VectisSaint

It wasn't the players that we had that were not good enough, it was the players that we didn't have that meant that when the players we had were not available we had no-one to fill in that was adequate. Cover for Boruc (especially), Lovren (i.e Hooiveld), Wanyama/Spiderman/Cork, Lallana and Lambert was poor, and when several of them were unavailable at the same time we were found out (the fact that it all coincided with our difficult fixtures didn't help either). On their day our 1st XI was top 6 or even top 4.

To me, the interesting things that have come out from Lovren today are "the Club now lacks ambition" and also tellingly "I don't know who is in charge". Do we still have a Board that is doing anything, other than Uncle Les? When was the last time we heard anything from the Hockey Coach, or the Financial guy from Germany (who seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth) or even KL for that matter. Koeman can try to attract players, but in the end he doesn't pay the money, that's down to the Board, who seem to have gotten into something frankly thy don't understand. Things are certainly becoming clearer why we are in the position we are now.

As there are "no financial difficulties" why is that an example of why Cortese had to go. More likely an example that the new Board, in particular the Financial Director who has not been seen or heard of since didn't know what he was talking about and helped cause a lot of the difficulties by his crassly stupid comment. Cortese "had to go" because the new owner would not or could not match his ambition and would not sell to a new owner that possibly could.

There have. Either up the investment level to push on, mainly by adding strength in depth, or as NC saw as Plan B sell to a consortium that was willing to invest more. The Club went for Plan C, keep things tight and self sustaining. Plan C was not the worst decision in the world but it did end the drdeam.

Nope, you're right we got nowhere near it, at the first attempt. We weren't really 2nd in PL before we Played Arse and Boruc broke his hand, and we then had a major injury crisis. What happened was that we were fund out for not having enough strength indepth. I don't believe for one minute we would have finished 2nd, but with more depth, including a decent backup keeper, we could probably have made 5th or 6th. Our first choice XI was good enough, but 11 players do not a European qualification make. But were we really so far off as you would have us believe. No. Remember where Man City were in 1999. Remember when Chelsea were no-hopers? Money can make a difference and if NC had had his way and either persuaded KL to invest more or sold to another nacker, the dream was not so far off. The reason it has all gone tits up is because KL did not have the ambition of her father. I hold no grudge against her for that, but clearly a different way forward was to sell and that is what NC had as a master plan if she would not up the stakes. Clearly he misjudged her, and we are now where we are.

Think its disappointing to have returned to the stripes. How will our players completely prepare themselves for their moves to big clubs in the future if we play in kit which is so distinctive to Liverpool or Arsenal or Manure. Negative step for me. Nah, actually it looks good, although I really don't like the socks.

Its just a number, who gives a toss who gets it? No 7 will always be Painer to me anyway.

Steve Davis

EA Sports and Carling

There are remarkable similarities between their training ground and ours. Don't think he'll join us because of our excellent training facilities.

This is actually what is more interesting. What has happened at the Club to make so many players apparently disgruntled where before they (gave the appearance of being) a tight-knit bunch. This isn't just down to wanting to play for better clubs at a higher level, something happened at the Club that turned everything sour. Clearly something to do with the change of leadership.

I don't think it was meant as an indictment of the individual players. But it is the way to go in the future, only recruit international players who play for no-hope teams (in terms of getting to major finals), such as Kenya, Serbia, NornIreland, Scotland, Wales, Poland. The exception to this rule is England, no hopers but don't recruit otherwise they will get tapped up by Stevie Geeeeeeeee.

What else is there to not be quiet other than "the Media"? Unless you have a personal direct conversation with Lovren maybe. How else would you know if anything is being said?

Makes me laugh that Buttner said he left Manure and joined Moscow (not sure which variety) to get CL football.

Perhaps we could have a whip round and place an ad like this in the Liverpool Sun, or whatever their local rag is called.

A reminder of how threadbare the squad really is. Will probs be made captain seeing as how he is Dutch.

Dunno, looks a little pale. He could have been sickening for something.

Suarez Getting his dental appoinment sorted

Thank God for that. KD as a keeper coach, how would he coach dealing with crosses, kicking, etc. Bloody nice bloke and all, but no, not a loss at all.

Why? Do you think we should have contacted Brighton about someone we were interested in who was currently looking for a job? Bizarre.

His input will probably be along the lines of "don't touch any of the England keepers with a barge pole". Marshall is better than any of these, but would be more satisfied with a decent foreign keeper. That Costa Rican one would do me fine :-)

I think its a few people like you who are rather naive to think that the coming season will be a bit of a rocky ride. It doesn't matter who Ronald brings in, it is the sheer quantity needed that will mean that it will be very difficult to get everyone firing together from the start of the season. We already had a paper thin squad in terms of numbers and backup and now with the departures so far (Lambert, Lallana, Shaw and Guly) and with JRod out till December in all probability, we barely have enough players for a match day squad. I don't believe we will be relegated in the end, but have serious concern that things may not look all that great come December/January. In some ways its a shame that we have a reasonably easy start to the season, because those are the games where we should be picking up hatfuls of points, but it coincides with us having to gell a large number of new players and probably using a completely new system as well. If you want to carry on with your head in the sand attitude thats fine, but your optimism seems misplaced, and that is how it seems to others as well. I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

So, first team sorted for next season: Watson, Jones, Kayembe, Willard, Hallett, Lea, Cook, Lee, Olomola, Bakary, Wilkin, Sub Sharp, Koeman ®, Koeman (E). Good mixture of youth and experience.

No, about 2.5. Apparently that's quite quick for Switzerland. It can be very complex even for private individuals, imagine the difficulties for a multi-billionaire. It really depends onwhether there was a will or not. Swiss inheritance law is very different to UK (or most other countries for that matter)

Except it seems Lee had signed the paperwork. If not Brighton would not have made a statement about him working his notice, which they have apparently waived their right to.