Big bucks?

The new away kit was released today. I can't say that I'm overly impressed with it. The last white kit was much better.

Some interesting transfer rumours here. If these are to be believed then we're going to break the bank for Simao/Malouda, Tevez, Alves and Milito. I have to say that I can't see us spending that much money. I don't have any sort of inside info or source, just what I read on the net and that leads me to believe that we'll spend cash this summer but not £70m. Chris Bascombe in the Liverpool Echo today says that Sami is staying at the club. If Hyypia is staying then maybe that makes a move for Milito less likely. Bascombe is pretty reliable for getting the inside line from Anfield. He reckons that Tevez will be too expensive at £30m. I too doubt that Rafa would be willing to spend that much on one player.

The news that Rafa has been reassured after talks with the chairmen is satisfying. They seem quick off the mark to get in contact with Rafa when needed.

Our continued interest in young European talent shows no sign of finishing. This week we've signed Alexander Kacaniklic. He's a fifteen year old midfielder from Sweden and he impressed the staff after a twelve day trial in February.

Jerzey Dudek is set to leave the club shortly as he's out of contract. While it is definitely time for him to go, with Scott Carson waiting in the wings, he will be missed. He will be a legend for what he achieved in Istanbul, but has tarnished his reputation somewhat with a string of poor displays since then, notably the Carling and FA cup this season. But the character of the man can never be in doubt. Here he is at the end of the match in Athens, comforting a distraught Reina. I hope Jerzey goes on to do a good job elsewhere and has a happy twilight to his career.

A bridge too far

I was hoping that I'd be writing about "the joy of six" today. Alas it's "seventh heaven" for AC Milan. But I don't feel devestated. We gave it everything we had but it wasn't enough and luck was against us. These things happen in football. We lost 2-1 having put on a really good display. It's not like we were spanked 3-0.

The first half was great and we played some good stuff. Pennant in particular pinned Jankulovski back on our right wing. Rafa wanted us to go at them from the off. We were in the ascendency and had a few chances. Unfortunately, as has been the case many times this season, we couldn't make it count and failed to put any of the chances away. But the Inzaghi goal was devestating. It was a bad position to give away a free but Pepe had it covered until it took a deflection off Inzaghi's arm. 1-0 down at half time after dominating the half. Sickening. Inzaghi scored again in the second half after recieving a pass from Kaka. Milan were much better after the break, they play well when they have the lead. Crouch came on and did alright but the ref penalised him for being tall. Kuyt scored at the death but it wasn't enough. The ref blew up early but it probably wouldn't have mattered. Milan took their chances, we didn't. At least we got a good match with some good football, unlike the FA Cup final last Saturday. John Giles described it as "enthralling from start to finish".

Javier Alejandro Mascherano was brilliant. Man of the match for me. Kaka had very little influence on the game until the chief was taken off. He might have stayed on and closed Kaka down for the second goal if he hadn't been booked.


The papers are full of players on the way out today. We know that Robbie, Jerzey and Bolo are on their way as they're all out of contract. It now looks like Mark Gonzalez is on his way to Real Betis. I feel a bit sorry for the lad but it didn't seem to be working for him here. He had a few decent games but by and large was underwhealming. I had high hopes for him coming into the season as he was incredible for Sociedad in Spain last year. Sometimes players don't fit in or adapt here and Mark could be a case in point. I hope we get a good fee for him, rumoured to be £5m+, and that he does well for Betis.

So where do we go from here? It's clear that we need more talent in attack. Left wing is a problem position. Kewell is injured too often, Garcia is great in europe but not as effective in the league and isn't a real winger anyway. Aurelio started to look really good before he got injured but he has a bad history of injuries too. Leto is coming in but I don't know if he'll be ready for first team football. I think we're ok on the right wing given that we've Pennant who had a great second half of the season. Gerrard can also play there and do a good job. It looks like Bellemy will be sold although this hasn't been confirmed. I'm hoping that we invest in a top striker. I'd love Tevez or Villa but I don't know if either is likely. I'm sure we'll have a summer full of speculation. I hope that Rafa doesn't sell us all a dummy and sign Darren Bent.

I won't be doing as many posts over the summer as there are no matches. I'll try to do a roundup of transfer news every so often and might do profiles of some players. Onwards and upwards.

Cottage capitulation

Fairplay Fulham. We had a lot of chances but as has happened so often this season away from home, we failed to convert them. Fulham kept at it and managed to take their chance when Clint Dempsey scored in the second half. As with the Portsmouth match last week, we played the B team and there weren't able to make their dominence count. Belllamy had a good few chances where he was through on Niemi but couldn't finish them. The feeling now seems to be that Craig will be on his way in the summer. I don't know for definite but it does look like he'll go if we can buy a top class replacement. He's done well for us at times and we should get a good price for him but I do wonder if he's consistent enough for us at this level and he does have his off the field issues.

Chalton visit Anfield on Sunday in what is now a meaningless game as they've been relegated. We won't be killing ourselves but we've a good home record this season so it'll be good not to lose that. Dudek is looking to start this match as it'll be his last at Anfield. He's out of contract this summer and wants a chance to say goodbye to the fans. Dudek will always be a Liverpool legend for his heroics in Istanbul but he's looked increasingly erratic whenever he's come into the team since then and he's on a significant wage so I'm not unhappy to see him leave. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Carson next season.