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Makes sense to have one thread for any transfer discussions.

Anyway, Liverpool have supposedly made a £9M bid for Glen Johnson.  A decent player who will improve the side imo.  £9M is a lot, but I guess that's the going rate for decent English players.

I hope we sign someone decent.  All these youngsters are all well and good, but we need a side for now, not for the future.  We always have a side for the future, it's arrived Arsene!

Without stating the bleeding obvious, we really need an Essien type midfielder.  I like Denilson, but I think he's struggling with the physical demands of his position.  I'd like to see Bendtner sold and Adebayor replaced too.  Not much to ask really.  Oh and a centre back. 

But otherwise the team is just how you'd like it?

You'd want to see the back of Adebayor?  He gets a fair few goals doesn't he? 

Man United fan here. I'd still like us to sign an out and out goalscorer. I think Berba (who I also think is teh laziest 20 million + player in the world), Tevez and Rooney are too similar.

I can't really think of anyone tho- maybe it's a dying trade- how many strikers are akin to Gary Linekar/Tony Cottee these days?

I quite like Adebayor now, I think he's stepped up nicely but has no one up there with him.  I wouldn't be 100% against RVP going providing it was for someone that makes a difference

Deffo agree with the midfield and defence needing sorting, were so average at the moment. 

There I've said it!

lol Tevez, Rooney (yeah I know) Ronaldo and Berbatov and it's not enough :D  They must have scored close to 100 goals between them last year!

With the way we play football any half decent striker should score a lot of goals in our team.  The chances he misses are more significant.  Thierry Henry was always accused of going missing in big games, but that was rubbish, it's true though for Adebayor.  He does a great Anne Frank impression in the "bigger games" and still doesn't understand off-side.  His attitude is terrible too..one 30+ goal season and he decided he was worth Thierry Henry money.  He'd have left last year if anyone had wanted him.  And some other stuff.  

Oddly enough this turned up as a topic of conversation for Andy Gray on Sky yesterday. He made the valid point that there really are very very few quality strikers about, which has led to a lot of very average players being sold for silly money.

Where are all the Gary Linekar/Ian Rush/Ian Wrights of today?

Yeah, but Henry was the best - so anyone is going to be a step backward after him.

Torres is injured.

I thought Johnson was a complete donk when he played for Chelsea, he looked like there only real weak link at one stage .......Though i did change my tune about him and he impressed me quite alot last season for Pompey, so basically what I'm trying to say is yes i would take him to Liverpool

Adriano could well be available in this transfer window, surely there will be a few Premiership clubs interested in signing him.

I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of cash Man City will be throwing around during the window, I do suspect though that they are likely to miss out on their top targets.

Im a Utd fan but don't really think berbs was a good buy, but I can't see Fergie making a big signing let alone another striker during Jan.

I think Glen Johnson would do alright for Liverpool

Glen Johnson is a sound buy at 9mill for anyone and the Berba knockers gtfo this guy is a genius footballer on and off the ball.
As for transfer rumours who are Huddersfield getting? With Lee Clarke as manger and Terry McDermott assistant the Newcastle link is strong.Maybe thats why Owen hasnt re-signed yet he fancies some league 1.

Spurs to spend millions and millions of pounds and still be nothing better than shit.

Arsenal to buy more "exciting and promising players" that are not good enough to win us the league.

liverpool will spend 7/8/9 million pounds on average players and still rely on Gerrerd(if he gets out of nick)

Chelsea to panic buy still finish just short in the title race and then offload them a few months later for half the price.

Man Utd to buy an overpriced and overhyped player but still win the league because they already have the quality to do so.

Man City to get any player that wants more money just so they can finish mid table.

Newcastle to buy players that have had better days elsewhere.

Everton to buy that one extra player to give them the push for the top 4 but still finish 5/6th.

Portsmouth to sell most of their players, sack Adams and finish just above relegation zone. (Redknapp knew this was coming, thats why he jumped ship)

Stoke to buy Mike Tyson and play him alongside Ricardo Fuller.

The rest of the league will just get in some random loan players nobody has heard of.




There you go no need to buy anymore newspapers or to watch sky sports.

Lol, nice work

End thread.

I did lol hard at the rumour (albeit quashed by HR) that Spuds were looking at buying Dafoe

Andy Gray analyses as an ex-player. He needs to get with the times and not live in the past. How many times can he say "this is only my opinion, I'm not a manager but..." and be so wrong. In the EPL today centre halves are lightning quick as well as being huge, plus defences are very well drilled at the offside trap and different types of marking other than "watch your man". Semi decent strikers of his day, who were good poachers, wouldn't do that half as well today. They need so many more attributes to get by in today's game.

The three listed above were all great admittedly, but they didn't scores 30 goals a season at the same as each other like it was a golden generation and they were easy to come by. They were very rare and gifted strikers.

There are more gifted strikers in the EPL now than there have ever been, they're just not all British.

Van Persie
Adebayor
Eduardo
Torres
Berbatov
Tevez
Rooney
Owen
Pavlyuchenko
Santa Cruz
Drogba
Anelka
Robinho to name a few, all of which score goals regardless of their style of lack of ability to poach.

I doubt there has ever been a list that good at any one time in the top flight here.

Add recent departees Henry, Van Nistlerooy, Forlan, Shearer and I think Andy Gray is talking complete bollocks. There is a lack of decent British strikers yes, but a lack of good goalscorers? Seriously? The game has moved on from goal poachers. Someone like Rush did a lot of work, defending from the front but someone like Cottee wouldn't cut it today IMO.

An example is Michael Owen, England's 3rd highest goalscorer now? Lost his pace and doesn't do the dirty work like a Tevez would - I doubt he'll ever be back at a top 4 club regardless of still being a very good player. (Unless it's a squad player for us at the fans demand)

Glen Johnson makes sense.

Arbeloa and Degen injured (Degen looks pants anyway) and we need to bring the English quota up and Johnson has improved massively in the last 2 seasons.

No doubt Berba has quality but not nearly consistent or hardworking enough imo- certainly not a 30m pound player.

We have only scored 28 goals in 19 games- Ronaldo kinda skewed our goals tally last year but he was never gonna score as many this year from midfield.

Sounds silly but I wouldn't mind seeing Jermaine Defoe at United

My wish list for Celtic.

Decent left back
Proper Right mid-field power house
Decent Striker

And please no more promising "youth projects"

man city will buy everyone

Seriously do liverpool want to buy average over priced players for stupid money as thats what johnson is he looks good in a mid table side like pompey but was out of his depth for chelsea and also looked completely clueless for england  

Inc Scott Parker according to the BBC, PMSL @ that this morning

Who do you recommend who could walk into the Liverpool team at right-back (and also act as cover for left-back I guess), who has Premiership experience and would be an 'addition' to the Liverpool side?  Oh yeah, he can't be CL-tied.

Does CL tied matter that much when it's a 10million pound player,as for prem experience i would rather take the risk buying someone like rafinha for instance who maybe world class than johnson who will never be good enough to play for a title winning side,imo of course.Asking for someone who can also cover for left back is a bit much since that isn't why you would be buying him.

Rafa likes players who are versatile.  He's shown that with lots of his signings.  Don't under-estimate the ability to play in a number of positions as a factor in Rafa's decision-making when signing new players.

Also the idea that every player needs to be 'world class' isn't the case.  Kuyt isn't 'world class', but he's an integral part of the Liverpool side, and there are other players like him in the side.  Not everyone can be Gerrard or Torres.  Buying a player like Rafinha in the January window is a risk - how will he adapt to the Premierleague?  He's a quality player (and one we were linked with in the summer), but is he going to give the side more than a Johnson - and I mean this season as well as going forward?  I don't know, and I'd have either of them to be honest.  Johnson is also English, which is going to be an important factor going forward.

Eboue might be available..

ARSENAL

Budget: £20-30m

January previous: A mixed bag. In 2006 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger signed Emmanuel Adebayor, Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott for a combined £14m. Two years previously he spent an initial £10.5m to bring in Jose Antonio Reyes from Sevilla.

What they need: A central midfielder and a domineering centre-half - particularly if William Gallas is sold. "They desperately need leaders," says BBC London commentator Nick Godwin. "Arsenal's lack of strength in depth was horribly exposed against Burnley in the Carling Cup, when their midfield was blown apart."

Who they might buy: Midfielders Xabi Alonso (Liverpool) and Yaya Toure (Barcelona) have again been linked with the club, as has Zenit St Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin. Former Gunners defender Matthew Upson (West Ham), Brede Hangeland (Fulham), Philippe Mexes (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus) and Steven Mouyokolo (Boulogne) could be options to bolster the centre of defence.

Who they might sell: Questions marks surround the futures of Gallas, Kolo Toure,Emmanuel Eboue and Nicklas Bendtner. A number of younger players such as Gavin Hoyte, Kieran Gibbs and Jay Simpson are set for loan spells in the Championship and Godwin believes midfielder Alex Song might go out on loan, while Philippe Senderos, on loan at AC Milan, could leave permanently.

What the fans say: "Alex from Chelsea would be a good buy if at all possible. Arshavin seems to be a possibility also. Alonso would probably be out of the question now with his form for Liverpool."

chelsea

CHELSEA

Budget: Will be determined by whether they sell. If the right player comes along money could be made available.

January previous: Chelsea tend not to be overly active in January, although they bucked that trend last season by signing Nicolas Anelka, Branislav Ivanovic and Franco di Santo for a combined £27m.

What they need: The club want to keep activity to a minimum but if manager Luiz Felipe Scolari gets his way, he is likely to sign a forward and a defender. "Chelsea need a striker because their reliance on Anelka is becoming painful," says BBC London commentator Nick Godwin. "Michael Essien has a long-term injury but I can't imagine them signing a midfield replacement as they would have done in the past."

Who they might buy: On the striker front, Tuncay (Middlesbrough) and Amr Zaki (Wigan) could be pursued, while rumours surrounding a move for Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg) persist. Wagner Love (CSKA Moscow) and Luis Fabiano (Sevilla) are also realistic options, while the Blues have reportedly agreed a £4m deal for 21-year-old SC Braga striker Orlando Sa. "Michael Owen would give Chelsea something different," adds BBC London sports editor Pete Stevens. "And they may be the only club who can afford his wage demands."

Who they might sell: Alex reportedly demanded a move away from Stamford Bridge but Scolari insists the centre-back is staying. Ivanovic has been linked with Inter Milan, Manchester City are said to be tracking Wayne Bridge, Ben Sahar could join Utrecht and Scott Sinclair is set for another loan move. BBC London commentator Phil Parry also believes Paulo Ferreira could be on his way out and goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini might well go out on loan to Tottenham.

What the fans say: "Wagner Love or Luis Fabiano, if Abramovich opens up the bank. Wouldn't mind seeing off Malouda either."

LIVERPOOL

Budget: Probably sell to buy. Owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks are struggling to find the money to build a new stadium and they may feel they have pushed the boat out far enough.

January previous: Manager Rafael Benitez prefers to do his business in the summer but he has spent in January before. He splashed out £6.3m on Real Madrid's Fernando Morientes in 2005 and brought in Javier Mascherano on loan two years later.

What they need: Two quality full-backs would be beneficial. Alvaro Arbeloa is unconvincing, while Andrea Dossena and Phillip Degan have failed to get to grips with the Premier League. A striker in the target-man mould would appear to be a priority. Liverpool might also like to add quality on the right side.

Who they might buy: Wigan's Emile Heskey has been strongly linked to the club but he was hardly Anfield's most popular figure in his first spell at the club and this may be regarded as a retrograde step. Portsmouth's Glen Johnson might be an outside bet for the right-back slot. BBC Radio Merseyside's Mike Hughes says: "Spurs' Aaron Lennon could prove to be an astute buy, given his pace. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp could be willing to do business, with Jermaine Pennant and Yossi Benayoun as potential swap candidates, plus a cash adjustment. Maybe even more exciting for the Reds would be Standard Liege's Axel Witsel. He's quick, powerful, can score goals and can play in a variety of roles."

Who they might sell: Liverpool would love to cash in on Jermaine Pennant - a poor purchase by Benitez and who has never fulfilled his potential. Yossi Benayoun might also be in the market if Benitez can strike the right deal, either cash or exchange. There are a variety of peripheral figures in the squad but there is hardly a queue of potential purchasers.

What the fans say: "I'd like to see Michael Owen and Ashley Young join the Reds. Owen's a goal poacher, which we badly need, and Young is a player with pace who actually knows how to use it, and can score goals."

SPURS

Budget: £15-20m

January previous: Despite consistently maintaining January is not the best time to pick up bargains, chairman Daniel Levy has always put his hand in his pocket post-Christmas. Pascal Chimbonda and Mido have all arrived in Januarys past, while last year Gilberto, Chris Gunter, Alan Hutton and Jonathan Woodgate were signed at a cost of about £20m.

What they need: Striker, central defender, full-back, left winger, keeper.

Who they might buy: Take your pick… Portsmouth quartet Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson, Niko Kranjcar and Sylvain Distin may fancy a reunion with Harry Redknapp, while Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Emile Heskey (Wigan), Brede Hangeland, Jimmy Bullard (both Fulham), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Carlo Cudicini (Chelsea) and Fernando Cavenaghi (Bordeaux) join a list as long as your arm.

Who they might sell: Former Tottenham boss Juande Ramos, now at Real Madrid, is said to be keen on Didier Zokora, Aaron Lennon and David Bentley - although only the former, if any of those three, is likely to go. Otherwise, fringe players Ricardo Rocha, Adel Taarabt and Kevin Prince-Boateng could all seek transfers.

What the fans say: "Harry always springs surprises, transfers are his stock in trade."

MORE HERE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7785570.stm


p.s I'd like to keep our best players, notably Tunchev. Sign Mark Davies permanently. Then go for it in the summer if we go up. Just in case you're interested. Which you are not.

alex from chelsea! arsenal can have him he is double shit!!!!!

i dont think chelsea will do to much business to be honest. without injuries there arent to many gaps in the squad.
essien and carvalho back in january so like 2 new signings anyway.

would like to see them buy michael owen from newcastle and pair him up front with drogba in a 442 and maybe buy matt taylor from bolton to play left side midfield in this system.

Which Liverpool fans said that?  Young would be a great signing (not going to happen), but Owen?  Far too expensive for someone who spends more time on the physio's table than on the pitch.  Rafa doesn't play with a 'goal poacher' either, so not sure where he'd fit in the set up.  Rafa would prefer Heskey to Owen - much more suited to Rafa's style.

Any left back would do, that position has been a joke for us for years!

A midfielder who can actually pass the ball would be nice, Crosas looks promising but needs time to settle.

I think our transfer activity will be minimal as I'm convinced the board want to stay just ahead of Rangers and no more. If McGeady is sold, which is likely, they will be forced to spend.

What do the Celtic fans think of the spoilt little brat that is McGeady? On his side or Strachan's?

can Scottish fans tell me how good Stephen Fletcher (Hibs) and Christope Berra (spelling?) (Hearts) are please?

Premiership players, in your opinion?

Its split.

Most accept McGeady had to be punished but that suspending him for the game at Ibrox was cutting off your nose to spite your face. Strachan gambled and won, if he had lost then who knows what would happen.

I think they are both decent players in the SPHell and have potential, particularly Fletcher. Both would be starters at the likes of Stoke & WBA at the moment. Fletcher is often linked with Celtic ( and bizarrely Real Madrid!!!), I would take him.

Strachan is a spoilt little Twat!

Get him to Fekk!

McGeady best player in Scotland by far!

Mcgeady falls out with Manager, spits dummy out and is slaughtered for it
Boyd falls out with Burley, spits dummy out and walks out on his country, all is forgiven within a week!

When will people wake up!

If Mcgeady is bullied into leaving celtic by strachan, ill never forgive that ginger tosser!

How is Strachan a spoilt little twat?

McGeady is a good player but no player is above the team. If he fights with the manager and makes a scene in front of the team he has to get punished, Strachan did the right thing imo.

FWIW I despise Boyd for walking out on Scotland and can assure you i will be booing him off the park when they come up to Pittodrie in January.


Agreed about Fletcher but Berra looked very average against Aberdeen last weekend, not sure he could cut in the Prem. Russell Anderson was miles better than him and he never got a chance at Sunderland.

If Newcastle sign Paddy Kenny for 5m I'm going to through myself off level 7.  I dont think anyone would hold anyhting against Given if he looked for a move to Arsenal (even though I dont think even if a bid being accepted would make a move a forgone conclusion), but we need at least 4 other areas covering before a replacement keeper. We have two outstanding youngsters and I'd be happy for Harper to have 18 months with the shirt before that too.

The three names seeming to be flying about for Newcastle are three Championship players... must be stocking for next season at that rate.

IMO both need to leave their current clubs as soon as possible to develop and show what they can do at the next level. Both look to have the potential to be very good players and both are likely to be able to reach a standard where they could feature regularly with a premiership club, not yet though. I don't think either will ever play for one of the top clubs though despite the constant speculation over interest in Fletcher from Real Madrid.

big striker will sign for big club in england in january 2009 for lots of money.

Source: Nostradamus.

A bit too specific for a Nostradamus prediction though probably more accurate.

Great interview with Harry here, he sums up the January window quite well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/7805665.stm

15.30  Hull City manager Phil Brown has announced he would be 'very interested' in signing Liverpool's out-of-favour winger Jermaine Pennant.

Good career move for JP

Rafa's effectively sidelined him from the rest of the squad since he missed a training session.  A very talented footballer, but as dense as a neutron star.

Lots of Liverpool fans don't rate him, but I think he's a very good player.  Hull could do a lot worse.

wernt Real interested?

Is a good career move, finally found his level

How he's spent his career so far at Champions league level is truly beyond me

JP couldn't do a lot worse!  I rate him too, surely someone better than Hull.  Not that me rating him is the be all and end all of course.

Rumoured to be linked with Celtic too, if McGeady is bullied out.

Id rather keep McGeady obviously, but JP will do in the mean time.

+1

Rafa's now said that we won't be making any signings in the January window. 

"It will be difficult to bring anyone in January because we have a good squad.

"To bring in anyone better than what we've got isn't easy and could be expensive."

Watch us sign a big player now...

Wayne Bridge to Man City  £12m !?!?!?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7807951.stm

Ludicrous price!!!


Meanwhile, I note Given has cold feet at Newcastle. Would be a quality signing for Spurs for example.

I always used to think Given was too small to ever reach 'world class', something about a keeper with Cech's physique that i'd take any day someone of Given's size for example...

Casillas is of a similar size and he is imo the best around

I can't say I see enough of him to give a definate answer, always concedes lots of goals though, albeit playing behind a poor defence.

I don't think he's better than Cech. 

Are you serious, Cas is the best in the world by a long long distance!

Cech couldn't lace his boots!, or velcro his gloves in this case!

That old cliche size dosent matter is true in this case , Given has been and still is world class for many  a year now surely everyone knows that?

I think he deserves a big move , he has put in 11 fruitless years of service to the club , it's high time he tried to earn some silverware and the Arse would be the place to go for him and good luck to him if he does move

The toon army would not hold a grudge if he left surely ?


Edit  I also would have Cech over Casillas just for the record and Obv i'd have Reina before the whole lot !

I disagree.  Casillas is excellent - and maybe the best shot-stopper, but I think Cech is a better all-round keeper.

These are my top 5 keeper in the world today:

1/ Casillas
2/ Victor Valdes
3/ Reina
4/ Artur Boruc
5/ Cech

In that order.

either way, Casillas or Cech, Given is a class keeper. Played 500 or so games over 11 years for Newcastle, shown immense loyalty in a number of poor teams. Deserves a good move IMO

Ooof Victor valdes , nah i aint having that he dosent exactly inspire confidence in me at all

He had his chance and blew it, he left Celtic!

None of them are bad.   I'll give you that.  You missed Gomez off the list for some reason though... :dontask:

he must insipre someone in it tho, he does play for the best team in the world!

Casillas is the best imo.

IIRC Lou Macari got rid of him because he couldn't kick a ball far enough for Macari's liking   ;dingdell;

It may have been touched on already on this thread but Wayne Bridge tilts me very much 

He sits on his ass for Chelsea quite happy to pick up his hefty pay packet not actually caring about playing football

Then Citeh come in and he's away and believe me if it wasnt moneybags citeh he would have no interest whatsoever

Greedy ****

[X] Edwin van de Saar is the keeper for the Officially recognised Best Team in the World

[X] This is true.

Painfully so.

what ever happend to Tim Flowers? did he die?

until recently assistant manager at QPR

he does some co-commentator stuff for BBC Radio Leicester now


was a top class keeper, unlucky to be same generation as Seaman

glad to hear he's still doing well and doing stuff in the game, was quality.

I remember him just dissapearing in the 90's and other keepers who i think were around the same age as him, Martyn, Seaman etc doing so well?

As a keeper who played at a semi ok level for a number of years, I'd have to agree with this. Very consistent.

Only one other keeper who I've personally seen thats better ( and who I modelled my style of keeping on) was Schmeichel.


Anyway, signings..

City signing Wayne Bridge.. well, he'll be better than the other 2 we have there I suppose...

Agree completely. Casillas is immense in a much worse defence and has been doing it since he was 18 every season without fail. Two years ago he won them the league. Cech was pretty bad by his own standards last season in parts and hasn't done it long enough at the top level. I don't rate Valdes in their league.

Casillas and Buffon FTW.

Cech, Reina, Given etc are the best of the next level.

What amazes me is that his value has gone up 5 million in the time he's spent at Chelsea. I mean WTF!

Shay Given has always been thought of as small but he is 6f1 so at least average if not bigger.

He makes more world class saves than any other keeper in the PL, though has more opportunities to do so. He's never had an issue with crosses either. His biggest weakness is distribution but he has worked on that over the past 5years to stop that being an issue.

In terms of plain handling errors Renia made more last weekend than given has made all season. I usual get to SJP about 35 mins before kick off mainly to watch given warm up. Some of the saves he makes in that are unbelievable.

It's pretty subjective to start ranking keepers, but I'd put him in the top bracket and don't think he would look out of place in any team in the world. Let's hope he breaks our appearence record.

Shay Given is awesome I have no doubt about it. With all due respect to you lads, if he'd left a few years back for someone like Man U or Arsenal when they were both having 'keeper issues I have no doubt he'd be classed in the world's top 5 by the masses. I really rate the guy and have lost count of the times he's been MOTM for you guys over the years.

The Buffon omission is absolutely criminal.

Ive seen like 3 of Juve's european games this season and hes been immense in all of them.

I'd say that's about right now.

Boruc is tez - he's put on about 3 stone this season - definately not top 5.

I agree 100%, and I'm a Celtic fan. He's a good keeper but not irreplaceable. Although if any Sheiks from Man City are reading this, he's actually world class and well worth £20m.

Reina & Boruc wouldn't be near my top 5. Given and Buffon would.

Ok, ill allow this on your reasoning, TBH the reason i didn't include him, is that i HATE Italian football, and never watch it.

this, he used to be half decent..but is not just a fat bigotted lazy and average goalie.

Asa is a class keeper.

Easily the best keeper ever to grace the blonde bash footy.  Kept the score in the final down to single figures.

Citeh could have done with you today...

ty and sigh...

Apparently Juventus are preparing a £20 million bid for Jermaine Defoe

SSN saying Steven Ireland a target for the ARSE, Would shitty sell him to a rival on his current form?

Both him and Alonso.  Can't see either selling their in-form players.  I must admit, I don't follow Citeh that closely, but Ireland has been a revelation for me this season.  Has he always been that good for Citeh? 

As a Liverpool fan, I'm hoping that Alonso's injury is just a cut and not anything worse.  We need him.

Portsmouth manager Tony Adams wants to sign Joey Barton. The Newcastle midfielder spent time at Adams' Sporting Chance clinic last year.


LOL .. just fucking LOL !

Barton - JK has made some strange comments about generating 16m from three players, but it's none of the 'big players'. Puts Barton right up there as one if the few that could include. I'd guess nzogbia.

The size of our squad I just can't see how we can trade at anything less than a +3 in number. If 3 are going that would make 6 new entrants, which is a disaster waiting to happen for the run in.

not that

What a lot of pish. Boruc has been with Celtic for 3 and a half seasons, he was excellent in the first three but has struggled for form this season like many players after they play in World Cups or Euros in the summer. He could definitely do with losing a few pounds though.

Why is he bigotted?

No, he had flashes of brilliance, but being typical at City, very inconsistent... this season he had been a revelation!!

Toon linked with Ferguson & Boughera from Rangers up here this weekend.

Ferguson is good but has struggled with injuries in the last couple of seasons, I would be surprised if he passed a medical tbh. Also failed to settle at Blackburn so that one looks a non starter. Have only seen Boughera a couple of times, was getting rave reviews until he had a nightmare at Hearts a few weeks ago, looks ordinary.

I've always like N'Zogbia, why is he on the road out?

The prospect of signing a rangers CB might keep me awake tonight! Mind you, he can't be worse than Stephen Taylor.

Nzogbia is one of my favourite players, he hasn't really come on in the last 18 months as I thought he could, but we've ruined better players than him before! His family live in London (strangely) and think he wants a move there. If he ends up at a north west club questions should be asked!

I've always thought Steven Taylor was a weird one-everytime I've seen him he seems awful... but England U21 Captain and tipped for full honours aswell as getting a game consistently makes me wonder..wtf do all the managers that go to toon see in him???

Obviously understand your nightmares of getting another of ours Centre halfs(give us £8 million and u can have him :) ) but he does seem better than Taylor. He's actually doing ok up here but obviously its hard to tell with the difference in standard. Boumsong was Shocking at yous but has since went on to get back into the French National team since joining Lyon and he was good up here, Cuellar is another- think he is doing ok at Villa but he's not the revelation he was up here.

I actually hope he doesnt leave us as he's only 24 and has promise though can sometimes forget he's not Pele and goes on some mazy runs out of defense which can be scary. As for Fergie-think he's a top quality player but sadly he's yet to show his talent since returning from injury so dunno he might be done but you probably talking £5 or £6 million Rangers would demand since he's Captain and your money would probably be better spent elsewhere... I also dont know if he'd want to go as yous tried to sign him when he left Blackburn but he was adamant he wanted back at Rangers so cant see him leaving again.

Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing hands in a written transfer request less than a year after signing a new five-year contract at the Riverside Stadium.

I want to know who wrote it for him.

Harsh! He's actually a top bloke as well as a decent footballer.

Do you post shit like this to try and wind me up and put me on severe life tilt?

Boruc may not be in the best of condition this season but given the fact he never had a proper pre season, has split up with his wife and had knee surgery I think he has done ok for us.  Have you actually watched him this season Boldie?

As for the bigoted comment catch yourself on, don't get embroiled in things you don' understand mate. 

Interested in the answer to this question?

I could take a stab mate but I'd be well off the mark.  You see its the paranoia.  Next they'll be telling him to go home as well.  Fking poles.

Pompey accept Tottenham's bid for Defoe.

Good signing but they were stupid to sell him in the first place.

So spurs have paid Pompey 7.5m to keep Defoe warm for a year? Mental.

Adams will be out of a job by march then. Unless they are already so far gone that it's by worth the change.

Agree with Adams, reading the reports about their home game vs Bristol at the weekend where he played one upfront and Nugent on the wing? wtf...

A lot of rumours that Rangers are likely to accept Birmingham's offer for Kris Boyd. Congrats to Celtic on there fourth consecutive title if this one goes through. I really think it would be madness to sell Boyd even if he can seem a bit lazy at times, Sunday was typical of Boyd, done feck all for 80 minutes then scores two goals.

If Birmingham get their man he could well get the goals to get them the automatic promotion place they are after.

Clough to manage Derby.  Nice bit of symmetry to it.

i'm not a fan of Boyd but cant understand how we can knock back £2million for Mcculloch from Stoke earlier in the season but then sell Boyd for about £3.5million. Although I'm not a great fan of Boyd his Goalscoring record is phenomenal.

Steady on with jumping the gun about the league though- I've heard we're getting Healy on Loan as a replacement- same player no??? I personally would rather have Healy as he does more work(more in the wallace/dodds mould than Boyd) and I think he would score a Barrowload

I just hate the fact Murray is asset stripping our team-How can we build any consistency by chopping and changing the team all the time- I think he's done a great job since being at rangers but the past 5 years have been a nightmare and wish he would just GTFO now.

After the Cueller sale in the summer, appeased by the signing of Mendes and the Hutton sale last January appeased by the Uefa Cup final run, I cant see any way back from selling Boyd.  Him and Mendes have been far and away our best players this year, as well as the 20 goals he has scored it would totally change the dynamic of our team to sell him.

Would you not swap Boyd for Healy?? I would in a minute...have you watched Rangers this season Boba? I dont think Rangers and Dynamic can be used in the same sentence

Birmingham have signed Scott Sinclair on loan so Rangers may be ok.

IMO Boyd > Healy

Can't believe Rangers would sell him for under 5mil given the goals he gets, i don't care if he's asleep by the corner flag for 85mins the lad is a goal machine for them.

I've heard that the Daily Record have had a video of Boyd doing coke for a while and there's a bit of negotiation been going on to try and prevent it going public??? Is this true?

Also heard the rumour but its just typical Glasgow rumour mill: Alan Hutton is Gay, as is Pierre Van Hooijedonk and Ronald De Boer. Alex Mcleish got caught doing coke while at Rangers, Barry Ferguson was once a cokehead. Derek Riorden Didnt get on with Strachan as he was fvcking his daughter. Invariably someone knows someone on the "inside" who knows its FACT.

Yeah, I have a season ticket so I go to all the home games and watch all the away games on tv.  Right now, Miller and Mendes is creating a ton of chances for Boyd, when Boyd was out and Darcheville was up front our attack looked terrible.  Our attack functions quite well right now with Miller creating and Boyd scoring, Im pretty sure it would not work with a Miller/Velicka or Miller Novo combo up front and therefore the team woul have to be changed more than just swapping Boyd for another striker to compensate for his loss.

I havent seen much of Healy but he has never done it at club level and is out of the picutre at Fulham so not even matc fit, he may very well succeed at Rangers but Id take the proven goalscorer in Boyd anyday before taking the chance on Healy

Boyd scores against top 6 teams regualry [ ]

Was about to agree with Bandit there so thought I'd check 1st- his goalscoring record is actually against a  broad spectrum of the teams-does have a propensity to score more goals against the teams at the lower end but show me a league where that doesnt happen with goalscorers. And 2 of the teams he hasnt scored against are in the bottom half.

Celtic- 0 (played 1)
Dundee Utd-1
Hearts- 1 PEN
Aberdeen-1
Hibs- 1
Kilmarnock- 2 + 1 PEN
St Mirren- 1
Motherwell- 0
Hamilton- 4 + 1 PEN
Falkirk- 0
Inverness- 4 +1 PEN

I agree Miller playing with either of those 2 sounds rank- but thats why I'd obviously hope for a replacement. Miller has actually been very poor since the Hamilton game- his touch is back to its old ways.

David Healy did cross my mind as a possible replacement should Boyd leave the club but I think his antics pre-season against Celtic followed by his famine is over interview will have scuppered his chances of playing for Rangers. I actually think he would be a decent replacement who'd do very well playing for Rangers and he does have a good work rate but I don't think Rangers would do anything to fuel any controversy.

Agree with the point about why knock back £2m for McCulloch and take £3.25m for Boyd, that's what we paid for Kyle Lafferty FFS. If Boyd does go Murray is going to have to come up with something good to appease the fans.

I hoped Rangers wouldn't be forced to sell in this window but it's looking like another asset stripping, bizarre timing too when Boyd is back in the team holding down his place and scoring goals. Not relevant to the thread (sorry Dewi) but I hope to see more of John Fleck in the first team in the second half of the season, this boy is a real talent and should be getting more first team exposure.

I'm not just talking about this season mate I am looking at his record over the past ew years, he is lazy and doesn't score enough goals against the decent teams.  £3.5 million is money Gers can't knock back IMO. 

As a Celtic fan I feared Cousin/Wallace/Pro more.

No chance under Walter Smith-its what I hated about Smith when he was here the 1st time and what I hate about him now-he's unwilling to give youth a chance-always spouting they need experience(yet he's unwilling to give it to them)-same reason why i'm annoyed we signed a genuine talent like Niguez in the summer yet wont play him. Barry Ferguson would never had turned into the player he did if Smith had not went.

Anyway going to shut up about Rangers now and let people talk about other transfers!!!!

Yes a guy who comes into our pub & goes to Rangers every week has these "contacts" on high within Ibrox and he comes out with regular shite like this. His latest was that Rangers are going to sign Arshavin in January. That was his best yet.  rotflmfao

boyd apparently failed 2 INTERNAL drug tests

Yeah but thats old news mate the first one go's back to when he first signed.  So I was told anyway

Tottenham up to 14.5m for downing! Surely boro would take any improvement on that! Spurs should really have a look at the fact michael Dawson is still getting in their team before they spend all their money! Imo they look like spending over 30m on two players who are good, but no more. Whoever is funding the spree obviously isn't bothered about a return.

They've not had to "spend" much on Defoe. Money is still owed for Mendes and Kaboul and although some reports say that a £4mil sell on clause was waived by Spurs my Spurs mate told me they actually halved it and knocked it off the fee so £15mil became £13mil straight away.
Might just be a Spurs fan trying to make it sound better than buying a player for £6mil more than you sold him for a fter a year but if Pompey are in a bit of financial trouble it could be true.

Dowing is really overated in my opinion and i think Riera was less than £10mil so they'd be overpaying but i've seen Appiah play for Fenerbache and he looks a decent signing on a free.

Might be time for Spurs to cash in on some of their players. If they can get £8mil for Lennon who they signed for peanuts and replace him with Pennant for £3.5 will it make much difference? Pennant's delivery is better but won't look to run at goal as much.

Kris Boyd away and Barry Ferguson looking likely to follow, WTF is going on at Ibrox? What an absolute disgrace.
I thought we'd hit rock bottom when Kaunus knocked us out of Europe before we'd played a single league game, now I'm not so sure.
Who's going to be next out the door, Mendes, McGregor, Bougherra, Davis?

I know who I'd like to be next out the door but I really can't see anyone buying the club.

Man u were nearly on the lookout for a new star player.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7817764.stm

lol?

We don't need to sell anyone. Why sell Lennon and bring in Pennant when we already have Bentley as well?

[ ] Bentley has shone since his move from Blackburn
[X] Lennon is "in form"
[ ] Lennon "in form" is top class and will provide great service for Pavlyuchenko
[X] Getting 8million for a player you signed for peanuts would make up some of the money you've been throwing down the drain

Rangers, are in a fair bit of debt, and need to pay off a pending 3.2M debt, which is about to go overdue.....hense the reason they are trying to offload Boyd (The reason they knocked back the initial 3m offer was cos Killie have a 2-% sign on clause)

Don't you think all these managers who leave rangers then try to buy rangers players at over the odds prices to bail Rangers out should be looked into?.... I do

yes dave your right its a scandal-what are we going to do about it??? och you get back in yer tic cave!!!

your forgetting mcleish actually signed him for Rangers too-he obviously rates him!!!

Although I'm not his biggest fan I think Birmingham were getting him cheaply at £3.5million- his record is 2nd to none- 70 goals in 96 appearances!!!

Please Dave slither back in!!!

Lol seething!

I'd prefer yous kept the coke head he does well against us [ ]

Post of the week!!

Haha, slither back in Dave sssssssssssss   lol

Did a say something wrong? Can't you have a debate? im only pointing out the help Rangers seem to get from old comrades when the bailiff's come knocking

Heyyyyy Here they all come now, you talk of a Tic cave, where's the Teddy Bear cave you's all been hiding in?

does Fergus hold the key? lol

comon Dave stop the seething lol ssssssssss

Sorry Epic fail with that one comedy dave-teddy bear cave!!!!

lol at seething Bandit-seriously what have I got to be seething about regarding what Dave says?? dunno if you know this but we bask in your lots paranoia so its more comedy for us hearing shit like that!!!

lol you's are the one's seething at me speaking the truth, is the imminent 4-in-a-row really bothering you that much? just think with Boydy going, fergie ending his days soon, and no money to spend how are you gonna stop us getting to 10 in-a-row?

Uh oh!

ok Dave your right-but what can we do about it?? In fact I know...I think if we search the interweb we can get the Irish consulates number to advise them to invesitigate this aswell as your other findings!!!

Dave its not a Teddy Bears Cave its Pic-Nic all the special ones go on. 

Whats that coming over the hill is it a monster . .  .   

You could call Advocate, im sure there is plenty of Russian $$ kicking about, perhaps you could get £20M for Davis?

FFS Gaz, im eating here!!!

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Cheers Bandit for the W@nking material...I'm away!

Precisley, no come back lol

Come on Paul, lets chat here?

sorry dave its just hard to take you seriously with the drivel you talk- seriously I can actually smell jobby just by reading your posts.....

Did you shit yourself?

Football please fellas.

From Scotsmen Dan??

LOL

Geo

spurs to sign przyrowski. can't wait to hear kev trying to pronounce that one

Easy ... if he plays shit its "Donkey"

if he is quality then its "Seb"

this might of actually happened.........


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uvx7hKghts0&feature=related

quality...and as you say very near the truth!!!

lol....Got Bain spot on!

FYP

lol quality

Kakas Club after 3rd Feb09 - Win Special

Man City 1.17    AC Milan 4.50

Thats a Morgage lump on AC for me!

Thats what i was thinking. AC have accepted the offer, it all down to kaka now

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7830199.stm

It's hilarious they're spending £100m on an attacking player when they can't defend to save their lives. No matter how many goals Kaka and Robinho score Dunne et al will just concede one more.

can i ask which site has this market, and these odds?

kaka to stay at milan 11/10
man city 4/6

skybet


Srsly tho wtf is going on! The best player in the world potentially joining man city. Tis crazzzzzzzy.

i knew it miss the boat on this one, 11/10 from 7/2 earlier, just cos Milan have allowed him to talk!

ill just leave it now

PS he's potentially the 2nd best player in the work, behind Messi, WAY behind!

Rafa wants more control over the signing of new players and the academy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7827052.stm

Pennant to Pompey eh, not exactly Real Madrid...

Ferguson wouldn't sell Ronaldo to Real, he's certainly not going to sell him to City

£100m on one player seems absolutely crazy to me but if you had to spend a crazy Man City £100m on one player, surely your first choice would be Lionel Messi.

Man City are putting me on tilt.

De Jong available for £1.8mil at the end of the season, they have bid £13mil to sign him now????

imo Kaka not the best player in the world - I'm not 100% sure he's in the top 3 either.

150M!

Really? He's clearly top 3 for me..and I'd rather have him in my team than Messi. Messi is brilliant at times but you dopn't see himfor 75 minutes..Kaka works his socks off in a game...don't worry though, I'm sure they'll buy Messi next season.

De Jong is a superb buy IMO...though 13mill now when a lot cheaper in the break is a bit weird.

I'm getting heartily sick of hearing that 100 million is "silly money" for Kaka.

Perry Groves just said it's an "obscene amount of money".

Well, of course it is. But so is £30 mill for Berbatov, £18 mill for Defoe, £3 mill for James Beattie and 600k for Wayne Routledge.

If they want to spend the money, it's their money, let them get on with it. Football lost touch with the grass roots many many years ago and now it's just like Monopoly.

10 million or 100 million, the only differnce is a nought. It's all stupid, not just the Kaka money.

lol@kaka not being in the top 3. Best 2 are kaka and messi, but imo kaka is numero uno.

Nah Messi Shades it for me, then Kaka, Then Ronaldo

Think a lot of people dont consider him as much as he's not getting as much exposure just now-with Milan out of CL and not the same team they were!

Messi is the better player IMO but Kaka is by far the more consistent of the two. 

Ronaldo doesn't make my top 5.

Brilliant!!!!   You're top 5 please sir?

Is McGeady in there?

Everytime.

Then no need for the other 4 as you are clearly deluded

Ronaldo the ladyboy ain't much good.  Big let down with portugal in all big comps.

You obviously know more than the footballing world..

1)Messi
2)Kaka
3)Torres
4)Inniesta
5)Gerrard

Clearly.  Must be tough been a glory hunter and being told your star asset ain't much good.

not a bad list...not sure about Iniesta being that high up and Ronaldo not being in there but I've seen worse lists.

I've been told...

wp gg

top ten ratings on the oracle soccer maanger

1.   
   C RONALDO
2.   
   R KAKA
3.   
   L MESSI
4.   
   S GERRARD
5.   
   W ROONEY
6.   
   J FERNANDO TORRES
7.   
   Z IBRAHIMOVIC
8.   
   S ETO'O
9.   
   I CASILLAS
10.   
   H XAVI

Gee thanks Boldie.  I fel beter now knowing you sort of approve of my list.  I'd have been devastated had you slated it.

lol at rooney better than torres

I know mate, that's why I thought I'd support you.

Appreciated.

Absolutely spot on.

For everything else there is Mastercard.

I think I'd struggle to not include Ronaldo as one of the top players in the world. It's splitting hairs between him Kaka and Messi. Week in week out he probably is the very best although his influence dips in big games sometimes which is why I'd rather have Kaka who never fails to show up unlike the other two.

Mostly this.  I don't think Ronaldo shows up in a lot of the really "BIG" games and its for that reason I don't have him in my top 5.

Kaka on the other hand doesn't matter who the opposition is he's always dependable.  It would be a shame to see such a good player go to a such a shit team. 

Totally agree with this bandit

At last ;)

I'd love to see Kaka in the EPL but at one of the top 4.  Could you imagine him in the Arsenal team alongside Cesc? Or alongside Gerrard at Liverpool?  Would be mouthwatering.  The fact that City are willing to pay so much it just goes to show that this Sheikh dude with all the money has no clue about football.

Things like this that actually make me dislike the modern game.  Football was the working class mans game now its all about money and getting families and woman going to the game.  Urrrrrrrghh!

Thank you Kaka!

?

AC Milan playmaker Kaka has turned down a lucrative move to Manchester City.

"Kaka is staying at Milan," said a club spokesman, after the team's owner Silvio Berlusconi told Italian television the 26-year-old was staying.

City issued a statement saying they had ended talks, believing it was unlikely a deal could be struck with Milan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7838966.stm

Cudicini to Spurs.

He's going to be a bit busier than he has been over the past 5 years. 

Good move for Spurs though.

Can't believe this slipped under the radar........

Steven Pressley signed for Falkirk last week, The legendary former Hearts / Celtic player signed from Danish Club Randers

Bullard to Hull for 5 million.
Reported on talk sport and sky sports.

This cannot be true, why would you?

Can players ever win? If they move to Chelsea or Man City they are cashleys, they go to lesser clubs they lack ambition. Usless of course you are just refering to the fact two channel four presenters decided to label Hull at the worst place in the UK? In pure football terms he'd be lining up with having a good chance of PL survival, as well as getting to be the absolute heartbeat of what is well up there in the league for being a 'proper' club. Of course you may just be refering to the fact that a bigger club must surely be in for him, and in that case I'd agree!!!

Bullard is a quality player.  Citeh would be better off chasing his signature rather than some of the players they've been after imo.

Did assume a bigger club would come in.
Just assumed it would take something special to pull somebody away from Hodgeson - he seems to have the team ticking - maybe I like everybody else underestimates Brown and Hull.

"Palacios is suspended - he likes tackling you see - so I don't know if he'll be any good in our team!"
Redknapp on new signing Wilson Palacios.

LOL. I still think he should sign Sandra.  :D

Why are we going after french mugs who'll hate it up here and be shit when we could get bullard for the same price don't make no fukn sense man

giles barnes gone on loan to fulham commons maybe joining newcastle or coventry

SUPER RAMS f--ed by the board again

Kevin Nolan isn't French

Benitez on Robbie Keane:

"I think he is a long-term part of our plans, I hope he scores lots of goals."

Anyone know if he was reading this off a sheet of paper?

He wasn't one of our main targets and we only wen't in for him yesterday i believe as the french mug i reffered to was too expenive.Thank fk

No, but if he said it in Spanish I'm sure you'd understand perfectly.

So you're saying that this quote is down to him not being very good at English?

I personally think United and Chelsea have paid him off to derail your chances

DIOUF DIOUF DIOUF DIOUF DIOUF

You haven't been watching us all season have you?  We haven't been playing any differently to how we've been playing recently.  We just managed to nick the goals earlier in the season like your lot are doing now.  Some of Rafa's decisions are baffling, but I wouldn't try and analyse his comments to the media too closely as a guide to his state of mind or philosophy on the game.

Best story of the transfer window so far - Arsenal's groundsman has gone to work for Real Madrid.

Can someone please, please take Mark Hughes off our hands??

Swap for him ?

LOL.. at this moment in time I don't think I'd mind

Deal

I cant believe Rafa will let keane go without a replacement surely, is harry just trying to re-sign everyone theyve sold?!

LOL at mike Ashley emailing that sky sports knob head. Im waiting with baited breath as to what he is doing that could arrive on the yellow ticker... Not.

fmel. New formation is four at the back and six in central midfield obviously.

I will be so upset if we bought Keane back. Getting £18million for the useless ***** was the best it of business we've ever done.

Looks as though we have missed out on Arshavin. It really pisses me off TBH just pay the money and get him, he is the sort of player we need. Skybet have him @ 5/4 to still be a Zenit player tomorrow, I think that is a cracking bet

something must have happened in the last 15mins...he is now out to 3/1 to be a Zenit player tomorrow and 1/4 to be an arsenal player

Maybe the snow is playing in your favour. 

Who we signing Kin, he's not just gonna let him leave with no-one else coming is he?

Local news here is that Arse have signed Niko Kranjcar, but he stays at pompey on loan til end of season


would be a good buy imo.

Pompey going right down the sh*tter...

This you kev?!

1520: "Kev the kitman has told me that Niko Kranjcar has signed for Arsenal and is on loan to Pompey until the end of the season."
Steve in Waterlooville, via text on 81111

Believable - just. He'd be a lovely signing for Arsenal, too.

LOL where was that posted ?

Just on the BBC transfer updates page

Just seen it on BBC, he is from Waterlooville ... just down the road, he must have heard the same local radio sports bulletin as well.

But Dan I took your advice and lumped on at 5/4  :tikay:

Keane back to Spurs ... Welcome home Sir ... We missed you !!


Nem didnt, but I think Nem is a secret gooner !

Sorry Ralph, I had a bet too if it makes you feel any better.

This is one of the weirdiest transfers I have know Arsenal involved in, normally we keep things very under wraps right until the last minute. Lets just hope we land him in time.

On a seperate issue, what do Spurs fans think of resigning all of thier old players. Im not just saying this as an Arsenal fan and other people talk about it but it is almost as though Spurs have become a bit of a laughing stock in this transfer window.

Betting suspended...

Gutted.

The most overrated player on earth. Berbatov made Liverpool pay us £18million for him. If it wasn't for Berbatov, we would have sold him for half what we got.

I bet Defoe is as gutted as me. He left spurs because of Keane and went back because Keane joined "his boyhood club". The fat Spanish waiter realised that it was a bad idea buying Keane going on two performances against Lolpool last season and wanted rid asap.

Bear in mind Arshavin has one of the mouthiest agents going - he never missed a trick to keep the potential Arsenal transfer in the news.

we are a fcking joke club.

does redknapp know how to manage a club with champions league aspirations?

no, but it doesn't matter as he is currently at spurs ;)

I would rather have Keane, Defoe and Chimbonda back than sign Craig Bellamy !!!

o rly?

At least we haven't had 5 FCKING MANAGERS TRY AND FAIL IN PLAYING Defoe and Bellamy together!!11

man im on tilt no poker for me today

SACK THE FCKING BOARD

fyp

yes he does

Seriously Nem, I honestly think that getting Keane back is a great move ... AND Bent scoring 2 at the weekend might mean we get a price for him ... fk knows what we will get for Pav though !

will give u a packet of Maltesers for him

He did a good job at Southampton...

You lot might be able to test yourselves against us in the UEFA cup next season.

Wenger wont be your manager though.

are championship clubs allowed in uefa cup? that rule seems to keep changing. any news on your points deduction for fielding palacios?

I was only kidding Dan, I only had one of Kev's pretend "bets" for effect ;)

IMO robbie keane is a quality striker and spurs have made a great decision in buying him back his stats at tottenham are pretty decent
Tottenham Hotspur
                  league    fa cup        league cup  Europe          total
              App  Goals App  Goals  App  Goals  App  Goals   App  Goals     
 2002–03 29     13    1       0       2      0                        32    13
2003–04  34     14    3       1       4      1                        41    16
2004–05  35     11    6       3       4      3                        45    17
2005–06  36     16    1       0       1      0                        38    16
2006–07  27     11    5       5       3      1       9      5        44    22
2007–08  36     15    3       2       5      2      10     4        54    23
 Total     197     80   19     11     19     7      19     9        254  107

Looks as though you wouldve scoooooooped, seems we have missed out

Willo Flood (who the feck is he anyway??)to celtic jees have you seen how small he is? even G.S is taller than him

I cannot believe that this is going to fall through, we've agreed a fee with Zenit, we've agreed personal terms with Hooty, but Zenit want half of his signing-on fee as he did not complete the full term of his contract there.

Oi those Russians.....

ex Man City.. says it all really...

Yeah but whats his signing on fee like £2m and they want half why dont we pay the £1m and just get him signed ffs

On the last day of the last window, Daniel Levy was going to pay Zenith £24million but we hit a wall when Zenith wanted all funds up front.

They certainly seem a shit club to deal with....news on skysports now is that he seems he has signed. This transfer has been doing my head in all Jan, I thought today, oh well at least we will know one way or the other......2 hours after the deadline and still its no clearer

I've heard the fee for Keane is the funds outstanding which basically makes him an expensive loan signing equating to about £2-3 million over 6 months.

I think we shoudn't be letting him go. Against teams where we dont need two holding players (ie not Villa, Everton or the top 3) it should be Gerrard + 1 in the middle and Keane and Torres up front but hey ho.

We wont be signing anyone as Babel is going to waste at our club. He will now be cover for Torres/Riera. I think he'd fare better as a striker than a winger anyway.

I'm gutted for Robbie - he's a nice lad and I think he'd have come good for us. Sods law says on the last day of the season he costs us the title when we play you at Anfield!

If Torres breaks down again he's left with Kuyt or N'Gog up top in his 4-2-3-1?

taking an awful risk isn't it?

The question is a simple 1 really.............do you think he can help us get 5 more points than Villa in the last 14 games........... if yes then he is worth in the region of 20M................if the answer is no then he would be a bad signing at this stage of this season. Personally I don't think he can slot straight in and make the difference bearing in mind that most continental players take a season to adjust to the Premiership, and he is bearing judged on the strength of 2 performances at Euro 2008. Has he done much for Zenith this season, not much that I'm aware of but I could be totally wrong. I don't think there is a simple solution for this season, just crossing my fingers that the 11 men Wenger sends out for the last 14 games can do the business.

[ ] Liverpool will be going for the title on the final day of the season

We both know the title will be long over before then ;-)

SSN says he's signed a contract till 2012 and will wear the 13 shirt.

Cue some very cold Gooners, who decided to spend most of the afternoon stood outside the Emirates Stadium, jumping about like twats.

Yeah, watching this and yes they were twats

Redknapp on 5 live saying he had a deal for Quaresma on loan for the rest of the season agreed with Mourinho, player nixed it

We already ready have a useless waste of space trick pony in David Bentley. Thankfully the player turned us down.

He can go to Chelsea and be a failure there.

It'll be Babel I think - but yes it is a risk, however when you look at selling Keane in the summer you're talking about 12 million tops. We owed 16 million on him now. Why waste 4 million when we have the cover (albeit not the best)?

I think we're due a good run to be honest but then I cant see Utd dropping points either. A lot comes down to us going to Old Trafford.

If in doubt believe the press. It's over already.

Well he's Zenits highest paid player and they are a cash rich club so they obviously rate him highly!!! I'm sure Wenger is basing his decision on more than 2 games

Thats actually quite an interesting point- from his own selfish point of view it might be(and very likely) the only chance he ever gets of getting his hands of a Premiership winners medal....

Doubt the title race will still be on by then though!

Maybe the way he led Zenit to the Uefa cup destroying the likes of Bayern along the way? The guy is class. Coming up short in one game against Marcos Senna, Carles Puyol and Marchena isn't really something to be ashamed of. The guy is always in space and has vision like few others. Great signing.

Fair point but at 27 and knowing that it usually takes a full season to adjust to the Premiership I think a lot of the fans are expecting him to be a plaster over the cracks to get us into 4th place and I just can't see it as being a great signing if it does in fact go through. At the end of the day the damage was done last summer by the exits and no new experienced arrivals, obviously the long term injuries have not helped but I feel the last 14 games are going to be a massive struggle to try and make up 5 points on Villa.

why waste £4million? The answer isn't about money here. £4million is nothing to Liverpool.

I agree with all of that but if they don't make up the points on Villa it wont take away from the fact he's a great player and it's a good signing. I take your point though, if they dont get 4th is it worth 20 odd million?

I just dont understand the Keane business at all. Unless he was signed by the boardroom as was rumoured (but I dont believe for a second) then how in gods name can rafa decide after a handful of games in which Keane has barely started, that he is sh1t and needs to be binned.

He plays probably his best game for us away to Newcastle and then is rewarded by not being picked for the next game and barely plays again.

Left out ofthe squad completely the other week, and then again yesterday (although I can obviously understand yesterday).

We are alledgedly fighting for the title and Rafa has thrown it away by making some sort of point which has whooooshed me by not picking keane. If he had made some more sensible team or substitute decisions in recent weeks I am sure at least a couple of those draws could have been turned into wins.

I can only think that they have had some kind of huge training ground bust up and Rafa is "making a point" by not playing him and if thats the case then its bullsh1t as the only losers are the club and the fans.

Rafa has gone down massively in my estimation with his rediculous and badly timed rant over fergie (wtf was he thinking???) and now this pathetic saga.

I cant believe I am saying this as I wouldnt have thought it 6 months ago but if Rafa left in the summer I would not be too disappointed (depending on a decent replacement obv).

The terrace chants of "Rafa is cracking up" are painfully close to the mark imo.

& as for that last game of the season, I would have insisted that Keane cant play in that game as a condition of the transfer but I doubt very much that they did.

At this moment 4 million is less to your club than mine - we're financially fooked but that's another story.

It may come down to who do you want at your club in the next few years as a Liverpool fan? Babel or Keane? When you can recoup 16 million on Keane who doesn't quite look the part and Babel has all the attributes to be very good it's an easy choice.

No one guessed Riera would be such a success on the left and Babel wouldn't play (resulting in him asking to go on loan back to Ajax two months back) and no one guessed Keane would look so average (except you) or play so little. Two good players being wasted. Only one has similar speed and strength to Torres if he's injured and it aint Robbie.

Honestly I'm a bit gutted he got such little time and I fear some of this is Benitez being forced to sell for a good fee whilst it's there due to us having no money. I don't think the yanks like that he wasn't playing whilst costing so much either.

Let's put it this way... If you asked Rafa yesterday if he'd rather do the rest of the season with or without Keane he'd have said with him every time. I'm more worried about what happens if Gerrard is injured than Torres now.

Fair argument even though you werent replying to my post LoL !!!

Still dont understand recent sub choices or non inclusion in squads though

Cheers lol - but I'm only guessing/defending the club. In all honesty I wouldn't have sold him either and I'm disappointed we have. I just think he would have been sold in the summer anyway and why wait and let him devalue?

And I agree about recent subs/selections. As I said earlier in this thread we don't need two holding players for EVERY game. It's doing my nut.

Babel is truly shocking.  He is an immense talent in terms of his skill, physical ability, speed and he also has a hell of a shot on him...BUT, he has no football brain.  He consistently makes the wrong decisions with the ball, and his running off the ball is clueless.  David N'Gog will be a far better player for Liverpool, but certainly not ready to make his mark this season.

I hope we can offload Babel and bring in some proper quality in the summer.  I can see Babel going elsewhere in Europe and becoming a success.  Just don't think it'll be at Liverpool or in the Premiership.

As for Keane, I think he's a great player - but it was a strange signing for Liverpool.  Rafa prefers to play one up top, with someone (usually Gerrard) in the hole.  Keane isn't the sort of player to play up top on his own, and isn't really the ideal player to play in the hole either.  He's more suited to playing in a partnership when there are two up top.  Maybe as Aaron suggested, he could play in a 4-4-2 formation against the so-called 'lesser clubs' alongside Torres - but Rafa doesn't seem to approach the game that way.  Would Keane be happy waiting around for these games, or warming the bench waiting for Torres to get an injury?  He's better than that.

People have asked the question as to what we'll do if Torres is injured.  We'll struggle.  Any team would struggle to replace him, and we simply don't have the depth up front.  Kuyt is better on the right, N'Gog is a raw 19 year-old, and Babel....well, he's Babel.

I love the way we've been written off for the league.  Of course manu are the favourites, and the way they've been playing they should be expected to win the league.  But if they slip up and Liverpool manage some consistency, the game between the two sides will prove to be very important.  Would I bet on us to win the league now, not with any serious money.  But I wouldn't have backed us to win in Istanbul at half-time.

I think it's great that Keane is back at Spurs...Keane back, Chimbonda back and Defoe back.

Now all you need is Jol back and you'll have a good side again ;)

We need Berbatov and Carrick back.

The £48million we got was spent on:  Pavlyuchenko, Modric and Bentley. ;cheerleader; ::) So we swapped two world class players' for one world class player and two donkeys.

we need to coax sick note out of retirement, then you know it's going off!!

might even get champions league if we act now the way the leagues positioned.

Nice bit of business by Rangers today, move of the window IMO.

lulz

You cant win the title with one (slightly injury prone) striker and a midfielder with a good goal scoring record. Liverpool are a two man team going forward (not to say they cant beat teams 5-1 away with just one of them!) but its not enough for the title. Second would be a good return for Liverpool this year.

In terms of how Liverpool develop to challange I'm not sure. If he wants to play one up top then he's never going to attact the depth up front into the squad (because the quality needed wants to be in the team not squad). Quite simply I just dont think that rafa's style of play/outlook will or can win a premiership.

Agree. Keane was the signing to change this style though and go for it. Shame it's been killed off so soon.

In other words he's Cisse.

So Who, What, Where should Rafa be looking in the Summer?

Going back to serving Paela and cheap red wine - Ibiza is pretty good i believe!

Same as last summer, two decent attacking full backs and a good replacement/compliment for Torres (we wont get Villa but oh how I wish!)

None of last summer's signings have worked.

Except Riera who ironically was Rafa's 2nd choice.

which is all the more surprising as in his half season at City he was awful

Yup - the last one I'd have picked to do well out of the 4 outfield players.

Against Liverpool ( having seen them a few times this season).. most teams play very narrow, so it allows him some space to play which always helps...

The way Rafa treated Keane was an absolute disgrace imo, whatever you think of Keane as a player i have a lot of respect for him as a person cos there would have been a shit load of 20 mil signings going to the press moaning and whinging. He just stayed quiet and got on with it when ever he got a chance. Personally i think if your not playing him you might as well get your money back and Rafa just didn't fancy him.

As far as Babel is concerned, the guy would show hes true class if he actually got a proper run in the side in his natural position (up front). I'm a big fan but giving him 10 Min's here and there, then giving him one game and going back to the same routine isn't really gonna help him. I feel he will be a big player for us in the 2ND half of the season.

Dirk Kuyt is a great worker but absolutely no ability, i really don't know what sort of relationship him and Rafa have but Rafa obviously has feelings for him that aren't football related!

As far as signings go which ever striker we buy he's gonna have to be satisfied with a place on the bench, and were not really gonna be able to sell that to someone like villa. What we do need is a right winger who can go past players and deliver a cross and that ain't Dirk. I like our first choice full backs, Aurelio and Arbeloa i personally think arbeloa is very underrated good in possession and decent defensively.

Finally the conundrum that is Rafael Benitez. Sometimes i think hes just making the decisions to piss off every liverpool fan in the world, its fairly obvious hes a very single minded manager and doesn't like to cave to press/supporter pressure when making player/formation decisions. For example the Chelsea game he bought Babel on way too late in the game and its not the first time hes done something like that.

AND PLZ GET RID OF LUCAS HIS A BAG OF WANK!

For the last 6 months of last season and the start of this season, Kuyt was our most consistent player.  Can't agree with your assertion that he has no ability.   Lots of Liverpool fans agree with you, but his contribution to the side is huge.

Lucas is useless, and I still don't agree that Babel is good enough for us.  I thought Rafa brought him on too early against Chelsea.  He's a liability.  He can't hold on to the ball, he lacks the intelligence to do the right thing when he has it, and off the ball he does bugger all.

Im questioning Kuyts ability not his contribution to the side, He'll run forever but the amount of times he gets the ball wide with time and space i just hope he gets some quality in the box instead of expectig it. Against Chelsea he fucked up so many of our attacks by hitting the first man/running into Ashley Cole. Tbf he does nick a few important goals for us.

Babel livens us up whenever he comes on, he makes things happen, gives the croud a lift something which we dont really have with anyone else coming of the bench.

Rafa today saying it maybe a risk selling keane. Whatever you do rafa please dont bring back voronin.

He had an under-par effort against Chelsea in terms of his final ball.  But usually it's far better than that.  Also, against Chelsea he wasn't poor overall.  How often did Ashley Cole get forward as an attacking force?  Why was that?  A lot of it is to do with Kuyt.


If he comes on up front, I think he might work as an impact player.  But he's certainly no better than Cisse in that regard.  Maybe Rafa is playing him out of position and that's why he's not shining.  But he's certainly not half the player Torres is, and whilst Torres is playing, Babel will not be up front.

Someone mentioned that Torres is injury prone?  He's had one injury whilst at Liverpool, and then a recurrence of it.  Other than that, he's fairly robust and injury-free.


Voronin - NO!!!

It would have been nice to have Keane on the bench in case he's needed - but he's a better player than one who should be resigned to a place on the bench (in the same way Crouch was).  Hope he does well at Spurs, especially against our rivals and not against us!

Robbie Keane is a Top Bloke FACT

Also Benitez is a knob for not giving him more of a chance whatever the reason

Babel has all Liverpool fans split I think. I think I both love him and hate him.

As for Keane it seems that today Rafa has pretty much come out and said he didn't click with the players around him on the pitch. (I guess he means after 6 months of watching him in training too)

Hopefully the gem that is El Zhar will get a few more games now.

Titus Bramble might be a top bloke.  Doesn't mean he should be given a chance, whatever the reason.

Babel will be fine...if Liverpool get a decent manager who'll give talent a run rather than what he's doing now.

Selling Keane was of course stupid...and I hope Liverpool choke on it...they don't deserve to win the title. It's a club with no vision anymore..the owners are only thinking about selling and the manager can only complain about other managers, even when they are top of the league (FFS!).
WP GG and all that.

Stupid?... remains to be seen and if we aren't champions come may I wont be saying it's because we sold Keane. His impact was minimal.

I'm sure Rafa likes Babel (he wouldn't let him go when he asked and he'd played less than Keane at the time) I just dont think he realised how good Riera would be. Riera's had a good run in the side becuase he's more consistent... does that mean Rafa is a decent manager for letting him have a run? Honestly Boldie, would you start Babel on his games played so far over Riera? I doubt anyone with eyes would.

LOL, Rafa must be feeling a little sick at letting Keane go right now. Ideal replacement for Gerrard for a few weeks!

True Riera has been revelation this season...I have been surprised at just how well he's turning out to be. I still say to all the doubters that Babel will be fine...honest..he will.

And I think I was justified in saying it's stupid to let Keane go...especially now that Torres is hobbling again. Who's going to replace Torres now?And with Gerrard out as well it, again, goes to show that strenght in depth is vital when you want to win a league...Liverpool don't have any and, if they keep treating "fringe" players like they did Keane, they will never have any.

I have been very dissapointed in Rafa since his little "list" but slagging off an ex-player after he's left the club is not on...he's definitely cracking up IMO.