Cronky

There was nothing wrong with the team spirit. (apart from Best, who needs to play with far more aggression) We just lacked quality tonight.

Their passing was a lot better than ours. Pardew now has to figure out our best striking option. Unfortunately, it's probably Ranger and Nolan.

That's what you call rising without trace. Anyone seen this lad play?

We look poor in the final third. By far our best bet is a set piece.

Lots of effort and spirit from everyone, apart from Best. He's not playing with any conviction at all.

Known in refereeing circles as the most irritating, sour-faced, miserable, moaning whinger that ever pulled on a shirt.

It's been a good week for Liverpool, because they've traded in a striker who didn't want to play and who wasn't making any effort, and got two decent strikers in his place. They're far better off, for an outlay of about £7 million. Whether in any other set of circumstances, AC is worth £35 million is very doubtful. Basically, we've been able to take advantage of Abramovich's last throw of the financial dice before the fair play rules kick in.

If one of the CL clubs come in, then we've no chance. But I don't think that'll happen. Zoggy isn't quite in that class. I also seriously doubt whether Dave Whelan will be able to bear relegation and then losing his best player to his hated rival. Never under estimate a rich man with a grudge.

He shouldn't have said anything about Shearer's record as a manager (which is hard to judge anyway). It's irrelevant to the point in question and just sounds like he's lost his temper. The main point that he should have stuck to is that Ashley has regularly put money into the club and doesn't need a lecture on that matter from Alan Shearer.

There are two major rules for people running NUFC. 1. Do not criticise Kevin Keegan. 2. Do not criticise Alan Shearer.

I watched him last night, and he did seem to have improved as a player. Despite running into a few blind alleys, he looked far more composed. However, it did look like he was thriving in a free role where he was the star. A more disciplined role in a better side and a bigger club would be a different story - temperamentally as much as anything. And Ben Arfa looks a far more complete player. If we're talking about £10m plus, I'd rather look elsewhere.

Ugh. Agents sometimes advise players to fake injuries to force a club's hand. There was something a bit strange about the way the injury was handled, with him going out to the Middle East on holiday rather than staying at the club and receiving treatment. The transfer itself has the atmosphere of a charade. I'd agree with previous posters, that Carroll's agent would have wanted the transfer to happen, and he's the one who the club would have negotiated with. Carroll isn't the sharpest tool in the box, and I suspect would have been easily manipulated. The last minute attempt off his own bat to text a fanzine about his unwillingness to go is evidence of his naivety.

My thought as well. I think 35m is a ridiculous offer and Ashley cannot turn it down. Therefore he left the decision to Carroll. That's probably what Carroll said "he told me to go". Bullshit. If Ashley did want to sell Carroll or Carroll did not want to leave us, he would not make the transfer request. Yeah, same here. Carroll's been a bit thick, in giving a fanzine those texts. He can't appear at the next Liverpool press conference and say he didn't really want to join them.

If Carroll's got something to say, let him say it loud and clear. If the club are lying about his transfer request, what's the harm in him saying so now? As for supposedly leaking his texts to a fanzine, what's that about? Apart from targeting the gullible.

I'm not saying this isn't true. But given where he is from and where is family from, if he ever wants to have a decent time in his hometown again, he pretty much HAS to say this. Exactly.

So are the club lying about his transfer request?

You have to factor in Carroll's transfer request. If a player wants to leave, you may not get the best out of him and you have a declining asset on your hands. We'd all be feeling a bit different if this was the summer and we had plenty of time to look at strengthening the team. As it is, it's a bit of a gamble, because we're relying on our existing squad to keep us up. It's not a huge gamble, but a gamble. Sometimes you have to take a chance. There are no guarantees whichever way you look.

Unfortunately he had nothing to do with it, which says it all about the state of our club. Liverpool is all about Dalglish signing Carroll, Newcastle is all about Ashley selling Carroll. It still pisses me off that he came out to the fans and said Carroll wouldnt be going. Lying to the fans is asking for trouble. Iirc he said that he had been assured that Carroll was not leaving. He was only lying if he knew Carroll was going when he said that, I don't think he had a clue what was about to happen. Let's enter the real world now. Every player has his price, but a manager can't say 'He'll only leave if we get the right offer'. That would only fuel speculation.

Way too sensible.

Not sure why he can't name names, if things have reached that point. If this is true, then presumably this player is just a stop gap. In terms of a permanent replacement, we'd be having to pay a January-window type premium at this point, which in many ways negates the point of cashing in on Carroll for this inflated fee.

The other thing to be weighed up is that there are lifestyle issues with Carroll which may block him from fulfilling his full potential. Liverpool are taking a risk because he's not yet a £35 million player.

We don't have to accept a transfer request. It just means that we don't have to give the player his percentage of the fee, and it effectively bumps up the bid.

Makes sense tbh. I'm not sure who we could get at this late stage though.

Sounds like a Milner type situation. If they finally make a bid that's too high to turn down, there'd be no point in accepting it 10 minutes before the deadline with the player stuck in Newcastle.

Got to say - Carlton Cole is a decent enough player. If I was offered Cole plus £25m for Carroll, Id take it.