The Two Sides of Merseyside

In the blue corner... Everton boss David Moyes lashed out at the Premiership's big spenders this transfer season by labeling them "irresponsible". He bemoans the fact that other clubs splashing the cash this summer is making it hard for his (little) club to bring in top flight talent. Basically this all amounts to Moyes whining because the big boys have money to spend and he doesn't. Maybe David can hit up fans for some extra spending cash.

In the Red corner... Liverpool have responded to Moyes' complaints by signing Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Babel for £5 million and £11.5 million respectively. This brings the Reds' summer spending to around £40 million. Yeah, I don't feel bad for Everton either.

I'm pretty happy with both of these signings. I think Yossi will help fill the void left by Luis Garcia's move to Madrid. I expect some solid contributions from Babel this year as well, but more patience will be needed with him. I don't expect him to step right into a starting first squad spot and set England on fire by any means. The biggest thing to me is that these are two very versatile players who give Rafa even more options with his lineup. I would hate to be an opposing manager having to game plan against Liverpool this year. The only downside to bringing in these guys is that it probably puts to rest any hope of seeing Ricardo Quaresma in a Liverpool kit this year. I would be very surprised if Rafa added more than one more first team player this summer and I wouldn't expect it to be a big name like Quaresma. My guess is that Rafa will add another defender and then start getting ready for the upcoming campaign.