The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[The Real Laoislad]

Right the messin about is over Rafa!! Time to deliver and hope you have done your homework on these two!!

More i think about it less convinced i am with this Barry deal. Villa holding out for big dough and I'm not convinced he is worth it. Alonso should be perservered with. Yes he wasnt great last year but hopefully Spain winnin Euro's can kickstart things for him. He was pushing hard for a place in prob the best midfield in world football. Would Gareth Barry have been anywhere near that Spanish outfit!! I think not!!

I agree with that.  I was reluctant to see Alonso leave before the Euros.  Now I'm convinced.  Let Villa stew for 5 or 6 weeks and if they don't break we'll get Barry for about £10m in January.

I've said already that we are being ripped off with the Barry valuation. But unfortuantely that seems to be the norm for English players. Bottom line for me is that we need to improve the team considerably from last season. And i believe, regardless of the price, that Barry & Keane would make a huge difference. Remains to be seen how good Dossena is but those 3 plus a full fit Agger, and the return of Sammy Lee should see us close the gap further. Im not sure if Alonso can reproduce his previous form for liverpool so if we can get 15m for him now, then I'd let him go. Alonso is perfectly suited to CL football, but it looks like Rafa is chasing players more suitable to the PL, which isnt a bad thing...

Good man,Thats it in a nutshell if you ask me,Rafa is finally realising its the PL thats the important one on Merseyside,He has often bought players that are more suited to CL.
Players like Keane and Barry while obviously have no experience of winning the PL I believe they will be more suited to helping Liverpool get closer to winning it.
While i can't see Liverpool winning it next year,It would be great if we were at least still in with a shout come march/april
I really think Barry is a great player and could shine at Liverpool

[corn02]

Spot on LL

Still annoyed we are not going for Bentley.

[Hound]

First pre-season game coming up already.
Away to Tranmere on Saturday, kick-off at 3pm. Match will be covered live on the LFC TV channel (available to Setanta subscribers) and on the website (if you have the annual subscription). I think Setanta Sports 1 also has it.

Looks like the Crouch move to Pompey will be confirmed this week. Fee in the region of £9m-£11m.

[stevo-08]

Spot on LL

Still annoyed we are not going for Bentley.

would like to see us going for Bentley also. But it's all down to money again...

Riise sold to raise money for Dossena. Trying to sell Alonso (+Finnan???) to buy Barry. Crouch will be sold so Rafa can bid for Keane. Itandje sold and we're now looking for Cavalieri. So who can we sell to raise funds for Bentley??  Carson, Pennant, Voronin... Dont see too many clubs looking for their signatures. And you wouldnt get much for them anyway.

It's the same reason we're struggling to compete with utd & chelsea - money!!!

[brokencrossbar1]

Premier League - Portsmouth strike deal for Crouch
Eurosport - Mon, 07 Jul 14:05:00 2008

Liverpool have accepted a bid from Portsmouth for England striker Peter Crouch.

The 27-year-old has been the subject of several offers from his former club Pompey, who have finally struck a deal for around £11m.

"We have reached a verbal agreement with Portsmouth and have given them permission to speak with Peter," said a Liverpool spokesperson.

Crouch made just nine Premier League starts for the Reds last season, with Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt establishing themselves as Rafael Benitez's first-choice pairing.

Despite using the six-foot-seven forward sparingly, Liverpool had demanded £15m before eventually settling for a more realistic figure.

Portsmouth will now discuss personal terms with Crouch, who played at Fratton Park in the second tier in 2001-02, scoring 18 league goals.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has sold Crouch twice - first from Portsmouth to Aston Villa for £5m, then from Southampton to Liverpool for £7m in 2005.

[AZOffaly]

£11 million fro Crouch. Part of me is sad to see him go, because he didn't really get a crack this year. HAving said that, is he really going to play 30 games per season for Liverpool? Not if LFC are going to be challenging for the title I'd suggest.

So, £11m income. I think decent business.

[Shrewdness]

First pre-season game coming up already.
Away to Tranmere on Saturday, kick-off at 3pm. Match will be covered live on the LFC TV channel (available to Setanta subscribers) and on the website (if you have the annual subscription). I think Setanta Sports 1 also has it.

Looks like the Crouch move to Pompey will be confirmed this week. Fee in the region of £9m-£11m.

Yes, Crouch should be a Portsmouth player in 24-48 hours. Liverpool will receive 8M up front with another 3M in add ons over a period of time.

However, i hear Xabi Alonso's move to Juventus is in major doubt as Juve will not pay 16M for him.

So, unless Liverpool can persuade Villa to accept cash plus Finnan for Gareth Barry, the Barry deal could also be in jeopardy.

[GalwayBayBoy]

£11 million fro Crouch. Part of me is sad to see him go, because he didn't really get a crack this year. HAving said that, is he really going to play 30 games per season for Liverpool? Not if LFC are going to be challenging for the title I'd suggest.

So, £11m income. I think decent business.

11 million is pretty good considering he's only got a year left on his contract.

Overall I think he did fairly well when he got a run in the team but no point keeping him when he was only getting very limited opportunities to play.

[magpie seanie]

Good business for Liverpool that. Will be interesting to see how Crouch and Defoe work together.

[Whacker]

So who are they lined up then?

Tottenham staying very quiet about Keane.

[bingobus]

So who are they lined up then?

Tottenham staying very quiet about Keane.

Ronaldo 

Must be someone but I suspect that either Spurs had no intention of taking Crouch or Keane is dead. Or Perhaps Voronin has had a hair cut, lost 2 stone, found a first touch, leant when/how to pass and got directions to the goal.

[Mentalman]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/7493493.stm

Liverpool sign young Dane Saric

Liverpool have completed a deal for Denmark Under-18 international forward Nikola Saric.
The 17-year-old former Herfolge player has signed a four-year contract, which is thought to be worth about £900,000.
The left-footed Saric is a versatile attacker and can play on the left or right wing or as a central striker.
He spent some time on trial with SC Heerenveen at the Otten Cup tournament, hosted by PSV Eindhoven, from the end of May to the start of June.

[Norf Tyrone]

Good business for Liverpool that. Will be interesting to see how Crouch and Defoe work together.

I think they could be lethal. I have seen a fair few players in the flesh watching Chelsea over the years, and Defoe was one of the few that definately stood out. Always like him. Crouch and him could be a good foil. I'll put my head on the block early doors....Pompey for 5th spot.

Those two, with Diarra are effectivelly three excellent players that they did not have all of last season. The ACN would've affected them too.

[Mentalman]

Short another one for the start of the season...

Star duo in Brazil Olympics squad 
Ronaldinho and Robinho are the star attractions in the Brazil squad
Barcelona's Ronaldinho and Real Madrid forward Robinho will lead Brazil's assault on a first Olympic football gold in Beijing in August.

Manchester United midfielder Anderson is one of three Premier League players selected in the 18-man squad.

Manchester City's new record signing Jo, Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva and Anderson will all miss the start of the new season.

The Olympics is the only significant title Brazil have never won.

The Brazilians won the silver medal twice, in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul and they won the bronze in 1996 in Atlanta.

Brazil are in Group C with Belgium, China and New Zealand and begin their campaign on 8 August against Belgium.

Coach Dunga picked Fluminense defender Thiago Silva as the third player older than 23 in the squad, in addition to Ronaldinho and Robinho.

"The experience factor can be decisive in the Olympics," Dunga said.

"That's why several players born in 1985 were chosen, and even the youngsters already have international experience."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goalkeepers: Diego Alves (Almeria), Renan (Internacional). Defenders: Ilsinho (Shakhtar Donetsk), Rafinha (Shalke), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Alex Silva (Sao Paulo), Breno (Bayern Munich), Thiago Silva (Fluminense).
Midfielders: Anderson (Manchester United), Diego (Werder Bremen); Hernanes (Sao Paulo), Lucas (Liverpool), Ronaldinho (FC Barcelona), Thiago Neves (Fluminense).
Forwards: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Jo (Manchester City), Rafael Sobis (Real Betis), Robinho (Real Madrid).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/football/7494600.stm

[stevo-08]

Thats Lucas & Masch gone for the first 2-3 games. But back in time for the Utd game.
Will mean a CM partnership of gerrard & barry/alonso for first couple of games.