Saithip

None of these ITKs knows s***, Elisha Scott included. They're all Walter Mitty characters

Gerrard Mascherano Skrtel

Wright Phillips is another in a long line of right-sided players that flatter to deceive. He is a very poor crosser of the ball, invariably makes the wrong choice when given options, doesn't score enough and is a bit of a headless chicken. There's nothing he can add to our team that would improve it. If we were to sign a player like him we might as well have kept Pennant as he offers about the same level of effectiveness - ie not very much. There's a good reason why he's never a regular first-teamer at any of his clubs and is usually kept on the bench. It's not just a coincidence

Yes I remember that being reported at the time

I agree. The best ones should be graded "know nothings" ranging all the way to "know absolutely f*** all". Seriously, these so-called in the know people have never predicted anything that's ever come to pass. I don't see this changing any time soon

He has said, variously, that both would be off and subsequently that one of them would be off. He also said in the last couple of days that he knows for a fact that Liverpool have no other bids on the table other than the Chinese one, while today if seems that there are six bids being considered. Evans is. like most journos, full of s***

So how often in his fewer than two fouls per game did he "stupidly bang in the back of someone" and how often did this lead to a goal for the opposition? I realise that mere stats on what actually happened on the pitch pale into insignificance when compared with your opinions and what you thought happened but I'd appreciate your searing insight on this as you seem to have your finger on the team's pulse in a way that I, a fan of a mere 51 years match-going, can only hope to emulate Lucas Leiva has been capped a number of times by Brazil already, so why the seeming surprised tone?

Well, when we beat Man U 4-1 at Old Trafford the season before last, Lucas was far and away the best midfielder on the pitch, as he also was when we beat Man U 2-1 at Anfield last season. He was brilliant in those games, so why do you think he won't be in such games in the future?

While we're mentioning stats in this thread it's worth noting that, despite all the retrospective deification of Alonso, we didn't lose a single league game in the 11 league games when he wasn't in the starting line-up in his final season. He also only provided three assists out of 77 league goals, so his contributions seem to have been somewhat upwardly revised since he left

If you believe everything in the press you could take that line. Another view is that perhaps we were never as keen as his agent was trying to make out. Yet another view is that perhaps we just don't value him as highly as West Ham rather than the emotive view that we were somehow "outbid"

In fairness he did win the league with Lyon after he left us and as he's pushing 63 I'm sure he's not too fussed if he never manages again

The main reason is that absolutely nobody plays 4-4-2 anymore - except England of course and look where that got them. It's incredibly outdated and inevitably leads to the opposition having control of midfield. I'm amazed that anyone even suggests it as a possibility any more - it isn't

In the middle of your rant I noticed the usual myth about him giving away free-kicks. He averaged fewer than two free-kicks per game against him last season, which is pretty remarkably low considering he's played in a defensive role. But why let a few facts get in the way of a stream of drivel?

Well a lack of goals and assists never seemed to affect the esteem Alonso was held in. Out of our 77 league goals in his last season he scored just three times (four if you count his og at Middlesbrough!), one of which was a penalty, and he provided just three assists, one to Kuyt and two to Torres (one of which was a pass to him when he was forty yards from goal at Sunderland and went on to score a goal out of nothing, so to call it an assist is rather generous). Lucas playing further forward would be hard pressed to score fewer or provide fewer assists than Alonso did, so I think he'd be excellent in that role. Let's not forget that Lucas was incalculably better than England captain Gerrard last season in our midfield, so I'm amazed at all the s*** he gets from some on here

I couldn't possibly disagree more. Parker is a plodding journeyman who is playing for a club appropriate to his talents. Liverpool are way too good for dross like him. Lucas is a much better player than Parker. Last season he was light years ahead of England captain Gerrard in our midfield and rarely played badly. Unfortunately he is the current scapegoat that our more mentally feeble fans yearn for in every XI we put out. It's been the same down the years for this faction of our supporters with one or other player fulfilling the whipping boy role regardless of how they've actually played when on the pitch

Couldn't agree more. If I read another pile of crap about Benitez's man-management driving Alonso out of the club and not putting his arm around Gerrard/Torres/name your player enough, I'll go nuts

Babel on TV before the World Cup disagrees with you. He said that he'd played through the middle all his career, only for Liverpool to use him out wide. His words, not mine

Er.. speaking as someone who is also "very scouse", I think I speak for many others in taking exception to your comment about that meaning we are "not ones to embrace a new culture". We're probably all too busy stealing hub caps I suppose. If only we were like cosmopolitan southerners wouldn't the world be a better place?

No, we took him directly from Bayern

If the useless Milner's worth £22m then we might as well all give up and go home. You'll be telling me next that Liverpool's new manager is Roy Hodgson

Tidbit? Tidbit? You're only forgiven if you're a Yank. It's titbit

OK I'll speak slowly and loudly so you can understand. 1 Dalglish came in when we had a great team that had recently won the European Cup, so it did not take a great deal of effort to maintain success 2 The age of the squad grew year-on-year so that by the time he walked out the average age of the squad was over 30 and a number of key players were clearly in decline, meaning that any new manager would have to perform a radical overhaul 3 Dalglish's management of the squad led directly to that situation There, that should be easy enough to digest

Look up the meaning of the word "squad". The pool of players we had when Dalglish left had aged dramatically and, at the time, was apparently a source of friction within the club as little was done to bring in or develop young talent. I remember reading that the club secretary (was it Robinson still? I forget) and Dalglish were said to be barely on speaking terms as Dalglish took no heed of the board's disquiet over the ageing profile of the squad. Having a core of very good players does not mean that the first-team squad was in fine fettle. An average age of over 30 would have caused a huge problem for any subsequent manager - and it did So you're telling me that these three players were "the squad" but, conversely, should be taken out of the equation when considering the average age of the squad when Dalglish left?

I believe that when Dalglish resigned the average age of the first team was over 30, so there was always going to be a huge upheaval whoever took over. Many of the misty-eyed fans calling for him to take over now seem to conveniently overlook this great weakness in Dalglish's makeup, He had inherited a team that was very recently crowned champions of Europe, but did nothing to revitalise the squad as it aged collectively in the following years and the latter days of his tenure saw us lumbered with the likes of Speedie and Carter. One thing that I remember about Souness was that he got what at the time were very, very good fees for some of the ageing Dalglish squad, which is often overlooked, like about £900K for Gary Gillespie, which was a very decent fee at the time

And except when we had salmon pink (after the blue and white strip)