Cisse joins Marseille

I dare say he will play on the left of midfield in a Garcia type role, Bennyoun is a good passer of the ball and can create. He doesn't score that often 1 every 10 games or so , but he was playing in a fairly sub standard team so theres plenty of room for improvement. He had a blinder against us in the FA Cup Final What he needs to do is recreate that form more consistantly.I hope Rafa still pursues Babell and Quaresma not just one but both.

please rafa buy more quality players not a loser like yossi the pussycat.

I don't really see what Benayoun will add to Liverpool FC. He is not a bad player but West Ham was his level.

He won't get a regular first team spot at Anfield, that's nearly certain. So we pay £5 million for a bench player who won't score many goals according to his career statistics. What's the point buying a player like that and selling them in 12-18 months at a loss?

Rafa seems to have a revolving door with useless players coming and going like Zenden and co.. and I don't see why he doesn't hold on to his money and put it all on quality players for high fees then paying 5 million here and there for 2/3rd rate players.

What we paid for Torres has been paid for by Bellamy and Cisse's sales so we should be able to afford higher quality than Benyoun after only signing one player. Yes Babel or Quaresma might sign, but that would still be only half what Man Ure are spending and yet we're the ones who haven't won the league for 18 years next May!

I agree to a distant with you guys, BUT, Manchester United may not be the best in defence, but they "with stats to prove it" have been the best in attack very much in the past season, scoring 83 goals, where the closest to that number was Chelsea at 64 (about 20 goals difference). We ,on the other hand, have been 3rd best in that department with 57 goals scored, Spurs have matched us in that line, whereas Blackburn, Everton (for god's sake) and Reading (again for god's sake) have been closest to us with 52. Honestly that's the line where we had to fix from the very start, and I'm glad that Benitez identified that already with Torres, Benayoun and Babel to come along showing willingness to sign attackers to the club.

People often forget our run in the 2005-06 season "apparently the media forgets it more than we do, and only remind us of the negatives overall". Liverpool in that season finished only 9 points behind eventual winners Chelsea, and only ONE point behind ManU, the Reds also were hardly an easy opposition that season, as the myth of the AWAY form hardly existed at the time, as we finished 3rd in the Away table behind the same top 2, losing only 5 times, drawing 4 and winning 10 out of 19, during that same season Chelsea lost 5 times as well and the only difference was 3 draws and 11 wins.

Sorry to indulge you all to as many booring stats, yet facts remain as they are. Liverpool are not that short, which is why I agree with the previous posts, yet I can't see many positive fans around. The club is in good hands with Benitez, and though I'm not the one who'd like to add more hope and preassure than we already have, but we are very much in the run for next season's title run-in. All that's needed to fix this hoax is simple, start better and be in the run from the go.

YNWA

Ryan Babel has agreed personal terms and passed a medical. LFC are now to try and agree terms with Ajax over the transfer. This is breaking news on Sky this passed hour.

High expectations are the key to success my friends !!
We as fans should believe that we can win the title next season.Its almost there tbh and I hope the rest share my views.

I also share the view on benayoun.He isnt quality and the five million should of been spent else where.1Red1Pool mentioned that its a waste of money.Which I strongly agree with.We should've allowed ourselves breathing space with such a sum.5 mil plus another 8 or 9 would of got us quaresma.

Ryan babel on the other hand is a great buy if we do finalise it.Reason being all the big guns were after him and to be able to get his signature is a huge plus.Thats the kind of mentality we should be in.Going for players who are highly rated and can come at a cheap price before a bidding war starts on him.

I doubt we have any funds available for any "top class" players.If we do great!! Lets hope we spend it on someone worthwhile.

We have only one player going away for african nations and thats momo.So I think benayoun was bought for back up for one of our midfield.With Kewell ..riise,and now hopefully babel..the winger situation is sorted.Mostly central midfield is where he might be placed..attacking??Have no clue , thats up to the gaffer.

Just hope ryans signing is completed and that would make 2 class signings we have made in quite a while..TBH i was doubting the americans honesty about buying players and spending big...i still do coz as a fellow red mentioned"we bought torres with bellers and cisses funds.

So its starting to look ok..not great mind you but its looking ok..all this and the new stadium in the horizon...the future definatly looks red!!

YNWA

Since 3-4 years liverpool has been chasing a winger who cost not more than 15 million, yet they have not get him, and we started hoping to get quaresma..i wonder if this guy has really been in Rafa's plan..did he really mentioned this player??? Coz nothing seems to prove that he gonna move for the player, he already said he need 2 more signings, and thats it, Benayoun and Babel..No Boaresma in the plans...Anyway i can't see him digging fro the funds to buy one more winger, i am really dissapointed about that, but thats the mere truth..
As for a good defender, i don't know where the hell somebody got the rumor we are after Vincent Kompany when nothing was in newspapers..lets wait and see who gonna be the defender we'll be going for.

Well he had a fairly OK season wit the hammers.. I'm not sure he's cut out for us though.. I sure wish Rafa jus got Quaresma.. He did go up up to 14m i think.. Jus another 3m wud hav done it! But now it all looks very unlikely, cos of benayoun n Babel.. I hope Babel is everythin tat he's rumoured to be.. Certainly causing a hype.. Anyone can tell me his stats n predict his EPL baptism?

Red4life

Voronin to me is a dark horse because i personally have seen him ply in the ukraine squad in the world cup beside shevchenko.he seems okay but he is a dark horse which not many people kno about includin managers.Benayoun is a decent plyer but not one to cemnt a first team place accordin to his current perfrmance with west ham but if he was to up his game then he migt hava a chance in gettn a good rotation role.we'll probably dump him for a cut price.Torres WILL shine as long as he adjusts quick enough to the premiership,that means lots of games needed but hopefully once he starts scorin he wont stop we all hope.i feel the strikers will get the biggest chsnce for a long run especially torres but the likes of kuyt nd crouch r usually used on rotation dependin on the opposition nd afas tactics.we should be runners up or even very close winners but we can only lose the premiership at the begginin so we need to keep up with the likes of chelsea nd man utd if not surpass them but keepin a consistant form throughout the premiership is another impotant thing.
frm wat iv said above i hope u guys approve but i kno there wll be the odd person criticizin or with different opinions.dats the good thin about a forum that everyone gets a chance to give thier opinion.SO wat do u guys think about my opinions.

I think we gotta trust Rafa on these new boys, especially Benayoun. As correctly stated by someone above, Rafa first saw him at Racing Santander and has been tracking him for few years now, so he must see something in him that he likes. Just because someone costs only 5 million doesnt necessarily mean thay aren't a class player. Money is no assurance of quality, just look at other teams spending in recent years ( i'm thinking Juan Veron at United , or Shevchenko and Ballack at Chelsea).
Sometimes players need a bigger stage to prove their true potential and i think thats what Rafa thinks about Benayoun. And back to the money thing , Sami Hypia cost us very little yet in his prime you wouldn't have swapped him for anyone, and then there is Solksjaer at United, only a couple of million yet for years he was prolific for them and a true fans favourite.
And as for this Spanish thing, in my opinion i reckon Rafa looks there more often than not because of all the foreign leagues it is the one that plays a style of football which is not unlike the Premiership, so hopefully the players coming from there shouldn't take too long to adjust. The Italian style is too slow and methodical whereas the French and Germans aren't in the same class.
Hey, i could be way off the mark but thats just my opinion, lets hear yours......

skywalker hi there all, i dont really see us doing so good this season... i was hoping to see top class players coming in? all ive seen so far are middle class. one top player tores!! we need 2 more atleast, or its same old story for us. i would love to see quaresma? or alves, but looks like the scum chelsea are going to get him... who would you like to see come in?

Babell is a player I don't know much about, to make the Dutch team at a such a young age he must be fairly good. Is he an out and out winger or another forward , who can play on the wing as well. People are saying he is a left winger but is right footed ?

if you want to know/see some more either use the previous link or type in Ryan Babel into the search box at the top of this page. let me know what you think.

go to www.liverpoolfc.tv and when your there type in Ryan Babel into the search box. you will get lots more info and videos there.

Would you split hairs between Yossi Benayoun or Luis Garcia .... Andrei Veronin or Fowler/Bellamy.. Are two of our new signings a step forward or backwards?

Babel is a talented player but he's like Nani and Anderson at Utd - it's his potential we are buying not a polished player. We needed a more experienced player who can help Gerrard and Torres carry the burden THIS SEASON.
We need at least one more top class player like Quaresma, Anelka or Simao or else I don't think we'll keep with Utd/Chelski after xmas.

I honestly believe apart from Torres we haven't signed anyone who will make a meaningful impact on our title fortunes this season and it makes me worry Benitez seems incapable of making the right moves.

We have Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano and Sissoko fighting for two midfield places. Most weeks 2 of them are on the bench. They are all under 27 years old. Did Benitez really need to buy a young Brazlian midfielder this summer for £6 million who won't get many games when we needed more quality up front? Was Gonzales not worth another season to see if he could improve on the left wing or why did Rafa lose faith in him so quick when he only bought the guy 12 months earlier?

I can't keep count of the amount of players coming and going at Anfield under Rafa Benitez but apart from Alonso, Mascherano, Reina, Agger and now Torres, none of Rafa's buys were up to Liverpool's old, and proper, standards.