You seem to be missing the point but I can't make it any simpler than that. Oh well. Could have fool me given your first reaction was to sell him when it could have been a serious ailment. Look how Villa stood by Petrov.

The only reason top players are willing to sit on the bench at the Etihad or Stamford Bridge is because they are on huge contracts. I doubt we will offer as much and thus a top striker will be expecting to play as often as possible and we aren't in Europe or the League Cup so we don't have that many games to offer. Maybe someone like Demba Ba would suit us or even Dafoe who is the type of centreforward who suits us. He's quick and mobile. Our system enables us to play with one recognised striker and we're still scoring goals so we could even rotate Sturridge and Suarez if we wanted to.

Watching this game when drunk is tough. I'm sure Dillion can relate

I feel you and I'm the same.

Gutted we didn't pick up at least a point from our last two games but if you take each one in isolation, it doesn't hurt as much. Back-to-back defeats suck, plain and simple. I didn't expect to get a result from the Eithad but I had hoped we'd be able to steal a point from Mourinho's side and we almost did. Some have said that this game would determine our future but I reckon it's our home form that will as we are playing all the top sides bar Man Utd at home.

What's important now is for the lads not to dwell on these defeats. Mignolet has had an amazing start to his career at the club but he's made two glaring errors in the last two games which have led to goals. He needs to shake it off. Should Eto have been red carded? What could have been had Sakho scored instead of hitting the woodwork? Should have, could have, would have. In the end, we failed to get a result but the season is far from over.

I believe the honour will to Kyle Walker and who knows? Maybe Flanagan will earn himself a spot in Roy's team?

Bench lacks depth due to a combination of underperforming players and injuries. Also I'm assuming that we don't have quality players on the bench, it's just they don't play in the attacking half of the pitch. Nothing has changed. We need central midfielders and imo a forward who is a squad player because SAS are in scintilating form plus we can play with a lone forward.

Not been linked to any mega stars which isnt surprising since FSG will not entertain the notion of deficit spending so hoping for expensive signings is to be in denial. Ignorance has a role to play as well since most of us are only familiar with names that get bandied about in the papers, without even having seen the player in action. I can't for example say if Salah is a good signing or not? The January transfer window is notorious for it's inflated prices and I reckon we're looking at more bargain buys.

Sakho has just issued a "dont f with me" warning to would be opponents.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/mamadou-sa...l-29873143.html

I actually expect us to win our home games especially against sides like City and Chelsea who we lost to away.

Mignolet has made two mistakes I'm consecutive games but he's shown last season that he can be consistent so let's hope he's put these two gambles behind him. Sakho has been decent IMO.

Mignolet has done far better than I expected. He is a brilliant shot stopper with good reflexes but as we know, his distribution is suspect and he isn't as assured coming off his line to deal with crosses as Reina is. It is therefore rather important we have defenders who are good in the air and unfortunately, on Toure and to a lesser extent Sakho fit that billing. If only Sami were 10 years younger.

Therein lies the problem, that we could not offer Champions League football which is a deterrent especially with the World Cup next year. We're in with a shout now and hopefully this will help attract some quality. Big names are a tough ask and I reckon we need to look at players who have a point to prove and are looking to get into their respective national teams, just like Sakho is. Yes we could do with reinforcements in January but we need to be realistic with our targets.

Well if there were questions over their performances against Chelsea, here's the reason why?

http://paisleygates.com/?p=14922

Walking wounded.

What a coincidence. I was watching that yesterday and I noticed Brendan in the background too!

If he ain't Nostradamus, he ain't credible

Well Mourinho did also lavish some praise on him by talking about what a good player he is.

Not been given a shot since he returned from injury and the re-emergence of Flanagan hasn't helped his cause. It wasn't a scrape on the knee either. He's been out for over a year having ruptured his ACL and it remains to be seen if he's 100%. Look how long Lucas took to regain any semblance of good form after his long lay-off, and this is a bloke who plays each game. It may be awhile before we see Kelly back in form.

Kelly would do well in a centreback role under Rodgers given the gaffer's inclination to split our centrebacks. Kelly has the pace and mobility to play in the fullback role and the height to play in the middle when we relinquish possession. Problem is we have a plethora of centrebacks at our disposal.

His anology using eggs was hilarious.

FSG is expected to offer Rodgers an improved and extended contract soon and if this is so they will have to sign off on a hefty compensation package if they cut him loose at the end of the season. I don't see them doing this if we miss out on a top four finish but i think they expect a European spot at least.

Reinforcements expected to come this January but it's important to keep in mind that the transfer fee for a player is one thing but more importantly, we need to consider salary. FSG and Rodgers have improved the team despite having to trim the wage bill and it's inconceivable that they will offer a big package. They favoiur performance based contracts which means a said player will have to perform to earn himself an improved contract. Remains to be seen if players will favour this over mega starting packages. This is another deterrant when it comes to pitching for a coveted player with other clubs and is likely another reason we've not signed big stars.

Aye I'm sure FSG will make funds available, it's just like I said, we will likely not sign any big names with high wage packets unlike the likes if City or Chelsea will which just means we need to work harder in the transfer market.

Not sure if he came just to play with Torres but he had said he'd like to play in Spain one day.

Oh and happy new year boys. Got hit by a freight train. Partied till 5am at the Roof. Hope everyone had a good time and got home safe.

Legend has it that the Kop has the power to suck the ball into the goal which is why the team always opts to attack the Kop end in the second half. Rodgers is stating what we all already know, that our home form will pretty much determine where we end up by the end of the season as all the top team bar the mancs will have to visit Anfield. The players need to show up but I think it's equally important that the 12th man raise the bar during each home game starting with Hull. It is a fact that fan power can drive the team with a Istanbul being a prime example. Get behind the lads and will them to win. As fans, it's all we can do.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...contenders.html