RAFA BENITEZ is confident he will wrap up a deal to bring Brazilian star Daniel Alves to Liverpool.

Sources in Seville have been saying this week that the proposed transfer of the right-sided player is off because Liverpool will not stump up the £12million asking price.

But Anfield chief Benitez says the Spanish club's stance is merely a negotiating tactic and is adamant that his friendship with the Seville president will see the deal go through.

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The Liverpool manager has told friends that "however long it takes I will get him."

But Benitez is losing his fight to land Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt because he is struggling to raise the £10million required to bring him to Merseyside.

Instead Benitez has indicated that he will wait for the fall-out from Italy's match-fixing scandal to see if he can snap up a bargain.

Benitez is interested in Juve's David Trezeguet, Mauro Camoranesi and Gianluca Zambrotta, as well as AC Milan striker Alberto Gilardino.

So what are we doing wrong, money seems to very very tight dont know why, we won champions league last year and have not gone mad spending since.

But at the end of last season our 2 top priorities were at least one right sided midfielder and a world class striker, ok we have Bellamy but we need 1 more striker..........in Rafa i believe but we have strenghtened every position except these.

Cant wait to see Gonzalez play if he is half the player Rafa says he is, its going to be a great and entertaining season.

GONZALEZ EXCITES RAFA

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is titillated by the prospect of fielding new signing Mark Gonzalez in The Premiership.

The Reds finally landed their man this summer when the Home Office granted the Merseysiders permission to bring in the Chilean winger, having been refused a work permit 12 months ago.

The plan is unfolding slowly Gonzalez seems to be first choice on left of midfield, Zendon a back up for central mifielder, Paletta in defence with Aurelio as left back and crazy Bellamy up front, sounds great but it leaves out Gerrards favourite link up player and probably one of the best left sided players in the world Risse, and we still dont have our right winger or world class striker.

We have been very badly let down by the transfer deadline in Rafas other dealings lets hope so lets hope we get all our summer transfers sorted soon.

Zenden set for key Reds role

Rafa Benitez has hinted that Boudewijn Zenden will have a key role to play at Liverpool this season.
Who believes that with the amount of left sided players we have.
I like the south american players we have added this last week but surly Gonzalez Kewell and now Riise are our preferred left midfielders,
Me thinks this is just lip service from Sir Rafa

FAILURE AGAIN

I am not english so my views are not clouded by patriotism so i know that the ability of the players sent to Germany did not reach there full potential with there quarter-final knockout. When will the english fa learn that when things are going wrong they have to have the balls to change things, this is from Terry Butcher and his words are spot on

Sven-Goran Eriksson has left his job as England coach after five-and-a-half years in charge - and we are no further forward than when he was appointed.

He has reached three quarter-finals in two World Cups and a European Championship, and that is nowhere near the standard we should be achieving with the so-called "Golden Generation" of players coming through.Why should we be proud of the fact that we have one star on our shirt representing the fact that we reached one World Cup final 40 years ago?

Other countries have two or three stars to signify their World Cup achievements and both Germany and France have the power to add another in Germany.

It is embarrassing. We have only ever been in one final and two semi-finals.

How can we justify calling ourselves a world football power when we are not?

We have become all Billy Big Time and become too big for our boots, and yet we have got nothing to shout about because we have done nothing. This is what annoys me.

We have no right to be as confident or arrogant about our football as we are. It has been not been anywhere near good enough.

And sadly, Eriksson has not taken us on to the next level.

This is very true and something i hope every English fan relises, England has to start all over again pick out there strong points and build the future around that, at the moment its Gerrard and Rooney, but as the Fa has already decided that Mclaren is the new man, expect more of the same after all this man has learned all he knows about international football from Sven so as i see it there is still no light at the end of the tunnel

WILL HARRY KEWELL START AT ANFIELD NEXT SEASON

Harry Kewell great player with an uncanny knack of getting injured before or during Liverpool Fc or Australia´s biggest game`s. Now i am not for a second saying he does this on purpose but it is a reality that it happens to him a lot, something in his head or whatever but not many bookies will take a bet on him finishing a final,
So with Mark Gonzalez arriving Riise and Zendon here already how much will he play next season, enough to justify not selling him?

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!

A penalty to substitute Francesco Totti with the last kick of the game saw Italy end Australia's World Cup dream in controversial circumstances with a 1-0 win in Kaiserslautern this morning.

Totti's penalty came after Lucas Neill was judged to have brought down Fabio Grosso in the final minute of stoppage time.

The decision sparked outrage among Socceroos fans after TV replays appeared to show that Neill had been unlucky to have the penalty blown against him as Grosso seemed to fall over his legs.

The aussies were great value for money in this world cup and i really wanted them to go further, from the start there great comeback against japan set the scene for a great performance from the growing football nation, this i believe is just the start of the australian football story, i expect to see them a lot more regular at world cups from now on......world cup fever has taken a serious grip on that country and the people just dont wanna let go..........

Confident Eriksson says criticism is unwarranted and vows that the best is yet to come

Sven-Goran Eriksson has grown wearily accustomed to criticism of his team's performances and before leaving Stuttgart last night he found himself in the familiar position of having to fend off hostile questioning. England's head coach acknowledged that the victory over Ecuador had been another unsatisfactory performance but he also accused his detractors of having unreasonable expectations."If we expected to be controlling games for 90 minutes and creating 20 chances then we are in the wrong place," he said. "Today we were among the best 16 teams in the world. Next week it is the best eight. Of course there are going to be times in matches when we are going to suffer
My god this man is an absolute nutter, the only thing he has in his favour is he is lucky, England have so far played terrible football but because they came through the easier of the groups then met Equador,then have the fortune of meeting a Portugese side depleted through bans and injury.
They say its better to be born lucky than rich and Sven is the poster boy for that thought.

I PROVED MY CRITICS WRONG- BECKHAM

David Beckham said he answered his critics after scoring the winning goal against Ecuador to send England through to the World Cup quarter-finals.
"It was nice to silence a few people who have been critical. I can handle my criticism and I'll prove them wrong.
Ok nice goal but the man did absolutely nothing else in the game and he cannot be picked just to take free kicks, and to say he silenced his critics..DAVID its going to take a lot more than 1 goal against a second rate keeper to prove you still have what it takes for full international football .
Overall this was very bad english performance, but it is not the players fault. Sven sent out a team against Ecuador ,the mighty Ecuador with one up front. He could not muster enough courage to play 2 strikers what happens when England start playing the good teams, what formation replaces his 4-1-4-1 surly not his extra safe 5-5-0 formation....England cannot get rid of this clown soon enough, they really seemed more clueless than normal today, it is crazy the guy has been in the job this long and at this stage of a comp he is putting in carrick who had never started a competetive game for england before, it madness after all this time he still dos`nt know his best team or best formation.........this idiot gets paid 5 million squid a year, un- fuckin- believeable...

TIME TO GIVE BECKS THE BOOT

The time has come for Steven Gerrard to inspire England in the way he inspires Liverpool week in and week out. Give him the armband and let him lead England to glory.

If you apply some sound common sense there can be only one solution.

In the past, my main criticism of Beckham has been his lack of mobility both offensively and defensively. In stark contrast, Gerrard is always on the move and his fitness and pace are nearing their peak. He is a well-oiled, ruthless midfield machine.

He falls into a rare breed of players who can lift sides, carry and inspire them.

Beckham is merely in the team these days for his delivery at set-pieces. His contribution outside of that is negligible.

But Gerrard, who has scored two goals in three games prior to the Ecuador clash, can not only provide a similar service in the same position he excels in for Liverpool, but a whole lot more besides.

To leave Beckham out now and play with a four-man midfield of Joe Cole, Owen Hargreaves, Lampard and Gerrard would bring balance, pace, excitement and goals to a dysfunctional area of the team.

Beckham's presence is merely preventing the fulfilment of England's potential. ..............Terry Butcher from The Sunday Mirror

All this we have known for a years, but this world cup has really shown how big the gap is between these 2 players. If England have any real hope of winning this cup it will only be with Gerrard wearing the captains armband.....they would still be a longshot but surly with Gerrard as a driving force there chances would be so much better.......so the question is has Sven got the balls........................................NO

THE NUTTER HAS ARRIVED.....CRAIG BELLAMY

Blackburn Rovers striker Craig Bellamy has completed his move to Liverpool after conceding he could not reject the chance to join his boyhood heroes.
Maybe Rafa likes a challenge and this will surly challenge his man management talents, but if it works he is great value at 6 million and i believe Rafa would not have done the deal if he was not confident of controlling `THE CRAZY ONE´.
I hope this bargain buy allows us to still bring in one world class striker along with Alves but its all about the checkbook now.

PETER CROUCH CAN DO ANYTHING

SVEN LOSING THE PLOT

Eriksson wants strikers to shine
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson says he is looking for big performances from strikers Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney when they play Sweden on Tuesday.
"I expect Owen and Rooney to play like they used to, in the golden days," said Eriksson. "They always play well.

Ok what is the lunatic on now, they just dont suit each others style of play when they are both playing up front, even though it may not be the prettiest football in the world English football is based on a target man and even though these are 2 great players they are midgets. I agree that he has to play them tomorrow to give them as many match minutes as he can before the real buisness starts ,but i really hope Sven does not think that playing these 2 together will be the answear for Englands tactical problems, and Englands problems are tactical.
Gerrard as always is the key he has to be let go forward more, Lumpy Lampard is a good player but he just dose not have the drive going forward that Gerrard has, and Rooney will be much more effective when he has Crouch knocking balls down to him.
If England are to do well at this world cup then they are going have to have enough confidence in there defence to venture forward , release Gerrard and let him bring the fear to the opposition.

BELLAMY HEADING TO ANFIELD

Liverpool are believed to be pushing ahead with a move for Craig Bellamy.

The Welsh international is widely reported to have a clause in his contract at Blackburn that allows him to leave Ewood Park for just £6 million.

Not ideal but as long as he is not our main striker buy of the summer, and if we can get him for 6 million and if he leaves his crazy off-field antics behind him then it could turn out to be a good deal. Not too keen on giving Sinama-Pongolle as part of the deal i think he will still be a good option for Liverpool fc and even though cash is tight he is worth a lot more than the trade-in we would get as part of a Bellamy deal.

Cash really does seem to be the problem this summer, even more so than past summers if we do go ahead with the Alves deal which will probably cost over 8 million and hopefully one world class striker, it makes u wonder where the cash is going to come from. With the arrival of Gonzalez maybe Rafa is hoping Kewell will have a great world cup to push up his price, hope he stays at anfield he really does seem to be coming back to his best...

WHO WILL WIN WORLD CUP...Please vote...

LIVERPOOL DUO SAVE ENGLAND

Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard spared England's blushes with late goals against Trinidad & Tobago to book their place in the last 16 of the World Cup.











The Liverpool pair produced the goals, but it seemed like Lampard had been assigned shooting duty with the amount of shots he took, but then again maybe it was just his chelsea arrogance that made him position himself inside the six yard box in the hope of scoring from Gerrards crumbs.
But very happy to see Crouch score he deserves it ,he is such a good team player its nice he gets a bit recognition for his consistant selfless play for club and country.

GERMANS.........BORING?

For once our normally subdued and robotic germans gave real entertainment, and what a time and place to start, the opening game of the 2006 world cup. It is surly a sign of a very good world cup when even the Germans entertain in the opening game and some great goals by both sides.
I think one of the oldest and most famous sayings surronding world cups over the years has been watch out for the germans they always have a chance , i have heard this all my life and the germans have always proved it true, but this year i thought there managerial team and players are so weak that i wrote them off.
Todays game made me think twice, they are a much more attacking team nowadays and it looks effective, defence looks a bit dodgy and im not saying they will win the world cup but they are better than i thought and this is the world cup so who knows.
The team i really want to see playing is Argentina everyone says Brazil will win this cup but i think there southern neighbours could have a big say in the final outcome

CISSE...SHOCK AND AWE

Im shocked and im in awe that were stuck with this idiot for another year, now i feel sorry for any player that breaks his leg and especially if its a Liverpool player but this idiot thought he was escaping the evil cluthes of Rafa Benitez and going home to the green fields of france, and it was a great deal for all, He wanted to go and most Liverpool fans wanted him to go and idiot boy was so sure the deal was done one week ago he said this

Houllier signed me for Liverpool but I never had the chance to work with him.

"Now I have a coach who doesn't want me. Benitez doesn't use me, so I've taken a step back.

"I don't have the confidence of the coach; he doesn't like me."

So this has turned into a dream situation ...We dont want Cisse...He dose not want us..He is useless for another 6 months no one will buy him for at least a year to make sure he has recovered.

Maybe we will look back in 20 years and say, do u remember how close we came to selling one of Liverpools greatest strikers of all time before he had a chance to prove himself..........Dont hold your breath this guy is the last of houliers wasters ...............i hope

IF WE HAVE ANY CHANCE THEN GOTTA BUY

Liverpool have been alerted to the availability of Argentina forward Pablo Aimar, who may be allowed to leave Valencia for as little as £5m.

If we have even half a chance of really signing this player then Rafa will sign him. He has worked with him at Valencia so he knows how good he is, i dont think there is a player in the spanish league at the moment more suited to playing in the prem than Aimar , he not only has the skill but a bit of toughness too that is needed in the prem league, but would be very surprised if he is available if Real or Barca do not try to sign him.

LOOKING GOOD

Striker Djibril Cisse says he feels unwanted by Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez and wants to join former Anfield boss Gerard Houllier at Lyon.

Cisse, training with the France World Cup squad at Clairefontaine, said: "Mr. Houllier signed me for Liverpool but I never had the chance to work with him.

"Now I have a coach who doesn't want me. Benitez doesn't use me, so I've taken a step back.

"I don't have the confidence of the coach; he doesn't like me."

Houllier helped bring Cisse to Liverpool from Auxerre but left the club shortly before the 24-year-old signed in July 2004.

This is just what was needed Cisse putting the final nail in his own coffin, i hope this makes it official that we are open to offers for the flop, and we get in a striker that can be a plus for the team

GONZALEZ AXED FROM CHILEAN SQUAD

Liverpool ace Mark Gonzalez has been thrown out of the Chile squad for a breach of discipline.

Gonzalez and Reinaldo Navia were axed from the squad by Chile coach Nelson Acosta after breaking rules during their European tour.

The pair were sent home from the trip after the coach caught three girls in their rooms 24 hours after their friendly win over Republic of Ireland.

Hope this is not going to be another spice boys thing maybe its better he makes mistakes now before we sign him and THE SUN gets hold of him.

But at least he gets full rest before season and if he had great world cup real madrid and barca would probably chase him so its not all bad