my liverpool fc

Aldo: He is a better player now than Lucas was 3 years ago

2011-03-23T00:31:00.000+08:00

Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has praised Jay Spearing’s recent performances. He wrote in his column fo the Liverpool Echo:

“Jay Spearing had his best game in a Liverpool shirt against Sunderland. It was great to see and the more experience he gets the better he will become. Spearing is a terrier. He did really well to win the penalty and was only denied his first goal by a brilliant save. He was excellent and only Luis Suarez stopped him from getting the man of the match award. Spearing is a better player now than Lucas was three years ago. Give him three years experience of being in the squad and he will mature into a fine player. Kenny Dalglish clearly has a lot of faith in him and everyone wants to see him do well. He’s a local lad and you can see how much it means to him to pull on the shirt. We’re all behind him and now he’s got to take the bull by the horns and have belief in himself.”

Aldridge also believes that Liverpool can still finish fifth:

“Finishing fifth is still going to be very tough but Liverpool have given themselves a chance of catching Spurs. We’re on the front foot and have to keep this winning run going. All we can do is focus on getting three points at West Brom a week on Saturday and hope Spurs slip up. There’s no doubt Harry Redknapp’s side have got a tough run in as well as the distraction of the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid. They’ve got Chelsea away as well as Arsenal at home. Crucially, Spurs also have to come to Anfield. That last home game of the season for Liverpool could be huge.”

Liverpool's Alberto Aquilani set to stay at Juventus, claims agent

2011-03-23T00:27:00.000+08:00

Alberto Aquilani has also been linked with his former club Roma. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

Alberto Aquilani is likely to sign with Juventus at the end of the season, according to the player's agent.

The Liverpool midfielder returned to Serie A on loan last August after only one injury-affected season in the Premier League. And Aquilani's representative, Franco Zavaglia, has suggested the Italian is ready to extend his stay in Turin despite being linked with his former club Roma.

"Aquilani to Roma? That will be difficult. Juve has the priority and I don't think they will let him escape," he told the Italian broadcaster Radio Mana Mana. "On 30 June Juventus will be able to buy Aquilani and they should act now.

"They could sign him by making three to four delayed payments, a system which was established last summer. The agreement between Liverpool and Juventus is already there, it all depends on the willingness of Juventus. I think Aquilani will stay at Juventus and there will not be any obstacles."

Joe Cole of Liverpool. Does that sound good More here: http://lfcglobe.com/joe-cole-of-liverpool-does-that-sound-good

2010-08-14T06:08:00.000+08:00

Joe Cole’s arrival at Liverpool on a Bosman is, and will remain, the British transfer coup of the summer. Already it has given the supporters a terrific psychological boost and it’s also put a couple of our rivals on the back foot.

This article was written by yorkykopite from The Red And White Kop Forums (RAWK) – It does not necessarily represent our views and has been edited to suit posting.

At a time when the football press was predicting a stampede of star players out of Anfield, and when the semi-criminal ownership was haemorrhaging £100,000-a-day to the banks, there was enormous symbolic value in the fact that we captured Cole, not Arsenal or Tottenham or Man Utd. Even though we are seriously ill and even though we could not hope to match his initial wage demand, Joe Cole chose us.

I don’t know anyone in Red who wasn’t lifted by that. I live in London and so inevitably have friends who support Arsenal and Tottenham. You could still see the shock on their faces a day or so afterwards. “I thought you were dead”, said one mate who’d become used to hearing my pirate stories about Gillett and Hicks. “Half-dead”, I replied. But even the semi-corpse of Liverpool Football Club was more seductive to Joe than the sprightly North London duo. Yes, he chose us and it was a fine thing.

But is he what we need? What can Joe Cole bring to Liverpool? Is he the real thing or is he just an ornament? I think he’s the real thing. In fact Cole is the player I expected Rafa to sign when he first arrived, except his name was Pablo Aimar then.

‘Cockney Tw*t’

Looking back at previous posts on RAWK, when Cole was still a Russian slave, I see that I once called him a ‘tw*t’ and hoped some Liverpool player would break his legs – a sure sign that I regarded him extremely highly. Indeed in October 2008 I wistfully imagined that we had a “Cole-type” player on the right wing to bring some defence-unlocking trickery to that side of the field. And then over the space of 12 months I posted these two comments. Again, they contain a wee dose of envy-driven malice, not to mention some indefensible regional stereotyping, but it’s fair to say that my high regard for the man’s footballing skills comes through.

This was in 2008: “It’s like that little shit Joe Cole. Can’t stand him. But I can’t stand him playing against us either. The temptation for his manager must always be to bench him in the big games because he can’t defend for the life in him. When Chelsea come to Anfield I always pray that’s where Joe Cole will be – nailed to the bench. But, really, if you want to win titles you’ve got to be prepared to take risks and field players like him”

And this in 2009: “Obviously he’s a cockney tw*t with a grade-A certificate in diving from his local swimming baths. But he’s a wonderful player who worries me when he lines up against us. He has immaculate ball control, is tenacious and has tremendous pace when he’s running with the ball – and because he is so balanced is surprisingly difficult to knock off it. He takes opponents out of the game constantly and his head never seems to drop – a real ‘picture-changer’ of a player who always looks to disorganize the opponents’ defence and often suceeds. He ought to score more goals, but his greatest asset is creating space for teammates.”

So yeah, ‘cockney tw*t’ or not, I liked him. A lot. Well, now he’s ours and I’m delighted.

I’m delighted because I take huge enjoyment from having audacious players in the Liverpool shirt. It’s our birthright. Over the years each generation of Kopites has witnessed that lethal combination of imagination, guts and technique: imagination to conceive something, guts to try it, and technique to carry it out. It’s a rare thing to see the three things combined in one player. They were in St John. They were in Keegan and Dalglish. They were in Beardsley and Fowler. I think they are in Cole. But I’m also delighted because Joe Cole is a battle-hardened performer who has won three league titles and two FA-Cup winners’ medals. He’s not just a fancy dan, as many of his detractors tend to suggest. He’s a player who is habituated to winning and one who knows that trickery can hurt the opposition and coax teammates into life as well as excite the crowd.

The best is yet to come

Cole himself believes his best years are still to come. He’s 28 now, and has suffered serious injury in the recent past, so perhaps this is bullshit. And, certainly, it’s true that all players at the peak of their powers are inclined to say “my best is yet to come”. The demoralising alternative, after all, is to gaze at the long downslope which leads to nowhere but the pit. But I think Cole might be right, and there are two reasons why.

First, because despite his medals, Cole still has something to prove. There is unquestionably a certain feeling in English and European football that the boy-genius has not quite fulfilled his early promise. I can remember reading about the reaction of Italian football journalists after one of Cole’s first international games, against Italy. He gave a command performance full of damaging flicks, cheeky turns and incisive off-the-ball running and it had the Italian press corps cooing and wondering why Italy could no longer produce such virtuoso talent. Yet that tyro of 2002 has still never managed to become a permanent fixture in the national team, nor an indisputable star in the Champions League. That’s a warning for Liverpool fans. But it’s also a source of hope. Cole must know that there’s a lingering question-mark over his career, and the move to Liverpool could, once and for all, supply the definitive answer. He can write his name in gold here in a way he never quite managed at Stamford Bridge.

The second reason why the best is possibly still to come is to do with the specific role he plays inside the team. Chelsea never completely liberated or harnessed Cole’s prodigious talent because they never knew quite where to play him. Central midfield, on the left wing, on the right, in the hole – they tried him everywhere and often you got the feeling he was moved to a certain position because Robben happened to be injured that week, or Drogba was sulking, or Kalou was in Africa. Mourinho was the biggest culprit because he was working with raw material he could have moulded any way he liked. “There are two faces to Joe Cole”, he once said. “One is beautiful, and the other I do not like”. The bit he didn’t like was the one, he claimed, who didn’t defend properly and so he moved Cole from ‘the hole’ where defence is usually a matter of astute positioning to the flank where it’s often about harum-scarum retreat to prevent a marauding full back getting a 2 on 1 on your own man. You can’t shirk obligations there so easily. Everybody can see you resting on your spade in ways they can’t when you’re in the middle of the pitch playing the classic ‘no. 10’.

I don’t know. Perhaps playing Cole on the wing, and loading him with defensive duties, made him a more rounded player. After all he was Chelsea’s player of the year in 2008. But somehow you can’t imagine Pablo Aimar being plucked from the hole and told to do the same thing. Aimar remained a specialist operating behind the front line and squeezing gorgeous living space out of the most congested and most contested few square yards on the pitch. That’s where he did his damage. And that’s where a lot of us would like to see Cole.

The move to Liverpool is therefore a chance to redefine Cole’s position and to establish it inside a team that gives him more attacking responsibility. I hope he plays in the hole behind Torres, much as Beardsley did behind Aldridge. The match against the Macedonians was a bit of a joke match of course (They’ve never been the same since Alexander the Great retired). But even in that match you could appreciate the awesome nature of the Cole turn on the ball and the way that acceleration over 3 or 4 yards and the desire to face the goal with the ball at your feet can throw defenders backwards, create space in the last third and allow blind-side runs for colleagues. Turning Essien and Palacios will be harder than turning the Rabotnicki lads, but it will happen and Liverpool will be better for it.

There’s also this

Joe has also come to Anfield to play for the first time for many years in front of a proper football crowd instead of herds of stockbrokers and management consultants on mobile phones. We all like to joke about the Chelsea plazzy-flag sickness and their increasingly futile attempts to create the big-time atmosphere they associate with us. And the whole football world is embarrassed by the fact that Stamford Bridge still trails the Chelsea Flower Show for genuine atmosphere, let alone Anfield. Well now he is in a football city and, judging from his early comments, he knows it and is inspired by it. It’s a brilliant stage for him to fill in the missing dots in his career.

He’s a risk because of the injuries. He needs to get more goals than he’s ever got in his career (1 in every 6.5 games is not enough). He needs to be surrounded by pace, on all sides (including the right wing). He needs to develop the psychology of the ‘go-to’ man and see himself as the fella who fixes problems in attack. But he ought to get lots of games and get them in his favourite position. When this happens the Kop will feed off him and he will feed off the Kop and it will create that special player-supporter symbiosis that can raise the game of even established talent. Pretty soon, I hope, everyone (not just us) will forget he ever played for Chelsea.

Welcome to Anfield Joe.

Poulsen hoping for early debut

2010-08-14T06:06:00.000+08:00

Liverpool's Christian Poulsen says he is ready to take on Arsenal in their Barclays Premier League opener on Sunday.

The 30-year-old Denmark international signed a three-year contract on Thursday after a £4.5m fee, with an additional £1m payable on certain conditions, was agreed with Juventus.

The midfielder has trained with his new team-mates but has little time to settle in before the campaign kicks-off at Anfield and throwing him in against Arsene Wenger's side may be too much of a gamble.

However, Hodgson is well aware of Poulsen's qualities, having signed him for FC Copenhagen 10 years ago, and the player says he is ready if called upon.

"I started a little bit later because of the World Cup but I've done pre-season with Juventus," he said.

"I didn't play the last matches in the Europa League because of the move to this club.

"I am feeling fit but of course it's a decision for the manager and the staff."

Of his previous working relationship with Hodgson, Poulsen added: "I had two good years with him so I hope to carry that on, and hopefully he'll be satisfied with my qualities.

"He's a manager who's been all over the world and has a lot of experience, so of course I have a lot of respect for him.

"Roy didn't have to say that much because Liverpool is known all around the world, and for people in Denmark, Liverpool are the biggest club in England.

"With this move here I have a lot to prove. If you come to a club like Liverpool, you have to deliver.

"I will hopefully show I can be a good player for Liverpool."

Liverpool vs Arsenal Squad Sheet

2010-08-14T06:05:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow will bring a certain ambivalence to Anfield on an afternoon when there ought only to be unmitigated excitement at the start of a new campaign. The ownership issues linger yet supporters who yearn for the club to be bought must also wish the best for the manager Roy Hodgson. However, the visitors could also be uneasy since Arsène Wenger has not yet made the signings to give Arsenal a greater durability and key players such as Cesc Fábregas and Robin van Persie have yet to reach optimum fitness. Kevin McCarra

Venue Anfield, Sunday 4pm

Tickets £43-45 (0151 263 9199)

Last season Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2

Referee M Atkinson

This season's matches 30 Y123, R5, 4.27 cards per game

Odds Liverpool 6-4 Arsenal 2-1 Draw 23-10

Probable starters in bold, contenders in light. Photograph: Graphic

Liverpool

Subs from Cavalieri, Aquilani, Torres, Aurélio, Pacheco, Kyrgiakos, Kuyt, Babel, Mascherano, Wilson, Spearing, Poulsen, Shelvey, Kelly, Ayala, Amoo, El Zhar

Doubtful Reina (shoulder), Skrtel (ankle), Torres (groin)

Injured None

Suspended None

Form guide n/a

Disciplinary record (last season) Y56 R5

Leading scorer (last season) Torres 18

Arsenal

Subs from Fabianski, Gibbs, Eboué, Song, Frimpong, Wilshere, Rosicky, Lansbury, Emmanuel-Thomas, Van Persie, Denílson

Doubtful Denílson (abdominal), Diaby (calf), Song (calf), Fábregas, Van Persie (both match fitness)

Injured Bendtner (groin, Sep), Djourou (hamstring, Sep), Ramsey (broken leg, Nov)

Suspended None

Roy Hodgson career timeline

2010-07-01T18:43:00.000+08:00

The highs and lows of Roy Hodgson's career to date, from his playing days at Crystal Palace through to his time at Fulham

A glum Roy Hodgson consoles goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer after Fulham lost the Europa League final to Atlético Madrid. Photograph: John Macdougall/AFP/Getty

1947: Born on 9 August, Croydon.

1965-75: Player with Crystal Palace, Gravesend and Northfleet, Maidstone and South African side Berea Park.

1976: Starts managerial career with Halmstad in Sweden, winning two championships.

1980: Joins Bristol City as the assistant manager to Bobby Houghton.

1982: Appointed manager at Ashton Gate but dismissed within four months after poor run of results when club are taken over by new owners. Returns to Sweden, where he manages Orebro and then Malmo, who won five consecutive championships and two Swedish Cups under him.

1990: Leaves Sweden for Switzerland, taking over at Neuchâtel Xamax.

1992: Becomes manager of Switzerland, whom he takes to the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Was in charge when they qualified for Euro 96.

1995: Appointed manager of Internazionale.

1997: Agrees to become Blackburn Rovers manager in the summer. While still at Inter, his side lose to German club Schalke in the Uefa Cup final on penalties.

1998: May – Takes Blackburn into European competition for the first time since 1995 but Rovers win only two of their final 11 Premier League matches to fail in chase for title.

November – Sacked by Blackburn with the club bottom of the Premier League, having taken just nine points from 14 games.

1999: Shortlisted for Austria job. Returns to Inter on 27 April as technical director until the end of the season. Joins Grasshoppers.

2000: Appointed coach of Danish side FC Copenhagen. Linked with England job after the resignation of Kevin Keegan.

2001: May – Takes Copenhagen to the Superliga title.

May – Takes over as coach of Serie A club Udinese.

10 December – Udinese and Hodgson part company.

2002: April – Appointed manager of United Arab Emirates.

2004: January – Sacked after leading side to fifth place at the Gulf Cup.

May – Joins Norwegian side Viking FK.

2005: August – Agrees to take over as manager of Finland.

2007: 30 November – Quits after failing to secure qualification for Euro 2008, and is immediately linked with the Republic of Ireland vacancy.

30 December – Appointed Fulham manager.

2008: Fulham win four of their last five Premier League games of the season to avoid relegation.

2009: After overhauling the squad in pre-season, guides Fulham to their highest ever top-flight finish, seventh, and ensures Europa League qualification.

2010: 18 March – Oversees a stunning second-leg comeback against Juventus in the Europa League quarter-final as a 4-1 win takes Fulham into the quarter-finals 5-4 on aggregate.

April – Having seen off Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals, leads the club into the final as they draw 0-0 in Hamburg despite a nightmare journey due to Icelandic volcanic ash, winning the second leg 2-1 at Craven Cottage.

12 May – Hodgson's side go down 2-1 to Atlético Madrid in extra time in the Europa League final in Hamburg.

1 July – Announced as new manager of Liverpool on a three-year contract.

Liverpool: Rumours - Roy's Shopping List?

2010-07-01T18:41:00.000+08:00

The rumours of who Roy Hodgson wants to bring to Anfield are now beginning to grow as his official appointment draws closer. Brede Hangeland has already been mentioned as a player that he wants to bring with him from Fulham and there are three others in the tabloids today, some that will be greeted with more enthusiasm than others I'm sure. Danny Murphy, who has backed his Fulham Boss' switch to Liverpool, was a well liked and respected player during his seven years with the club. The 33 year old has grown as a player since he left for Charlton (and then current club Fulham) however in my honest opinion I'm not sure how well an Anfield return would go down with the supporters as it'll not be a name to get the blood pumping will it? Danny would jump at the chance I'm sure. Liverpool have been "monitoring" Gilberto Silva at the World Cup, even though I'm still not sure who was doing this unless it was Roy who has always been there or thereabout as the new Reds Boss? The Brazilian international is seen as a ready made replacement for want away midfielder Javier Mascherano. Gilberto has been very good at the World Cup but at 33 isn't getting any younger however he'd do well I think. The name that would excite people the most is Rafael Van der Vaart, who has often been linked with a move to Merseyside, or the Premier League, yet this has never happened. The Dutch international is believed to be happy at Real Madrid however their new Boss Jose Mourinho is going to have to move on some players and England could be his destination. It's believed that Hodgson will have £15m to spend, plus some money that can be generated from player's sales. I worry that Dumb and Dumber will manage to talk Hodgson into selling some of the prized assets with promises of some money however little of that will actually been seen as they'll need this to pay off their debts. We've got to get Roy officially appointed first of all though and then we'll see what happens after this.

Roy Hodgson can bring new era to Liverpool, says Phil Thompson

2010-07-01T18:37:00.000+08:00

Roy Hodgson's appointment represents a return to an English manager for Liverpool after Gérard Houllier and Rafa Benítez. Photograph: Matthew Impey/Empics Sport

The former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson believes the appointment of Roy Hodgson as manager can signal the beginning of a new era at Anfield.

Hodgson was confirmed as Rafael Benítez's replacement on a three-year contract this morning after the finer details of his severance from Craven Cottage were finalised. Thompson, a European Cup-winning captain with the Reds, now hopes new owners can also be found so the club can move forward after a period of stagnation under Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

"We need the sale of the club sorted to enable us to really go forward," he said. "I just hope it won't be too long before that's done. With a new boss and new owners it really would be the dawn of a new era."

Thompson, who was assistant manager during Frenchman Gérard Houllier's reign, believes Hodgson will help bring stability to Liverpool.

"After having foreign managers in Gérard Houllier and Rafa Benítez, it seems there was a thought process of going back to British," he added. "The club needs a steadying influence and Roy will provide that.

"He's done a fantastic job at Fulham and has a wealth of experience having managed all over Europe. This is one of those jobs Roy had hoped and prayed for and it's a fantastic opportunity for him."

Thompson admits Hodgson's appointment will probably not be wholeheartedly welcomed by fans but he urged everyone at the club and supporters to get behind the new man.

"The big thing now is to get everyone on board comfortable with his ideas and visions for the football club. He has to unite everyone," he told the Liverpool Echo. "All summer there have been rumours about players going, but he's only just arrived and he won't want anyone leaving.

"He's a shrewd talker and I'm sure he will find the right words and the right manner to speak to players and convince them to stay. He will want to build for the future around Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano.

"If – and it's a big if – players are sold then that cash has to be reinvested in the squad, and not go to the banks to pay off debt. No matter what you say about Rafa Benítez, he wasn't helped in that area. The board have to back Roy financially."

Liverpool buyout

2010-06-29T00:18:00.001+08:00

Rumours abound that Liverpool haverecieved offers from several wealthy businessmen around the world. It appears that one prospective new owner may be a wealthy Arabian figure.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is the current President of the United Arab Emirates and Emir (Ruler/ Leader) of Abu Dhabi. He is one of the wealthiest Arab businessmen in the World. He is wealthier than his half-brother, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who is the owner of Manchester City FC.

Sheikh Khalifa, as he is known, is said to be the third wealthiest royal with his net-worth around $19 billion, he also has major interest in Abu Dhabi and UAE developments.

If he was interested in taking over Liverpool, his wealth could mean the Reds would have more financial power than both Manchester City and Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea.Is this the right man to take over from the ill-fated reign of Hicks and Gillett? He sounds like the answer to Liverpool’s fan’s prayers.

Torres not going anywahere

2010-06-29T00:17:00.000+08:00

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has told a fan that he will not be moving to Manchester City this summer. Rameez Mahomed, from Johannesburg, was one of the 23 mascots who were present at the match between Spain and Honduras last week and according to the Sunday Times, Mahomed asked Torres whether he would be leaving Liverpool. Mahomed said of Torres’s reply:

“He told me he would never go to Manchester City because his heart was with Liverpool and also because he gets along well with Steven Gerrard.”

Liverpool set to announce Roy Hodgson as manager

2010-06-28T00:28:00.002+08:00

Liverpool are confident of bringing Roy Hodgson to Liverpool. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

Liverpool expect to finalise the appointment of Roy Hodgson as the club's new manager following his return from South Africa today. The Fulham manager, who has been commenting at the World Cup for the BBC, has been the frontrunner for the Liverpool job since Rafael Benítez left Anfield this month and could be confirmed as the Spaniard's successor within days.

Liverpool have considered several candidates for the position, including the former Real Madrid and Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini, but Kenny Dalglish, the club legend asked to conduct the managerial search alongside the managing director, Christian Purslow, is not in the running.

Anfield officials are confident of securing a deal with Hodgson now that he has returned from South Africa and with his prospects of being offered the chance to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager diminished by the national team's World Cup victory over Slovenia.

It is understood the make-up of Hodgson's backroom staff is one of the issues to be resolved prior to his appointment, with the 62-year-old keen to bring the Fulham assistant manager, Mike Kelly, with him to Merseyside.

While Liverpool await the arrival of their next manager, Yossi Benayoun is close to leaving Anfield for Chelsea after the two clubs agreed a £5m fee for the Israel international.

Dirk Kuyt unsure of Liverpool FC future

2010-06-28T00:25:00.000+08:00

Dirk Kuyt

Dirk Kuyt admits he is unsure about his future at Liverpool FC.

With Rafa Benitez having departed recently and the club yet to unveil his successor, uncertainty reigns at Anfield at the moment. Kuyt is concentrating on Holland's ongoing World Cup campaign, with a last-16 clash against Slovakia at the forefront of his mind, but was non-committal about his future on Merseyside.

"I'm just focusing myself on the World Cup," he said.

"I still have a long-term contract with Liverpool and I'm just focused on the World Cup. What happens at Liverpool, we'll see."

Asked whether he has had contact with departed boss Benitez, Kuyt said: "I haven't spoken to him. I've had a few text messages but they were more like 'good luck for the games' and 'well done'."

As for reports linking him with a move to join Benitez at Inter Milan, the forward said: "We have to see what happens. I also have a great time at Liverpool and I still have a two-year contract. My focus is on the World Cup but I'm still happy to play at Liverpool.

"But who knows what happens in the future? We have to see.

"If the possibility is there...we have to see what happens with the new manager at Liverpool. Hopefully we'll get new players but we'll see what the future is for me."

No transfer for Masch

2010-06-28T00:20:00.000+08:00

Javier Mascherano is one of a number of Liverpool’s key players being linked with a move away from Anfield this summer, but it seems now that the club touted as his most likely destination have pulled out of the race to sign the Argentinian midfielder. Internazionale president Massimo Moratti was recently quoted as saying:

“Mascherano is a strong player, but it is unlikely that he will arrive. He simply costs too much and it is uncertain that Liverpool will sell.”

Whether or not Mascherano is worth the reported £25 million price tag is up for debate, but Inter’s reluctance to splash out is great news for Liverpool. The only other club which has been strongly linked with him is Barcelona, but Catalans seem more intent on signing Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas, who would most likely cost a fair wedge of Barca’s summer transfer budget as well as taking up one of the centre midfield spots Mascherano would occupy.

Aside from Mascherano, nothing much has come up surrounding other players linked with moves. Steven Gerrard has been linked with Real Madrid, but could, like Mascherano, prove to be too expensive for Jose Mourinho’s side (although if there’s one club that love paying large transfer fees, it’s Real Madrid). Fernando Torres was rumoured to be off to Barcelona, but they have already brought in David Villa, and with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in reserve, they are unlikely to be after another striker.

It seems as if the media could simply have gone into overdrive after Liverpool’s poor form last season. It was inevitable that after such a low finish, big name players would be linked with other clubs, but of the three biggest that looked like they might leave, Mascherano, now looks like he could be staying. Of course it’s not good to have a player who wants to leave, but Liverpool have been fair to Mascherano in declaring an acceptable price, and if Inter aren’t prepared to pay that, then hopefully he will be professional enough to still perform at a high level while he remains at Anfield.

Obviously, there is still a long time left until the transfer window closes, but this revelation by Inter is great news for Liverpool, and I believe that the core of Liverpool’s squad will still be there come September 1st.

Benayoun signs Chelsea deal – reports

2010-06-14T23:48:00.000+08:00

Reports in Israel this afternoon suggest that Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun has signed a 4-year deal with Chelsea.

Benayoun has been linked with the Premier League holders since the end of the season, with a fee of around £6million thought to have been agreed between the two clubs.

Reports say the 30-year-old midfielder will undergo a medical at Stamford Bridge later this week before his move to Carlos Ancelotti’s men is confirmed.

Benayoun made 92 appearances for Liverpool after signing from West Ham in 2007, scoring 18 times.

Roy Hodgson must decide if he wants Liverpool FC job – Fulham's Clint Dempsey

2010-06-10T10:53:00.000+08:00

ONLY Roy Hodgson can decide if he will become the next Liverpool manager.

That is the opinion of Fulham striker Clint Dempsey who is the latest Cottagers player to respond to mounting speculation linking Hodgson with a move to Anfield.

The Fulham boss is the firm favourite to succeed Rafa Benitez, who is set to be unveiled as the new Inter boss today after parting company with Liverpool by mutual consent last Thursday.

Earlier this week, Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer declared he “wouldn't blame” Hodgson if he took up the opportunity to join Liverpool.

Now Dempsey has joined Schwarzer by speaking out about the veteran coaches future.

Dempsey is in South Africa with the USA World Cup squad preparing for their opening Group C game against England in Rustenburg on Saturday.

Schwarzer said he would be disappointed to see Hodgson leave Craven Cottage this summer and Dempsey insists any decision lies with the 63-year-old should Liverpool make their move.

“If the coach wants to be there he will be there,” said Dempsey. “He has to do the best for him and his family.

“It is not something I can worry about. I am with Fulham for three more years and I will do my best for the club until something happens.

“If he wants to stay, let him stay. If he wants to go, let him go.”

But with the likes of Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and Italy boss Marcello Lippi ruling themselves out of the running to replace Benitez, Hodgson – whose wife hails from Liverpool – heads an ever decreasing list of viable candidates.

Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill remains in the frame while former England and Manchester City chief, Sven Goran Eriksson, has revealed his lifelong support for Liverpool admitting he would dearly love to take the reins at Anfield.

There is also growing support among fans for Reds legend Kenny Dalglish to get the job on a permanent basis.

However, club ambassador Dalglish has been handed the task of helping managing director Christian Purslow locate the next incumbent of the Anfield hotseat and his advisory role could prove a stumbling block.

Meanwhile, reports in Italy claim Fiorentina are keen on taking Emiliano Insua to Serie A.

The Argentinian left-back endured a difficult season with Liverpool but that has not deterred La Viola.

However, Fabio Aurelio’s departure could prevent Insua moving on.

The Brazilian was told he can leave Anfield this summer after four injury-plagued years on Merseyside. That means 21-year-old Insua will be the only recognised senior left-back at the club.

FERNANDO TORRES made a scoring return for Spain last night as he came off the bench to net in the European champions 6-0 rout of Poland in their final World Cup warm-up in Murcia before heading for South Africa.

Liverpool FC snub Kenny Dalglish over manager’s job

2010-06-10T10:49:00.000+08:00

Kenny Dalglish

LIVERPOOL FC will press ahead with their plans to speak with Roy Hodgson over the vacant manager’s role – despite Kenny Dalglish declaring his interest in the position.

The Anfield hierarchy have targeted Fulham manager Hodgson as their preferred choice to succeed Rafa Benitez, who departed last Thursday after almost six years in charge.

Liverpool still intend to approach the Craven Cottage outfit later this week with a view to being given permission to talk with Hodgson, and are prepared to offer the 62-year-old a rolling 12-month contract.

Although aware of Dalglish’s stance, the club were nevertheless surprised with his decision to go public with his desire to once again take on the role of manager that he

held between 1985 and 1991.

The Anfield legend has been employed in an ambassadorial capacity at the club for the past year and was thought to be advising managing Christian Purslow in determining Benitez’s successor.

But now Dalglish wants to be taken into consideration for the position and as such will no longer play any part in the selection process.

Hodgson, though, remains the first choice with the club seeking a steady pair of hands to stabilise matters following the tumultuous conclusion to Benitez’s reign.

Benitez will be confirmed as Inter Milan manager in the coming days after agreeing a three-year deal with the Serie A side.

The Spaniard is expected to take a number of his backroom staff from Anfield with him to the San Siro, and reports in Italy suggest he will also attempt to sign some of his former players.

Chief among them is Glen Johnson, with it being claimed the right-back is among Benitez’s list of wanted players as he aims to replicate Jose Mourinho’s feat of winning the treble of Italian league, cup and Champions League.

Meanwhile, Fernando Torres has hailed a “perfect” comeback after making his return to action after almost two months on the sidelines.

Torres made his first appearance since undergoing surgery in April as a goalscoring second-half substitute in Spain’s 6-0 friendly demolition of Poland on Tuesday night

And now the 25-year-old is hopeful of being involved when Spain begin their World Cup campaign against Switzerland in Durban next Wednesday.

“I am very happy because now it is nearly two months after the surgery and I haven’t noticed any problems,” said Torres.

“It was a very important day to me because to play in the World Cup is most important.

“The minutes I played were useful to gain rhythm and to confirm that my knee is good.

“It was perfect, and to get a goal as well, I’m very happy.”

European Championship winners Spain are among the favourites to lift the World Cup in South Africa, but Torres has warned an arduous adventure awaits.

“We have recuperated and our timing is there on the field,” said the Liverpool forward. “But the World Cup is very long and it will not be easy.”

Benitez to target double Anfield swoop

2010-06-10T10:48:00.000+08:00

Dirk Kuyt could be a transfer target for Rafa once more

Speculation has been mounting for days concerning the future of Javier Mascherano. It is well known that Mascherano and Benitez have a lot of mutual respect and the Argentine captain’s recent statements suggesting only Benitez could follow in Mourinho’s footsteps at Inter will have pleased our former manager.

As Benitez prepares to be unveiled at the current European Champions Inter Milan reports in today’s Mail suggest that not only will Mascherano be a target but also Dirk Kuyt.

According to the press Inter Milan will make a joint bid of £33M for both players, although the World Cup will no doubt complicate factors.

Dirk Kuyt said:

‘I don’t know for sure who is going to be in charge at Inter, but Benitez is a fantastic coach and would be a great choice for them.

‘Working with him is perfect and I am grateful for all he did for me. I was delighted when he asked me to join him at Liverpool, and while we were together, he gave me a lot of good suggestions about how I could improve my game.

‘He was good for my career. I have read a lot about what might happen now, if he goes to Inter, but I am just concentrating on the World Cup.

‘That is important, because I want to have a good tournament. I have a contract with Liverpool, and I have to respect that, because they are a big club and have been good to me.’

Rumours from Italy have suggested that Inter will have about £50M to spend this summer on new players.

Kenny Dalglish throws hat into ring in surprise bid to manage Liverpool

2010-06-09T14:42:00.001+08:00

Kenny Dalglish has told Liverpool he is prepared to make a sensational return as manager as the previous incumbent, Rafael Benítez, agreed to become the new coach of Internazionale last night.

Dalglish, who quit the Anfield job in 1991, is currently charged with identifying the club's next manager alongside the managing director, Christian Purslow. The Liverpool legend, however, is willing to enter his own name into that process and believes he can revive the club's fortunes on a limited budget and, crucially, convince Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres not to leave this summer.

Dalglish, 59, has admitted that he regrets quitting as Liverpool manager 19 years ago, when the stresses of dealing with the Hillsborough disaster took their toll, and claimed he would have been ready to return after a brief sabbatical.

The Scot's desire for the position may present a problem for Purslow and the Anfield board, who are looking at replacing Benítez with a manager currently in the game. Roy Hodgson emerged as the favourite in the aftermath of the Spaniard's exit last week, although no official approach has been made to Fulham. Any appointment of Dalglish, who has not managed since his acrimonious departure from Celtic in 2000, would appease many Liverpool supporters at a turbulent time. With the club lacking the resources to entice many leading names this summer, he could also offer the emotive pull to convince Gerrard to resist overtures from Real Madrid.

Dalglish first became Liverpool manager in the days after the Heysel disaster in 1985, when he took over from Joe Fagan. The Scot, who had signed from Celtic as a player for £440,000 in 1977 and won seven league titles, three European Cups and five domestic trophies at Anfield, secured the Double in his first season in charge and during his six-year spell won two more titles and the FA Cup in 1989, following the Hillsborough disaster. He returned to the game with Blackburn in late 1991 and took them from the second tier to become Premier League champions in 1995 and also had a short period at Newcastle, steering them to a second-place finish and the 1998 FA Cup final.

While Liverpool ponder this development, the man they parted company with "by mutual consent" last week has completed a dramatic change in fortunes and agreed to coach the European champions. Benítez's unveiling at Internazionale is now a formality, according to the president Massimo Moratti, after he accepted a three-year contract worth in the region of €5m (£4.1m) per season. "We have agreed the final details, which were not important things," Moratti said in a statement on the Inter website last night. "All that is needed now is a counter-signature. Tomorrow we will tell you when he will be presented."

Benítez has been on holiday in Sardinia while his Anfield departure was negotiated and soon began talks over his move to San Siro, where he will replace José Mourinho. He is due to sign this week and after hiring Liverpool's first-team coach Mauricio Pellegrino, goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero and fitness coach Paco de Miguel, may also tender a bid for the disillusioned midfielder Javier Mascherano.

Article:Post Rafa

2010-06-08T19:45:00.000+08:00

Many of you will remember that I thought it was time for Rafa to leave and thankfully, he has done so. But I really don’t understand the blind faith of the “In Rafa We Trust” brigade. Of course we should support our manager within reason, but when the manager makes a statement “promising” 4th position and the last Champion’s League place … and then the same manager gives us only 7th place, then surely the manager IS responsible isn’t he? Surely the buck must stop with him?

I just wonder how the “In Rafa We Trust” blind faith brigade would have reacted if Rafa had stayed and we had lost the likes of Stevie, Torres and Carra? Would their blind faith have remained as the proceeds from these sales were part channelled into servicing our debts and part channelled into mediocre replacements?

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad we had Rafa as our manager. After Gerard Houllier’s last few years we all needed someone fresh and someone to inspire us…. and inspire us Rafa did with what must surely be our greatest victory ever – Istanbul. How can we also regret having someone who brought us a second Champions League final in 3 years, or who gave us that fantastic FA Cup victory?

I just think he stayed for 2 years too long – and yes, that even takes into account our second placed finish last year that as far as I’m concerned, was a “fluke”. Yes I know how many goals we scored last season but we clearly ran out of ideas with way too many draws. The title was there for the taking as the other three teams out of the then “big four” couldn’t string together a title-winning run of games either. In my opinion, Rafa’s tactics killed off our chances of finally raising that Premiership trophy.

But that’s all in the past. Rafa has gone now so what next?

I think there’s a lot of cause for excitement and optimism now. It wouldn’t surprise me if a buyer has already been found for the club – but that there are complexities with any such arrangements such as any deal being reliant on Benitez leaving, the right managerial replacement being found and our key players staying at the club. Even IF a buyer hasn’t been found, it is clearly crucial that we get the next manager right and that our key players remain.

I have received a lot of emails asking for my opinion on who our next manager should be. Firstly, I think we need to go back to basics and to the grass roots of English football – and for me, we need a British manager at the helm. The exceptions to that rule would have been Mourinho and Hiddink – but they are both accounted for.

I very much respect Roy Hodgson and what he has achieved on the Continent and with Fulham, but I’m just not sure he’s who Liverpool needs right now. Has he got the hunger needed for our top job? Can he command the respect of our top players? I’m not saying I will be disappointed if he DOES get the job, but for me there are better candidates out there.

I believe it is a 3-horse race for the top job. By that, I mean that any of the following 3 candidates could all do a great job for us:

1. “King” Kenny Dalglish

Friends have intimated that Kenny would jump at the chance. “Unfinished business” and the chance to lead his beloved Reds again might be too tempting to turn down. Clearly, he would have the support of the fans and the club and is the one man who could be guaranteed to bring stability back to the playing side of the club. This stability is just what the club needs whether a buyer has been found or is still being sought. I don’t buy into the theory that he’s been away from the game too long – when you’ve got the talent, then it doesn’t go away. At 61, he’s still relatively young enough for the position but only he can answer if he himself is up to the demands of the job

2. Harry Redknapp

Sure, Harry is no spring chicken anymore but he would clearly love to finally get his hands on the reigns of a top 4 club – although ironically of course, that’s exactly where he is now! The current Spurs boss only has a year left on his contract and he is rumoured to have fallen out with the top brass at the North London club. Yes, Harry would have to turn his back on Champion’s League football next season, but how many more chances will he get to manage a club like Liverpool? Other than Kenny Dalglish, Harry is the one manager who would certainly command the respect of the dressing room and for me, he’s one of the few bosses who could convince Stevie to see his career out with us. On a final note, Harry is a success story in the transfer market and surely the board will give serious consideration to a manager who is probably the best bet to spend wisely with what little funds are available.

‘Its all in the mind’ – Rafa’s reign was far from failure

2010-06-08T19:34:00.000+08:00

The great intellectual, Bill Shankly once said “A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.”

A mantra arguably observed by Rafael Benitez during his reign as Liverpool manager and one he needed to adopt if he didn’t already do so.

This is a man who took a team of mediocre footballers, albeit with one or two rough diamonds back to the pinnacle of European football after spending years in the wilderness and in the shadows of Europe’s elite.

Take one look at the starting line-ups from the 2005 Champions League final compared to that of the last European Cup triumph of 1984 against Roma. The contrast is startling; the 1984 squad boasted probably some of the best players to ever don the red shirt.

The exuberant strike-force of Ian Rush and Kenny Daglish, supported on the wings by Sammy Lee and Ronnie Whelan, dominating in midfield you had Graeme Souness and the versatile Craig Johnson, all that built on the foundation of Bruce Gobbelaar in goal and a back four of Phil Neal, Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson and Alan Kennedy.

Compare that to the 2005 squad that faced more Italian opposition in AC Milan. In goal you had the unpredictable Jerzy Dudek, a back four of Steve Finnan, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia and Djimi Traore, in midfield, the cultured Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard, Luis Garcia and John Arne Riise on the flanks and Harry Kewell and Milan Baros partnering up-front.

Of course as we all know how those games ended in Liverpool bring Old Big Ears home on the plane to an adoring public, be it in incredible different circumstances.

Now looking at the 2005 team sheet they are all should be considered LFC legends because of their participation is such as classic final and a glorious chapter in the club’s history.

But the truth is the majority of the team had no place in a team of European Champions, it was Benitez that made them believe they did.

Benitez has often been lambasted for his lack of encouragement to his players and the distance he keeps from his squad members, using them more like pawns in a chess game than football players.

As many players have professed in the past, Benitez is the man behind the success, despite what some critics say about Steven Gerrard’s heroics during his tenure.

Sure, Gerrard has played his part but Benitez was the man to turn him into the determined player he is today, something that may have not happened under Gerard Houllier’s management. The detached style, shrewd tactics and strict roles he enforced on a team with limited ability brought out the best in them when it mattered most.

Much has been documented about Benitez’s failings as Liverpool manager from persistently stubborn attitude to player and tactics, signings, boardroom disputes, public ramblings and player and staff relationships.

I too have been a critic at times as has been documented on this very website but the fact remains, to label Benitez’s career as Liverpool manger as a failure is a travesty of justice.

He took Liverpool from the doldrums to the within reach of climbing back on to that mile-high perch that Shankly set all those years ago.

Boardroom troubles and mismanagement from our ‘prestigious’ owners and chairmen marred Benitez’s chances of joining the ranks of Shanky and Paisley and walking out of Anfield as a true hero and a man of the people like his predecessors.

He made mistakes, every manger does but he leaves Liverpool, in my eyes at least as a legend. A man of his own, a fighter ‘til the end, unwilling to accept defeat and with the distinct ability to grab victory from the jaws of certain defeat and humiliation.

Rafael Benítez Maudes I for one salute you, if you should grace the hallowed turf of Anfield once again, be it as a visitor, I invite 45,000 more to do the same.

Brian Irvine

Rafa to raid Liverpool FC’s backroom staff

2010-06-08T19:28:00.001+08:00

RAFAEL BENITEZ will raid Liverpool’s backroom staff after taking over as Inter Milan manager.

Benitez is expected to be installed as new coach at the San Siro in the coming days having held talks over a three-year deal with Inter president Massimo Moratti.

The Spaniard has been targeted by the Italians after leaving Liverpool last Thursday following almost six years in charge at the club.

And Benitez is ready to return to Anfield to take some of his trusted lieutenants with him to Serie A.

Reports in Italy indicate Benitez will take Liverpool assistant manager Mauricio Pellegrino, goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero and fitness coach Paco de Miguel with him to the San Siro.

Italian Amedeo Carboni – who played under Benitez as a midfielder at Valencia – is also likely to be added to his backroom staff.

The imminent departure of key coaching personnel further underlines the need for Liverpool to intensify their efforts in finding a replacement for Benitez.

Managing director Christian Purslow, with the help of club ambassador Kenny Dalglish, is heading the search, although Dalglish

himself has emerged as an early front-runner along with Fulham manager Roy Hodgson.

Whoever comes in will make the futures of Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard a priority, with all three linked heavily with a move away from Anfield.

Mascherano has hinted he wants to follow Benitez to Inter Milan, while Gerrard is a target for new Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho.

Torres has attracted interest from Manchester City and Chelsea, with Barcelona thought to be preparing a big-money bid to take him to Spain and reunite him with international strike partner David Villa.

But Torres yesterday hinted he won’t return to La Liga when declaring England has the better league.

“As a competition, the Premier League is the best,” said the forward, who is preparing with Spain ahead of their World Cup opener against Switzerland on Wednesday week.

“When you are talking about organisation, respect and having all the stadiums full every weekend, it is really nice to see that.

“In Spain they have some of the better players in the world but, as a competition, it is not as big as the Premier League.

“I’ve played in Spain and can tell you honestly, the Premier League is much better.”

Liverpool FC deal for Serbian international Milan Jovanovic is still on

2010-06-06T19:21:00.002+08:00

Milan Jovanovic

LIVERPOOL are committed to wrapping up a deal for Milan Jovanovic as they begin the process of rebuilding after the Rafa Benitez era.

The Serbian international has long been on the Reds’ radar and Benitez had laid the groundwork for bringing the versatile striker – he can also play on the left side of midfield – to Anfield on a Bosman this summer.

Terms on a three-year deal were initially agreed with Jovanovic in February and he also passed a stringent medical in London in April – now all that remains for him to become a Liverpool player is the formality of completing a work permit.

Liverpool officials are “confident” that will be wrapped up shortly but the fact that no deal has yet been signed means there is still a possibility that the player could yet decide not to pursue a move to Anfield.

Jovanovic is understood to have expressed some concerns about Benitez’s departure from the Anfield hot seat as one of the reasons he indicated his desire to leave Standard Liege was to work with Benitez.

It must also be stressed, however, that he is overwhelmed by the idea of playing for Liverpool and, on a number of occasions, the 29-year-old has said how he is looking forward to the fact he “will now never walk alone”.

Inevitably, he will have questions to ask regarding what the future holds for the club but Liverpool remain optimistic that they will be in a position to officially announce his arrival in the near future, possibly before the World Cup starts.

As someone who scored 69 times in 146 appearances for Standard Liege – one was a penalty that knocked Everton out of the Europa League in October 2008 – Jovanovic will be an important addition to a squad that lacked striking options last season.

The hunt for Benitez’s successor, meanwhile, will not have a time scale, despite speculation intensifying and the odds plummeting around a number of names in the betting market.

Mark Hughes and Martin O’Neill, for instance, have been heavily linked in different areas, as has Fulham manager Roy Hodgson; the latter remains the early favourite at this stage, as he ticks a number of the boxes that the board are looking for.

No formal approach has been made to Fulham for Hodgson as yet and the Europa League finalists would not welcome a move for their manager, who has a £2.5m release clause in his 12-month rolling contract at Craven Cottage.

Sven-Goran Eriksson: it would be a dream to manage Liverpool

2010-06-06T19:18:00.000+08:00

Lifelong fan: Sven-Goran Eriksson says he has always been a Liverpool fan, as was his father before him Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Hiddink has been linked with the vacant Liverpool job since Rafael Benítez departed Anfield by mutual consent on Thursday.

The 63 year-old enjoyed a successful spell in the Premier League as interim Chelsea boss in 2009, but the former Australia manager has just taken over as Turkey coach and has no intention of walking out on his new employers.

Hiddink's agent, Cees van Nieuwenhuizen, said: "Guus has shown over the years that he is loyal to agreements that he signed. There is no reason today why he would change such behaviour.

"Guus just started two weeks ago in Turkey and as much as he likes the Premier League and as much as he respects Liverpool as a legendary club with a great future ahead, a switch would be hardly doable.

"Two weeks ago for the same reason he refused the position at Inter Milan post-Jose Mourinho.

"I know, never say never and especially in football this is true, but for me this is an impossible thought."

The Reds are believed to be looking at several other candidates including Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill and Fulham's Roy Hodgson.

One man who could be interested in the Anfield post is Ivory Coast coach Eriksson.

The former England boss has only agreed to manage Ivory Coast until the end of the World Cup and the Swede gave a strong indication that he would be ready to succeed Benítez after revealing he supported Liverpool as a boy.

Eriksson said: "I have been a Liverpool fan all of my life. I never mentioned it when I was in charge of England because I didn't think it was fair.

"I was shocked when I discovered Rafa Benítez had left. Would I want to be the manager of Liverpool? It is every manager's dream to manage Liverpool.

"My father was also a Liverpool supporter and every Saturday we would watch an English match on television. It was the highlight of the week.

"Liverpool matches were televised quite regularly and we would cheer them on. They have always been my team and nothing has changed.

"When I was starting out in coaching I was invited to Liverpool to see how they did things. Joe Fagan was the manager at the time.

"I remember him showing me around Anfield and taking me into their legendary boot room.

"It was such a privilege and an honour for me to be invited in there. I will never forget that moment. Liverpool will always hold a special place in my heart."

Steven Gerrard faces decision day on Liverpool future

2010-06-06T19:17:00.000+08:00

The England captain, Steven Gerrard, faces a choice this summer of a move to Spain or remaining at Liverpool. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

It looks like Steven Gerrard is going to have another World Cup ruined. No sooner had the Liverpool captain spoken of his distress at being tapped up by Chelsea four years ago in Germany, and two years before that at the European Championship in Portugal, than events at Anfield took a turn to defy all his best efforts to put club matters out of his mind and concentrate on England for the duration of the tournament.

When Gerrard said last month he was going to shut himself off totally from events on Merseyside, and had told all his family and friends that he did not wish to discuss any "club stuff" until he returned from South Africa, he could hardly have imagined that might involve turning his back on conversations with Kenny Dalglish.

It was a good plan, though not one that ever had much chance of standing up to developments such as José Mourinho taking over at Real Madrid or Dalglish being installed as kingmaker at Anfield. Not to mention Sven-Goran Eriksson coming out as a lifelong Liverpool fan. Gerrard found out four years ago how persuasive Mourinho could be, and that was when he only had Stamford Bridge to offer and not the glamour of the Bernabéu. Gerrard came close to leaving Anfield in the early years of Rafa Benítez's reign, but eventually decided to stay. Now he probably wants to go, he would find one final chance to link up with Mourinho hard to resist, yet in Dalglish Liverpool have astutely appointed the one man to whom Gerrard has no option but to listen.

Gerrard will have the best coach in the world in one ear this summer, offering him an escape route from the ongoing turmoil at Liverpool and the chance to end his career among the really big prizes instead of striving for little reward in the Europa League, and his lifelong friend, mentor and role model in the other urging him to stay. If Liverpool have asked Dalglish to identify their next manager, it is not because they needed someone with a phone number for Roy Hodgson or Martin O'Neill, it is because they know that Dalglish will act as a conduit for whatever Gerrard wants to happen.

There is a school of thought that insists Liverpool would be better off selling Gerrard while they can – he has just turned 30 and will not always command a sizeable fee – though by bringing Dalglish into the process the club have done everything in their power to persuade their captain to stay on. For all his good intentions, it would hardly be surprising if Gerrard is once again a little distracted during the World Cup. Fabio Capello has just admitted the possibility of Dalglish turning up in person at England's training camp in the next few days, seeking permission to speak to Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

Christian Purslow, the Liverpool managing director, made a smart decision in bringing Dalglish onside, not least because such a populist move will keep complaint over the treatment of Benítez to a minumum. The problem for any incoming manager, however, whether it be Hodgson or O'Neill or one of the more ambitious targets such as Guus Hiddink or Louis van Gaal, is that the club remains in poor shape off the pitch. The owners are distant, in both senses of the word, and want to sell up. There are no buyers at the price they are demanding, plans for a new stadium have stalled and the future is unclear. The club may need to buy time with a temporary managerial appointment.

Benítez has left Liverpool with three extremely good players, Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and Pepe Reina, who could either form the basis for a new team – should funds unexpectedly become available – or be sold on quickly for a tidy profit. There are rather more players who also need to be sold and will not yield a tidy profit, and with Carragher not getting any younger the defence is going to have to be rebuilt. Liverpool have not won a title in 20 years, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal are all more secure at the top of the league and Manchester City awash with money, so this is not a particularly auspicious time for any manager to be taking over at Anfield.

More or less the same thing could have been said in December 1959, the month Bill Shankly walked into Anfield, but those were different days. The maximum wage was still in operation, which meant that though Liverpool were in the Second Division they were able to rise extremely quickly under a well-organised manager who had spotted the club's potential to be the heartbeat of a great city. The maximum wage, for all its manifest unfairness, did at least have the redeeming feature of spreading talent fairly evenly throughout the top two divisions. With all clubs offering a broadly similar rate, players would happily countenance dropping down the table, or even dropping a division, as long as first-team football could be guaranteed.

The opposite applies now, with top players gravitating inexorably to clubs in the Champions League bracket, even if they cannot always play every week. The new way to compete is to find owners with deep pockets, and Liverpool have been left behind in a race they should possibly never have entered in the first place. The city does football better than it does finance, and not for nothing does the most prominent anti-American protest group call itself Spirit of Shankly.

Dalglish, as a graduate of the boot-room culture that produced every Liverpool manager between Shankly and Gérard Houllier, retains much of that spirit. Already there are calls for him to take the job himself, and resume his managerial career after 10 years away from the front line. Terry Venables thinks he should do it, Mark Lawrenson thinks he should do it. "I'd like to see Kenny – if not manager – at least involved in the set-up," the former Liverpool defender said. Bruce Grobbelaar agrees. "There is only one man for the job and that is Kenny Dalglish," the goalkeeper said. "He's respected, he'll be a stabilising influence and if he didn't have the appetite for the game he wouldn't be at Anfield every week."

As Houllier once complained, the list of ex-Liverpool players with media platforms to express their opinions is extensive, and it is no surprise to find them backing Dalglish because to a man they would all be in favour of Liverpool returning to the pattern Shankly established and promoting from within. That may be an unrealistic hope, and there is no indication at the moment that Liverpool intend to turn the clock back with Dalglish, yet to an extent they already have and if the Scot's mission is to get Gerrard to stay he will need to promise him more than Hodgson and a limited transfer budget.

The opinion that matters most about what happens next at Liverpool belongs to someone who is not an ex-player yet, someone who is vainly trying to shut out the siren calls from Merseyside in his hotel room in South Africa. A fortnight ago Gerrard was hoping to get away with a quiet World Cup. Fat chance. Not only is he now the England captain, he faces a choice between the Bernabéu and the boot room.

Martinez: Reds will remember Rafa reign

2010-06-06T19:15:00.000+08:00

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez believes everyone connected with Liverpool will remember Rafa Benitez's reign as "an extremely successful period"

Benitez's six-year tenure at Anfield was ended by mutual consent on Thursday following a disappointing 2009-10 campaign in which the Reds were eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage and finished seventh in the Premier League.

Those efforts marked a significant regression for Liverpool, who finished second only a season earlier, and won the European Cup and FA Cup as well as reaching another Champions League final in Benitez's first three years in charge.

Martinez admits Benitez fell short of the club's target's last year but is confident he will be remembered fondly by Liverpool supporters.

Asked if he felt people had been quick to criticise Benitez, Martinez said: "I think it's the nature of the game and at any football club, in any league in the world, when you don't achieve your aims that you set early in the season - that is the sort of business we are living in and as a manager you understand that."

He added: "In any club with the expectation of Liverpool, or Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid - you start to accept that nothing will surprise you."

Martinez believes both Benitez and Liverpool's fans will always remember the good times during his spell as manager.

"In football, it is not about how long you can stay at a club, but what you achieve at a club," Martinez said.

"I think Rafael Benitez will look back at his time at Liverpool, I think the fans and the players will do the same, and it has been an extremely successful period.

"In football these days there are many reasons (why managers leave), with the ownerships and the situation at a club, and I think we are starting to get used to these sorts of situations.

"There is an intense period whenever you are the manager of a football club and you should enjoy good moments."

He continued: "I think everyone will agree that Rafael Benitez brought huge success in Europe, bringing the Champions League and taking the team to another final.

"They were big nights and I am sure everyone will have great memories of Benitez's time at Liverpool.

"He is going to be part of their folklore and their history and that is the way it should be.

"I'm sure Liverpool fans will have huge memories of Rafael Benitez and I'm sure it is a part of his life he will be extremely proud of."

Martinez has also given his thoughts on England's World Cup chances after Rio Ferdinand was ruled out of the tournament with a knee ligament injury.

"Without a doubt, it is a big, big blow," Martinez said.

"More than just the type of player Rio is, it is his character, his leadership and his understanding of the game.

"When you are trying to guess about who is going to do well in the World Cup as a team, those moments are huge.

"But on the other side, you are looking at the possible players who could step up and play instead of Rio.

"You have got huge options, with players that have had great seasons in the Premier League, which we have to remember is the best league in world football.

"So I would say it is a disappointment, but I think the replacements are good enough and ready enough to take England as far as they would have gone with Rio."

Anfield politics, not results caused Rafael Benítez's Liverpool downfall

2010-06-04T08:01:00.000+08:00

Some of the signings Rafael Benítez made during his Liverpool reign were expensive and unsuccessful. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters

Were it simply a football decision, a detached analysis of where Liverpool should be in the midst of a debt-ridden power vacuum, then Rafael Benítez, for the many faults, facts and suspect full-backs, would not be leaving Anfield with a lucrative pay-off. But it is not simply football that has done for Benítez.

It is the politicking that is as much a feature of the Spaniard's managerial career as European expertise and the misfortune to fall into the employ of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The leverage buy-out experts promised a spade in the ground for a new stadium within 60 days of their arrival in February 2007 but have only dug the hole into which Benítez has now fallen. He moved closer to the exit with every refinancing deal the Americans secured while his reputation inevitably suffered with every transfer window without additional funds. Not that Benítez walks away blameless.

In announcing the end of the manager's six-year reign Martin Broughton, the chairman parachuted into Liverpool from British Airways to lend gravitas to the sale of the club, and who could not attend the final home game of last season due to his Chelsea allegiances, stresses that football was behind the departure. No one would dispute Broughton's analysis of the "disappointing season" just gone but this was one dreadful campaign following five seasons of steady progress. The man who delivered Liverpool's fifth European Cup in such miraculous style in 2005 and the FA Cup a year later had enough goodwill left on the Kop to be allowed a shot at redemption. Circumstances inside the club, many Benítez-created, however, ensured that could never happen.

It was only November 2007 when confirmation of an approach to Jürgen Klinsmann from Hicks and Gillett brought Liverpool supporters on to the streets in support of the former Valencia coach. On the back of two Champions League finals in three seasons, FA Cup success and the astute purchases of Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and José Reina, Benítez was untouchable in Anfield eyes. An Indian sign over José Mourinho's Chelsea in Europe didn't damage his cause either. His own discontent with the inner-workings of a club without the stadiums or resources of their main Premier League rivals was already surfacing, however.

The morning after defeat to Milan in the 2007 Champions League final brought the first evidence of Benítez the agitator in Liverpool colours. He left Valencia owing to boardroom interference and transfer restrictions, famously stating: "I asked for a table and they brought me a lampshade." He had earlier fallen out with Jorge Valdano at Real Madrid over his input into the youth team. Now he was voicing frustrations inside Anfield. Prevarication on transfers, an underachieving commercial operation, lack of progress with a new stadium and being pressured to keep pace with clubs who could afford to make £20m mistakes on players; his protests were set to repeat until today's exit.

Benítez's motivations were to improve Liverpool but, having won the battle to oust Rick Parry as chief executive and also secured a lucrative five-year contract with no release clause that also ceded to him control of an unproductive youth academy, he consolidated his own authority in the process. That left him exposed should Liverpool falter, and the Americans' financial problems combined with several expensive transfer mistakes made for a fatal concoction last season.

The now former Liverpool manager justifiably raged against having to sell players before he could buy in recent windows, particularly with his squad finally emerging as genuine title contenders in 2009. In that restricted climate, however, he erred badly in marginalising Xabi Alonso and compounded the problem by replacing him with Alberto Aquilani, a talented midfielder no doubt but not, as he recovered from ankle surgery, the player needed to enhance Liverpool's title credentials.

Starved of funds but not, until now, the will to fight, Benítez refused to be silenced on the financial problems, and relationships with the boardroom continued to fracture until the point where he had little support above him. Liverpool could not start next season with the same dysfunctional power structure in place and, with no sign of Hicks and Gillett selling up, the manager became increasingly isolated.

The value of today's Liverpool squad is vastly superior to the one Benítez inherited in 2004 and may be the commodity that has prevented the Royal Bank of Scotland taking more drastic action against Hicks and Gillett. Perversely, however, Benítez inherited a Champions League team from Gérard Houllier and a ticket to his finest hour, the victory that guarantees allegiance among many supporters to this day, in Istanbul the following May. His successor is bequeathed a pass to the Europa League and a team that could struggle to emulate last season's seventh place finish should Steven Gerrard and Torres decide they have witnessed enough false promises and turn the Anfield exit into a revolving door.

Before Benítez bit the bullet there were reports the Liverpool board were forced to act by a threatened dressing-room revolt should the manager stay. Gerrard, Torres and others, so the line goes, have questioned Benítez's management following the last, miserable season. Who hasn't? What is more pertinent to the futures of Liverpool's finest players – many of whom are aggrieved their names have been dragged into the argument – is the direction the club is taking and its ability to strengthen the squad to compete for the top honours once again.

These were the very same assurances that Benítez wanted to hear in his recent meetings with Broughton. Unable to grant them, due to the on-going uncertainty at the top of the club, the Liverpool chairman was left facing a manager disillusioned with financial constraints, in dispute with most of the Anfield hierarchy and accepting that something had to give. That it was him, and not the American co-owners who are the root cause of Liverpool's implosion, will be a source of immense pain for Benítez.

Reina saddened by Rafa exit

2010-06-04T07:58:00.002+08:00

Reds keeper never believed boss would leave

Reina: Stunned

Jose Reina has been left stunned after learning of Rafa Benitez's departure from Liverpool.

The Reds goalkeeper is currently away on international duty with Spain preparing for this summer's World Cup.

Rumours regarding the future of his club boss had been circulating for some time, but many expected Benitez to ride out the storm at Anfield.

His sudden exit has come as a surprise to many of those who worked under him, including Reina.

Benitez took him to Merseyside in 2005 and the 25-year-old has blossomed into one of the world's top shot-stoppers during his time in England.

Reina admits to feeling saddened by the news that his club boss has moved on, but is professional enough to realise that change happens in football.

Crisis

He knows it is now imperative that Liverpool sort out their managerial situation as soon as possible, with the club needing to establish stability if they are to bounce back from the crushing disappointments of a shocking 2009/10 campaign.

"It's a sad moment for Liverpool, for Rafa Benitez and for the players who have been with him," said Reina.

"He was a very important person for the club for six years. Liverpool grew with him and Rafa also grew thanks to Liverpool.

"I hope that this crisis passes. That a person so important for the club as Rafa Benitez has left is news that you never would have expected and that you never would have believed.

"The only thing left for me is to thank him for his confidence during all this time. I wish him the best of luck.

Rafa year 2

2010-06-04T07:58:00.001+08:00

Here's the second part of our look back at the Rafa years in photographs, from Athens to his departure.

2007: No player did more for the Rafalution than Stevie G, pictured here with the boss ahead of ANOTHER Champions League clash with Chelsea

2007: The Buddha pose

2007: There's no number six in Athens

2007: Torres signs

2007: Rafa's right hand man, Pako Ayestaran, leaves

2008: Kopites show the gaffer their support with a march outside Anfield ahead of a Champions League encounter with Porto

Rafa year 1

2010-06-04T07:54:00.000+08:00

Here's our first look back at the Rafa years in photographs, covering his first day in the job through to the unforgettable 2006 FA Cup win.

2004: First day in a new job

2004: Rafa's first game against Wrexham

2004: The Rafalution picks up steam

2004: Istanbul seems a very long way off after defeat in Olympiacos

2005: A shock FA Cup defeat to Burnley illustrates the fact our new boss would need to adapt to English football

Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool Record

2010-06-04T01:10:00.000+08:00

Benitez's overall LFC record in all competitions. Matches won on penalties recorded as draw.

Competition	P	W	D	L	F	A	Win %
TOTAL	350	194	77	79	585	302	55.43
Premier League	228	126	55	47	371	183	55.26
FA Cup	17	8	4	5	38	22	47.06
League Cup	17	10	1	6	31	27	58.82
Europe	85	48	17	20	140	68	56.47
Other	3	2	0	1	5	2	66.67

Season by Season Record

2009/10 Premier League: 7th (63 points) Champions League: Group Stages Europa League: Semi Final (lost to Atletico Madrid) FA Cup: 3rd Round (lost to Reading) League Cup: 5th Round (lost to Arsenal)

2008/09 Premier League: 2nd (86 points) Champions League: Quarter Final (lost to Chelsea) FA Cup: 4th round (lost to Everton) League Cup: 4th round (lost to Tottenham)

2007/08 Premier League: 4th (76 points) Champions League: Semi-Final (lost to Chelsea) FA Cup: 5th round (lost to Barnsley) League Cup: 5th round (lost to Chelsea)

2006/07 Premier League: 3rd (68 points) Champions League: RUNNERS-UP (lost to AC Milan in Final) FA Cup: 3rd round (lost to Arsenal) League Cup: QF (lost to Arsenal)

2005/06 Premier League: 3rd (82 points) Champions League: Last 16 (lost to Benfica) FA Cup: WINNERS (beat West Ham in Final) League Cup: 3rd Round (lost to Crystal Palace)

2004/05 Premier League: 5th (58 points) Champions League: WINNERS (beat AC Milan in Final) FA Cup: 3rd Round (lost to Burnley) League Cup: RUNNERS UP (lost to Chelsea)

Why we are truly shooting ourselves in the foot with Rafa’s sacking

2010-06-04T01:07:00.000+08:00

With the news of the sacking of Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez , there will no doubt be a mixed reaction among Reds fans. Many will react angrily to the Liverpool board’s decision and will staunchly defend Benitez’s record, others will be glad that the Spanish manager has gone, while they will be some like me who are left bemused and confused by the whole situation.

Some papers are saying that it was player power that drove the board to sack Benitez basing their claims on the uncertainty of the futures of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. A rumour that belies the facts if we go by Guillem Balague’s report that Rafa held a 20 minute conversation with Gerrard on his birthday last Sunday. There is however, a far more straightforward explanation for it all. The transfer budget.

Straight after the last game of the season against Hull, Rafa came out and said he would stay at the club if conditions were right. The conditions were no doubt predicated on the Liverpool board guaranteeing that funds would be made available to rebuild the squad during the summer, either through player sales or extra funding. Meetings have been held in recent weeks about this issue and it was obvious that progress was not being made when stories were being leaked to the press about Rafa’s future and his conduct as manager at the club.

On many occasions, papers used the words “sources close to the Liverpool Board” or the “Anfield hierarchy” when reporting stories about Rafa’s future. Obviously tensions were mounting between the two sides over the issue of transfer funding and it seems almost certain that Martin Broughton told Benitez he could not guarantee the manager any funding, and that this has led to the great instability behind the scenes which has culminated in Benitez’s sacking.

The fundamental problem is though; any new manager will have the same issues with the Anfield board as Benitez. The team needs some investment and without funding no right minded individual would take the job when there is no real possibility of reshaping a team in their own image. The next few weeks should have been spent looking at new signings but now it will be spent looking for a new manager. John Aldridge was right when he said yesterday it would beggar belief if they haven’t got someone else to come in within the next week.

If they don’t have somebody lined up, then Purslow, Ayre, Nash, Hicks and Gillett have just shot themselves in the foot. We are now a club stuck in limbo in a time of crisis on and off the field. It may take weeks or even months to find a new manager as the situation the new coach will be coming into will be seriously unstable. While the team will be full of Benitez’s players, he will have no money to spend and rebuild the squad as his own. There is also the prospect of new ownership within the next year and they may not even want the new boss as their manager, while if he does come, he may only have a few weeks before a new season starts.

With Benitez gone, Kenny Dalglish maybe the only real candidate willing to take on the role in the short team although the club’s official statement has stated he will be helping Christian Purslow in finding a new manager. Even if he himself was offered it, he may turn down the position for fear that he cannot improve the club’s fortunes with the current owners in charge. It doesn’t matter if you like or dislike Benitez, the timing of his sacking is well and truly awful. For me, if it was to be done at all, it should have been done quickly after the last day of the season rather than now. Any new coach will truly have the biggest baptism of fire in Liverpool’s history.

Benitez leaves Liverpool

2010-06-04T01:02:00.000+08:00

Spaniard departs Anfield after six years at the helm

By Rob Parrish Last updated: 3rd June 2010

Benitez: Liverpool exit

I have no words to thank you enough for all these years and I am very proud to say that I was your manager. Thank you so much once more and always remember: You'll never walk alone.

Rafa Benitez.

Liverpool have confirmed that manager Rafa Benitez is to leave the club by mutual consent after six years at the helm.

The Spaniard had found his position under severe scrutiny after a miserable season which saw the Anfield outfit finish seventh in the Premier League, missing out on UEFA Champions League football next term.

Benitez's relationship with American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett had become increasingly strained and rumours began circulating that he was to be shown the door on Wednesday evening.

It emerged negotiations were under way behind the scenes to agree a severance package, which is believed to be £6million, with the former Valencia boss having only recently signed a lucrative new long-term contract.

And Liverpool finally broke their silence over the issue shortly before 4pm on Thursday with confirmation that the man who secured the Champions League trophy in 2005 and the FA Cup the following season was heading for the exit.

Very sad

Benitez told the club's official website: "It is very sad for me to announce that I will no longer be manager of Liverpool FC. I would like to thank all of the staff and players for their efforts.

"I'll always keep in my heart the good times I've had here, the strong and loyal support of the fans in the tough times and the love from Liverpool.

"I have no words to thank you enough for all these years and I am very proud to say that I was your manager.

"Thank you so much once more and always remember: You'll never walk alone."

The club will now begin their search for a new boss, with managing director Christian Purslow and club ambassador Kenny Dalglish charged with selecting potential candidates for the role.

Fresh start

Several names have already been linked with the post, including Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill, Fulham manager Roy Hodgson and Guus Hiddink, who recently signed a deal to manage the Turkey national side.

Benitez's departure leaves the club in an even greater state of flux, with Hicks and Gillett keen to sell their stake to new owners and doubts persisting over the future of star players such as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.

Reds chairman Martin Broughton saluted their outgoing manager but claimed that a change at the top was necessary after a miserable season on the field.

He said: "Rafa will forever be part of Liverpool folklore after bringing home the Champions League following the epic final in Istanbul but after a disappointing season both parties felt a fresh start would be best for all concerned.''

Liverpool set to make £8million bid for winger

2010-05-30T23:52:00.001+08:00

Atletico Madrid winger Simao Sabrosa admitted he is interested in playing in the Premier League while Liverpool are reported to be planning an £8million bid.

The Portugal international has only a year left on his contract in Spain and has been linked with a move to the Anfield club for many seasons, with a deal failing to materialise.

Rafa Benitez is known as an admirer of the 30-year-old and is currently looking for a winger following his relationship deteriorating with Albert Riera last season.

Liverpool are tipped to make a move after the World Cup and Simao has indicated that he would be open to a move to the Premier League but played down reports.

Simao said: “Nobody has spoken with me in the last days about this subject.

“I only say that some people in Madrid have suggested that Atletico are preparing my sale, but I don’t know too much.

“I have always been interested in playing in the Premier League, but my head is in the World Cup and I have a deal with Atletico.”

Watch this space as I personally believe this deal may materialise.

Simao has been linked with us before on a number of occasions, but with Riera now as good as gone and Benayoun linked with a move away – I really do think we’ll try and make a move for him.

£8million is about right for him, with only one year left on his contract and I don’t think Atletico would mind that for someone who’s going to be turning 31 in less than half a year.

If this does go through, I reckon we’d have good cover for Kuyt, Rodriguez, Jovanovic, and perhaps Benayoun if he does stay. With us obviously needing some more strengthening up front.

Reds urged to up Wilson bid

2010-05-30T23:50:00.000+08:00

Hot prospect on radar of several top-flight English clubs

Wilson: Top-flight target

Rangers are waiting for Liverpool to make an improved bid for highly-rated teenager Danny Wilson after they rejected a £2million offer from the Reds.

The Scottish champions confirmed the Anfield club were interested in signing the 18-year-old around two months ago.

Gers manager Walter Smith has revealed the club have recently turned down an offer for the promising youngster.

"We are currently waiting to hear back from Liverpool after we rejected their original £2million offer," he told The Sunday Post.

Refused

Left-sided centre-half Wilson has refused his club's attempts to extend his contract - which has just one year remaining.

Rangers would receive just several hundred thousands of pounds in compensation should he leave Ibrox next summer.

Livingston-born Wilson made 25 first-team appearances last season and with his club resigned to losing the hot prospect, they will try and hold out for as much money as the Scottish Football Writers' Young Player of the Year could attract.

Rangers chief executive Martin Bain admitted the club had rejected approaches from two English Premier League clubs back in January, with Tottenham strongly linked with a move.

* Sport * Football * Liverpool Alberto Aquilani vows to make amends for injury-cursed Liverpool season • Italian denies knowledge of l

2010-05-27T23:14:00.000+08:00

Alberto Aquilani vows to make amends for injury-cursed Liverpool season

Alberto Aquilani was only able to start 13 games for Liverpool last season. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/EPA

Alberto Aquilani has insisted he wants to stay at Liverpool and says he feels like he owes the club more after an injury-plagued first season.

The 25-year-old arrived at Anfield last summer in a £20m deal but was not able to make his debut until late October because of an ankle injury he suffered while still at Roma.

Aquilani made just 13 starts for Liverpool last season but finally settled into the starting XI for the last four matches of the campaign.

Despite speculation linking him to a swift return to Italy with Juventus, Aquilani is determined to stay and prove his worth to the manager Rafael Benítez.

"I am staying at Liverpool to make up for many things," he said. "I have finally recovered from my ankle injury. Juve have approached me in the past and now I'm reading of their interest, but I really don't know anything about it," he told the Italian newspaper Leggo.

LFC Transfer Rumour

2010-05-24T22:22:00.000+08:00

The best and worst of the LFC related rumours doing the rounds today…

Yossi Benayoun is heading to Chelsea for £6m, according to the Daily Mail. They quote the Israeli midfielder saying “Ancelotti wants me for next season and now everything depends on Liverpool. Chelsea will have to pay some £6 million but I believe that in the end I’ll be moving there.”

The same report also claims Javier Mascherano is wanted by the Premier League champions.

Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar has put Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United on alert after revealing he has rejected the Goodison club’s latest contract offer, according to the Daily Mail, again.

Best of the rest….

James Milner would prefer a move to Liverpool, rather than joining Man United, due to his allegiance with Leeds.

Liverpool to approach Man City’s Brazilian left back Sylvinho (36) to replace Fabio Aurelio. This is a report that ends by explaining Sylvinho is expected to pen a new deal to remain at City. Ho hum.

Finally, Liverpool are prepared to bid £12m for Man City defender Micah Richards! Where is the money coming from for this then?!

Fernando Torres and Rafael Benitez will not leave Liverpool, says Pepe Reina

2010-05-23T23:30:00.000+08:00

Staying put? Pepe Reina is adamant that Fernando Torres will stay at Liverpool amid speculation linking him with a move to Spain Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Torres has been linked with a move away from Liverpool after the club's poor campaign, with Chelsea and Barcelona supposedly in the running for the Spain international's services.

But Reina spoke to his compatriot this week and claims Torres is committed to turning the club's fortunes around.

"I am calm about Fernando," Reina told the People. "I spoke to him about his future and he has told me that he intends to continue with us.

"Fernando suffered so many blows last season, but he is a professional and has always wanted to do well for us.

"That is what he remains - committed to this club."

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has also been strongly linked with a move away from the club this summer, with Inter Milan a possible destination, but Reina is equally convinced his manager will stay put.

"I am convinced that Rafa will still be with us and that is good for us because he wants revenge in the next campaign," he said.

Gerrard to ponder Reds future

2010-05-23T23:19:00.000+08:00

Steven Gerrard has plunged his Liverpool future into doubt after saying he will consider his options following the World Cup.

Gerrard is away on England duty with Fabio Capello's squad but has faced questions over a possible summer move in the wake of a disappointing season at Anfield.

The Reds missed out on a place in the UEFA Champions League and came seventh in the Premier League under Rafa Benitez's stewardship.

That has led to speculation that the mercurial captain may seek a move elsewhere next season, although he has so far refused to entertain such suggestions despite apparent interest from Real Madrid.

Next best move

But the 29-year-old, who nearly signed for Chelsea in 2004 before a dramatic U-turn, says he will weigh up his future after the tournament in South Africa.

Gerrard said in the Daily Star Sunday: "I won't consider my future or think about what is going to happen to me until after the World Cup.

"After the World Cup you have three or four weeks of holiday to consider what the next best move will be for you."

Despite his admission, Gerrard says he will not let any transfer gossip distract him from the England cause.

England are chasing a first triumph since their solitary victory in 1966 and the Liverpool man revealed speculation ruined his last World Cup.

Chelsea were also said to be interested in recruiting the Merseyside star in 2006 when England battled it out in Germany with then manager Sven Goran Eriksson.

And the Anfield skipper said he would not repeat the errors of four years ago, where he admitted to tracking the talk over his future.

Driven mad

He added: "I fell into a trap four years ago at the last World Cup. I used to go back to my room, read the papers and go on the internet and then I would speak to people at home who were telling me there was stuff going on.

"I knew that Chelsea were very interested because my agent was telling me. Every time I went back to my room I was driving myself mad thinking about whether I should go to Chelsea.

"Mentally it drained me. I don't know if it did not but I won't make that mistake again.

"People around me are under strict instructions not to be talking about my club future or speculation. It's not important now.

Swansea striker Besian Idrizaj dies of suspected heart attack aged 22

2010-05-16T22:22:00.000+08:00

Former Liverpool player dies at family home in Austria • Striker had loan spells at Luton and Crystal Palace

Besian Idrizaj, pictured playing for Liverpool in a friendly against Wrexham in 2006, has died aged 22. Photograph: Michael Mayhew/Sportsphoto

Swansea's former Liverpool striker Besian Idrizaj has died aged 22, his agent has confirmed.

Idrizaj, a former Austria Under-21 international, is believed to have suffered a heart attack at his family home in Linz.

A statement from Swansea read: "Swansea City can confirm that the agent of young striker Besian Idrizaj has informed the club that the striker has sadly passed away.

"It is understood that the popular 22-year-old died in his sleep on Friday night while at home with his family in Austria. The exact cause of death has not been confirmed and our thoughts are with his family, friends and team-mates at this time."

Idrizaj, who joined Swansea in August 2009, previously spent three years with Liverpool but failed to make a first-team breakthrough. He had loan spells at Luton and Crystal Palace before moving to play in Germany and Austria.

He underwent extensive tests in 2008 after he twice collapsed during games, but spoke in March of his optimism that his medical problems were behind him.

Liverpoolvs Unirea Urziceni - Ngog Video

2010-02-21T13:49:00.001+08:00

Liverpool take a 1-0 lead to Romania after David Ngog’s second half winner against Unirea Urziceni.

Match Report courtesy of Click Liverpool

For the first time in six years, Europe’s second-tier competition returned to the red half of Merseyside. The last time the famous old ground hosted the Europa League, it was still called the UEFA Cup as Marseille ground out a one-all draw in March 2004.

A banner depicting manager Rafael Benitez alongside Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish ,in the style of communist Russia propaganda, looked on from the Kop as the Anfield faithful found themselves feeling a little unfamiliar with a competition which had served as scant recognition of continental importance a decade previous.

The novelty of competing on the continent had worn off following five consecutive appearances in the Champions League and a relatively sterile first half testified how poor a relation the new-format competition was to Europe’s premier competition.

UEFA’s decision to trial additional referees in this year’s tournament further highlighted the differences between the continental elite and its second-rate alternative with the home supporters bewildered by tracksuited officials standing on either end of the field of play.

Steven Gerrard had warned Liverpool’s critics to write off Benitez’s side at their peril and almost opened the scoring with a close range shot which Giedrius Arlauskis palmed away after some good build-up play by Dirk Kuyt.

The Dutchman, who had also grown accustomed to sporting Champions League emblem on his shirt, went agonisingly close some 10 minutes later but saw his effort deflected wide for a corner whilst Fabio Aurelio angled a free-kick wide of Arlauskis’ left-hand post on 14 minutes.

Unirea failed to make a lasting impression on the game in the early stages aside from Sorin Frunza’s low-struck free kick but, like Marius Onofas’ audacious 40-yard effort, the ball once again found itself in the arms of Reina who remained untroubled throughout the first half.

At the other end Albert Riera had better luck and threatened Unirea’s goal numerous times in the first half-hour with a series of efforts that caused panic amongst the Romanians’ defence.

David Ngog also went close 10 minutes before the interval when the Frenchman, who has divided opinion within the Kop jury, fired an effort wide on the turn during one of his less impressive appearances in a red shirt this season as both sides failed to demonstrate any real intent.

Liverpool began the second half in the same manner they had started the first as Gerrard glanced a header wide of the Kop goal before Aurelio fired an effort wide.

Benitez, meanwhile, introduced Ryan Babel on 62 minutes in a bid to instill further pace and firepower into his ailing troops. However the much maligned winger failed to inspire the Kop as he repeatedly allowed himself to be herded off the ball by the Romanians.

A gaffe by Daniel Agger almost gifted the lead when he intercepted a ball destined for Reina to collect that broke to Frunza who could only steer his effort out of play. Martin Skrtel, the Dane’s defensive partner, should have done better when he headed Aurelio’s corner over the crossbar on 70 minutes.

Alberto Aquilani, who had once again failed to justify his £20 million price tag, was replaced by Dani Pacheco minutes later and the Kop’s faith in the untried Spanish starlet during a drab team performance was evident as they chanted his name.

The former Barcelona prodigy provided an able assist for David Ngog 10 minutes from time when he nodded an Aurelio ball across the face of the goal for the former Paris Saint Germain hitman to power a diving header home.

Gerrard attempted to double the advantage but hit a curling 20-yard effort just wide of Arlauskis’ goal as Liverpool continued to enjoy the lion’s share of chances but failed to build on their lead.

The home side appealed for a penalty after Pablo Brandan tackled compatriot Javier Mascherano on the edge of the area in the opening seconds of stoppage time.

Despite the victory, Anfield’s first taste of the Europa League left the 40,450 crowd feeling slightly despondent ahead of next week’s return leg in Bucharest.

FINAL SCORE: LIVERPOOL 1 UNIREA URZICENI 0

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Aurelio, Mascherano, Aquilani (Pacheco 74), Kuyt, Riera (Babel 62), Gerrard, Ngog (Lucas 89). Subs (not used): Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Degen.

UNIREA URZICENI: Arlauskis, Manel, Galamez, Fernandes, Brandan, Paraschiv (Vilana 86), Onofras (Marinescu 74), Paduretu (Rusescu 90), Apostol, Frunza, Bilasco. Subs (not used) Tudor, Mehmedovic, Nicu, Bordenu.

Attendance: 40,450

Referee: Eric Braamhaar (Netherlands)

Liverpool FC's Albert Riera sends out warning to Man City ahead of crunch Premier League clash

2010-02-21T13:37:00.000+08:00

HISTORY and heritage versus finance and potential: it is a question that certain footballers will have to answer this summer when the transfer window opens.

With an ever-decreasing band of top class players available, invariably the same clubs competing for the same prizes find themselves chasing the same targets, so what will ultimately prove decisive?

In the red corner you have Liverpool; 18 league titles, five European Cups but lacking economic firepower. Standing in the blue corner, meanwhile, are Manchester City – their CV is short of silverware but their bank balance is burgeoning.

Put simply, City – backed by the billionaires of Abu Dhabi – have the potential to blow Liverpool or any of their other competitors out of the water; most clubs are finding it impossible to compete in such a landscape.

If City decide to draw up a contract with figures that resemble an international telephone number, they will, more often than not, win the race; looking at it rationally, what would you do if someone wanted to double or treble your salary?

It must be said, however, there are still plenty of top footballers who can see beyond pounds, shillings and pence and just want to be able to say they have pulled on the shirt of one of the world’s top clubs – think Fernando Torres, for example.

So, with that in mind, it is significant to listen to the views of Albert Riera ahead of tomorrow’s showdown between Liverpool and City at Eastlands, particularly as he has experienced life on both sides of the fence.

When he played for City four years ago, the massive turnaround in their fortunes was just starting to begin but Riera never settled and was only too happy to end his loan spell and return to Espanyol.

Compare that to when he discovered Liverpool were pursuing him. Despite more money being offer elsewhere, Riera only had eyes for the Reds and if he was asked to choose between his current and former employers now, his decision would ever alter.

“The money does not take you straight to the title but it certainly helps you a lot,” said Riera, when asked about City’s riches. “But we can’t think about that. All we are doing is thinking about ourselves and we will be focused on playing well.

“But whatever happens, you cannot say Liverpool is not in the top four. I don’t know where we will finish but you know that we will keep fighting until the end of the season for fourth place.

“Anyway, if that doesn’t prove to be the case, Liverpool are still top four. We have got a history and you cannot change everything in one year. The money they have will never take away from the prestige and titles we have.

“I am at the right club, I am sure of this. If you told me I had to change (back to Manchester City) I wouldn’t do it. The money isn’t important. It’s the football. We have everything here.

“We’ve got fantastic supporters and an amazing stadium. We have also got a great team and I am certain that, at the end of the season, we will be back up there in fourth place again.”

To do that, Liverpool dare not fluff their lines at Eastlands as City have the chance to disappear over the horizon; a home victory tomorrow would give Roberto Mancini’s side a four point lead, with a game in hand, heading into the final straight.

True, the outcome of this showdown will not prove to definitive but the feeling persists that whoever emerges victorious will ultimately have the Champions League on their agenda next season.

“This is the key moment,” said Riera. “It will not decide the race here and now, as there are many more chances to get points. But they are our biggest rivals for the Champions League and we need to win.

“Having a lead over your rivals is always better. It would be a really good moment to beat them. If we can get three points, afterwards we have got some games that you would expect us to win. It would be a good time to get three points.

“It would give us the confidence that we need right now. City are improving a lot and they have been near the top of the table for most of the season. It’s all so true that people have talked about us and said that we are not playing well.

“We wanted to be fighting for the title but that has not happened. With the players that we have, we know we can play better but we are still only one point behind them and this is a great opportunity for us. Finishing fourth is the minimum aim.”

Whether Riera retains his place in the starting line-up after an erratic display against Unirea Urziceni on Thursday night remains to be seen but he is hoping that Rafa Benitez gives an opportunity to bite the hand that once fed him.

This, after all, is the kind of game in which every player wants to be involved and the Spanish midfielder hopes Liverpool can become the first visiting side to triumph at Eastlands this season to make their rivals sit up and take note.

“They have played a game less than us so, if we won, it would be worth so much more than three points,” said Riera. “We will be back in front of them, we will have the confidence and it will mean more pressure for them.

“I suppose you can say it’s a bit like a final, as it is a massive game with so much at stake. But we need to win and we have to win. At the same time, we know it is not our last chance to make a statement.”

TOMMY SMITH: Liverpool FC must respect Europa League if they want to end trophy drought

2010-02-17T21:40:00.000+08:00

AS Liverpool kick off the Europa League campaign tomorrow night we can take a few lessons from recent history.

I remember heading into the FA Cup tie with Reading and there seemed to be no question as to who would progress.

A draw and a replay later and it hadn’t gone according to plan though.

That’s why we must be careful against Unirea Urziceni. If anything is taken for granted, we could be looking at another unwelcome cup upset.

Although there is one school of thought that says Unirea might simply be happy to be playing at Anfield, they’re not a bad side and only narrowly missed out on reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.

While everyone would prefer us to be in that competition, we have to take the Europa League seriously.

The Liverpool philosophy has always been that, as soon as you went out of one competition, you set out to win the next.

The Europa League presents an opportunity for us to lift a trophy for the first time since the FA Cup in 2006.

The club’s reputation has been built on silverware and so we shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to add to that, be it in the Carling Cup, European Cup or whatever.

I’m not sure the squad is good enough to win the Premier League as it is but it should be good enough to win the Europa League.

Saying that I’d expect to see a strong team sent out against Unirea. We can’t afford to be complacent and field all the fringe players and kids.

Playing an under- strength side would immediately give the opposition an extra lift.

Plus, people pay good money to come to Anfield and watch the best players. If we want to win the competition we have to respect it.

They’re simply not as good as us.

For all the money that has been pumped into the club, City are stil some way off challenging the top teams in Europe as Liverpool have done for some years now.

The whole Robinho episode sums it up perfectly.

City have been let down with some of the players they’ve brought in. They don’t always play as a team, but more as individuals, which is no doubt why Robinho is no longer at the club. They tend to rely on the pace of the likes of Craig Bellamy on the left and one or two others.

The whole situation reminds me of Real Madrid. Just because you throw a load of money at it, doesn’t guarantee success.

City have improved a bit under Roberto Mancini but there have also been signs that all is not well.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have been playing well as a team again lately.

We’re playing as a unit again, with everyone relying on each other.

That’s why I believe we’ll come away from Manchester with maximum points.

Mascherano’s the new Cally

A major plus point for Liverpool lately has been the return to form of Javier Mascherano.

He reminds me of Ian Callaghan at times.

They’re different players but Cally would also give you everything, running all over the pitch.

Cally didn’t mind putting his foot in either, although he never got booked!

Liverpool FC 1 Everton FC 0 - Dirk Kuyt's goal the difference for Reds amid red mist

2010-02-07T00:17:00.001+08:00

Dirk Kuyt scores for Liverpool against Everton

TWO red cards, seven yellows and bags of controversy – the 213th Merseyside derby certainly lived up to its billing.

Dirk Kuyt’s second-half header was enough to secure Liverpool a priceless victory in their pursuit of Champions League qualification and complete the league double over their neighbours from across Stanley Park.

The Reds overcame the sending off of Sotirios Kyrgiakos for a two footed lunge on Marouane Fellaini before the break with a performance full of grit and character.

Kuyt broke the deadlock when he nodded home Steven Gerrard’s corner and they endured few scares as Everton failed to make their numerical advantage count.

The visitors’ frustration boiled over in stoppage time when Steven Pienaar was given a second yellow card for a foul on Gerrard.

The Blues haven’t won at Anfield since 1999 when Kevin Campbell got the winner and they will be kicking themselves about this missed opportunity to end that barren run.

Defeat for David Moyes’ side ended a nine-match unbeaten league run stretching back to the 2-0 derby setback the Reds inflicted at Goodison back in November.

Both managers had pleaded for cool heads in the build up to this game but their words fell on deaf ears.

Jamie Carragher made his intentions clear inside the opening seconds with a crunching tackle on Pienaar.

It set the tone for a predictably frenetic contest with the Reds dominating possession early on and looking the more likely to break the deadlock.

Inside three minutes Gerrard burst down the left before being upended by Phil Neville on the edge of the box.

The Reds skipper picked himself up and from an acute angle unleashed a curling free-kick which was beaten away by Tim Howard. It dropped kindly to Emiliano Insua but he lashed the rebound over.

The Reds continued to threaten with Daniel Agger firing over after the Blues had failed to deal with Gerrard’s corner.

Both sides had half hearted appeals for a penalty waved away. First Kuyt’s shot appeared to strike Pienaar’s arm, while at the other end Sylvain Distin claimed he was shoved to the ground by David Ngog.

The tackles flew in with Tim Cahill and Javier Mascherano both fortunate to avoid punishment before referee Martin Atkinson finally reached for his notebook after 20 minutes.

Kuyt was yellow carded after bringing down Landon Donovan 25 yards out and from the ensuing free-kick Pepe Reina had to tip over Leighton Baines’ effort.

Liverpool were left fuming moments later after Kuyt and Fellaini clashed.

Kuyt was brought down by Pienaar and as he lay on the ground Fellaini’s boot caught him in the head.

The Dutchman was incensed but Atkinson took no action against the Blues midfielder.

Pienaar was cautioned for a foul on Mascherano soon after and then Carragher followed him into the book for chopping down the South African.

Just past the half hour mark the Reds counter attacked to good effect with Rodriguez and Gerrard combining to tee up Ngog. However, the young French striker dragged his shot wide from the edge of the box.

Everton grew in confidence as the half progressed and Reina had to be alert to race off his line and deny Louis Saha.

Tempers continued to be frayed and the contest boiled over 12 minutes before the break.

Kyrgiakos’ two-footed challenge on Fellaini was deemed dangerous by Atkinson and after a lengthy stoppage the Greek centre-back got his marching orders.

In truth Fellaini could also have seen red for his part in the crunching 50-50 tackle but he escaped without a card. Fellaini was stretchered off and after lengthy treatment was finally replaced by Mikel Arteta.

The sending off forced Liverpool into a reshuffle with Carragher moving to the centre of defence and Mascherano shifted from midfield to right-back.

Both sides went agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock just before the interval. Gerrard’s curling free-kick clipped the top of the bar, while at the other end Cahill missed a glorious chance when he nodded over after Mascherano’s misplaced defensive header had set him up.

Cahill went close again early in the second half but despite being down to 10 men it was Liverpool who posed the greater attacking threat.

Ngog was thwarted by Distin’s block before the deadlock was finally broken in the 55th minute.

Gerrard swung a corner into the six-yard box and Kuyt made the most of some woeful marking to nod past Howard. Anfield erupted and the Dutchman raced away to celebrate with his skipper.

Kuyt epitomised the Reds’ tireless work rate as moments later he produced a crucial defensive header at the back post to clear Donovan’s dangerous cross.

John Heitinga was booked for tripping Rodriguez as the Blues struggled to muster a response to Kuyt’s goal.

The visitors looked short on attacking ideas and with 18 minutes to go manager David Moyes went for broke as he introduced strikers Victor Anichebe and Yakubu in place of Osman and Saha.

Ryan Babel had replaced Ngog but the substitute, playing as a lone frontman, struggled to hold the ball up and in the closing stages the Blues dominated possession.

With six minutes to go Atkinson had his hands full again. In clearing the ball Gerrard’s boot caught Pienaar and a melee ensued.

When order was restored Atkinson dished out yellows to Gerrard and Anichebe.

The Reds defended bravely with Carragher starring at the heart of a gutsy rearguard effort.

In the 89th minute Yakubu let fly from 25 yards out and Reina was forced to tip his effort over the bar.

Five minutes of stoppage time gave Evertonians hope and Anichebe almost rescued a point.

The substitute burst clear in the box but Lucas and Reina combined to deny him.

When Pienaar picked up a second yellow for his barge on Gerrard the Blues’ misery was complete. Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Kuyt (Skrtel 90), Lucas, Mascherano, Rodriguez (Aurelio 90), Gerrard, Ngog (Babel 63). Everton: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Donovan, Fellaini (Arteta 40), Osman (Yakubu 72), Pienaar, Cahill, Saha (Anichebe 72). Referee: Martin Atkinson Attendance: 44,316

Liverpool close in on Rodriguez

2010-01-07T05:17:00.001+08:00

Argentina and Atletico Madrid’s Maxi Rodriguez is edging closer to an Anfield move.

The player is keen to move to the Premier League in a bid to ensure he goes to the World Cup next summer. The sticking point has been over pay – with Liverpool’s coffers empty the player looks likely to take a significant pay cut to move to the reds.

Most rumours seem to be that the player will arrive on a loan deal until the end of the season.

The 29 year old can operate on the wing or as an attacking midfielder and in his 8 years spell in La Liga (at Espanyol and Atletico) he has scored 58 times in just under 250 appearances.

He has been a peripheral figure for Atletico of late, although he did score 4 goals in the 6-0 win over Marbella in the Spanish Cup in November.

Liverpool decline £5m bid for Yossi Benayoun but Albert Riera may leave

2010-01-07T05:15:00.001+08:00

On the move? Albert Riera may soon be playing for Greek side Olympiakos Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Liverpool have wasted no time in initiating a much needed shake-up at the club with negotiations for Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh and Atletico Madrid's Maxi Rodriguez believed to be in the advanced stages, while Andriy Voronin looks likely to be leaving.

And while manager Rafael Benitez appears untroubled by the potential loss of Riera, according to the Mail, the Spaniard will not allow Benayoun to leave.

Meanwhile, it seems the curtain is about to fall on another Anfield career with out-of-favour defender Andrea Dossena on the verge of a £4.5m transfer to Napoli, after his agent claimed the deal had been held up by the bad weather in the north west which closed airports in the region.

The Italy international has failed to establish himself in the first team following his £7m move from Udinese in the summer of 2008 and he has made just five appearances this season.

"I believe the player will arrive in Napoli tomorrow," agent Roberto La Floria told Tuttomercatoweb.

"At the moment there are logistical problems - that is to say he can't leave Liverpool because of the snow.

"The player will arrive on a permanent basis with a contract for four and a half years."

Abel Xavier Quits Football And Converts To Islam

2010-01-07T05:13:00.000+08:00

Former Portuguese international Abel Xavier will now go by the name of Faisal Xavier after quitting football at the age of 38. In converting to Islam the ex-Liverpool and Everton man has stated his regret at leaving the sport behind, but has also claimed that he is happy with his new-found faith. "While it's an emotional farewell, I hope to participate in something very special as I enter a new stage of my life. "In times of trouble, I have found comfort in Islam. Gradually I learned of learned a religion that professes peace, equality, freedom and hope. These are extremely important." Xavier further stated that he is to now undertake humanitarian work with the United Nations while working in the American film industry. The Mozambique-born defender last played for the Los Angeles Galaxy, following a career that saw him ply his trade in Portugal, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Turkey, Germany, and the USA.

LFC Players 1999-2009: Where are they now?

2010-01-07T05:11:00.000+08:00

With the new decade now upon us, TIA’s Michael Sweeting puts together an impressive list of players who represented the Reds during the last decade to find where they are now.

The list includes all players who played for the Liverpool first team or reserves and have since left the club.

1999-2009: Where are they now?

Jorgen Nielsen – GK – Retired (Liverpool 1997-2002) Sander Westerveld – GK – Monza (Liverpool 1999-2001) Brad Friedel – GK – Aston Villa (Liverpool 1997-2000) Rigobert Song – CB – Trabzonspor (Liverpool 1998-2000) Frode Kippe – CB – Lillestrom SK (Liverpool 1998-2002) Djimi Traore – LB – AS Monaco (Liverpool 1999-2006)

Full back STEPHEN WRIGHT impressed back in 2001 but was sold to Sunderland after just 21 appearances.

Stephen Wright – CB – Coventry City, Captain (Liverpool 1997-2002) Sami Hyypia – CB – Bayer Leverkusen (Liverpool 1999-2009) Stephane Henchoz – CB – Retired (Liverpool 1999-2005) Bjorn Tore Kvarme – CB – Retired (Liverpool 1997-1999) Steve Staunton – Manager – Darlington (Liverpool 1986-1991/1998-2000) Phil Babb – CB – Retired (Liverpool 1994-2000) Vegard Heggem – RB – Retired (Liverpool 1998-2003) Stig Inge Bjornebye – LB – Retired (Liverpool 1992-2000) Dominic Matteo –CB – Retired (Liverpool 1992-2000) Vladimir Smicer – AM – Retired (Liverpool 1999-2005) Dietmar Hamann – DM – Free Agent (Liverpool 1999-2006) David Thompson – RM – Retired (Liverpool 1996-2000) Leyton Maxwell – CM – ENTO Aberaman Athleltic; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 1999-2001) Danny Murphy – CM – Fulham, Captain; Goals – 13 (Liverpool 1997-2004) Patrik Berger – LM – Sparta Prague; Goals – 6 (Liverpool 1996-2003) Jamie Redknapp – CM – Retired (Liverpool 1991-2002) Haukur Ingi Gudnason – ST – Keflavik; Goals – 5 (Liverpool 1997-2000) Robbie Fowler – ST – North Queensland Fury; Goals – 9 (Liverpool 1993-2001/2006-2007) Emile Heskey – ST – Aston Villa; Goals – 4 (Liverpool 2000-2004) Jon Newby – ST – Northwich Victoria; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 1998-2001) Titi Camara – ST – Retired (Liverpool 1999-2000) Erik Meijer – ST – Retired (Liverpool 1999-2001) Michael Owen – ST – Manchester United; Goals – 7 (Liverpool 1996-2004) Karl-Heinz Riedle – ST – Retired (Liverpool 1997-1999) Pegguy Arphexad – GK – Retired (Liverpool 2000-2003) Gregory Vignal – DL – Birmingham City (Liverpool 2000-2005) Christian Ziege – DL – Retired (Liverpool 2000-2001) Bernard Diomede – ML – Retired (Liverpool 2000-2003) Nick Barmby – ML – Hull City; Goals – 20 (Liverpool 2000-2002) Gary McAllister – MC – Retired (Liverpool 2000-2002) Igor Biscan – DC – Dinamo Zagreb; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2000-2005) Daniel Sjolund – ST – Djurgardens IF; Goals – 22 (Liverpool 2000-2002) Chris Kirkland – GK – Wigan Athletic (Liverpool 2001-2006) Jerzy Dudek – GK – Real Madrid (Liverpool 2001-2007) Markus Babbel – DR – Retired (Liverpool 2000-2004)

ABEL XAVIER ended up at the LA Galaxy before recently changing his name to Faisal after converting to Islam.

Faisal (Abel) Xavier – DR – Retired (Liverpool 2002-2003) John Arne Riise – DL – AS Roma; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2001-2008) Bruno Cheyrou – MR – Rennes; Goals – 9 (Liverpool 2002-2006) Milan Baros – ST – Galatasaray; Goals – 25 (Liverpool 2002-2005) El Hadji Diouf – ST – Blackburn Rovers; Goals – 2 (Liverpool 2002-2005) Nicolas Anelka – ST – Chelsea; Goals – 25 (Liverpool 2002) Patrice Luzi – GK – Stade Rennais (Liverpool 2002-2005) Salif Diao – DM – Stoke City (Liverpool 2002-2007) Alou Diarra – DM – Bordeaux; Goals – 6 (Liverpool 2002-2005) Neil Mellor – ST – Preston North End; Goals – 26 (Liverpool 1999-2006) Carl Medjani – DC – AC Ajaccio; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2003-2006) Jon Otsemobor – DR – Norwich City; Goals – 2 (Liverpool 2002-2005) Steve Finnan – DR – Portsmouth (Liverpool 2003-2008) John Welsh – MC – Tranmere Rovers; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2002-2006) Anthony Le Tallec – ST – Le Mans; Goals – 5 (Liverpool 2003-2008) Florent Sinama-Pongolle – ST – Sporting CP (Liverpool 2003-2006) Harry Kewell – ML – Galatasaray; Goals – 17 (Liverpool 2003-2008) Richie Partridge – MR – Kettering Town; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2000-2005)

Finnish legend JARI LITMANEN is still playing today aged 38.

Jari Litmanen – ST – Lahti; Goals – 5 (Liverpool 2001-2002) Scott Carson – GK – West Bromwich Albion (Liverpool 2005-2008) Mauricio Pellegrino – DC – Liverpool (Coach) (Liverpool 2005) Josemi – DR – Mallorca; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2004-2005) David Raven – DR – Carlisle United; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2004-2006) Zak Whitbread – DC – Millwall; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2003-2006) Luis Garcia – MR – Racing Santander (Liverpool 2004-2007) Xabi Alonso – DM – Real Madrid (Liverpool 2004-2009) Antonio Nunez – MR – Apollon Limassol; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2004-2005) Stephen Warnock – DL – Aston Villa (Liverpool 1998-2007) Darren Potter – MC – Sheffield Wednesday; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2003-2007) Mark Smyth – ST – Witton Albion (Liverpool 2002-2005) Robbie Foy – MR – Scunthorpe United (Liverpool 2004-2006) Fernando Morientes – ST – Marseille; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2005-2006) Jan Kromkamp – DR – PSV; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2006) Djibril Cisse – ST – Panathinaikos; Goals – 11 (Liverpool 2004-2006) Peter Crouch – ST – Tottenham Hotspur; Goals – 8 (Liverpool 2005-2008) Momo Sissoko – DM – Juventus; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2005-2008) Bolo Zenden – ML – Sunderland (Liverpool 2005-2007) Besian Idrizaj – ST – Swansea City (Liverpool 2005-2008) Danny Guthrie – MC – Newcastle United; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2005-2008) Antonio Barragan – DR – Valladolid (Liverpool 2005-2006) David Mannix – CM – Chester City; Goals – 2 (Liverpool 2004-2007) Mark Gonzalez – ML – CSKA Moscow; Goals – 2 (Liverpool 2006-2007) Jermaine Pennant – MR – Real Zaragoza (Liverpool 2006-2009) Craig Bellamy – ST – Manchester City; Goals – 11 (Liverpool 2006-2007) Paul Anderson – MR – Nottingham Forest; Goals – 2 (Liverpool 2006-2008) Gabriel Paletta – DC – Boca Juniors; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2006-2007) Adam Hammill – MR – Barnsley; Goals – 4 (Liverpool 2006-2009) Lee Peltier – DM – Huddersfield Town (Liverpool 2004-2008) Craig Lindfield – ST – Macclesfield Town (Liverpool 2006-2009) Sebastian Leto – ML – Panathinaikos; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2007-2009) Alvaro Arbeloa – DR – Real Madrid (Liverpool 2007-2009) Alan Navarro – DM – Brighton & Hove Albion (Liverpool 2000-2002) John Miles – ST – Accrington Stanley; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2001-2002) Michael Foley – RM – Longford Town (Liverpool 2002-2004) Paul Harrison – GK – TNS (Liverpool 2003-2005) Rob Jones – DR – Retired (Liverpool 1991-1999) Gareth Roberts – ST – Doncaster Rovers; Goals – 5 (Liverpool 1994-1999) Ian Armstrong – ST – Retired (Liverpool 2000-2001) Paul Jones – GK – Retired (Liverpool 2004) Miki Roque – DC – Real Betis (Liverpool 2005-2009) Jack Hobbs – DC – Leicester City; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2005-2009) Astrit Ajdarevic – AM – Leicester City (Liverpool 2007-2009) Daniele Padelli – GK – AS Bari (Liverpool 2007) Danny O’Donnell – DC – Crewe Alexandra; Goals – 3 (Liverpool 2005-2007) James Smith – DR – Altrincham (Liverpool 2005-2007) Robbie Keane – ST – Tottenham Hotspur; Goals – 11 (Liverpool 2008-2009) Jamie Cassidy – CM – Burscough (Liverpool 1996-1999) Sean Dundee – ST – AmaZulu (Liverpool 1998-1999) Jean-Michel Ferri – DM – Retired (Liverpool 1998-1999) Steve Harkness – DL – Retired (Liverpool 1989-1999) Paul Ince – Manager – Milton Keynes Dons (Liverpool 1997-1999) David James – GK – Portsmouth (Liverpool 1992-1999) Oyvind Leonhardsen – CM – Retired (Liverpool 1997-1999) Jason McAteer – CM – Retired (Liverpool 1995-1999) Steve McManaman – ML – Retired (Liverpool 1989-1999) Ray Putterill – ML – Free Agent (Liverpool 2001-2009) Tony Warner – GK – Leicester City (Liverpool 1990-1999) Danny Williams – CM – Droylsden; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 1997-1999) Jason Massie – CM – Harrisburg City Islanders (Liverpool 1997-2004) Matty Murray – Free Agent (Liverpool 2000-2003) Chris Butler – DL – Sligo Rovers (Liverpool 1997-2002) Carl Clampitt – MR – Colwyn Bay (Liverpool 2001-2002) Steven Gillespie – CF – Colchester United; Goals – 4 (Liverpool 2003-2004) Stephen Vaughan – DR – Northwich Victoria (Liverpool 2003-2004) Tim Dittmer – GK – Marine (Liverpool 2001-2003) Jimmy McNulty – DC – Brighton & Hove Albion; Goals – 1 (Liverpool 2001-2002) Neil Prince – ST – Southport (Liverpool 2002-2003) Godwin Antwi – DC – Vejle BK(Liverpool 2006-2009) Ramon Calliste – ST – Braintree Town (Liverpool 2006-2008) Michael Burns – DL – Carlisle United (Liverpool 2001-2007) Ronald Huth – DC – Vicenza (Liverpool 2007-2009)

Liverpool vs Arsenal

2009-12-12T12:51:00.001+08:00

Liverpool - Arsenal

Rafa says that our "season starts here" against Arsenal on Sunday. Haven't we said that before? Liverpool and Arsenal are the two that most believe are at threat from dropping out of the top four, with the Reds most likely the current favourites, so this is a gigantic match for both.

Liverpool Team News:

The only doubt for Rafa remains Ryan Babel, however he'll not really be missed that much if he's not passed fit will he? Fernando Torres is in line for his first Premier League start in six weeks and looked sharp in his cameo as a substitute against Fiorentina on Wednesday. Alberto Aquilani could make his full PL debut, however he's expected to start on the substitutes bench once again.

Player to watch: Torres

Torres looked sharp, sharper than he's looked for a while, against the Italians in the Champions League. The Spaniard is hungry and this can only work in our favour.

Arsenal Team News:

Alex Song is back from a domestic ban and is expected to return to the side. Bendtner, Clichy, Djourou, Eboue (hamstring), Gibbs, van Persie and Rosicky are all out through injury though with Diaby and Eduardo both rated as doubtful.

Player to watch: Arshavin

Arshavin scored four goals against us last season in the amazing 4-4 draw, which killed off our PL title hopes really. If the Russian is up for it he'll cause us problems.

Match Facts & Stats

The Reds last six meetings with Arsenal: Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool Liverpool 4-2 Arsenal Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool

Ref Watch:

Howard Webb will officiate.

Match Prediction:

If our season really does start here, once again, then we can't afford anything less than a win. The problem is I'm not at all confident that we'll get it! A point wouldn't be a bad result but a win would mean so much more but my prediction would be Liverpool 1 Arsenal 1

Liverpool’s unsavoury situation all too familiar

2009-12-12T12:50:00.001+08:00

Liverpool 1-2 Fiorentina Champions League Matchday 6

As a competition, the Champions League has done great things and provided unforgettable moments for both Liverpool fans and football in general. The wonderful spectacle of the top players in world football competing against one another, along with the prestige of actually winning such a competition, is indisputable.

However, the Champions League era has also resulted in some less commendable circumstances. The focus which teams now place on achieving qualification for Europe’s showpiece, and the effort with which the top clubs strive to finish in what ultimately is only the fourth position in the domestic league, has subsequently undervalued the prestige of actually winning trophies.

Of course the Premier League title and Champions League crown will always remain the ultimate achievements. But these are only genuinely within the reach of a restricted few – even Liverpool have been short of this group often in recent times. Whilst any remaining honours have been devalued in the face of the, mainly financial, benefits which accompany Champions League qualification.

It could possibly be interpreted as a somewhat unsavoury situation, but it is one which Liverpool face once again. Triumphing in either the FA Cup or Europa League may be potential achievements which would go down in the history books – and Rafa will insist that the Reds intend to win these tournaments. But circumstance dictate that finishing a minimum of fourth in this seasons Premier League table must be the paramout focus.

REDS down and out. (Photo from fOTOGLIF).

Liverpool’s dour Champions League campaign was summed up when Alberto Gilardino’s injury time goal for Fiorentina condemned the Reds to an unacceptable third defeat in a group stage which was already guaranteed to end in elimination. For a club with such an illustrious European pedigree in recent years to bow out at such an early stage and in such a lacklustre fashion is, of course, disappointing. But failing to compete in the competition at all next season has the potential to be disastrous. As a club Liverpool have come to expect qualification and become almost addicted to the drug that is Champions League football. As all top clubs must.

We are, of course, viewing this from a predominately financial perspective – again as the changing footballing world, somewhat unfortunately, dictates. However, there are also actual footballing consequences. If Liverpool were fail to qualify for the top table of European for the first time in six seasons, then they would surely find it more difficult to attract top names to the club, at a time when the playing squad requires improvement. The club may even face the prospect of a struggle to keep hold of the top players currently at the club. Historically players have never left Liverpool during their peak years; however at present this is becoming an increasing possibility and one which should not be allowed to develop.

This seasons Champions League nightmare was ultimately brought to a conclusion by the same time which spelled the start of the Reds early exit back in late September. This wasn’t quite the same impressive brand of football from the Italians which inflicted a 2-0 defeat on the Reds in Florence in the reverse fixture; however Gilardino’s late goal brought the same result. As a dead rubber of a match in all senses, the result of this game was never going to be particularly significant. But conceding a crucial late goal for the third time in six group fixtures tells the story. Qualification can not be expected in such a situation. Neither can it from just two wins, only five goals scored and three points collected at Anfield.

This 2-1 reverse may have prolonged Liverpool’s agonising recent run of form and inflicted another unacceptable home defeat on the Reds, but prior to Fiorentina’s late knock out blow there had actually been some positives to take from a forgettable evening. The second half display, in particular, provided some encouragement for a famished home crowd.

After Yossi Benayoun’s glancing header from Steven Gerrard’s free-kick gave the Reds the lead at the very end of another dour half of football, Liverpool began to look more of a team in the second period. At long, long last Alberto Aquilani had been granted a place in the Liverpool starting line-up, against familiar foes for the cultured Italian. And Aqualani showed some good touches and a willingness to seek possession in an opening half which was once again typified by a lack penetration and quality in attack.

With David N’Gog omitted from the squad, Dirk Kuyt struggled in a starting role as a lone striker, which we are surely now aware he is not accustomed to. In fairness to the Dutchman he received limited support; however the introduction of Fernando Torres early in the second half proved just what a difference a striker of his quality can provide. A typically sharp and dangerous display from Torres on his return to fitness was probably the most encouraging aspect of the night.

Dani Pacheco made his Liverpool debut. (Photo from fOTOGLIF)

Torres’ partnership with another substitute, young debutant – and fellow Spaniard – Dani Pacheco transformed the Reds into a much improved attacking force in the second half. 18-year-old Pacheco has been receiving rave reviews for his performances in the reserves. And he showed the touch and technique here, that you would associate with a graduate of Barcelona’s academy, to suggest he has the ability to make the step up.

Andrea Dossena was another who produced a performance worthy of note on the left wing. The Italian has been somewhat of a forgotten man this season, but, based on this performance, he may be well worth a greater role in the future. He certainly seemed to provide much more than some of the alternative candidates for that position have this season.

However ultimately, despite the Reds improved second half efforts, they were once again out done by consistently more threatening and clinical opponents. As La Viola’s two second half strikes to clinch, a perhaps not wholly deserved, victory proved. Some unconvincing defending contributed to both away goals, although it was a lack a potency and creativity which hindered the Reds in reality. A return to form and fitness for some key players must now contrive to bring these problems to an end.

This has most certainly been a Champions League campaign to forget and should be locked in the same dark cupboard as the similarly unfruitful efforts of 2002/03 (unfortunately this season has gradually begun to draw uncanny parallels to that campaign). Whilst both teams contain some technically adept and talented players, neither Lyon nor Fiorentina possess the quality to challenge in the latter stages of the competition. Both will do well to progress beyond the next phase, and yet, worryingly, both have combined to eliminate the Reds. The sincere hope now is that this year is just a minor blip on the Reds enviable Champions League record. In order to ensure that this is to be the case, Liverpool must first ensure, at all costs, that they wrestle qualification for next seasons competition away from an increasingly confident shadow cast. Or face some unsavoury consequences.

Stephen Warnock basks in Villa sun after escaping Liverpool's shadows

2009-12-12T12:41:00.000+08:00

Three years ago the full-back left Anfield. His only regret is that he did not do it sooner

Stephen Warnock suffered three major disappointments at Liverpool, including missing out on the 2005 Champions League final after being told he was in the squad. Photograph: David Sillitoe

Stephen Warnock looks a little embarrassed as he listens to some of the comments posted on an Aston Villa supporters' website about his impact at the club since he arrived from Blackburn Rovers in the summer. From "Martin O'Neill's best signing since he came to the club" to "Wayne Bridge isn't fit to lace his boots on this season's performances" and "could be our best left-back for a decade", the praise is endless.

It is little wonder that O'Neill is so delighted with his £8m recruit and no surprise that the defender has returned to Fabio Capello's thoughts, having been called up for last month's friendly against Brazil. Comfortable on the ball and tenacious in the tackle, Warnock has emerged as a genuine threat to Bridge for the second left-back spot in Capello's World Cup squad. All of which must make Rafael Benítez feel a little uncomfortable.

It was, after all, a little less than three years ago that the Liverpool manager allowed Warnock to leave Anfield for £1.5m. That decision is looking increasingly like an error of judgment, especially given the problems Benítez has experienced in the left-back position, with the £7m splurged on Andrea Dossena a case in point. Yet if Liverpool are missing Warnock, there is no suggestion that the feeling is mutual.

Having made 67 appearances for Liverpool between 2004 and 2007 without ever nailing down a regular first-team place, Warnock knew he had to get out. "My only regret about Liverpool is that I didn't leave earlier," he said ahead of Villa's trip to Manchester United today. "I was in and out the team at Liverpool but I felt that I was capable of playing in the Premier League and I knew that if I went somewhere else I could get myself back into a top club."

For Warnock, the defining point in his Liverpool career came in May 2005, when he missed out on the chance to be part of one of the greatest nights in the club's history after Benítez made a decision that, quite understandably, still rankles. "I remember getting in the Champions League final squad and being absolutely delighted, going home and telling all the family," said Warnock. "And then I got a phone call from the assistant manager, not even the manager, to say, 'We've made a mistake on the squad, one of the other players has been added in and you've been taken out.' He [Josemi] had been injured, played one game that year and was back in the squad. I have never felt more betrayed. Not getting a phone call from the manager, I felt, was pretty weak.

"It was just so disappointing. The Champions League final is your childhood dream. Even if you don't get on, just to be involved and in and around it was a fantastic thing. My family were over the moon, my mum and dad were proud as anything, and then you have to ring them and say 'I'm not in it now'.

"I went on the pitch after the game. It was one of those moments where you are made up for the team, especially as I'm a Liverpool fan, but I felt gutted that I wasn't involved in the celebrations. It put a dampener on everything and, to be honest, I wanted to leave after that moment. I just thought, what's the point if he hasn't got the decency to talk to me himself and explain the situation? And I've never been told since."

For Warnock, who is an engaging and highly likeable character, Istanbul was the second of three major disappointments under Benítez. Earlier that year he had been left out of the Carling Cup final squad despite playing in every previous round and, the following season, was again forced to watch a showpiece occasion from the stands when Benítez omitted him from his 16-man party for the FA Cup final against West Ham United.

"I actually got given a medal in that FA Cup final because we didn't get one in the Champions League final, even though we had been involved in the earlier games," said Warnock. "We got to the final and he [Benítez] came over to us on the pitch and said 'here's a medal'. I remember saying, 'What for?' It was like a token gesture.

"I thought enough's enough. I want to go somewhere where I can be involved and get into a team where we're capable of doing something and I can be part of it and proud of an achievement. That's why the Carling Cup final this year is so important to me. To get to that final and play in it and win it would mean so much after missing out on things like that at Liverpool."

While it is safe to assume Benítez will not be receiving a Christmas card, Warnock has only good things to say about Liverpool and the supporters. He remains indebted to the club for the way they helped him recover from the trauma of breaking his leg three times as a teenager, and he will never forget the ovation he received in April when he placed a floral tribute in front of the Kop on behalf of Blackburn to mark the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy.

"That was a massive honour to do that," he said. "I felt really privileged to be asked and the reception I got was absolutely fantastic. I was a bag of nerves walking down there. It was tough to do. I grew up with one of the lads at Liverpool who was a goalkeeper whose dad died at Hillsborough so I just kept on thinking about him as I was walking down and that choked me up."

Little did Warnock know at the time that it would also turn out to be one of his last games for Blackburn. He had no desire to leave Ewood Park but the opportunity to join Villa was too good to turn down at a critical juncture in his career. "I thought this is what I want, to challenge myself and to be at a club fighting to get into the top four which I know the club are capable of doing," said Warnock, who celebrates his 28th birthday today.

That Capello is a regular visitor to Villa Park to run the rule over the six England internationals in O'Neill's squad is an added bonus. Warnock knows, however, that he faces a "tough fight" to supplant Bridge as Ashley Cole's understudy in time for South Africa and he has no intention of dwelling on what may or may not happen. "It would mean everything to go to the World Cup but I'm not going to get carried away and start thinking about it."

Having played eight minutes as a substitute when he won his first and only senior cap, against Trinidad & Tobago 18 months ago, Warnock shares the dubious honour of having the shortest England career, although, with some justification, he sees no reason to regard it as a record to be embarrassed about. "Obviously I want to play for longer," he said. "I want to win loads of caps but at least I can always say that I played for my country."

If the Villa fans get their way there will be plenty more opportunities in the years to come. "It's nice to hear those things," said Warnock. "But I never worry about what people say. As long as you are putting it in, you should get a little bit of respect. I know I'm probably not, technically, the most gifted player in the world but I try to give my all every game. And if people are happy with what they're seeing then that's great."

Torres up for FIFA goal of the year award

2009-12-08T11:27:00.000+08:00

Our Spanish sensation may not have won a trophy since arriving at Anfield in 2007, but he has won plenty of individual awards and plaudits.

Fernando Torres‘ goal against Blackburn back in April is in the running for FIFA’s Goal of the Year Award alongside 9 others, including Ronaldo, Abebayor, Iniesta and Essien.

Torres’ van-Basten-like volley, which he later dedicated to the families of the 96 with the match being on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, won the Premier League goal of the season.

You can help El Nino collect another personal accolade by voting using the link below;

Click here to watch the contenders and vote Torres.

November 2009: The Anfield Review

2009-12-01T13:46:00.000+08:00

by Billy Green | Monday, November 30th, 2009

Kuyt's goal to seal the derby rounds off the month

After the month of October being one to forget, the month of November had to get off to a blinder. And what better way than a difficult game in France against Lyon to get our Champions League campaign up and running for good.

The squad that travelled to France was missing Gerrard, Johnson, Skrtel and Aurelio as well as unfit Torres, Agger and Aquilani. Though even with all these sort of problems we still gave the home side the run around. There were golden chances for Torres, Voronin, Kuyt and Lucas but to no avail.

Then a magic moment from Ryan Babel, who I’ve been heavily critical of late, gave us the lead. A 30-yard rocket into the top corner put qualification back into our own hands. Though we did see the Ryan Babel we’ve come accustomed to minutes later with a free kick that he ended up smashing out for a throw in, by the corner flag as well as a simple chance, which he scuffed out for a goal kick.

It didn’t look as if Babel’s, or any of the other, missed chances would cost us as we entered injury time with a 1-0 lead but then a complete mess up from the two centre halves allowed Lyon in and they duly took their chance to put us almost certainly out of Europe’s premier competition.

With the Carling Cup gone, Champions League pretty much gone, is it still possible we can win the League? Well if we are to do so, we’re going to need three points when Birmingham come to visit.

We certainly deserved the three points but in football you don’t always get what you deserve, just ask Alex McLeish. He felt his Birmingham side had done enough to take the three points themselves but a more than generous penalty was given to the Reds after David Ngog was ‘fouled’.

Ngog’s earlier strike gave us the lead before Birmingham’s front two of Benitez and Jerome gave advantage to the visitors before the break. But the debateable penalty, slotted away by Gerrard, gave us a point. Not that a point is good enough at this moment in time as we now sit eleven points behind the leaders Chelsea.

With the international break we’ll be looking for our overgrown injury list to shorten in time for our game against Man City. A game in which we now have to win, not only to keep the slimmest hope of landing the title alive but to keep in touch with the top four.

Another two points dropped against City and another day of not enough players performing. Skrtel scored his first goal for the club to open the scoring but then switched off entirely and Hughes’ side equalised. We were then tore open and were looking down the barrel of our sixth defeat for the season.

But a bit of magic of by David Ngog managed to fire in a cross that fell to Yossi Benayoun to knock home just seconds after Ireland had scored for the visitors.

Injuries in the first half to Agger and Babel wrecked our game plan but that’s no excuse for the performance we put in. Simply not good enough and as we still search for our first win of November we prepare ourselves for a must win in Europe. Optimism of the highest level is needed.

Despite picking up our first win of the month, we were still left with a bittersweet feeling after defeating Debrecen. Although we did our job and got the win we needed, Lyon failed to stop Fiorentina taking all three point therefore knocking us out of the Champions League.

We all know we didn’t deserve to qualify and the game in Hungary was further proof of it. We may have won but we were disappointing and after taking the lead so early through David Ngog we didn’t capitalise on it. We didn’t ever look like getting the second and even came close to drawing the game towards the end.

We’re going into the Merseyside derby with all the wrong form and the same applies to Everton. The derby is usually a scrappy affair but with both sides in the kind of form they are, this one could be even less pleasing on the eye. As long as we get all three points though I won’t mind.

After coming away from Goodison Park with all three points I certainly don’t mind the fact that we weren’t the better side. Another shaky performance from the Reds doesn’t dampen the spirits of the millions of Kopites around the world because of the 2-0 win.

A Joseph Yobo own goal and a Dirk Kuyt tap in ensured the points were coming to the Red half of Merseyside. Everton huffed and puffed but couldn’t score past Pepe Reina.

A month that started slowly, ended on a high. With back-to-back wins we can go in to December with some confidence. Hopefully we can build on these recent wins and push on in our pursuit of a top four finish.

The other news we got during the month was our FA Cup third round tie which will be away to Championship side Reading.

High points

I don’t think there’s been too many individual stand outs this month, so I suppose the only high point was that win over Everton. It has given us our first back-to-back wins and clean sheets for some time.

I have to give a lot of credit to Pepe Reina though who, for like most of the season, has been our best player this month.

Low points

Going out of the Champions League was the obvious low point of November. For a side with our recent history in the competition, it was such a culture shock to see us fail to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Our defending has also been somewhat of a concern for most of the season, maybe more so this month. Our inability to defend properly for 90 minutes against Lyon cost us all three points, the same applies for Birmingham and Man City. As well as golden chances for Debrecen and Everton only for Pepe Reina to come to our rescue in both matches.

The disappointing players this month, well there’s been too many to list. We really haven’t seen our players play anywhere near their ability this month but with confidence flowing back into them we should see some better performances in December. Fixtures for December

5/12/09 – Blackburn at Ewood Park (Premiership) 9/12/09 – Fiorentina at Anfield (Champions League) 13/12/09 – Arsenall at Anfield (Premiership) 16/12/09 – Wigan at Anfield (Premiership) 19/12/09 – Portsmouth at Fratton Park (Premiership) 26/12/09 – Wolves at Anfield (Premiership) 29/12/09 – Aston Villa at Villa Park (Premiership)

Liverpool youngster considering move away

2009-12-01T13:43:00.000+08:00

Liverpool youngster Krisztian Nemeth admitted he is considering make his loan move to AEK Athens permanent.

The Liverpool forward is on a season long loan at the Greek side and wants to make a permanent move to the club.

“The fans keep telling me that AEK is a great club,” he said.

“They’re really impressive and certainly more enthusiastic than Liverpool’s. What I experienced at the derby with Olympiakos (in which Nemeth scored) was something that I’ve never felt before.

“I really wondered what the fans would be able to do if we performed better in the league. I think that if Liverpool and AEK work something out, I’d be extremely thoughtful about staying in Athens permanently.”

Liverpool box clever following European checkmate

2009-12-01T13:41:00.000+08:00

Liverpool have no intention of ditching Rafa Benitez despite their Champions League elimination. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

It comes to something when Andy Gray is the voice of sweet reason. But that was his role in Sky's post-match analysis/blood lust after Liverpool's pyrrhic victory in Budapest. As the curtain fell on the Reds' Champions League season, presenter Richard Keys clearly sensed vultures shuffling into their dinner jackets, giving their shoes a last-minute shine, ready to feast on the twitching corpse of Rafa Benítez, and was not about to be diverted from this scenario.

Geoff Shreeves, Sky's man below stairs with the hand-held microphone, was dispatched to witness the ravaging but sadly for Shreeves no one seemed inclined to tuck in, least of all Liverpool's suave managing director Christian Purslow.

Purslow strikes one as the sort of chap for whom the word "urbane" was invented, someone who would know exactly how to send back a bottle of Chablis Premier Cru if it were not up to snuff. I imagine if several close family members were to be wiped out by a meteor falling to earth, you might catch him with his tie slightly askew but elimination from the Champions League appeared to leave him neither shaken nor much stirred.

"What are the financial ramifications?" Shreeves asked him. "Limited actually, Geoff," was the unruffled response. "If we play two or three games in the Europa League, it should be financially neutral," which seemed to contradict the conventional wisdom but did not stop Shreeves from cutting to the chase: "In terms of the manager's position, though, would it have been a minimum requirement that you reach the knockout stages?" "We don't run our business in that respect," said Purslow patiently. "We don't make managerial and strategic decisions around results in the short run. You can never predict last-minute goals. Two goals have cost us dear in the Champions League and that's no basis on which to make managerial decisions."

"So going out of the Champions League at this stage, would that not induce the owners to review the manager's position at the moment?" countered Sky's rottweiler, with his teeth firmly clamped on the manager's position. "Absolutely not," said Purslow, leaving Shreeves with no option but – with apologies to Quentin Tarrantino – to get hypothetical on his ass: "What about this season, though, if Rafa Benítez was unable to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season?"

"Rafa has just signed a new five-year contract, we're about four months into it. He has signed up and we are very happy he has done so."

Keys somehow found equivocation in this and the return to the studio found him with furrowed brow. "Does that leave us with some doubt whether he will be there in six months' time or not?" he asked his pundits. "What's he saying?" "I think he is saying he will be there in six months' time," deconstructed Gray. "That's the impression I got from the interview."

Purslow's interview made for an interesting contrast with the press conference from Portsmouth announcing Avram Grant's assumption of managerial duties, broadcast live on Sky Sports News. The chief executive Peter Storrie, acknowledging Paul Hart's achievements in difficult circumstances, said: "Unfortunately, this is a results industry," which is something he might want to discuss with his counterpart on Merseyside.

It was a relief to turn to the less opaque business of chess boxing. As hybrid sports go, it is a peach. Could they have picked two less compatible disciplines to combine? For a start, how are you expected to pick up the chess pieces wearing boxing gloves? And what if you are concentrating on the chess game and someone wallops you in the middle of your Benko's Opening?

Fortunately, these and other questions were answered in a typically thorough Transworld Sport feature. The sport is the invention of a Serbian cartoonist Enki Bilal, who used it as a plot device in his graphic novel, The Cold Equator. A Dutch fan of the book, Iepe Rubingh, started organising real matches and now there are 150 professional competitors.

A match comprises alternating rounds of boxing and 12-minute chess sessions, with a short pause between rounds for the guys to take off their gloves, spit in a bucket and possibly receive confusing advice like, "He's leaving his bishop exposed, keep jabbing away." As far as I know it is the only sport you can win by knockout or checkmate.

In the tournament from Berlin shown on the programme, Nikolai Sazhin, a 19-year-old Siberian neo-physicist beat German Frank Stoldt, an experienced riot cop, described as the "godfather of chess boxing".

"It is extremely challenging," says Sazhin. "The chess part is even harder than real chess. You come out of the ring, your heart's racing, you are still breathing heavily and suddenly you have to calm yourself down," which I guess is how Rafa feels when he walks off after a match and finds Shreeves in the tunnel.

Liverpool FC boss Rafa Benitez explains reluctance to play Alberto Aquilani

2009-11-28T18:16:00.001+08:00

Alberto Aquilani

HAVE you heard the one about the £20m footballer who never starts for his team and has played only 22 minutes in three months?

Such is the curious case of the lesser-spotted Liverpool FC midfielder Alberto Aquilani.

Despite arriving with high praise from the likes of former Roma team-mates Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi and having earned 11 full caps with Italy, few Liverpool supporters could claim a real intimate knowledge of the 25-year-old when he was brought to Anfield by Rafael Benitez in August.

Not much has changed since, with Aquilani spending almost the first three months of his career in England recovering from a summer ankle operation.

Yet in the month following his 14-minute debut from the bench in the Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal on October 28, the Italian has been afforded just a seven-minute run-out in the 2-2 draw with Birmingham City and then a solitary minute against Debrecen in midweek.

Aquilani can expect to be on the bench again tomorrow with Benitez unprepared to hand out a full debut in what promises to be a frantic 212th Merseyside derby.

And the Liverpool manager accepts his team’s indifferent form has given him a quandary over how best to ease Aquilani into English football.

“The player is fit,” says Benitez. “He is training. Match fitness is something you can improve by playing games, so why have I not been playing him?

“Because the games are so close that if you put a player on the pitch who is not physically ready maybe he cannot settle down in time.

“If it is 1-0 like it was the other day and they are attacking a bit more and you changed Lucas, Gerrard or Mascherano to play him, maybe you are making a mistake because you will lose the control.

“If we were winning 3-0 in the first half of every game he would be playing because it would be easier for him to settle down.

“If we were losing we could play him because maybe he can change the game with his quality. Someone who has played football will understand this situation.

“It’s not easy because when you sign a player with quality you want to play him but you have to make sure it is the right moment for him and the team.”

Benitez admits the three-month wait for Aquilani to become available to play was at least twice that initially expected.

But he adds: “I’d still have signed him if I’d known that. We were bringing in a player with quality for five years. If he had been fully fit maybe he could have cost £25-30m.

“We were thinking of playing him for the reserves the other day against Wigan but the game was postponed so we organised a training game yesterday trying to give him more match fitness.

“We are trying to get him ready but it is a question of having to decide every game because it is not easy.

“The derby game is a physical one and everyone knows that when you are not fully fit they can be difficult to manage so you have to think about what’s best for the player and the best for the team.

“I was talking with Alberto and he understands. He is clever and he knows that he hasn’t played for months so he has to be ready and fully fit if he is to be able to play at the level that he can play in England. He knows that it is a matter of time.”

When Aquilani finally makes his full debut, Benitez is confident the Italian will have been worth the wait.

“He has quality, he is very clever, his touch is very good, he has mobility, he is dynamic and the final pass is very good,” says the manager. “We were looking for someone with these qualities.

“He was playing in a 4-2-3-1 as a second striker for Roma sometimes, on other times he played as a central midfielder, so he can play with any combination of Lucas, Mascherano and Gerrard.

“He is a different kind of player to the ones that we have now because he can pass and move, pass and move, support and he can give the final pass.”

Aquilani has been among many squad members to have suffered injury problems this season.

Steven Gerrard stepped up his quest for full fitness with another 89 minutes against Debrecen in midweek following a full shift in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City last weekend.

And Benitez warned Everton that the skipper is gradually getting back to his best, saying: “I think that the first week Gerrard was trying to do his best, but he was not physically at his level.

“Then for the last game I was really worried because he was working hard before and he was not physically well. The pitch was also very soft against Debrecen, but he did well.

“I’m sure that after these four days before we play Everton that he will be even better. He has no problems and he will get better every week.”

Gerrard was one of several players to sound their defiance in the wake of Liverpool’s Champions League elimination on Tuesday, with Benitez buoyed by the reaction of his players.

“After the game – that we won, don’t forget that – everyone was disappointed but we knew 15 days before that this could happen,” says the Spaniard. “I was talking with some players the day after and the reaction was very good, very positive.

“Against Everton we have an opportunity in an important game. A derby is a derby so the passions will be there and it will be easier for me to motivate the players.

“But I must stress that after a bad start to the season we are five points off third place so in one or two games we could be there again.”

Everton v Liverpool: match preview

2009-11-27T14:17:00.000+08:00

By John Ley Published: 6:00AM GMT 27 Nov 2009

Everton manager David Moyes Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Sunday, 29 November

Everton v Liverpool Goodison Park Kick-off: 13:30 GMT TV: Live Sky & Highlights, BBC Two MotD2.

Tale of the game

Liverpool have a good record at Goodison Park in recent years, winning seven of their last nine visits, including last season when the 2-0 win gave by virtue of a brace from Fernando Torres. Red cards are prevalent too, with three shown, all to Everton players, in the last two meetings at Goodison.

Liverpool test Torres but Riera is still missing. Philipp Degen will be available after suspension. Everton, meanwhile, are still seriously troubled by injuries with James Vaughan, Victor Anichebe, Phil Neville, Phil Jagielka and Mikel Arteta out. But Marouane Fellaini and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, missing from Wednesday's 3-2 loss at Hull through suspension, are available.

Everton (Probable, 4-4-1-1): Howard; Neill, Yobo, Distin, Baines; Cahill, Rodwell, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinovic; Fellaini; Jo. Liverpool (Probable, 4-2-3-1): Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Insua; Lucas, Mascherano; Kuyt, Gerrard, Babel; Ngog. Referee: Alan Wiley. Matches: 12. R3 Y34.

Last season: Everton 0 Liverpool 2, Liverpool 1 Everton 1.

Stat of the game: Liverpool have 20 points; after 13 games last season they had 32.

Betting tip: 12-1 is offered for a 2-2 draw.

What happens now for Liverpool?

2009-11-27T14:15:00.000+08:00

By Mike Norrish Published: 2:13PM GMT 26 Nov 2009

Turning point: Liverpool have failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time Photo: REUTERS

Jamie Carragher has talked up the Europa League, Rafa Benítez is only interested in Sunday's derby, and Christian Purslow, their chief executive, insists the club won't lose out financially, provided they have a decent Europa League run.

So is this really the cataclysm many are proclaiming? Here's a look at five scenarios – likely and unlikely – that could now unfold.

1) Rafa Benítez is sacked Liverpool have had an appalling six months. Their squad was weakened over the summer, and results this season have reflected that. With a third of the games gone, they are only a point above Stoke. Benítez bears the ultimate responsibility for this. Until results turn around, he only has two real defences – blame the owners or blame the injuries. But the injury situation has been overplayed. Fernando Torres has played 13 games this season, just two fewer than Didier Drogba. Steven Gerrard has played 15, just one fewer than Rooney. And the board? No manager has an owner he's fully happy with. So if Benítez can't achieve success under the Americans, then the Americans need to find someone who can. Likelihood 2/10

2) Liverpool win the Premier League Liverpool trail Chelsea by 13 points. But beat them at Anfield and that's already down to 10, there are still 75 points to play for this season. Liverpool proved against Manchester United that they can still beat the best, and their removal from the Champions League has now forced Benítez – for the first time – to focus all his attentions solely on the Premier League. With their three title rivals likely to be involved in the Champions League right up until April, Liverpool will have a significant advantage in the final furlong. Likelihood 1/10

3) Fernando Torres leaves If Liverpool finish the season outside the Champions League they'll be forced to take drastic financial measures. Ask Leeds fans. Selling Torres to Manchester City for £100 million (with Craig Bellamy coming the other way) would not only alleviate their financial problems, it would also allow for the team to be rebuilt around players less injury prone. Likelihood 5/10

4) The club is sold Roman Abramovich has many faults, but at least everyone at Chelsea knows who's in charge. Does anyone really know where the power lies at Liverpool? How can they, when the two owners are barely on speaking terms. More than anything, a change of ownership is what is needed to give Liverpool some real forward momentum. Clubs can succeed with chaotic scenes in the boardroom, but only in the short term. To ensure extended success – in any business – you the kind of stability for which Liverpool were famous in the 1970s and 1980s. Likelihood 4/10

5) Liverpool finish fourth and win the FA Cup. Despite their wretched record this season, Liverpool haven't been left behind. They are only five points off fourth place, and still possess a better squad than any of their rivals for that position. Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham are all capable of big performances but will pay the price for their lack of consistency come spring. An FA Cup win at Wembley and Champions League qualification will give Liverpool fans plenty to smile about next summer, and will keep Benítez in a job. Likelihood 8/10

On the Mersey-slide

2009-11-27T14:11:00.000+08:00

This is one of the biggest derby matches in world football... and yet this week it's not the game that people are interested in.

Unless you're a Liverpool fan or an Everton fan, this isn't the match you're looking forward to on Sunday. Everybody else is talking about Arsenal v Chelsea because that's a game between two teams that can win the league.

Benitez & Moyes: troubled times

It doesn't matter if you support Halifax, Crewe, Carlisle... everyone's eyes will be on the Emirates Stadium at 4pm, but this game is meaningless if you don't live on Merseyside. People are probably more interested in Barcelona v Real Madrid than this - and that's a real shame.

It's unbelievable what has happened to Liverpool and Everton so far this season. We like messing about with Thommo and having a few laughs at his expense on Soccer Saturday, but it's getting sad now.

It's unbelievable what has happened to Liverpool and Everton so far this season. We like messing about with Thommo and having a few laughs at his expense on Soccer Saturday, but it's getting sad now.

When I was a kid Liverpool were the best of the best and they've always been a massive club, but they're drifting away this season. When Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard don't play they simply don't look like winning football matches.

They've lost five Premier League games so far this season and they're out of the Champions League. That's not a blip, they're just not good enough.

Chelsea made six changes in the Champions League on Wednesday and looked like world beaters; the team was phenomenal. Liverpool just don't have the squad to do that.

The pressure is now even greater on them now than it usually is. Usually they've got the Champions League to fall back on if they underperform between December and February - but that ain't the case this season.

If they lose to Everton, I'm struggling to see them finish in the top four. That would be six defeats and nobody has lost more than six games and finished in the top four in the last two seasons.

Different

Everton have got injuries too but it's different with them. Liverpool are still reliant on Gerrard and Torres, but Everton haven't got as much money to spend.

When three of their best five players - Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville and Mikel Arteta - are out then of course they are going to struggle. We've seen Manchester United struggle when Wayne Rooney is out, we've seen Arsenal lose when Robin van Persie is out... so what hope have Everton got when three of their best players are missing?

I feel for David Moyes because apart from the Big Four, any team would struggle with that sort of injury list. If those players were fit they'd easily finish in the top half, but when you get on a bad run you can easily get caught up in the scrap.

I don't see Everton going down, there's no chance of that happening, but I can't see them getting into Europe from this position. Tottenham, Aston Villa and Man City are all moving forward and with these injury problems, Everton haven't been able to do the same.

A win on Sunday would be huge for both teams. It would soften the blow for Liverpool and it would make a massive difference to Everton's season.

Unfortunately I think this is one of those games where neither can afford to lose.

Javier Mascherano wants Liverpool to prove critics wrong

2009-11-26T18:54:00.000+08:00

Defiant: Javier Mascherano insists Liverpool can salvage something from their season Photo: PA

Liverpool have failed to reach the knockout stages for the first time since Rafa Benitez's arrival in 2004, and Mascherano said: "It's a strange feeling for everyone at the club. We are all so very disappointed.

"The Champions League is a special competition for us but it's gone and we must keep going. Now we are in another competition and we will do all we can to win it.

"There will be no problem with motivation. The motivation is simply to play for Liverpool. We are representing a top side and we all want to do well for Liverpool.

"We need to show that we are good players. It's got nothing to do with motivation, every year we do our best to qualify for the Champions League

Liverpool cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves with a crucial game against Everton on Sunday.

"We know that in the league we have got to start winning again because we are not in the top four," added Mascherano.

"That is strange for everyone at the club and all the supporters. In the last four years, we have always been in the top four, sometimes fighting for the title but always fighting to get into the Champions League.

"We need to start winning games and we know that we have got a very important game against Everton. We need to win it. We beat Debrecen to get a bit of confidence and now we have to take that forward."

Ruud van Nistelrooy on Liverpool FC radar as Rafa Benitez plans clear-out

2009-11-26T18:53:00.000+08:00

Ryan Babel in action against Thailand in a pre-season friendly

ANDRIY VORONIN and Ryan Babel are set become the first casualties of Liverpool’s Champions League elimination.

The pair are likely to be the most notable names to be told their futures lie away from the club as Rafael Benitez ponders a mini-clearout in January.

The Anfield manager is hoping to raise funds to bolster his underperforming squad as he plans his long-term transfer strategy.

And Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy is believed to be keen on making a controversial move to Liverpool in the New Year.

Voronin has not been involved in the matchday squad since starting the 1-1 Champions League draw in Lyon three weeks ago.

The Ukraine international missed a gilt-edged chance during the match, with Liverpool’s failure to win contributing to their exit from the competition that was confirmed on Wednesday by Fiorentina’s 1-0 win over Lyon.

Voronin has proven unpopular with large sections of the Anfield support since

his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen on a free transfer more than two years ago, and spent last season on loan at Hertha Berlin.

Eintracht Frankfurt have confirmed an interest in taking the 30-year-old back to the Bundesliga in the forthcoming January transfer window but a lack of finance means any move may only be temporary.

Babel’s Anfield career is seemingly also in doubt after his latest outburst in which he reiterated a desire to leave in the New Year if he does not play more regularly.

The 22-year-old also questioned some of the managerial methods of Benitez, which is unlikely to improve his chances of the first-team football he craves.

But while Voronin and Babel edge nearer the Anfield exit, sources in Spain have suggested van Nistelrooy would jump at the chance of a move to Liverpool.

The former Manchester United striker has intimated to his advisors that he wishes to make the transfer to provide backup to the injury-hampered Fernando Torres.

The Dutch international has found himself on the fringes at the Bernabeu this season following the arrivals of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Kaka in the summer.

Van Nistelrooy has also fallen behind Gonzalo Higuain and Raul in Real coach Manuel Pellegrini’s plans.

Like Babel, van Nistelrooy is hopeful of retaining his place in Holland’s squad for next summer’s World Cup but is mindful of Dutch national team coach Bert van Marwijk’s comments he will only take players who are appearing regularly for their clubs.

Real, however, are not thought to be keen to part with van Nistelrooy.

Meanwhile, Pepe Reina has revealed Liverpool have already started training their thoughts on Europa League glory.

“Of course we’re disappointed because this is a big competition that we’ve done well in for the last three or four years,” said Reina. “Now we’re out, though. It’s a tough competition and it’s not always possible to get out of the group stage.

“The Europa League is another competition for us and we want to win it. It also has strong teams and it will be nice to play in it.

“It’s already become a target. It’ll be tough because there are so many good teams involved, but we have to look forward and keep trying to win.”

Liverpool FC boss Rafa Benitez still believes in zonal marking

2009-11-24T12:50:00.000+08:00

Rafael Benitez

RAFAEL BENITEZ maintains his players still believe in zonal marking despite Liverpool’s continued failure to defend set-pieces costing them the chance of a morale-boosting victory at the weekend.

The Anfield outfit required a goal from substitute Yossi Benayoun to salvage a 2-2 home draw with fellow top-four aspirants Manchester City on Saturday.

After Martin Skrtel prodded Liverpool into the lead shortly after the interval, poor defending allowed Emmanuel Adebayor and then Stephen Ireland to put the visitors ahead.

Adebayor’s goal was a free header from a Craig Bellamy corner, the 12th goal Benitez’s side have conceded from a dead-ball situation this season.

It has led to criticism of Liverpool’s continued use of zonal marking, but while admitting there must be an improvement the Anfield manager has no plans to change his approach.

“When you’re using a zonal marking system you have to attack the ball and if there’s a player near you, you have to challenge,” said Benitez.

“We watched some set-pieces beforehand, and Richard Dunne scored against them when they were using man-to-man. In England, 35% of the goals come from set-pieces.

“But it is clear you have to attack the space or the player, it doesn’t mean you have to stand like a post.

“I think the majority of players believe in it, maybe you can find one or two who don’t. But we were one of the best – THE best – before.

“This year has been bad but it is still early in the season. We will see how things are at the end.

“We were improving at set-pieces, but it’s something we have to keep looking at.”

Liverpool have now won just one of their last 10 games and conceded 27 goals in 19 games in all competitions this season, and stand five points off the Champions League qualification places.

Their defence, disrupted by a calf injury to Glen Johnson before kick-off, was further affected by Daniel Agger being forced off after 11 minutes following a sickening clash of heads with Kolo Toure.

“We have had too many problems with defenders from the first game of the season,” said Benitez. “Like on Saturday, in the morning we thought ‘this is the team’, but then Glen Johnson couldn’t play.

“The understanding between the defenders is vital but it is a question of time.

“We had a shocking day with injuries. Glen was not happy with his calf and he had been limping a bit in training. Then we lose Agger.”

Liverpool squad arrive in Budapest

2009-11-24T12:48:00.000+08:00

Liverpool have arrived in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Debrecen.

Rafa Benitez has taken an 18 man squad, with most notable absentees being Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel, who are struggling with injuries.

The squad that did travel is: Pepe Reina, Diego Cavalieri, Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Emiliano Insua, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel, Andrea Dossena, Alberto Aquilani, Steven Gerrard, Yossi Benayoun, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Leiva, Jay Spearing, Dirk Kuyt, David Ngog.

The Reds must beat Debrecen and hope that Fiorentina slip up against Lyon in Florence.

But Benitez has urged his players to forget about what is happening in Fiorentina’s game and concentrate on the job in hand – getting three points against Debrecen.

He said on the Reds’ departure from John Lennon Airport, “The message has to be to just concentrate on our game. We will know, maybe we’ll have some information, but we have to focus on our job.

“A lot depends on Fiorentina and Lyon, but the main thing for us is to concentrate on our game and see what happens.

“We have to prepare our game because we don’t have any influence over the other one. If we can do our job and win, we’ll see.

“I think we can do it. We have some players coming back from injury, so hopefully with a bit of luck we can progress.

“It’s football, so you never know. We’ll see if we can keep going in the Champions League.”

Debrecen vs Liverpool gets underway at 7.45pm tomorrow night.

Should we trim the squad in January?

2009-11-24T12:42:00.000+08:00

by Billy Green | Monday, November 23rd, 2009

With our financial situation being in the state it is, I’d say it’s pretty certain we won’t be given any money during the January window. So if we need to strengthen, which in all honesty we do, we’re going to have to sell to raise the money.

Although we may have to lose six or seven players in order to fund one major transfer it may be that one player we need. There are plenty of players at the club who could easily be moved on and I don’t suspect too many Liverpool fans would lose sleep over their transfers.

There’s also a pool of youngsters waiting in the wings with a lot of talent, hunger and desire. With that talent at Benitez’ disposal losing a few from the first team shouldn’t be as much of a problem.

In goal we’ve got Reina as number one choice and Cavalieri to come in. Neither should be sold in January although we do have a handful of young keepers in the reserves should a good offer for Cavalieri come in.

Along the back four there’s a few who could be moved on quite easily. With youngsters like Darby and Kelly impressing on a regular basis in the reserves, as well as the few first team outings they’ve had, Degen could easily be shipped out. And if I’m being honest, he’s hardly been solid when he has played. I’m sure some club on the continent would be prepared to give us two maybe three million for his services.

It’s slightly more difficult for the heart of the defence because experience is invaluable for that position. Though with the players we have coming through the ranks in Kelly, Ayala, Mavinga and San Jose, we could possibly afford to lose one of the first team centre halves. It then begs the question of which one. Firstly we can rule out Carragher going anywhere, so one of the other three. Skrtel has had a nightmare start to the season, Agger seems to get injured far too often and Kyrgiakos looks lost at times. Out of the three I think Agger would be the most likely to be sold, and could probably fetch the highest fee. A possible transfer that I wouldn’t like to happen.

Left back is one position which almost every Liverpool fan would like to see a transfer go through on. Andrea Dossena must be sold at some point during 2010 and the quicker the better as far as I’m concerned. In Aurelio and Insua we have two very tidy left backs along with the emergence of the highly rated Chris Buchtmann should we get short. I doubt we’d get anywhere near the eight million we spent on Dossena but anything back would be good enough for me. Just to see him gone would be enough.

In midfield we have a lot of players without the top quality we need, especially out on the flanks. On the right we have Kuyt, Benayoun, El Zhar and Gerrard if injuries hit the other three as well as Johnson who I’m sure could play higher up the pitch. Out of those options I see no reason as to why El Zhar can’t be sold, especially since Amoo looks a better prospect. Unfortunately for El Zhar, he’s never going to be a regular at Anfield and he is one of the few youngsters who could bring in a decent transfer fee.

As for the middle of the park there’s too many players for just two positions. Mascherano, Lucas, Aquilani, Spearing, Plessis and also the possible move of dropping Gerrard back. Six players for two positions, though only four are potential sales as Gerrard will be going nowhere and Aquilani won’t be sold as we’ve only just bought him.

First to go has to be Plessis because, like El Zhar, he will never be a regular here so we might as well as lose him. As he’s just signed a new contract we can demand a higher price for him. Out of the other three, the most likely seems to be Mascherano to Barcelona. Whether that goes through or not in January is yet to be seen. But it would bring in a huge amount of money, which we clearly need even if it’s only to clear some of the debt our owners have given the club.

Left wing is our weakest area and any money we raise and allowed to spend, should go on a left winger. I’d be rather happy to see the back of Riera and Babel, who between them could bring in around ten million or more. Although it’s not ideal to lose two left wingers we still have Benayoun out there along with Aurelio as back up and hopefully a new signing.

Up top there’s one name who most of would be happy to see gone. He’s blonde, has over sixty international caps to his name and arrived in the summer of 2007. No, not Fernando Torres but his fellow forward Andriy Voronin. With Torres as the number one forward, Ngog showing signs of becoming a top class forward himself and the exciting potential of Eccleston and Pacheco as well as Nemeth to return from loan and Kuyt who can play up front, there’s no reason for Voronin to be here. Another chance for us to trim the squad, get another off the wage bill and bring in some more cash for a new player or to repay some of the debt depending on what the club sees as a more important task.

So should we trim the squad down a bit during January? In all honesty I say yes. Degen, Dossena, El Zhar, Plessis, Riera, Babel, Voronin can all be moved on and I doubt we’d miss their input along with a couple of the youngsters who’ll never make the grade here such as Martin, Threlfall, Brouwer and Bruna to name a few. Then there’s always the odd big money sale, unfortunately it looks as if it’s going to be Mascherano to Barcelona.

It is a disgrace for a club of our size to have to sell before we can buy but that’s the situation we’re in. So if we want that top quality player, we’re going to have to sell a number of players. This time though rather than just replace them like for like, we should be putting trust into our talented youth and buying the one player we need most.

We would still have a squad brimming with full internationals and top quality players, coupled with exciting, young prospects. The only difference would be we’d be a few players lighter, mostly players who are only squad players at best because they are not exciting prospects or because they are not the standard of quality we need.

Liverpool 2-2 Man City

2009-11-22T15:09:00.002+08:00

Liverpool were held to a 2-2 home draw for the second consecutive game. Last time out it was Birmingham, this time it was top-four contenders Man City.

Match Report

Rafa Benitez was again without Fernando Torres and full back Glen Johnson failed a pre-match fitness test meaning Jamie Carragher, returning from suspension, was switched to right back with Skrtel joining Agger in the centre. Insua continued at left back, Lucas and Mascherano were the waterboys in the middle, with Gerrard behind Ngog and Babel and Kuyt out wide. Riera and Benayoun made the bench, along with Alberto Aquilani, after suffering hamstring injuries in the Birmingham draw.

After just 5 minutes Liverpool suffered their first blow as Agger suffered a nasty head injury and had to be replaced by Kyrgiakos. Ten minutes later it was Babel who was forced off after a collision between him, Gerrard and City defender Zabaleta. Yossi Benayoun came on, having only trained once in the last 2 weeks.

A dull first half ended goalless with Liverpool failing to build up any momentum following the injuries. Liverpool’s best effort arrived early on with Skrtel having a header well-saved by Shay Given.

The second half started better and Ngog won a free-kick which was whipped in by Gerrard and Skrtel got ahead of Adebayor to poke in with his toe from 6 yards to score his first goal for the club. 1-0.

City though hit back and enjoyed long spells of possession, they got their equaliser in the fashion most sides have against Liverpool this season – from a corner. Adebayor was left in, literally, acres of space and headed down and into the corner for one of the softest goals you’ll see. Absolutely woeful. Why do we not have a man on the back post? 1-1.

The visitors then took the lead as Wright-Phillips turned and played in Stephen Ireland, who was offside – not that that matters thesedays with our luck – to slot past Reina. 1-2.

Within 70 seconds though Liverpool had equalised, Benayoun on the spot to turn in Ngog’s deflected cross. It was a good job we caught them when we did because I sincerely doubt we’d have broken them down otherwise. 2-2.

With Benayoun clearly tiring, Aurelio came on for the last few minutes.

Liverpool were denied a penalty in the final minute with Bellamy tripping Kuyt inside the box. Not a lot was made of it but had it been anywhere else on the pitch a free kick would have been given. That’s our luck though.

Again no Aquilani, can’t be helped we didn’t see him after the two injuries so early on but the fact he didn’t start shows a lack of attacking initiative. If we’re ever going to get back on track we need to break up the Lucas-Mascherano combo. Fair enough Lucas has done little wrong this season but the fact is he does very, very little positive to influence the game. He’s a passenger, a waterboy. Sideways passes don’t win games. I’m not making Lucas a scapegoat, merely the fact is we need creativity in the middle, desperately.

Rafa needs to find some balls and contemplate dropping the likes of Lucas and Kuyt (who has been woeful this season), bring in some creativity. Fair enough we’re extremely limited by our injury problems at the moment but as the Yanks would say “Go big or go home” – we need to be brave and show some balls.

This game was meant to be a battle for who had the best pedigree for finishing in the top four – neither team showed their authority here.

Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger (Kyrgiakos), Insua, Mascherano, Lucas, Kuyt, Gerrard, Babel (Benayoun (Aurelio)), Ngog

Man City: Given, Zabaleta, Toure (Onuoha), Lescott, Bridge, Barry (Tevez), De Jong, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Bellamy, Adebayor

Masch - Reds can recover

2009-10-25T12:09:00.000+08:00

Mascherano: Positive outlook

Javier Mascherano feels Liverpool must follow Argentina's lead as they attempt to emerge from their current slump.

The Reds have suffered four consecutive defeats, their worst run of form for 22 years, and have seen the future of boss Rafa Benitez increasingly called into question.

Things do not get any easier either, with reigning champions Manchester United due at Anfield on Sunday for what promises to be an intriguing North West derby.

Should Liverpool suffer a further setback against their arch rivals, their dreams of taking the Premier League title will be all but extinguished.

Mascherano, though, is confident that Liverpool can bounce back from recent disappointments and has pointed to Argentina's qualification for the 2010 World Cup, in the face of heated criticism, as proof that adversity can be conquered.

"I am relaxed now that Argentina have qualified for the World Cup finals, I can concentrate only on Liverpool," said the midfield general.

"This is not a good situation at the club, and I want to give Liverpool my best.

"I am captain of my country, and we were really under pressure in the final two qualifying games; people said we were out, that was very difficult.

"But we won both those games. We have qualified. Maybe it will be the same for Liverpool now if we start to win, things will start to happen for us."

Capable

Liverpool could be without talismanic skipper Steven Gerrard and fearsome frontman Fernando Torres against United but, regardless of who takes to the field, Mascherano is adamant Benitez's men can prevail.

"If we can beat United then the confidence will be back, it is important to do that," he said.

"We beat them twice last season. We know what we are capable of. Hopefully our form will be like that on Sunday.

"It is a difficult situation, we have lost four in a row. But do not forget that this is a team who last season were doing very well, we must keep going and working.

"The team is not playing well, and a lot of players are not in the best form. That is not good and we are losing confidence, but we have to believe that we can overcome this."

He added: "Even without Steven, or Fernando, we believe we can still win matches. We won a lot of games last season without the pair of them on the pitch together.

"We are trying all the time to give our best. Maybe now we have to show character, personality and hard work.

"It is difficult. Liverpool is not a team that loses a lot of games. Now we have lost six games this season, that is different for us and difficult.

"We cannot let that bother us. We must think only of winning on Sunday. We can still win the league, but we must start winning and stop dropping so many points."

Liverpool v Manchester United: Rafa Benítez fighting off the circling vultures at Anfield

2009-10-25T12:06:00.000+08:00

By Duncan White Published: 11:00PM BST 24 Oct 2009

Showing the way: Jamie Carragher remembers dark days in the past and says now is the time for Liverpool to show character Photo: GETTY IMAGES

The last time Liverpool lost five games in a row, the West was still anxiously monitoring events in Moscow after the recent death of Stalin: 1953 was a bad year for the Reds. If nothing else, Rafael Benítez can console himself knowing that all crises are relative.

Anfield’s latest state of emergency has been brought to a strident pitch by the records that this Liverpool team have been working their way through.

They are the first team to lose four in a row since 1987 and today the arrival of a vengeful Manchester United side promises still greater shame. What cold dread must grip Scousers at the prospect of Gary Neville bearing witness to the making of that history.

Despite the best efforts of Benítez and his players to play it down, this game has taken on an apocalyptic tinge. Thousands of fans, from the Spirit of Shankly protest group, are expected to march on Anfield before the game in protest at the American owners.

Inside the stadium, Benítez’s selection and tactics will be scrutinised by an increasingly sceptical crowd, some of whom jeered the manager in the midweek defeat to Lyon. The vultures are circling.

All of which seems absurd if you rewind back to March. Having just beaten Real Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League, Liverpool went to Old Trafford and humiliated the champions 4-1, with Torres giving the previously impregnable Nemanja Vidic a game that will have him waking up in a cold sweat years after he has retired. It felt like a crucial shift in the balance of power and, sensing his moment, Benítez signed a new five-year contract. Just seven months in and the future is not what it used to be.

Despite some pretty uninspiring transfer business in the summer, there was serious optimism that, having lost just twice in the league last season, Liverpool could end their two-decade wait for the title. Instead, it has been back to the familiar sense of early-season crisis at Anfield.

It’s easy to forget how readily the c-word gets bandied around these parts. As recently as 2003, Gerard Houllier’s side went on their worst run in 49 years, going 11 games without a win. Houllier went on to manage for another season.

The record that Benítez can equal today stems back to the same 1953-54 campaign, when Liverpool finished bottom. It is indeed all relative.

With the exception of their last campaign, Benítez’s Liverpool have made a hash of things before the Christmas decorations have gone up in the High Street.

In Benítez’s first season in charge, 2004-05, Liverpool lost five of their first 11 games, including two in the Champions League. The following season they drew four of their first five league games and then got hammered 4-1 at Anfield by Chelsea.

In 2006-07 they lost four of their first nine league games and when they finally got things right in the league the following season, they contrived to get just one point from three games in the Champions League group stage.

In previous seasons, Liverpool have succeeded in recovering from those poor starts to find success. It is not just the breaking of records that makes this crisis seem more serious, it is that you can’t see them bouncing back from it. In contrast to the other clubs with title ambitions, it only takes one or two injuries to derail this side.

In theory, Benítez’s back-up players are superb. An Ajax-educated second striker with 34 caps for the Dutch national side by the age of 22? An Italian international full-back with nearly 200 Serie A games to his name? A Brazilian central midfielder who made his international debut at just 20?

Bring it on. It’s only when you name those abstract players as Ryan Babel, Andrea Dossena and Lucas Leiva that you are fittingly underwhelmed.

Hopes of salvation are being pinned on Alberto Aquilani, the Italian international midfielder entrusted with being the heir to Xabi Alonso. He could well be on the bench this afternoon.

To meet the absurd level of expectation being thrown at him, he’s going to have to arrive at the game by walking across the Mersey.

Jamie Carragher, troubled by his own poor form, is clinging, with apologies to Nietzsche, to the hope that whatever doesn’t kill this team will make it stronger.

“The reason the players and the manager are at Liverpool football club is because we’ve come through those tough times,” Carragher said.

“Throughout your career you don’t have it rosy all the way through, you’ve got to fight to get to the top. We’re here for a reason and one of the reasons is we’re good at our jobs and because we’ve got the fight and the character. This is the time we’ve got to show it.

“We’re not playing well, but it’s a long season and we’ve still got things to go for. I know we’ll be written off but I remember the treble season: we didn’t start that very well. In 2005 we had a terrible season in the League but everyone remembers it for the Champions League and in 2007 – it sounds like every season we started badly! – we started poorly and ended up in the Champions League final.

‘‘It’s at the end of the season when the judgment’s made. It’s like being down at half-time in a game, you’ve got to keep fighting and that’s what we’ll do.”

Carragher knows as well as anyone the consequences of defeat on Sunday. This is a man who has scored two own goals in a game against United at Anfield. He knows what these games mean.

The prospects are far from encouraging, though. The number of players convalescing bodes ill. Benítez has pointed out that Liverpool beat United at Anfield last season without Torres and Gerrard, but that is not strictly true.

While neither players started they were both on the bench and Gerrard had come on as a substitute when Liverpool got their winner.

Liverpool is often stereotyped as a sentimental city and the club as excessively emotional. What is certainly true is that this club has a keen sense of what is symbolically valuable.

Liverpool need someone to come through for them this afternoon. If neither Fernando Torres nor Steven Gerrard can be patched up, the vultures will alight on the Kop roof in anticipation of the kill.

To pinch a favourite phrase of Rafael Benítez’s, here are some facts.

2009-10-24T18:34:00.000+08:00

By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent Published: 9:00AM BST 24 Oct 2009

Crunch tie: Sunday's game may decide how much more time Rafael Benítez is given at Liverpool Photo: REUTERS

It would cost Liverpool less than £5 million to dismiss their manager but there is no guarantee that either of the men who would jointly top a wish list of successors, Fabio Capello and José Mourinho, would rush to Anfield.

There is also no raging hunger for Benitez’s removal but defeat to Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United on Sunday would quicken the appetite for change – and that’s a fact.

A flying visit to both training grounds on Friday, for audiences with Ferguson at Carrington and Benítez at Melwood, revealed the calm in the champions’ world and the tension scarring Liverpool’s.

If Benítez loses to Ferguson, if United fans throw around beach-balls and taunts about titles, all the attempted improvements behind the scenes will crumble to dust.

Rarely has a game at Anfield been so laden with significance. Despite Benítez’s team patently losing their way on the field, the club have actually gained some direction off it because of two individuals who care deeply about this fallen giant of a footballing institution.

Kenny Dalglish has performed many great services for Liverpool down the years, scoring European Cup winners and managing the team to Doubles, and now enhances his reputation as a local hero by striving to galvanise the assorted factions.

Dalglish’s job lies within the academy but his legend status means access all areas, means everyone listening to his wise counsel. His friend Christian Purslow, the highly likeable and financially-savvy managing director, has joined the Scot in working overtime to unite everyone from dressing-room to boardroom and terrace. The task is far from simple.

The spanners in the works, of course, are George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the co-owners whose continued presence at Anfield is a source of profound embarrassment and frustration for the Kop. Yet the loathed Americans draw some of the fans’ legitimate flak away from Benítez.

Before kick-off, Liverpool loyalists will march in protest at Hicks and Gillett, waving “In Rafa We Trust’’ flags when perhaps they should be asking why he has overspent on so many underwhelming footballers such as Andrei Voronin, Ryan Babel, Andrea Dossena and Lucas.

Squeaks of criticism do slip out but the Kop seems largely behind Benítez. Even the anger that erupted over the manager’s bizarre substitution of Yossi Benayoun during Tuesday’s home defeat to Lyon seems to have dissipated.

“I can guarantee you that over the last two days fans were very supportive,’’ Benítez said. “I was in a big store and four or five fans came up and were all very positive — nobody was asking me about substitutes. 'Just beat United’ was their message. We have better fans than United.’’

As Benítez spoke, his eyes drifted up to an inscription on the wall, a eulogy to the Kop from Johan Cruyff.

“There’s not one club in the world so united with the fans,’’ read the Dutchman’s tribute. “A mass of 40,000 people become the force behind the team.’’ For a footballer who graced the Nou Camp this was praise indeed.

“For [20] years Liverpool have not won the league but the fans are always behind the team, always supporting,’’ Benítez continued.

“I remember Igor Biscan saying that 'if you work hard the fans will be behind you whether you make mistakes or not’. This is the difference between our fans and other clubs’ fans. Against United they will be 100 per cent behind the team, supporting and pushing.’’

So will Dalglish, sitting in the smart seats, intently following every move by Benítez’s men. “Everybody at Liverpool knows Rafa is the right man to get the club through this,’’ Dalglish said.

“No one is panicking. It’s very important that everybody sticks together to get through this. Of course it’s not good for Liverpool to lose four games in a row. The supporters feel it equally as badly as everyone at the club does.

"The players will need to stand up and be counted. For anyone who has any affiliation to Liverpool, then it’s time for them to rally round and channel all their efforts in the one direction.’’

Such words were greatly appreciated by Benítez, who pulled Dalglish to one side at Melwood on Friday to say “thank you’’, realising how such comments will lift his standing among any wavering fans.

“Kenny knows the club and the city, he knows the fans,’’ Benítez said. “When we brought Kenny [back] we knew we were bringing someone with this experience who could help us to stick together.’’

Four hours earlier, and 30 miles away, another Scot could be found calling for patience. Ferguson would rather go beagling with the press pack than leap to Benítez’s defence but he was willing to make a general point about managers under pressure.

“Look, in modern-day football the manager is always going to be the scapegoat, no matter what happens,’’ the United manager said.

“It happens time and time again. You see what has happened to Gareth Southgate [sacked by Middlesbrough]. You scratch your head at that one because he’s a young manager and he’s only had three years in the job. That is the climate we are in. Managers are always going to suffer.’’

Ferguson has never forgotten the calls for his own head in 2005. “You had me written off,’’ he said dismissively of the media. “I was past my sell-by date and should have been puffing on my pipe. I don’t take it personally because it is just the industry we are in. A manager is subjected to that.’’

Benítez remains safe but not because compensation is beyond Liverpool’s admittedly stretched budget. The maths are relatively simple: if sacked, he would be entitled to the remaining four and a half years of his contract at approximately £4.5 million pa, totalling £20.5 million, but this assumes he will not re-find employment before 2014.

If Benítez joined Real Madrid, a possibility next summer, and was paid £4 million a year, Liverpool would be liable for the shortfall, totalling £2 million under the “mitigating the loss’’ procedure. Firing Benítez would not be expensive.

The charismatic Mourinho, not enjoying the best of times with Inter Milan, would immediately be linked with the post. Capello’s reputation is immense but he remains committed to England. One thing is sure, if Liverpool fall behind tomorrow, the United fans will inform Benítez that he’s “getting sacked in the morning’’.

Unlikely. Liverpool’s power brokers have admired the dignified way Benítez handled last weekend’s reverse at Sunderland triggered in surreal fashion by Darren Bent’s shot clipping a beach-ball and wrong-footing Pepe Reina.

Stewards will frisk United fans for beach-balls tomorrow but such searches tend to be quick patting-down exercises, particularly with an impatient queue pushing to get in. And only Baldrick or Rodney would turn up with the beach-ball already inflated. Some will be spirited through the turnstiles and then blown up ready for launching.

United’s famous lyricists have certainly been busy, reworking Anfield’s anthem for an airing on Sunday:

“When you bounce on the pitch, Hold your valve up high, And don’t be afraid of the ball.

At the end of the match, Speaks a Spanish guy

Of the pure injustice of it all.

Roll on, through the wind, Roll on, through the rain, Though your form be tossed and blown. Roll on, roll on.

With air in your sphere, And you’ll never roll alone, You’ll never roll alone.’’

Visiting fans will also be wearing Eric Cantona masks and T-shirts proclaiming “18 titles — and that’s a fact,’’ a riposte to a Liverpool banner from 1994 that declared: “Au Revoir Cantona and Man United. Come back when you’ve won 18 titles’’. United have now, so the pressure really does mount on Benítez.

There is an awareness within Anfield that the manager lacks certain people skills, the much-discussed coldness. Benítez, more forthcoming than usual on Friday, was keen to paint himself as a leader who consulted widely.

“I talk to Sammy Lee, who has won a lot of trophies and knows the city. I talk with people outside Liverpool, like journalists in Spain or friends who played football in the past and have watched our games on TV. They may have another point of view and maybe I use it.’’

And English newspapers? Benítez’s eyebrows lifted slowly like caterpillars entering a hurdle race. “Do you think I would change something from reading the press? No! I am not reading the press.’’ Or paying attention to phone-ins.

“In England you have 60 million managers. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is right – after the game.’’

Benítez stressed that he alone knew the best way to motivate each individual under his command.

“Some need me to push them really hard, others need me to support them a bit. We have a better squad than people think. It’s a question of time.’’

Sunday may decide how much more time Benítez is given.

Rafa Benitez out to banish storm clouds gathering over Liverpool FC

2009-10-24T18:10:00.000+08:00

FOOTBALL is a sport littered with quirks - and Liverpool will discover that once more tomorrow when they contest a game worth so much more than three points.

While a win against Manchester United would not be good enough to thrust the Reds back into the top four – they can, after all, only move their tally from 15 to 18 – there is no disputing it would disperse in a flash the storm clouds that have been gathering.

It has, undoubtedly, been one of the most difficult periods Rafa Benitez has experienced as Liverpool manager but there is little doubt that even this most pragmatic individual realises just what defeating their biggest foes could do for his side.

Impetus would be rediscovered, momentum would gather again and a feel-good factor that has gone missing after four successive defeats would be emphatically restored; you wouldn’t get the same sense of purpose, say, from beating Birmingham City.

Just look what happened last season: United arrived in town with a new £30m striker to lead their line and were expected to dismantle a team that had been robbed of its two most important players, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, in the days before.

Yet Liverpool roared back from conceding an early goal to win 2-1 and took so much heart from that performance that their unbeaten start to the campaign lasted way into November.

What’s more, it gave them the heart to turn around deficits against Manchester City and Wigan Athletic that had looked impossible, while they also won at Stamford Bridge and Goodison Park shortly after flattening their biggest rivals.

So while Benitez - who will take charge of his 200th Premier League game as Liverpool manager on Sunday - knows a victory cannot take his team any higher than fifth, he is well aware that rewards in the long-term could be far greater.

“The main thing we took from last year is that we can win any game,” said Benitez.

“It was good to win away but we showed character last season to win without two key players; we showed character, quality and how important are the people we have behind the place.

“It is really important because we can change everything. We know the gap will be 10 points if we lose - or four points if we win. Four points behind them without doing really well would be a fantastic position.

“We have to approach the game with total confidence that we can beat anyone. The fans will be 100 per cent behind the team and the players will be so focused that it will be easy for me to give the team talk.”

If Benitez does happen to take three points off Alex Ferguson for a third game in succession, it would give him the second best tally of wins by a Liverpool manager (114) during their first 200 games.

His record is better than Bill Shankly (106), currently equal to Bob Paisley’s and only places him behind Kenny Dalglish (120) in the all time list; Ferguson, for the record, managed just 87 victories in his opening double century.

Records, however, have been the last thing on Benitez’s mind in the last few days. He’s been working away at Melwood, trying to find solutions as to why the wheels have come off in the past three weeks.

But rather than moping around, Benitez has tried to find the happy medium between disciplinarian and motivator to cajole a response from his embattled squad; what he has seen in return has greatly impressed him.

“I’m just thinking about how to change things,” said Benitez. “You cannot go to every press conference and keep talking about pressure, pressure, pressure. We have to have confidence in ourselves - and we are training well.

“We were doing the same before Lyon. We would have been talking differently if we had taken the chances we had when it was 1-0. But experience tells you that you have to keep going and doing the things you have done in the past.

“We were winning doing these things. Before the game people can talk but maybe after the game everything will have changed. If we beat United, next week I am sure the headlines will be different. Everything can change.”

Added the Anfield boss: “When the players are working hard, you cannot blame them for anything. We have had some meetings and we have analysed things. We know we are not doing well but we can see the reason why and the atmosphere is quite positive.

“When you are not winning some games in a row, you have to be careful and analyse things properly. You cannot be too negative. When I push the players, it is because I know they can improve. So the main thing for me has been the mentality.”

Benitez is not a man who will let a situation get on top of him and nor is his central defender Daniel Agger; the Dane knows the Reds have been poor of late but says there is only one way to turn the tide.

“We just have to carry on,” he pointed out. “We were not good enough against Lyon but we have to keep doing the same things. We have trained hard and have got to carry on. We have got to turn it around.

“Every footballer wants to win. We have got three points to play for against United and we really need them. There is always pressure at Liverpool Football Club but that doesn’t matter. We will go for the win.”

* TOMORROW will be Rafa Benitez’s 200th league game in charge of Liverpool. He has tasted victory on 113 occasions and the only Reds manager in history with a better record over that period of matches is Kenny Dalglish (120). Bob Paisley also had 113 wins at the same stage, while Alex Ferguson won just 87 of his first 200 in charge at United.

* LIVERPOOL did the double over United last season with a 2-1 home victory followed by a stunning 4-1 triumph at Old Trafford in March. It was the first time the Reds had beaten United twice in a league campaign since 2001/02.

* THE Reds’ win over United at Anfield last season was the first time since 1966 they had come from behind to win a league game against their fierce rivals.

* THERE has been only one goalless draw between the sides in the Premier League. That came at Anfield in September 2005.

Liverpool are still lacking those special reserves

2009-10-24T18:07:00.000+08:00

The depth of talent in Rafael Benítez's squad has never been so shallow

Liverpool's Alberto Aquilani comes on as a substitute during Wednesday's reserve win over Sunderland. Other than the £20m Italian, there was not much on show for the watching co-owner George Gillett. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA

In football the word "crisis" is apt to roll too easily off the tongue. Portsmouth have had a difficult start this season and did not take a point from their first seven matches, but only when they were running out of money to pay the players' wages did they face a crisis. Liverpool are not in crisis, not yet anyway. It is just that they are experiencing so many problems coming from so many directions that they appear to be courting a crisis with the ardour of lovelorn suitors, complete with bouquets and boxes of Milk Tray.

Off the field there is the matter of the debt that Liverpool's US owners ran up buying the club and are now trying to restructure. But it is events on the field that have been talking up the latest prognostications of gloom and doom and refuelling speculation about the future of Rafael Benítez as the Liverpool manager.

Should Benítez's team lose at home to Manchester United tomorrow they will be 10 points behind the Premier League leaders. More pertinently, such a result would increase the doubts about Liverpool's ability to renew their membership of the Champions League by again finishing in the top four. Being relegated from Europe's richest tournament would cost the club almost as much as being relegated to the Championship. No parachute payments here.

As it is, Liverpool are in danger of having their progress in the Champions League end before the knockout stage after losing 2-1 at home to Lyon on Tuesday, a performance that confirmed the feeble impression left by their 2-0 defeat at Fiorentina that was followed by further losses against Chelsea and Sunderland. The excuse that they were without Fernando Torres and lost Steven Gerrard again after 25 minutes forfeited any credibility it might have had when Chelsea, still missing the suspended Didier Drogba, cruised past Atlético Madrid 4‑0 on Wednesday night, Manchester United having seen off CSKA Moscow with a polished display on an artificial pitch and despite the absence of Wayne Rooney.

In Benítez's five years at Anfield Liverpool have won one European Cup and reached the final of another. They have also won the FA Cup. But in the League, the winning of which used to be the club's raison d'être, Liverpool remain not-so-nearly men and on present evidence it could be argued that the depth of talent in Benítez's squad has never been so shallow. Compared to the ease with which Alex Ferguson's United team adapted to the plastic surface in the Luzhniki stadium, Liverpool could have been playing on broken glass against Lyon.

What is important now is how Liverpool react to their worst run of defeats for 22 years. Before Tuesday they had not lost four games in succession since the spring of 1987, when Kenny Dalglish's side were beaten by Tottenham, Wimbledon and Norwich in the League and Arsenal in the final of the Littlewoods Cup. The run cost Liverpool the championship, in which they finished runners-up to Everton, but the following season, having signed John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and Ray Houghton from Watford, Newcastle and Oxford respectively, they regained the title while playing the best football seen from an English team up to that time.

Liverpool used to get over problems of form and bad results by pretending they had never happened or at least not dwelling on them, such was the strength of the club's structure on and off the pitch. In the early 70s Bill Shankly's side went goalless for five matches, the last of them a 0-0 draw at Wolves. After the game reporters approached Shankly to find out what had gone wrong with his attack. Shanks went white and backed away. "We don't talk about these things," he protested. "We never talk about them." The hacks were left speechless as well as quoteless.

By contrast Don Welsh, the manager at Anfield when Liverpool last lost five in a row, followed the boy scout code of smiling and whistling during all difficulties. The run occurred early in the 1953‑54 season that ended with Liverpool relegated after 50 years in the First Division. After a 3‑0 defeat at Arsenal had sent them down, Welsh breezed into the dressing room with words of comfort: "Never mind, lads, the reserves lost too." Some comfort.

Strange nobody asked Benítez about the Liverpool's reserves after the Lyon game. Not that he would have had much to say on the matter. What reserves?

Defender swoop on cards - reports

2009-10-24T07:21:00.001+08:00

Stoke's resolve to keep defender Ryan Shawcross is set to be tested with Liverpool preparing a big-money bid, according to reports.

The former Manchester United trainee was linked with a switch to Anfield in the summer as well as his former club, Everton and Arsenal. But 22-year-old Shawcross insisted the speculation did not affect him and that he was happy to stay at the Britannia Stadium, with a new deal thought to be in the pipeline. But the Reds' uncertain start to the season and a long-term injury suffered by summer signing Sotirios Kyrgiakos has increased the chances of Rafa Benitez attempting to make a mid-season swoop. Shawcross could cost a fee approaching the £10m mark which would represent a sizeable investment for Liverpool given their current financial situation.

Squad sheets: Liverpool v Manchester United

2009-10-24T07:15:00.000+08:00

Probable starters in bold, contenders in light. Photograph: Graphic

Despite a planned protest against the owners before the match, there will be a show of unity and determination at Anfield tomorrow once the game begins. Inside the stadium the fans' efforts will be directed solely against Manchester United. Liverpool did beat these opponents twice in the league last season, but the club looks to be in a decline steepened by injuries. United, in contrast, should be able to field a stronger line-up than the one that beat CSKA Moscow in Russia on Wednesday. Kevin McCarra

Venue Anfield Tickets Sold out Last season Liverpool 2 Manchester United 1 Referee A Marriner

This season's matches 6 Y20, R1, 3.50 cards per game

sportingbet odds Liverpool 7-4 Man Utd 7-5 Draw 21-10

Liverpool

Subs from Cavalieri, Gerrard, Babel, Skrtel, Voronin, Ngog, Spearing, Degen, Plessis, Dossena, Ayala

Doubtful Johnson (groin), Torres (groin), Gerrard (groin)

Injured Aquilani (ankle, 31 Oct), Riera (hamstring, 31 Oct), Kyrgiakos (knee, 31 Oct), El Zhar (hamstring, 31 Oct), Kelly (ankle, 9 Nov)

Form guide LLWWWW Disciplinary record Y13 R0

Leading scorer Torres 8

Manchester United

Subs from Foster, Kuszczak, Welbeck, Brown, Fletcher, Evans, Neville, Gibson, Scholes, Carrick, Macheda, Tosic, Rafael, Fabio, Obertan

Doubtful Fletcher (groin), Rooney (calf),

Evra (ankle), Giggs (thigh)

Injured Park (knee, Oct 31), Hargreaves (knee, Nov 3)

Suspended None

Form guide WDWWWW Disciplinary record Y14 R1

Leading scorer Rooney 6

Match pointers

• This will be Rafa Benítez's 200th league game in charge of Liverpool – if his side lose it will be the first time they have lost three league games in a row during his reign

• United have lost one of their last seven league trips to Anfield

• The last five league meetings between these sides in Liverpool have resulted in a a total of six goals, three of them in last season's match

• United have delivered the most crosses this season (232) but Liverpool have played the most successful crosses (55)

Redkopi Discussion Panel: Four Defeats and Lucas

2009-10-24T07:11:00.000+08:00

Up for discussion in this week’s RedKopi Discussion Panel;

Four successive defeats
The Lucas and Mascherano midfield partnership
Have we got the manager, the squad, the players, the spirit and the belief to secure a first Premier League crown this season

This week’s panel: Mark Broomy is joined by TIA columnist Tetteh Otuteye, Craig Rimmer, Matthew Watson and Sam Wanjere.

*************************

“For The Kop, though, this was not meant to be another year of hole-plugging and Scouse defiance. It was supposed to be the campaign when a 20-year wait came to an end.”

- The Guardians Paul Hayward

*************************

Mark: “The River Mersey sits turbulent, discordant and raucous for another week. Not since April 1987 have Liverpool suffered four successive defeats.

We suffered our fourth Premier League defeat of the season at the Stadium of Light, a result that left Liverpool a distant eighth in the Premier League, seven points behind the leaders Manchester United.

Position	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
8	Liverpool	9	5	0	4	22	13	9	15

Matthew: “Beach ball or not, we were atrocious against the Black Cats on Saturday. We were totally out-muscled by a very resilient and organised side, who on another day, could have easily been two or three up by the hour mark. It was a nightmare, from start to finish.

The three at the back did not work. We looked all over the place at times and failed to create any real clear cut chances until the last ten minutes. It was a shame that the game was decided by such a freak goal, but that can be no excuse for what was an awful performance. Sunderland well and truely deserved the three points. A vast improvement needed.

Mark: “On Tuesday night, despite Martin Kellys impressive full debut at right back our defeat to Lyon left our hopes of Champions League progress on a knife edge. Yossi Benayoun’s 41st-minute opener was cancelled out by substitute Maxime Gonalons and an injury-time winner from Cesar Delgado.

Sam: “To me, against Lyon, we had a much better game than the fare we’ve seen lately, and were in control for much of the match. Looking at stats from the Beeb, we had identical possession, identical shots (both on and off target, with six each!), and one more corner (6:5). We fouled more though, 11 to seven, suggesting we were either put under more pressure or panicked more.

This to me the Lyon encounter was our best game in a while, with our youngsters shining on the night. All of Lucas, Insua, N’gog and the precocious Kelly did us very proud. Though not entirely back to his offensive best, I still thought Agger was solid at the back and will find his shooting boots soon. I didn’t feel entirely deflated and thought if we can play that way against the Mancs we will have a chance.

I express worry about our lengthening injury list but have optimism in our depth. Our Reserve players, alongside fringe ones like Voronin, might still help us hold the fort pending the arrival of our core axis (Gerrard-Torres) while Aquilani enjoyed a 15 minute run-out for the reserves on Wednesday night during our 2-0 win over Sunderland at Prenton Park.

We shouldn’t be hard on ourselves to be honest, and I have this gut feeling things are about to turn for a surprising finale to this season.

Mark: “Despite recent results, one of the things that has impressed me the most this season has been the form of Lucas in the centre of midfield. Lucas has come under close scrutiny following Alonso departure. So far I feel he has proved he has a bit of everything, he’s young, he’s very calm on the ball, he is an excellent passer and he can also get forward. ”

Sam: “Is there a more maligned player on our team today? I feel that any “issue” with Lucas extends beyond “replacing Alonso”. The club’s going through a very difficult phase, with fans getting increasingly frustrated with the current state of play, and for whatever reasons its Lucas we’ve pinned our angst on.

We love history at Anfield so I’ll remind our fans about a number of things; on March 14 2008 Lucas contributed to our win over Man U (away), ironically playing in Alonso’s place. On April 14 his goal almost gave us another come-from-behind win in the CL at Chelsea. Despite our loss at White Hart Lane, Lucas was solid in central midfield. He hardly put a foot wrong against Deberecen at Anfield, constantly disrupting their play and finding Reds with his passes.

Tetteh: “Lucas has been pushed into the deep end this season and he has held his own. He’s gotten more physical, is better in possession, has made several crucial tackles and is growing with each match he completes for our team. He has showed tremendous mental strength to stay focused and maintain some self-belief despite a rough season last year where he was occasionally booed and sometimes unfairly singled out for blame in bad team performances.

I have been pleased that he has improved so much since last year, and although he isn’t a direct replacement for Alonso and has had to take many steps forward to fill that void, he has more than held his own – arguably our best player in at least one or two matches so far, and only pipped to the man of the match when Yossi scored his hattrick against Burnley.”

Mark: “His performance that day against Burnley was eyecatching. He had just returned from international duty with Brazil the day before that game and prior to our game he had to have an injection for a knock he picked up on international duty, however, he pushed himself through the pain barrier and turned in a brilliant performance. With Mascherano still in Argentina for treatment on his injury, Lucas played the holding role alongside Gerrard and frequently won back possession and spread the play intelligently

Matthew: “Before I start, I’d like to state that I am not one of the people who have consistently come on here and ‘slagged’ Lucas off, rain or shine. But the truth is he isn’t good enough.

There has been a slight improvement from him this season, granted. He seems to be getting more stuck in and timing his tackles better, but still, he offers very little offensively. He still jerks responsibility for me. He never seems to look or command for the ball. He just seems to hide at times.

Saturday was another prime example of this. Playing alongside an inexperienced player like Spearing and with the absence of key players, we needed him to stand up and be counted. He didn’t.”

Craig: “Whilst Lucas has undoubtedly improved this season and deserves credit for overcoming many of his doubters, I still feel that his game is perhaps too limited when paired with Javier Mascherano in midfield. I always felt that some of his critics were overly harsh on Lucas last season and that he was often used as a scapegoat when others equally performed poorly, although in fairness he did put in some poor performances last season. He is, of course, only young and playing regularly for Brazil at such an age must stand for something.

He likes to keep things simple and looks to move possession on quickly rather than keeping the ball, which can at times be a good quality. But, whilst his pass completion stats may be very good, he will very rarely attempt a risky or incisive ball and seems to desperately lack an attacking instinct.”

Mark: “He has been asked to replace Alonso so far this season when in reality he is perhaps better suited to fill in for Mascherano.”

Sam: “He’s more like Mascherano, in fact near identical. Same energy, prone to the odd bad tackle, but even then, more offensive. I feel that Lucas is best played alongside a different player, this season that player being Gerrard. Gerrard will do more offensive work, leaving Leiva to clean up alongside him, and protect the defense behind. I don’t think Lucas-Masche is working – at least as of now. But then again, playing Gerrard and Lampard together has confounded all until Capello showed up!

Craig: “I agree that Lucas is more suited to the ‘Mascherano’ role than the ‘Alonso’ role and the issue this season had been that pairing Mascherano and Lucas together has resulted in a lack of creativity and ability in possession from midfield. I don’t feel Lucas is creative enough to play this role and the recent defeat to Lyon was a prime example of this, with the Reds midfield lacking creativity and unable to gain an element of control over the game.

I feel that when Alberto Aquilani is fit there will be a choice between Lucas and Mascherano as to who will partner the Italian, and I can only see Mascherano’s defensive ability winning that contest.”

Matthew: “His partnership with Mascherano is too defensive and lacks creativity and control. You are right when you say that he is more suited to a ‘Masch’ like role, but we don’t need, nor want two players doing that role and Mascherano is on a completely different level to Lucas anyway.

We all know Mascherano’s role. He is the destroyer. His job is to offer cover to our defence and break up the oppositions play. Masch doesn’t offer an awful lot offensively, although this season he has improved in that sense with his passing and cross field balls that he has tried more often. I really do think that this has come on because of playing with Lucas. Maybe Masch feels he has to do this to make up for Lucas?

For me, the person who plays alongside him needs to offer something offensively to make up for this and help link up with our forward players. With Alonso we had someone who made us tick. He was a player who would always keep the ball moving and offered something creatively with his passing ability.

This season we have neither with Lucas. A steady player, but just not what we need. Aquilani sounds like the right sort of player, but lets just hope with all the expectation resting on his shoulders to deliver, he can do. Because, by god. We need him too!”

Sam: “Let’s also remember Lucas is only 21. He is a lot like Kuyt in character, with both going through a phase of doubt and criticism, yet hanging on to become team lynchpins. We can do with more of such.”

Mark: “Kopblog editor Gerry Ormonde recently commented “Lucas deserves a huge amount of credit for the effort he has put in and for never letting his head drop even when it seemed at times he has been surrounded by doubters”

Sam: “Regardless of what detractors claim, Lucas has been very consistent this season, with solid performances in just about every game I’ve seen. He gives 110%, works hard, never puts his head down (as has been observed by others), and just won’t quit.”

Tetteh: “Lucas still has his critics and still has a fair amount of improvement to make before he’ll win over some of his doubters. But his status in our team reminds me of the way UTD fans treated Darren Fletcher a few years ago when only Alex Ferguson seemed to understand why he was in the team. That trust from the manager was crucial and Fletcher is now a very important member of Uniteds squad.”

2009/10 Top Goalscorers
Player	Premier League	Europe	FA Cup	League Cup	Total Goals
Fernando Torres	8	--	--	--	8
Dirk Kuyt	3	1	--	--	4
Yossi Benayoun	3	1	--	--	4
Steven Gerrard	3	--	--	--	3
Glen Johnson	2	--	--	--	2
Ryan Babel	2	--	--	--	2
David Ngog	1	--	--	1	2

Mark: “Moving away from Lucas… Everyone at Anfield is determined to secure a first Premier League crown this season…… Have Liverpool finally got the manager, the squad, the players, the spirit and the belief to go all the way?”

Sam: “Do we have the right manager at Anfield? To answer this, it would be instructive to look at what our team is like (overall). If Rafa’s such a bad manager, why (as I’ve asked lots of times before) do players like Torres, Reina, Kuyt and Gerrard keep playing for him? Why is it that every season end he is linked with the giants of soccer, the Real Madrids’ and Juves’? Our squad lacks depth, which is as clear as daylight to the sighted. We lack strong alternatives at right back, striking, our wings, and all in all, lack personnel we can interchange in our favored 4-2-3-1.

Despite this, we keep overachieving – and again, all without having funds to buy the quality we need to go to the next level. Our current spirit reminds me of someone who’s made it in life having overcome inferiority complex earlier on. No matter what they end up achieving, there are moments they remember what they used to be and get deflated. We do act inferior at times to the rest of our competitors, esp. members of the Big Four. Our fans Jekyll and Hyde support doesn’t help either, abandoning the team (silence) when we’re down. This is an area we can definitely improve.

Back to our manager, is he the right one? With what I’ve enumerated above, and plenty more, we’ve still been able to win a CL title, return to another final, win the European Super Cup and FA Cup, and push Man U all the way to the title last season. We’re yet to drop below fifth in the league (while consistently proving a handful in Europe), all without financial support from (non-existent) owners, and competing against cash-rich teams. I don’t see a better manager for us than Rafa. We will win the League, this year, the next or wherever. Our chief opponent isn’t from the Big Four, but from within us.

Craig: “This is the eternal recurring question which comes up every season. Liverpool came so close to achieving that elusive 19th title last season and there is a real sense among many fans now, considering the recent desperate form, that last year may have been a major opportunity missed.

The debate which has been raging this week has concerned Rafa – whether his time has come or whether he should continue. I don’t feel this is even really up for debate at the moment.

True this is a crucial time for Benitez to prove himself and is arguably the toughest period of his tenure in charge at Anfield. But Liverpool are not really in a position to be sacking established managers, with an apparent lack of money, resources and adequate replacements. Getting rid of Benitez would certainly result in us taking a step back further in the short-term and it was only a matter of months ago that everyone was lauding the manager for his achievements.

The club needs stability so ultimately the man in charge has to be considered the right man for the job. Whether he will be the right manger ultimately I guess only time will tell.

In order to win such a tough league you have to have a squad of top quality players. The Reds proved by coming so close last season that they do have some outstanding players, capable of winning major honours. However the recent injury crisis has served to highlight what many had feared, Liverpool don’t have the necessary strength in depth, especially when compared to the likes of Man United and Chelsea.

It is frustrating because Liverpool do have a very similar squad to last season and on that evidence they can be genuine title contenders. But I always felt that it was absolutely necessary that the squad was improved over the summer in order to move forward. This was’nt achieved; whether due to a lack of funds or a lack of nous in the transfer market no one really knows.

But the squad short in too many areas. Strikers are a prime example, Fernando Torres may be possibly the best striker in the world but others are needed to back him up and one really should have been signed in the summer. It is frustrating to see Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane and Craig Bellamy, three players who have worn the Red shirt in recent seasons, all performing well for their respective clubs. Whilst all departures had their reasons, surely at least one should still be sat on the bench at Anfield?

In terms of spirit and belief, I think last season provided the team with good experience and proved that many do have the resolve and belief despite narrowly missing out. However I feel that there is a chronic lack of confidence and belief in the team at the moment, which doesn’t help the poor form. I think there also sometimes seems to be a lack of leaders; perhaps trying to hold on to Sami Hyypia for another year would have been a good idea in hindsight.”

Tetteh: “I think we have what it takes to be involved right up until the end once again this season. But then again, so do UTD and Chelsea, and City are also looking somewhat dangerous. Arsenal are threatening to be a force to be reckoned with as well.

So although I believe we have what it takes to push our title challenge right up until the last couple of fixtures, I’m also convinced it’ll be one of the closest races in a very long time between more than just 2 teams. To win those kinds of races, in addition to the manager, the squad, the players, the spirit and the belief, you need a little bit of fortune, especially with injuries and the occasional close refereeing call that goes your way.

I’m hopeful we’ll lift the title this year, but it’s far too early to be either overly optimistic or pessimistic. So I’ll get back to you in February.

Sam: “A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are. In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.” Bill Shankly

Liverpool’s Greatest… Goalkeeper

2009-10-22T16:02:00.000+08:00

The secret of any great team starts from the back. As Liverpool found out when mounting a title charge in the early 2000’s – you cannot hope to win the title if you have a problematic keeper. Your keeper should have the respect of the rest of the team in their ability.

In the first of our series, several of Anfield Online’s contributors have each come up with their own choice for Liverpool’s Greatest Ever Goalkeeper.

Shortlist: Bruce Grobbelaar | Elisha Scott | Ray Clemence | Pepe Reina

Bruce Grobbelaar

Bruce Grobbelaar - spaghetti legs against Roma

For me, the greatest goalkeeper in my memory has to be Bruce.

Whilst growing up, he could surely not have imagined that one day he would play for England’s most successful team and lift the European Cup. Whilst an outstanding sportsman in several different domains as a boy, Grobbelaar was ultimately to sign up for national service in the Rhodesian Army. In the heat of the live action that he was to endure for two years, football was surely the last thing on his mind.

The then second choice keeper for the Vancouver Whitecaps was sent on loan to Crewe Alexandra, where he was to make 24 appearances, during which he was scouted by the Reds, who he would sign for in 1980. He had some huge boots to fill, with the momentous task of replacing Ray Clemence. Bruce not only did that, but went on to become a legend in his own right.

As well as being a tremendous shot-stopper, with an athletic, almost gymnastic ability, Grobbelaar was probably most famous for his outlandish character, with his quirky wit making him a fans favourite. On the field, however, Bruce was often seen berating his defence if he felt they weren’t playing at their best, the kind of passion and determination to succeed that made him loved by the Kop.

Grobbelaar’s most famous footballing moment is obviously the penalty shoot-out in the 1984 European Cup final. Between chewing on the netting, and his comical, wobbly legged routine, his antics were enough to put off the Roma strikers and help the Reds lift their fourth European trophy in just 8 years. This moment perhaps summed up Grobbelaar, with his mental strength and self confidence at it’s highest.

With over 600 matches for the Reds to his name, and a medal cabinet full to bursting point, Grobbelaar is an obvious candidate for the greatest keeper to have played for Liverpool.

Elisha Scott

One of our earliest legends and our longest serving player which span over two decades. (21 years and 52 days to be exact) Over that time he played in a remarkable 467 games for the Reds keeping an impressive 137 clean sheets which, currently, is the third most for any Liverpool keeper. His goalkeeping also helped Liverpool to back-to-back titles in 1922 and 1923, though these were the only pieces of silverware Elisha picked up during his time at Liverpool. There may have been more had his career not be disrupted by World War I.

As well as domestic success, he received a few international call ups while at Anfield. He was called up to represent the Republic of Ireland five times and a further twenty-two for his native Northern Ireland.

Elisha Scott – Liverpool’s greatest goalkeeper

Ray Clemence

There’s good goalkeepers and there’s great goalkeepers. But there’s very few who come close to Ray Clemence.

At just 18 years of age, Bill Shankly brought Clemence to Liverpool from Scunthorpe Utd in June 1967, but it was to be over a year until Clemence made his Liverpool debut. Having to ply his trade in the reserves, waiting to get in ahead of then, Liverpool’s first choice keeper, Tommy Lawrence, Clemence was given his chance in the League Cup against Swansea, September 1968. But it was soon a time of transformation for the reds and Clemence soon cemented his place as number one goalkeeper for the reds.

The 70’s were to be an important era in Liverpool’s history and it was Clemence who was to form the solid base for Liverpool to dominate at home and in Europe. Making his league debut away to Nottingham Forest in January 1970, it was from here where it all started for Clemence in the Liverpool goal.

Amazingly, Clemence only missed six league matches in the next eleven years. Picking up many league honours along the way and also being the first Liverpool goalkeeper to win the European Cup with the reds, these achievements paid testament to his abilities to keep the door firmly shut in the Liverpool defence. You only have to look at the 1978-79 season where Clemence only conceded just 16 goals.

The stats speak for themselves, but there was no denying Clemence was a huge presence at the back for the reds. Where other goalkeepers at the time would be shy of coming away from their line, Clemence wouldn’t hesitate to come out of his comfort zone and put pressure on the opposing strikers. A trend that is common these days. He was amazingly agile for a big man. He could jump, twist and turn in a flash and still pick the ball out of the air, away from an opposing player’s head, with extreme ease. Even with one hand sometimes. His reactions were instant and his awareness was as sharp as a razor.

There’s no surprise that when Liverpool were a force at home and in Europe in the 70‘s, Ray Clemence was a big part of the team. A true Liverpool great.

Pepe Reina

It’s still difficult to believe that Liverpool’s present keeper, and in my view our best ever, only cost us £6M when we purchased him in the summer of 2005.

After starting his youth career at Barcelona he spent time on loan at Villarreal before making the deal permanent after some excellent displays. It was from there that he was brought to Anfield.

His athleticism, strength and reactions have been there for all to see as Rafa began his revolution of turning the reds flaky defence in to the strongest in the country.

Soon after his arrival – Liverpool’s goalkeeping records started to change hands at rapid rates. By December he had kept 6 consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League – a new Liverpool record – and then went on to extend it to 8 games.

During this time he also broke Liverpool’s all time clean sheet record – going 11 games without beating beaten.

Before his first season was out he reached 50 games. In doing so he set a club record for the fewest goals conceded in the first 50. His meagre 29 beating his closest rival – Ray Clemence’s 32. At the end of his first season he was awarded the coveted Golden Glove award.

In the season finale of the FA Cup Final, Reina went on to save 3 of West Ham’s 4 spot kicks. Helping Liverpool to lift the FA Cup.

The next season he helped the reds to the Champions League final with two impressive performances in both semi-finals against Chelsea. Great saves in the games were only helped when he saved two of Chelsea’s three spot kicks in the second leg penalty shoot-out. At the end of his second season he again won the Golden Glove.

2008 saw a third consecutive golden glove, and he became the fastest Liverpool keeper to keep 50 clean sheets. Doing it in 92 games, three sooner than his closest rival. In 2009 he became the fastest keeper to reach 100 clean sheets – in his 197th game.

There is a lot to like about Pepe Reina. His enthusiasm, drive and desire are all Liverpool mentalities. Off the pitch he is said to be integral in helping new players settle in – and is one of the true characters of the dressing room. He may not yet have the medal haul of some of his predecessors, thanks mainly to the 10 players in front of him, but his raw natural goalkeeping ability helped Liverpool translate from a poor defensive side in to a much stronger unit in the four years he has been at the club.

For me, Reina IS Liverpool’s Greatest ever goalkeeper.

Powered by Google Site Web Home Liverpool FC News Rafa Benitez urges Liverpool supporters to give Alberto Aquilani time

2009-10-22T15:43:00.000+08:00

RAFA BENITEZ today urged Liverpool’s supporters to give Alberto Aquilani time to settle after the Italian made his first appearance in a Red shirt.

Aquilani played the final 15 minutes of the reserves’ 2-0 win over Sunderland at Prenton Park last night and showed some neat touches

Having had to wait since August 7 to see him in action, the sight of Aquilani taking a step closer to full fitness following ankle surgery will have come as a major boost in light of recent results.

But as pleased as Benitez was to see his £20m man up and running after six months on the sidelines – his last appearance for Roma was on March 11 – he was also quick to sound a note of caution.

Though many will hope Aquilani can come in and solve a number of problems, Benitez believes it would be unfair to expect too much too soon from the 25-year-old.

"Always with a new player we talk about the problems they have settling down because the Premier League is very quick and it is more physical," said Benitez.

"So for a new player who has been injured, like Alberto, it will be even more difficult. It is a question of keeping him training and when he is fit, we have to support him.

"We will have to choose the right moments to put him on the pitch. But he is learning all the time and we are looking forward to playing him.

"But our fans are very clever and they know sometimes that a player with quality needs that time to settle down. He will need some time to get used to us, too."

Despite Benitez’s appeal for patience, it is inevitable that fans who are desperate for a lift following a wretched run of results will want to know when they will see Aquilani in the first team.

It would be a major fillip if he was involved in the squad for the clash with Manchester United this Sunday but the Carling Cup tie at Arsenal next Wednesday is a more realistic target for him to dip his toe in the water.

But it could be that Aquilani settles into the groove quicker than many expect, as Benitez says the Italian has been studying all aspects of the English game during his prolonged absence.

"Alberto is intelligent, he likes football and he has been watching our games," said Benitez. "He can see the pace is different here and the physical approach.

"But there is a difference between what you see and how you play but when he gets out and feels the atmosphere here, it will be something special for him.

"When will he play? It depends on how he is physically.

"He has got very good levels of stamina but now he has to improve his sharpness."To get match fitness, he needs to play games and what we have to do is analyse carefully which games is the best and how long he will play for."

Benitez has board backing

2009-10-22T15:39:00.000+08:00

By Chris Burton Last updated: 22nd October 2009

Benitez: Under pressure

Liverpool co-owner George Gillett maintains that Rafa Benitez is the right man to turn fortunes around at Anfield.

The American insists that the Reds' Spanish coach is 'absolutely as good as there is in the business'.

Benitez has come under pressure of late following a disjointed start to the 2009/10 campaign by his troops.

The club have slipped to four consecutive defeats in all competitions over recent weeks, seriously hindering their domestic and European ambitions.

They have already fallen off the pace in the Premier League title race, while Tuesday's 2-1 defeat to Lyon on home soil has left their UEFA Champions League fate hanging in the balance.

That has led to calls from certain sections of the Liverpool support for Benitez to be relieved of his duties and a new man put in charge of stabilising the ship.

Agreement

Gillett, though, has no plans to take such drastic action, claiming that the current coaching team has the full backing of the club's board.

"We have just entered into a long-term agreement with Rafa," he said, recalling the improved deal Benitez signed in March to keep him on Merseyside until 2014.

"Our family is extraordinarily pleased with him, we believe he is absolutely as good as there is in the business.

"The run of results disappoints everybody. Certainly, it disappoints the fans and it disappoints Rafa.

"I have seen his television interview and I know he is disappointed. We are all disappointed, but we are in this together."

Rafael Benítez's reign begins to unravel as Ngog is forced to walk alone

2009-10-21T11:36:00.000+08:00

Liverpool's acute shortage of firepower is becoming unnerving for a club famed for its predators

The Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez consoles Yossi Benayoun as he is substituted against Lyon. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

By rights a manager should not feel the breath of the mob on his neck five months after his team finished second in the Premier League with 86 points and two defeats but there was a sense at Anfield last night that Rafa Benítez's reign is unravelling – not fast enough for him to go the way of Gérard Houllier yet but with sufficient speed to strain his bond with The Kop and encourage Manchester City, Spurs and Aston Villa that the Big Four are finally cracking up.

A fifth consecutive defeat, against Manchester United here on Sunday, would erase Anfield's Premier League title hopes and move United closer to the day when they surpass the record of 18 league championships they currently share with the red half of Merseyside. Houllier was here to see the French club he once managed stretch Benítez's credibility to its most frayed condition since the great Champions League final comeback of 2005 seemed to mark him out as an inspirational leader who wore some of Bill Shankly's stardust.

The Liverpool script discourages apocalyptic readings of a run of bad results. The club's intimate acquaintance with melodrama suggests United might be impaled at the weekend and Benítez will wear his smuggest mask. But consecutive losses to Fiorentina, Chelsea, Sunderland and now Lyon speak of a deepening vulnerability. There are plenty of bit-part players in this Liverpool squad. If a rump decide that Benítez's power base is dissolving, then the small core of genuine match-winners and diehards will end up isolated. They cannot save Liverpool's campaign without help from the army of also-rans Benítez has imported to play alongside Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, who are both struggling to be fit for the United game.

A shortage of firepower was last night's banner message to those in charge. Torres is the exception to You'll Never Walk Alone. The world's best centre-forward is doing pretty much that in a Liverpool squad agonisingly short of elite strikers. In the absence of El Niño against Lyon, goalscoring responsibilities fell chiefly to the 20-year-old David Ngog, who can count his goals for the great Anfield institution on the digits of one hand.

For the home of Ian Rush, Roger Hunt, Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen to be so short of marksmen suggests someone in authority needs to stay behind for extra maths. The blame game between owners and manager always renders it hard for The Kop to identify the culprit but Liverpool are stuck with a manpower shortfall in a part of the team famed for its predators. This imbalance has burdened Torres and Gerrard with the responsibility to net goals at the pace Lennon and McCartney used to churn out songs.

There was no Torres in this Champions League Group E match and soon no Gerrard either as the captain hobbled off after 25 minutes. Ngog, meanwhile, had made only 22 appearances since joining from Paris St Germain in July last year and has looked wispy and fragile in top-flight action. Nor is his control immediately redolent of the top French finishing schools. At this point in his development he is too easy to dispossess to be a credible deputy to Torres. His night ended ignominiously with a hamstring pull.

The forward shortage is explained by the club's failure to replace Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane, the two big sales in that department post-Owen and Fowler. Behind Torres, who has scored eight times this season but is hindered by abdominal trouble, a merry cast of hopefuls have laboured to fill the menace-void. Those four consecutive defeats have cast an unforgiving light on the sharp end of Benítez's squad.

Beyond Ngog the options are Andriy Voronin (six goals in 35 appearances and a loanee to Hertha Berlin last season), Nabil El Zhar (one in 25), who is really an impact winger, Kuyt and Ryan Babel, who can play through the centre but is lost in the tundra of Benítez's displeasure. Frost forms on those Benítez considers to be inconsistent or unreliable.

For Liverpool to go into combat in 2009-2010 with only one top-grade centre-forward points to a bad tangle of politics, judgment and arithmetic. At least the £20m midfielder Alberto Aquilani is close to fitness and Javier Mascherano cannot be subdued forever. For The Kop, though, this was not meant to be another year of hole-plugging and Scouse defiance. It was supposed to be the campaign when a 20-year wait came to an end.

From last season's strong core Xabi Alonso has left, part of Mascherano is elsewhere and Torres and Gerrard are beset by injury. Anfield's best European roar was only briefly heard last night. Though Benítez is still popular, a faith-deficit has crept back in. The Kop know the value of finishers, of goal-getters. They ask where all the red ones went.

Rafa on Lyon defeat

2009-10-21T11:35:00.000+08:00

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez says he is very disappointed that his side couldn’t hold onto their 1-0 lead against Lyon on Tuesday night, ending in a crushing 2-1 defeat.

It was the Reds’ fourth consecutive defeat and the pressure mounts on Liverpool who next face Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.

After the game, Benitez told press, “It was a difficult game for us, but we were winning 1-0 and had two or three chances that could have changed everything.

“We are really disappointed because it was a difficult game that we could have won.

“But we have done it before and now we have to do the same. We have to be ready for the next game and try to win, and afterwards the same with the other two games in the group.

“We have done it before and we have to have confidence we can do it again.”

Rafa's midfielder patience due for reward

2009-10-21T11:33:00.000+08:00

Alberto Aquilani is being considered for a reserves run out against Sunderland tomorrow but won't be ready to face Man Utd on Sunday.

Rafael Benitez's big £20million summer signing is in line to see some action at Prenton Park after coming through training this week without any problems. The Anfield boss has waited patiently for the Italian international to battle back from a summer knee operation and is on the brink of getting the 25-year-old into the first-team equation. "We knew that Aquilani could be out for a month," said Benitez. "But after seeing the scans we realised it would be more. But we were signing the player for five years, not just for five games." Aquilani is, however, not being considered for a first-team debut against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.

Why Liverpool FC should not let Sunderland's beachball goal lie

2009-10-19T14:54:00.000+08:00

By Dan Kay on Oct 18, 09 08:57 PM in Journalists

Let's get one thing straight for a kick-off.

Liverpool's performance yesterday at Sunderland was by far the worst of the season and surely one of the most insipid in Rafa Benitez's entire reign.

A two or three goal victory would not have flattered Steve Bruce's energetic side and serious questions must be asked (again) about the depth of the squad and particularly the decision to change the formation of the side when there had been no time to work on it in training because of the international break.

The old axiom about fate kicking you when you're down was illustrated in the moment just four minutes into the game when Darren Bent's shot was deflected past Pepe Reina, as the world and his wife now knows, by an LFC-branded beach ball which had emerged from the away end behind that goal shortly before kick off.

It is often said that the opening goal in a match, particularly one so early, can be critical, changing the entire complexion and atmosphere of an encounter and Sunderland swarmed all over Liverpool after their lucky break.

Liverpool still had eighty five minutes to salvage something from the match but weren't able to - and never really looked likely to.

The home side, and Bent in particular (I wonder how many Reds who sniffed dismissively when he was linked with an Anfield move are now drawing wistful comparisons between him and Liverpool's back-up striking up options), created a host of other opportunities to put the black and gold-clad visitors out of their misery and seal an impressive home victory to add to their point at Old Trafford two weeks previously.

But they didn't take any of them, meaning that freakish moment, which should haunt the clown who brought the ball into the stadium (did you think you were going to get on the pitch at half time for a kickabout?), decided the contest.

And while, as stated above, Liverpool's performance on the day got exactly what it deserved, the rules of the game state unequivocally that the goal should not have stood.

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce stated afterwards, "If anyone actually knew that rule then they are a saddo".

And he's right. Even a self-confessed football tragic like myself wouldn't have known that one before it emerged in the aftermath of yesterday's game.

But surely, as many of the refereeing fraternity have stated, one of the FOUR match officials on duty at the Stadium of Light should have known what to do.

Ten years ago during an FA Cup tie at Highbury between Arsenal and Sheffield United, the Gunners scored a goal after the visitors had kicked the ball out of play to get treatment for one of their own players who was injured.

Nwankwo Kanu, new to English football and unaware of the convention that the ball be returned from the resulting throw-in to the opponents, played on and centred for Marc Overmars to score.

Sheffield United understandably were outraged and after the game Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger graciously offered to replay the fixture which the the visiting manager that day was only too happy to take him up on (they ended up losing by the same score as the first game).

That visiting manager's name? Steve Bruce.

Rafa Benitez did well to keep his counsel after the game yesterday and not try and make excuses for his team's poor performance on the day.

But in the cold light of day, the fact remains that if the match officials had applied the rules of the game correctly, Sunderland's profligacy in front of goal would have earned Liverpool an undeserved but useful point.

If Liverpool miss out on the title (or, perhaps more realistically bearing in mind current form, Champions League qualification), how important might that point be?

One can only speculate how this scenario would play out if Manchester United were the team affected.

What I am fairly certain of is that they would fight their corner to try and ensure at least a fair hearing - and Liverpool must do the same.

Alan Hansen: Liverpool cannot afford to lose this week

2009-10-19T14:50:00.000+08:00

By Alan Hansen Published: 7:30AM BST 19 Oct 2009

Mind the gap: Rafael Benítez will be mindful of the points difference between his Liverpool side and the Premier League champions when they visit Anfield Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By next Sunday evening, they could be 10 points behind United and struggling to survive in the Champions League, but the real issue for Liverpool and Benítez is qualification for next season's Champions League.

As a manager of one of the 'big four' clubs, it goes with the territory that your job will be on the line if you fail to qualify for Europe's top competition and all the revenue that brings. And Liverpool are by no means a shoe-in to finish in the Premier League top four this season.

Manchester City and Tottenham arguably have stronger squads and you also have Aston Villa, who underlined their qualities by beating Chelsea on Saturday.

That is why this week is so important. Two defeats would be catastrophic because Liverpool's title hopes would be over and they would face a real battle to progress beyond the group stages of the Champions League.

If you have two games that define your season in April, then that's great. Two defining games in January wouldn't be so good, but to have those games in the middle of October suggests something is fundamentally wrong somewhere.

People keep pointing to the sale of Xabi Alonso, but I'd suggest that the exits of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tévez at United were bigger losses, yet United are sitting at the top of the table.

Liverpool need a new ground and you can argue that there has been a lack of investment, but to be fair to the owners, Benítez has bought a lot of players.

Benítez has struggled in the £3-10m region, though, and players signed for those fees are an important factor. United signed Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra within that bracket and they have developed into two of the most important players in the league. Similarly, Arsenal appear to have done well with Thomas Vermaelen.

But Benítez hasn't done well with anybody in that price region. Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano and Glen Johnson have been good signings, but they all cost big money.

Over a length of time, you need four or five players in the £3-10m bracket to become great buys, but I don't see any at Liverpool.

We all know that they rely heavily on their two out-and-out superstars – Torres and Steven Gerrard – but whenever they are out, other players must step up and deliver and it isn't happening.

But the big problem on the pitch is that, six months ago, Liverpool looked rock-solid in defence, yet they now look so vulnerable. Benítez might disagree, but whenever a team changes its formation to accommodate three centre-backs, as Liverpool did at Sunderland, it's an admission that you are struggling.

The results will tell you that Liverpool have been leaking goals - 10 from set-pieces - and, with the way things are going, you simply cannot see them going unbeaten for 10 or 20 games. Unless they do that, they are not going to get back in the title race.

You can be sure the rest of the Premier League will not show any sympathy for Liverpool. The history and tradition of the 70s and 80s means nothing in 2009.

The mood around Liverpool at the moment is one of total and utter doom and gloom, but they cannot feel sorry for themselves even with the intervention of that beach ball!

While the picture will be bleak if they lose to Lyon and United, a win against the champions will close the gap on Sir Alex Ferguson's team to four points.

If that happens, Liverpool will be back in business, but they certainly cannot afford to lose this week.