Anfield-Red

A Point Against Blackburn & 2011

2011-12-27T19:54:00.000Z

Another 2 points dropped at home for Liverpool versusBlackburn was obviously not a good result. Yet again, the same old story – ahatful of chances were put wide or straight at the keeper, with the oppositionkeeper (and defender) yet again denying the Reds late into injury –time.

After a goalless draw at Wigan last Thursday, Liverpool havenow dropped far too many points against the division’s weaker teams to have anyclaims to a spot in the top four, and Champions’ League football.

Difficult as it is to imagine, there are a number ofpositives that need to be highlighted. Firstly, Liverpool have one of thetightest defences in the league this season – and Pepe Reina had almost nothingto do against Blackburn. Their goal came against the run of play, from a slicedclearance from Charlie Adam, which was virtually impossible to save. A tightdefence is clearly a good foundation of a solid team, and with Skrtel and Aggerkeeping out Jamie Carragher, we are now beginning to see the blossoming of acentral defensive partnership that had many excited three years ago – beforeAgger’s horrendous run of injuries.

Secondly, despite the lack of goals LFC are creating anumber of chances. Doom-mongerers have suggested that the Reds’ inability tobeat teams like Blackburn have returned them to the dark days of Benitez’ lastseason in charge. While the results may be panning out in a similar fashion,Liverpool are creating a lot of chances in every game – and the intent onattack is far more slick than the football played under Rafa.

There is no doubt that draws need to be turned into results- and fast – the style of play is something that has been missing from the teamfor a number of years. Conversely, pretty football wins you nothing unlessgoals are scored, as Arsenal are able to attest in recent years, but with moreinvestment in the team that can be rectified.

Finally, the return of Steven Gerrard for the last 10minutes was also a huge boost to the team and the fans. Stevie G might not bethe force he once was but is still a massive influence and game-changer; onethat LFC cannot afford to lose for half a season.

2011 didn’t quite finish as gloomily as it began – Liverpoolstill had Roy Hodgson hanging by his fingertips and were going from one defeatto the next – but then like now there was optimism that the underlying problemswould be dealt with. Unlike in January when the likes of Paul Konchesky andChristian Poulsen were first team regulars, major surgery is not needed.

What is needed is another striker. Despite their appeals andprotests, LFC are likely to be without Luis Suarez for a sizeable chunk of thewinter and Andy Carroll does not look to be anywhere near ready to replace him.A finisher who has done the job over a number of seasons, possibly for differentclubs is essential.

For me, Darren Bent would be the ideal candidate. He scoresgoals, is great at finishing and creates loads more through intelligentfootball. How much he would set Liverpool back may be the sticking point.

A winger is also needed. Downing has worked hard butproduced very little for his efforts. While it might take time for him tosettle in, at £20m it seems to be a very expensive addition to the squad.Bought at such an inflated price, primarily because of his knowledge and experienceof Premier League football, LFC now have a player who is performing like aoverseas player adapting to his first year in England, at half the price.

Liverpool still look short of genuine options on the rightflank and this would give Downing competition as Kuyt and Henderson do not,look naturally suited to that position. Personally, I’d play Marting Kelly atright-back and Glenn Johnson on the wing for a few games – to see how it wouldwork, but what do I know...?

The Never Fulfilled Their Potential Liverpool XI

2011-12-19T19:45:00.004Z

1.Chris Kirkland

2. Rob Jones

3. Djimi Traore

4. Alou Diarra

5. Gabriel Paletta

6. Torben Piechnik

7. Sebastian Leto

8. Paul Stewart

9. Robbie Fowler

10. Ryan Babel

11. Antonio Nuñez

Chris Kirkland

Signed by Gerard Houllier along with Jerzy Dudek in 2000,Kirkland was tipped to be a future England and Liverpool No.1. Despite puttingin some decent performances, Kirkland’s real talent lay in injuring himself.After breaking a finger while playing with cotton wool in a rubber room, thefuture England No. 1 was soon to be Wigan’s third choice.

Rob Jones

Signed from Crewe for £300,000, Jones became a first-teamregular, putting in enough fine performances to earn a place in the Englandside. Consistently good performances for club and country made Jones a risingstar but injury was to cut short his playing career at the age of 28. Great in his first couple of seasons but finished his career four years too late.

Worthy mention: Antonio Barragan

Djimi Traore

These are two words that can simultaneously strike a Redwith fear, wonder, hysterical laughing and surprise. The French left backsomehow managed to win a Champions’ League medal and kept a place in theLiverpool starting XI for some time despite managing to strike fear into his own team-matesand supporting fans whenever he got within 5 yards of the ball. Managed toscore a sublime own goal in an FA cup tie against Burnley by bamboozling thestrikers, the goalkeeper and himself.

Worthy mention: Christian Ziege

Alou Diarra
The leggy French midfield-enforcer was among a number ofplayers who, at the time, was hailed as ‘the new Patrick Viera’. Diarra’splaying time for the Reds’ was restricted to just two appearances, due to thefact that then-manager Gerard Houllier had 3,286 defensive midfielders on thepayroll.

Worthy mention: Salif Diao

Torben Piechnik
Signalled the start of Liverpool's chain of calamitous buys based on decent appearances in International tournaments, (Phil Babb, El Hadji Diouf to name but two) Piechnik was signed by Souness after some solid performances for Denmark in Euro '92. Once the league kicked off and the days got shorter, so did Piechnik's form. Only managed two dozen performances before being smuggled out of the ground never to be seen again.

Worthy mention:Nicky Tanner

Gabriel Paletta
Brought in by Benitez and seen as a future rock at the back of the defence, Paletta spent lots of time nowhere near the first team. Played and scored in a Carling Cup game against Reading but soon after Liverpool FC denied that he had ever existed. Many believe that Paletta was later turned into a goal post to be used at Melwood.

Mark Gonzalez

Another Benitez signing, the Chilean winger, has pipped manyother contenders for the coveted No.7 shirt. Harry Kewell was omitted on thegrounds that he had already established himself as a star, making a name forhimself at Leeds. Sebastian Leto, is another who could be added – although hefound the net 6 times in his first 10 games for Panathanaikos this season.Jimmy Carter – one of King Kenny’s last signing for the club before leaving –is also worth a mention. But for sheer bloody-mindedness of signing a turkeythe Chilean has to get it.

Liverpool were unable to sign Gonzalez at first, as he wasdenied a work visa. After being loaned out to Albacete while waiting forhis Visa application, LFC found that their young starlet wasn’t such a star. Madea number of first team appearances disguised as a referee and a blade of grass. Gonzalez can now be found in Moscow, possibly playing football.

Nigel Clough

Given the holy No. 7 shirt after Liverpool shelled out nearly £3m, Cloughy looked a bargain after scoring in his first couple of games. After that it all went downhill (just as it had done for Paul Stewart a season earlier) and was edged out of the team by the emergence of Robbie Fowler. Like Paul Stewart, stayed around for only a couple of seasons, like an expensive but badly fitting suit. No matter what Liverpool did with him, it always looked a bit awkward.

Worthy mention: Igor Biscan

Robbie Fowler
A player known to most as ‘God’ and scorer of over 200 goalsfor Liverpool FC, including the fastest Premier League hat-trick. Some failure,eh? A controversial choice, I know, but there is no denying that had RobbieFowler avoided that first injury, he would have broken most scoring records atAnfield as well as getting a bagful of goals for England. Still considered tobe one of the finest English strikers, most Reds wonder what might havebeen......

Worthy mention: El-Hadji Diouf - Rubbish footballer, rubbish human being.

Andy Carroll
Where do you start with Liverpool strikers? There have beenquite a few stinkers in the past 15 years or so – Erik Meijer, Sean Dundee, TitiCamara, El-Hadji Diouf, Andriy Voronin, even Dirk Kuyt. Of those two – bothCamara and Kuyt were/are able to score goals albeit not in the quantityexpected. When taking his Eredivisie record into account, Kuyt has beenparticularly poor, but makes up for it with startling workrate.

The award has to go to Andy Carroll, though. As he stillremains a Liverpool player I hope that this is turns out to be a prematureprediction. As it currently stands, Carroll has the athleticism and movement ofa criminally obese midget with concrete blocks attached to stilts. His lack ofconfidence sees him put every shot and header (and against Chelsea, penalty)straight at the keeper, regardless of where the keeper happens to be. He has hisback to the goal so often, he could be mistaken for giving the opposition goalthe cold shoulder on moral grounds. Poor Andy – let’s hope he gets his shootingboots on soon, I'd love him to do well.

Antonio Nuñez
‘Antonio who?’ Was the immediate reaction from Liverpoolfans, when they found out that the club had been mugged by Real Madrid, afterbeing given £8m and a reserve player for Michael Owen. Nuñez’ Liverpool careerstarted out like a firework from the pound shop in a downpour – barely a sparkwas mustered. After getting injured within days of arriving at Anfield, it wasa number of weeks before patient Kopites finally got to saw the full complementof his tricks, including his wayward passing, over-hit crosses and beingtackled by the halfway line. Was later sold on for 45p and a box ofteabags.

Worthy mention: Mark Walters

Seven, Nines, Tens and Elevens

2011-12-12T17:14:00.000Z

What to make of LFC 2011? Roy was ushered out the door when this year was bearly a week old, and Kenny was restored to the throne. With that done, it promised to be a hell of a year at Anfield, and in many ways it has.

At the end of January, we finally got a proper Number Seven. Someone who not only looked like he was fit to tie Kenny's boots, but could also fill them. Luis Suarez has made an instant impact, and no further explaining needs to be done. At roughly the same time, just as the transfer window was being closed, Fernando Torres left for West London, and Andy Carroll came along to replace him. It's certainly been a different 12 months for the big Geordie.

Even before his surprise move to Merseyside, Carroll was drawing detabe about whether he was just a big man with a knack of scoring for the team he loved, or a genuinely precocious talent. Nearly 12 months later, the jury is still out with Carroll struggling to find any real form in a red shirt.

A lot has been made of his partnership and chemistry with Suarez, but it goes far deeper than that. Liverpool have struggled for goals - with critics suggesting that LFC are a team carrying a striker who can't score. It could said that Liverpool are carrying two strikers who can't score goals, AC and Dirk Kuyt. It is true that both Carroll and Kuyt seem slower than an asthmatic tortoise at times. Yet, perhaps this is rather harsh as Kuyt rarely gets a look in as a striker, being preferred by Kenny to play wide right when selected. Rather, it is perhaps Carroll's positional sense that has cost him oppotunities to find the net than fault in his link up play with the flambouyant Uruguayan.

Simply put, there are times when Carroll's anticipation and speed of thought have not been sufficient when LFC are on the attack. There have been a number of occasions in each match where, logically, he needs to be making a run into the six-yard box in order to finish off a move, yet stalls waiting to hold up the game.

Some pundits have also said that much of Carroll's success and goals at Newcastle came from Barton's early balls, from wide and into the box - much like Carroll's second goal against Manchester City at the tailend of last season when LFC won 3-0. While, this might be true, I doubt very much that many headers are going to end up in the net from 15 yards out. Certainly not against top goalkeepers at any rate.

For Carroll to get onto the scoresheet, Liverpool will need to play a much more expansive game than they currently do. Big Andy is waiting for the crosses to get on the end of, yet much of the Reds' attacking game relies on feeding Suarez, which is only natural when you consider the panic he induces in the opposition's penalty box. Much of our attacking is down with the ball on the ground too. At the moment Carroll is playing like a traditional number 10 - the English variety not the 'enganche' of South American football, playing 'in the hole'. Carroll holds the ball up as if to feed an imaginary poacher - the classic Number 9. Currently, Big Andy is more like Emile Heskey than John Toshack - in all the wrong ways.

Luis Suarez is the main conduit through which LFC attack and while he may be at times wasteful, he creates chances by the bagful. This is the reason why Maxi Rodriguez has undergone such a renaissance under Kenny Dalglish. With our number 7 dragging so many defenders in to stop him, and others closing Carroll down, (despite his lack of attacking runs) it creates enough space for Maxi to burst through and clean up. Maxi makes the runs and gets into the positions that Andy Carroll should be making.

What Liverpool currently need is a finisher, a poacher, a goal-bagger. Someone with instinctive positioning and the ability to spot a loose ball in the 6 yard box and to put it away. Someone like Filippo Inzaghi or Ian Rush. Carroll needs more time to adapt, and is still young. Progress needs to be made in the coming year both on his fitness and his game intelligence but it will be interesting to see how long Kenny's patience lasts.

Transfer Ins and Outs

2011-09-01T15:24:00.000+01:00

The transfer window was sealed again last night as the brisk draughts of autumn come around once more. For a team that finished 6th in last season's Premier League, hopelessly unbalanced after three years of under-investment, and chocked full of players who never really looked the part, it's been quite a summer at Anfield.

Clearly the main objective over the last three months was to get rid of the raft of players who were not fit to wear the red shirt, namely Milan Jovanovic, Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky, Phillipe Degan and Joe Cole. There was also Alberto Aquilani, Raul Miereles, Emiliano Insua and David Ngog who, while having had good moments at Liverpool still had question marks over the overall commitment to the club.

That these 9 players have been found new homes is clearly credit to the work of Damien Comelli and Kenny Dalglish. While Cole and Aquilani have been shipped out on loan and Degen released, the other 6 players all left for a fee or have reduced the wage bill significantly. Soto Krygiakos, who played well last season despite his limitations, and Nabil El Zhar were also released, allowing Kenny to bring in a higher quality, younger substitutes in their places.

Shedding 11 players is no mean feat. Particularly players who have struggled for fitness and/or form; players like Jovanovic and Cole were moved on despite their huge salaries and lack of on-field return.

And their replacements? Many of you will be all too familiar with Jose Enrique, Sebastien Coates, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson, Alexander Doni and Craig Bellamy. With the exception of Doni and Bellamy, all are young, have a potential re-sell value and (with the exception of Coates and Doni) have experience of top-flight English football. Without exception, all of these players are versatile and make LFC that much more dynamic than the squad has been for three or four years.

While the Uruguayan defender Coates may need some time to settle into English football the rest will be in contention for a starting berth in the first XI and offer Kenny Dalglish a greater tactical flexibility.

Bellamy may well be the signing of the summer: he has bags of goals and bags of experience in the Premier League, knows the club well from his season at Anfield in 2006-07, as well as being a boyhood fan. He is able to player as supporting or main striker and will also provide solid cover for Downing on the left-wing.

In the first three games of the season it is clear that Enrique and Downing are building a good understanding on the left of the pitch and Henderson has played two very good games, culminating in a well-deserved goal against Bolton in the 3-1 win.

Twelve months ago, we were optimistic about Joe Cole, excited about the possibilities of Raul Miereles while praying that Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky and Roy Hodgson would find another level. We all know what happened next. That the latter three have now gone through the exit along with many others just shows what a difference John W. Henry and 12 months make.

New Central Defender wanted?

2011-07-20T21:06:00.000+01:00

You can't be too surprised when Liverpool are supposedly in for another player when during pre-season, but I was surprised to see the club linked with a move for Atletico Madrid's Uruguayan central defender Diego Godin. Whether it's true or not, I'm surprised that the left-back position isn't a greater priority for us.

The centre-back position does seem to be a weak point for us, it's true: Carragher can't be too far from the knacker's yard, Soto is vulnerable at the best of times and Dagger, for all his talents, gets injuries in his sleep. So it is a position I'd be slightly alarmed to see left as it is come 1st September. But what of our other, younger centre-backs?

Daniel Ayala was said to be a very consistent performer for Derby County before injury in March cut short his season and spell at Pride Park. The obvious choice is Martin Kelly, who deputised superbly at right-back for the injured Glen Johnson is tipped to be a first-choice central defender.

While it poses massive risks throwing green players in at the deep end - particularly in positions like centre-half, there is never going to be a good time to test the mentality of younger players unless they play big games.

Kelly will thrive in either position, such is the composure and distribution he showed when called upon at right back. He should be considered to fill in on the right or centre. Ayala may well be a different proposition and need more game time in the second tier if he really is LFC material, but with only the early rounds of the FA Cup and as well as a potential cup run in the League Cup to really give the squad players a run-out, it may well be that barring injuries, we'll see less of the them next season.

Aquilani, Ngog and Warm Words

2011-07-19T21:35:00.001+01:00

In the recent 3-6 victory over a Malaysia XI, Liverpool's Alberto Aquilani and David Ngog won pludits for their performance from the internet community and none other than John W Henry, head of Fenway Sports Group, owners of Liverpool FC. This in turn set the wheels of the rumour mill in motion, with people a-plenty on social networks insisting that the pair, who both have been tipped to be pushed towards the Anfield exit, still have a future at the behest of John W. Henry:

"One missing link last year: Acquilani [sic]. Put the ball near Ngog and the goal and it's going in. Too much talk of them somewhere else."

I think perhaps the quote-hungry bloggers and journalists have misintepreted this; JWH seems particularly humble in his knowledge of football and has given over the decision making process to Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comelli. Aquilani will stay if Kenny thinks he needs him, and if he doesn't then whether LFC receive an appropriate offer for the Italian or not.

The hyperbole that was being churned out by commentators and bloggers for the two was as baffling as seeing both their names getting praise. One exhibition show in pre-season is no yardstick by which to measure a player, regardless of either player's ability.

Perhaps Henry was referring to the movement that Aquilani showed during the recently friendly, rather than the fact that he was an individual component that was missed for the Reds' last year. With all due to respect to the big man, what was missing last year for the first half of the season was cojones and a decent set of tactics. What the team has been missing for a while is a decent out-and-out winger, something which was never addressed by either Benitez or Houllier. Hopefully the arrival of Downing will go some way to rectifying that.

But if Aquilani (and Ngog) is to stay then it would of course be no bad thing. Alberto Aquilani is a fantastic player who has struggled with injury in the past and needed a full season under his belt to get his game back. The only doubt that remains is whether he is equipped to deal with the rigours of English football. He started to show at the end of the 2009-10 that he had the talent to do that - but will he get the games to prove it this season?

With so many players ahead in the pecking order, the opportunities to show their worth might only come in the early rounds of the cups, injuries permitting. For David Ngog, it is perhaps only a stay of execution. For 'Il Principe' the jury still remains out.

Out on Loan, Coming Home

2011-07-07T21:19:00.000+01:00

Liverpool yesterday announced the signing of Charlie Adam their second aquisition of the summer, finally putting an end to months of speculation about the 26 year-old midfielder's future, their has been other 'additions' to the Reds' squad in the past week.

Alberto Aquilani has returned to pre-season training with the rest of the Reds' squad on Monday. There seems to be a growing expectation that Aquilani will not be around come September given the arrival of Jordan Henderson and Adam, which is a shame because I believe the Italian was never really given much of a chance at LFC. Understandably, there are doubts about the Roman's ability to last the pace in English football particularly as their are on going concerns about his fitness.

Aquilani has spent a prosperous season at Juventus, playing 31 games and weighing in with 5 assists. His performances have won him high praise in Italy and he seems to have put his long term injuries behind him but it does seem that Aqua would welcome a return to his homeland. With LFC now having 8 central midfielders in the form of Gerrard, Lucas, Adam, Miereles, Henderson, Spearing and Poulsen on their books, it's looking likely that Poulsen, Aquilani and unfortunately, Miereles might be heading towards the exit.

Another player that has come back to the fold is Emiliano Insua after spending a season on loan at Galatasary. What happens to the young left back's future now is a mystery. The Argentinian made 16 appearances for the Turkish giants, and having been sent back to L4, one can assume that he failed to set the world on fire in Istanbul. Having said that, it is quite possible that Insua could do a very good job as a back-up for the as-yet unknown first-choice left-back, although common sense dictates that this role will be given to Fabio Aurelio, despite his injury problems.
It is widely expected that Liverpool will sign a left-back before the season begins, so Insua's Anfield career could be over before the start of August.

The other player to come back from a loan spell is Dani Pacheco. Pacheco is another player whose future remains uncertain, after spending the final third of the season on loan at Norwich City, during their successful push for promotion to the Premier League, playing six games and scoring twice for the Canaries.

Pacheco arrived from the Barcelona youth set-up in the summer of 2007 with the highest of expectations but has been overlooked by successive Liverpool managers in the last couple of seasons. His primary role is second striker, but was re-positioned in a wide role for Liverpool Reserves in an attempt to develop his game, but failed to convince in this position. While he clearly has a natural footballing talent, there does seem to be a question mark over his lack of first-team appearances. If he fails to convince Kenny of his worth this season, it is likely to be his last.

I haven't of course mentioned Paul Konchesky, but the less said about this player, the better. Hopefully for all concerned, he will be moved on to another club at the first opportunity.

Silly Season pt2

2011-06-19T22:55:00.000+01:00

In my last blog I took a look at some of the midfielders that Liverpool have been linked with and tipped to buy during the summer. In this blog I am going to look at some of the defenders that might be coming to Anfield in July.
Most supporters would agree that the left-back position is one where new personnel is needed the most. Despite having three left-backs already in the form of Fabio Aurelio, Paul Konchesky and Emiliano Insua, (as well as the emerging Jack Robinson) LFC continue to be linked with new faces in this position but it's going to be just as difficult for Dalglish and Comelli to ship out these three players as it is to recruit a quality left-sided defender. Aurelio, despite his quality just isn't able to sustain the fitness levels throughout the season; Konchesky is, and never will be good enough to play for Liverpool (and has a gob-shite of a mother to boot); and Insua despite showing early promise is no match for the Premier League. So who might be the new left-back?

Gael Clichy
Has one year remaining on his current Arsenal contract and is said to be unhappy at the Emirates. Much of the press believe a bid of between £5-7 million would be enough to secure his signature. The writers of Anfield Index recently wrote an excellent blog on the merits of the left-backs linked with the Reds and how they compare statistically. Should Clichy come to Anfield it would be a massive coup, but why would the Frenchman forsake Champions League football to come to LFC? Clichy has been linked with a move to Italy's Serie A, and would most likely move to a club that will offer involvement in football's top competition.

Jose Enrique
The likeliest of the three left-backs to join Liverpool of those linked, the Spaniard may be weary about staying at Newcastle given the turmoil they seem to be going through. With Carroll having left for the Reds in January, Kevin Nolan preferring a spell in the second tier to another season on Tyneside, and Joey Barton claiming his Newcastle career is on borrowed time, Enrique might well want to leave too. Is he good enough? Some superb defensive and attacking displays, particularly before Christmas, saw Enrique earn high praise from the Press

Leighton Baines
Solid defender with good attacking intent who has developed in his time with Everton, culminating with his best season with the Blues - featuring in every minute of their league campaign and managed 11 assists in all competitions. There is no doubting that Baines is a very good player, and one, few Reds would be unhappy with. Would Baines defect to the Red half of Merseyside? This season, it seems unlikely that he would go back to the club where he spent a spell in his youth as a winger. European football would be a big bait and speculation seems to have cooled.

Cristian Zapata
Udinese central defender has this week claimed that a move to Liverpool could be imminent. Although reported from various sources, there seems to little be hard evidence to suggest this is a serious move. Has said that he will make a decision after his commitments with Colombia at Copa America, which could potentially engage him until the beginning of August. It seems unlikely Liverpool would be keen to sign someone so late into the pre-season preparations, and with Soto Krygiakos having signed a new one-year deal, it's likely a name to fill column inches.

Transfer Silly Season Part 1

2011-06-14T19:40:00.001+01:00

Summer is a time when we can forget (supposedly) about living on a cold, miserable island and shrug off our worries - if only for a few weeks. For the average football fan, it represents something of a double-edged sword. No football on television for weeks is the obvious drawback, but there is also the excitement of transfers that each new day brings.

How things have changed in 12 months. This time last year we were getting ready to say 'Adios!' to Mascherano and Rafa, and trying to find a way to get excited about welcoming Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky and Roy Hodgson. This time around, we have new owners in the form of FSG and King Kenny is back in command, and the new owners have promised to splash the cash.

In the last week the Reds' have snapped up England U-21 starlet Jordan Henderson for a fee believed to be in the region of £18m but have also missed out on Ashley Young and Phil Jones, both of whom signed for that lot from Salford. Liverpool continue to be linked with an array of different players every day. Let's take a look at some of them:

Charlie Adam
There have been reports that this deal is close to being finalised this week but we shall see. Had an amazing season at Blackpool and been at the heart of everything they did well. Showed great ability to find a killer pass and has a decent shot on him too. Whether he can duplicate that form with a bigger club is the big question: Would be a massive signing for LFC if he could continue his form in the Premier League, but there is no such thing as an absolute certainty when players come from smaller to bigger clubs. Just ask Steve Sidwell and Chelsea.

Stewart Downing
Has just been voted Aston Villa's player-of-the-year by their fans, this is a player who we seem to be linked with every couple of years. While he obviously has some talent and is a decent crosser of the ball, he for some reason, doesn't really get me excited. Decent enough pace but so often fails to run at full-backs and score a decent amount of goals. More likely to be another Jermaine Pennant than John Barnes, and doesn't represent particularly good value at an estimated £15m.

Charles N'Zogbia
Another left-winger, who I'd favour over Downing, although that might be quite unpopular with other Reds. I'd prefer to see N'Zogbia over Downing for the simple fact that he runs at full-backs and creates many more openings with the ball. The downside is that he is too inconsistent to be considered a shoo-in for the first XI throughout the whole season.

Juan Mata
The 23-year old left-winger is a product of the Real Madrid youth academy and has been a regular in Valencia's side for the past four seasons. With 46 goals from 172 appearances he also has a very respectable strike rate in La Liga. Mata is probably the one player most LFC fans would like to see wearing the Liver bird next season, and one of the bigger stars that Liverpool would be able to attract in their current position. With Valencia still struggling financially, they may be willing to sell. However, with a third place finish the team from La Mestalla can offer European football and Mata may be tempted to stay - or move to a bigger club with Champions' League football assured.

End of Season

2011-05-17T13:22:00.003+01:00

The King is back, eh? It's a strange season when Liverpool finish in sixth position of the Premier League and fans are quietly positive. It's not the same team or club which, in the Autumn, started the season under a horrendous rain cloud, or when things were looking bleak on-field in the days before the first frosts began to bite.

Even reasonable fans of other teams have noted Liverpool's staggering improvement since Kenny Dalglish was named the caretaker, when the Reds lost their FA cup tie 1-0 to Man United. Despite the defeat to Spurs, and the strong possibility of no european football next season, there are so many reasons to be cheerful.

With a three-year formalised Liverpool can, for the first time since the fall-out of 2007 Champions' League final defeat in Athens, begin to build for the future. How much is spent in the summer, is somehow irrelevant. While it's clear as the nose on your face that the first team needs improving dramatically, it's heartening that the manager is prepared to give younger faces like Flanno and Spearing a chance. What is most surprising is that the above two can play a number of successive games now and no one batters an eyelid, because Kenny has faith. And they, in turn deliver.

It could be argued that Houllier, Benitez and Hodgson were all defence-minded managers. While Rafa had Liverpool playing some decent football, this was only fitfully. Reds' fans have in recent months, seen the consistently best attacking football in over a decade, from Liverpool. For this reason alone, it is much easier to tolerate seeing that lot from Salford taking their 19th title. That Fenway Sports Group appointed Dalglish on a permanent basis just two days before Manchester United won the title was something of a PR masterclass.

Losing Europa League football may be a blessing in disguise. It means the players obviously play fewer games and therefore should be less-injury prone. It may also mean that Kenny and Damien Comolli have time to mould the squad in the long-term and give the league a decent challenge next season, bringing home Champions League football which is so vital to recruitment and income generation in the modern game. The question is, can Liverpool recruit their primary targets knowing they cannot offer the European stage in any form for 2011-12?

While many LFC fans may see them as being possible league contenders next year, it might be just too soon and too optimistic to see this happen in 2012. Some of the sluggishness that was standard fayre earlier on in the season under Hodgson, could be seen again on Sunday against Spurs. Positivity is good, but unbridled optimism could well be damaging. Dalglish has, in interviews tried his best against signalling hyerpole and over-enthusiasm. Fans will be happy to see the gap close on Arsenal, Chelsea and the Mancs.

It's natural that the fans will be praying for a summer revolution at Anfield, particularly seeing number 19 go to Old Trafford, but what is important most of all, is that the evolution under Kenny and Clarkey continues to gain steam.Perhaps the younger players will make up the majority of fresh faces in Kenny's first full season, and should that be the case, there won't be many who will question his judgement.

West Ham Match Report

2011-03-03T14:29:00.003Z

HAVING gone on an eight match unbeaten run and seen off Slavia Prague in the Europa League, Liverpool had every right to go into this match full of confidence. Despite missing Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio and Soto Kyrgiakos (who despite a head injury was named on the bench).

The warning signs for Liverpool have been there. In recent seasons relegation embattled teams have always proved to be a banana skin for the Reds, and after two very unconvincing performances against the Czech side in the Europa league, this was never going to be an easy afternoon.

Undoubtedly the damage was done in the first half. Liverpool started slowly and allowed West Ham the impetus to go on the offensive. Raul Miereles, who has had a renaissance under Kenny Dalglish in the 50-plus days that the legend has been back in charge, had probably his worst game for LFC before being substituted just after half-time. Far too often Miereles, Danny Wilson and Dirk Kuyt were caught in possession and allowed the Hammers to flood forward.

Losing Martin Kelly, Liverpool's best player in the first half, was a huge setback not only for the remainder of this game, but also for the four or five weeks he is due to be out through a hamstring injury.

While the ever influential Scot Parker was named man-of-the-match, it was Demba Ba, West Ham's loan signing from Hoffenheim who caused Liverpool all kinds of problems, with Martin Skrtel being pulled out of position a number of times before Parker broke the deadlock on 38 minutes, with a sublime chip with the outside of his right boot.

West Ham's second came from the troublesome Ba, out-jumping the Liverpool defence to nod in within a whisker of the half-time whistle.

Liverpool have of course been the author of greater reverses from half-time deficits, but it wasn't to be this time. Liverpool showed more speed of thought and urgency in the second period but looked unlikely to create enough to pull the game back. Steven Gerrard perhaps going closest with a long range effort that Robert Green tipped away for a corner.

With five minutes left some Luis Suarez trickery teed up a Glen Johnson tap in, but yet again lingering on the ball, this time by Lucas allowed Carlton Cole to race through and blast the ball inside Pep Reina's near post for the third and final nail in the Reds' coffin.

It was an afternoon for two of the substitutes - David Ngog and Joe Cole - to make an impression after recent poor performances. Ngog, although inconsistent did show enough quality in the opening weeks of the season, but since the arrival of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll has seemed very poor, as if falling down the pecking order has had a hammer-blow effect on his confidence.

And what of the enigma that is Joe Cole? Having played little part in Chelsea's double winning campaign, it semed that Liverpool had signed a great player who was unable to get a regular spot at Chelsea only because of the quality around him.

It is now beginning to dawn on Reds what the real reason might have been. This season, despite his energy and scurring, has seen very little of Cole's trademark invention and trickery

Liverpool's hopes of snatching fouth place must now have been flattened under the hammer blow dealt by the Irons. If Liverpool are to gain qualification to Europe next season it can only realistically be through winning the Europa League.

If they are regain their place amongst the elite in English football, Liverpol must start by beating, as a matter of course, those teams whose Premier League status is under constant threat.

Carroll and Suarez

2011-02-20T21:58:00.001Z

IT'S BEEN A WHILE since Liverpool had a striker to parade, it's been a good while since they've gone out and bought two, two who are first team material. To spend a combined total of £58m doing it, is of course unheard of in Liverpool's history. Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez are Liverpool's first and second most expensive signings ever, respectively.

The last time Liverpool signed two strikers was of course when they signed both Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel in the summer of 2007, both of whom, left the this January to make way for the new recuits.

While at that time Liverpool were expected to bolster their squad with signings of two players who were considered potential greats, this time the cirumstances have very much changed.

Having gone the last 18 months playing with little consistency or confidence, Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll must now bed in and fire Liverpool to at the bare minimum a Europa League spot for next season, which is quite a come down in status compared to their Champions' League final appearance just weeks before the signing of Torres.

With the emergence of Raul Miereles as an integral first-teamer, the necessity to deliver immediately has receded some what. Carroll is currently injured and is expected to be out for another week or so, and Luis Suarez has only played approximately 2 hours of football since before Christmas, due to his ban for biting a fellow player, and those have come in his performances for Liverpool.

Carroll at £35m would appear to be a risk for Liverpool. At 20 he emerged as Newcastle's first-choice striker and in only his fist season in the Premier League netted 9 times for the Magpies. His ability and confidence are evident for those who have seen him. Indeed Fabio Capello saw enough of him to give him his England debut in the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Farance, in November.
But with such a mammoth price tag hanging over his head - there is the possibility of expectation being too high: regardless of his goal tally there will always be a certain type of football fan who goes through the statistics with a fine-toothed comb and finds reason to doubt the price tag and repute of a player. Being the most expensive British player ever is bound to have its burdens.

He offers something LFC something they haven't had since Peter Crouch. A big presence leading the line, holding up play and dragging central defenders out of position; whereas Peter Crouch had a deft touch and a head 'like a 50 pence piece', Carroll is lethal in the air but works just as well with the ball on the deck. What Liverpool will need though if they are to fully use Caroll's talents, is more width.

It is said that Suarez can play wide as well as being second or first striker. While it would be a shame to see such a talent stuck out on the wing on a regular basis, for the remainder of this season it may offer Kenny an additional option in matches where the opposition are difficult to break down.

Second striker is clearly where most fans would like to see the tricky Uruguayan forward, with expectation ramped just a touch higher now that he possesses the sacred No.7 shirt. From his strike rate with Ajax - 81 goals in 108 league games, it is perhaps the signing who brings most intrigue.

Liverpool have clearly lacked pace, width and ideas offensively this season, and in spite of the improvement shown since the arrival of Kenny Dalglish and coach Steve Clarke there is still much to improve upon.

In the meantime, Liverpool fans seem to be content enough that Fenway Sports Group and John W. Henry are putting their hands in their pockets. After three years of under-investment this will signal the start of a bigger rebuilding process.

Fernando Torres

2011-02-20T00:46:00.000Z

So Fernando has gone and Liverpool have a new Number Nine. Everybody and his dog has given his opinion on the transfer lunacy that happened on Deadline day, and now the dust has settled I'd like to give mine.

Fernando Torres leaving Liverpool was a good thing. Be it poor form or lack of interest, we hadn't seen the real Torres for almost a year. That we got £50m for him was something of a coup for Liverpool. The man obviously has an abundence of talent but Liverpool may well have cashed in at a time when they can get a premium fee for him. Should injury or loss of form continue to plague the Spaniard then in hindsight this may well represent the best piece of business since they bought him as a 21-year-old from Atletico Madrid.

Having now played a couple of games for Chelsea it's clear that he both has to adapt to their way of playing and find some consistent form. Having played up front as a lone marksman, it will take some time to being part of a three man front line, or even playing off a second striker.

That he has chosen to go to, in his words, to "a bigger club", is really something that cannot be fathomed. Put into context, it was a decision based on short-sightedness, due in large part to Chelsea's role (and Liverpool's lack of) Champion's League participation. While Chelsea do still remain in the Champion's League it remains to be seen whether the West London club will even manage to finish above the Reds the way their faltering season is going. At the time of writing, Cherlsea have just been knocked out of the FA Cup today by Everton on penalties, and with it goes Chelsea's hopes of defending either of their trophies from last season.

So is it a case of decide in haste and repent at leisure? It is clear that Chelsea need possibly a greater overhaul of their playing staff than even Liverpool do, and that could mean yet another 18 months of Fernando and his new team-mates adjusting to each other. Perhaps he might find himself wondering whether it might have all been some enormous mistake.

What ever happens, it would be a shame to see a football player with such talent fail to win so little in their clubb playing career.

Goodbye to Torres?

2011-01-30T19:08:00.002Z

THE JUBILATION of Friday's news that a fee had been agreed for Ajax striker Luis Suarez, was tempered by news of Chelsea's bid of around £35m for Fernando Torres.

Alarm has subsequently turned to horror as Liverpool's No. 9 handed in a written transfer request, which the club immediately refused.

While the official line from Anfield is that Torres is not for sale, news today states that Liverpool would be willing to sell their star striker to the West London club for no less than £50m. There are numerous other reports today too suggesting Nicolas Anelka might be involved in a swap deal.

With the transfer window closing tomorrow, the one positive for Liverpool is that it is unlikely to drag on, unlike the high profile transfers in recent years of Cristiano Ronaldo, Javier Mascherano and Thierry Henry.

Fans will know one way or another come midnight tomorrow just what the outcome might be but if there are no further bids from Chelsea it may yet destabilise Kenny's attempts to put Liverpool's season back on track.

Certainly £50m or anywhere close to that figure is worth accepting - particularly as the player is rumoured to be dismayed at what has happened at Liverpool over the last 18 months. Two or even three quality reinforcements can be made to the squad with that type of fee, although unless Dalglish and Comolli work fast it is highly unlikely that the money would or could be spent before the summer.

The nightmare scenario would entail no new Chelsea bid, leaving a disenfranchised and unmotivated Torres to see out the final half of the season where his transfer value may well drop, should his performances reflect those that he put in during the first half of the season.

Since Kenny's appointment as caretaker manager, the Spanish talisman has refound his scoring touch and seems much more commited to the cause. Should this continue then the possibility of gaining Liverpool's full value of the striker in the summer may well be realised, and the strong possibility that Chelsea may have oposition to their claim from the 'big two' of La Liga - Real Madrid and Barcelona. Being a Colchonero and making his name at Atletico's Vicente Calderon stadium, it seems unlikely that he would opt for the Bernabeu - yet it seemed unlikely that Torres would walk out on Liverpool for a Premier League rival.

Should the unthinkable happen, it might well be a blessing in disguise for Liverpool. The opportunity to add numbers to a first XI that is severly lacking in depth is the obvious reason. One would hope that bids for Ashley Young and Charlie Adam are now in the offing. And how about they spend some of that £50m (should it happen) on Fernando Torres? By that I mean Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente Torres a big, strong English type striker that would almost certainly thrive in the EPL. He'd look fantastic in a red shirt with a Liver bird and may well link up well with Suarez.

The next 24 hours are going to be very interesting for both Liverpool and Chelsea fans alike.

11 Donkeys beaten in Blackpool

2011-01-13T19:57:00.000Z

TWO GAMES, two defeats reads Kenny's scorecard so far. That fact that both have been played away should be scant consolation for Liverpool, although having only scored seven times on the road this season coming into this match, it came as no surprise.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and of the few positives to come out of the match, a Fernando Torres goal must be one. Aside from the third minute stike, only Pepe Reina, Martin Kelly and Lucas Leiva came away with any credit. By a country mile was Reina the Reds' star player, and but for him, the score line might have been much more embarrassing. That Liverpool seemed vunerable might be due to a slightly more positive approach for Liverpool's caretaker manager, yet the same weaknesses will not go away.

With Glen Johnson playing on the left in place of the absent/dropped Paul Konchesky, perhaps it was asking for trouble, considering the £18m right-back has difficulty defending comfortably in his natural position. Certainly Johnson wasn't directly to blame for either goal with the defence as a unit looking shaky and liable to be breached as the game wore on.

Some will blame the hapless Christian Poulsen for not offering the defensive enough protection while others might point the finger at Milan Jovanovic. Both should shoulder some of the blame for yet another poor display. Jovanovic in particular looked a particularly poor choice as a direct replacement for the suspended Steven Gerrard in the centre of midfield and Poulsen probably wishes he was still in Juventus' reserves. Dalglish can be applauded for giving game time to those who found no favour under Hodgson, but square pegs will not fit in round holes .

The harsh reality is that Liverpool yet again failed to pass the ball and retain possession effectively over 90 minutes. The collective bad-day-at-the-office was reflected in over half a dozen poor individual displays with the same ingrained flaws and fear of playing in anything other than their own half of the field. Old habits die hard, and it will take more than three training sessions to undo Roy and Rafa's caution. Even when chasing the game there remained little support for those players - chiefly Kelly, Miereles,and Torres who did visit Blackpool's penalty area.

Kenny has seen enough now to know that he has his work to restore confidence and vim to Liverpool's first team cut out. For all the transfer speculation during this month's transfer window linking LFC to Europe's hottest young talent, what the Reds' really need is an old hand in their hour of need. If Gary McAllister were available now, he would offer more to LFC's attack then any flavour of the month. An experienced head to look up and place the right pass or split a defence is what is needed.

For all the promise and talent that academy alumni such as Shelvey, Pacheco and Ecclestone possess, it might well take an extra dimension to salvage a very disappointing season and turn it into a mediocre one. Nobody has that magic wand right now, not even Fernando Torres.

The King Is Back

2011-01-08T16:58:00.002Z

I have to admit that the possibility of Kenny coming back to manage the club seemed like something of a double-edged sword. If it ends in tears, then the legend has been ruined. If it's a success then it might make it harder to appoint a long term successor.

It's without doubt a stroke of genius to bring him in before a game as important as tomorrow. Many of us thought the defeat at Blackburn would see Hodgson's head roll on Thursday morning. When yesterday (Friday) the pre-match press conference was cancelled, it seemed that Fenway Sports Group (FSG) had bottled the big decision before such a big game. Both the club and Hodgson's integrity were being undermined.

Thankfully, that all changed this morning, and Dalglish's appointment as caretaker manager was announced. Playing Manchester United away in the FA cup doesn't get any bigger, regardless of how people see the competition these days. The cup has history, magic and massive importance to Liverpool fan as it does to other football fans. It's important that the team gives a performance, if not a result tomorrow. Kenny's return should go some way to inspiring that.

Most importantly, it signifies the start of a new era. The last remnants of the Hicks & Gillett's reign are now finished. It's a new start for the club and it shows that John W Henry and FSG are listening to the fans.

The other positive is that it gives everyone at the club a lift. Supporters and players alike should be given an extra lift by the news, particularly in that many Reds feel that Hodgson was far too chummy with Alex Ferguson, something of a no-no for any Liverpool manager.

Now that Roy has gone, I think that most Reds will wish him the best of luck in the future. For those who know him he is regarded as a gentleman and a decent bloke - he accepted an offer in the summer which most managers only dream of, and unfortunately as most of us knew, he wasn't up to the task.

It remains to be seen what changes will happen to the playing staff in the current transfer window. Damien Comolli is of course the man in charge of player recruitment now, so to some degree Kenny's position shouldn't change that.

However, as this is (we assume) a temporary measure, new faces may well be in short supply during this transfer season for a number of possible reasons.

Any future manager will want some dialogue in who will be recruited during the summer, and will also want a sizeable transfer budget. Any fees spent now may well eat into the recruitment drive for the summer. It would also be prudent of the club not to bring in players now who the new manager might deem surplus to requirements in the summer.

However it is clear that a number of positions need reinforcing. The overall quality of the squad needs to be upgraded in order to finish in a respectable position - Europa League qualification must be a minimum requirement for the club this season - whether this will be enought to hold on to Reina, Torres and Agger is questionable. World-class players need a world-class stage.

For now though, let's just be happy. Kenny is back where he belongs and for the first time in ages Reds fans can both be united again and happy. Progress is a slow, but at least it is being made.

Old Trafford tomorrow is going to be rocking. And a match that we've all been dreading can now be embraced with excitement and hope. Walk on.

Dead Wood

2011-01-02T17:18:00.002Z

It's been a long time since I last wrote anything, partly due to being constantly busy but partly due to the current situation at Liverpool. While I'll always watch as many games as I can, I find that more often than not I'm left speechless these days - and for all the wrong reasons.

There are a lot of good (and bad) opinions knocking about the internet about the current state of LFC and more specifically about the failings of the manager. This isn't a blog about that. Everybody knows that Roy is now on borrowed time, and rightly so. Neither is it about the speculation of who should replace him. Bringing back Kenny or Rafa is as reactionary and short-sighted as they come and I really don't want to get involved, except I think both are bad ideas for a myriad of reasons.

The most important question for me is now the playing staff. I get a little bit sick of reading pieces by 'important' LFC fans, i.e. the 'twitterati' of Anfield who constantly bang on about the current squad being the same (with the exception of Alonso and Mascherano) as those who beat Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford and Real Madrid 4-0 in March 2009.

While this is true, it overlooks two obvious points: namely that players age and that players find and lose form. Also having watched the Man Utd game recently I have to say that 4-1 flattered Liverpool somewhat. It wasn't that Liverpool were exceptional (although Torres played a blinder), it was more that Man Utd were pretty dire. Again, against Real Liverpool were very good, but also Madrid were all over the place and lost their shape and game plan very early on and never recovered.

We do have the same squad, with the addition of Maxi, Glen Johnson and now, Joe Cole but we have lost Arbeloa, Alonso and Mascherano. Three very quality players who we have failed to replace. Arbeloa in particular was much under-valued by the fans, and while did not have half the attacking guile of Johnson, was twice the defender of the £18m right-back. A number of other players - Torres, Gerrard (to some extent), Kuyt and Skrtel have all lost considerable form.

So, imagine that Mr Dream Manager is captured by NESV shortly after Roy is given warm thanks and a p45. What then? Most people of any right mind would expect a complete overhaul of the first XI and rightly so. But should this scenario transpire, we are looking at another transition season while yet another batch of new recruits 'bed in'. And yet another 5 year plan in which we wait patiently, hoping desperately that Man Utd do not add numbers 19 and 20 (or more?) to theit title haul.

Who should be shown the door? In my opinion Kuyt, Johnson, Poulsen, Konchesky, Skrtel, Lucas, Ngog and Babel can and should all leave at the end of the season. Some have produced performances above their ability (Skrtel, Kuyt) and others are just nowhere near good enough (Konchesky, Poulsen, Johnson), while others have decent ability but are too inconsistent (Babel, Lucas and Ngog). Other players like Carra and Aurelio due to age or injury must be phased out of the first team. Carra in particular has looked a total liability for over 18 months now, and for the sake of his legend should be put out to pasture or switched to coaching duties as soon as possible.

Skrtel had a fantastic first season but has dodgy postional sense and when partnered with Carragher, is like watching a team without any centre-back so often are they caught out of position. Kuyt for all his graft, is just not good enough. He constantly squanders possession, which is the last thing that the team needs given the paucity of attacking players Liverpool currently have.

It could be argued that taking a hefty transfer fee for Torres might not be such a bad thing either. Everybody can see his unique quality, but it remains to be seen whether the lad still wants to fight for the red shirt these days. Due to the lack of cover, he can't even be dropped when he hits poor form. As much as I'd like him to be part of a new team next season, the transfer fee from his sale alone could allow any new manager to buy 2 or even 3 class players or budding talent.

In the meantime, we still have half a season of difficult football to watch with a bunch of players who look like strangers to each other. Let's hope the board have a strategy and a shortlist already drawn up.

Turmoil At The Top

2010-10-06T00:25:00.000+01:00

Liverpool FC released this statement tonight on their website after the club received two bids both from an American group and one from Asia:

"The Board of Directors have received two excellent financial offers to buy the Club that would repay all its long-term debt. A Board meeting was called today to review these bids and approve a sale. Shortly prior to the meeting, the owners - Tom Hicks and George Gillett - sought to remove Managing Director Christian Purslow and Commercial Director Ian Ayre from the Board, seeking to replace them with Mack Hicks and Lori Kay McCutcheon.
This matter is now subject to legal review and a further announcement will be made in due course.
Meanwhile Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre continue to explore every possible route to achieving a sale of the Club at the earliest opportunity."

The bid from the U.S. is believed to be from Boston Red Sox owner, John Henry. The identity of the other bidders still remains a mystery.

Fear and Loathing in L4

2010-10-03T01:46:00.002+01:00

First of all, I've been away for quite a while due to moving house over the summer and without internet. To be honest, I quite welcomed the lack of news. Summer was another torrid time for Liverpool FC.
Roy is at the helm, and I think we can safely say that the overwhelming feeling is tolerance rather than delight. 'Steadying the ship' is a cliche that has been rammed down our throats but the jury remains out. Like anyone, I really hope he does well, and gets it right - but for that he will need a season for everyone to hold judgment. The chances of that remain slim, I think.

The ownership is a massive issue of course, although I have a funny feeling this issue will last a long time after 15th October, the deadline RBS have imposed for any sale to take place. What happens then is wholly unclear, even to those in the know. That alone, should be enough cause panic among fans. As a global brand, common sense dictates that the club will at some point find a buyer. How long that will be is anyone's guess - although I'm pretty sure 12-18 months wouldn't be out of the question.

For any investor, buying stock at it's lowest is surely the rule of thumb: Liverpool FC scraping mid-table for a couple of seasons might just be want the City wants, if not the fans.

I attended the London branch meeting of Spirit Of Shankly recently. It was great to hear the voices and views of Reds in London - some of us can't get back to watch games due to other commitments but we still care. It was good to listen to other views on the state of the club. SOS are doing a sterling job of putting pressure on Hicks & Gillett, however the main aim of SOS - to 'ultimately have a say in how the club is run and have a place on the Board' - seems a little bit premature as an objective. Although I wish it were not.
While this is a grand plan, what remains the larger obstacle is that the club needs money on the table NOW; the bank or any interested party needs to see the colour of our money NOW because if or when the ShareLiverpool initiative does take off, it might just be too late. Changes to the law mean that next year the credit union scheme could attact investors from places outside of it's local catchment. But will it come too late?

As we've already seen from the Laurel and Hardie club ownership - Hicks and Gillett, neither were interested in diluting their share (until last spring when the penny must have dropped - and they considered a bid from a consortium for 40%) and I think it might be reasonable to assume that anyone wanting to buy might not want a bunch of meddlesome fans on the board. That might be different if ShareLiverpool were in a position to say to any investor: " we have x amount of cash....," immediately. Although once the club gets bought, the door will likely be bolted.

The hope is of course that SOS and ShareLiverpool succeed, as the club really do need this not just for the current generation of fans, but for Liverpool to continue to be an institution as a football club into the future and for the greater community of Liverpool as a city.

My other concern is that in a recent poll 97% polled said they would prefer RBS to take the club away from H&G and for the club to go into administration.

While this is the perfect outcome on paper, it assumes that Liverpool will reach enough points to be unaffected by this 9-point penalty. On current form I'd be concerned about doing this.

A big assumption considering the already poor start to the season we've had. Let's not forget that just a couple of seasons ago we scraped 4th place with 58 points - should we get less than 50 points we could be looking at relegation. Hardly a good position in which to attract the desired investment to take the club forward.

While it might be nice in an ideal world for most fans to be able to rock up to L4 with only the will (and the cash) to watch any league game, but do we really want to do that as the club falls through the divisions?

I'd like to think that the club would attract a sensible buyer who can see Liverpool FC as a good investment. That day will come but only when the movers-and-shakers of the money markets decide. Who that might be will cause fear and loathing for some time to come.

Here Comes The Summer

2010-06-08T00:38:00.004+01:00

"The summer's really here and it's time to come out
Time to discover what fun is about

Here comes the summer"
- The Undertones

Intrigue, yes. Fun, no. Watching the LFC Big Brother climax where two mental housemates are locked in the LFC house and are afraid to come out. The last few days have been more like an inquest where everything is in slow motion.

After the Atletico game, I decided the season had ended. I wasn't interested in the dead rubber with Hull and couldn't even bring myself to watch the highlights on Match of the Day. Since then, I've barely read a blog or looked at a paper. In short, I've become sick of football. I didn't want to read about it, and wanted to write about it even less.

The summer is going to be one long tedious climax to disappointment and lack of progress as far as LFC are concerned. The World Cup, an unwelcome distraction for reds fans and the futures of their two best players.

Rafa Benitez' vapour trail still continues to stick in lots of fans throats though. Although I wanted him to go, I'm gutted that he ended up being such a devisive issue for Liverpool when really, he was a man of principle and stood up to two men who have absolutely no charm or heart about them. But as a football manager he erred when Liverpool really needed him to come good. And as somebody's employee he walked the tight rope once too often.

It's highly likely that Rafa will go off to be very successful at a continental team because he clearly is a good manager - but his stay on Merseyside had been up for some time. As cycles come and go, projects look to have run their natural course, as with Houillier in 2004.

The superstitious part of me said that as Houllier had laid the foundations, Rafa would build the house. The same me who swore that if Liverpool returned to their classic yellow away kit or to an Adidas design, they would surely crack it this time. This year has been the same sinking feeling that we collectively had in 2004. Nothing seemed to go right.

Rafa's successes have been to elevate a club in need of a massive overhaul and period of failure and introspection and give it one last hurrah before it leaves the main stage. He did that and we will all remember him, his legend will perhaps shine again at the club when the dustle settles.

I remember watching the Granada Reports tea-time broadcast, I think it might have been the start of the 1988-89 season Liverpool only won 3 of their first 10 games, or, more likely the Dalglish resignation in Febrauary 1991 (Liverpool were in 17th I recall), the North-West news report had a special 'End of an Era?' feature where they speculated if it would be Liverpool's last season as a dominant force.

That their timing was 20-odd years off means nothing. Those were the final days of a different era for Liverpool and football itself. Many believe Kenny leaving was the real close of the chapter which saw Liverpool dominate domestic and European football. On-field certainly, and off-field quite probably.

For the generation that has not been alive to see Liverpool dominate, it is also a one that has grown up with Sky Sport and the information revolution. Winning championships with games not shown on the tv very week and using only a maximum of 12 players - with back passing to Goalkeepers, is a 'Achhrin'ton Stanley? - who ah day?' moment. A relic from a bygone era.

Liverpool have been 'wingin' it' for some time now with the big boys - there have been magical moments in the Champions' League throughout Benitez' reign but have never truly convinced in recent memory except for patches of their most convincing years - 1997/8, 2002, 2009. 'Good cup team' would be praise indeed for most clubs but an absolute affront for Liverpool, sadly it's not too far from the truth now. This year Liverpool couldn't even manage that.

Hicks and Gillett remain at the helm and Liverpool will continue to decline. How much power they really have now at the club must be of considerable debate. That they have Christian Purslow and now Martin Broughton suggests that Liverpool is in the hands of Administrators - not the kind that organise paperclips, but those who are protecting the Bank's assets and counting every penny that goes in and out of Anfield.

In all likelihood Messrs Hicks and Gillett don't have the capital to spend on David Silva, Guus Hiddink or even Djimi Traore - even if they wanted them. The first team squad has been whittled to the bare bones and the manager has been relinquished from his expensive contract.
We can now expect slight disappointment for the foreseeable future.

While I may be of a pessimistic nature, I think in the long-term this is what Liverpool as a club needs. It;s what English football needs. Its no surprise that Liverpool's decline has coincided with the time when the club and football in the English top-tier began excluding its core fan base by pricing it out of their reach. The burden of debt is now surely too much for the Premier League to consider itself king of the pile. The situation at Liverpool and at both Fratton Park and at Old Trafford point to a deeper malaise, one that the Premier League, the FA and FIFA have failed to address.

While there maybe a 11 or 12 year waiting list for season tickets at Anfield, a huge number of local supporters in a working-class city find themselves excluded from the one institution that connects them to their community and their identity. Suits have taken over at Anfield, as they have the wider world.

Our master now is Big Business. We no longer buy, we consume. Everything is a brand that we have to buy into, and spend a pretty penny doing it. But Liverpool can no longer compete with paying astronomical salaries for players or their transfer fees. Their can no longer be many who can continue offering upwards of £200,000 a week for players.Salary capping must be introduced if football is not to eat itself or consist of a super league of 4 teams

There might come a day again where the likes of Fernando Torres et al will not be wearing the Liver bird but perhaps that day, the club will be ours again. Liverpool need to rebuild from top to bottom, and perhaps it will take a time in the doldrums to get the club back into the hands of a benvolent benefactor.
Four or five years of biting your tongue when Bluenose or Manc friends are having a jibe might be an awfully long time for some - but Liverpool now have to play the long game.

The American duo will go - maybe not now or next week but soon. There will come a time when they will be forced to accept a deal either by bank pressure or by lack of any sufficient interest and the future of the club can continue.

For all of Rafa Benitez' faults the one enduring memory we must keep of him, is that he knew that Liverpool was not a brand, but a football club. A club that has traditions, not a back catalogue.

Fiddling While Rome Burns

2010-06-03T23:57:00.000+01:00

So the big man went. Rafael Benitez today left LFC by mutual consent. Given the previous season, it was hardly a surprise. Any manager that tastes defeat 19 times in a season and has designs and expectations to win things must expect that. Even if they happen to enjoy a particularly close relationship with the chairman.
Reports suggest Benitez had meetings with the top brass in order to seek guarantees regarding transfer fees, and this may well have been the last resort for both parties.

From an owner's point-of-view, you would expect a manager so down on his luck to be grovelling for his job. From manager's point-of-view, you would expect transfer funds to compete and to maintain your own and the team's professional standing.

But these owners are indeed a class apart when it comes to short-term thinking.

The buzz in the media is that Liverpool will seek to find a short-term replacement until a buyer can be found, as, ironically, Juventus did this spring during there pursuit of Rafa Benitez.

While forums buzz with fantasies of Hiddink, Van Gaal and Rijkaard, the likihood is that if this is the case, Sammy Lee will take the reigns indefinitely. He represents the most local, and of course, cheapest option. We're talking about owners who disdain to give the club the lint from their pockets, so this scenario would be of little surprise. Attracting any new manager on a short-term contract basis is a difficult task: Liverpool would represent a poisoned chalice for anyone with a reputation to consider.

Keeping Rafa would have seen the logical choice, if not the most suitable one given the current situation at the club. A club up for sale and in dire need of investment, the owners surely should have moved heaven and earth to provide the money to cover the bare bones of the first team. Ridiculous headlines in the tabloid newspapers of 'war-chests' and 'transfer targets' are clearly empty words to fill column inches. But the American owners have no more money to put into the first-team than you or I. Even people as naive about football as Messrs Hicks and Gillett know that investing in playing personnel is a must for the business side to grow.

But Liverpool need a functioning first-team in order to remain an attractive proposition to potential investors. It's a catch-22 situation, the perfect vicious circle. The squad has been decimated and there is absolutely no depth, let alone strength in depth to the first team.

Ultimately, the team's performances in the late season cost Benitez his job. He was unlucky not to be given greater financial backing in his last two seasons as the manager but his public outbursts, his erratic treatment of players and his poor purchases have caused Liverpool to slide on the field, as the Americans have let the club slide off it.

End of Season

2010-05-06T21:06:00.002+01:00

The season is almost over, and what an absolutely dreadful time it has been to support Liverpool. This season has, for almost every reason, been one the most turbulent in LFC's history.
The week when the ghost was finally given up, and frustration and apathy have taken hold of the club as both the Europa League dream and crucial fouth place finish have been snatched for them.

Rafa Benitez has repeated answered with a straight bat any questions pertaining to his long-term future, and the response from the powers-that-be at Anfield have been eerily silent.

Recent displays recently, particularly at Turf Moor in the 2nd half, Liverpool looked more game for the challenge that was lost on them, reastically, a long time ago.

Liverpool knocked out of the Europa League on away goals, it was a performance to be proud of, to be sure, but like so much of their strife this season, it all hinged on a moment's lack of concentration. The match three days later against Chelsea saw a drained performance, and there was no fear of Liverpool handing the title to Man Utd, with a lacklustre performance that saw the Reds go down 0-2.

All season the manager and players have announced that their lack of form has been down to confidence. If it was that simple, Liverpool fans could sleep easy: a well-drilled defence will sooner or later gain the confidence to put together some clean sheets and things will be recitified, last season's equilibrium will be restored. Yet time again this season, the Liverpool we all know exists, despite the injuries and the boredroom [sic] squabbles, despite the financial gloom and lack of transfer funds have yet to show their angelic faces 3 times on the spin.

Yet the maelstrom that has come over Anfield can not be attributed to a single figure, the blame has many guilty parties.
The two American owners have undoubtedly have cast a huge grey cloud over the red half of L4, and on that the entire Kop faithful agree. Their reign at Liverpool has been nothing but a calamatous demonstration of short-sightedness and bad-management. Their stewardship has seen empty promises and empty coffers for the first team. Big Business should never have been let in through the Shankly Gates - Big Business has shown itself to be a euphemism for amorality. Nothing matters except the cash, just the antithesis of what Liverpool once stood for.

Much of the blame has been also passed onto David Moores by fans, the former chairman who sold the club to Hicks and Gillett. While he must shoulder ample responsibility it is worth remembering that Steve Morgan, now Wolves Chairman might have taken on the club had the then shareholders refused his offer, on the grounds that it diluted their share value. Those who ran the club previously had profit on their minds, long before the Americans rocked up. Whether Fernando Torres would be gracing a red shirt under the guidance of Morgan is another matter.

In these times of austerity and hardship for Liverpool, it is clear that they need someone with the ability to buy and develop young players. Benitez has had mixed fortunes buying established players - when he gets right, the results, as in Torres, Mascherano, Agger and Pepe Reina, are obvious. But he has also bought badly and the second choice buys he has made when cash wasn't there have been very poor. Despite this, he has managed to build a first-team that has been solid and difficult to beat. Much of Benitez' success has come in European competitions. Although this has brought some fantastic nights and fantastic memories for Liverpool fans, the overwhelming feeling among Reds is that we need to be kings of England before being kings of Europe. Despite his successes, a lot of fans feel he has failed to deliver a team capable of, at the very least, competing for the Premier League consistently.

But the damning thing about his time at the helm has been his inability to develop young talent into first team material. Stories have come out of Anfield sporadically, that the first team, and again this week, are not good enough. Yet after 6 years and numerous youngsters bought for more than modest sums, only Emiliano Insua and David Ngog can counted as those who have made the step up. A number of players have been bought and fast-tracked into the reserve team only to disappear on loan and never return.

Remember Antonio Baragan? Remember Mark Gonzalez? Remember Francisco Duran?

Every manager makes mistakes in the transfer market, but Benitez made crucial errors in the transfer market and now the pot is empty, if it was ever full in the first place. While it is true that it is impossible to compete with the super-rich 2-3 clubs, Arsene Wenger has spent almost nothing in recent years, has won nothing, but look and play with an intent to score goals. Liverpool this season have been toothless and without a clue in front of goal for long periods of the season without Torres.

While the genius of Torres cannot be denied, playing one striker up front is a difficult proposal from a squad point of view. If you have four strikers, it is likely you are going to keep them happier by offering them all more appearances if you are playing with two up front, even with injuries four strikers represents a fair supply of bullets. When you play with one up top, it's going to be difficult to keep three forwards happy, never mind four. Liverpool only really have two at the moment and a young man learning his game. A young man who needs an older head to work off and create space for him. For all his hard work and puff, Dirk Kuyt is unlikely to match Torres strike rate as an out-and-out striker.

With Liverpool in financial limbo, it is highly unlikely they will sack Rafa Benitez. Such a move might make buying the club a less attactive proposition, and any new manager will be welcomed with massive uncertainty. 'Better the devil you know' will be the perspective of H&G because that's what makes good financial sense. It's likely the only sense they know or need. Offering the manager a 5 year contract and carte blanche, however, makes absolutely no football sense whatsoever. If the team dips, the manager will take the flak. It's part of the job, and on the job description. Success is never more sweet than when the taste of defeat is still fresh in the mouth. After 19 defeats - an ironic number, considering our hopes last summer.

In reality, Liverpool need a new manager. Benitez is a clever man and a good manager - but blood is needed throughout the club. His time has run its course. A new man would be someone who has plenty of experience working at youth level because it is Liverpool's only hope for a swift return to the top of the English game. Neither Mourinho, Rijkaard, nor Roy Hodgson can provide that. These are managers who will want funds to build the first team rather than nurture one, a la Arsene Wenger. A manager who will need to have patience and skill. That task though, is easier said than done.

The Week That Was

2010-04-19T23:53:00.001+01:00

Those that have been both fortunate and misfortunate enough to have a near death experience and live to tell the tale say that your life flashes before you. Both metaphorically and literally, Liverpool this week has had to recount the time it met death.

The past seven days, have been a soul-searching one for Liverpool FC, but such as it stands, it isn't for their on-field activities.
The infamous anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster came around once more, and still the families and the club are no nearer to obtaining justice. As thousands witnessed first hand the horror of that Spring afternoon in Sheffield 21 years ago, many millions more would have seen it on BBC1 or listened to it on Liverpool's local radio stations. That day, the heartbeat was ripped from Liverpool as a city, not just the red half.

In the modern era, the years 1989 and 1990 carry a dark significance for LFC and continue to be a mill-stone around its collective neck. The events of 15th April 1989, and the failings of both the FA and South Yorkshire hauled football into modern age. Disaster unfolding on live on tv has become something that we have now become accustomed to, yet the scenes shown on the BBC's Grandstand sports programme to anyone watching that day were horrific, Red or not.

The War on Terror, while no less important, has claimed 56 lives in domestic sense (although many more serviceman have lost their lives fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan) and it's ghost runs through our entire lives. It's incredible to think that almost double that amount lost their lives at a football match yet nothing has been done.
What happened at Hillsborough changed the way we view football. With the horror of Heysel stadium fresh in the public's mind, it changed how many people saw Liverpool Football Club, with the then Sun editor, Kelvin MacKenzie having a big hand in that, publishing shameful accusations in Rupert Murdoch's excuse for a newspaper.

Rupert Murdoch's other outlet for indoctrination, Sky TV would single-handedly go on to alter the face of football forever, ushering in the era where footballers earn in a week what many can only dream of earning in a year or decade.

The year 1990 is of course, the year when we last won the title. This year has provided another false dawn. Regarded as favourites by many in the press, Liverpool's form and football has been nothing short of abysmal.
However, they are still in the running for the UEFA cup and so, obituaries for this season have been put on hold, at least for another couple of weeks.

In the days leading up to, and indeed after the Hillsborough anniversary, the club was put up for sale, all rather tactfully. Such is the style of our two American friends. One day after the 21st anniversary, George Gillett and Tom Hicks officially put the club up for sale.

This should be music to most Red's ears, however, as the American owners look to make a tidy profit on their 'investment' (a term I use loosely, as investments usually require the spending of money) the price-tag however, looks to off-putting to most sensible investors.

What really irks, is that, the banks have installed a new chairman in a bid to find a buyer. That chairman is Martin Broughton, British Airways CEO and Vice-President of the Confederation of British Industry, an organisation that represents Big Business, a group of people who, if they had their way, the snivelling little shits called employees would all be paid minimum wage with no fringe benefits, and large companies, would pay no taxes. Broughton too, happens to be a Chelsea fan. Hardly, then, the kind of person you would feel who would want the best for Liverpool FC, or the people who support it.

Stories in Sunday's newspapers claim that Tom Hicks has claimed he wants to sell the club for £800 million, might not be far off the mark. While, we knew that the two Americans were only at the club to turn a quick profit, it would be no shock that these two are so mercenary in their demands.

However, the appointment of Broughton seems to be more of a move by the banks to obtain their money, rather than anything that Hicks and Gillett have decided on.

This would mean that should a respectable offer be tabled, then the current owners would be forced to take it, regardless of how much the two cowboys value the club at. The two banks, Wachovia and Royal Bank of Scotland, have given H & G a 6-month extension of the debt repayment. Given that potential buyers have been thin on the ground, it would seem likely that their asking price will not be met.

If you consider that any buyer would have to fork out £800 million for a sale, and £400 million for the new ground, it would seem illogical that investors would buy a club struggling both on the field and off it, when £1.2bn could buy Manchester United, a far more success club currently, and one with a far greater yield in turns of potential profit (yes, it hurts to say those words), given that they have a ground with an enormous capacity and marketing potential.

And while the boardroom squabbles continue a-pace, this week Liverpool have languished in 7th position in the premier league. With Spurs and Man City finding good form of late, and Villa winning their game in hand, the Champions League position seems all but gone.

In order to see yet another written off, Liverpool FC needs fresh investment immediately. This is important both for stability, but also to bring in new playing personnel. It is also important that the manager's future is decided one way or another.

Even if the club keep faith with Rafa, there is no guarantee that new owners will. Any decision should be made at the first opportunity, and should Benitez be given more time, it is important to the fans get behind him. If he were to stay, I'd love it if he proved me wrong, but my belief has gone.

In the last 24 hours, Fernando Torres has confirmed he has undergone surgery and will now miss the rest of the season, including yet another Atletico fixture. He has had some rotten luck whenever Liverpool have visited the Vicente Calerdon stadium, and in recent seasons it has been something of a regular fixture in the Red's European travels.

Tonight, Liverpool recorded a 3-0 victory over West Ham to finish a tumultous week on a reasonable high, in what was to be a solid yet dull match against this season's surprise relegation battlers. This takes them up to 6th place with a game over Villa.

The league maybe gone, but the dwindling season still offers plenty emotion for Reds. The Europe League ties against Atletico Madrid - home of Torres, former club of Maxi and familial attachment for Pepe Reina, need no further explanation, but the fixture against Chelsea offers a great dilemma for the Kop. Win, and hand Man Utd their 19th title; lose and 6th place is all but guaranteed.

The last 7 days have given Liverpool a glimpse of their past, present and a possible future. The end of the storm, and the golden sky remain someway off.

Interesting Times

2010-04-05T20:46:00.000+01:00

"May you live in interesting times" is said to be a curse that the Chinese give to their enemies. With that in mind, it seems those who live down M62 who may or may not be Chinese, or wear gold and yellow, may have got their wish.

Since 1990, when the Reds last lifted the championship, Interesting Times now fall on Anfield, more or less, twice a decade. This has been punctuated with success, with thrilling UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup in 2001 and of course, the Champions League in 2005. However these watermarks, are often the pointer of new management.

Despite Roy Evans losing his job, both Houllier's and Benitez's appointments came as an injection of new blood; the promise that now Liverpool will be restored to their rightful place in the domestic league and carve out a new-found reputation on distant shores.

Some of this came, some of it didn't. Houllier both achieved and laid the groundwork for future successes. At the end his immediate objectives became blurred, which in turn, gave little credibility to his long-term thinking. His transfers in the summer of 2003 for Doiuf, Diao and Cheyrou were ultimately to undo him.

Many people believe that Rafa won the Champions' League with Houllier's team in 2005. This is perhaps, too naive and over-simplified an argument. Every man to a red shirt, knew that team was flawed and lacked balance.

That Benitez got the best from the tools given to him, instantly made him a cult hero. It was perhaps his willingness to tinker with tactics and make slight ajustments and tweeks that made him more cerebral. Switching to 3-5-2 in Istanbul, by nullifying Kaka, Crespos and Shevchenko supply-line, and a magnificent Stevie G, won Liverpool that game.

Despite his cautious approach, it was his tactical flexibility that caught the imagination, after Houllier's love of defensive midfielders and baffling substitutions.

Nearly six years later, Rafa is suffering the same kind of scutiny that Houllier faced in his final season. Every substitution and team sheet is picked over, and sometimes written off, before kick off.

He's had boardroom bickering, and a catalogue of injuries, beachballs, and twitterings. But he hasn't helped himself this season. His continual discrediting of match officials has smacked of desperation. Worst of all, has been his transfer strategy. In the summer of 2009, his team were much fancied to finally win the league, thanks to their fabulous but injury-prone striker, Fernando Torres and their midfield maestro Steven Gerrard.

Every red shirt to a man knew that the missing piece was another striker. Glen Johnson was bought for around £18 million and Alberto Aquilani was bought for an estimated £20 million, a right back and a ball-playing midfielder.

What Liverpool in reality received, is a right-winger who can't defend, and a reserve midfielder. While Liverpool have needed a winger since Pennant left on a free, what they didn't need was for that winger to play in defence.

What Liverpool didn't need was a midfielder in a very similar vein to Steven Gerrard who wouldn't be available for a what we now know, to be almost 75% of the season. While Rafa has no crystal ball, this summer he failed to identify and strengthen in an area that was common knowledge to be our achilles heel.

Both Alonso and Arbeloa were want-aways and had to be replaced. But to buy an injury prone player is one thing. To buy a player from the Italian league, who, with the exception of Zola and Vialli, don't perfom well in English football is entirely another, using over the half the transfer budget.

And Johnson. A great player going forward and adds a real attacking threat to the team, but can't defend for Liverpool or England with any real consistency, and to me at least, seems like he was made to be a winger who can track back and help out, not be a lynchpin of the defence.
Birmingham's equaliser from Liam Ridgwell, is a perfect example of Johnson's defensive lapses and not picking up players, Liverpool look shaky at the back even when in control of the game, and it doesn't look like the central pairing have a great deal of faith in both Johnson and Insua.

Recently Liverpool have put in good performances against Lille, Portsmouth and Sunderland, The approach was more attacking, and Liverpool looked both dangerous and managed to entertain. These performances have papered over deeper divisions. For a team with any ambitions and pretences, these 3 teams should represent the bread-and-butter of Liverpool's campaign. For Benitez apologists, they were outstanding victories.

Expectation is the only true gauge of a football fan. That Reds' fans can now enthuse over performances against the likes of Portsmouth, Sunderland and perhaps, Lille tell the real story. The French outfit are a good team, but beating teams who are not top 10 material should be an expectation of Liverpool fans, not a dream or a whim.

Interesting Times may well yet fall on Anfield come the summer of 2010. Should Benitez be replaced, a large section of the Anfield faithful will be pleased but a large section almost certainly will not.

Much now depends on ownership and investment. One option is that Benitez will stay due to boardroom indecision and uncertainty. Another could be that H & G sack Benitez and the cuts costs when recruiting a new manager. One thing is certain. Whomever it is writing out the teamsheet come August, one thing is clear: He deserves our support.

Through the Exit

2010-03-23T23:15:00.003Z

Fernando Torres last week caused the Anfield faithful to break out in cold sweats by asserting that unless Liverpool brought in 4 or 5 quality recruits in the summer transfer window, he would consider his future at the club.

With the clubs finances being what they are, that would mean at least five players (but realistically more) being shown the door. But who might they be? Much depends on whether Benitez is still at the helm come August, but here are five possible candidates.

Albert Reira

Having gone public on Spanish radio last week by saying that Benitez lacks man-management and general communication skills, it is thought that Reira has played his last game for the club. Rumours are circulating that Liverpool have accepted a £6 million bid from CSKA Moscow for the winger, and with the Russian transfer window open until the first week of April, it looks like the Majorcan midfielder could be out of the door by the weekend. In a season which has been blighted by injury and poor form, this would seem like a good bit of business for a player now deemed trouble by Rafa the gaffer.

Philipp Degan

The Swiss International right-back was signed on a free transfer in July 2008 and has been unfortunate with a series of injuries. However he has rarely looked like Premier League quality when given a go in the first team, and realistically looks to have have fallen down the pecking order with the purchase of Glen Johnson and the emergence of Martin Kelly.

Fabio Aurelio

Fab Aurelio has been the epitome of a good squad player in his four years at Anfield, although much of his time has been spent on the treatment table with one injury after another blighting his attempts at a decent run in the first team. Will remain a Kop favourite if only for the fabulous free kick he scored against Man United in February 2009. Out of contract at the end of the season, he is likely to be released to free up some of the wage budget.

Ryan Babel

The greatest enigma in the current Liverpool squad, his obvious talent is defied by his inconsistency and frustrating lack of concentration. Has criticised Benitez previously, but unlike Riera managed to hang on to his Liverpool career so far. Might stay should Liverpool plump for a new manager but is likely to be shown the door to free up further funds for the transfer kitty.

Nabil El Zhar

The diminuitive Morrocan winger has failed to push on from last season's handful of appearances and remains a peripheral figure in the Reds' squad. Has shown a real ability to run at defenders and is a good, if inconsistent crosser the ball, but has been yet another victim of Benitez' erratic approach. Had a hand in a number of goals at the beginning of last season as a substitute, and can offer the team the width that they desperately need at times. This season has had problems with troublesome knee and hamstring injuries which have restricted him to just one appearance.

Whether these 5 players will generate enough funds to grant Nando his wish, remains to be seen. Personally I'd like to see Kuyt, Soto Krygiakos and Ngog join the above candidates going through the exit. Hard working team members no longer seem enough if Liverpool are to remain a member of the 'big four'.

An Oasis or the End of The Desert?

2010-03-16T23:46:00.004Z

After the drought came the rains. And how we prayed for them. The first time since September Liverpool have managed to scored 3 or more in the league. A nice surprise in both result and application from a Liverpool team. For the first time in an age, good news came from the club - and it was for on-field activities.

The performance was notable in there was no room for Kuyt or Lucas, two players who have taken a great deal of flak for Liverpool's current travails.

All credit to Benitez for playing an attacking starting eleven, and it was one that paid off. It was three premier league points, and in some ways a moral victory for the fans. From the idiot to the cerebral to the savant, all shades of Kopite have been screaming for Rafa to let the team off the shackles and the calls were duly justified.

Liverpool have not only struggled for goals this season, they've struggled for even the faintest glimmer of opposition defences being breached.

The two absentees, replaced with Aquilani and Babel, are industrious, but they're not players that fans have complete faith in when the team need to find that extra inspiration from the heavens. Kuyt pops up to get important goals, but he isn't creative and nor is Lucas. For all his tidiness, he has yet to prove any attacking instinct.

Fernando Torres looked a much more positive figure up front and Steven Gerrard was everywhere, Alberto confirmed what the world knew - that he is better creating confusion nearer the opposition 12 yard box, than trying to thread stitches and weave wonders within earshot of Pepe Reina.

And Ryan Babel. If there is one player who defines Liverpool's form, it's surely the inconsistent Dutchman. Capable of so much, but delivering so little, and with such disinterest sometimes too, last night he was somebody else. He ran at defenders, probed and tested the full-back and the centre half with some clever football. Babel should, on paper at least, have the grovelling respect of Aaron Lennon, particularly as Babel has played far more international and European football. Yet it is Lennon who wins the plaudits and the regular football with greater consistency than Babel.

At 4-0 up, it was disappointing to concede a goal, and that did spoil an otherwise very good performance. Carragher was given a warning just 90 seconds before the goal came when Dindane was almost through after Carra took an airshot at the ball. The same player then turned both Carragher and Agger (CarrAgger?) to set up the cross for the goal. There seems to be lapses in concentration in defence at least once a match. In the most prestigious league in the world, that's once too often.

This season must surely mark the watershed for Jamie Carragher as an indispensible first-team member. While he is still a massive presence at Liverpool, has bags of experience and can still do a reasonable job, 40-50 games a season looks impossible. While his lack of pace is by no means embarrassingly obvious, it's his concentration that seems to be most fallible of all of his faculties.

Rafa should take fair praise for his overdue intiative and adventure. In seasons past, a performance like that is been expected. In season 2009-10, it's what we've come to vaguely hope for.

Sadly, we haven't got all our remaining games against Portsmouth, and on Thursday it is back to business.
The manager's next dilemma is whether to stick or twist. Should he continue to put out his strongest attacking formation and Liverpool win their remaining fixtures he may just might be able to convince the board and the undecided fans that the team have weathered the storm.

Playing against Lille, a team not in administration, facing certain relegation nor pondering their long-term future, might offer more robust answers as to whether the gods have answered Liverpool's and Rafa's prayers.

Muppet of the Week - #1: Tomkins

2010-03-13T18:10:00.006Z

In this horrific season Liverpool Football Club is experiencing, I am more compelled than ever to read other's blogs and find out the general opinion of other Reds' fans.

Having read so many, then, I think I have discovered a blog written by Rafa Benitez. Being such a high-profile public personality it is only normal for him then to want to hide his identity by using a false name.

His nom de plume, or pen name is Paul Tomkins. The only football writer to watch a completely different match to most other Liverpool fans.

Such is the beauty of football that it allows two people to draw completely different opinions and conclusions from a shared spectacle.

Joking aside, I respect Mr Tomkins. He's a good writer who has made a name for himself writing about something he loves. He's also a die-hard red, who naturally wants for the best for the club. Who wouldn't wish a fellow Red all the best?

However, because he is employed by Liverpool FC to be an opinion-former and has a very popular website devoted to the happenings from Anfield he very rarely tells it like it is. His job is to mouth the party-line, which he does with much aplomb.

He doesn't get paid to rock the boat, and at times like these he doesn't get paid to echo the sentiments of the vast majority of fans current opinions. If Hicks & Gillett wanted a manager in the mould of Benitez but without the back-chat, then Our Glorious Leaders should look no further than Mr Tomkins.

This is a man who can call it white when it is black, night when it's day. You have to give him credit, though because his optimism is boundless.

In his current article 'Muppet of the Week' - Lawro', he says Mark Lawrenson is entirely wrong for slating Lucas because, on current merits Lucas is being picked by Dunga for the Brazilian national squad.

" Not world-class, maybe. However, someone better tell Dunga, as he plans to take him to the World Cup. But what does the manager of Brazil know in comparison to the failed boss of Oxford United?"

Mark Lawrenson maybe the failed manager of Oxford United, but he was a succesful player who won 5 League Championships, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup and a European Cup. Fair to say then, that he might be a better judge of footballing talent than Paul Tomkins, who as far as I know, wasn't involved in the game as a professional.

While Lawro might have been a poor manager and perhaps his punditry is hardly of the clinically precise nature, it might be fair to say that he didn't have the likes of Luis Fabiano, Maicon, Kaka et al., to choose from in that Oxford squad.

"Lucas is 3rd in the list of most successful Premier League passes this season, with 1464, at an accuracy rate of 84%. Only three players have made more successful tackles than his 111. He’s not perfect, but to continue to put the blame at his door is just pure bullshit."

Lucas maybe in the Brazil squad, but he's nowhere near the first team. He may also be in the top 3 passers of the ball on current Premier League statistics, but that, as most of us know, is because he passes the ball sideways 5 yards, or backwards 10. While I'd be happy to retain Lucas and keep him as a decent squad player, much like Aurelio, I want him nowhere near the first team on a regular basis. Using Tomkins logic, if it works for Brazil, it will work for Liverpool.

Yet again, he bangs on about Liverpool's fine performances against Real Madrid and Manchester United, but this is exactly the sort of mentality that has Liverpool FC as a collective body doing too much navel-gazing. 'We-beat such-and-such last season...'. Big deal. This is a new season. Teams and players need to be assessed and criticised or praised on current performance, not past glories.

Too much of Liverpool is now about how much we won in the past. It's over, it's finished. If we are to remain a top team we need to forget about the past and start focusing on now. Shankly is dead, and so is Paisley and Fagan. They will forever be remembered as legends, but Liverpool is no longer about the boot room.

The last thing I want to pick Tomkins up on, is his labelling of fans who are against the current regime as 'fairweather fans'. Everyone has a right to complain about the current state of the team right now, ticket buying fans more than most, but even those who can't get to games. We all have an emotional investment in the club. This means that everybody is entitled to an opinion, and I think most Liverpool fans gave Benitez a fair crack of the whip, but now believe it is time for a change. This isn't about selling out or being a glory-hunter. This is about not being prepared to tolerate the terrible style of football any longer.

If Benitez had played more attractive, attacking football while suffering major set backs I dare say he would still have the support of a majority of fans. Arsene Wenger hasn't won any silverware for 5 years, but still Gunners have kept the faith. Benitez has played a terribly defensive anti-football that is sickening to watch, and isn't even producing any positive results. Rafa in the past few seasons has achieved a great deal and taken the club to a new level. This is entirely true, but he has never consistently had the team playing attractive football. Just as Houllier lost the plot in his final season, so now has Benitez.

It now seems though that his tactics have been found out. Fielding 7 defensive players at Anfield against relegation fodder is simply not acceptable. Most fans would agree that longevity is the key to success. Most fans also believe that to win a match, a key component is attacking the opposition's goal. It's the only way matches and titles can be won. Unfortunately now, we can't have both.

It was in another century, nevermind a decade, that we last won a League title. Liverpool is now about trying to punch above its weight while others with more money dictate and dominate the game. Unless English football returns to more modest means, I cannot really envisage Liverpool dominating the domestic game like they did in the past. And that could be a very long time, especially if Paul Tomkins and Rafa Benitez remain such high profile figures for Liverpool Football Club.

Keeping Quiet

2010-03-09T23:56:00.001Z

The doom and gloom that shrouds Anfield, after numerous defeats and few displays of conviction suggests something far deeper to the malaise.

What is the cause of the malaise only the players and management know. Speculation and deduction is all the fans can do this season.

In seasons past, when success came like breathing to Liverpool, the 'Liverpool Way' was about keeping the lid on anything the outside world didn't need to know, and putting on a performance on match-day that would engage enough tongues not to let any negativity seep out. Liverpool Football Club didn't wash it's dirty linen in public.

In the 21st Century keeping quiet is almost impossible. Yet the news coming from L4 is almost always bad these days.

Much now has been made of Rafa Benitez in the media, mainly extremely negative, helped in no small part by him putting paid to the vow of silence from Anfield.
Benitez has acted petulently in press conferences in the past, and is paying the price for it. Just as the public expect footballers on mind-bogggling salaries to take the stick opposing fans, the media has, in some right to expect managers to retain their cool. If they don't then, by those same rights, they become the story.

Graham Taylor, Kevin Keegan and Joe Kinnear have all given the media juicy column inches. Jose Mourinho, another 'foreign' tactician, was another favourite of the press. Despite playing a containing style of football similar to Benitez, he played up to the 'passionate latin temperament' tag that was a sports journalists wet dream. On Monday night, for the second time this season, Benitez blamed the team. Now he needs to look at his own methods and ideas.

The Deadly Duo, Hicks and Gillett, have remained silent for some time now. Although, like Rafa, have blundered from one press conference blunder to another and couldn't win a popularity contest with a bunch of City Bankers right now. However, this silence seems pretty ominous for Rafa.

Another shocking performance, this time against Wigan, and now even fouth place seems to be a big ask for a team short on leadership, short on ideas and most of all, lacking the fundamentals of a team - cohesion. City and Spurs have 2 and 1 game in hand (and number of league points) respectively but are playing with much more authority than Liverpool.

Stevie Gerrard has had a very poor season, but the blame cannot really be portioned to him entirely. For over five years he has almost single-handedly carried Liverpool, and miracles cannot be performed forever and anon. The lad has more than most, earned the right to have an average season.

Watching that game and many others this season, it seems that Torres and Gerrard, even when fit, do not seem comfortable. Their disgust with the quality of play and perhaps the talent of their team-mates, has them scowling and shaking their heads on a regular basis.

The key members of the squad will have the forthcoming World Cup playing on their minds somewhat, now that the really big prizes are out of reach. Rafa for the rest of the season needs his senior members to focus.

In his autobiography Jamie Carragher dismisses the idea of a manager 'losing' his dressing room by saying that there is too much professional pride at stake for a player to purposely under-perform. For the top players, there is not much evidence to argue. But as we've seen at Chelsea under Scolari, and Liverpool in the final season under Houllier, teams can lose faith in the tactics and guidance of a manager.

Rafa's guarantee of fouth place is now looking increasingly like a suicide note.

Watching Liverpool this season has been like watching a team whose only knowledge of football is defensive drills and tackling. Their passing has been awful and there is a genuine terror felt when they attack. Sadly, the only team who are frightened, are the the ones with the ball.

Many of Rafa's ardent fans maintain that it is the same team that beat Manchester United and Real Madrid at the end of last season, give or take a Basque-born midfielder. This in theory, is a good point. But in the lives and careers of professional footballers, 12 months can be a long time. Kuyt's second touch is a tackle, Insua looks vunerable as a defender and an attacking outlet and Jamie Carragher is having his worst spell since becoming a first-team regular. If there is a footballer who is greatly missed for his calm and cultured play, it is in all honesty more likely to be Sami Hyypia.

Liverpool have been shown up time and again this season to be a team of hard-working players with not a great deal of skill about them. For all their huff and puff there is no end result.

The maxim at Anfield this season should really be 'you're only as good as your last game'. On Monday night's showing, Liverpool will be asking for a recall of the Intertoto Cup.

Should there be a new manager installed in the summer, his first task is to get rid of the labourers and put a bit of swagger about the team once again, if not with technique and ability that a huge price tag attracts, then with invention and creativity on more modest means. He'll also be told to keep quiet.

A face only a mother could love

2010-03-07T18:25:00.000Z

Is Gary Neville turning into Franck Ribery? I'm not talking about his ability.....

Left-back or left behind?

2010-02-24T19:55:00.006Z

The one position that always seems to cause debate at the moment is left-back. While Benitez has favoured Emiliano Insua many repeatedly call for Rafa to make Fabio Aurelio his first choice.

Insua, it must be said, has made a few mistakes this season. His tackling isn't always the greatest and his crossing seems intent on finding the tall bloke who sits in Row Q 9 times out of 10. It's fair to say that Emiliano is a bit of a work in progress.

Aurelio, on the other hand is a great passer of the ball, a fantastic free-kick taker and is able to take a corner without it hitting the first defender. It remains to be seen whether Aurelio can defend when Liverpool have their back against the wall when defending a 1-0 lead, when or if they manage to find the back of the net that is.

There is a strong case for the young Argentine neverthless. Many fans are short-sighted, or perhaps should I say, have short memories. The money issue surrounding the club has been an issue for most of this decade, if not for longer. Liverpool were searching for investment for few years before David Moores handed over control to our beloved Americans.

Now it is imperative that Liverpool blood young players, but it's equally important that the fans give these kids a chance and get off their backs too. Martin Kelly put in an excellent performance in the Champions League game against Lyon before he came off injured, but fans must remember that despite his obvious talent and ability, there will be days when he'll play a stinker as well. It's all part of a young footballer's development. It's now essential that Phillipe Degan gets shipped out and Martin Kelly should begin to seen as the reserve right-back by Rafa.

I rate Fabio Aurelio as well. As a free transfer, he's turned out to be a great squad player (when not played in central midfield), but just as David Ngog has been shown faith this season, and Lucas Leiva the season before, it's important that we get behind the young left-back. He will develop and will no doubt cement his place in the next couple of seasons, just as he is now in the senior squad for Argentina.

He's no Ashley Cole - thank god, but the attacking sense will come in time.

If you're watching Insua next time he's having an absolute nightmare, count to 10 and say two words to help yourself calm down: Djimi Traore.

That should do it.

shit hanging from a stick?

2010-02-21T21:12:00.009Z

Shit on a stick?

Writing for the Spanish sports paper Marca in May 2007, Jorge Valdano, the 1986 Argentine world cup winner likened Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho's tactics as 'shit hanging from a stick'. This was in response to the tense Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea. Both the 2005 and 2007 games were lacking in the finer skills of the beautiful game, but made up for it with intensity and nail-biting anxiety.

Valdano argued that because the two managers failed to make the grade as players, they have a distrust in players of skills who are able to turn a match with improvisation:

"They have two things in common: a previously denied, hitherto unsatisfied hunger for glory, and a desire to have everything under control.

"Both of those things stem from one key factor: neither Mourinho nor Benítez made it as a player. That has made them channel all their vanity into coaching. Those who did not have the talent to make it as players do not believe in the talent of players, they do not believe in the ability to improvise in order to win football matches. In short, Benítez and Mourinho are exactly the kind of coaches that Benítez and Mourinho would have needed to have made it as players."

At the time, many English fans and observers saw Valdano's vitriol as sour grapes that his beloved Real Madrid had failed to maintain their dominance on Europe's premier competition, and indeed so had any team from the Spanish and Italian leagues. It was, many supposed, a thinly-veiled attack on the English game.

Fast forward three years, and Mourinho is now managing Italy's current tour de force - Inter Milan. Benitez is currently toiling in his own annus horiblis as his Liverpool team, widely tipped to be this year's league champions struggle to win fourth place.

The 'shit hanging from a stick' assertion could be ridiculed while Benitez' stock remained high and liverpool continued to challenge for major honours, even if they did not eventually win them.

This season it has become more and more apparent that Liverpool's ability to entertain spectators and television viewers alike is on the wane. It has been amplified by their laboured victory in the Europa League against Unirea Urziceni on Thursday, and then today in another toothless performance in the 0-0 with Manchester City.

When Benitez was appointed, I asked a Valencia-supporting friend what he thought of the new Liverpool manager. His opinion was that he was on the whole respected, his style of football was not greatly liked at the Mestalla, but fans warmed to him when he brought success to the club.

Few Liverpool fans can forget when Rafa's Valencia took Liverpool apart in the UEFA cup in 2002 with some sublime passing and great football.

It cannot be forgotten that Liverpool forgot how to attack when Gerard Houiller was in charge. It was his belief that under his predecessors Liverpool had forgotten how to defend and make Anfield the fortress it once was.

It has been the best part of a decade now that Liverpool have failed to regularly play attacking football. In one of my previous posts, I've stated how Anfield has become a graveyard for strikers but I do not think it is due to the talent of current personnel.

As a Liverpool fan it pains me to see Manchester United not only reach 18 league titles, but are now far closer to number 19 than Liverpool.

We can call Alex Ferguson all the names under the sun, and we often do. But you have to grudgingly respect the man for his tactical flexibility as well as his success.

Over the years, he has played 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-1-1. Many tactical commentators have wild theories of other formations he has employed, but these remain his most used. Credit is due to him, because these formations do not always work. He tinkered when Keane retired, he tinkered when Veron was bought, and he has tinkered a great many times over the last 3 seasons when Manchester United have won 3 consecutive leagues, a Champions League and a League cup.

Ferguson changes his tactics to what he considers to be the weaknesses of the opposition he is playing on any given day. Benitez is intent on nullifying the attacking threat of the opposition, regardless of the opposition and regardless of the venue.

In other words, Benitez prefers to play to the opposition's strength rather than their weakness.

Of course, every manager has their blind spot. Keegan and Evans couldn't pick out a talented defender from 10 metres; Ferguson has always had a problem with keepers (until Van der Sar, who although solid, owes much of his acclaim to the partnership of Vidic and Ferdinand); Houiller had the same problem with attackers. Benitez loves a hard-worker, which remains the reason why Lucas and Kuyt to name but two, are the first names on the teamsheet. When giving interviews he often uses the word 'quality' but speaks far more evangelically about hard work and preparation.

It's debatable whether Rafa has a blind spot for strikers too. Certainly Torres has gone beyond all expectations that were put on him, and his choice to firstly sell Owen, then refuse to him buy back from both Real Madrid and then Newcastle, seem very astute. It is perhaps his unwillingness to either nurture or put faith in young talent by giving them sufficient game time that seems to be his personal blind spot.

This now looks to be changing, with the lack of funds for marquee signings apparent, Benitez is now forced to blood youth players.

That still leaves the enormous question of tactics to be answered. If it isn't, and Purslow, Hicks and Gillett continue to put faith in Rafa and his 5 year plan, then the new stadium may well have to incorporate a giant stick hanging off one of the stands in which to hang Valdano's and many others, analysis of Liverpool's brand of football.

The tedium goes on

2010-02-15T22:01:00.005Z

After wins against Everton, Bolton and Spurs and draws against Wolves and Stoke, Liverpool have turned the corner.

Hands up those who believe that? Of those with your hands up, how many of you watched any of those games?

The defeat by Arsenal was by no means a shameful result. The reds have never had much success at The Emirates and very rarely beat Arsenal when their patch was Highbury. To lose narrowly to the Gunners normally is no disaster. This isn't any normal season though.

Having lost seven games already this season losing another was unthinkable. It was bound to happen though. With games at Arsenal and Old Trafford to come, as well as an away game against Manchester City on Sunday, and Chelsea yet to visit Anfield, it was never looking very likely it would stop at seven.

The team are playing with a little bit more cohesion and there are some signs their collective confidence is back too. There shakiness at set-pieces has recovered a little as has their ability to find one another. The real achilles heel has yet to be addressed. When they break with the ball in the oppostion half they seem neither to have the bodies forward or the guile to open up regular scoring opportunities.

However the feeling that Liverpool are utterly toothless just will not go away. Despite Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun being still two or three weeks off a return to the starting XI other injuries have now cleared up. Maxi Rodriguez has come in the January transfer window which gives Benitez more options.

Yet no matter who they play in what position, when the team go forward literally, they seem to backward metaphorically.

The 4-2-3-1 formation is something that Rafa has used for the best part of 3 seasons now. With the capture of Mascherano and Torres, it made perfect sense and the only way to accommodate a midfield of Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard, and allowed the latter to get forward without being stuck out on the wing.

With Xavi Alonso now plying his trade at the Santiago Bernabeu, and his replacement also being an attacking midfielder in the same mould as Gerrard, Gerrard being off form and Torres now injured, there seems little point continuing with this formation.

David Ngog has done marvellously well to step up from being a squad player to the target man, there is little sense in making the gangly Frenchman a target man up front on his own.

There is no doubt that Ngog will be a very good player, but currently he is still learning both the game and how his team-mates play.

In order to speed up his education it is vital then that Benitez provides him with a strike partner. It is becoming increasingly obvious that an extra man in the box will provide cover for when Ngog either has not made it to the box or has to hold the ball up waiting for the cavelry to arrive.

Watching Liverpool look like they are permanently playing with 10 men is becoming increasingly frustrating, and perhaps a very good reason why neutrals are beginning to dislike Liverpool. While the on-going boardroom travails continue to hit the purse strings for team building, it is looking likely that Rafa will have to find a hidden tactical ingenuity to overcome the lack of goals.

An attacking formation with an intent to win convincing within the first half would be a good step for Benitez to take, order to show Liverpool have the credentials to win the 4th place and Europa League consolation prize.

The End for Benitez

2010-01-14T20:58:00.004Z

This season is a relentless torrent of bad news. As if getting beaten comprehensively by Reading,a team lying in 20th position in the Championship in the FA cup wasn't bad enough, we lose the only three players who pose any attacking threat.

This is Benitez temporada horrorosa and however you feel about him, his luck really has run out.

There can be no denying that the 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth represented a sea-change in the minds of Kopites everywhere. Until that match, certainly among reds I'd talked to, there was still an even 50-50 opinion on Benitez. Now, however many now feel a change due.

The e-mail scandal at the beginning of the week represented a moral victory for Rafa. Tom Hicks Jr's outburst at a fan who had e-mailed him regarding the transfer budget was a blow for the bullish Hicks clan, who many believe was behind the discussions with Jurgen Klinsmann replacing Benitez.

Not having played for 12 days, Rafa had not had any recent disasters, and bar a below-par performance at the Madjeski Stadium was riding on the back of two crucial league victories.

Yet again though, Liverpool were outplayed, outfought and out-thought. They look utterly devoid of any idea how to attack any type of opposition. This malais was evident against the more significant teams, and the weaker teams to some extent, in pre-season and it has continued throughout the season, even with Torres and Gerrard on the pitch.

Dumped out of the FA cup ignominiously and with Gerrard, Benayoun and Torres all now injured for 2,4 and 6 weeks respectively, it really does not look good for Benitez.

The phrase is now 'dead man walking' when fans talk about him, although this really should apply to his team.

Having had the support firmly behind him, his public criticism of Hicks & Gillett was tolerated. These people, like many who wield great power, forgive but do not forget.

Now that Rafa's die-hard are beginning to doubt him and results have been a disaster, it now seems only a matter of time.

However, the man deserves until the end of the season. The reason why we all have such high expectations, is because of Rafael Benitez. The reason why we feel like this season was meant to be ours, was because of his work.
For the memories he has given Liverpool supporters he deserves at least until the end of the season to walk away with dignity.

The new manager we should expect to be a man who has enjoyed success as a player and who is quite new to management, but who is a name nonetheless. A man who will say 'yes' when it matters and will work with a very modest budget over the course of his initial contract.

For now, over the next few games, supporters will no doubt feel like they are witnessing a car crash. Let's hope the man can restore some dignity to the team and his name over the coming weeks.

A Striker's Graveyard

2010-01-11T18:24:00.002Z

Anfield has seen its fair share of great strikers: Sam Raybould, Jack Parkinson, Gordon Hodgson, Billy Liddell, Roger Hunt, Ian St. John, John Toshack, Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Michael Owen.

Not only did they all gorge themselves on goals, they also scored them in vital matches.

This week saw the transfer of Andriy Voronin to Dinamo Moscow. Voronin for all his running about will definitely not be a name that will be recorded in the history books of Liverpool FC. In his two-and-a-half years at the club he managed on 27 appearances and mustered a mere 5 goals.

Back in 2007 when Voronin signed for Liverpool on a free transfer, it seemed at the time that it might be an astute piece of business.

Despite his goal haul in the Bundesliga, with a strike rate of a goal every three games, he had the key attributes for a striker of the modern game. He was powerful and could hold the ball up when counter-attacking, and had the ability to score some great goals from outside the box.

However, the Bundesliga is not the Premier League. The pace at which the English game is played, like so many imports, clearly affected his composure and confidence.

Andriy Voronin was a flop at Anfield but unfortunately he keeps good company.

Anfield has in the twenty years, with the exception of Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and more recently Fernando Torres, become a striker's graveyard.

It all started when Souness signed Dean Saunders for a then record of £2.9 million. After one season Saunders was shipped out to Aston Villa.

Other forwards who've failed to live up to to their billing include Stan Collymore (although who can forget his goals against Newcastle in the 4-3 classic), Paul Stewart, Nigel Clough, Karl-Heinze Riedle, Erik Miejer, Sean Dundee, Nicolas Anelka, Milan Baros, Jari Litmanen, El-Hadji Diouf,Bernard Diomede, Emile Heskey, Harry Kewell, Fernando Morientes, Djibril Cisse and quite probably, Ryan Babel.

Some of these of course cost smaller sums, or like Anelka were loan deals. Litmanen was picked up for a bargain but criminally and bizarrely under-played by Gerard Houllier despite playing well and scoring when given a game. Other players - Diouf, Heskey, and Cisse were club record transfers.

Even Kuyt currently, while considered an important first-teamer has been transferred to the right wing, having scored goals for fun in Holland's Eredivisie. Ryan Babel is perhaps the 'Litmanen' of the current team. Clearly having potential he is under-used, although unlike Litmanen is frustratingly inconsistent and is usually played out of position.

Twenty years is of course an important period because in this time Liverpool have failed miserably in all but two season to even come close to winning league title number 19.

Perhaps in order to finally win that one Liverpool need a little luck and a lot more forethought before laying out big sums of money on strikers.

Rafa: A fan's view

2009-12-06T22:36:00.000Z

A lot of words have been spoken regarding Rafa Benitez's position as manager of Liverpool Football Club since the opening fixture of this season when Liverpool were made to look lethargic by a bubbling Spurs side at White Hart Lane, and then by Aston Villa eight days later. Since then, the good news has been few and far between for the reds, having been knocked out of the Carling cup and the Champions' League, and having seen the side slumped to seventh in the table with a glut of injuries to key players.
Liverpool fans seem to be divided into two entrenched groups of 'In Rafa We Trust' and 'Off With His Head'.
Those who are pro-Rafa believe that it will be business as usual when the injuries clear up, and that the fourth Champions' League position is well with in their grasp come the end of the season.
Those who can't wait to see the back of him are fewer in number but believe he is taking the club backwards.

For the first time since his managerial reign started in 2004, I've lost a lot of faith in Benitez. For the first time as a football fan, I really don't know whether he should stay or go. Here at least are some positives and negatives of Benitez and his methods:

PRO's

- Despite what the critics say about him, he as world-wide respect and standing who has modified and updated a Liverpool team who were not playing regular Champions' League football when he took over, to a team that reached two CL finals in three years, and was within a whisker of taking the title last year.

- He has built a solid spine within the Liverpool team by bringing in Pepe Reina, arguably Liverpool's safest pair of hands since Ray Clemence, Javier Mascherano, and Fernando Torres, one of the best strikers in the world.

- He says the right words. Benitez is well aware that he is representing a club in a working class northern city with it's own identity: He aludes to the former greats, he's quoted 'You'll Never Walk Alone', and was seen singing it during the recent match against Debrecen at Anfield. He expresses an affinity with the city that sits well with the local support.

- His loyalty. He claimed recently that he turned down "big big offers" over the summer, in order to pen his new 5-year contract. He clearly has a long term plan in place, having demanded greater freedom to manage the playing infrastructure, and greater say over signings. He has worked in a difficult situation with the interal wrangles of the ownership of Liverpool. The persistent rumours of a falling out between Tom Hicks and George Gillett and the lack of transfer funds have made past promises and recent form all rather embarrassing.

The Champions League final in 2005 and the FA cup win in 2006 were memorable moments for Liverpool supporters.

CON's

- The stirring last minute equaliser from Steven Gerrard and the resulting penalty shootout triumph in the 2006 FA cup final is now a distant memory for the everyday football fan. Manager's successes are measured in trophies, and like Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, Liverpool's Brasso stocks would appear to be a little too full at the moment.

- Tactical inflexibility. Rafa's greatest moment as Liverpool manager was possibly at half-time in the Ataturk stadium against Milan in the Champions' League final when he took off Djimi Traore and Steve Finnan and replaced them with Didi Hamman and Djbril Cisse and switched from 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 formation. Fast forward four years and Benitez uses the tried and trusted 4-2-3-1, which has until this season at least, gavanised and strengthened Liverpool's defence. There is however, a big question mark over playing this formation at Anfield against the likes of Stoke, Hull City or Birmingham, particularly when playing poorly and chasing the game or breaking down teams that have 'parked the bus'.

- Substitutions. His substitutions cause bewilderment among many fans, never more so when Liverpool need to comeback or find late winner. Benitez surely knows better than most about his players, yet there seems to be a point in some games where the substitution seems to be Rafa throwing in the towel and concentrating on the next game, when the current one is there to be won.

- Transfers. Despite Benitez insisting that he cannot compete financially with the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and now, Manchester City this season's injuries have shown Liverpool's squad options to be rather thin on the ground for title pretenders. Players such as Peter Crouch and Craig Bellamy have been sold and replaced with Andriy Voronin and David Ngog who cost a total of £1.5 million. Money from transfer fees has doubtless gone back into the coffers to cover the enormous interest on the debt that Hicks and Gillett have put on the club, but many of Liverpool's recent acquisitions have either have too little knowledge of English football, or just haven't played enough minutes professionally. Having been at the club five years, Benitez must take responisbility for overall state of the squad. Having over 60 professionals in the playing squad but not enough money for transfers suggests one course of action.

- Player management. This is of course, anecdotal. There is an idea suggested by ex-players that Benitez has very little warmth and makes no attempt to bond with his players. This might be true of many top managers now, but it does seem that certain players get 'frozen out' of first-team football at Anfield, and it usually has very little to do with recent form. Peter Crouch in particular should feel unlucky that he fell foul of the axe, just when he seemed to discover a nature confidence in front of goal.

While it would seem suicidal to sack him before the season's end should the current form continue to stutter, more questions should be asked of the manager. He should be given more time for the team to find their form and for Liverpool to go on a get 4th position in the league. This must be the minimum requirement for Liverpool, in a season they were tipped by many to win it.