The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[Carmen Stateside]

It aint that long ago that we were glad to be winning FA cups!! And it could be that way again for quite some time after what was seen today.  As i said before bar Torres that was the best team we could have fielded, so we can stop this talk about a weak team being put out today!

[GalwayBayBoy]

It aint that long ago that we were glad to be winning FA cups!! And it could be that way again for quite some time after what was seen today.  As i said before bar Torres that was the best team we could have fielded

Gerrard?

Not that it matters really. The team that took the field should still have been goood enough.

[Carmen Stateside]

Sorry bar Torres and injurys.

[J70]

Someone got stuck into me a while back for saying the League Cup is worthless well guess what the FA Cup is worthless too. If we were still in with a league chance I would not have cared if we were beat. There are only two things that matter to the big 4 the League and the Champions League.

I cannot understand this attitude at all. Winning is winning. Sure there is a pecking order of trophies, but winning the league cup gave the Chelsea players the belief (And the feeling) that they had a squad to lift silverware. It bred 2 premierships, another LC, and a FA Cup! You'd think that Liverpool were coming down with trophies every season!

To me, winning the FA Cup would mean very little at all. Even the Champions League would be a consolation prize, even given the fact that I couldn't have envisioned Liverpool being in any kind of position to even think about winning it up to four years ago. Were any of the Liverpool fans here anywhere near as excited when Liverpool reached the final last year, as they were in 2005? Liverpool have proven that they are well capable of winning those trophies, but they are still well short of winning the league, so, for the moment at least, they appear to have reached some kind of impasse. Whether they can get past that under Benitez remains to be seen, but a serious league challenge is the only thing that would satisfy me, in terms of making further progress. In the absense of progress in the league, the FA Cup would signify nothing more than they are treading water. It would be like Houllier expecting to stay on in 2004, just because he had manage to scrape the last champions league spot - it was the very, very least he should have been achieving. And spare us the arrogant Liverpool fan stuff - any fan of United, Arsenal and, lately, Chelsea would say the same about their clubs. The same goes for the leading clubs in the other major European leagues.

To change sports, in retrospect, what actual worth is attached to Donegal's league win last year? Yes, at the time, it was exciting, even if our county did appear to be taking more seriously than others, but the gloss was taken off it when the team fell apart in the summer, when the serious prizes were up for grabs. I couldn't be arsed about the league this year, except to the extent that I hope it doesn't go so badly as to end in relegation and completely torpedo confidence going into the championship. Winning consolation prizes are fine in themselves, but serious self-respect and the respect of others can only be earned by competing when the major prizes are there to be won. I'll take a decent championship run over a league win any day.

[Norf Tyrone]

Ask City or Everton which is more important finishing fifth or winning the FA Cup and they will say fifth.

Do you think? I'd say Everton an City fans would take the Cup over 5th spot. Any 'non big 4' fans want to comment??

Whether they can get past that under Benitez remains to be seen, but a serious league challenge is the only thing that would satisfy me, in terms of making further progress.

So essentially if Liverpool win the FA Cup and come 4th this year, you will say that they are going backwards?

And spare us the arrogant Liverpool fan stuff - any fan of United, Arsenal and, lately, Chelsea would say the same about their clubs.

As I said there is a pecking order of trophies, but I would never turn my nose up at ANY trophy. Maybe that's just me.

[Minder]

Ask City or Everton which is more important finishing fifth or winning the FA Cup and they will say fifth.

Do you think? I'd say Everton an City fans would take the Cup over 5th spot. Any 'non big 4' fans want to comment??

Whether they can get past that under Benitez remains to be seen, but a serious league challenge is the only thing that would satisfy me, in terms of making further progress.

So essentially if Liverpool win the FA Cup and come 4th this year, you will say that they are going backwards?

And spare us the arrogant Liverpool fan stuff - any fan of United, Arsenal and, lately, Chelsea would say the same about their clubs.

As I said there is a pecking order of trophies, but I would never turn my nose up at ANY trophy. Maybe that's just me.

Stagnating would be the term i would use.

[Chrisowc]

Anyone else fed up with the current fad of - they don't want to win this trophy - they want to win this one?

Utter bollix imo.  If it's there to win you try and win it.

[EC Unique]

I would say at this stage of the season both Everton and more so City have their eye on forth spot in the League and Liverpool would need to tighten up if they are to claim it. It would be some disaster if Liverpool did not make CL next year and I think it is a very real possibilty....

[Maximus Marillius]

I seen the last 25 minutes of the game yesterday and I thought L'pool were just awful...no amount of excuses covers the absence of quality in that team

[Minder]

Bring back Souness........

[stevo-08]

Liverpool were absolutely woeful and Luton fully deserved the draw. I've been a pro-benitez man all along but I cant believe he left kuyt on for 90mins of that game and stuck him out on the right wing!!! That said the players need to take a long hard look at themselves - there was enough quality in the team to beat Luton but bar carragher, there seemed to be no leadership whatsoever. very disappointed with the likes of alonso who should have the ability to control the midfield v teams like Luton.

as for the argument surrounding the worthiness of the FA cup. It's one of the few competitions we lag behind the other English teams, in terms of qty won, so for that reason alone it'd be great to win. It's the 2nd best domestic trophy and since the Premier League is out of reach, it'd be great to win it.

As for the inabilty to compete in the PL, unfortunately until the yanks open the wallets further, we'll never compete with the top 3 (and im sorry but even though the top 4 get CL qualification, in the PL there are only 3 top teams, the others are playing catchup). We need another 2-3 players in the Torres class (and cost!!) before having a panel capable of competing with utd, arsenal & chelsea. and from the sounds of the financial state of the club, that aint gonna to happen too quickly...

[GalwayBayBoy]

Interesting this as if Benitez was going to get the bullet either now or in the Summer you imagine he wouldn't be getting any money to spend.

Liverpool prepare to splash record £6.5m for defender Skrtel
Jan 7 2008


Martin Skrtel

LIVERPOOL are set to break their transfer record for a defender by paying £6.5m for Slovak international centre back Martin Skrtel.

The Zenit St Petersburg star arrived on Merseyside last night ahead of a medical today and the club are confident the deal will be finalised within the next 48 hours.

Chief executive Rick Parry thrashed out a deal with Zenit officials during talks in Russia at the weekend.

Skrtel is rated as one of the most promising defenders in European football and Liverpool have had to beat off competition from some of the continent's top clubs to set up the deal.

Should the transfer go through as expected it will mark the end of Rafa Benitez's search for a new centre-half that began with the ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Gabriel Heinze and which became increasingly urgent in recent weeks following injuries to both Daniel Agger and Sami Hyypia.

Skrtel is a 23-year-old full Slovak international with 15 caps to his name.

He joined Zenit in 2004 and has gone on to make more than 100 appearances in the Russian league.

Standing 6 ft 4 ins tall, Skrtel has a reputation as a no-nonsense defender who does not shy away from the physical side of the game.

With Agger – who was named Denmark's player of the year at the weekend – still not ready to make his return to first team action after suffering a metatarsal injury last September, Benitez has been short of cover at centre back for several months.

That situation worsened recently when Hyypia picked up an ankle injury at Derby County on Boxing Day, leaving Benitez with only Alvaro Arbeloa, a full-back, and teenager Jack Hobbs as his options to partner Jamie Carragher in the centre of defence.

Benitez will be keen to see the deal for Skrtel tied up as quickly as possible so he can be added to the Liverpool squad, possibly even in time for the trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

[The Real Laoislad]

Anyone else fed up with the current fad of - they don't want to win this trophy - they want to win this one?

Utter bollix imo.  If it's there to win you try and win it.

Totally agree with you

[The Real Laoislad]

Ask City or Everton which is more important finishing fifth or winning the FA Cup and they will say fifth.

Do you think? I'd say Everton an City fans would take the Cup over 5th spot. Any 'non big 4' fans want to comment??

I agree with you,I would reckon Everton/Man City fans would rather win FA Cup than finish 5th..If I'm not mistaken winning the FA Cup guarantees a UEFA Cup place same as 5th place so wouldn't be better to win something and qualify for UEFA Cup than finish 5th win nothing and qualify for UEFA Cup

[Norf Tyrone]

Ask City or Everton which is more important finishing fifth or winning the FA Cup and they will say fifth.

Do you think? I'd say Everton an City fans would take the Cup over 5th spot. Any 'non big 4' fans want to comment??

I agree with you,I would reckon Everton/Man City fans would rather win FA Cup than finish 5th..If I'm not mistaken winning the FA Cup guarantees a UEFA Cup place same as 5th place so wouldn't be better to win something and qualify for UEFA Cup than finish 5th win nothing and qualify for UEFA Cup

quote]

Ha ha...Never thought of that...but validates my point!