Humble beginnings

A 1-0 win against limited oposition saw our champions league campaign get off to a dull thud, rather than a bang. Debreceni posed very little threat but were happy to sit deep and frustrate in numbers, which is perfectly acceptable for smaller teams away from home. It was up to us to break them down and we didn't succeed to any great degree. We had some decent enough openings but only converted the one with deadly Dirk poked in a shot after the goalie failed to hold a Nando rasper. Rafa will say that the objective is get qualified as qucikly as possible and top the group. We're on our way to achieving that mission. Agger is back in training but unlikely to feature against West Ham in Upton Park this Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the same team or Mascherano in for Riera with Gerrard moving forward and Yossi shifting left. Aurelio needs some more minutes before he's ready to start. We should be able to beat this lot but it's not an easy ground to visit. I predict a narrow win.

It sounds like Purslow and Rafa are getting on well. I suppose the boss is glad that the incompetent Parry is gone. Purslow does seem to be efficent in securing the new sponsorship deal. The problem is that the money he's earning will go towards the Yanks debts, which they've loaded onto the club. Hicks reckons that the stadium will be built - once there is credit available in international markets. We'll see about that. In the meantime, they'll continue fucking the club, it's fans and the residents of Anfield around. Cheers Tom.

Rick resigns as reds rumbled riverside

Liverpool suffered their second league defeat of the season as Boro won 2-0 at the Riverside. Why is it a team who hasn't won in 14 games manages to turn it around against us? The likes of Downing, O'Neil and Wheater looked great but I'm sure they'll be back to their normal level of mediocrity next game. Carragher wasn't up to playing right back so Skrtel had to fill in for the injured Arbeloa. He was uncomfortable in this position and Downing made the most of it. Brad Jones had a great match and made some superb saves. We were the better team for the first 30 mins and then Xabi put the ball into his own net towards the end of the first half. But after that Boro improved and fully deserved their win. We were blunt up front without the injured Torres. Then Gerrard had to come off in the second half and any chance of another comeback went with him.

El Zahr started his first senior match for the club. He put in a few decent performances from the bench early on this year but the young Moroccan offered very little here. Dirk had a poor day up front and missed an open goal. He wasn't the only one and very few of the lads can emerge from this with much credit. A shocking performance. We knew our title challenge was finished after the city draw last week but now it's surely game over. With Chelsea resurgent under Hiddink, we'll have to get our shit together. We've already lost second place and could really do with reclaiming it. Finishing second or third doesn't matter a huge amount but psychologically it might leave us in a better frame of mind regarding next season.

It's the black cats at anfield this Tuesday and a good chance for some of the poor performers to get their act together and show some pride. What we really need is an early goal. All too often this year we've been unable to convert our dominance and chances into goals, which gives the opposition hope if they keep us goalless until half time. This makes the Anfield faithful lose faith and their unease gets to the players. Let's hope we score a hat full in the first half to avoid this all too familiar scenario.

Tony Barrett in the echo revealed that Parry is leaving in the summer, which is great news for Rafa and the club. I was originally a fan of Parry but he's been a disaster in recent times. He was one of the major reason the yanks succeeded, we're poor commercially, ticket office is a joke, he's messed up loads of transfers through sloth and ineptitude (Walcott, Vidic, Alves etc), the list goes on and on. But with him leaving, it will mean that Hicks has a free reign to do what he wants at board level. This worries me. Hopefully he'll be forced to sell before he gets a chance to inflict any more damage.

The Brazilian media are linking us with a summer move for Olympiakos striker Diogo. He's a player that Arsenal, Chelsea and us have tried to sign in the past. He's only 21 and has done well in Greece since his move there. But whether he'd be able to make the step up to the premier league is a different story. Let the trail by youtube commence.

Lucas laments at Latics late leveler

LUCAS! What was he thinking? I was mucho pissed off when he conceded the peno last night. It finished 1-1 because yet again, our inability to score a second goal gives the opposition hope and let's them throw everything at us in the last few minutes, know that a point is there for the taking. We must have no toes left after shooting ourselves in the foot so often.

Yossi did fantastically well to score from such a narrow angle after beating the keeper and had a good game all round. In fact, he could and should have had a second when he made mince meat of the defence but couldn't beat the goalie. I was glad to see him come into the team as Dirk has been at nothing in recent weeks.

Torres looked off form and never really got into the game. Despite that, he did manage to put a header onto the post and had a few shots and half chances in the first half. He did nothing in the second and looked knackered again at the end. It may be a while yet before he can contribute 90 mins. Gerrard had a half volley near the end and a free kick before half time that were close. Babel didn't do much but Lucas had a decent match until his moment of madness. There was no need for that penalty to be conceded as the Wigan player wasn't even going towards goal.
Chelsea on Sunday sounds pretty daunting given our inability to score and win a game now. They were wobbly themselves for a while but seemed to have steadied the ship with their last two or three matches. We'll need to see more from El Nino and our Captain than we saw last night. Big game for Javier too, but it's the kind of occasion that he loves and thrives in.

Sky are reporting today that Keane is a Spurs target and they've sounded LFC out over a possible return. I think that any deal could only be in the form of a loan. To be honest, I would be surprised if this happens now. Even though he doesn't fit into our best XI, I doubt Rafa would be willing to let anybody leave the squad at this stage without a suitable replacement. But the Keane experiment has been a failure and I think he should be shipped out in the summer. We could do with a quality match winner for our right hand flank to chip in with goals, threat pace and movement from the right hand side. Dirk has his qualities but doesn't have much in that regard.

More evidence of why Parry must go, courtesy of Anfield Online. We risk losing Agger for a pittance due to procrastination.

Both Gabriele Marcotti in the Times and a Man Utd blog called stretford-end.com examine the zonal marking system we employ and discover that the myth doesn't match the facts. Andy Gray and co could do with reading these articles. Here's an extract.Quite frankly, that Liverpool are poor at defending set pieces has become the biggest falsehood since it was claimed that Chesney Hawkes was the future of music.
The truth is that Liverpool only conceded from two corners all last season, both coming in Premiership games (Chelsea away and Everton at home). In total the Reds faced 137 corners in the league, meaning Benítez's men conceded on just 1.5 per cent of them. Only one team, Chelsea, were able to come even close to that, allowing three goals from 127 (2.4 per cent).n terms of goals conceded from free-kicks delivered into the box, Liverpool also allowed only two in the Premiership all season, again one less than Chelsea. So the Reds conceded one-third fewer league goals than the next-best team when defending set-pieces.

A spate of youngsters have left on loan in the last week and Mikel San Jose is the latest to join them. The 19 year old centre back is going to Atletico Bilbao for the rest of the season. Those who watch the reserves regularly like this kid so it should be a good opportunity for him to prove he has the quality to step up to the next level with the first team in August. The official site have a chat with Spanish kid Daniel Pacheco. He is one of the youngsters who is tipped to make an impact here.

Charles Itanje wants to leave Anfield. I don't think that anybody is going to stand in his way. Cavalieri has looked far superior to the French keeper this season.

Comeback kings

Rafa will not be happy tonight. Yes we won before staging a stunning second half comeback, we allowed city to establish a two goal lead at half time. That is a cardinal sin according to the gaffa. But that is the third time in the league this season where we've been behind and have comeback to win the game. The Marseille match was the same. Impressive, no? Rafa's new phrase is "on fire". I think he could safely say it about us now.

We were fairly shit in the first half and made some stupid defences mistakes to enable Ireland and Garrido to score. Pepe will be pissed off with himself for the free kick he conceded at the near post. It was doom and gloom at Eastlands when the half time oranges were being consumed. I expect that some journos were getting their pieces ready about Liverpool's title challenge only lasting until October. Alas for them, Torres and Kuyt had something to say. Three second half goals means that we're still joint top of the table. That was stirring stuff. El Nino looks to be regaining his form after a sluggish start. Ands we scored a goal directly from a corner, wonders will never cease. I'm very happy to see Dirk get the winner. It followed some great build up play by Yossi, another inspired Rafa sub. He get so much stick that it's great to see him score a winner and get some praise. He made for a terrible miss earlier in the match by hitting his first league goal of the season. I love the guy but there are games against the weaker teams when I don't think he's needed. It's been a good week for him though. Could this be true?

Riera had a good match. He looked dangerous on the left and caused the city defence lots of problems. Poor Marty Skrtel was taken off injured with his leg in a brace. He landed awkwardly on it and was in fierce pain when he fell and stayed down. It would have to be serious to keep Skrtel out of the line of fire. The upside is that we should get to see more of Dagger playing if Skrtel is out for some time.
Speaking of our great dane, Real want Agger according to sky who are picking up on a story in the UK press. Ballague discusses the rumours on his website and reckons that it's not cut and dry.

After the international we'll face Wigan who are doing well so far this year. I assume Skrtel will be out. Any chance of Degan being back soon? Slim. Let's hope we don't pick up anymore international injuries.

Chelsea are being linked with the newest of new Zidanes, a player we've been linked to in the past.

Aldo is worried about the American owners. Me too John. Parry says the stadium is being delayed due to credit crunch. The worst part is that I fear we'll be stuck with these jokers in charge for the foreseeable future.

Thanks Kasey

Sometimes second gear is all you need. It was all we needed against Fulham on Saturday. If ever there was a championship team in waiting, Fulham is it. We were able to rest a god few of the first team and we still got a 2-0 win away from home. But the credit here has to go down to one man: Kasey Keller. I thought he was poor for both goals. Pennant hit a nice strike from distance for the first but Keller could have saved it if he made an effort. Crouch managed to slip the second one between his legs which was nice. There were some notable performers in Lucas, Pennant and the ever fantastic Mascherano, but there wasn't really a whole lot to write home about. You did get the impression that Rafa and some of the players had their minds on other things, notably a date with Chelsea this tuesday.

If Fulham were the appetiser, then their west London rivals are the main course. Given that the first leg is at Anfield, we need to make it count. Chelsea have a superb record at the bridge so we wouldn't want to be heading there looking for a result. the fact that Essien is suspended for tomorrow is a boost as he's a fantastic player. It looks like Gerrard, Lampard and Drogba will all start. I expect Rafa to tell us to try and hit them early as we managed to do against Juve a few years back. We were in a similar situation against Inter and too a 2-0 lead into the second leg. It's going to be tough but the vibes coming out of Chelsea don't sound good which might improve our chances. I think that we'll sneak it by a goal but will have some tense moments. Expect it to be tactical, turgid and tense rather than thrilling like the Arsenal tie.

This is a terribly sad and moving story. Let's hope that Liam is able to see the banners unfurled on the Kop tomorrow.

The Liverpool Echo has a first hand account from a fan who survived Hillsbourgh. It's well worth a read for an insight from somebody who watched the tragedy unfold. The Guardian reprinted David Lacey's Hillsbourgh report from 1989.

This report from the daily mail could offer some insight into why it's all been kicking off in the boardroom. Oliver Kay analyses the Hicks spin in the Times. There is some interesting info about DIC in this article as there is here in the Independent. This story isn't going away anytime soon.

Rovers routed

I think that we are getting over the Euro hangovers, at last. This game was the equivalent of two solphadine and a glass of water. Did the job but you wouldn't be over the moon about it. 3-1 is about as good as we could ask for, given the exertions during the week and the fact that Blackburn usually make it hard on us, as they did for 45 mins here. We would have lost or drawn this game a few years back.

Gerrard was probably the best player on the day. He caused the defence no end of problems and scored a lovely goal to make it 20 for him this years. He looked for a few penos in the first half but the ref gave him nothing. I don't think that they were dives, as there was contact. But he did go down easier than he might have, especially for the first shout. I'm not mad on seeing our players do that but it's common practice in the league now from all of the top players like Ronaldo, Rooney, Drogba etc. Doesn't make it right but some call it streetwise.

Torres had a quiet match and looked a big tired but he still managed to score his 30th of the season and 20th in the league. An amazing achievement in his first season. Andre Voronin came on and managed to nick one at the death. He's been poor enough after a bright start this year and I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave this summer. We did concede in time added on which didn't matter but I'm sure that it pissed Rafa off. He does like the clean sheets.

Lucas did well, slotting in for the suspended Mascherano, especially in the second half. His one two with Stevie led to the first goal. I'm hoping that he gets some more exposure over the last few league matches so that he has a solid base to build on next year. Xabi had a much better game than his recent form had suggested was possible. If Xabi does leave this summer, which looks likely in my opinion, Then we might see Lucas coming in as the regular partner for Mascherano in the middle. Rafa may also bring in somebody like De La Red or Martinez and rotate them with Lucas. I'll be sad to see Xabi go, if he does, but he hasn't been as good over the past 18mths. Sure he still has time and games to make a contribution between now and the summer.

There was a minutes silence for the 96 as the Hillsbourgh anniversary is on this Tuesday. The players stood and presented a united front in the centre circle. If only the board could do the same.

This is great news. Modric is only 22 and was awesome against England a few months back. I think that he could be incredible in our current system, with Gerrard dropping back or moving to the right.

This is also great news. Hopefully Highdale can make a full recovery ad go on to play for the academy team again.

Henry Winter has a great article on Parry v Hicks, the latest boardroom PR disaster. It's as disappointing as it is tedious. Even the normally silent David Moores has been chipping in with his two cents. It's a shambles. But it's a credit to Rafa and the team that they've managed to get to a euro semi final without letting it bother them, as this article by Brian Reade attests. I'm a big fan of Wenger but his whinging since Tuesday is unedifying.

I saw this on the bbc rumour page and I have to say that it would cheer me up no end if true.

After Diego Maradona has been handing out lavish praise to fellow countryman Javier Mascherano, the Liverpool midfielder is set to invite the Argentine hero to watch him play at troubled Anfield. (Mail on Sunday)

Maradona at Anfield, imagine that. He's a big fan of Monster Masch.

Next up is Fulham away on Sat. I can see Rafa rotating the fuck out of the team for this one. Fulham are fighting for their lives but are shit. Even our B team should be able to win. We only need around 2 more wins to be sure of fourth. If and when that happens, Rafa will rest all his big players and give the kids a run out, as he did last year. While I want us to get as many points as possible and finish as near to the top as possible, I suppose we should look at the bigger picture and focus on the champs league semis and a possible final where we might have an edge if our players are fresher.

I wonder if we can make it to Saturday without any more shots across the boardroom? Somehow I doubt it. Talk then.

Porto pasting

I've been slow writing a report on the Porto match as I haven't felt well over the last few days. I've finally gotten around to it now that I'm feeling better. By the time you read this it'll be time for the Bolton report. Sure I never get a minutes peace.

Porto looks like it was a walkover on the face of it. 4-1 sounds like a one sided hammering. In reality it was quite close until 15 mins to go. El Nino scored the opener in the first half when we were on top and he mach looked like it was going to be easy. They had a good spell for 15 mins either side of half time. After they scored, while the game was 1-1, it could have gone either way. Then Rafa brought Kewell and Crouchie on. Kewell set up Torres and Crouchie scored with a header from a corner. Gerrard scored a peno. Job done. Now it a case of getting a win in the Marseille match to make sure that we go through to the next round. I feel that we're more than capable of doing what needs to be done.


Bolton visit Anfield tomorrow. Again, Xabi and Dagger aren't ready yet. They are taking their time coming back but it's better not to rush it this time as we discovered the last time.

Rick Parry denied that Tom Hicks is interested in selling his share of Liverpool. One of the tabloids suggested that Sheik Maktoum was interested in buying out the Texan. It seems like this is pure speculation.

Trot on Trotters.

Sign on

The news that we're getting all of our main players tied down to new contracts is very satisfying. Carra and Stevie signed last week, while Pepe and Xabi both signed extensions this week. It's heartening in so far as there was a lot of speculation that Xabi might leave for one of Barca/Real. It's clear that the management want the core of the team all tied down to long term deals so that we can build from a stable and reliable base.

Fordies has an good post on Rafa and Parry. I don't know who this guy is or if he's reliable but it always makes for interesting reading.

Ribery going to Bayern Munchen for £17m is potentially good news. It means that Marseille should have enough money to play for Cisse now. I think that the fee originly agreed was around £8.5m but Diouf at Marseille won't pay that much. I hope that we can get something approaching it. There was also some talk that Bolton are interested but I'd be surprised if that happens.

The Malouda deal is still kicking about. It seems that we now have competition from Chelsea and Arsenal. I don't know if Arsenal can compete financially but they do have the Wenger factor which make a difference with French players.

Eto'o looks to be staying at Barca, from his recent comments. Milan and us are interested but if he wants to stay there, then it's unlikely to happen.

Is Thierry saying "get Rafa to sign me, Stevie"? For those who've been pinning their hopes on a thunderbolt signing from Arsenal, think again. This rumour has been knocking around the forums for around six months and it's still rubbish as far as I'm concerned. As I've said before, I've no inside track but it's an illogical deal. Why would Arsenal sell Henry, their best player, to a rival, weakening themselves and strengthening the rival? I wouldn't be surprised if he does leave the Emirates but I don't think it'll be for Anfield. There's more chance of me being recruited by the Pussy Cat Dolls than there is of Thierry bring his Va Va Voom to L4.

It's all kicking off

The boardroom situation is reaching boiling point. By all accounts, Rafa has had enough of Rick Parry and his incompitence and indecisiveness. It now looks like he wants someone else to come in and do Parrys job with more authority to make quick decisions and sign off on players. Foster Gillett seems to be the man that will take the job but he is having work permit issues at the moment. Where this leaves Parry, I don't know. Rafa is on holidays this week and seems to think that it should be sorted out to some degree by the time he gets back. I hope he's right. He has said that we need to spend money now or else we'll only ever be contenders for third/fourth spot in the league. It seems that he has two deals lined up now that need signing off on to go through. These are rumoured to be Simao and Gabriel Milito. We've seen when Rafa was at Valencia that he walked when he didn't recieve the backing he needed. I fear that it might be the same situation here if he doesn't get what he wants. That would be an absolute disaster for the club.

In trasnfer news there's been a few bits and pieces. Bellamy wants his future sorted. I don't blame him but I do think he'll leave to go to one of Villa, Blackburn or West Ham. Marseille want to do a permenent deal on Cisse. I hope that we get a decent price for him. Momo isn't happy with his current status. As I've said before, I can see him being sold for the cash. Samuel Eto'o made some very positive comments about us over the weekend. If he does move, I can see us getting involved but I would imagine that he's more likely to stay at Barca and he'd be very expensive anyway. Florent Malouda seems to be an option for the left wing. Finally, we've signed two Hungarian kids, called Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon from MTK Hungaria. Nemeth is highly rated and played well in teh uefa u-17 competition last year.