*Official Football Thread*

I am delighted to hear you say that mate lol! Wait til Torres is back terrorising defences

The squad is looking good this year, even though people have criticized Robbie Keane, the guy has the experience and quality which he has shown for years now and with Gerrard and Alonso supplying him from midfield he was always going to come good, and the thing is, even though Keane has not been at his best and Torres has been injured for a long period of time we are still top, with those two playing at their full potential it could be a great year and even if I wasn't a Liverpool fan I would really like to see Torres picking up another major trophy, the guy is a real class act, both on and off the pitch.

man utd for me, yea it's probably liverpool's to lose at the moment, but we're only 7 points behind with 2 games in hand, plus liverpool have to come to old trafford, i still fancy our chances

its gonna be a tough one.

mozza Wrote:man utd for me, yea it's probably liverpool's to lose at the moment, but we're only 7 points behind with 2 games in hand, plus liverpool have to come to old trafford, i still fancy our chances

I reckon it's about time we won again at Old Trafford and I think we'll do the double over your boys this year!

Liverpool for me.

jordo Wrote:I am delighted to hear you say that mate lol! Wait til Torres is back terrorising defences

It doesn't bear thinking about really. Liverpool have width now, since Kuyt has settled into his role on the outside right and Riera has arrived; there's pace upfront when El Nino isn't playing thanks to Keane and the central midfield and back four are just as solid as they have been for the past three years.

United have gone flat, Chelsea need to freshen things up and Arsenal lack genuine strength in depth. Only Liverpool seem hungry enough, lively enough and strong enough throughout the squad to do it this season. They've come good at exactly the right time, just like we did when we took the title from Chelsea.

On the subject of Robbie Keane, a good forward doesn't need to score a hatload of goals to contribute a lot to team. Neither Cantona nor Hughes were exactly goal machines for Man Utd, Peter Beardsley was one of the best forwards I've seen and guys like Alan Smith (Arsenal late eighties/early nineties, not Smudge), Mike Newell and Alan Shearer at the tail end of his career are perfect examples. Their movement, awareness, distribution and clever runs off the ball meant that defenders couldn't switch off for a second, which allows for other players drifting in from the flanks or breaking from midfield to score a lot more goals than if the rest of the team is set up to feed just one man. Although he was a typical goal poacher at Spurs he's been playing an entirely different role at Liverpool and for my money, doing a bloody good job of it.

There! I've given my praise to Liverpool and every word is like a little scouse dagger in my heart

Next season though, when Tevez leaves, to be replaced by Michael Owen (a personal hunch, not anything I've heard or read!) Nani goes and is replaced by a left winger who can actually pass, cross and shoot and a rejuvenated Owen Hargreaves adds some energy to the midfield things will be vey different!

tmfkamr-gummidge Wrote:It doesn't bear thinking about really. Liverpool have width now, since Kuyt has settled into his role on the outside right and Riera has arrived; there's pace upfront when El Nino isn't playing thanks to Keane and the central midfield and back four are just as solid as they have been for the past three years.

United have gone flat, Chelsea need to freshen things up and Arsenal lack genuine strength in depth. Only Liverpool seem hungry enough, lively enough and strong enough throughout the squad to do it this season. They've come good at exactly the right time, just like we did when we took the title from Chelsea.

On the subject of Robbie Keane, a good forward doesn't need to score a hatload of goals to contribute a lot to team. Neither Cantona nor Hughes were exactly goal machines for Man Utd, Peter Beardsley was one of the best forwards I've seen and guys like Alan Smith (Arsenal late eighties/early nineties, not Smudge), Mike Newell and Alan Shearer at the tail end of his career are perfect examples. Their movement, awareness, distribution and clever runs off the ball meant that defenders couldn't switch off for a second, which allows for other players drifting in from the flanks or breaking from midfield to score a lot more goals than if the rest of the team is set up to feed just one man. Although he was a typical goal poacher at Spurs he's been playing an entirely different role at Liverpool and for my money, doing a bloody good job of it.

There! I've given my praise to Liverpool and every word is like a little scouse dagger in my heart

Next season though, when Tevez leaves, to be replaced by Michael Owen (a personal hunch, not anything I've heard or read!) Nani goes and is replaced by a left winger who can actually pass, cross and shoot and a rejuvenated Owen Hargreaves adds some energy to the midfield things will be vey different!

Its nice to actually hear a Man U fan talk sense on the net for a change!

I have great respect for Man U and what they have achieved over the last ten years or so, thats hard for a Liverpool fan to say!

But they really upped the bench mark and even when Chelsea came on the stage thanks to their Russian Billionaire they still managed to fight them off and again achieve success, but even if you are an ardent Man U fan surely you cannot deny that Liverpool have gone far too long without winning the League, for me if I was a neutral spectator it would be great for the game to see them lift the title, as everyone knows Liverpool in concerns to monetary issues cannot match Man U or Chelsea, thats not to say we are poor by any stretch, but if it comes down to pure finances then we cannot match the other top four, well perhaps Arsenal but even then its pretty close, but one thing for them is that they were able to build a new 60k seater stadium and we are still struggling at achieving that.

For me though Riera has been a steal for the price he cost us, and is going to be one of the key components this year, if we had the money we probably would have ended up getting David Silva and David Villa instead of Riera and Keane, which instead of costing us 24m would have seen us spending 45m+, so you gotta hand it to Rafa for doing a good bit of business in the transfer market with the funds available.

At one point during the summer it looked like Xabi Alonso was going to have to be sold to create transfer funds and there is still talk about him being sold during the January window along with Keane, for me there's no way that will happen, Alonso is one of the best creative midfielders in the world and its even better that he wants to stay and play for Liverpool, and the same goes for Keane, a Liverpool fan all his life who perhaps not a world-class striker has a certain quality to his game that is invaluable, he's got passion, hunger and a winning determination.

most liverpool fans i've spoken to keep saying they have to win it this year to stop utd getting level with em for league titles won, 19 - 18 i think it stands at the moment.

mozza Wrote:most liverpool fans i've spoken to keep saying they have to win it this year to stop utd getting level with em for league titles won, 19 - 18 i think it stands at the moment.

I think its Liverpool -18, Man U - 17, its not that Liverpool fans want to stop Man U overtaking them in League title wins, its more of a case of we want to just actually win it.

For most Liverpool fans they look on it like this, Gerrard isn't getting any younger and isn't going to be around forever and Torres is not going to want to stay at a club that is not winning trophies.

I think it has more to do with us wanting to win the league this year rather then stopping Man U reach our title record, this is probably going to be our best chance of actually doing just that and the fans know it, if we don't do it this year then people will start to question if we will ever do it, of course if Moores accepted the DIC offer rather then Hicks/Gillette then we probably would sometime in the future have the confidence of doing that, but as it stands right now with Hicks and Gillette in command there is a certain fear that we will end up like Leeds United.

Gradually assembling a squad capable of challenging the financial powerhouses on a lower budget is what Rafa does. He did an exceptional job of that with Valencia and they've never been quite the same since he left. Every time I would read a letter to Sky Sports text or a forum post calling for his head this past couple of years I would pray for the board to take notice and get rid. He's not spectacularly belligerent like Fergie, charismatic like Mourinho was for Chelsea or a man to inspire the very best from limited talent like Wenger. He just gets on with his job quietly (as much as a manager can be quiet in the Premier League, with a mike shoved under their nose every ten minutes) and over time assembles a team that is very hard to beat.