 1st half performance had been to the opening 45 minutes against Portsmouth a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t too bad, we’d created a few chances but needed to do a lot more. Against Portsmouth we didn’t, we just got worse and worse as the 2nd half went on. This time it was very different, and Fulham were blown away as the reds hit four goals in a half for the second time in seven days. It could have been an even bigger scoreline had Uriah Rennie been stricter with his interpretation of the handball rule. Kuyt was denied twice in the first half by a hand or an arm of a defender, but when it happened a third time Rennie eventually must have thought enough is enough, and finally gave the spot kick. There was no difference between the one he gave, and the ones he didn’t, although perhaps the first one would have been harsh on Zat Knight. Ian Pearce though seemed to think he was playing as a second goalkeeper. Who does he think he is, Stephane Henchoz? He was somewhat lucky to get away with the first, and was rightly punished for the second. If either of the two first half appeals had been given, this game could have been over by half time, as once Fulham conceded, they capitulated. Prior to that, they had adopted Portsmouth’s ‘men behind the ball and time waste’ approach. They weren’t as good at it as Pompey though, and in the end they were found out. Garcia had a couple of efforts in the first half, one that was cleared off the line and one looping header from 18 yards that was just over the bar. That was clearly just a range finder, as he’d repeat the trick in the second half and drop it just under the bar. The one that was cleared off the line should have resulted in a goal for Pennant, who arrived at the back post only to bottle out when he saw the defender’s boot raised. Had that been Kuyt coming in it would have been a goal as he’d have thrown his head in there. Pennant didn’t want to get hurt, and therefore didn’t challenge. I’m not going to have a go at him though, as this was a good performance from him and there were some encouraging signs that he's finding some form. I thought he looked a bit better in midweek against Galatasaray, and he continued his improvement against Fulham. He can do a lot more I think, but every journey starts with a small step so let’s just see if he can build on this. I was happy with what he gave us in this game, but Liam Rosenior isn't the toughest of opponents in fairness. Fulham’s keeper wasn’t exactly overworked in the first half, but we did play some decent stuff. Bellamy looked very sharp, but getting the ball to him was proving to be a problem. Garcia was a threat, to his own team as much as Fulham’s as he turned in a typical Luis Garcia performance, combining the sublime with the ridiculous. For all Liverpool’s dominance, Fulham had the best chance of the half when they got in down our left side (as they would do numerous times during the game) and McBride hit a smart shot towards the bottom corner. It seemed a certain goal, but Reina made an absolutely brilliant save. He was excellent in everything he had to do once more, and this was his 6th clean sheet in a row. His distribution is fantastic too, he’s actually better than many midfield players. The 2nd half followed the same pattern, Liverpool looking for a breakthrough and Fulham time wasting, until Bellamy escaped down the left and crossed for Kuyt, who’s shot was superbly saved by Pearce. The keeper would have been happy with that save, as he would have been with his stop from Gerrard’s poor penalty had Stevie not put away the rebound. That goal opened the floodgates, and we were even looking dangerous from set pieces. Agger should have done better when he attacked a corner but didn’t get anything on his header. The next time it happened, he did get a meaningful touch, and up popped Carra at the back post to finish from close range. It was a great moment, savoured by everyone inside Anfield – the supporters, his team mates and the substitutes were all delighted. The atmosphere had been dire up to that point, but that goal woke everyone up. The ‘team of Carraghers’ song was given a very good airing, and this was probably the loudest it’s ever been sung. Garcia made it 3-0 with a superb header from Agger’s cross, and Gerrard almost grabbed a second with a stinging volley after being superbly picked out by Pennant, who seemed to be growing in confidence with each goal that went in. I’d say Pennant enjoyed himself in this game more than he has for some time. Gonzalez wrapped it up with a well placed free kick right at the end, and that goal will do his confidence no harm either. He did well when he came on, and he’s got three goals already which is a pretty decent return given the limited opportunities he’s had. Things are getting better, and when you look at the table now things aren’t too bad. The points gap between ourselves and the top two is depressing of course, but at least we’re not having to see the likes of Everton, Villa and Bolton above us. Once Portsmouth are overhauled, we can start looking to cut into the gap between ourselves and the top two. If we can keep the defensive solidity we’re showing at the moment, there’s no reason why we can’t go on a lengthy unbeaten run like we did last season. Where that takes us depends on other teams, but we look to be heading in the right direction at last. The main reason for that is the return to form of key players who weren’t at their best earlier this season. Carragher and Reina have both been exceptional of late, Gerrard is slotting in well in the centre alongside Alonso, and Bellamy looks a different player since his court case. The one constant we’ve had this season is the continued excellence of Daniel Agger. He’s been class every time he’s played, and was superb once more against Fulham. The partnership with Carra is looking very good, and the young Dane is completely unflappable. I’ve yet to see any opponent make him look uncomfortable, and he gives us a good outlet in attack too with use of the ball and ability to attack set pieces. I’m giving him the star man, just ahead of the outstanding Alonso who’s defensive work in this game allowed us to win the ball high up the field and prevent Fulham mounting any attacks. It was just like watching Didi Hamann, reading the game superbly and using the ball efficiently. We didn’t see many of Xabi's trademark 50 yard passes, but he didn’t have to do that in this game, he just kept things ticking over nicely and allowed Gerrard to go forward. Honourable mentions also to Carra and Steve Finnan, who were both faultless again. What’s going on with Riise though? Four times in five minutes Fulham got in behind him at the start of the second half, and he’s been poor for several weeks now. He’s lucky Warnock and Aurelio are injured, as on current form he doesn’t deserve to be playing. He still contributes going forward, but he really needs to sharpen up defensively. Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Riise; Pennant, Gerrard, Alonso, Garcia (Fowler); Kuyt (Gonzalez), Bellamy (Crouch):