Cronky

I don't think so. Dalglish has no record of turning round difficult situations, and has previously shown himself vulnerable to stress. Hardly the perfect candidate for Liverpool at this time. He's an old jedi coming out or retirement. Very dangerous. He retired for a reason. The other fatal flaw in Plan Kenny is that he's been appointed to bring the fans onside and promote unity. Fine if owners and fans continue to be of one mind, but if they're not..... bye bye unity, hello trouble.

I see him as a good all-round defender who's perfectly capable at this level. I honestly don't know why many people have singled him out after the Stevenage match. The entire back four was very exposed by our lack of midfield cover and they were all struggling, not just him.

I don't think so. Dalglish has no record of turning round difficult situations, and has previously shown himself vulnerable to stress. Hardly the perfect candidate for Liverpool at this time.

I don't think we did our homework on this lad.

Yeah. The belief that Kenny was going to turn it round was not a common one at the time.

we had as full a strength a side as we could muster tbh with the injuries and harper on compassionate leave This is right, but I did wonder about the criticism that's been levelled at Pardew - that he should have given the older players a rest and pitched in the youngsters. I didn't think Stevenage were any better than Accrington, who we beat with a reserve team who showed a fair bit of energy and determination. Then I checked the team that we fielded, and six of those players - Donaldson, Lua Lua, Vuckic, Shola, Tavernier, R Taylor - are not available now because of either injury or being loaned out. Of the rest, Lovenkrands and Krul actually started against Stevenage, and Ranger, Kadar and Ferguson were on the bench. Our basic situation was that we didn't have enough first team regulars fit to field a really strong side, but the option of a team of eager youngsters wasn't really there either.

I dont think he ever took the Newcastle job particularly seriously. For that, I wish him ill will at Liverpool who are an awful enough club without him. This is utter nonsense, frankly - HTT is absolutely right, Dalglish WOULD have done a good job at SJP(we were 6th in the PL when he took over and finished 2nd to Man U after winning at Arsenal on the last day), but the club had limited transfer funds due to PLC disciplines, he got hit with a bad injury to Shearer in his first full season and that cost us the best of Tomasson. Dalglish restarted the Reserves after KK scrapped then in pique because he didn't want them playing at SJP and also the Juniors ; he signed Hamman, Gary Speed, Nobby, Given and Dabizas and was limited with funds for much of his spell which is why he signed some poor players also. As I have said many times, he fell out with Fletcher over Gillespie's transfer to Blackburn - reputedly, they even almost came to blows over it...hardly the reactions of a man who didn't take the job seriously.... Because of that, the club fired him at the start of 98/99 after 2 draws and we ended up with that clown Gullit who would have taken us down had not HE decided to walk after the shambles against this Saturday's opponents. Yes, we got 'sexy football' alright - we paid heavily for it and the reality wasn't as good as people(not me) imagined it would be ! The media hated KD because he wasn't KK - he kept them at arm's length and that is commonsense where NUFC are concerned. They always wanted him out and that was what they got. I wouldn't say he didn't take the Newcastle job seriously, but at the end I think the pressure had got to him and he wanted out. There was some dispute after the argument with Fletcher as to whether he'd resigned or been sacked.

Reo-Coker would be a good stand in for Tiote, but I wouldn't part with Joey.

He joined us at a bad time from his point of view, when the team had already peaked and money was a bit tighter. All the same, I'm not convinced he's the complete package. There's a good early trophy haul, but at Liverpool, he inherited the best team in the country and a great backroom set-up. At Blackburn, he could out-spend every other club, and word is that Ray Harford did most of the donkey work. I think his Achilees heel is that he's a sensitive soul who doesn't deal well with criticism or pressure. It's interesting now that he's been keen to recruit all his old pals to back him up.

This won't go down well, but yesterday's game illustrates what Shola brings to the side, despite his limitations. We had no-one to lead the line, hold the ball up or create any problems up front. Best doesn't carry sufficient threat. Ranger tried and has plenty of pace, but is too raw for that particular role at the moment.

I suspect that Ranger's talent is as much a problem as an asset at this point. It enables him to get by without totally stretching himself. He needs to develop the attitude that he's going to be the best player that he can possibly be. The attitude of being just good enough to get a place in the team ahead of this, that or the other player isn't going to get him anywhere. He has to set his own standards, based on his own talent. I worry that he compares himself to other players and says - well I'm better than him, why doesn't he pick me?

I can only assume that Joorabchian is talking to the club about one or two players. The way Oliver has written the article, it's like we've given him a job. So he's going to give up all that lucrative agent's work to act for us, is he?

How about if start playing naturally left footed player in the left flank etc? like Vuckic, Kadar, Ranger I think the best alternative for the left would have been Ferguson, with Barton moved inside. Even then, it's hard to tell how well that would have worked, because Ferguson is very inexperienced. I didn't think Vuckic was fit, but he's not a wide player anyway. Ranger I thought was right footed - no doubt someone will correct me on that if I'm mistaken. As for Kadar, I'm not sure what his stronger foot is, but he's basically a centre back and can't be expected to offer much going forward out wide.

Good point about Jonas. However annoying his crossing might be, he's a very important outlet for us. I'm not sure that kick and rush was the intended tactic, because for the first 15 minutes, we were able to keep the ball on the deck and created chances down the right. After that, probably due to a combination of tiredness and a very unathletic midfield, our movement went and we were reduced to hitting it long. Our immobile midfield also found it difficult to protect the back four. Pardew's getting some stick, but I'm not sure what alternatives were available to him, particularly in CM, where we completely lost control.

Agreed. This was a big problem.

We got very little from our full backs going forward. Particularly when you're chasing the game, an attacking threat from that area can often unlock things. Perch was playing on his wrong side, and he's not a first team regular anyway, so I can forgive him a bit. Simpson though is rated by many on here, I know, but tonight showed why I think we can do better. He still looks a bit nervous and lacking in initiative, like he doesn't really want the ball.

Fatigue may well have played a part. We were fine for the first 15 minutes and I actually thought it was going to be easy. But the longer the game went on, the more we struggled. The limitations of certain players got exposed tonight. When we needed to produce something extra under pressure, it wasn't there. At least the Leon Best wankfest is over.

Tiote looked way too fired up from the minute he came on the pitch. He was an accident waiting to happen. Looking at the tackle again, it wasn't as bad as I first thought, but it was still reckless. If you leave the ground like that, most refs will give a red. Having said that, he wasn't helped by the Stevenage player's reaction. I don't think he was hurt at all. He playacted to get the most out of the situation.

I'm more bothered about losing Tiote than losing this game.

I'm afraid it was. You can't jump into a tackle like that.

Just when we thought it couldn't get worse.

we don't look like getting back into this. no shape or composure.

Our CM isn't functioning and so we end up hoofing it long. Our full backs aren't getting forward either. It depends on whether we want to risk Tiote.

We've lost our way a bit. Nothing is coming from our midfield.

getting through down the right at will.