LIVERPOOL FC - A CASE FOR THE DEFENCE

This is spot on Luke

I think Pepe has had to make at least one world class save in every game we've played so far this season. That should tell us all we need to know alongside the two defeats. We are much more insecure at the back than in previous years.

Despite that, its farcical to see all the so called "expert commentators" [yes Lawro, I mean you!] jumping on the bandwagon to rubbish the zonal marking system. The very same system that saw us only lose two matches all last season and concede the second fewest goals [just 3 more than Man U and Chelshea] in the premiership!

The only thing that has changed is the personnel. In most of our games this year only 1 player was in last years back four - Carragher. We have a new left and right back, and have had 3 diferent centre backs partnering our V-C, one of whom was injured, one is in his early 20's and one speaks no English and played just days after signing for the club! Is it any wonder the two CB's are like strangers to each other?

The system worked well last year, and one hopes will work well again this season - once the first choice players are back in the team and the new players get used to it. Yes its frustrating that Skrtel has lost some confidence [injury related perhaps] Agger is on the treatment table again and Johnson and Insua haven't taken to the system like ducks to water but surely all these niggles will work out over time. I agree the form of our new Greek signing was a worry, but what we we expecting for a bargain basement £1.5m? The new Beckenbaur? He's clearly just fodder to stand in until Skrtel and Agger are fully fit.

I'm sure that come the new year our back four will be Johnson, Skrtel, Agger and Insua with Carragher slowly but surely taking on Sami's ond mantle of senior pro available to stand in when needed.

Transfer deadline day.

A wet dream for Sky Sports, a chance for them to bring out the annoying Scottish idiot and annoying English idiot who pretends to be on the phone to his connections in the footballing World. A day when even the most outrageous rumours and sightings may have a hint of truth. Various text messages from mates who have suddenly got friends in the estate agent business, and have it on absolutely cast iron authority that Kaka is looking at houses in Candies.

And whilst this summer's transfer window saw the usual Sky Sports employees try their best to make even the most obscure transfer seem like a record-breaking deal, most Reds phones did not go into overdrive with sightings of players this year. There were no sightings of Thierry Henry perfecting his driving skills, no David Silva sipping latte in the Met Quarter and no Franck Ribery sipping his pound bottle in the Jacaranda. It seems that even transfer bullshiters had realised that with Tom Hicks and George Gillett syphoning off the vast bulk of money coming into the club to pay for their debts, even the most optimistic or even gullible Red would fail to believe there was any money left in Rafael Benitez's transfer kitty, an accepted fact since early in the transfer window.

And, therein lies the problem. An accepted fact. A shrug of the shoulders and “we've got no money have we so I doubt we'll bring anyone in”.

A very rough estimate tells us with the sales of Alonso (£30m), Keane (£15m) and Arbeloa (£3.5m) Benitez has brought in around £48.5m in transfer fees since January. Glen Johnson's move from Portsmouth has been widely reported as around £17.5m, although with a sizeable chunk of that fee coming from Pompey's debt from the Crouch deal a cheque was a lower price was sent to Fratton Park. Alberto Aquilani was signed as a replacement for Alonso, with a £20m fee depending on his success at Anfield – and staggered payments to Roma rather than the money up front paid.

That is of course going over old ground, and I'm sure it's known throughout the country that – whilst the media still use the outgoing fees spent by Benitez as a stick to beat him with at the first sign of underachievement rather than the net spending – as far as spending big goes we are a spent force. We've been stitched up by the fancy words of the Americans, by the cowardly and greedy Moores and Parry and now we are in the farcical situation of competition money, merchandise sales, ticket sales and TV moneys all paying for the purchase of the club - to paraphrase Hicks: You could say anyone putting money into the Liverpool FC kitty is paying for their purchase.

This, of course, is hardly ground breaking stuff. It's common view on Merseyside and beyond that the American dream has turned into a huge nightmare. That the two characters flashing their wad of notes to Sky cameras in the build up to the 2007 European Cup Final never intended to spend them. That the finger of blame does not just extend to two businessmen who saw a bunch of suckers and an easy buck. And that blame is rightfully placed upon those who are still sitting on the team coach and still keep their mouth shut despite the trouble and damage they've caused the fans they claimed to be acting in the best interests of.

It's about twenty months since in the backroom of the Sandon pub – ironically hired out only a few months later by Hicks and Gillett for their corporate guests the club had touted tickets to – a three hour meeting sparked a turning point in many Liverpool fan's view towards the owners – that the time for treading carefully to keep with the “Liverpool Way” was over and it was time to fight back. Anger, passion and fight came from every speaker and walking out that meeting there was little doubt in my, and I'd imagine many others, mind that with pressure put upon those sitting nicely on their investments over the Atlantic, a new owner would be brought in to closer scrutiny, and offer us a suitable custodians soon.

Underestimated? Probably. Frustrating that the huge efforts on the behalf of a huge number of Reds have proved fruitless? Definitely.

The vain hope that Hicks and Gillett would see some form of moral duty to sell the club to a suitable owner has vanished, with Hicks Jnr and Gillett being told in person on two occasions that they were not welcome – both of whom tried to spin, lie and blame everyone but themselves for the mess the club is in.

Hicks' involvement in Brazilian club Corinthians ended with a string of promises by his company Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst of stadiums and star players predictably broken, but the only way he ended up severing his ties and selling the club was when his company realised their bold and rash business model would not work. Likewise, Gillett's ongoing sale of his Montreal Canadiens hockey team has only come through his financial problems, mainly in securing loans on the back of Liverpool.

But, with millions of Reds around the World, sell-out gates home and away and an extremely marketable brand (Quite possibly the worst two words I've ever typed) it's highly unlikely that money coming into the club will suddenly dry up. A plan to boycott all club products other than match tickets by the SOS was unsuccessful, because apathy and an almost 'head in the sand' approach meant that people felt that either others could try it or that the declaration of a club in financial turmoil was scaremongering. Unless it was agreed by all and strictly adhered to, financial troubles due to merchandise left on hangers and warm Carlsberg bottles left in fridges is unlikely.

Pressure upon the duo's supply line – the Royal Bank of Scotland – has had some success, with a response from the media-shy bank to all those who expressed their concern over a further loan, but with so much tied up in the club after July's refinance package would they be willing to severe ties with Liverpool? It's an avenue that needs to be kept open and pressure kept on I'd imagine, especially in the long term with another refinancing package due.

Is the biggest problem towards getting rid closer to home? Is it not the fact that the Americans are adept at clinging onto power despite pressure from the club's fans, but more the fact that apathy is running throughout our support?

A mate who gave out leaflets for the SOS prior to the Stoke game told how, despite a majority of people taking the leaflet and responding in a positive manner, the leaflets were binned a few yards away, despite them agreeing they'd hold them before kick off. It's apathy from many – to agree with a march that is going on to put pressure on through the media but need to get that early pint in. To tell everyone down the pub that you don't want the Yanks with their hands constantly in the till, but not be arsed with the £10 to join the Union. To leave it to “someone else”.

If more people pulled that lad spouting rubbish about how much we've spent and how the Americans brought in Torres and Mascherano, ask him about how much they've put in themselves. If someone asks you if you want a leaflet, ask for a few off them and pass them on to open a few eyes. If the emails to the RBS and MP s sent in June were sent by even about 50% of our fan base, the pressure could've given us a chance to have new owners who had purchased the club at a reasonable price. A few more en masse chants at the match (Think of the effect Villa at home 2007-08 had in the media and the support for Rafa during the Port match the same season) and the pressure cranks up that notch.

The closing of the transfer window has merely confirmed what the vast majority already knew. And whilst the lack of necessary funds to give our manager the backing he deserves to turn title chasers to title winners could set the team back, and blow our greatest chance of a league title in decades, if it gets more people angry rather than apathetic, incensed rather than indifferent, it could prove the united front needed to ensure that the pressure put on Hicks and Gillett proves insurmountable regardless of their love of the Green and view of us as a cash cow they'll be able to milk for years to come.

Yanks Out.

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