I know, although to be fair they never went through teams and sliced them open even then. They built that challenge on clean sheets, being almost impossible to score against and then nicking one on the break. However you are right, it's a huge fall in just 18 months

Oh, I agree - it was never fantasy football.

I guess with Torres, Gerrard, Benayoun and Alonso on form there was always the creativity and skills to get a goal from no real pressure. the sale of Benayoun still surprises me almost as much as the Alonso one

On a different note

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11695_6374198,00.html

The sooner the better for me, this lad has no class on or off the field. Pity as he could be a genuine star at top flight level, the only thing he lacks is pace..................and a brain.

The problem with Cattermoe is he's a player from a different era when football was a contact sport.

Indeed, but if you KNOW the rules then you should be able to adapt to stick within them. He has single handedly cost us 4 points already.

He is a liability without a doubt, he has a worst record than Patrick V and thats saying something

It's a shame as the lad has genuine talent in that holding position and has a big heart, just no head to go with it

Man City win 2-0 in the Europa cup, Liverpool 1-1 at HT

Liverpool win 4-1 missing most of the regular players tonight.

Oh dear.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/8007688/Tom-Hicks-aims-to-refinance-debts-in-an-effort-to-remain-in-control-at-Liverpool.html

There’s been so many stories – both positive and negative – that have turned out to be nothing more than media jibber-jabbering that it’s impossible to discern truth from fiction. The headline of the Torygraph piece is more doom-laden than the bones of the article suggests to me. It just looks to me like Hicks is trying to keep the strength of his hand as intact as he can, by not letting debts attributable to him personally to go into default, thus forcing him to sell, probably at a lower price than he wants. I read nothing that indicates he's looking to keep control in the long term.

It’s a very depressing picture, though. After a teasing few weeks in July/August when it seemed there were some parties serious about buying the club, interest appears to have melted away. It’s limbo. But, given Hodgson’s transfer targets in the summer, I’m not sure I’d trust him with a fistful of dollars anyway.

Being positive, that was a decent second half performance from a largely second-string Liverpool side. At least Hodgson has the ‘taters to rest key players for this Mickey Mouse competition (and hopefully even more so for the Carling Cup), instead of trying to use the comp as a way of getting a tin pot in the cabinet to try to secure his position.

The two key paras for me in the piece are the following. Now there's nothing new in the first one - it's simply a re-affirmation of RBS's perceived stance. That said, the bank I'm sure would be more than willing to sign-off on a Hicks deal if it lessens the likelihood of it taking a hit longer term. More interesting is what Broughton and the board would do if faced with Hicks coming up with some readies.

''Bank sources have told Telegraph Sport that taking control at Anfield is their least-favoured option, and that they will consider extending the current financing arrangement if required.

''Were Hicks to be successful in raising the money to buy out RBS, Broughton and his colleagues on the club board would have to decide whether to attempt to block the deal.''

Yeah, Broughton, Purslow and t'other one apparently blocked one of Hicks' previous refinancing attempts.

The club will be sold - it's just a case of when and to whom.

By the way, Man U’s £7.4 summer signing, Bebe, who Ferguson signed without seeing him play on only the recommendation of Quieroz, and who hasn’t played a top flight game in his career, made his reserve team debut last night. He was apparently garbage. Oh, how I’d love this to be a legendary flop.

Veron would take some beating though.

I'll see your Veron and raise you a Djemba-Djemba

(although, bizarrely, Veron was a decent player for Chelsea - and indeed every other club he played for)

Yep, Chumba Wumba was pretty poor and Veron pretty good at Chelsea. Just goes to show that SAF can't always get the best out of his players.

And below we have someone with a long and distinguished career at Utd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Prunier

I will call you both with a Voronin and a Bentley

Pssst... you can do much better than Voronin (at least he was free, unlike some of the other utter dross we've bought in the last decade)

Man U and Liverpool have bought some crap players over the years........ could easily make a team of crap bought in the last 10 years

Just to add my two penneth, I nominate Helder Postiga and Sergei Rebrov; GBP16.5m of unadulturated crap.

I see all of yours and raise you a Torben Piechnik  Do I win?

In the meantime here's something to chuckle at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/9009565.stm 

Time for one of these.