Liverpool F.c.

[StevieH]

The` liverpool Echo ` website this morning reports , Kenny Huang, is acting on behaif of the chinese government,if this is true there should be no contest in the bidding war, same report on bbc radio 4 news......

it's on the front page of the times and the guardian today too. not the back, the bloody front - 'china prepares to buy liverpool'. i just want hicks and gillett to piss off with as little profit as humanly possible.

will the Chinese Government pass the fit and proper ownership test?

genghis kahn would pass the fit and proper person test.

[hansum]

Be another nail in the coffin of fair competition should some Chinese wealth fund buy them out.

Ironic really that the proles of Liverpool complain about funding the Americans buyout, yet theyll be more then grateful for the poor workers of China to subsidise their football club ... hypocrisy is it not?

[StevieH]

yay, crouchie's coming home. cracking signing, should never have left in the first place.

[StevieH]

and the poulsen deal looks done too. so that'll be bye-bye mascherano one assumes.

[carmine]

yay, crouchie's coming home. cracking signing, should never have left in the first place.

I'm hearing the rumours but do you have this news fairly concrete?

[StevieH]

yay, crouchie's coming home. cracking signing, should never have left in the first place.

I'm hearing the rumours but do you have this news fairly concrete?

yeah it's done. haggling over figures now but it'll be somewhere in the neighbourhood of £6.5m. expect the press to report it as £10m or more to once again show what a great wheeler dealer scrotum-face redknapp is.

[carmine]

yay, crouchie's coming home. cracking signing, should never have left in the first place.

I'm hearing the rumours but do you have this news fairly concrete?

yeah it's done. haggling over figures now but it'll be somewhere in the neighbourhood of £6.5m. expect the press to report it as £10m or more to once again show what a great wheeler dealer scrotum-face redknapp is.

Yep that sounds a realistic figure. Well, there goes our plan B which a think we might regret. I always felt he's an effective player, maybe needing too many chances to score, but if he links up well with torres i'm sure the Spaniard will take care of that! Strange thing as i thought that he and Defoe would be the one's to stay but i won't hijack this thread with my transfer woes!

[StevieH]

yay, crouchie's coming home. cracking signing, should never have left in the first place.

I'm hearing the rumours but do you have this news fairly concrete?

yeah it's done. haggling over figures now but it'll be somewhere in the neighbourhood of £6.5m. expect the press to report it as £10m or more to once again show what a great wheeler dealer scrotum-face redknapp is.

Yep that sounds a realistic figure. Well, there goes our plan B which a think we might regret. I always felt he's an effective player, maybe needing too many chances to score, but if he links up well with torres i'm sure the Spaniard will take care of that! Strange thing as i thought that he and Defoe would be the one's to stay but i won't hijack this thread with my transfer woes!

i don't think crouch himself had a lot of say in this one carmine - or spurs for that matter. if he wanted to salvage his relationship with ms clancy then he had to move back north. fortunately roy is a fan and both gerrard and carragher were keen to get him back too. he's a popular lad and was pretty bloody effective for us when he was here. he'll give us a plan b too and also someone to lead the line when torres is out or rested.

[Jimjim]

So are the reports I'm seeing today that we've given up on Crouch BS? Says we've given up on him and turned towards Carlton Cole? Albeit, not reliable sources...

And how about Shaun Wright-Phillips?

Also, Poulsen surely seems on his way and yet Inter are saying no Masch deal is in the works right now. Seemed a certainly before, but now? I'd love him to stay but evidently his wife hates England and Rafa wants him to follow him to Italy.

Confusing times, though I hate the transfer windows as it turns out only 10% of rumors actually happen.

[StevieH]

i was told that crouch and poulsen were done deals jim, i don't know if spurs are pissing about on the fee now or what. will try and find out later today.

can't see any sense in us going for wright-phillips, we're pretty well-stocked in wide midfielders in cole, jovanovic, kuyt, maxi. . . .plus we already have our own under-achieving pacy wide lad in babel.

think inter's statement about having no money was all with a view to getting us to lower our price for mascherano. still be amazed if he's not an inter player in the next couple of weeks.

[bkkjames]

i was told that crouch and poulsen were done deals jim, i don't know if spurs are pissing about on the fee now or what. will try and find out later today.

can't see any sense in us going for wright-phillips, we're pretty well-stocked in wide midfielders in cole, jovanovic, kuyt, maxi. . . .plus we already have our own under-achieving pacy wide lad in babel.

think inter's statement about having no money was all with a view to getting us to lower our price for mascherano. still be amazed if he's not an inter player in the next couple of weeks.

Stevie you write like you have an inside source at the club mate? Surely you would have seen the Benitiz sacking coming no? lol

[StevieH]

i've mentioned before where i hear stuff from james. and nobody had a scooby about benitez getting the heave apart from christian purslow and martin broughton really. players weren't consulted.

[Jimjim]

No word about Crouch, anymore, but I've just seen that Barca have agreed a fee for Masch which sees Hleb come to Liverpool, as well. Don't know if it's complete BS or not, but of course it does come from goal.com, so we'll have to wait and see if it's more nonsense from that site.

[StevieH]

first big test for roy today then eh? his new team, opening day of the season against top opponents. team is:

reina

johnson carragher skrtel agger

mascherano gerrard

kuyt cole jovanovic

ngog

subs tbc pending a couple of late fitness tests.

[mrbojangles]

Unlucky there stevie.

[StevieH]

yeah i didn't think we played that well really mate but was still annoyed not to take all three points. jovanovic had a promising debut, ngog did a job again, mascherano will be missed and skrtel looked a lot better than last season. joe cole was pretty underwhelming as i've been worried he might be and he wants a foot up his arse for that challenge in a nothing area forcing the referee to make a call. pepe reina makes about one mistake a season, hope that's it out of the way.

[nev]

yeah i didn't think we played that well really mate but was still annoyed not to take all three points. jovanovic had a promising debut, ngog did a job again, mascherano will be missed and skrtel looked a lot better than last season. joe cole was pretty underwhelming as i've been worried he might be and he wants a foot up his arse for that challenge in a nothing area forcing the referee to make a call. pepe reina makes about one mistake a season, hope that's it out of the way.

Pretty fair assesment there steve.

[Jimjim]

Stupid challenge but it wasn't a red card for me, just a booking.

So Stevie not a Joe Cole fan, eh? Ya, he wasn't stupendous but overall I still think it's a great signing, for free. He's not the answer to all our problems but I think he has real quality.

We did not deserve to win the match yet it was still disappointing to concede and unlucky goal so late.

[StevieH]

i still think cole's a bit of a wool-over-the-eyes signing this summer jim, he flatters to deceive and there's a reason that every manager he's had has never really trusted him as a first choice guaranteed starter.

time will tell but i think playing him in the hole and dropping gerrard deeper really weakens us.

[JacknDanny]

Stupid challenge but it wasn't a red card for me, just a booking.

So Stevie not a Joe Cole fan, eh? Ya, he wasn't stupendous but overall I still think it's a great signing, for free. He's not the answer to all our problems but I think he has real quality.

We did not deserve to win the match yet it was still disappointing to concede and unlucky goal so late.

I have seen the Joe Cole incident several times now. Stupid challenge in an area where there was no threat. However I do not see how it could be a red card. It was not studs up, it was not from behind. Reckless and impulsive, yes but not red card. Tevez was tackled in exactly the same way by Dawson, he did not even get a yellow!!

Bad decision by the ref, who balanced things up by giving an equally silly red to Arsenal.

What p!sses me off, though is the reaction from the guy who was tackled by Cole!!! Totally OTT, thats what led to the red card for sure

[StevieH]

I have seen the Joe Cole incident several times now. Stupid challenge in an area where there was no threat. However I do not see how it could be a red card. It was not studs up, it was not from behind. Reckless and impulsive, yes but not red card. Tevez was tackled in exactly the same way by Dawson, he did not even get a yellow!!

Bad decision by the ref, who balanced things up by giving an equally silly red to Arsenal.

What p!sses me off, though is the reaction from the guy who was tackled by Cole!!! Totally OTT, thats what led to the red card for sure

to be fair jack, the law doesn't say that it has to be studs up or from behind. just dangerous. and if you take off from the floor like cole did you're making the ref make a call. what annoys me most about cole's one though is that you see central defenders do that in the area all the time to block shots and the ref never says boo.

ref atkinson is a prize plum anyway, he always likes to make his mark on a match. did it last season sending kyrgiakos off for getting assaulted by fellaini. ref who likes to see his name in the match report.

[bkkjames]

Maybe you can loan him to City or Madrid or con Rafa into it?

Aquilani set for Reds exit

Reds ready to loan struggling midfielder to Italian club

Last updated: 20th August 2010

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Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has revealed out-of-favour midfielder Alberto Aquilani is set to return to Italy.

The injury-hit playmaker has struggled to make an impact after moving to Anfield from Roma and discussions are under way for him to return to his home country.

The 26-year-old was signed by former Reds manager Rafa Benitez as a replacement for the influential Xabi Alonso but his first season on Merseyside was hampered by injuries.

Aquilani had a history of injury problems when he joined in a reported £20million deal and it was more than two months into last season before he made his debut for the club.

Aquilani was left out of Liverpool's squad for Thursday night's UEFA Europa League play-off against Trabzonspor and Hodgson admits he will probably be loaned out to a Serie A side.

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Hodgson said: "At the moment we are considering possibly loaning him to an Italian club, but nothing is sure about that yet so I don't have anything definite to report.

"I didn't want to use him (against Trabzonspor) just in case the loan goes through, because for Aquilani this year it's very important that he plays regular football, every week, as the number one man on the teamsheet.

"I can't promise him that here so if a loan move to Italy could help him in that respect it might be good for all parties.

"It would certainly be what he needs, it would certainly protect the value of the player and when he does return to Liverpool no doubt we will see the Aquilani that we signed before he came here injured last year."

[carmine]

He's not getting enough first team football because he's not fit, and theres no doubting his quality. So how if he goes out on loan is it going to make any diference to his fitness to enable him to play first team football in serie A, and who is going tp take him to a top Italien team, on loan if he can't play regularily during his loan spell.

Maybe i've read this all wrong and if so i stand to be corrected.

[rixalex]

Can anyone tell me why Joe Cole was on penalty duty?

I understand the desire to get his confidence high but isn't giving him a penalty to take a luxury only afforded at such a time when a result is beyond question?

[Jockstar]

Kuyt agent confirms interest from Inter Milan

By Soccernet staff

August 20, 2010

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Dirk Kuyt's agent has confirmed that the Liverpool forward has the chance of moving to Treble-winning Inter Milan, although his client is yet to make any final decision over whether to leave Anfield.

GettyImages

Dirk Kuyt featured in Liverpool's opening 1-1 draw with Arsenal

• Live transfer blog: August 20

• Aquilani to leave Liverpool

Kuyt is a target for Inter coach Rafa Benitez, who brought the Dutchman to Anfield from Feyenoord for a fee of £9 million in August 2006 and relied heavily upon the hard-working forward.

Inter have stepped up their interest in Kuyt after seeing a move for Genoa's Giuseppe Sculli stall and the Netherlands international was conspicuous by his absence in Liverpool's Europa League tie against Trabzonspor on Thursday night.

Though Kuyt's agent insists the player is yet to make a decision over his future, it appears a move to Serie A is a distinct possibility for the 30-year-old.

"Dirk is being professional," Rob Jansen told Voetbal International. "Yes, there is real interest from Inter, but Dirk has not decided yet whether he does want to leave Liverpool. He must think carefully before leaving.

"This is also a complicated transfer. Dirk Kuyt is a Liverpool player. He has an ongoing contract and was recently in the World Cup final. There will be a transfer fee involved. The deal cannot simply go ahead.

"Regardless of the choice Dirk must first consider himself. He can move to Inter or just stay at Liverpool. This is a good position to be in. It is also an option that a player from Inter will be involved in the deal with Kuyt."

[StevieH]

Can anyone tell me why Joe Cole was on penalty duty?

I understand the desire to get his confidence high but isn't giving him a penalty to take a luxury only afforded at such a time when a result is beyond question?

i wish i knew rix, but it pissed me off enormously. in gerrard's absence it should have probably been aurelio who is a dead ball specialist. jovanovic was regular taker for standard liege as well. giving it to cole who has never taken one in his career was a stupid, amateurish move from hodgson.

[rixalex]

Can anyone tell me why Joe Cole was on penalty duty?

I understand the desire to get his confidence high but isn't giving him a penalty to take a luxury only afforded at such a time when a result is beyond question?

i wish i knew rix, but it pissed me off enormously. in gerrard's absence it should have probably been aurelio who is a dead ball specialist. jovanovic was regular taker for standard liege as well. giving it to cole who has never taken one in his career was a stupid, amateurish move from hodgson.

I didn't see the game Stevie, but it did indeed sound like a decision made with some nice headlines the following morning in mind. Should have just concentrated on getting the job done - always a first and foremost. As you say, amateurish.

For all his experience, Hodgson's learning curve looks like being a pretty steep one.

[bkkjames]

I wonder if roy would have been called an amateur if cole scored? strange world this is when I am defending a scouse manager against there own supporters. lol

[Abrak]

You know not taking Huang seriously could prove a very big mistake.

Liverpool got very lucky this summer in terms of their players and to play 'time is on their side' is pretty ridiculous. If you take serious bidders as an opportunity to try to root out other bidders that you might prefer because they have more money than sense eventually the club will have nothing to offer.

[StevieH]

You know not taking Huang seriously could prove a very big mistake.

Liverpool got very lucky this summer in terms of their players and to play 'time is on their side' is pretty ridiculous. If you take serious bidders as an opportunity to try to root out other bidders that you might prefer because they have more money than sense eventually the club will have nothing to offer.

i know, this feels like DIC all over again. administration is well on the cards at this rate.