takanohana

It's not undeniable that he's stubborn. Saying he's stubborn implies that he's rotating even when he knows it's not right, or so as not to back down to pressure. Call me naive, but I still like to believe he's not changing his style because he has greater faith in his own managerial skills than those of, say, Charlie Nicholas. I expect that if he sees rotation or anything else isn't working he'll change it. To suggest he couldn't bring himself to do that because of stubborness makes him out to be a bit of a fool. I don't think he is.

You haven't seen many Liverpool players then...there've been plenty worse than Crouch Clearly not on his game at the moment, perhaps got a bad attitude, but in the long-forgotten past (last season) he played well and scored goals.

when he's picked for England

So after 120 mins of premiership football (plus an impressive performance aginst Toulouse) Benayoun is now a liability... err ok then

You're on crack

I agree with this. We're f**ked. Anyone who can't see that is deluding themselves. I'll be happy if we reach the Carling Cup semis and have a contender for goal of the month during the season. Anything more than that and we're over-achieving.

Hope not. A good option at LB and LM - that's to say good, but, yes, we probably could do better. Should think about the other options we have in both of those positions before merrily waving him on his way - Aurelio, Insua, Kewell, Garcia (at a stretch) - hardly a roster of proven and injury-free players. I hope we do get some more quality on the left this summer but they may need time to settle and Riise will remain a good squad player at worst. Stick he gets on here is way over the top As for Snorky's comments on Riise smiling/not fit to wear the shirt, sorry but that's laughable

Be v surprised if we let Riise go this summer. Lots of experience now, scores important goals and still a good option at left back/midfield. He'll hopefully have more competition next season from Aurelio, Kewell and others but he's not to be discarded lightly

Sweet mother of jesus, some of the cr*p that's spouted is unbelievable. Suggest you watch the game again and if you can honestly come back and say all we had is 'the long ball and 10 men behind the ball' then really there's no hope for you. We outplayed them in terms of passing and approach play for most of the game (1st half and early 2nd) We conceded. Against the European Champions. Probably the best side in Europe. Any team in those circumstances is going to be forced to defend. It's the nature of games where 1 team has to score and the other doesn't. We defended brilliantly when we had to. We won the tie. We're though. And FWIW the Liverpool Way you speak of was never just about playing 'good football'. It was about playing effective football and doing what was needed to win. If you thought last night was ugly, look at some of our European games from the 70s/80s and that'll really make your stomach turn... But then we've won it 5 times I believe

One of the funniest things I've ever read on this forum...

You're right, there have been good debates on here about the downsides of all this, by better-informed people than me ... As to what we can do about it... Dunno, fan groups lobbying FIFA, UEFA etc. to regulate the game better? I'm sure some people could probably list 64 different reasons why you can't or shouldn't regulate what is a market driven business now. But I think that's wrong. There are other options, a US style system being one. If (IF) this happens we'll be part of a game heading the wrong way, though.

Bloody 'ell. Bit surprised this getting such an unconditional thumbs up from most. Yes, solid financial base, new stadium funded and money for top-class players: all good. But it's basically grim the way football's going these days and now that we're (allegedly) getting in on the action it just makes me cringe at the same time as I'm picking my fantasy 11. Nothing to do with the fact they're from Dubai, States or wherever. Just when I see things like improving our maketability and worldwide brand being posted as the way forward , I think f**k what's going on. It'll be who out of 4 or 5 clubs has the biggest sugar daddy and the rest of you can just fart around in your own little sub-league. Even if we're on the fun side of that divide, doesn't make it good. I know we've got to be pragmatic and go with it or drift into mid-table obscurity but part of me's still going 'No, this is a load of shi*te wtf is happening to the game.' Naive, probably. But still... Bigger issues involved here, covered before and elsewhere on this forum - stronger leadership and controls from the governing bodies needed etc. Just expected more wariness about this on here I guess... ...anyway, back to my fantasy 11

Think the Gerrard criticism is getting totally out of perspective. Yes, he's not on his best form by a long way, and am sure he would admit that as he did the other day, but marks of 1 and calls to strip him of the captaincy are just crazy (imho...) The majority of our players have had a poor start to the season, but he's really bearing the brunt of the resentment. Yes he's the captain and should be leading by example but think the expectations on him are way over the top sometimes. FWIW, I didn't think he was significantly worse than other midfielders yesterday (certainly not Zenden). Was trying to link up and make things happen but we didn't have the control or numbers up front to make the ball stick. He's been great for us over the years and will be again, and calling for his head after a few months when he's been average (not rubbish as some say) just aint right.

I think the G14 are far more sinister and shadowy than FIFA or any of the other associations (that's not to comment on competence however...). Despite noises about the good of the game etc., they are by definition almost exclusively concerned with increasing the power/wealth of themselves. And that I believe is not for the benefit of football as a whole. As it does exist, I suppose it's best that we are in it, but I would ultimately like to see it disbanded. If it does continue it will probably be a force behind the current strong-get-stonger trend in the game, which I'm not in favour of. Hopefully the current EU review of the way the game is administered will result in some proper controls on % spent on players wages, club ownership etc. Not holding my breath though...

I agree. Pennant and his ilk would give us more possibilities...