LOL @ Gerrard

[Hoop Blah]

Central midfield is Liverpool's strength, it just seems pointless to meddle with it when theres other areas they need to strengthen.

Villa wouldn't sell Barry for much under £20m either, given he's their captain, English and they don't need to sell.

It's not their strength if they don't think Alonso wants to stay much longer though (or if they think they can improve it).

Not sure Villa will hold out for quite that much. They're likely to hold up the silly money Utd paid out for both Hargreaves and Carrick as a yardstick for any fee though, but ultimately, if Barry says he wants to go then they might just have to sell at a more reasonable price.

Why would Alonso move? He didn't go to Real Madrid last summer so theres little chance he'd want to leave in the near future. He's also a year younger than Barry.

I don't know WHY he would want a move but there has been plenty of speculation that he'll be off this summer. That might be because Rafa is looking at bringing someone in or because Alonso hasn't been the mainstay of the side he's been in the past and he dosen't like that. Maybe he's just worried he'll get his house broken into if he stays on Merseyside too much longer.

As for being younger, your missing my point in your eagerness to be argumentative. Alonso is 27 later this year. He is hitting his peak and now is the best time for him to make the most money by moving to a top Spanish or Italian club for a juicy 3 year deal and then one more on his way back down as he passes 30.

I really rate Alonso, but I can see why he might want be a little unsettled and why Rafa would see Barry as an excellent replacement OR just another option for him so that he doesn't weaken his midfield when he rotates next season (2 from 3 of Mascherano, Alonso and Barry is better than 2 from three of Mascherano, Alonso and Lucas). You have to remember that Gerrard doesn't really come into the equation for the midfield these days as Rafa has him in a position all of his own. He's also already lost Sissoko from his squad last year.

I don't remember you argueing along these same lines when Fergie was buying Hargreaves and Anderson to add Carrick, Scholes and Flecther last season by the way!

[Apocalypse Now]

If Man Utd were selling Carrick and replacing him with Barry you might have a point!

Barry would be good signing if they kept Alonso, rather than using him to replace him. That said Liverpool are in a tricky position. They need three or four world class players to bridge the gap and win the title yet they can't afford them so Benitez is having to wheel and deal.

[papereyes]

I don't understand why Gerrard didn't play last night as I thought it was only the CL finalists with the exception of RIo that were given a rest.

WAHEY!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Kevin Doyles Right Foot]

I don't understand why Gerrard didn't play last night as I thought it was only the CL finalists with the exception of RIo that were given a rest.

WAHEY!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Because they had to rest all the decent players and because Lampard is so shit he needed to be dropped anyway.

[earleyroyal]

Does anyone agree with me that Gerrards passing is actually quite poor for a top rated midfielder. He always looks for the long diagonal

He plays well for Liverpool, but never seems to be able to do the same for his country. I don't know why. He has his moments though.

Like all England players, and it’s the primary cause imho of the lack of success of this ‘golden generation’ is that none of the players seem able to replicate their club form simply because their national team-mates aren’t where their club team-mates would normally be, or making the runs that they normally do. Frank never seems to have anyone to pass to for England, and Gerrard’s pass completion is often woeful; Rooney normally just runs around in circles growling at people for an hour or so; and without Beckham in the side, no-one passes to Michael Owen. It’s awful, to be honest.

Compare that to, for example, how quickly Torres adapted to English football and yet how well he still plays in a fluid Spain side, which couldn’t be more different to his club team.

Could it be a fundamental lack of technique? Compare the ball control/first touch/passing range of English players to the rest of the world (most of whom incidentally are coached from a young age about technique and not just trained to win games by kicking it harder than the opposition). Gerrard is a good player but his technique is rubbish compared to truly world-class players. Same for lots of the English players - no coincidence that most of the experts are calling for less competitive youth football and more emphasis on learning to control the thing first.

[Royal Rother]

The fact that at the age of 11 English kids are expected to play on virtually full size pitches means that the bigger kids who are stronger and can run further and faster and kick the ball further and harder have an advantage over the smaller less physically developed ones.

The slower maturing lads who might be more skillful are often unable to compete physically with the bigger lads and so lose heart and drop out of the game.

When you watch England U15 games half of the players are at least 6 foot tall - by the time the slower maturing players have caught them up they'll already have fallen by the wayside.

Generalisations included but it is definitely a factor.