Morientez looks a good buy yet he has hardly, if at all, played this season. I would still bring him on against the Mancs to twat them hard.
I have the second of my "20 euros and wear manc top in training" bets for this Saturday. Don't let me down redmen.

Morientes was never a striker who had a great amount of pace, or for whom pace was part of what made him an excellent striker. So I think being cautious about his diminishing pace is a load of cobblers. His game has always been much more based on skill, ability to hold the ball up and lnk with a first striker, and also being great in the air. So in that sense I think he'd work very well in a central position just behind a Baros or Cisse type of striker who is more about movement and pace.
Like you Pat, I'd love to see him come off the bench rather than start - think of the buzz and the lift he'd give the team and the whole stadium. Can't wait to sit him in a Liverpool shirt. Could he be our biggest/best signing since... eh, Barnes, Beardsley et al?

Could points Speed indeed. He could certainly make a difference and has scored at all levels. I remember watching Liverpool vs Chelsea with Tom back in the summer of 2003 when Kewell was supposed to be the missing link for our championship bid. I really hope Morientes can add more than Kewell has. Liverpool to win on Saturday.

A few interesting and not-so-interesting facts about Morientes - I wish I hadn't ever discovered number 6, and there's something sinister about the fact that his 2 greatest sporting heroes were great advocates of performance enhancing drugs in there day - altough when I say 'advocate' I do of course mean 'user'!

Where are they Speedy?

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N147411050112-2050.htm

Humble apologies!

Liverpool were appalling, without bite and fire and passion.
Some questions:
How is Dudek still in employment?
When will Rooney implode?
Why didn't the guy who through his phone at Rooney actually hit him?
Will Garcia ever get a shot on target?
Will I ever stop betting on Liverpool to beat United?

It was a very very disappointing performance. For me it was a reminder of how far behind the top 3 we are. I have some faith in Benitez and think he'll steer us in the right direction, but there's a hell of a way to go.

It also confirmed for me what I've thought and expressed here about Gerrard - very over-rated, wasteful in possession, no ability to control a game. I think if we got £20m for him it would be good business. The fact that there's talk of £30m+ is just ridiculous, and I think we'd be crazy not to sell for that sort of money.

Traore shouldn't be paid to play football. Has to go. Garcia is a waste of space - plays like Smicer's little sister. Has to go. Hyypia and Pellegrino are too slow to have both in the team. There was such a gap between defence and midfield on Saturday because they were both sitting deep to protect their lack of pace. We can't carry both of them like that. I think Hyypia has to be sacrificed for a good defender with good pace.
Carragher and Riise were our best players for me. Hamman looked old and tired and out of his depth against Keane and Scholes - not helped by the over-rated headless chicken beside him going missing for the entire game.

Baros needs a bit more awareness but can't fault his desire and effort. The little we saw of Cisse convinced me that he'll be better long term than Baros, just hope he recovers properly. Morientes showed a few good touches, but was always going to be difficult for him on his debut. He'll be great if the muppets behind him improve/change.

As for Dudek, he's cost us too many times. Whether he goes just isn't up for debate any more.

I'm still hopeful of 4th because the other teams are even worse than us - not blindingly confident though.

Priorities for the summer: goalkeeper, centre-half and left-back. Have to sort the defence out. If there's any money left after that, maybe a central and right-sided mindfielder.

Speed, agree with everything you say there apart from maybe the stuff on Gerard. His problem is that he has carried Liverpool for close on two years now that when he has an off day it really shows. And Saturday was glaringly obvious. What I will say about Gerard is that he should have long ago waived any rumours about moving to Chelsea. At least not while he is under contract. If he decides to move on after then ok, but he should also state that when it comes up. None of this Owen shite about how much the team, the fans etc mean to him. People who say that should be remembered for the no marks they are. I don't deny people want to move so neither should they.

Dudek was the one my anger was vented at and for him to come out and say that it wasn't his fault is as appalling as the actual error. I would rather we played without a keeper than keep that fool. His sheer presence frightens me.

We will get fourth place and will win a cup. Our glory will hopefully be in the European cup otherwise we are in for a bland end to the season.

I, meanwhile, have to wear a Man Utd top in training as punishment for my over-zealous belief in a team that just didn¡Çt perform.

United deserved their win. They defended really well and Keane and Scholes won the midfield. Gerrard was poor, but it was as Pat says an off-day more than anything.

Agreed that Dudek has to go and Traore too. Also agreed that Hyppia Pellegrino lacked pace and didn't push up because of worries about lack of pace. This also meant that we didn't exploit our one-man advantage in the final 20 minutes or so.

Disagree strongly on Hamann. I thought he was the only one doing the business in midfield. Riise I thought was poor too, and while we can criticize Garcia for shocking finishing, at least he was looking for the ball and trying to get shots in. Give him and his hairband time and I think he'll be ok.

The problem, though, was tactical underestimation of United. We've been successfully realizing our strengths and using the five-man midfield system well against the top teams this year (esp. against Chelsea and Arsenal). Morientes should have started on the bench, with Biscan or Diao or Nunez playing as the fifth midfielder. That way, United would have lost the battle in midfield and the complexion of the game would have changed. Then we could have brought on Morientes.

I think the presence of Biscan or Diao would have further dilluted our shallow pool of talent on the pitch. We have been playing 5 in midfield because all our strikers were injured. And I don't get how it would have been tactically more astute to play 5 in midfield, to choke United, and then once this battle has been 'won' to release them from the headlock by bringing on our second striker - wouldn't this just free up the midfield for them to dominate and control in much the same way they did for about 75 minutes?

Maybe I was a bit over the top about Gerrard, but I stick to my essential evaluation of him. Even when he's playing well his passing is erratic. He can never just play the simple ball, maintain momentum in a move, and dictate the rhythm and flow of a game. Always the 50 yard diagonal ball or the defence splitter, which come off probably less than half the time. But the other side of him is aggression and dynamism, which is great. I just wish he had the intelligence to know when and where to go for the killer ball and when to just play the simple pass and move. Maybe he can learn, I don't know. He's compared to a younger Keane, but I don't ever remember Keane being as wasteful in possession.

I realize how hairy what I am saying sounds, if you put it in terms of whether a team should start with Biscan or Morientes. I also know that use of the five in midfield system at home for the Arsenal and Chelsea games was at least partly down to injury to Baros and Cisse (but I think Mellor and Pongolle have were both fit for both those games, were they not?)

But the fact remains we performed much better against Arsenal and Chelsea than we did against United and the major difference was the formation. In the center of the park, we were (effectively) a player down and it showed. While never wanting to advocate Igor Biscan in the Liverpool lineup, it would surely have been more effective than the largely ineffective Morientes, who hadn't trained once with the team and doesn't even speak English.

two interesting threads here:

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=9be6487fa0057be83c68b44dd6c8d3e9&topic=49779.0

http://raotlforum.lozworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=12581

Just read those threads Pat. Lots of consensus that the center of midfield didn't work against United, though some difference on the reasons why. Still think people are being very harsh on Hamann. I'd pick him before Gerrard if Alonso was fit, but maybe that's just me.

Woke up this morning and one of the first things I saw was a headline saying "comical Traore own goal dumps Liverpool out of the FA Cup at lowly Burnley."