So, Torres has signed...

[red g]

Theres nothing to say Shevchenko won't adapt this season. The number of players that have taken a season to get used to the PL is substantial. But as mentioned by Red_Polo, it would be difficult if not impossible to choose between them at this stage due to this sort of issue, therefore we can't say that he would get into chelseas team ahead of shevchenko, which was the original point.

well they say class is permanent, form is temporary but morientes threw that out the window!!

I am sure 99% of premiership managers would go for torres to start with. He is one of the most exciting forwards in europe its as if we have to slate the bloke jsut coz he is ours./

[The_weatherman]

We will be closer, but we're still lacking players that the top two would be genuinely envious of.

I´m not going to dignify the utter **** coming from that WUM (reds08) with an answer, but I think ManUtd. and Chelsea would pounce on some of our players if they were available.

Reina - Manu. would probably be interested.
Gerrard - Nuff said.
Mascher - Nuff said.
Xabi - Nuff said.
Torres - Both teams have been interested in the past.

Agger and Carra less so but they are well stocked in that department as well.

[Henno]

Actually, I agree with him. None of our signings so far would get into the first team of the mancs or chelsea. Because of this we're closer, but IMO not close enough to win the title just yet. We need more flair and creativity, more goalscorers throughout the side, before we'll win it IMO.

We will be a stronger side this year, and the gap will narrow, but not enough to make us contenders this year.

it doesnt matter if they would make into the manc or chav teams

the important thing is if they make it into our team.

we were close to them last season ... getting to the semi finals in the CL meant we didnt exactly prioritise the prem

[RedReet]

well they say class is permanent, form is temporary but morientes threw that out the window!!

Take it you missed Valencia's games before he got injured?

[Milan_Milan]

Yep. Likewise, we can't cite Sheva as a player he wouldn't get into their team ahead of.

True, but even assuming that he does for a moment, we've signed one player that gets into one of the top two teams, is that going to be enough to challenge given that the rest of their sides are superior (bar maybe CM, but we're very defensive there).

I think my point is that everyone is expecting a title challenge this season due to the excitement of signing Torres, but is overlooking the fact that we've only actually improved our starting eleven by one player, who may or may not be on a par with the best in the division, and have yet to add any real creativity or flair to provide service to him (which was our biggest problem last year).

As I said before, I'm not saying that we've done badly, rafa out etc, but that I think we need to improve further before we challenge. Our squad will be very, very strong after this summer, and hopefully next summer we'll add the fabled 'last piece of the puzzle' to enable us to challenge.

That said theres a lot of time left in the transfer window, and if we can get one really exciting flair player in, then I could well be revising my opinion!

[Reds08]

I´m not going to dignify the utter **** coming from that WUM (reds08) with an answer, but I think ManUtd. and Chelsea would pounce on some of our players if they were available.

Reina - Manu. would probably be interested.
Gerrard - Nuff said.
Mascher - Nuff said.
Xabi - Nuff said.
Torres - Both teams have been interested in the past.

Agger and Carra less so but they are well stocked in that department as well.

Red_Polo, i think you may appreciate that having just rashly brandished a yellow, a level of consistency should be maintained and weatherman should be punished. The word WUM is not something i want to be attached with.

[Milan_Milan]

I´m not going to dignify the utter **** coming from that WUM (reds08) with an answer, but I think ManUtd. and Chelsea would pounce on some of our players if they were available.

Reina - Manu. would probably be interested.
Gerrard - Nuff said.
Mascher - Nuff said.
Xabi - Nuff said.
Torres - Both teams have been interested in the past.

Agger and Carra less so but they are well stocked in that department as well.

Sorry, I should have made myself more clear, I was talking about the final third of the pitch, the attacking/goalscoring areas.

Most of our best players are defensive, and we have a fantastic defensive unit, but on the attacking side, we've not yet added anyone who the top two would be jealous of (Torres possibly, has been discussed at length, but still unproven and the top sides have very good strikers)

[Marky]

Any chance of Babel and Benayoun completing there moves today ?

[Milan_Milan]

it doesnt matter if they would make into the manc or chav teams

the important thing is if they make it into our team.

we were close to them last season ... getting to the semi finals in the CL meant we didnt exactly prioritise the prem

I would agree to an extent, but also argue that no matter how sophisticated the tactics involved, in terms of attacking and goalscoring if we don't have players very close to/the equal of/better than theirs, we're going to struggle to score the goals to overhaul them. All three sides have good, and similar defences, last year the team that scored the most goals won it.

Edit: And 21 points isn't close, no matter how much we prioritised Europe. It was NOT good enough for this club.

[Nic83]

I can't wait for this season to start. I've never know LFC to sign such quality. Can't wait to see Torres, Babel and Benny in an LFc shirt strutting their stuff on the Anfield turf - Flair in abundance. Signing Simao would dampen it, I don't want him. Another fabio ****in Rochembak.

[RedReet]

Edit: And 21 points isn't close, no matter how much we prioritised Europe. It was NOT good enough for this club.

If we had a goal scorer last year we could easily have beaten the Scum twice narrowing the deficit to nine points.

[red g]

If we had a goal scorer last year we could easily have beaten the Scum twice narrowing the deficit to nine points.

as well as celebrating number six

[tomasjj]

Beat me to it. What a pile of negative horse**** that was. If he hasn't scored a goal by March I'll eat my own penis sautéed in garlic olive oil with a sprig of rosemary.

There is another signature candidate....

[Milan_Milan]

as well as celebrating number six

Do we have one this year?

[RedReet]

as well as celebrating number six

Depressing, but so true unfortunately.