johny

for what its worth I think it looks really good. the curved corners from the outside with the pillars looks nice and is a good unique touch, better than the masts or wonky flag pole type constructions that some new stadiums have. Inside looks a bit like the east side of old trafford before they put those ugly big upper corners in. Much better design than the emirates IMO. If that was built right now I'd say it was easily the best looking new build stadium in the country... Until next wednesday of course

Licker. I like a bit of banter, but am not here to seriously wind anyone up or have pointless arguments. I'm nice you see. Appiah's a very good player from what little I've seen of him, reminded me a bit of Essien. We actually have signed a player in this mould already but it slipped under the radar a bit. Lucas Leiva, the Brazil U20 captain signed earlier in the summer for between £6 - 8m, which is quite a lot of money really! From what I've read and seen on youtube he's a big, powerful, and athletic box to box midfielder who can pass, tackle, and shoot very well. Highly rated in south america and physically is not the typical light-weight south american. Looking forward to seeing him play. I'm not sure why you think we didn't need strikers with Bellamy, Fowler, Cisse, and Pongolle all leaving, the last three becasue they were not good enough (in fowlers case he was only fit for one match in 4 or 5). Bellmay, depsite what Benitez said at the time, played little after the golf club incident and I always felt his card had been marked. What we lacked last season more than anything was any kind of attacking dynamic. Our interplay last season in the final third was at best clumsy, and at worst hopless. For all his good work, Kuyt has the touch of a rapist and many moves broke down due to shit first touches or players taking to long and playing predictable balls. What we've got now in Torres and Babel are two players who are happy to recieve the ball at pace and use it at pace also. I'm looking forward a lot to see how the partnership between these two players develops over the next couple of seasons (I've got my fingers crossed for a Pires and Henry type scenario , well, something better than the Laurel and Hardy we had last season anyway). Voronin is another quick, and skillful player who should improve us in this way also, and at £0 you cant really go wrong. Another benefit of this is it will allow Kuyt and Crouch, when they're used, to play much more as point men and get on the end of things in the box, rather than hanging round the half-way line doing someone elses job. You said they've been replaced, I'll go with 'complimented'. Time will tell. Brings me to this bet of yours now - Crouch was our top scorer last season despite not being 1st choice for much of the time, and I've got no reason to doubt he'll score as many again, if not more if he's given the time on the pitch. I'll take the bet, although I really wouldn't mind if Gerrard finished top scorer so long as the team as a whole scores more. Whilst I'm not going to deny that losing Gerrard would be a critical blow to the team, we are at our strongest in central midfield and are at least better equipt to take a hit there than anywhere else. Carragher would, IMO, be a much bigger loss to the team overall. This, however, is really a moot point until he does actually get injured - at the moment he's fit and healthy. Obviously I'm well awaire that all the above has a healthy dose of red spin to it and some will probably feel it's bollocks. Feel free to pick it to pieces, a second opinion is rarely unhealthy so long as its an honest opinion.

cracking post that. I answered your question, why dont you answer mine - who do you think liverpool should've signed this season? Obviously not a striker for fear of upsetting Kuyt and Crouch, so who would it be?

once a blue. i've got a funny feeling that you're a fellow koppite pretending to be a blue. which is pretty sad isn't it? Licker. I don't really think its a case of thinking it. like most things in footy its more 1 part hope and 2 parts faith. of course its no guarantee, but when the alternatives are buying nobody, sticking with the squad that got nowhere near the title last season, or buying rubbish players for piddling amounts of cash, then you've got to ask what else ae we going to do with the money? not fishing here, geniune question - who would you buy if you were Liverpool manager?

you're so right. what were we thinking going after the likes of torres, mascherano, and babel when theres alan smith, jason koumas and kieron richardson still available. looks like we missed out on Phil Jagielka:(, have to console ourselves with a bid for Gabriel Heinze then. the shame!

Just heard about this. Very sad. RIP

easiest draw on paper doesn't always turn out that way on grass. We're much better when cast as the underdogs, I'd have prefered us to get Roma or Valencia to be honest, but I can't complain too much with PSV I suppose. Unless they beat us.

JOHNY: Bringing up a statement that has been retracted?? WTF your point being I was out of order posting somthing I have admitted I was out of order posting??? The point was that it was out of order. Fair play to you for deleting it, but how was I to know that you had admitted it was out of order? As far as I was concearned any of the moderators could have deleted it. Why should I believe someone who's stolen my soul anyway? <_< As to the general ill feeling around the clubs I can't help feeling its mostly down to the younger or newer fans. After hillsborough I went to anfield to pay my respects and take a Tranmere scarf for my nan who was too ill to go. I'll never forget the Kop that day, Red and Blue (actually through the tears it was purple), and all the messages written on the walls and what have you around the ground. The way people pulled together was incredible. I can't believe that anyone who was around at that time and who experienced it would have any genuine hatred for the other team. I think a lot of the younger fans and some of the new Sky TV generation of fans jump on the 'rivalry' bandwagon without fully understanding the true nature of the rivalry. The internet doesn't help really either, some of the shit you read on the public forums is unbelievable, it just breeds hatred. Its a shame really, we don't want the derby to become like any other derby round Europe but every year it seems to get a bit worse.

I promise you not everyone was 'shitting themselves' when we drew Barce, everyone I spoke to was made up. This competition is about playing the best Europe has to offer, not fluking the easy draw every round. There was never going to be a better time to draw them in this years competition, when the winning post is still over the hill the best teams often take their eye off the ball, and as has been mentioned we play much better when cast as the underdogs in Europe. Of course theres some nerves, we know we can go all the way but every tie is a possibility of being knocked out, regardless of who you play. Look at Arsenal, Celtic aside, PSV were the weakest team left in it. Which is why I don't want them next round, another Benfica methinks. Beyern would be a decent draw for us, or Valencia. Don't want an english team just yet, it's too scarey and nerve wracking. Goldfish Memory. What you posted on tuesday night (been deleted now I see) was a bit beyond banter, don't you agree? Wishing the deaths of fans and players, and throwing in the old 'murderers' chestnut hardly gives you the moral high ground, does it? It works both ways. I enjoy banter with Everton fans, got loads of them as mates and have plenty of late night *ahem* discussions with them but there are some subject that should be left alone. We're not mancs.

couple of players had a kick at each other at the final whistle and it all kicked off south american stylee. Hopefully all the Valencia 1st XI are suspended for the next round vs us (lfc)

that was fkin scarey at the end made up though

south africa for me, just a hunch.

I reckon Rafa should try a cheeky £10m bid for him this season , quality player. So versitile as well, it'd be hard not to find a place for him, especially out wide. The quality of his deliveries are top drawer.

the guy cant keep his gob shut. no excuses, becasue at the end of the day, thats all they are. Why do you need to refer to the colour of someones skin when talking to them, it's hardly going to be a revelation to them is it. "what, I'm black! You fkin serious!!" he's a racist and his whinging excuses cut no ice with me.

nothing wrong with a bit of banter imo. A few of our songs contain references to you lot, nothing too nasty though. The mancs are the worst, all they sing about is Liverpool and Scousers - whether they are playing us or not. It's strange, they seem to be obsessed. You'd think that with the history of great players, managers, victories that they have, they'd find something there to be proud of, and sing about. I think the 1st 'penalty' should've been given as obstruction, indirect freekick.

they probably can. the problem with DNA testing though is that , unless they already have a copy of your DNA to compare it to, it doesn't give you a name. They'd still have to catch the bloke and test him to find out if it was really him or not, unless the tool has actually submitted DNA to the police before.

is it just me who would've stopped opening the 'squishy' envelopes after the 2nd time? I hope they name and shame the dirty little shit in the papers if they catch them.

Keep reading conflicting reports about all this. 1st Bellamy has battered Riise with a golf club. But then...Riise is OK and is fit to play tomorrow. (hmmm...) Then Dudek tried to headbutt a policeman and got arrested, but then it was only security guards and he was let go after saying sorry. (hmmmm) Two things, firstly if Bellamy DID attack Riise with a golf club, why is Riise still walking and why hasn't Bellamy been sacked? Secondly, if Dudek tried to butt a bizzie, why wasn't he charged with anything? Sounds a lot like bullshit to me. Not doubting that there was some trouble but I seriously doubt it was anything like what was reported in the NOTW. Saying that, nothing is ever like it gets reported in the NOTW, if they said it was cold outside I'd change into shorts and t-shirt!

The name of a new stadium, and by that I mean what it ends up being called by everyone, really depends on whether the sponsorship is for the full name or not. For example the BT Cellnet Riverside Stadium, is and has always been known amongst the media and fans as the Riverside, similarly the Friends Provident St Marys Stadium is only ever called St Mary's, whereas with stadiums called simply the Reebok stadium or the Emirates stadium, you have no choice. From a Liverpool point of view, I would be happy to see a big sponsor pour money into us so long as they don't get the entire name. For example the Adidas Stanley Park Stadium would only ever get called Stanley Park, which is a great name for a footy ground IMO, and who cares if it has a few logos on the outside it will be full of corporate logos and advertising inside the ground anyway, all grounds are. Speaking of stadiums, I was looking around this forum and noticed a lot of you drooling over the AOL arean in Germany, indeed the club themselves are looking at Germany for inspiration, so I read. My personal favourite in Germany is Dortmunds Westfalen Stadium, I'll attempt to post some pics of it below, thats almost exactly what I would like our new stadium to look like (on the inside at least). The only alterations I would like is the roof replaced with a more asthetic one. And red seats obviously. The steep single tier behind the goals are great, and the whole place looks intimidating as hell, the atmosphere must be immense.

I did hear something like that a while ago, when the original plans were announced. I have to say I disagree that it is 'farcical' to move to our new ground. The reason we're moving is for money, not for the chance to stage the Champions League final. We're miles behind United, Arsenal and Newcastle when it comes to gate receipts and corporate entertainment money, and with United seemingly able to add more seats at will, we're only going to fall further behind. Presumably, if and when Liverpool has 1000 5* hotel rooms, the the new ground will be upgraded to a 5* stadium anyway? The current Anfield however will not, as it cannot be expanded. As to the expense, yes I agree it is expensive. We could have gone down the route Bolton did, and built it on some waste ground a few miles away for a lot less money, but I doubt whether the board gave that too much serious consideration, it would've been a very unpopular decision. It's a wrench to leave Anfield, but the fact that we're only moving 200yds or so is one hell of a sweetener in the deal. The fact that our new chairmen are paying for the stadium themselves, and not with debt like Arsenal did, makes the money matter pretty irrelevant anyway. Once it's up, it's up, and it's ours lock, stock, and barrel.

Even if he doesn't give it to his son I'm sure they will be OK. After all he's going to have to sell his shares to someone. They will get another rich chairman after Abramovic I'm pretty sure of it. I suppose the same logic applies to us now too.

crap

I hope they do intend to make money from us. The only way they'll do that is if we win things regularly, which is all us supporters want at the end of the day. Its a real shame that football went down this path, but it did. Maybe once we're all owned by rich businessmen and the playing field is level(er) again, then we can go back to worrying about the football on the pitch again, and leave the moneymen to worry about the money. That would be nice.