Alonso's injury

[Reece]

If Everton could have managed to afford to pay there rent then Liverpool as we know it wouldnt have been formed. I might have to start blaming them.

Lets not sink to their level now.

[Neil Young]

If Everton could have managed to afford to pay there rent then Liverpool as we know it wouldnt have been formed. I might have to start blaming them.

I realize they blame us for everything but I don't think we need to descend to their level.

Besides it's been clearly established on page 1 of this thread that one person* alone is to blame.

link




* Or, to be more accurate, cat.

[Liverpool]

If Everton could have managed to afford to pay there rent then Liverpool as we know it wouldnt have been formed. I might have to start blaming them.

Nah its there job to blame us for everything.

[saj]

Cant we all just agree its Parrys fault?

Isn't it the fault of the person who hired Parry?

So it's the person who Hired Parry, whose fault it is that Alonso got injured.

[dww]

I disagree with both those line-ups. Barry plays holding midfield for England (I don't know about Villa) so I think this is/would have been far more likely:

--Mascherano------Barry----
Kuyt-------Gerrard-----Riera*
------------Torres-----------

* Or whoever.

In other words, Barry for Alonso would have been a straight (if undesirable in my view) swap.

[Forgive me for posting my line-up the other way up. I always start with the keeper - it's just a personal thing of course but it looks wrong to me the other way. ]

So not just me who thinks that Keane's role in the squad wouldn't have been affected at all by swapping Barry for Alonso then.

[Reece]

So not just me who thinks that Keane's role in the squad wouldn't have been affected at all by swapping Barry for Alonso then.

I don't see any blame being apportioned in this post

[The Birdman]

Neil and dww - so what you're both saying is that Rafa paid 20 odd mill for Keane and he was never going to feature in Rafa's 1st choice team??
Obviously none of us have the foggest but I would be amazed at Rafa spending 20 mill on someone he alway planned to be a sub.

[Scratch]

Neil and dww - so what you're both saying is that Rafa paid 20 odd mill for Keane and he was never going to feature in Rafa's 1st choice team??
Obviously none of us have the foggest but I would be amazed at Rafa spending 20 mill on someone he alway planned to be a sub.

Options...cover for injuries to Torres..can play in the hole (the Gerrard role), can play as a wide forward or part of a 2 man attack...plenty of reasons to pay the money for him...

[Neil Young]

Neil and dww - so what you're both saying is that Rafa paid 20 odd mill for Keane and he was never going to feature in Rafa's 1st choice team??
Obviously none of us have the foggest but I would be amazed at Rafa spending 20 mill on someone he alway planned to be a sub.

I think he thought Keane would add to the squad as cover for Gerrard and Torres. That flexibility, coupled with his experience (and possibly that he counts as a homegrown player, if he does (I can't be bothered to check)) made him pay a lot of money.

However I think it's possible your question is flawed by your assumption Rafa looks at the squad in terms of first choice/second choice. Given the way he rotates the front 6 especially and his desire to have players on the bench capable of changing things, then I think he just views things in terms of options. There's also the option of playing Keane in a 4-4-2 of course.

Plus also there's the possibility he bought Keane believing he would push other players (especially the two mentioned) for a starting place, which is no bad thing, even if spending £20m seems a lot of money to achieve that.

[Neil Young]

Options...cover for injuries to Torres..can play in the hole (the Gerrard role), can play as a wide forward or part of a 2 man attack...plenty of reasons to pay the money for him...

Oh b*ll*cks, that's much more succinct. I wish I hadn't bothered.

[Scratch]

Oh b*ll*cks, that's much more succinct. I wish I hadn't bothered.

Plus also there's the possibility he bought Keane believing he would push other players (especially the two mentioned) for a starting place, which is no bad thing, even if spending £20m seems a lot of money to achieve that.

You did add that last point to the ones i'd made, so it was worth the effort

[The Birdman]

All of which makes sense, I'm just struggling to get my head around us paying 20m (alledgedley) for effectively a squad player, someone to give the squad more depth not influence it week in week out in the starting XI. I thought we didn't have any money.

[Guest]

All of which makes sense, I'm just struggling to get my head around us paying 20m (alledgedley) for effectively a squad player, someone to give the squad more depth not influence it week in week out in the starting XI. I thought we didn't have any money.

The proof in the pudding is that we're top of the league. It has certainly added strength in depth to our squad, which is essential to sustain a title challenge.

[Neil Young]

The proof in the pudding is that we're top of the league. It has certainly added strength in depth to our squad, which is essential to sustain a title challenge.

[Woobus]

All of which makes sense, I'm just struggling to get my head around us paying 20m (alledgedley) for effectively a squad player, someone to give the squad more depth not influence it week in week out in the starting XI. I thought we didn't have any money.

Look at last year how badly we coped without Torres and then look at us now. He might not have been totally on form but its clear to me he has added more than some give him credit for.