dl2009

He looked at least two yards off the pace and had the turning circle of an oil tanker. Was he rushed back?

Yes, Gerrard has to go..... on a holiday to a warm country, given intensive physio therapy and perhaps recover from the overuse of cortisone injections by our medical staff.

Agger. Not ideal, but certainly better than persisting with Insua this season.

1. Carra 2....

I know what you mean about YouTube, but it gives you a brief insight into the type of player he is. Turan is far more consistent than Yossi and has lots more pace, imo. A good leader on the pitch, too. I can't remember whether I mentioned that I spoke with a member of Galatasaray's fitness staff last year who told me that Arda would be joining us in the summer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24zicTWcmGE

Excellent post in the comments section: And I always thought Gerrard's missus lived in Merseyside...

The FA have just announced that Gerrard won't be charged.

Whilst you're right about Maxi's displays so far (though Maxi was a few stations above 'decent' last night), my hope is that Maxi will kick on from here and reproduce his Argentina & Atleti performances going forward.

I agree with this. Balance is a huge part of success and having rip snorting pace on the opposite flank will benefit both Maxi & Kuyt. I'd choose Maxi every time though, as although he hasn't proved to be the goal threat Dirk is (and I have no doubt that he'll bang a fair few in over the course of his time here), I think Maxi will make the team play better. We lost our metronome when Xabi left and although most people are looking to Aquilani to fulfil this role, I actually believe that Maxi is the man to shoulder the burden, albeit higher up the pitch.

The key thing about him (apart from his movement and intelligence on the ball) was his speed and weight of pass. I've just watched all 90mins again and 99% of his passes were quick, accurate and perfectly weighted which ensured that the receiver didn't have to break his stride to control the ball. That's one thing passing stats won't tell you. They'll tell you that Lucas (for example) had a 90% completion rate, but that stat will mask what position the receiver was in, whether he was the right option or not as well as the speed and weight of pass. The last two points are vital to facilitate pass & move football.

DH, I think Maxi's triple the footballer Dirk will ever be.

He'll probably be shunted to the left to make way for Kuyt to play on the right, have a bad game and be slated as not good enough.

I reckon he'd look better in a better side. Of course, if we had lots of money to spend in the summer, we should be looking at other options.

He was superb today; the perfect inside-right performance.

I didn't think he was that good tonight, but the very fact that we had only one holder and a player inclined to making lots of forward runs in Aquilani completely changed our team dynamic and allowed us to dominate higher up the pitch. Lovely goal, too.

Far better going forward than Insua, but about as robust as the Argentinian Hobbit when it comes to defending. Figueroa would be the best option...if it wasn't for the fact that he recently signed a new contract. If he was smart, he'd have insisted upon a relegation clause which could see us pick him up for cheap.

The problem with Benayoun (especially this season) is that he's not a one touch player. He constantly takes extra touches and tries to beat the same man three different ways, which results in the pass or shot no longer being viable. I'd be more inclined to persist with the same front 5 for the next 3 or 4 games and see what happens.

A new left-back is a high priority in the summer.

Very good display from Ryan tonight. I hope he gets a run until the end of the season (unless he plays s***, of course).

You really don't like Gerrard, do you? That's all well and good, but I think it's clear that you let your dislike of him prejudice your opinions on his performances. Gerrard was also instrumental in the good passing and moving. Turgid performance? Bloody hell.

I'm not sure how many people have read the full interview in Spanish, but Torres was asked whether he'd ever join Man Utd and he didn't rule it out.

So now it's received wisdom that Gerrard is acting like a t**t because he doesn't like the manager and doesn't want to play for him anymore? I think it'll turn out like the 'Xabi was s*** for two years' myth that perpetuated simply due to the amount of people that repeated it, even though it was nonsense. Steven Gerrard has suffered from injuries for a large portion of this season and was played when not fully fit (by way of using pain killing injections). This has drastically affected his form, physique, power and psychology. Now those mitigating circumstances aren't intended to completely exonerate some of his poor performances or even displays of petulance this season, but some of this s*** that's being spouted about him is quite unbelievable.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that you just know that we'll do absolutely nothing for the first 45 minutes (mostly the first hour), then try to frantically draw level/take the lead when it's far too late.

I see. I was just going by his recent interview.