digs_nz

Oh s***, we are playing football!

Oh no, Gerrard looks like Carragher did at the start of last season.. Oops nevermind he took it off, good lad

Jesus. Can anyone explain to me what Jova offers?

How about some positivity in this thread.. Man U, Tottenham and City all dropped points! A win here and we will be sitting pretty going to OT next week. f***ing get in

Only slightly on topic.. but WHY IS AURELIO INJURED????? He hasn't even played

I think we can all agree that last year was an horrendous season. Given this, I think we have to improve on league position. I don't think city has improved that much, because (just like last season) they have pretty much shipped in an entirely new squad. Most of their signings have been blown out of proportion too because of the enormous fees. Tottenham look good, but at the end of the day, we were still challenging for 4th up until the last 3 fixtures because neither them nor man city could take 4th by the balls. Tottenham also has champions league this season which will f*** them up, whereas we don't anymore. If Torres stays little bit fitter than last season, and Gerrard isn't quite as crap as last season, then 4th shouldn't be a problem. It's still not a f***ing rosy situation to be in though. And at the end of the day, if we get new owners.. who gives a f*** what position we get. (and vice versa)

'ang on a minute.. the transfer deadline day ended with us trying to *finally* sign a striker with a hiss and a roar, but in the end it came to nothing because we 'ran out of time' (despite having all the time in the world... Someone predicted this would happen.. I f***ing wonder why?

Yep if we don't get 4th, then I definitely will not begrudge him going. If we get 4th, then it will probably depend on the owner situation. If we get above 4th, he might be gracious enough to give us 'one more year' no matter the owner situation. He will go to barca, win everything, and good on him.

If the thread stays inactive, that can be considered a pretty good thing, when you look at the Lucas and Aquilani threads. Agree, moving Agger to the middle is hugely important.

Liverpool have today completed the signing of Paul Konchesky on a four-year contract. The 29-year-old full-back moves to Anfield from Fulham after agreeing terms with the Reds and passing a medical. Youngsters Lauri Dalla Valle and Alex Kacaniklic have made the switch from Anfield to Craven Cottage as part of the deal. Konchesky has been allocated the number 3 shirt in Roy Hodgson's squad. http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/reds-complete-konchesky-deal Welcome and Good luck. Let's Hope that he puts in a good shift at a problem position, here's hoping Hodge sees something in you that many have not yet Brilliant for the English Quota, and lets see some more goals like this one (not Carragher's):

leggooooo

Alright, fair enough, I should have been more specific.. Most of what I was replying to was the choice of midfield. Agger at LB is definitely not ideal, agree this could have been a very good chance for Kelly to start a league game (home, vs promoted team), rest Carra perhaps? If we are signing Konchesky, then this probably is not an issue (aside from whether he is s**** or not) I still think that even though, as you say, our midfield was poor, that 2 'deep' midfielders is going to be our main formation.. Just look to Man City to see why we shouldn't play 2 strikers (again, I concede that WBA is a very different opposition.. but I don't think we should be playing 4-4-2 is my point). So, given that we are going to be playing 2 deep/deep-ish/holding midfielders, and Joe Cole is suspended, what other choice did Hodgson have? If Joe Cole wasn't suspended, we would have seen Gerrard alongside Lucas/Poulsen and we would have been a different team. We have Mereiles now anyway, and Joe Cole will be back soon, so we hopefully won't see this midfield pair again all season. Babel on the left? Not sure. On the day I thought Jova was mediocre at best, but he is still the preferred starter. The Maxi sub could have come sooner, since Jova had an off day. Babel divides opinion obviously; I don't think he should be starting.

I love the number of Simpson's references on here.. not sure if they are all from you though. I don't understand all the criticism of hodgson's selection against WBA.. Cole is injured, aquilani is gone, who we we supposed to play in midfield? We played a 4-4-2 last week and it was s*** (admittedly under different circumstances.. maybe not that valid a point, but my point is that Torres plays up front alone and that's pretty much going to be our formation everywhere, with different PLAYERS depending on the opposition). He didn't have enough faith in Pacheco to start him in the Gerrard role, so there was no choice but to put Gerrard there and Lucas and Poulsen in midfield, or am I missing something? As has been said, alot depends on Mereiles. Is he the player Aquilani was supposed to be, adding energy and movement alongside a holding midfielder (Poulsen?) or is he the holding midfielder who plays alongside Gerrard? I've heard the former, so I would love to see this personally: Pepe Johnson Carra Agger LB (who knows) Mereiles Poulsen Kuyt Gerrard Cole Torres But I think it looks like Cole will play central and Gerrard will move back, pairing with Mereiles or Poulsen/Lucas depending on the strength of the opposition. Anyway, Roy has given himself some options.. he has a range of midfielders to choose from and arrange, and as long as he recognises when something he tries just isn't working, and makes changes, then he deserves time.

Roy wanted to show intent, and did so with a 4-4-2. But he backed himself into a corner by switching back to the normal 4-2-3-1 or whatever you want to call it would have been accepting defeat. Should have started with 4-2-3-1 and then switched to a 4-4-2 when we went 1 down, or if at half time it was still 0-0. But I guess you have to back your players. Hard to say. It's still just one game which, at the beginning of the season, I would have said: "OK, if we come out with nothing here, it's probably not the end of the world given our dire situation, and we can make it up with a good result somewhere else, eg. points at stamford bridge & emirates.

Nah 1 game can't spoil my optimism. City were always going to come out and make a statement this season.. too bad they made it all over our face. Anyway, thought the 4-4-2 was madness, don't know what to think about Masch not playing (personally believe/hope its just injury troubles) but we should have had Lucas and Poulsen in midfield with Gerrard behind Torres or N'gog if RH didn't think Torres was fit enough.

gnr

Another streaming site I haven't seen that link that DPD1973 posted before, so I will check it out next game.. but that link I posted is pretty consistent, especially for big games (v Chelsea etc.). All the pre-seasons were on there too!! It's nothing like the quality of a sky stream though, and makes it a tad frustrating at times. Like you said though, plenty of football to be watched on there, absolutely everything!

Not comfortable selling him, given Cole's injury record and the way Gerrard went missing last season. He's another option who has some definite quality, but hasn't yet truly been given the chance to establish himself. If any two of Gerrad, Lucas, Poulsen and Cole get injured, and we don't have Aquilani, we are short (have to use reserves). Maybe slightly unlikely, but he might get a chance this season and we may see in him what Rafa was looking for.

If Mascha is gone, would love to see Aqua start alongside Lucas with Gerrard in the hole, but I have a feeling Masch and Lucas will be the midfield pairing.. although I'm contradicting myself because I think Inter is likely to make a bid now they have the funds from Balotelli. I guess my point is, Aqua should play CM, and Gerrard in the hole.. if these two players are on the pitch together.

Carra Masch Kuyt Don't know why people are praising Gerrard.. he did OK, but his deeper role left him out of the game quite a bit. Looking forward to seeing him further up with Torres vs City because he has looked up for it, especially in that role for England.. happy to see Lucas and Masch paired up in midfield (what is this, 2009???)

Good point, besides, its only 2m (which will be more than covered by selling D Cav) and we don't even really need to play him unless Reina gets injured, at which point we can probably take advantage of some of those special rules regarding keeper crisis. Jones' wages will probably be lower too. Of course, the ideal solution is to buy an english striker, but there are none available at the right price. Interesting couple of days for transfers coming up, given that Balotelli has left inter.

You have the rule exactly right, but one of us is miscounting. We only have 22 senior players by my count, 5 home-grown and that means we are right on the edge. If Masch goes, we probably won't buy anyone else (Poulsen is his replacement, right?) and that gives us the 1 slot for an international striker. The problem is if Insua goes and we need to replace him, THEN your scenario is necessary. Obviously Hodgson isn't keen on letting Gulacsi step up (since he would count as home-grown next year, and solve heaps of our problems!! Stealing barnesology's list here and adding a few more to make it current, even though this will probably change: NON-HOME-GROWN: Daniel Agger, Alberto Aquilani, Fabio Aurelio, Ryan Babel, Milan Jovanovic, Dirk Kuyt, Sotiros Kyrgiakos, Lucas, Christian Poulsen, Pepe Reina, Maxi Rodriguez, Martin Skrtel, Fernando Torres, David Ngog, Diego Cavalieri, Javier Mascherano, Nabil El Zhar (I agree we need to sell him, we have so many options ahead of him on the wings now) SENIOR HOME-GROWN: Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Emiliano Insua

Prem : 4th - No f***ing way we are letting Tottenham nip that again, and City will f*** out again no doubt. FA Cup : No idea EUFA Cup : Semi, playing kids/second string team the whole way, knocked out to strong opposition who end up on the same side of the draw CC : QF Same situation as above

I wouldn't mind Stephen Warnock back.. just throwing it out there. Petrov though, nty. And not for those prices. If we can't get rid of Masch, I'm happy to see him stay, just makes buying Poulsen a bit of a waste.. Although what I actually think is that we are just waiting for Poulsen to be finalized before announcing he is gone. We f***ing need one of these strikers to come through, but I am also optimistic this is dependent on the Poulsen/Masch transfer. Wouldn't mind Crouch, Remy might be worth it, haven't really seen much. I'm actually feeling pretty optimistic about N'Gog, Kuyt & Jova covering for Torres, so will be open to taking a chance on a bit of young talent.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=813459&sec=england&cc=3436