ASTON VILLA 1 LIVERPOOL 2

Liverpool FC won this encounter but it was more about luck than skill, and if the team selection by Rafa Benitez is a sign of things to come then it is going to be another disappointing season for Liverpool.

What amazed and then shocked me by the team selection when i first seen it that even though we had spent nearly 50 million in the summer on players, mainly attacking players the only new player on show was Torres, the player from the new bunch that cost the most, but has also shown in pre-season that not only does he need time to gel with his new teammates, but also adjust to the pace and physical aspect of the Premiership, where was Yossi Benayoun, he looked like our biggest improvement during our pre-season and looked like a player that might finally solve some of our creativity problems and he knows the Premiership, but instead of his creativity Benitez opted for basically the same team that failed so badly and finished so many points away from the top two last season.

I have never really questioned Rafa Benitez`s managerial skills as he came with a great reputation and lead us to win the Champions league and FA cup. But one has to wonder about his latest team selection, he has gone on all summer about how important a good start to the season is, and then he ignores most of the signings we made this Summer in our first game, and believe me Liverpool were lucky to win against Aston Villa, only for Gerrard once again saving us it was two points lost, this is not how teams with title aspirations work, relying on one man to save them in every game.

I really hope that this team he deployed today was some sort of tactical ploy because if he thinks that to solve our problems he can play last years team and add in a striker with a good reputation then we have bigger problems.
His defense selection was good but i would have put Riise as a the left back and used a more natural left winger and as i said before Benayoun should have started on the right. Up front he made the right decision, but if Liverpool are to truely take a step forward this year we are going to have to employ a more attacking style of football and Benitez seems to have realised this, but at the first hurdle against Villa he seems to have backed away and a gone for the same old system of defence first which has caused so many disappointing seasons for the Anfield faithful.

If Liverpool Football Club really have aspirations of winning the league then they need to start to play a lot braver football, and not let the other teams dictate their team selection or way of playing, because as sure as shit when Man Utd and Chelsea arrive at Villa park their team selection will have nothing to do with Villa, they just pick the team and let Villa try and deal with it.

A SELFISH GREEDY TORRES IS WHAT LIVERPOOL NEED!

Fernando Torres has arrived at Anfield with the burden of a huge price tag around his neck but even bigger expectations from the Liverpool faithful. Despite what Anfield says there is immense pressure on Torres to score the goals that can catapult Liverpool into genuine title contenders.

Torres has scored on average 15 goals a season for the last five seasons at Atlético Madrid, while Liverpool will expect more it has to be remembered that he was the best player at Madrid and spent a lot of time playing deeper trying to create chances. But at Liverpool he will have a different role, his job will be goals, goals and more goals. His most likely strike partner, Dirk Kuyt found himself in a similar position last year playing deeper and trying to create chances, he too i hope will be asked to concentrate more on scoring and give the midfield more of a responsibility to link and create chances.

Liverpool's midfield is where the biggest changes will come, no longer will we see Gerrard wasting his talents on the right wing, the central position his most natural and where he can influence a game most and that is where he will play this year, who his partner in the centre will be is anyones guess, Alonso and Mascherano are the leading contenders and although Mascherano was the better of the two at the end of last season an on form Alonso would be very hard to ignore.
On the right of midfield Yossi Benayoun and Jermaine Pennant will fight it out, and as much as Pennant has and still is improving, Benayoun seems a class act and although he is more used to playing behind the front two, he seems to have adjusted very well to the wing and showed how creative he is when setting up Torre`s goal with a sublime pass in the game against Feyenoord. On the left wing its a way more complicated, the options are Babel, Kewell, Leto, Riise and maybe even Vorornin or El Zhar. I think because of Kewells experience he may start the season there, but because of Babel`physical presence and some glimpses he has shown in pre-season of what he is capable off he may adjust to life in the Premiership sooner than a lot of people think. But this left position we may see Rafa doing a lot of changes to try and find his best option.

In defence it should be the same as last year with Finnan and Arbeloa fighting it out for the right back position, or if media reports are correct and Liverpool are after the Brazilian, Cicinho then perhaps Arbeloa may put pressure on Riise for the left back position which would hopefully end the Gabriel Heinze saga, 6.8 million just seems too much for a 29 year old who does not seem to be the same player that he was before his injury.

Liverpool should be playing a more attacking brand of football this year and this will inevitably mean that we will be taking more chances at the back and may concede more goals, but it is what has to be done to make us genuine title contenders, now im not saying that we are heading for the crazy Kevin Keegan Newcastle days, when their motto seemed to be `don't worry if they score three, there is a good chance we will score four´, but we have to give the defence more responsibility and have more faith in them. And that added pressure on the defence is nothing compared to what is expected from new boy Torres, but if Torres can live up to the dreams and expectations of his newly acquired Kop following , he will be revered as much or even more at Anfield than he was at his previous home Atlético, its a lot to ask of 'El Niño' but if he can get those goals we have been sorely missing then the holy grail that is the Premiership could finally be finding its way home to Anfield.

THE NEW MAN UTD

I think its love at first sight, guess who gets to wear the skirt. Yes your right its the ladyboy.

HEINZE MEANZ TROUBLE

Rafa Benitez and supporters of Liverpool have enjoyed the unrest that has been caused to Manchester United since Benitez launched his audacious bid to bring Gabriel Heinze to Anfield, but Heinze is most definitely not what is needed at Anfield.

Benitez has always claimed that he wants to sign players who really want to play for the club, and Heinze most certainly fills that criteria because of his eagerness to make the short nightmare of a trip down the East Lancs Road, because of the hatred that would be shown to the player from the Manchester United faithful, but do we really want a man that has shown how low on his list of attributes loyalty is.

Heinze won the fan`s Player of the Year award in his first year at Old Trafford, so he has had the backing of the fans, and he is not a young immature player and has been at Old Trafford long enough to know the rivalry between these clubs and the trouble a move like this would cause. They backed him when he missed nearly a full season through injury, and was even made captain of the team for the final two games of the 2006/07 season, so this show`s that United have not treated him badly and have shown faith in him.

With his yearnings to pull on the famous red Jersey of Liverpool he has to know the hurt it causes the Old Trafford faithful and as a Liverpool supporter i would normally have no problem with that, but it has to be in the back of your mind when is he going to shaft the Liverpool faithful such is his low standards of loyalty to any cause.

Benitez has worked hard at building a squad which has respect and loyalty for the club and that he can trust and i would be shocked if he really did go through with this deal and brought in someone that could show such disloyalty, even if it was to our fiercest enemies. And it has to be remembered we are not Chelski, we are not so flush with money that we can waste it to annoy or stop other teams from getting those players.

I think all Liverpool supporters have had a little fun over this saga including myself, but the question is, is Heinze the best value for money we can get, 6.8 million for a 29 year old seems quiet a lot and if you add in the fact that he seems to be not the same player he was before his injury it seems too much money. There are other options out there, Leighton Baines seems a much better option despite being a life long Everton supporter, but that has never got in the way before.

At the beginning i think Rafa put the bid in as a distraction for Man Utd, but now its achieved what was intended, its time to move on and spend the money where it will bring back the most returns, and i really don't think Heinze is where that is. Juventus have shown they are willing to sign the player and if the player has brains he should grab that opportunity with both hands but somehow i think Heinze really is out to annoy Sir Alex at all costs after been told by the club who he could or could not sign for after having some sort of an agreement.

It all seems like another case of a pampered spoilt footballer not getting his own way, and do we really want that kind of attitude at Anfield.

LIVERPOOL OUTWIT MAN UTD

Rafa Benitez`s decision to try and sign Gabriel Heinze is a masterstroke from the canny Spaniard, it is a total win-win situation for Liverpool Fc and has left Alex Ferguson with one more off-field distraction to deal with.

Benitez normally does not get involved with the off-field mind games that is all too common in today's world of football between opposing managers, but in Liverpool and Chelsea`s Champions league encounter last season, Benitez showed that he is more than capable of competing in this arena of battle with the very best and this was the first sign that he was willing to enter these war of words. But this attempt to sign Heinz from Liverpool's arch enemies Man Utd has all the hallmarks of a true chess grandmaster. In one simple move he has backed Sir Alex into a corner with his audacious and some may say cheeky bid which would make Heinz the first man since Phil Chisnall who made the same move in 1964.

I have no doubt that Benitez would really like to sign Heinz but i also believe that when he first made his move for the Argentinian that he thought that it would have very little chance of success and was just trying to stir up a little trouble in the Utd camp, but because of Man Utd`s amateurish handling of the situation they have actually made the move which would be a nightmare for the club and their fans become a real possibility.
Sir Alex telling the media that under no circumstances would Heinz play for Liverpool was a mistake. Heinz was on holiday after playing in the Copa America and they had told the player months earlier that if a club came in with a bid of £6.8m he would be free to move there. I'm sure if Sir Alex had not panicked when the Liverpool bid came in and actually explained the problems that this transfer would cause that Heinz would wait for something else, but Heinz like all Premiership player's lead a pampered life and are not used to being told no, so it must have really riled Heinz that he was being told who or who not he could sign for after the earlier agreement between club and player.

Man Utd have backed themselves into a corner in this situation and may find themselves in court twice this summer with the drawn out Tevez affair and these are all distractions that a team just does not need.

One indication of how much Benitez is enjoying this little battle was with his latest little tongue in cheek statement that "I don't know what the problem is." Somehow i think he knows how it would hurt all Manchester fans around the globe if Gabriel Heinze moved to Liverpool and even worse if he became a success at Anfield.

THE TOP FOUR, IN AND OUTS

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd have all delved into the transfer market this summer but some clubs have had a lot more success than others, this is a look at the teams on the move and those been left behind.

Of the four teams its obvious that Man Utd and Liverpool are the teams with the deepest pockets this year but will that improvement on the financial investment side translate into better fortunes on the pitch. A run down of the top fours transfers in and out may give an indication of who will improve next year but as always money does not always return league points....just ask any Newcastle fan.
First of is Arsenal, who finished a disappointing fourth last year by there standards and thier closed season activity so far has given very little optimism that they can improve on that.

Arsenal
In: Bakari Sagna Eduardo da Silva and Lukasz Fabianski

Out: Matthew Connolly, Arturo Lupoli, Thierry Henry,
Jeremie Aliadiere and Mart Poom.
Now this team is probably the biggest talking point of the close season, their lack of funds in the transfer season makes it clear that the cost of the new stadium will take a long time to absorb, but in having Wenger as the manager makes this possible as he is the master at picking up young bargains and turning them into either Arsenal legends or making a decent profit on them but his choices this year seem a little bit out of character, Da Silva is no spring chicken so if he does turn into a superstar it would be one of his better coups but its unlikely.
Unless something major happens at Arsenal between now and the start of the season Arsenal will be a much lesser team and could be actually overtaken by their free spending neighbours Spurs.

Chelsea
In: Florent Malouda Steve Sidwell Tal Ben Haim and Claudio Pizarro
Out; Khalid Boulahrouz, Geremi and Yves Ma Kalambay
The Blues are by far the biggest free spending club in the history of football but surprisingly quite this year...could Roman be finally be becoming bored of his play thing, Florent Malouda is the major signing but is only a replacement for Robben and the only other notable addition is Claudio Pizarro who arrived on a free transfer. Chelsea seem more like a team in sleep mode, surly if Roman was still interested this is the one year that he would have invested heavily to bring the title back to Stamford but instead it seems he is happy to let it all coast along till he becomes interested again or perhaps the manager he really wants is not available yet.

Man United
In; Anderson,Owen Hargreaves and Luis Nani
Out; Phil Marsh, Floribert Ngalula,and Daniel Rose
The biggest spenders and the money seems like a lot of it has been spent wisely, Anderson and Nani are investments in the future there to replace Scholes and Giggs,this is not an improvement its maintenance to replace their aging stars, Hargreaves and Carrick will compete to replace Keane but they will have a hard job, these two players are good but not good enough to give Utd that all important controlling midfield and when they play the top teams like Liverpool this year expect the other teams to be able to convert their dominance into points, but if Man Utd can complete the transfer of Teves then Man Utd can make up for this loss in midfield and would be an improved team by being able to take their chances, they may not have the best defense but if Teves joins their ranks then they will score more goals than most teams in Europe and must be favourites to at least clinch the Premiership title once again and if they get lucky and that dodgy defence holds up could improve on their European record, but they really need to sign Tevez to improve on last years team.

Liverpool
In;Ryan Babel,Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Crowther, Andrei Voronin, Fernando Torres, Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon.
Out; Jerzy Dudek , Craig Bellamy, Luis García and Boudewijn Zenden.
I have left this to last because this is the team with the biggest changes and the biggest challenges in most likely hood the most improved team of the top four, they have always had the best defence but this year its been an all out assault on attacking options, of course its easy to improve when you are so far behind compared to Man Utd and Chelsea but Liverpool have definitely spent the money where it was needed most and that is in in attack. Liverpool have always had a great defence but putting the ball away has been the problem for the last two managers which is why Rafa Benitez has gone all out this year by buying all attacking players. Liverpool have strenghtened all attacking options but for Liverpool to become a true threat to Man utd then a couple of positions still have to to be filled, first of all we still need a right winger or else Gerrard may waste his talents there again for another season, and with all our great new attacking options it mean our defence is going to be more busy than ever now that we are not playing defensive football and that means we must plug up our one Achilles heel, the left back position, Riise is a great player going forward but in defence he leaves a lot to be desired.
So this is how i see the season unfolding, Arsenal will be lucky to be in the top four, Chelsea will always compete for the title with Roman`s millions, Man Utd will be very hard to overcome if they do sign Tevez which is very likely and Liverpool are a very unknown prospect just because so much rebuilding has gone on, but if Rafa can
get his team to gel quickly in the season and still be in contention by Christmas then i think it is more than likely that Liverpool will add to their massive league title haul.

LIVERPOOL, BACK WITH THE BIG BOYS

For years Liverpool Fc have had to spend their money miserly, often on players that were second rate that may have a chance of improving, but those days are gone. Now its all about getting the very best to end our league title drought.

Fernando Torres signaled Liverpools intention by shattering the clubs old record transfer fee and this has been just followed up by paying 11.5 million for Ryan Babel the 20 year old prospect from Holland, it shows the confidence that the new owners have in Rafa Benitez and that they believe that he is truly the man to end the clubs recent barren spell of league titles.

With the recent arrivals of Yossi Benayoun and Andrei Voronin Liverpool fans may be left scratching their heads at Benitez`s selection, because the players he has signed are so versatile. Torres is an out and out striker but Voronin can play up front or on the wing, Benayoun can play anywhere behind the front two while Babel can play up front or on either wing, so this season its going to be even more of a guessing game of who starts and where, this versatility is a great advantage that Benitez will use to great effect, its so so long since Liverpool had the option of putting out a purely attacking team, one that can kill off the lesser teams and gain us the three points, the same points that we get if its Man Utd or Reading, now Rafa has the ammunition he needs to deal with teams putting 11 men behind the ball, something that has caused us nightmares in previous seasons simply because we did not have enough attacking flair to break down these defences......but that is the past

Many people may say that Man utd are miles ahead with their early purchase of Nani and Anderson, but people must remember these are young players to replace the aging Scoles and Giggs so its not improvement its maintenance, and Hargreaves is another attempt to replicate Keane but as most people know the closest you can get to Keane in today's world football, plays for their arch rivals and is a better player than Keane could ever hope to be.
So the next season should be very interesting Rafa has shocked us in the past with his team selections but with the choices he now has your more likely to win Lotto than pick his starting 11 in their positions.

It has been a long long time coming but at last we have the players and manager to mount a serious title challenge so roll on the new season.

KUYT AND CROUCH WATCH OUT, VORONIN IS THE REAL DEAL!

As the media fanfare made its way from Anfield after seeing Torres arrive, it was almost like Andriy Voronin sneaked in the back door such was the difference in the media coverage of both events, but Voronin is here to do more than merely make up the numbers and he could be the surprise package in this years Premiership.
This is a must see clip of our new striker in action.


Now i know a lot of people will say that You Tube videos should not be taken very seriously as it it is not too hard to manage to make a players career to fit into three minutes and make him look good, but there really are some impressive goals there and what makes them impressive is some of these bullet shot goals of his are taken by his right and left foot, and also just by his physical presence he looks like he really is suited to the Premiership.
A lot of his play is very similar to the role Dirk Kuyt played at Anfield last year, he can score goals but is better known for his hard work and setting up his strike partner and is a strong player, so he seems like the perfect cover for Kuyt, if Kuyt ever does become tired, but i think Vorinon will not be happy waiting for Kuyt to become tired to play, this guy is here to win his place alongside Liverpools record signing Fernando Torres and if his style of play is any indication, a little old thing like Kuyt standing in his way will only be a short lived obstacle.
Now i don't believe that Kuyt will be displaced so easy, but if this Ukrainian can succeed where his fellow country men have so spectacularly failed in the past great strikers such as Rebrov and Shevchencko that after arriving in the Premiership with great reputations soon relies that reputations are worth nothing in the toughest league in the world, but i just have this feeling that Andriy Voronin is different and he has found the league that suits his style of play, so Crouch and Kuyt watch out he really is here to play first team football so take nothing for granted.

HENRY WHO ?

Allowing Thierry Henry`s departure to Barcelona could prove to be one of Arsene Wengers best managerial decisions, as Henry seems to have gone stale at Arsenal and this move could benefit all parties involved.

Henry will be a success in Spain but Arsenal are doing a great bit of buisness by getting 16 million pounds for a player that will be 30 in less than two months time, a large part of his game is reliant on speed and that i think has already started to wane, but he probably has one or two more seasons at the top, but at Barca he will have to fight for his place from day one.
Wenger is a true master in the transfer market and as hard as it is to replace Henry, who would bet against Wenger using the 16 million to bring in a new young striker that may have us saying in a few years, Henry who?

Media reports suggest that Arsenal may actually be after 2 strikers one young and one experienced. Many names have cropped up as Henry`s replacement but Anelkas is by far the most interesting, could it be possible that Wenger has the confidence that he could turn around the career of the incredible sulk. Remember the potential that Anelka once had when he was under Wenger`s stewardship before, he had the talent to become as good or even better than Henry but bad advice and a shocking attitude have meant that his talent has been wasted and although we have seen glimpses of what could have been, he is in reality a mediocre striker now, but Wenger may feel that Anelka may have matured and if Wenger was to take him on again Anelka will know that this his his last chance to become the player he should already be. At the moment this is all media speculation, but Wenger has the potential to surprise all and i think there is little doubt that Anelka would jump at the chance to let Wenger rekindle his career.

There is also talk of Wenger leaving Arsenal but i cant see that happening, some say that Henry leaving may be a sign that Wenger may join him in Spain, but the simple fact is Wenger has always cashed in on his major stars when the time was right, think back to Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Viera and now you can add Thierry Henry to that list of players that Wenger thinks have offered all that can be offered to the club. I believe Wenger is looking to the future by selling Henry, with the cash he can improve his squad, he already has a squad of young talent that if supplemented with a bit of experience in midfield and attack we could see a very different Arsenal next year that does not only want to play pretty football but also wants to win games even if its that means that results become more important than playing the game beautifully.
This is going to be one of the most interesting transfer seasons at Arsenal for years, it is a out with the old and in with the new, but the big question is can Wenger pull off another transfer miracle and will the new be as good as the old that has served the Arsenal faithful so well.

IS HE WORTH 27 MILLION?

Fernando Torres seems the most likely to join our ranks , he is not my first choice but he is young and Rafa can improve him and improve his goal per game ratio which is the all important key for the new Liverpol striker, we already have Kuyt and Crouch to set up the chances all we need now is someone to put it in back of the net and that's where we need to spend big, but i am really not sure that Torres is the answer to our goalscoring problems, but here he is anyway...............you decide is he the answer to our problems.

LIVERPOOL CRISIS?

A lot of promises have been made by the new owners of Liverpool football club, but so far we have seen little in the way of results, is it now time to start to worry?

Rafa Benitez has already voiced his concerns over the inaction of the clubs new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet, and to be honest a week ago i already wanted to write this story but i thought for sure we would see some new big name arrivals at Anfield this week, but it now seems even with new owners very little seems to have changed in the way Liverpool Football Club conducts its transfer dealings, we still seem to drag our heels at every given opportunity.

It is no secret that our two major priorities this close season are a striker and two wingers of a higher caliber than we have had in the past. Eto`o and Tevez are names that keep cropping up for the striker role, but because of our time wasting other teams have now joined the hunt for these players with Inter Milan now willing to pay 40 million for Eto`o effectively pricing us out of the race for his signature and now Man Utd seems to be interested in Tevez, but Tevez could still be bought his friendship with Mascherano is a major plus and we also have Bellamy as bait, but this can also show us how much the new owners are willing to invest in Liverpool. There is one more option to solve our striker problem and it is a lot cheaper, If media reports can be believed Newcastle are interested in Bellamy and are very unsure whether Michael Owen wants to stay at St James, so the scenario for Owen to return to Anfield seems to be opening up, it would be close to a straight swap deal with maybe a little money going Newcastles way. But it is not a good deal for Liverpool, Owen is undoubtedly a better player than Bellamy but he is no good to us if he is on the treatment table half the time, we need a striker that will score for us week in week out and because of Owens injury plagued past, we just cant rely on him, but it will be interesting to see if the Americans go for the cheap option.

Trying to sign the wingers has really shown where our go slow approach is just not good enough in the world of todays football, Daniel Alves is now one of the most sought out right sided players in Europe today but he could and should have been at Anfield a long time ago but the most glaring mistake so far in this close seasons dealings has been the handling of the Florent Malouda transfer, this is a player that could have easily been signed within a few days of the start of close season with his media statements which were nearly as good as saying come and get me, but no we waited and waited until Chelsea sorted themselves out and now it has opened up into a two horse race, so now because of our snail`s pace we will have to compete with the Chelsea`s billions.

This transfer season was supposed to be all about catapulting Liverpool into serious title contenders, Man Utd won the League last year so they are the benchmark, now not only do we have to improve to beat the standards they set last season but we now have to contend with the signings that they made in the first few days of the close season, Nani, Anderson and Hargreavs will improve their team and if we are to overcome them we have to sign top class players soon.

Now i know some will say that it is early days and a lot of time is left to sign players, and we have resigned our major players on extended contracts but as time goes on other clubs will become interested in the players that Benitez really wants to sign and we must remember Rafa Benitez is one of the most sought after managers in world football today, so if the new owners don't deliver the big names that he needs to do his job maybe we will lose a lot more than big name signings.

THE DISGRACE THAT IS UEFA

Uefa`s shameful handling of the Champions League final in Athens this year and then its cowardly attempt to blame the Liverpool supporters for the fiasco shows that major changes are needed to make Uefa accountable for its actions.

Athens was a complete shambles, but Uefa`s shame was in the fact that they had been warned well before the final of exactly what would happen, but because they know best they totally ignored all advice and instead pretended that it would be all right on the night.
As with all clubs there is a tiny percentage of fans that are looking for trouble and the bigger the club the bigger the fan base is, those numbers go up, but there would have been no trouble in Athens if Uefa had listened to the advice and warnings that they were given. The problems started when Uefa gave only a paltry 17,000 tickets to each club in a stadium that holds 63,000. Uefa gave 20,000 of the tickets to the 'Uefa family' and a further 9,000 via a ballot. So Uefa actually gave nearly half the tickets to non fans of either club, this is madness and it highlights how this organisation has no regard for the clubs or their fans that it is supposed to represent.
They were also pre-warned that there was forgeries on the open market but decided that the best course of action to take was no action at all and this is what caused the biggest problems. Fans with forged tickets entered the ground, many who thought their tickets were legitimate and left many standing outside with real tickets only to be told that the stadium was full.
The whole affair was a complete mess and as i said before it could have been totally avoided if Uefa had not thought that they know best.

But the claims made by Uefa spokesman William Gaillard that `Liverpool supporters are the worst behaved in Europe´ beggars belief, this is the very same man that just before the final said that Liverpool supporters 'have a tradition of good behaviour'.
So which version from the same man only a couple of weeks apart do we believe. The first version or the second one that was made after the Athens debacle, the debacle that Mr Gaillard and his partner in stupidity Mr Platini caused because they believe that they always know best and never let the facts interfere with there beliefs.

English football has had its problems in the past and was without doubt the worst villain in Europe in the 80`s, but if we look at the 3 top leagues in Europe now The Premiership comes out head and shoulders against the rest. It is a league where Racism has for the most part been removed unlike in Spain and Italy where the ignorant masses are rampant and can still give shout their monkey chants and other racist remarks at certain players and face little or no consequences whatsoever. In Rome, Man Utd were warned beforehand of the deadly hooligan Roma fans, but like Spurs in Spain no one warned them of the hooligan type police, that battered all before them. In Italy you could see why police would be wary of fans because in the horrible old days of English hooliganism fans wanted to beat up opposing fans but in Italy they have taken it to a whole new level by throwing explosives at police trying to kill them and have been successful. But despite this, idiots at Uefa have decided that to cover-up their own mistakes Liverpool Football Club must carry the banner of the worst fans in Europe.

This all reminds me of Will Carlings famous description of the Rugby Football Union Committee as "57 old farts". Now i don't know how many old farts there are in Uefa but this latest Uefa show of `We answer to no one´ really should open up the debate would football be better served if the G14 had more influence and i really hope the G14 is expanded to nearly all clubs not just the rich, to show that there really is an alternative to this out of date, dying dinosaur of an organisation led by people who seem to value there own importance above the people that makes the very existence of their very precious organisation possible, the players and the fans of the clubs that they seem to have little or no respect for.

EMPIRE OF YOUTH

The major story at Liverpool Football Club this summer are which big name stars will or will not arrive, but as this is going on, Rafa Benitez has been slowly and surely adding the best youth talent from every corner of the globe, to the Anfield ranks.

We all talk about Eto`o, Teves and co but we often forget that Rafa has been building this youth empire for the past two seasons, this week he added three more players to the fold by signing the two Hungarians, Krisztian Nemeth, Andras Simon and Swedish teenager Alexander Kacaniklic. This is really a sign of how badly The Liverpool Academy has performed just by the fact that we seem to have to replace most of the youth players with players that Rafa thinks might actually make it to the first team and he cannot be blamed, no player that started at the Academy has become a regular or will be in Liverpool's first team next season. Steven Gerrard spent the last few months of his tutorial there, but he can hardly be labeled a product of the Academy. The target when The Academy was set up was to have one player introduced to the first team each season, so far we have had zero, all we have done is produced players for the Championship and lower divisions.
Whether its down to the present day football youth climate or the miss management of the Academy we may never know, but i think it is in large part to Steve Heighways intolerance to having any interference from the past two managers of Liverpool, men who are more talented than himself in nurturing young talent.
Benitez`s global network of scouts have been as active in searching out the stars of tomorrow as they have been finding the stars that the first team needs today, this is a sign of Rafa`s plans for his and Liverpool's future, It mean we can discard any talk of him leaving Liverpool in the near future because he is here to build a footballing empire in the mould of the past Liverpool teams. He has broken down the old system of the first team manager not interfering in youth team development and we can hardly blame him as the top players in the youth team are players that he has bought.

Already his endeavours into the youth system should pay off, next year i expect to see Paul Anderson been given a go as he has earned rave reviews since his arrival, other players that have a very good chance of breaking through are Besian Idrizaj Jack Hobbs, Godwin Antwi and Astrit Ajdarevic. These are all players that he had to pay to get them to the Academy and these and the others that Rafa bought are in reality the only ones with a real chance to make it into the Liverpool first team.

When the spine of a team is built at the youth level the results can be astounding, Man Utd and the Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, and the ugly brother Nevilles early era is the perfect example, I believe that if that team had come about as the same time as the Chelsea millions, the Man Utd team that had grown together as players would still win the league just because they had already spent so many years playing and knowing each others game so well.
This is what Rafa is trying to achieve, but as always with youth players it is very unpredictable, players that seem great when they are fifteen might fizzle out and by the time there eighteen and may be no better than the Nevilles, so therefore not good enough for Liverpool.

The future`s bright the future`s red, and with Rafa handling the youth team we can expect the spine of the Liverpool teams of tomorrow, to be very much influenced by Rafa`s youth policy of today.

WHAT LIVERPOOL NEED TO DO TO BRING THE TITLE HOME

Our shortcomings have become obvious over the past season, but now Rafa Benitez has at last the warchest to make Liverpool Football Club a serious contender for the league title, and this is what he needs to do in the transfer season to make it happen.

In goal Reina will once again reign supreme with Daniele Padelli as his cover and we may see Scott Carson off loaded.
In defence Carragher is the only guaranteed player to start a game if fit, Agger his partner for this year may seem his obvious partner but as seen in the way he was totally outdone by Drogba and the fact that Mourhinho singled him out as the weak link in the first leg of the Champions League means there could be some substance that Liverpool want to sign Gabriel Milito. The left back position seems to be between John Arne Riise and Fabio Aurelio, although both are great going forward there will always be question marks about their ability to defend, but both should be safe next season. On the right back it is a lot more complicated, it is no secret we want Daniel Alves but what position would he play, Finnan does a great job at right back, but as Alves can also play right back or midfield,so where would Rafa want him to play, i would be a bit wary us trying to play someone on the wing that is naturally defensive like the case of Riise on the other wing.


In midfield is where things are most complicated and a lot revolves on one current Anfield player, Alonso may or may not be on is on his way out, but i think we have already bought his replacement, Lucas the 20 year old Brazilian. Next year i expect to see Gerrard occupy his favoured central midfield role and have Mascherano playing alongside him and Lucas and Sissoko being backup.
In the wide positions is where Liverpool need major improvements and i think as good as Pennant has improved over the final months of the season another top class right winger is needed but on the left we could actually be looking for two, Zendon is on his way i hope, and Kewell also, so that just leaves us with Gonzalez who has been unimpressive since his much highlighted move, but this is his first season so maybe Rafa will give him another chance to prove his worth, as for the wingers we could sign for these positions the media list is endless, but one name that keeps cropping up is Simao Sabrosa ,Joaquín Sánchez has also been mentioned along with just about every decent winger playing in the Iberian Peninsula today so for wing positions it really is any ones guess who Rafa will opt for.

But the big name signing this summer is going to be the Striker, we all know we need a top class one but we cant seem to agree on who that should be. The two names that seem to be top of the list are Tevez and Eto`o.
Tevez has already proved that he can handle the premiership while Eto`o has shown what a loose cannon he can be, but I have posted stories before that have hinted that my preference would be Eto`o above the merits of Villa, Tevez and co.
Some people may say he would not suit the rotation policy that Rafa employs, but remember this, Rafa only rotates the players that are not playing good enough as Carra, Gerrard and Kuyt proved from last season. Tevez would be good and probably not that hard to get because of his friendship with Mascherano and using Bellamy as bait but still i think Eto`o is the man that can bring us to the next level, and Rafa proved with Bellamy he is not afraid to take on a troubled player if it can help the team, and even though most of Europe wants to sign Eto`o i believe that the wheels are already in motion to use Alonso as a serious bargaining chip to make sure that Eto`o will be playing for Liverpool next year.

IN THE AFTERMATH OF ATHENS

The gods looked down on Milan, and leveled the score from two years ago for these two historical giants of European football. But this result is not all bad for Liverpool Football club as there was a also a valuable and harsh lesson learned.

Liverpool fans and players a like have learned that grit and determination given by players like Gerrard Carragher and Kuyt cannot on its own guarantee success and that's why major changes have to be made.
Fans from AC Milan and Liverpool Fc will always argue on who deserved to win, and it is made harder by the fact that both teams play so different styles of football but i think its pretty fair to say that both teams were pretty even , but that will only ever be an opinion. The simple fact is Ac Milan won their seventh European cup and it is refreshing to hear Benitez and his players say that Milan deserved to win on the night, none of the Mourhinho and Chelsea type whinging and complaining.
Some may even say that Benitez had one eye on next years league title when he selected his team and continued to play Xabi Alonso even though he would have been the natural player to be replaced by Crouch as Mascherano was doing such Good job of keeping Kaka quiet up until his departure. Alonso would have bean very wary of signing a new contract if he thought he would be playing second fiddle to Mascherano next year.

What this Athens adventure has shown is how threadbare the Liverpool squad actually is, Zendon (sorry i always come back to Zendon) should never represent any club at the highest level such is the European cup but Rafa felt that Kewell was not fit enough and Gonzalez is either not good enough or not ready, but there was more serious problems with the selection. Steven Gerrard`s best position is central midfield, its not a debate anymore its a fact, but in the biggest game of our season we had to play him out of position because Kuyt is the only striker we have worthy of the title, world class, Crouch maybe someday but he seems more super sub material right now. If we had the influx of money that we are about to receive earlier and had another world class striker and a top left winger then i honestly believe the result in Athens would have been very different because Milan were there for the taking with Rafa`s tactics and a team that he could be confident of.

But this is football and we cant always get what we want, but one thing i do want is for Gerrard and Co to carry the disappointment and the pain of losing this final all through the summer , and use the memory and lesson learned and with the reinforced team Rafa will build will hopefully get them off to the flying start that has eluded us for so many years now. Liverpool have been shown where they need to improve and Rafa has already berated his new owners to give him the cash quick, and you cant blame him.

Two players that he has missed out on were Eto`o before Barca signed him and Alves who will cost triple now because the board did not move and back him fast enough. I have followed this club all my life from the Paisley glory years all through the title barren years, and i have seen managers come and go that promised the holy grail but Rafa is by far the man most likely to deliver the premiership holy grail back to the Kop faithful,there have been a lot of false dawns in between, but now we have one of the top managers in the world and for the first time since the game has moved into mega buck land we can actually compete at the very highest level for the signature's of the very best in the game.
This summer expect a host of top names to arrive at Anfield and next season those same names coupled with Gerrard and co`s desire to put aside the pain of the Athens should see us mount a serious challenge on the cup we really want, The Premiership.

WHY ROBBIE FOWLER WILL ALWAYS BE GOD AT LIVERPOOL

Robbie Fowler, one of the greatest strikers to have ever graced the game has for the second time drawn a close to his Anfield career and this time its for keeps, but it all could have been so different.

The Toxteth Terror was lucky to have the amazing skills he had, but was so unlucky that when he made his breakthrough into the team that he loved so much, Liverpool Fc`s empire and stranglehold on English football had just come to and end. Due to bad decisions by the board and management of Liverpool Fc, Fowler never got to win the League with his beloved club, something that had become routine in Liverpool teams gone by.

But when Fowler burst onto the football scene in 1993 he was an instant success scoring on his first team debut against Fulham in the league cup and in the return leg showed what was to come by scoring all five goals in a decisive win.
Fowler has other amazing records to his name, the fastest hat trick in premiership history will take some doing to overtake, four minutes and thirty-three seconds against Arsenal, a top team and at the time renowned for their stingy defence.
Fowler earned his nickname `God´from his early days playing in front of the kop, he scored a massive amount of goals over 30 in each of his first three seasons, but it was not the quantity of goals that he scored, it was the quality of these goals that will always endear him to the Anfield faithful.

Fowler was simply born in the wrong continent, if he was born in the slums of Sao Paulo and his name was Kakadinho the whole world would be worshiping his early goals as the best ever scored, but instead he has always been labeled as the spiceboy from Toxteth that made good. If people think its crazy to compare him to the greats of South American football you must take a look of clips of Fowler early exploits, they will amaze you, even when he was only 18 he was not just scoring but putting the ball away with aplomb and a confidence that a lot of the players that we today regard as the best can only dream of.
With Fowler the term `the most natural finisher´has been used so much that it has lost some of its meaning, but you only have to look at his massive goals haul and more importantly, the quality in these goals to see why so many people say this about him.

Fowler was never the same after his knee ligament injury in 1998, gone was the predatory instinct that was so much of his game, gone were the legs that had previously carried him into the deadly runs that left opposing defences bewildered and even more importantly he seemed to have lost some of that cock sure scouse confidence in his own ability that had reassured his following on the Kop that he could truly walk on water.

But his first exit from Anfield was a disgrace, he will always be remembered as one of the true Anfield greats, but the way Houlier maneuvered him out will always be a black mark against the French manager. Fowler deserved more than that, he never got a chance to say goodbye to the Anfield faithful, and i remember an interview that Fowler gave at the time and for me it sums up the relationship between Fowler and Liverpool. The reporter badgered him by trying to get Robbie to say something bad about his departure from the club, but Robbie replied in the most serious voice i have ever heard him speak `you will never hear me badmouth anything about Liverpool Football Club´, and he was true to his word, even though an injustice had been done against him, he has never slagged of the club which most players today in the same situation would have done.

This is a guy who sat in the Ataturk stadium and watched his team like all the rest of the scouser fans, the team he knows he should be playing for, play the greatest game of football the world has ever known, that takes guts but it also shows how much he loves the Club and will always be a fan.

But he is still here now, and remember his return to Anfield was a fairytale and this fairytale ending was not fulfilled against Charlton in the last game of the League campaign so perhaps there is another chapter. What i will be watching as much as Benitez`s starting 11 in Athens is if God is selected to sit on the bench, and if he is, who would bet against him fulfilling his destiny to win glory for himself and the club whose history have become so intertwined.

RAFA AND THE KEWELL GAMBLE HE MUST TAKE!

Harry Kewell has been out injured all season and has only played a few minutes for the first team in the last two games, but such are Liverpool`s problems on the left wing that the Australian could and should start against AC Milan in Athens.

Kewells return from injury has handed Rafa Benitez one of the toughest decisions of his managerial career. Kewell is physically fit but has had so little playing time he would not normally warrant a start in a game of the magnitude that is the Champions Leagu Final, but he has become a contender for a starting berth for two reasons, one being that he has been impressive since his comeback. Against Charlton he turned the game when he came on setting up Alonso`s goal, coming close to scoring himself when he hit the post and finally rounded off his day by scoring a penalty.
But the more compelling reason why he should start in Istanbul is because the other options are Bolo Zenden or Mark Gonzalez. Riise could play there but he really is the only natural left back we have and he seems to be more of a threat when he runs from deep and has another attacking player on the wing to play off, so i think like the Chelsea game Rafa will keep Riise in his natural position.

Zendon and Gonzalez should not start, Zendon is just simply not up to this standard of Football, the first leg against Chelsea showed how bad he actually is, he had more attacking opportunities than anyone on the pitch but wasted one after another and seemed content to just win corners. Gonzalez ability is still very unknown, considering all the hype that surrounded his arrival at Anfield he has been a disappointment this year, but he deserves one more season as he is still young and he has shown glimpses of the player we had hoped he would be.

So as impossible as is seemed even just two weeks ago Kewell has given himself a chance to turn a total nightmare of a season into a fairytale ending. He is a player who has had an injury plagued time at Liverpool and has not had it easy, but because of these injuries Liverpool Football Club and its fans have never seen the best of Kewell and it is easy to forget how good he actually is. A lot of people expect Kewell to leave Anfield this summer, but i hope like Gonzalez Rafa gives him one more season to see what an injury free Harry Kewell can offer Liverpool.

Rafa played Zendon in the two Chelsea legs so we must assume he is once again the favourite to start in Athens, but it was clear to see in the Charlton game where Zendon started and was replaced by Kewell, that even a match unfit Harry Kewell is a much better player than a fully fit Zendon.

Benitez has already hinted that Kewell has a chance of starting by saying that he may be able to last sixty minutes or so, but as always with Rafa`s team selection we would be surprised not to be surprised.

COULD ALONSO BE LEAVING ANFIELD?

Rafa Benitez dropped Xabi Alonso for the Champions League semi final against Chelsea, and this may become the trend next season, but how long will the Spaniard be willing to bide his time on the bench before saying `Adios´.

Before i go any further i think its important to say that i do not want Alonso to leave Anfield, he is one of the best midfielders in the world and if Liverpool are to truly compete for the league they need two players in each position, and if Gerrard gets injured there is no one that could fill his boots, but Alonso is as close as you will get.
Liverpool are at the dawn of a new era, cash is going to be made available to Benitez on a scale not seen before at the merseyside club, he will be strenghtening all areas of the squad but the positions with the most priority are the wings and up front. The wings will be where the biggest transformation comes, i can actually see two players being bought, one for each wing, and these will not be players that have potential, but players that have passed that stage of their career and are already able to compete at the highest level, Jermaine Pennant and Mark Gonzalez will have to fight for their place in the starting line up with the new arrivals and that is good healthy competition for the club.
Who these players are is anyones guess, the media give different names on any given day, but one thing is for sure Rafa will bring players in to fix this Liverpool Fc problem that has gone on for years, but when we have two good natural wingers where does that leave Steven Gerrard. It means that his days on the wing are over and he is going to be playing in his natural position, central midfield, what Liverpool fans have been crying out now for years.

But the big question is who plays alongside Gerrard in this new look Liverpool football team, most people would automatically say Alonso, but the Gerrard, Alonso combination has its problems, its a little bit similar to the England problem of Gerrard and Lampard, where people say they are too similar and cannot play together.
Alonso and Gerrard give the same problem to a lesser degree mainly because Alonso is a lot better player than Lampard and has learned to tackle and became tougher since he moved to Liverpool.
There was no problem in the Alonso Gerrard combination until Momo Sissoko arrived and then we seen how a real terrier such as Sissoko with his tackles, breaking down play and non stop running helped our midfield performance, but with Sissoko his distribution of the ball has got progressively worse so lately there has not been much point playing him because as soon as he wins the ball he passes it straight back to the opposition.
But the man who Rafa picked to play alongside Gerrard in the Chelsea game, has a mix of Alonso`s and Sissoko`s talents. Mascherano has it all, he can tackle, track back and even if his passes are not as visionary as Alonso`s he has the talent to spot the runs of the forwards and execute the pass, its simple play but very effective and the plus of having a player that can do this but also tackle and break up play means that he must be picked so that it gives Gerrard the freedom to surge forward and be a menace to the other team, all the time knowing that Mascherano has his back covered but can also launch his own attack given the opportunity.

It is no secret that Barcelona would love to sign Alonso, and it is also no secret that Benitez is a great admirer of Samuel Eto`o, he tried to sign him before Barcelona snapped him up. Because of Eto`o`s relationship with Barca all the top clubs in Europe will be interested in signing the Cameroonian this summer, but Liverpool if they decided to let Alonso move to the Nou Campcould work out a deal and jump to the head of the line.

So as unthinkable as it may seem, if what i think will happen and Mascherano is chosen as the best partner for Gerrard, we have to ask ourselves what is better for Liverpool Football Club, a disgruntled Xabi Alonso sitting on the bench or in my opinion the best striker in the world Samuel Eto`o spreading fear among all Premiership defences.

LIVERPOOL FC V AC MILAN, ITS ALL ABOUT REVENGE NOW.

AC Milan booked their flight to destiny by destroying Manchester United in the rain lashed San Siro, and destroyed is not too strong a word to describe this footballing lesson and it sent a clear warning to Liverpool Fc that a mammoth task lies ahead.

A lot had been said about Milan's ageing squad of players but the blend of the experienced players and the sublime skills of Kaka produced one of the finest performances by a team in this competition for years. Milan were deadly in attack and broke up the Man utd play so well that Alex Ferguson's men never really entered this contest and at the end were probably lucky that Milan's irresistible football only produced 3 goals.
But Milan`s game was made to look even better because of their oppositions pure lack lustre performance. Sir Alex must be scratching his head wondering where did it all go so wrong, United`s fatigue probably played a part, but it was all Milan from the very first minute, while Man Utd looked like a team totally out of their depth and were lucky that it took Milan 11 minutes to get the first.
Man United are a much better team than their performance in Milan suggests and some might say that Ferguson whose measly haul of just one European cup for a team that has dominated the Premiership for so long got his tactics wrong, but i don't think the answer lies there, during the game he tried all that he could he moved his players around changed formations but whatever he did the flow of the game remained the same, so it really has to be blamed on the players and especially the big name players who just did not show up, Rooney was a spectator for much of the game while the much talked about battle between Ronaldo and Kaka on who is the best, never materialised, the Brazilian showing that he is a true contender for the title of `best footballer on the planet´ but it was a little unfair on Ronaldo as he is younger and in truth this is his first real headline grabbing year. Milan surely had one eye on the final and who their opponents would be and used this as motivation in overcoming Utd.

In the eyes of all Liverpool fans that night in Istanbul in 2005 is viewed as the greatest comeback of all time, but Milan must view it as the greatest capitulation in their clubs proud history and i cannot imagine as a player or a fan how it feels to be 3 nil up in the final of the greatest club competition of them all and then see it all fall apart so spectacularly. It must have been one of the most shocking and utterly disappointing moments in sport for players and fans alike, and the ultimate way to exact revenge would be to beat the team that caused their nightmare in a rematch at the same stage of the competition.
In Carlo Ancelotti they have one of the top managers in the game today who has been there done that and bought the t-shirt so expect a very well prepared and fired up Milan for the encounter in Athens, this will be the game of their lives for many of the Milan players, such was the hurt two years ago in Istanbul.

But Liverpool Football Club are not to be taken lightly either, this competition has become their speciality and overcoming the odds has become another. Rafa Benitez has some key advantages over Milan, Liverpool have a greater variety to their attack, Riise and Pennant down the wings, Alonso or Gerrard through the centre or the thing that Milan hate and fear the most as shown against Bayern, the ball over the top to Crouch, bypassing their formidable midfield. But central midfield is where this battle is going to be won or lost, one explanation for Man Utd`s demise against Milan is that their midfield has no bite, they still have not been able to find a player in the Roy Keane mould and it let Ivan Gattuso and Co break down and dominate midfield. But against Liverpool its a totally different proposition, the Anfield outfit have the passion and drive of Gerrard, the killer incisive passes of Alonso, Sissoko`s tenacity and non stop snapping at the heels of any opposing player or the man i hope will be chosen to partner Gerrard in the middle Mascherano, who combines the talents of both Alonso and Sissoko and is a perfect foil for Gerrard. Rafa has some very tough decisions to make but he has a squad capable of putting out a team that can beat Milan. And remember this Milan team despite their great performance against Man Utd is not as good as the team that we beat two years ago, but this is a much improved Liverpool team not only in personal but also now have the confidence and belief that they can beat any team in the world.

MOURINHO CANT PUT UP OR SHUT UP

Sometimes in sport, people get the rewards from their efforts, and Jose `the gob´ Mourinho got his at Anfield. His non-stop tirade of pre-game comments and abuse were well and truly answered by Rafa Benitez`s men in red.

Most of the talk before the game was coming from the self appointed `special one´ Mourinho, his comments included little digs, like Liverpool had only played 3 or 4 big games this season while Chelsea had played 27 or that Liverpool would would chase Drogba around all night trying to get him booked, but i think by far his best comment and the one that must make us question is he nowadays really playing with a full deck of cards, was the Liverpool Fc are only a small club jibe. Now anyone on this planet who has an interest in Football has heard of Liverpool Football Club and if Liverpool have 5 European cups in their trophy room what does that make his team that have a grand total of Zero. But the craziness of that comment was best summed up by Steven Gerrard after the game when he said that when the players read that statement that `Mourinho did the team talk for us´. Good on you Jose, if only you could motivate your own team as well.

Its pretty hard to be surprised by any nonsense the special one mutters anymore because his claims against not just Liverpool but other clubs like Man utd have become so stupid and vicious, his personal attack on Chritian Ronaldo that he is uneducated because he comes from a poor background shows how low he has got, but his after game statement that Chelsea were the better team and were the only ones trying to score beggars belief even by his crazy standard. What game was he actually watching because it could not have been the one sided affair at Anfield. Liverpool had 3 or 4 times the amount of chances as Chelsea and a perfectly good goal ruled offside.

But i think the end is nigh for crazy Jose for a couple of reasons, his Russian paymaster must be so sick of Jose alienating all neutral fans and making Chelsea the most hated team in the game at the moment. Remember this is a team that before Romans rubles arrived had no history and very few enemies outside of their London derbies, and in this short space of time Jose has turned them into probably the most hated team on the planet with his so stupid comments. The second and most compelling reason was summed up by Rick Parry when he said about Chelsea `I guess when you've invested £500m it's a fantastic season to win the League Cup´. What Parry said is very true with Chelsea`s massive investment Roman Abromovich must really be thinking is Jose the right man to spend his money and when should he stop the rot, also remember Gus Hiddink is still waiting in the wings.

I dont expect the special one to be at Chelsea next year and it will be no loss for English football, he is not special, any good Sunday league amateur manager given the same resources could achieve the same if not more and his comments which at the start were comical have turned vicious as in the Ronaldo case, but when he said Liverpool were a small club he tried to belittle far greater men than himself, men like Shankly and Paisley and when he did so he paid the price, how better to fire up Stevie Gerrard and Co by saying that the iconic figures from the club were just little men from a little club.