well, one reason we didn't get arteta was because he was pretty much injured the whole of last season. oh wai-

Please don't buy injury prone players again.

Even the player is very very good, if due to injury prone which the player is not available, and cannot play more than 5-10 matches for the whole season, it is as good as having no player.

ur english damn powderful. but i support ur view.

So was Acquillani when we purchased him and it seems he's so fragile, he can't go up against 90% of Premiership teams.

aquilani is not a flop (yet)..

it's just that rafa loves lucas so much and has no courage to drop him.

Arteta is a decent shout but doubt the blues would even consider selling one of their best players to us.

I'm more disappointed we didn't go for Sneijder or even Van Der Vaart considering we sold Alonso to Madrid. You could see where Rafa was heading with Aquilani who plays in a more advance attacking role. His style of play would be useful to break teams that we struggle to beat last season. However, he is injury-prone and could just potentially cost us an entire season. =/

Liverpool ready to offer Mascherano £100,000-a-week new contract

Liverpool are hoping to tie down Javier Mascherano on a new 5-year contract that should see him net a basic wage of around £100,000-a-week.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez expects Barcelona to come sniffing again in the summer after they failed to step up their interest last time around due to a lack of financial clout.

The Spanish giants would need to offer silly money for the boss to consider a deal and last summer he said even a bid of £50million wouldn't be enough.

Mascherano was looking for a move to the Nou Camp last year for family reasons and his agent did flirt with the Spanish giants.

However as things currently stand the player seems happy at Anfield. That could change if Barca unsettle him so the boss is hoping to try and sort a new deal out as soon as possible.

Liverpool needs CM that can run the show in the midfield, dictate the match tempo, spraying passes, not just DM doing the dirty job. Arteta can fit the role.

Errr... but those struggle to beat team are all physical, so he has no chance to play?

The way to utilise Aqualani is drop back Gerrard to CM, let him run the show in midfield, and Aqualani sit behind Torres.

Liverpool needs Gerrard in midfield, playing Lucas + Macherano in CM, the whole team could struggle to score a goal, except rely on some magic or lucky moment only.

I agree he's the same type as Xabi but not anywhere on the same level hence the 'poor man's Alonso' nick pasted on him. Watched almost all live Everton game on tv last season and I can say that has been average on most of them. The only reason he look above averaged because other Everton midfielders (Osman, Cahill, Fellaini and Pienar) is on form last season. Then again I admit that I'm biased so it maybe influenced my opinion a bit and other people who watched Everton games may say the opposite.

robben, even he's a prick but he's a good winger. he is still doing his business at bayern now. dunno why but I have already look passed his antics when playing againts us. maybe coz he played for chelsea and the hatred is not very deep compared to MU and Blueshite. (meaning I still disgusted at owen )

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Added on March 2, 2010, 6:05 pmSneijder or Van Der Vaart this is my choice too..

This post has been edited by rushmode: Mar 2 2010, 06:05 PM

oh well looks like skrtel is out for the rest of the season.
tho he might make it back for the last match.

next game cb just left with carra and kyrgiakos...dunno how they going to survive...esp if masch plays RB again

Time for Kelly, Ayala and darby to shine Darby can play Glenny spot if Carra remains in center!

We got a Full House defender injury now:
Aurelio - Agger - Skrtel - Johnson

The situation is paving a shortcut for Kelly and Darby though, league debut for them please?

I don't mind Mascherano playing RB, at least the situation force RB to play Gerrard in the middle and 2 upfront, with 4-4-2 formation.

me also...prefer 4-42 than defend minded formation that rafa always use...

we need more Carragher!!

Just arrived today

gerrard played better as a DM as he can see more depth to pass the ball at all directions

lucas should play AM as he like to shoot like a loose cannon

Actually, what Shebby said about Gerrard sometime back isn't far from the truth, that he is the best rightback in the country. He is probably the most complete player in the Premiership because he has both, attacking and defensive qualities. Was it not he that was moved to rightback towards the end of the Champions League final against AC Milan at the Attaturk? Not many remember this but he spent the final minutes of the game playing there to stop the crosses that were coming in from Serginho. The same crosses Djimi Traore crucially cleared and cause Carra to have cramps in both legs. So was Shebby wrong I don't think so.

On the issue of playing Gerrard as a DM, it's possible. I mean he has been played there often for England, with Lampard taking up a more advanced position (mainly because Lampard can't play anywhere else. Hard to score a deflected goal from way back there). The thing with Gerrard however isn't about where he can play. It's about where he plays best, and I still believe it's in the middle of the park where he's able to influence play on both sides of the pitch. Remember Martin Tyler's, "One-man-task-force" comment?

I disagree with playing Mascherano at rightback because with him there, Lucas has to play defensive midfield and he doesn't have the same presence Mascherano does. He was overwhelmed against Blackburn. Do remember that we were leaking goals at the beginning of the season. One reason was that we were crap at defending from setpieces but another was that Masherano was out injured. It's no coincidence that our defence suddenly got stronger when Masherano returned to the side. So while he is more than capable at playing rightback, he's needed elsewhere.

For DM quality, Mascherano is preferred, no doubt.
But in order to force RB to play 4-4-2 with Gerrard in the middle, you need either Maschearno or Lucas injured, or Mascherano plays at RB.

If not Rafa will play Mascherano and Lucas in CM, which is awful to watch most of the time (which a lot of time resulted poor performance, and lack of attacking threat)

the way Masch defending that right flank reminds me of gerrard at istanbul. they both done the job beautifully.

For me, when facing a weak team the formation 4-4-2 where gerrard as AM with free role while Masch as DM. benny/riera on left, maxi/benny on the right. either kuyt or another striker to accompany torres.

against strong team where counter attack most likely to work, 4-5-1 where gerrard sit behind torres.

3 overated liverpool player

u will not believe that