alias75

Not really similar since Owen wasnt prepared to tell Madrid its us or nowhere. If Nolan was available im sure there would be other clubs interested but im sure Nolan would jump at the chance to play for us given we know hes a mad fan too and so he would tell Bolton its us and noone else. Thats different to the Owen situation where he obviously made it clear he was preapred to go to Newcastle even though they may have not been his first choice by talking to them. Had he played a better game of poker im sure we would have got him for around £12 million.

The thing is with a transfer fee if we do want Nolan and the player has set his heart on the move that leaves the selling club with very little leverage. Im not sure what sort of contract hes on, but the only options they'd have is to cash in or risk losing him once his contract expires (plus they have an unhappy player in their team) I get the impression Rafa is keen to add local players to the squad and so wouldnt be surprised if Nolan isnt being watched closely, a midfield 2 of Gerrard and Nolan certainly wouldnt take a step back from anyone.

Think he'd be a top signing Didi doesnt have many years left and i think Alonso will become our holding midfielder with 2 players with good energy around him (perm 2 from Stevie, Sissoko and Nolan) He is a mad red and so thats a huge factor if we were in for him. Id imagine the transfer fee would be around £6 million and the players desire to play for us would obviously take any real bargaining power from Bolton. Yes midfield is an area we arent short in, BUT as we're finding out when your trying to win 3 or 4 different competitions you need a large squad and midfield is the area where you need the most backup since these guys get through the most effort every game, would love to see another local lad in the team.

Id play Hamann in most away games until the end of the season, his passing his much better than Sissoko at the moment and hes much less likely to do anything rash and leave us with 10 men. Sissoko has already proved he will become an important player for us, but he needs to work on certain aspects of his game. Hes very young and im sure Rafa is aware of the areas he needs to improve on, in that position though Didi is an excellent player to learn off.

Thought we were just naming strikers in the PL that would do a better job than our current mob. Id take Shearer too even though hes in his mid 30's

What about McBride at Fulham, works hard and gets his share of goals, simialr role to Morientas but certainly seems more effective in this league. Even Kevin Davies (cant believe im saying this)

Think we may have to think about strikers for the league games and maybe a different player for the CL type games. In the PL pace and power are the key attributes, ideally you sign someone with pace and power with the class and awareness but this typeof player is tough to find and very expensive. Players like Defoe, Owen, Andy J even a Darren Bent type player will make their own chances because of their pace, these players are also pretty selfish in front of goal which is what we need. However of the above players only Owen and maybe Defoe i think could cut it in the CL and a slightly different style of football. Here you need a striker with clever movement and good first touch, ideally with pace and power. Someone like David Villa i think is an excellent all round forward, quick and strong and he scores plenty of goals.

I just think we've bought him at a time when he seems to have lost that extra 5% that made his a world class player. You can still see it in patches, his movement and touch is excellent but in this league pace and power are more valuable assetts and hes struggling with this side of the game. I wouldnt criticise his work rate cos i do think hes trying very hard to be a success but it simply isnt happening for him. I dont think you can blame the manager on this one, Morientas is a proven top qualtiy player and there was no reason to think he wouldnt work out but it isnt working and i think he should be moved on while we can get some money for him. Sometimes you have to sacrafice touch and awareness for pace and power in this league, especially in the forward positions. Ideally you find a player with pace, power and the awareness but those players are tough to find. At the moment i think we'd do better with an Andy Johnson or Darren Bent type player. Someone with raw pace that can create chances for themselves. But even though these players i think would do well in the league they may struggle in the CL.

That was true tonight but good strikers have the ability to make chances for themselves, even a player like Darren Bent isnt getting great service every game but he is a nuisance because he works hard sooner or later he will create something for himself. Our strikers simply dont seem to do that. When was the last time any of our forwards created a chance for theselves? Yes guys like Morientas and Crouch are more reliant on service but Cisse with his pace should be able to create his own chances but usually his attitude stinks and he whinges rather than working hard and giving his amrker no rest.

Cos with Fowler being brought in he was 5th choice (in Rafas eyes) so its better for him to get games at Blackburn than kick his heels here. Whether he should have been 5th choice is another question, personally id play him ahead of Cisse simply cos his attitude is better but if noone is going to take Ciise then what are you going to do. If you want to sell him next year you have to play him and hope his value increases.

I just think at the moment individual mistakes are costing us, and thats either a sign of tiredness or because we're bringing players in that arent match sharp. (when was the last time Djimi or Dude played for the 1st team) Crouch has to play well for the team to function well as an attacking force and at the moment his form isnt great. Its obvious we need new players espeically in terms of scoring and creating goals, how many in form attacking players do we have at the moment? Gerrard, Kewell, anyone else? Chelsea are the team we're looking to catch and look at the attacking options they have, Duff, Robben, Cole, Lampard, Crespo, Drogba, SWP, Gudjohnson if players are having an off day they have others that can come on and change the game, we dont. Goals change games and at the moment we simply arent scoring enough goals and thats putting the defence under more pressure, the strikers have to take some responsibility they simply arent scoring enough goals, if chances arent being created for them then they can create their own chances thats what top quality strikers do. Every team goes through dips in form and we're in a bit of a dip at the moment. That said the last few games we've played well but simply havent got the goals then we concede and the confidence goes. This month will be a busy one hopefully the players find a 2nd wind and kick on again.

The problem is also the players that are fresh havent played first team footie for a while so are they match sharp? When was the last time Troare or Dudek played in the first team before tonight? Goals change games and at the moment we aint scoring first, the way the team is setup and the attacking players we have we arent good at breaking teams down. As has been said the team is still a work in progress and id say its 3/4 complete, but its clear we need 2 or 3 attacking, creative players. The number of games we've played i believe is a factor, hopefully we get our 2nd wind soon, a few good results will help.

Agree we need to play Riise there for the vast majority of games. When Gonzalez finally joins at least that gives us 2 out and out left wingers so there will be less need to play Riise there. Warnock is always committed but i dont think hes good enough. He gives the ball away too much and often isnt in line with the rest of the defence. We have conceded probabaly 3 or 4 goals because Warnock has been playing someone onside. Cant think of many players we could sign at the moment for that position but im sure there are some solid options out there.

The footage that is available of Gonzalez shows him running very quickly with the ball. The stuff i watched reminded me a lot of Giggs, whos just as quick when running with the ball as he is without it. It does take a lot of pressure off the team when you have players capable of running half the length of the pitch at pace with the ball.

They showed it on MOTD 2 yesterday, very funny Notice how when Stevie patted him on the head he didnt fall over as if he'd been shot! Robben could learn a lot from that 4 year old.

We may have to sell 2 strikers to get the funds for 1. Lets hope Cisse has a good world cup (he certainly plays better for France) and we can get close to £10 million for him, i reckon Morientas isnt going to cut it so we should cash in while he still has some credibility in Europe. That should give Rafa enough money to find a quality finisher. Hopefully Robbie proves his worth and can play out another 2 years. Reckon we could get Defoe or Owen for the price of Cisse and Morientas (and thats not including any money Rafa would get for signings anyway)

A quality right winger will have the knock on effect of freeing up Stevie through the middle. Id say we need at least attacking players a right winger and a goalscorer. Stevie playing more centrally further forward will give us that creativity we're missing, and the right winger will hopefully provide better quality from out wide for our strikers that need that type of service.

He aint good enough if we want to be winning titles. Gives the ball away too much in posession and i can remember 3 or 4 goals this season that have been because Warnock hasnt been in line with the other defenders. He will always be totally committed but so would i if i played for Liverpool but i still aint good enough.

Think we'll lose him for a game, had Robben acted like an idiot theres no way it would have been a red card offence. I reckon it could be 2 yellows and a 1 game ban.

He was sent off for the "push" on Robben surely that will get recinded after review.

Agree we have to remember that Rafa is only a year and a half into this, we are still very much a work in progress. Defensively we are a lot more solid, you can look at the odd goal from set pieces but that happens to every team as some point. Sometimes individuals make mistakes and they lead to goals but on the whole our goals against record speaks volumes. The obvious areas we need to improve on are going forward we have some quality central midfielders and Kewell hopefully can be the left sided player we need, the lack of a right winger is glaringly obvious, the fact that 3 windows have gone and noone has been brought in is frustrating but it also tells me Rafa is waiting for the right player. We need Stevie freed up for some games. Up front we still dont have a partnership that looks like its going to work, the lack of pace means teams can sit deep knowing we arent going to hurt them by getting in behind, we desperately need a quality centre forward that is a good all round player. Still plenty of work still to do, at the moment we're in a bit of a bad run, but we have to remember these players have played over 40 games already, that was bound to happen at some point in this long season. But definite improvements this year which is all we can ask, we still arent as good as Chelsea and the main difference is the attacking threats they possess that can get something out of nothing, we dont have enough of these players.

I think thats correct but the fact is our strikers are getting plenty of chances they simply arent taking enough of them. I agree that Rafas way of playing isnt reliant on a 20 goal a season stirker which is a good thing but we still need to be more prolific in front of goal, for the precise reason as we saw today, if you only have a 1 goal lead the game is never safe. Ideally we'd have strikers that can provide the link up play but when they get 3 chances in a game take 1 of them, at the moment that isnt happening. Rafa has obviously noted that problem which is why Robbie was brought in. Im sure he'd hope Morientas would score more goals, he has done all his career but here he isnt getting the 1 every 3 games he should. If we were maybe creating only 1 or 2 chances every game as happened sometimes under GH then maybe you could forgive our stirkers, but the facts are most games we've created 6 or 7 very good chances which arent being taken. I think its pretty clear that Cisse wont be around next season and i have a feeling Morientas is on borrowed time too, if we do bring in those finishers we will be such a better side, imagine the current team with a van Nistelroy in the side, thats the type of player we need.

I would agree with that, but theres a world of difference between starting PL games and playing 90 minutes and the odd 15 min at the end of a game. Of course he has plenty of improving and learning to do, but ive seen players at a similar age given a chance and from what ive seen so far, ability wise hes certainly on a par with someone like Lennon who i think was 16 when he made his debut in the PL.

Wouldnt be surprised to see Cisse and Morientas leave next season which means we could need another 2 strikers (unless Flo proves his value whilst out on loan) Id imagine Owen is still on the wanted list, if we wanted him when Newcastle got him then i dont see that changing in a few months (his goal record has been excellent). Then again the way Defoe is being treated at Spurs he could be a younger / cheaper alternative and a player without Owens injury problems. This being a World Cup year you have to be careful potential signings dont double in value after a decent tournament.

Just watched the highlights from the 3-0 win (you can view them here) http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFAYouthCu...iverpoolwin.htm Once again the boy looks sensational, most importantlyhe has bags of pace, we're clearly looking for a right sided player but if he keeps producing performances like this surely it wont be long before hes with the first team even its for 15 min here and there. He still has a lot of growing to do, but he reminds me a lot of Aaron lennon who is a similar build but has done well in the PL. Rafa and the coaching staff clearly rate him highly since we swapped a current England U21 player for him, of course its important we dont push him too soon but id really like to see how he does with the first team.