LIVERPOOL v MAN UTD ONLY A SIDESHOW

It was a cruel result for Liverpool Football Club on Saturday. Liverpool would have been better sending out a second string team but Rafa Benitez had no choice and did the right thing by sending out his strongest team as all Liverpool supporters would have demanded.
But in reality Saturdays game was no more than a sideshow to Tuesdays main event. The Premiership is over for Liverpool Fc, we cant win it and we will probably finish in the top four, so now our only real chance of getting something out of this season is the Champions League.

The Barcelona tie is far from over, and i see Barcelona`s loss at the weekend to Seville more reasons to be wary of Barca. Liverpool will be coming up against `the wounded dog syndrome´. Whatever Liverpool`s problems are Barca`s are ten time`s worse.

Being knocked out of the Champions League by Liverpool does not figure in the expectations at the Catalan giants , and losing top spot in La Liga over the weekend puts further pressure on them, so eventually someone is going to get the backlash from the fallen giants of world football, i just hope its not us. But as always the twelfth man that is the Kop should help us along.
Tuesday has the potential to engrave itself in the Liverpool history books as one of the great European football nights at Anfield.

There could also be the added bonus if we get through this tie of a possible meet up with Man Utd later on in the comp.....and i think most Liverpool fans would gladly accept last Saturdays loss if it meant knocking them out of the Champions League.

WHAT A WEEK FOR LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB

Its been a great week for Liverpool, we have encountered another one of those Roley Poly Brazilians, a Dutch manager losing the plot, an English manager losing the plot a lunatic Sheffield defender and nearly met a big fat ego from Cameroon.

Two great wins against, first of all the current champions of Europe in their own backyard, and then on Saturday overcoming the usual European hangover to totally mow down the Blades. Liverpool have had more trouble than their main contenders in England adjusting to the premiership after midweek euro clashes, and Sheffield Utd are not the type of team you want after a tactical battle in Europe.

Rafa Benitez made seven changes for Saturdays game at Anfield bringing in a lot of game hungry squad players eagar to impress and win a starting place on a more regular basis, and maybe this is a good option against these battler teams whose main objective is not to be relegated and survive another season so they can strenghten their club on the wealth of the Premiership.
Neil Warnock was incensed by the referees decision to give Liverpool a penalty following a foul by Rob Kozluk on Gerrard for holding in the penalty box, what made this such a stupid foul is that 20 seconds before the referee had warned Kozluk about the same thing and when play resumed stupid Kozluk stood one metre in front of the ref and ignored the refs advice and committed the exact same foul again, Gerrard made the most of it but who would not capitalize on such stupidity. How Warnock can complain about his player been penalised for such stupidity is beyond me.
The most interesting decision made by Benitez this week is his handling of Javier Mascherano, the Argentine was on the bench at the Nou Camp and made his full debut against Shefield Utd, even though he has only just moved to Anfield and had only played one game for his former club West Ham since his move at the start of the season. Benitez is showing amazing faith in a player who has had virtually no playing time in the last six months. The reason for this is because Benitez knows he has a truly world class player on his hands and for whatever reason has had his confidence knocked for six by West Hams reluctance to give him a chance. Benitez has tried to regain some of Mascherano`s confidence by instantly including him in the squad for the Barca game and at the Sheffield game gave him his first start. In the game itself Mascherano in the first half was a spectator whose only contribution to the game was to quickly take a free kick only to belt it against an opposing player with no Liverpool teammate in sight, it was a clear sign of a player with zero confidence trying to impress, but he did improve in the second half and showed some nice touches and probably will return to the player he showed us that he can be at the last world cup, but Rafa has a lot of work to do.

And then there was that little matter of the game at the Nou Camp, Liverpool Fc once again overcame the odds to create another historical European night for the Anfield club but that is exactly what it is, one night, this tie is only half over.
And Barcelona are more capable than any other team in the world of overturning the decifet from the first game.
Barcelona have had a much harder time from the media, with the latest reports saying that Ronaldhino has followed his compatriot Ronaldo into a need to spend a week or two at fatcamp. Funny how the media has suddenly noticed that he is fat just as Barca are having a bad time. What is it with Brazilians and paella.
But Barcelona will be a totally different animal when they face Liverpool at Anfield.
Rijkaard has handled the Samuel Eto'o saga poorly, this whole thing should have been sorted out before the Liverpool game and away from the media glare.
Samuel Eto'o has been included in the Barca squad for this weekends La Liga game so it looks like Frank Rijkaard has forgiven his big ego striker, and a Barca team with
Eto'o trying to prove a point is a Barca team to be wary of. If you also look at the way the Barcelona players have rallied around their Roley poly Brazilian play maker then it shows exactly what Liverpool will be up against at Anfield.

Despite Liverpool having to battle the fat Brazilian and the ego that is Eto'o, the scoreline cushion from the first leg should be enough to see us through, after all this is Fortress Anfield as Man Utd are about to find out next Saturday

LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB V BARCELONA

Barcelona against Liverpool is always a mouth watering prospect, and with Barca`s present internal feud its even more-so. I don't buy into most media outlets predictions that the present in-fighting amongst Barcelona`s top stars somehow gives Liverpool football club a major advantage. It could just have the opposite effect.

Wednesday night at the Nou Camp Pitts 2 of the best players on the planet against each other Ronaldinho v Gerrard, but that has become a sideshow with the current Barca problems.
Samuel Eto'o is a diva, and his little tantrum this week has illustrated why the club is always bigger than one players ego. This whole episode of stupidity came from Frank Rijkaard telling Eto´o that he would play the last 25 mins in a game against Racing Santander. If Rijkaard actually guaranteed Eto'o 25 mins of football in that game then he is in the wrong, as with war, football`s best laid plans are thrown out the window when the first ball is kicked, and after that its up to the manager to react to the circumstances of the game.
If Barcelona needed a defender with 25 mins to go, surly the team gaining 3 points out weighs Eto'os personal ego to play. He was asked to come on in the last few minutes, but refused.
This has started a tit for tat between Eto'o, Rijkaard and Ronaldinho in the spanish media initiated by Eto'o but sadly for Barca their manager and star player have joined in and not done the most sensible thing by trying to sort the off-field problems within the club away from the glare of the media.

A lot of media outlets have made heavy of these Barca problems and said there is not a better time to play the catalan giants, but i disagree.

Some one has to get the backlash eventually from the Barca problems and it is most likely to come in one of the bigger games and they don't come much bigger than Wednesday nights game, imagine Ronaldinho and co`s motivation before the Liverpool clash, the chance to show the world that they are a united squad of players, i expect a more fired up Barcelona than we would have seen before their recent problems surfaced. So maybe the advantage is in Barcalona`s favour.

Mind games and who has what advantage aside it should be a very interesting game, Rafa Benitez has a great record against the Catalans and the spine of the team that knocked Barcelona out 2 years ago will be starting the game on Wednesday so Liverpool will not fear or become over awed by Ronaldinho and co.

Rafa Benitez is experienced enough to see all this, so i expect a Liverpool fc team to walk out on the Nou Camp on Wednesday night ready and fully prepared to do battle.

Liverpool fc have had the the opposite sort of week than their opponents, a much needed break in the sun in Portugal after their 2 bad results in the last 2 weeks and it was badly needed to try to find out why the magnificent run of results before the Everton game was halted and figure out how to return to winning ways.

Despite Barceona`s off-field problems, Liverpool face the best football team in Europe, Rijkaard has chopped and changed his side this year but still they lead the spanish league and are still the favourites to win the champions league and this is what Rafa must drum into his players over the next few days. Liverpool perform better as the underdogs so Rafa must convince his players that they have an uphill struggle.

As this tie is over 2 legs the away goals rule is so important, if Liverpool are to continue in this competition a goal from the scousers on Wednesday is so important. Even though Anfield has become a fort we really don't want Barca coming there on a nil nil draw from the first game meaning their goals are worth more than ours.

And it will be interesting to see Gerrard and Ronaldinho, in my opinion the 2 greatest footballers in the world today but for very different reasons, Ronaldinho for his individual breathtaking skill, and Gerrard for his no-nonsense tackling, passing shooting and cajoling his team onwards. It will be interesting to see which man has the biggest influence over the 2 legs.

In Rafa we trust, and in this we must trust him more than normal, because he has turned over the Catalans more than most.

Why Liverpool's Academy system has been a failure

What is better, bags of money or a youth team brought up through the ranks together playing as a complete unit. Could the Chelsea team of last year have beaten the Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, and Neville Neville`s 2 sons Gary and Phil when they were at their best?

With all the fanfare over the Liverpool takeover Rafa Benitiz`s January transfers and especially his emphasis on youth has been overlooked by nearly all, but they could prove to be as important as the takeover itself.

I remember reading Alan Hansens biography years ago, in one story he told how he and Kenny Dalglish watched an evening game of football and arrived back at King Kenny`s house at about 1 o clock in the morning, but instead of going to bed Dalglish searched frantically through his hundreds of channels until he found a live game of football to watch, it was only a non-event south American game, but to Dalglish it was like a drug fix. Hansen then decided that he could not devote so much of his life to football management so instead decided to go for the easier path, the football pundit.

This brings us back to Rafa Benitez, i believe that all managers lead somewhat similar lives to Dalglish to a certain degree. In the explosion that is today's global media it is possible for Rafa and his fellow managers to monitor football at nearly all levels globally. So they see young players and if they see some talents that impress them they can monitor the progress of that player from an early age up until there is a possibility of giving a trial or making a move for the player before he hits the headlines and becomes less of a bargain.

I believe that all good managers monitor young players in some way like this before sending in their scouts to have a second opinion.

Managers knowledge of these young players is like a personal wealth, they can spend a little when they move to a new club, but also save a little by not introducing the younger players till they know that they will be staying at that club for a long period.


Rafa has strengthened the main squad from day one but has also been even more active in the Liverpool youth set-up showing that when he signed on for the Anfield job he was in it for the long haul.
Paul Anderson, Gabriel Paletta, Miki Roque, Nabil El Zhar, Besian Idrizaj, Godwin Antwi and Jack Hobbs have all bee previously added to the youth set-up.

But this January transfer window Rafa has gone all out to show how important he see`s the role of youngsters trying to make the breakthrough into the first team and create competition.
This last transfer window he bought 6 players, Alvaro Arbeloa, Daniele Padelli, Jordy Brouwer, Emiliano Insua, Francisco Manuel Duran and Ronald Huth most of whom are teenagers.
He also got Astrit Ajdarevic a 16 year old swede who has impressed so much that the Academy has broken from the norm by singling out the young striker out for special praise.

But the fact that Rafa has had to bring in so many young guns illustrates how badly the Liverpool Academy is failing, any football institution that did not see Wayne Rooney`s potential and rejected him in a trial should be questioned, and like Rafa and Houlier before him, both have found themselves at loggerheads with Steve Heighway the academy director , so its probably a good thing that Heighway will be stepping aside in May so that Rafa can bring in his own men and give his own young imports and the new generation of trainees a better chance of making the breakthrough to the big time.

Rafa has had experience in the Real Madrid youth teams, so i would hope that the new Liverpool board would give him more of a say in the running of the academy after the departure of Heighway. After all the young players are aspiring to play in Rafa`s team so why not let Rafa have a hand in teaching them his ways at an early age.

Benitez has shown his intentions already to build a youth team for the future and i think even with the expected windfall from our American owners i still expect and hope that we will be building our youth team, but now maybe we will be able to compete with Arsenal for the bigger money young guns.
I have faith in Benitez`s decisions so i think we will see some of his youth imports playing alongside Gerrard and the new stars the new money will bring in.

LIVERPOOL FC, BACK IN THE BIG GAME

After a very prolonged 3 years in which Rick Parry has been trying to pitch the history and the future of Liverpool Fc, around the globe to possible investors has come to an end today. But is it the right move?

American tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks have finally sealed the deal that will give Rafa a war chest to truly be able to compete for the title instead of been expected to pull of a miracle to outdo the manyoo and chelskis milions.

I was very annoyed when the DIC deal fell through and i was very hard on the board and the one bidder that was left, George Gillett. What was really annoying me about his bid was that there was talks of a groundshare option with Everton and my first reaction was if the new chairman cares so little about what the fans think already at this stage, then what does the future hold and this cant be very good news for Liverpool Football Club.
I said at the time i would apologise if new facts come too light, so here i am apologizing and eating my hat.

The new duo in charge George Gillett and Tom Hicks had there first press conferences today and you really cant make much out from these pre-organized soundbites, its not so much what they say its more a case of what they may not talk about and leave us in doubt about there intentions.

But for me today they said all the right words, killing speculation on our worst fears, first of all mentioning that they may be lynched for even considering a groundshare option, for saying that the money that was used to buy the club was not borrowed against the value of the club and that he sat down with the most important man at Liverpool, Rafa Benitez and said that he expects future transfer plans from Rafa, so it seems he already knows Rafa is the man to lead us to glory.

The simple fact is these 2 Americans business is running sporting clubs, they know the future of football is in getting people to pay to watch, be it live games, sky or the foreseen money spinner of the future, the Internet. And they have been in the world of sports long enough to relies that the club has to be successful on the pitch before it can successful be off the pitch.
So after a lot of apprehension when the DIC deal broke down and the Gillet deal seemed the only deal on the table, the way the yanks have communicated so fast to quell the fears of Liverpool fans has been impressive.
So David Moores I apologise, you really seem to have found a good deal to secure the future of Liverpool Football Club.

LIVERPOOL BOARD, HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME

As a lifetime long Liverpool fan i find it hard to comprehend the level of incompetency that exists in the clubs boardroom today. Their lack of big business experience is sadly resulting in todays biggest sporting story...even though its the last day of the transfer window.

I apologise for everything i say below if new information comes to light, as if the DIC bid had some very bad unknown details or the new Gillet deal has some unbelievably good benefits, if not this is how i see what has happened to our dream of a Liverpool Football Club able to challenge as a true world giant.

Liverpool Fc finds itself in the position it is in now because of the clubs board, past and present members.
From the start of the premiership our players have not let us down as much as our board, they have been the weak link.
Man utd came good at the around the same time as the start of the Prem league, but even then because of Liverpool's recent domination of the league, Liverpool was more well known throughout the globe and was therefore much more marketable.
But our board sat on their hands as they watched their fiercest rivals become the global leaders in football economics. Man utd expanded their stadium every season, eventually meaning they were earning 1 million a more than us on every home game, that's 19 million a year on prem games alone, a new Van Nistelroy every year for free.

Man Utd`s blueprint should have been copied by a board with with wisdom and courage ,but sadly our board had neither.

So today David Moores and Rick Parry have manoeuvred Liverpool away from being bought by DIC, a consortium that was willing to write off debts, buy new players and most importantly build a new independent stadium that would guarantee the future of the club even if it changed hands afterwards.
But instead of that our board has managed too mess that up and instead, in the Gillet deal we get a ground share option with Everton at the most because a new ground is not in the deal, only a debate about a new ground.

In my first blog post when the DIC deal came to light i begged the Liverpool board not to f##k it up and even in my last article on Sportingo i was already thanking David Moores because i thought he would do the right thing and ignore the Gillet bid and carry on with DIC.
How long can we hope to keep hold of key people with big ambitions at the club, such as Steven Gerrard and Rafa Benitez, if they start to see the board, do not match their own ambitions.

As i have said before if new facts about the two deals come to light i apologise, but if the media are correct then Moores and Parry have shown total business incompetence by using Gillet to hardball DIC for more cash, and should resign.

And they have killed the hopes and dreams of all Liverpool fans from across the globe with their total misunderstanding of the business world, so the only way forward for this club is with new leadership.
So tonight, if this really is the outcome of the takeover saga and Liverpool are left with only Gillet as a buyer then the board should hang their heads in shame.

GILLET BAD NEWS FOR LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB

David Moores can do one last great favour for the club he loves before he hands over the reins, and it could prove the most important of all the decisions the Moores family has made over the decades they have ruled the Merseyside club.

George Gillett has muddied the waters at this late hour for a Liverpool takeover by tabling a bid even though it seems destined to fail....i hope.
The biggest reasons i hope it fails, it seems to be in some ways to resemble the manyoo Glazer marriage, a rich American trying to buy a major english football club but seeming to be underfunded to do it the right way.
He does not seem to have the money or is unwilling to invest in a new independent stadium for Liverpool Fc

We need to get out of debt and build a new stadium, no one is arguing with that fact, but the Gillet proposal has one shocking hole in it, the fact that he wants to even consider a ground share option with our neighbours Everton shows that he does not care or does not know what the supporters of this famous club think about ground sharing with their bitter enemies.

No Liverpool supporters i know would ever be willing to ground share with the blue half of mersey for a number of reasons, one being why would we help them by giving them an easy fix to there money problems by financing a stadium and becoming one more threat in the league because believe me Everton would fill that stadium and bankroll a rejuvenation of their club. Even though it would be very good for Everton their fans are probably not too keen either on an idea of a shared stadia.

The DIC bid is a bid that includes cancelling the debt of the club but the most important part of the deal is the new independent Liverpool Football Clubs stadium which will in itself guarantee the future of the club. In this bid there is no hint of a lack of funds or penny pinching unlike the rich americans offer.

In my view the Gillet bid is bad news for Liverpool but it could be good in one way, if it makes DIC realize that Liverpool Football Club is a prized asset and it may hurry up the deal a maybe even release some cash for this current transfer window.

But hats off to David Moores if he turns away (the more money for him deal) that Gillet is offering and goes for the (better for the club but less money for him) deal that DIC is offering, i know its seems a small amount of the money when we are talking so many millions, but there is not many chairman who would take a couple of million pounds less to ensure that the company that they left behind was in safe hands.
I am congratulating David Moores already, before any deal has gone through, because i know he will not worry about his personal wealth and even if it means losing a couple of million he wil do whats best for the club.

LIVERPOOL 2 CHELSEA 0

Today has shown how far Liverpool Football Club has come under Rafa Benitez tenure, as it easily discarded a fired up Chelsea team despartly fighting to save their managers career at their club.

Dirk Kuyt was in a class of his own today as he got the break through goal and was a constant thorn in Chelsea`side and even found time to do some decent defending in the same game.

Benitez experimented last weekend with a 3 pronged attack, Kuyt, Bellamy and Crouch against Watford. This set the stage for todays game, although we did not start with 3 strikers today what we learned last weekend is that Liverpool Fc given the chance are a very good team playing attacking football.
We started the game with a great tempo and a full on, get the ball forward mentality, the very thing Liverpool detractors have been saying about us for years... maybe they were right because we look really formidable attacking and having confidence that our defence can do there job.

Dirk Kuyt today showed what a world class player he really is, he has the strenght of a centre back and that helped him today as he regained his balance under pressure to brilliantly put the first goal away and leave old helmet head Cech no chance

In a lot of my previous writings i have been very critical of Pennant, and rightly so but today he at last showed a glimpse into the reason Wenger payed a record price for a 16 year old, he has a lot to do to convince me that he is a long term answer to our right wing problems but i was very impressed today before his wonder goal with his willingness to cut inside and run at players. Sadly after his goal he seemed to be happy with his contribution and was more happy to pass the ball than run at the chelski defence, but once and if he gets the confidence to believe in his own talent he could be very hard to leave out of the starting 11.

What a great day for Liverpool Football Club and it really shows how the team has gone forward under Benitez, because today we were playing against the most expensively assembled football team in history, and we made them look like Scunthorpe...sorry no disrespect meant to you Scunthorpe fans, after all i am comparing you to the current premiership champions.

LIVERPOOL V CHELSEA , ARE WE GOING TO FACE A CHELSEA BACKLASH

Two of the most sought after managers in European football come head to head on Saturday. Both are under varying degrees of pressure from their board or owner and
this single game could change the face of the premiership in years to come.

The game on Saturday is make or break for Chelsea`s flamboyant manager, a loss to Liverpool Fc may not be the final nail on his coffin but it is one more nail in the lid.

This is a question mark over Chelsea rather than Liverpool, Benitez had his judgement questioned by some quarters following Liverpool`s poor exit in both domestic cups at the hands of Arsenal but a win on Saturday may open up a gateway to second place in the prem.
But i think the board realise what the vast majority of Liverpool fans already know, that Rafa is the right man to lead us forward and even if it is not this season, we are getting better all the time that Rafa is in charge.


On the chelsea side of things things are not so clear, we have massive amounts of rumours, probably most untrue but there is definitely a lot of unrest between Roman and Jose.
The British media has been softening up on Jose in the last couple of days by trying to imply that Roman has been the man picking some of the players that chelsea have bought in the last few seasons.
To me this excuse does not let Jose off the hook, think about it, if Jose bought all these players for overpriced prices that are not good enough to play for the club, that is his bad judgement.... But if he let Roman buy these players then you have to question what does Jose want from football. Any manager worth his salt would walk from a club when the owner went out on his own, buying players for the club, which may be the case. Imagine the Liverpool board telling Bill Shankly that they were handling transfers from now on.....love to be a fly on the wall for that one.

Jose has a great reputation in European football and could walk into a number of top jobs if he did not like what Roman has been doing for the last seasons..so why does he stay.
I think one or two reasons,(1) The money...... (2)its probably one of the easiest managers jobs in world football, you buy all the best players in the world let them play, win titles.. only problem is when things go wrong, you have got so lazy you dont know how to manage anymore.

Also rumours have come out of the bridge that the Chelsea players want to back Jose and make some sort of protest against his sacking, the sad thing for Liverpool is that in reality the only way these players can make a point for their beleaguered manager is on the pitch, so i expect a full on Chelsea assault on Saturday with every Chelsea player giving 110% for their fallen leader. We could not be playing Chelsea at a worse time.
But putting Chelsea`s eagerness to save their manager aside , they are dealing with the most in-form prem team of the moment so this really could be a momentous battle.....But as most pre-envisioned huge games go, there is so much pressure on the players that the games are not so entertaining to the neutral but to every Liverpool and Chelsea fan this could be their game of the season,the pressure is such.

So back to one of my opening comments, that Saturdays game could change the face of the prem for years to come, if Chelsea lose or draw against Liverpool i think they will not win the league so that may mean the end of Jose`s reign in England and as much as i dont like the guy he does make it more interesting and would be missed just for the his entertainment value.
Going to be an incredible battle on Saturday and even though i expect a fully fired up Chelsea team, Anfield is a daunting place now for all visiting teams and i expect Liverpool to be 3 points nearer to Chelsea on Sunday.

LIVERPOOL TAKEOVER VERY CLOSE

Liverpool Football Club today announced that the takeover bid by Dubai Investment Capital was very near to being finalised. The timing of this could be very important for the clubs ability to mount a serious league title challenge for next season.
The squad as it stands today is not a million miles away from being able to give Man utd and Chelsea a run for their money.
Why the timing is so important is because we very badly need some players in some key positions and in reality if we are going to be a threat to the other contenders for the league next season it would be a massive advantage to be able to bring these players in now in the January transfer window.
Liverpool have been a transition club from the day Gerard Houlier took over, right up to the present day Benitez era, we have been playing catch up in all these years to Man utd and Chelsea.
Every year we have had to improve our squad with a lot of players coming in each summer and it has cost us dearly. Each season we have had to get a lot of players to settle in all at once. And it shows in our season stats we are a team that starts the first half of the season badly and finish the second half strongly. Ok this is not our only reason for poor starts, inferior players that our budget forced us to buy had a hand in it.
Next season could be very different, the premiership is the hardest league in the world and probably the hardest to get used to, so if we can our new signings get accustomed to life in the prem this season by the start of next season we should have a very strong team that is capable to get of to a running start.
Defence is very good as Carragher and co have got real stingy in giving goals away, but we still have the problem that has haunted us for the last couple of seasons, putting the ball in the oppositions net.
Even though we have the majority of possession in most games including against the bigger teams we lack the creativity and the natural goal finishing instincts of a young Robbie Fowler at his prime.
Up front Dirk Kuyt is the closest we have to a 20 prem goals a season man, but i think he is having to play a little out of position further back trying to create chances for other players. The Bolton came was a perfect example, he set up the 2 first goals from a position between midfield and the forward line. Kuyt can do this but as he showed in that same game when the game loosened up and we could afford him to go further forward he scored the third and he is deadly once he gets a sniff of a goal. But we also need a striker who is more selfish and is only concerned with putting the ball in the back of the net.
But the main positions we need to fill are the wings, we really need world class quality there, at the moment we have Pennant who can send in an amazing amount of crosses in a game, but sadly most of them bad and he seems very unwilling to cut into the centre and run at defences Gonzalez on the other side seems very lightweight for the prem, but he is going through our normal problem, settling in time. Maybe he will settle in but as the months go on it seems more unlikely.
But the main problem with these 2 players is they really dont offer the attacking creativity that we are lacking. A fit Harry Kewell would be a very interesting prospect but Liverpool cannot afford to gamble on his fitness, so we must buy 2 world class wingers and if we can get them now, next season could be a whole new ballgame for Liverpool Football club.

RAFA WAS RIGHT!

Lets face it the league cup is the ultimate mickey mouse cup, played on a Saturday celebrated by the tabloids on the Sunday and Monday and all but forgotten on the Tuesday
Rafa Benitez has taken a lot of stick over the last week over his team selection, in last Mondays league cup defeat to Arsenal. I was disappointed too when i seen the starting 11, i was disgusted that Steven Gerrard was playing.
The league cup for most, apart from the top teams is still something worth winning, but Arsene Wenger got it right when he started to play his reserves in the league cup and the next season the other top teams followed suite. It is a great competition for the top teams with big squads to blood their younger squad members into first team football. It can also be useful to put players in the shop window that you would not usually risk playing....this has backfired spectacularly for Liverpool in Dudeks case... that was a shocking goalkeeping display
But Rafa got this one nearly right, Gerrard should have been rested but apart from that he was right to rest his main players. We had just played Aresenal on the Saturday and the game, 2 days later takes a lot out of players and because it was the mickey mouse cup why tire out our squad in a cup that even if we we went the whole way does not really mean so much....3 prem points are more valuable.
I have been a little disappointed over the last week not by the media, i expect it from them, but from so called Liverpool supporters that have started to question Rafa`s wisdom. It is right that a football manager is held to account by the supporters of his club but its a bit sad when our own supporters start to criticize Rafa when we have known from the start that he believes in resting his players by either rotating or not wasting energy on a mickey mouse cup and it has brought us success.
Things were different in the good old days when Liverpool were winning the milk cup, but nowadays with the champions league been so demanding and so many games and so much money to play for clubs cannot waste their time and energy and best players on small domestic cups.
Gerrard looked a bit jaded in todays game against Watford, could that be anything to do with last weekends exploits, i just hope he recovers for next weekends chelskis game, because chelski are well rested and so are we thanks to Rafa`s forward thinking.
Rafa was right!

MOURINHO, BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

An awful lot of speculation in the media in recent days claims that Jose `the special one´ Mourinho may be given the boot from chelski.
At first glance i thought how great this would be, because i do not think there has been a more annoying little twat involved with english football. But if you actually sit back and think about this for a minute Jose has done all the other clubs a huge favour.
He has had endless resources at his fingertips and he has spectacularly wasted an incredible amount of money. Just think back through the last 3 premiership games where he complained about the injuries that were causing his team to drop points, they drew to Reading Fulham and Aston Villa, now chelski had a minimum of 60 million worth of players sitting on the bench for all these games, more money than were spent on the teams and in Readings case there total squad.
So the question has to be asked if you lose one defender to injury and have that amount of money sitting on the bench can you really complain about injuries or should you be questioning the players you have bought for your squad. Last summer they sold Gallas ( huge mistake by his russian master) to get Ashley(i love money) Cole and also sold Robert Huth. Why was Eidur Gudjohnsen sold and why was Damien Duff sold because chelski are surely a lesser team since their departure.
Now any manager worth his salt with the money the special one has had should have been reinforcing his weakest area (defence) even before his russian master sold Gallas, but instead he spent his summer romancing Ballack because Jose seen the german as the final piece in his quest for total world domination....thats worked out pretty good.
So the rest of the premiership are much better off with Jose at the helm.
Consider what would happen if a Wenger or Benitez had been in charge of chelski and had that amount of money to spend...chelski would be miles ahead in the prem and in Europe.
But also remember this, Roman already has Jose`s replacement on his payroll, Guss Hiddink is currently manager of the Russian national team but been bankrolled by Roman Abromovich, so not only is roman`s rubles lining up ready replacements for chelskis players, but the new manager is already waiting in the wings just a plane ride away.
So Jose do us all a big favour and stay just where you are.....

BENITEZ V WENGER

This FA cup game could be very good for all the right reasons, two of the top four big names in English football meeting in the oldest cup competion in the world. But what makes this football occasion a little bit special is the fact that these two teams and supporters have very little animosity towards each other. First of all i think we have finally got over the Michael Thomas goal we even signed the man.
Arsenal are a hard team to hate (manure im with u till u lose supporters, and i am also prone to the odd prawn sandwich) and to the newest kids on the block Chelsea fc (dont really know what football is but my company got a tax deduction on a season ticket for me, but its a bit unruly nothing really like a good game of rugger played with some chums).
But Arsenal have a lot of similarities to Liverpool, both managers are underfunded compared to the 2 top twat teams, ok we still cant fund a Theo Walcott type transfer 5 million rising to 12.5 million on a kid, but both managers are trying to compete with the crazy money of chelski by scouring the globe for the best young talent to have a real chance of building for the future.
Whereas Alex has based his buys on whatever the tabloids say, and the special one took whatever his Russian master bought him, Wenger has been by far the best in the English game for spotting and nurturing talent, but Rafa`s young gun buys should be starting to break into the first team next year and then we can really compare the 2 managers on their talent spotting.
I hope its a good game because the fans deserve it, for too long we have been preoccupied with chelskis money and manure arrogance and ignorance, would be nice to finally after a long time.....enjoy the game of football between 2 great teams with 2 non arrogant non ignorant managers....for once lets just sit back and enjoy the sight of 2 great teams playing football

STEVEN GERRARD MBE

So Steven Gerrard has been given an MBE, this honour has been overdue and is richly deserved for one of the greatest of all sporting achievements.
This honour has been bestowed on our captain because he was involved in and was the main catalyst for one of the greatest comebacks in not just football but in all sporting history. He has been given this as recognition for not just what he did but what the whole team did that night.
On a clear Istanbul night he stood tall and lead his battle weary team out onto that the pitch for the second half, his team had just gone through a footballing lesson from AC Milan in the first half and found themselves 3-0 down at the break.
Most men would just give up at that stage but not Stevie Gerrard, he lead his team like all great leaders do, by example. He tackled he drove forward he rallied his men around him. And he got his just rewards by staging one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history and every sporting fan ( except ac milan and a few bitter jealous manyoo fans) that night witnessed a once in a lifetime sporting event that had everybody on the edge of their seats. Everybody loves the underdog and the great comeback and i wonder how many millions of people Liverpool fans and neutrals cheered and danced in front of their tv sets that wonderful night when Jerzy Dudek saved the penalty that rounded off the perfect fairytale sporting contest.
Now im sure there is going to be some be moaners out there (you know who you are ye little red devils) but surly Steven Gerrard exemplified the British Bulldog mentality that night,the never say never mentality. Some people may say other players at other clubs deserve recognition for what they have achieved but i think most already have, Sir Alex Ferguson for his and his clubs achievements and Sir Clive Woodward for winning the world cup, and im pretty sure people did not expect each player in the rugby squad to be knighted.
We at Liverpool could say why was Stevie only given an MBE and not Knighted but perhaps we are a little more gracious than some people(ye know who ye are).
So in short an MBE is great but we are just happy that so many people were able to witness a historical sporting contest. Thank you Stevie Gerrard, for one night the whole country united to wish Liverpool on and stage the comeback(except for a few, ye know who ye are).
Richly Deserved...

WHO WOULD YOU KEEP ?

Dubai International Capital are on the verge of buying Liverpool Football Club and by all accounts we will have a lot more money to buy players but i dont think it will be on the same scale as the chelski madness, but this is Christmas so lets imagine that DIC was another blank checkbook. Who out of our first team players would you keep even if you could buy the very best for all positions from around the globe.
I thought about this and its very hard to say we would sell any players because at Liverpool we back our players so we must remember this is just a Christmas dream and so we try to leave emotion and loyalty for our players out of it....very hard when we got god on our team...so here goes.

Pepe Reina: After his dodgy start to the season a lot of people might say sell, but he is a good keeper and with confidence back i think we should keep... but he needs to be consistent or Buffon or the likes may take his place.

Steve Finnan: Keep, he may be getting on but there is not many better right backs out there.. massively underrated

Jamie Carragher: Keep, dont need to explain anything about this one

Daniel Agger: Keep, this guy is already a great centre back great going forward and will improve

Sami Hyypia: Ok this is the first time i am going to break my own rule and let emotion rule the head, Sami is still good now but he is getting slower but he deserves to get a prem champions title with the club he has served so well.

Gabriel Paletta: Not enough known yet great tackle but makes some crazy decisions worth keeping in squad and see how he develops

John Arne Riise: Keep no doubt one of the very best left backs in the world

Harry Kewell: Love to see him play for us some day but would have to go if we got a world class fit left sided midfielder

Steven Gerrard:.................best footballer on the planet today

Luis Garcia: Scored some important goals for us but disappoints most of the time and sometimes has the tendency to turn you mental...gotta go

Mark Gonzalez: Came with great reputation and expectations, have seen nothing yet to justify that, but there is something about him...loan him out to an english club to toughen him up the we might just see what Rafa is on about

Fabio Aurelio: Bye bye we can buy better cover for Riise

Jermaine Pennant: Starting to show a little promise but on our unlimited budget we can buy a player that is world class so also bye bye

Boudewijn Zenden: Better in the middle but not good enough

Xabi Alonso & Momo Sissoko: I lumped these 2 players in together because after just buying 2 world class wingers and having Gerrard as an automatic starter these 2 players will have to rotate depending on our opposition..Alonso the master of the pass and Momo the ball winner who never gives up who could prove to be Rafa`s best buy ever, he is that good and he has that much potential.

Peter Crouch: Very difficult one because i am a fan of his, great late sub role because nobody playing the game today can change the direction of a game like him but he would have to be in the super sub role.

Craig Bellamy: Another very tough decision even with his great form of late there is better out there so either squad or bye bye

Dirk Kuyt: Going nowhere class act lately finishing a bit off but gives everything in every game set up play even defends a real gem and would make any team

Robbie Fowler: I left this one till last because its the biggest heart leading the head situations he has to stay and he should actually be given a little bit more of a chance but no matter what he should be in the squad that finally lifts the league title....god deserves it just for the passion he has for this club.

Ok so i found it very hard to fire our players but in a short summary i believe the players we have that would make it into any team in the world are Gerrard, Riise, Kuyt and Carragher because only we know how good he is...and in a year or 2 you can add Agger and Sissoko to that list.
Who would you keep?

LIVERPOOL FC, THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

The past year has been a year of up and downs for Liverpool Football Club, we started the the year 2006 as reigning champions of europe, but a bad start to the 2005/06 season put an end to our title aspirations but a fantastic run of results at the end of the season see us climb the table and qualify once again for the champions league.
But that great run of results did more than just ensure a good financial future by getting us into europes top comp, it put real belief that with a few summer signings even on Liverpools tight budget Rafa could work his magic in the transfer market and give us a squad that could finally find Liverpool Fc`s holy grail... to be once again after a long long wait be crowned League Champions.
Its very unlikely that it will happen this year once again our bad start to the season has caused us problems. I think there is 2 reasons for our bad start firstly we were given the worst possible schedule of games by having to play manure chelski arsenal everton and bolton all away from home, just the first 3 teams there make it very hard to get a winning run together.
Secondly if you look at the players we bought in the summer, Pennant sums up our problems, Pennant was brought in to cover the right side where we have had our biggest problems for years and we really needed to spend big there to bring in a player who would actually improve our team, he is not now or will never be a world class player , Rafa may work his magic on him and improve him over time but there is our problem.
Rafa is a master tactician and very good in the transfer market but he really can only do so much with the funds handed to him. Hopefully these will be problems of the past as long as nothing goes wrong in the clubs takeover.
So if i had to summarise the year that was, it was a roller coaster for hopes and dreams expectations were high, so it was disappointing to watch Liverpool struggle at the start of the season but if i can give a prediction i would say the future is looking very bright for the red side of Mersey... as long as we dont fuck this deal up and as long as some of our stupid fans who when we were having a BAD RUN were actually questioning if Rafa was the right man for the job.
Earlier in the post i said it was very unlikely that we could win the title this year and that is true, but if you had asked me 3 weeks ago i would have said it was impossible. So who knows this is football and anything can happen at Christmas...IN RAFA WE TRUST

CHARLTON 0 LIVERPOOL FC 3

Good solid result, the first 20 minutes of this game were probably the best football Liverpool have played so far this season. The early goal seemed to give us great confidence and we were ripping Charlton to shreds and it was amazing that Kuyt did not add to his goal tally.
But back to that first goal....thank god we got rid of Djimi Traore, his high foot tackle on Pennant in the pen area was complete madness and he really should have been sent off it was so dangerous. For the first time today Pennant seems to have grown some balls and took some resposibility and was not afraid to go past a man and was very unlucky not to score so maybe there is some hope for him after all. Gonzalez on the other wing also seems to be settling in but he really should have done better near the end with a free header.
Bellamy deserves a mention because his all round play today was fantastic capped of by a brilliant finish to seal the game, and what can you say about Gerrards goal, only he could keep such a cool head with defenders all around him to place the ball in the far corner of the goal and just leave their goalkeeper watching on as a spectator only able to watch the great man do his magic.......a good days work!

LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB SOLD ?

Dubai International Capital, the state-owned private equity firm which hopes to purchase Liverpool, has confirmed that it can provide the financial backing to allow the Premiership club to compete more effectively with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea should it complete its £450m takeover at Anfield.

Please please Mr Parry dont fuck this up, this is Liverpool Fc´s chance to get back to where we belong as one of the top global football teams. This deal has everything that we want and need, clear our debts, new stadium and cash for Rafa in the transfer market. The stadium will on its own ensure a great financial future for the club.
There has been some grumblings about Liverpool Football Club going into foreign hands and some may not like the fact that the new owners happen to be Arabs, but i have no fear of this and i think we will never find better investors than the Maktoum family.
You only have to look at their track record in horse racing with their Godolphin racing international, these guys dont like to lose and have bought and bred the best horses as well as hiring the best jockeys and have an outstanding reputation in that sport.
I dont see them as been another Roman Abramovich they will not throw the money around as stupidly as he has done, but i have no doubt that Rafa will be able to compete with the big boys now in the transfer market and we have seen what he can do with a few measly rubles what can the man do with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum`s billions.
So please please Mr Moores and Mr Parry please dont fuck this up, this is our chance to put this club back where it belongs.....winning league titles.

ANYONE WANNA BUY LIVERPOOL ?

This supposed deal to buy Liverpool Football Club is once again grabbing the headlines, dont get me wrong i know the only way for Liverpool to seriously challenge in the premiership is with new money but it just seems a little desperate with Rick Parry flying off to Dubai like a cheap salesman peddling his wares.
I cannot understand why it is so hard to get investors for a club like Liverpool Fc, it is one of the few football clubs in the world that is a true global brand and with a worldwide following of fans, so why so hard to get investors.
When the Kraft family were interested what actually put them off buying in, maybe Parry is not the right man for selling the true potential of Liverpool fc or are his hands been tied by the chairman David Moores.
One thing is for sure they are making a very difficult job of selling Liverpool Fc and losing time while chelski and manure go further and further ahead on and off the pitch.....wake up lads, the future of this club is in your hands!

WIGAN 0-4 LIVERPOOL

Bellamy is back with a bang, it was only Wigan but an away win is what was needed and hopefully will kick start our season.
A lot of work is still needed to be done to win a champions league spot for next season and in reality that is our highest hope right now. But as long as we back Rafa anything is possible.