SuspectPackage

Ok, I'm a Liverpool fan too, but this all comes across as a bit bizarre even to me. A couple of points I'll pick up on. In today's times (i.e. the Premier League), there is no way being relegated could be a good thing for a club. The loss in revenue is a massive drop to the Championship, you must have seen the number of teams forces to dismember their squads simply because they couldn't afford the wage bill. Perhaps pre-Premier League I could understand, but not today. The other problem with being relegated is attracting players. Coming up again, and forced to scrap with the likes of West Brom, Wigan and Fulham to rebuild your squad (with all respect to those sides) is no way to rebuild a successful team. The other point I'd mention is Newcastle's "shit players". I don't actually think Newcastle's squad is that bad tbh, seen in the context of the injuries they've got. when they've actually got a full strength side... Help me here Newcastle fans, as an outsider looking in I'll take a guess at your strongest side (feel free to correct me cause I admit I'm shooting in the dark). Given Enrique Coloccini Taylor Beye N'Zogbia/Duff? Barton? Butt? Guitierrez Owen Martins Ok, so I have no idea what their strongest central midfield is. And I'm not claiming they'd win the league, but the point stands that these aren't suddenly bad players. They're good players who just need some leadership and confidence, and with the right management (and dare I say team ownership), they're obviously far better than relegation material.

Just thought I'd say well done, at 2-0 down so far this season your team would have given up ( I was guessing another 2-1 Michael Owen tbh). But they fought back, got a point and stopped the slide. A few more performances and your team will be firing again I'm sure. After all, just one win and you're level on points with the team in 13th (and Sunderland ) It's still early days yet. Be careful of the next team you play though, they can be...a bit of a tricky lot.

That's not a bad place to park actually, right near my nan's house. It's in a park nearby called Walton Hall Park. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=e...kdz4Bg&cd=1 On the match day itself at Goodison I always parked in one of the side roads nearby which are free. The one where she actually lives called is Woolhope road it's relatively scally free, but it involves navigating down a side street or two, and wouldn't want you to get lost. It also fills up quickly if one of the local teams are playing the same day. Stanley park is also a good bet. P.s. not been around for a while, been keeping my head down. I know when it's not the right time to stick my nose in, been waiting for things to pick up for you. But good luck against the Blue shite anyway.

Makes me wonder, do Aston Villa actually have any fullbacks?

On the Stephen Warnock front, he would definately be a good buy for you. I'm sure most Blackburn fans would be very annoyed if Ince let him go. I remember when we sold him because Riise was still untouchable first choice , and thinking Blackburn have got an absolute bargain (£1.5 million!). I think he's proved it as his time there, ultra reliable premier league quality left back. Surprised with him being English he wasn't vastly inflated. I guess it's just the other teams that get megabucks for their promising English youth.

Cheers, and great avatar Reminds me I should go check the Fur TV site again some time.

Awful news, hope he is able to take the time he needs now.

Even as a pool fan, I've got to say Moyes is a good manager. 6th and 5th in the last couple of years on a fraction of what some of the teams around them have spent. Still hate his guts like. Martin O Neill is a weird one, recent Barry run ins aside. He seems to do very well buying what many people would regard as 'average players' and succeed in motivating them to achieve. I mean his signings of Knight, Reo-Coker, Harewood and Young were all headscratchers at the time but he managed to get them to produce and got 6th place. But saying that, the man seems to move at a snail's pace in the transfer market, Villa have been crying out for a recognised right back for the last year and now with Olaf Mellburg the stand in gone he still doesn't seem too arsed. I just don't see him shelling out the money for the signings his team needs, even with an American billionaire bankrolling him. But I'm sure he'll do incredibly well at motivating the players he already has. Again, a weird one. Ramos has a giant reputation from Spain, but if I'm completely honest I've seen not a lot from him yet. Spurs faded incredibly in the league after their cup win. Gonna wait for a full season to go by so I can see if I figure him out. So I'll go with no opinion as yet. Mark Hughes got my vote in the end. I don't like the man particularly (self-professed Chelsea AND United legend :s), but his signings and what he had done for Blackburn are unarguable. Benny McCarthy £2.5 million, Roque Santa Cruz £3.5 Million, Christopher Samba £400,000 etc. Of course, this has no bearing on how he will do for Man City, he may indeed flop. But he's unarguably done a brilliant job at Blackburn.

Signing for Portsmouth now apparently. Wouldn't be surprised if Harry Redknapp did a 'Glen Johnson' with him.

Cheers, nice to be made welcome On the issue at hand Robbie Keane, I think if you looked at it neutrally, he has to be normally worth £12-15 million. Now, I'm a bit of a statto (apologies in advance), this is Robbie Keane's goalscoring record in the premier league. Year / Apps /Goals 2007-2008 / 36 / 15 2006-2007 / 27 / 11 2005-2006 / 36 / 16 2004-2005 / 35 / 11 2003-2004 / 34 / 14 2002-2003 / 29 / 13 Now, this is the feats of our spectacular collection of backup strikers last year. Dirk Kuyt 2007-2008 / 32 / 3 Peter Crouch 2007-2008 / 21 / 5 Andriy Voronin 2007-2008 / 19 / 5 Admittedly they don't tell the whole story (e.g. Kuyt was played as a right midfielder all season, Kuyt and Crouch scored a lot more goals in the cups unlike Voronin, Crouch appeared off the sub's bench more than the other 2), but they do illustrate just how impressive Robbie Keane's goalscoring record is. I believe Liverpool are willing to overpay in his particular case, simply because Keane is the player we need right now, I have absolutely no confidence in any of the others deputising for Torres. We really do need a backup. I forsee absolutely no reason why Keane won't score 15+ league goals for Liverpool this season (particularly if he forms any kind of understanding with Gerrard or Torres), and I'll bet my house he'll score more than any of the clowns mentioned above. In for example, Gareth Barry's case we are not willing to overpay because he is a luxury. We really want him, but ultimately he is someone we can take him or leave him (looking at the players we have for his position). Keane isn't worth £18-20 million, but I can gladly accept we're prepared to pay that simply for what he can do for our team.

If you look at the core point, I completely agree. Euro 2008 didn't miss England at all. It was actually pleasant to be able to watch the games and support the team that simply played the best football. And being realistic, it's impossible to argue that our England team would have done much had we qualified. Spain, Russia, Holland all put in performances that I haven't seen in a long time from an England side.

Hey guys, new member here and Liverpool fan. Now before you start getting the pitchforks and torches out, don't worry I'm here in a strictly non-WUM capacity. In fact I've always liked Newcastle United and so I signed up a while ago to have a look at your boards, see if it was worth me popping in to say hi from time to time. However you were under the worst stages of a certain 'Torres' poster at that point, so I was waiting for him to tone it down and the atmosphere to calm somewhat before I came started posting. So yeah hi guys, I was just hoping to have a friendly bit of chat/banter, and get opinions off you for the new season. Please think of me as the "anti-Torres", cause even as a fellow Liverpool fan I find him highly irritating. Oh and p.s. How do I join the Liverpool group? Just so I can get the icon up at the side and not get accused of pretending to be a Mag. Cheers SP