JRC

As has been said, Benitez is responsible for 'mentality' - but despite us being off-form, 2 result changing goals in injury time sounds like pretty good 'mentality' to me (if not for my heart). Wasn't that part of the optimism after Villa, the fact that we came back to win so late? Wasn't failing to win after going behind (especially away against scruffy, physical teams) one of our 'mentality' failings last year? I know some are 'Glass Half Full', others 'Glass Half Empty', and that there are things not right about the way we are playing at the moment; - but we just won the Goodison Derby FFS.

I had to turn City off a couple of times, first with the constant xenophobic rubbish (from Snodin as well) about how well Phil Neville did in not making a fuss of Kuyt's challenge - unlike all those dastardly 'foreigners' who would have been rolling around in faked agony; then when St John shouted down a caller who pointed out that we went on to win, with Lucas playing a crucial part after replacing Gerrard, the Saint claiming that we would have won by 2 or 3 if Gerrard had stayed on. I can't stand bullies with microphones who get all smug that they have 'won' the argument when they haven't, they've just cut them off.

Spanish or English? Or if it was Basque, most of the wordds just like random collections of letters anyway.

Any team with Lawrenson and Hansen at the back, Souness and Whelan in the middle and Rush and Dalglish up front is embarassingly overendowed with talent.

Well you clearly weren't trying enoug before, then, were you? Man up, FFS. For many teams, Manchester would be close enough to be a local derby anyway, and there is a whole raft of spats that seperate and divide the two cities, even without Football rivalry (and much we have in common, of course), whilst the Everton rivalry is with those with whom we share a lot more; like family, can be more intense, but there have been times when we have recognised our common (scouse) humanity I'm there with the Newcastle thing - a misplaced arrogance, selective memory of superfandom, but worse of all, singing 'Sign On...'. I expect that from the Mancs and London Boys, but Geordies? The Jarrow marchers must be turning in their graves.

I posted something earlier this year that Fnnan had clearly been having heading practice - after the Campo goal was analysed to death on TV (and Finnan found wanting), Blackburn clearly played on it, and McCarthy got his goal because Finnan struggled at the back post with a high cross. Some weeks later, it was notable that it was no longer a clear weakness, as other teams were still trying to isolate him, but Finnan was dealing with it superbly. http://www.ynwa.tv/forum/index.php?showtop...&hl=Heading

I've heard suggestions that he is not fully fit, and but for Agger, would have had more of a rest since his rib injury. He certainly seems to be giving his man more room to work in - it was vey noticable against Portsmouth how easy Kanu was finding it to receive and hold the ball; against Marseille they found room to turn (and score) in front of our 2 CB; and against Spurs, apart from his part in the goals and the clearance off the line, there was one point where Keane had a free shot when he turned jut a yard or 2 outside the box without any pressure on him. Hopefully we will really see the benefit of his international retirement in the next 2 weeks

Riise switches between quite effective (athletic, works hard, holds up wingers, gets forward threateningly, shoots and occasionally scores) and awful (none of the previous, and brain-dead to boot) - and he's awful at the moment. That shot on Sunday - when he had time to sit on the ball and light a ciggy - was the very definition of woeful. He HAD to at least test Robinson, but battered it about 5 yards over.

It looked - and felt - better on the telly last night than at the game. I won't pretend I'm happy with the points we've dropped at home, but it was an improved perfomane compared to recent ones. Conceding 2 similar goals in 2 minutes after not conceding in the League since August is a bit hard to take, but I'll never turn down a last-minute equaliser, even in a game we should win. I don't fundamentally believe that we won't be able to sort out those defensive errors, or that Gerrard specifially, and the midfield in general, won't get back their form, at which point we wil look a much bettr proposition (although I've probably given up on Riisse, I'm afraid). Whether that will be too late in the Pemiership is yet to be seen; but I'm not yet convinced of Arsenal's ability to sustain their current form and results (conceding 2 to Sunderland is more concerning than conceding 2 to Spurs), nor that United are necessarily hitting their straps as they did last season. Let's hope the break is as disruptive to the form (good and bad) as the last one.

Tonight was so bad, I'm almost relaxed about it. The CL position is not irrecoverable by any means, but I can honestly see no rational explanation for 11 professional footballers to perform so abjectly at the same time - not rotation, freshness, tactics; not even complacency. Leto was a micrososm for the whole team - by Half Time, his game was so shot, he couldn't even put one foot in front of the other. Maybe he will never make the grade, but surely he had basic motor functions as he made his way through his previous teams? I have to believe that he can be better than that (and was glad he got a sympathetic clap - he must have known he'd had a total mare), and am reluctant to judge him on that performance. Same with the rest of them. Don't try to claim unfamiliarity with each other prevented anyone passing to a Red shirt. Maybe there is a common, worrying, underlying cause; maybe tactics, rotation etc have been the reason for previous poor performances; but tonight looked to me like no more than a total f*cked up write off - even down to Torres hitting the post, Gerrard's best pass being a miscued volleyed shot, Hyyppia and Reina colliding with each other, Carragher falling over like a Keystone Kop etc. etc. We'll batter Spurs on Sunday.

Coppell has been surprisingly ungracious - referring to 'What you get for £20M' rather than Torres himself on more than one occasion, and saying he was anonymous for 50 minutes. Bikey and Duberry must be having nightmares about playing him at least twice more this season (if selected...)

Untestable now, of course, buty I personally think a more physical, direct side like Pompey, with that support, would have beaten the team that performed as they did tonight. either way, tonight does rather strain the argument that playing SG and Torres on Saturday would inevitably have made a huge, match-winning difference to our side. Maybe yes, maybe not, but we've certainly proved that we can be just as cr*p with them as without them. fwiw, delighted with a point, and the strength of character and resilience shown, esp w 10 men. Forgeotten about anything else already.

Different point. The suggestion was that we should start with our top players even if Rafa didn't feel they were fully fit, planning to take them off once we were in the lead. I would say that is being too much a hostage to fortune, any injury meaning you are committed to playing out with players struggling, thus a threat to success in the game AND to the player's fitness (higher potential for injury). I would say Rafa believed that the team he put out was good enough to win, and he wouldn't need to use SG and FT, but they were there as Plan B. Whilst I agree that we would have more chance of winning by starting with them providing they were 100% it was still a long way from a foregone conclusion that we would have won if they had, (or a FACT as some have claimed)and even less so if either of them were below their best physical condition. One question, possibly sacrilegious; maybe Carra shouldn't have come back for this game? Whilst he didn't do much wrong Kanu seemed to have a field day controlling the ball back-to-goal and laying off at will. He can be good at that, but Carra would normally be expected to make it much harder for him.Was Carra perhaps not at full whack?

Six Crazy Minutes, poster called CAD. See this link (mods - delete if this is not acceptable with my apologies) http://sixcrazyminutes.com/forums/index.ph...p;topic=15842.0 The same guy can also be found on Est1892 and is not (deliberately) a WUM, I believe

There was probably an exception in Spain when Valencia won it twice, I would guess.

Good point, and one not generally acknowledged by those anxious to prove their credentials by showing how critical they are prepared to be of Rafa (eg the 'Thanks for the CL, Rafa, now F*** Off' thread on another site). Part of our confidence in the past few weeks has been that we showed we weren't a one-man team, having done what we did without Stevie; and if the 2 England games had been Liverpool ones, I suspect Rafa would have kept him out of at least one of them; as he didn't get that option, the bench yesterday was always likely. (Wasn't he on the bench for our only League win there since we came up?) As for Torres, of course he has been brilliant for all of the - what, 5 - matches he has played for us to date. I expect him to generally perform better than Crouch (that's why we paid what we did for him), but there was no guarantee that yesterday would have been such a day; we don't yet really know what his form cycle is like, and he is only young - maybe he struggles with 3 games a week, esp with travel. Also Crouch had something to prove, and could just as easily turn in a performance like that against Arsenal. He didn't. And good as Torres looked when he came on, we didn't noticably take over the game in the last period - chances made but missed, but Pompey still looked like scoring, much like before they came on. Given there are those who claim we would have been 3 or 4 up by half time if S&T had played from the start, then we surely should have nicked a couple against a tiring defence. Or maybe this was always going to be a close game, whatever the line up. Rafa may well have completely c*cked up, but I'm afraid it's not as clear cut or undeniable as some would claim - and saying that does not make me a member of the newly named RCDNW front, nor less passinate and committed in my support of the Reds. *fwiw, I didn't talk to anyone for 3 hours after the final whistle yesterday, and stomped around in a childish sulk, the dog cowering in his kennel.

May well be true, but he was an MP for a while for a relatively moderate party that opposed some of the more extreme nationalist elements in that part of the world. He was also, in his not inconsiderable heyday, reputedly a big Reds fan, and I for one would have loved to see him at Anfield. But if he's dissed the Raven, there is nothing down for him. OR if he came out with the quote that neatly preceded my post without me seeing it........

I have found some of the reactions to this as disturbing as anything associated with supporting LFC for a long time; posts like the above go some way restoring my faith. RAWK is like a bearpit these days, full of snarling hatred and entrenched attitudes as they slug it out to prove who is the real alpha-fan. Deeply, deeply depressing.

That's with he Cup game right? Our League form there in the last 3 years is what? LWL? Wth poor home results against them (including the Cup draw and subsequent replay defeat), the awful white sock kit, sh*tty ground and baying (but in their stupid way, impressive) supporters, it's no wonder they feel like a classic 'bogey' team. Exactly why I think, this season, we will turn them over in a used-to-be-typical ruthless, contolled, commanding, crowd-silencing, convincing 2-0 (1 each half) win

I'll be in Toronto next week for the Derby County match, stoppping on Yonge Street; any suggestions/advice for catching the game? Cheers

Although not as obviously so as the one in Town - which used to have a 6ft (+ Heels) Tranny on the door, dead scouse, hilarious and always had the last word witth hecklers.

Carra/His Uncle/Brother was supposd to be getting involved in converting the old ABC Cinema on Lime Street (next to Wetherspoon's) into a Bar/Club complex, but it fell through. Pity, it's a fantastic Art Deco building in a prime location, but currently a High Profile Grot Spot - it deserves the full makeover. It would also mean the Great Man would,if possible, go even further up in my estimation - Playing Legend, Future Liverpool Manager, Freeman of Sefton, Scourge of TalkSport ShockJock W*nkers..AND civic-minded entrepeneur/philanthropist bringing pride to our City Centre. Gotta Love Him.

The one in Crosby is called Patrick's as well, and would have to be funded by someone wealthy, as there is never anyone in.

Don't disagree at all about Picolino's quality, but it should be, as it's notably more expensive. I saw Aurelio in there a couple of weeks ago with a hispanic-young-footballer-looking pal who I have yet to identify as one of our many such-like newbies - not Insua, Lucas, Leto or Paletta for sure. The Olive Press on Castle Street is pretty good as well, btw

Word of the day. Not sure of the spelling or etymology, but always a favourite.