ohmelads

I don't regard him as a big game player, I'm sure Benitez hopes he will be but then you would for that amount of money! I think he's been bought because he's a big up and coming talent who may or may not realise his potential, but Benitez obviously feels he can bring the best out of him. Like I say he has a bit of everything, pace, dribbling, technique, aeriel ability, finishing etc but doesn't excel massively in any area. He has the tools to go very far but he needs to start showing it on a more regular basis. I think Torres will fit into the Liverpool team quite well but that's an awful lot of money to pay. I guess it's only too much if they can't afford it and have sacrificed other areas of the team to get him. I think he'll be a good signing but I don't think he'll ever justify his fee. I agree with those who say Liverpool needed a signing like this, though for that money I think they could have done a lot better. Time will tell.

Certainly £300m for only 8,000 seats is hardly great value for money when double that money would get you a brand new 60,000 stadium. But that's the price to pay for staying where you are and having probably the best stadium location in British football.

That's true. Although Atletico are famously Barcelona's 'bestia negra', their bogey team. Barca hate playing them. Torres does have an excellent record against them though.

Bit concerned as I'd like to see an expansion. Results on the pitch matter first, but I want us to improve in all areas.

I'm guessing he's been given reassurances by Owen that he will stay, but until his contract has changed that's just a verbal agreement. I'm glad Allardyce is 100% confident he'll stay, I doubt he'd have come out and put his arse on the line unless he felt it was true. But unless we get that contract changed we'll have the same problems in January, assuming we do keep him...

Edu (Arsenal) as well.

Although he's still young, he doesn't come across as a typical 'big game player' a la Gerrard at all. In fact I think it took him something like 9 games against Real Madrid before he scored a goal. My prediction is he'll get about 14 or 15 league goals, something decent but not amazing considering it's Liverpool. I think he'll find this league a tougher one than Spain (his physical presence over there means nothing over here) but he'll be playing for a better team.

Regarding the Heinze bit, if Man Utd are reluctant to sell him to Liverpool we could always offer them an alternative. Henry have signed Abidal so their interest in him is likely to have cooled.

I think the question is, how many brazilian defenders have even come to the league? and secondly Edmilson isn't a defender. Edmilson is originally a centre back by trade who has been used regularly in defensive midfield by Barcelona in recent seasons, partly due to the fact Puyol, Marquez and Thuram mean he would never get a game in central defence. He is a defender.

Torres is a pretty good striker with bags of potential. Thing is, much like Raul in his early days, he has been hugely overrated by the Spanish press. When Atleti were relegated in 2000 they spent two years in La Segunda before returning to La Primera. The club had been relegated despite a sqaud of talented players including the likes of Molina, Baraja, Solari, Valeron and Hasselbaink. Much in the same way as Raul, Torres came through as a local player scoring goals and working for the team and the local press loved him for it. A quick player with aeriel prowess and good finishing, who could take players on. He seemed to have it all as a young player and quickly made headlines. But since he has not developed all that much and this has led many to suggest he is grossly overrated. The big question is, will he get better and better or is this as good as it gets? His scoring record was impressive for a 19/20/21 year old but it hasn't improved since and he's now 23. In the last two seasons he's scored 13 and 14 goals respectively, I'm not sure how many were pens but it seems like quite a few (even though he's a poor penalty taker). For a good team he'll always get goals, but there are plenty of players like that around. He's a good player who can beat his man, good in the air, quick, he's a good finisher, very cool in one-on-one situations, theres quite a lot to his game. If he can carry on improving, who knows, but I don't think he'll ever be a world class striker and I think Liverpool are paying way over the odds. No doubt somebody will tell me I'm wrong when he scores 14 or 15 league goals but a striker costing maybe £25m+ playing for Liverpool should really do a lot better. Will he be a hit in the Premier League? Who knows. In some ways there'll be less pressure on him (he has a reputation as an overrated player in Spain), in some ways the pricetag will crank up the pressure to perform. Although most Spaniards consider him overrated, Atletico fans aren't too happy to see him leave, so maybe that's a good sign for Liverpool. Personally I think if Atletico spend well they can build a better team. There are those who say the service to Torres is poor and he makes the best of it, there are others who say the whole team plays just for him to score a few goals. The PL's end to end play may suit someone like him, it's physicality may not. In my view David Villa is a far, far better player and most Spaniards agree. Torres is 3 years younger but if you're going to break the bank for a Spanish striker, Villa is the one for me, even though this year wasn't his best season.

It's easy to pick faults in a player's game and point to his stats and in Dyer's case many of those points are fair. But when you take a step back and look at what he gives us, he's a pretty useful player. For a while he was our most dangerous player last season. Under Bobby Robson he was key to our side which finished 3rd, 4th and 5th in the league so I don't agree with these suggestions that he's some mid-table or bottom half player. His wages are a joke but there's little we can do about that now, short of taking a small transfer fee because noone will match them. Personally I'd rather hang onto a good player, though if the opportunity arose to sign a worthy replacement I wouldn't be sad to see him go. Considering the gaps in our squad at the moment though, the last thing we need is more players to replace.

If we bring in Beye and Geremi to add to Rozehnal, then Edmilson would surely be our last centre-back signing. We'd already have four, Taylor-Rozehnal-Beye-Edmilson, for two positions, plus Ramage-Huntington-Edgar. There'd be no justification to sign more. I hope those who want Edmilson realise that. We're a man down until christmas and if anything goes wrong in his recovery we could find ourselves getting the chequebook out again in January.

Really? Looks a bit flimsy to me. Needs to get in the gym if he's likely to make it as a centre back in the PL.

If he's out for six months then we'll have paid him nearly £2m in wages before he's kicked a ball.

Saturday's Telegraph says he wants 80K a week! The Gudjohnsen rumours are gathering pace, they're claiming we've began talks over him.

No. If he left there'd be a string of top clubs lining up to sign him. We already have Emre and Barton for that position and if we do sign Gudjohnsen he can play as an AM too. It's not even worth discussing (even though I just have).

Too similar to Owen and Martins, and if we do sign a striker to replace either of them I'd like it to be Gudjohnsen. I've always rated Saviola but he may well have stagnated now as he's hardly been used. He has bags of ability but if we did lose, say, one of our two clause-strikers I'd want to bring in Gudjohnsen as he'd bring something different to the team, something we don't have in our entire squad (except maybe Barton and Emre on his day), which is creativity around the penalty box and someone to link midfield with attack. He also has all that Premiership experience in his favour which Saviola doesn't.

Zidane's last game at the Bernabeu was pretty emotional. I'm not a Real Madrid fan but I was proud to be there and bid farewell to one of the all time greats. The game had everything. Real's players wore special shirts with "Zidane 2001-2006" under the badge. Every fan was given a poster displaying "Gracias, Zidane" to hold up and the Ultras formed a mosaic of his face behind the goal. Real laid siege on the Villarreal goal and took the lead through a Baptista volley. Villarreal equalised through an own goal before taking the lead with an excellent volley from Forlan. Zidane got the equaliser and sent the fans mental with a header. Villarreal thought they had won the game with 5 minutes to go as Villarreal were given a dodgy penalty and Sergio Ramos was sent off. Forlan dispatched the penalty but Baptista levelled at the death. There was even a fan ran across the pitch. Zidane left the field with tears at the end. Zidane had one more game to play, away to Sevilla. He scored in that one too but they lost 4-3. The club and fans pleaded with him not to retire but his mind was made up.

I don't really want Motta here either. Haven't seen much of him, he looks a good player but he's missed a lot of his career through injury. As a club dogged by injury crises it's about time we stopped buying this type of player.

That's a cunning stunt.

I agree, he totally dominated Keane in that game, he was absolutely everywhere. For me he's probably the best player of his type I've seen in my lifetime, he had it all. It's a shame so many haven't even heard of him. I'd agree he is probably the most underrated player from the 90s. Real Madrid fans rioted when he was sold to Milan. He is still very highly regarded by the Madridistas. Unfortunately his career was ruined by injuries and a fallout with the Argentine national coach meant he didn't get to show his stuff on the international stage. When Real were playing their champagne football he was the heart of the team.

Abidal? Sorry that's the one, got them mixed up.

Mind if it comes off and we sign him we'll never hear the end of it. Prepare for a few 'I told you so' articles.

I see that as the usual talk you get from clubs. Barca would be happy if we came in with a bid and took him off their hands to be honest, he's hardly vital to them and they're paying his wages to p*ss about in the gym until December. They tend to move their older players on anyway, Van Bronckhorst has just left and already been replaced by Malouda.

The Marca quotes basically say Barca haven't received any offer from Newcastle, he hopes Edmilson recovers above all for the player's happiness and so he can get playing again, and confirmed he expects the player to be back before the end of this year.