Why no uproar when Yossi doesn't start ?

For some reason the media isn't attacking Rafa's rotation system again, this despite another boring game, which required the intervention of Benayoun to rescue Liverpool from drawing with Wigan. Had Torres (who had several chances to score) been left on the bench and introduced later on to score the winner, I'll bet the media would've gone ballistic!

Benayoun is starting to show us what he's capable of, with a couple of stunning goals in a matter of days. With motivation seemingly lacking amongst the Reds of late, Yossi's introduction against Wigan gave the team a bit of a lift.

His performances of late should hopefully mean he gets more and more chances to showcase his class and creativity, something which we need given that the rest of the lads aren't performing to their potential !

The Third Coming of Robbie Fowler

Well what were the odds of Liverpool drawing Cardiff City in the next round of the Carling Cup ? The great thing about it is that it gives Robbie Fowler the chance of a brief return to Anfield and no doubt he will get a rousing welcome.

When I originally heard he was joining Cardiff, I assumed the next time we would see him at Anfield would be in several years time for one of those Anfield legends games. So it will be great to see him again so soon (hope he doesn't score, he's on form with 4 goals from 5 games!!).

Gerardo Bruna signs for Liverpool

Gerardo Bruna has shunned signing professional forms with Real Madrid and opted to join Liverpool instead (similar fashion to how Cesc Fabregas joined Arsenal). The 16 year old argentinian is half spanish and has an EU passport so he won't require a work permit to join Liverpool.

The exceptionally talented midfielder can both create and score goals, with breathtaking skill, pace and balance. He will probably be one of the few youth players who is capable of making the step up to the first team but it'll be another couple of years before we find out.

Hardly a revelation for the Kop

Anfield Road didn't even rank in the top 20 for best european stadiums in a recent poll by Drivers Jonas Sports, however when our new Anfield Stadium is finished in a couple of years I reckon we'll take the top spot from Man Utd there.

The unsurprising news from the survey though is that Anfield has the best atmosphere of any European stadium, once the new anfield stadium is completed that atmosphere will become even better.

Thanks to the design ingenuity of the new Kop, sound will continue to reverberate around the Kop even when people stop singing, that combined with several thousand more Kopites should make for an awesome atmosphere :-)

Clumsy Crouchie needs to cop on

It's not exactly a secret that referee's in the Premiership let players get away with murder (figuratively speaking of course) compared with their counterparts in other European leagues or international football. It's not as if Crouchie is the cleanest player out there, arms and legs seem to envelope any player that comes near him, looks very clumsy to say the least.

So now he's all worried that he will have to adapt his game to the international scene, is that not the same for all the other Premiership players who have to switch from 'physical mode' to something a little more elegant such as actually playing football. If only he would just cop on and quit whinging about it.

Will Gerrard live in the shadow of Torres ?

Or will Gerrard rise Phoenix like ? You could write a book about 'Stevie Me' and his overblown ego and immaturity, no wait he already did that for us ;-)

How many times over the years has he moaned about having a better team, players worthy of his presence etc. In Torres we have someone capable of overshadowing Gerrard. Torres has again showed great intelligence, skill, strength, speed and excellent finishing prowess (what a hat trick against Reading).

It'll be interesting to see how Gerrard responds (he's used to the media focusing on only him), I'm hoping it will help him grow and develop into one of the truly great team players in the game. Time for 'Stevie We'.

The great Liverpool teams of the past always had several amazing 'team players' and thats the direction I hope and feel we're heading in again :-)

Benayoun follows in the footsteps of giants

A while ago I joked about how all we needed was for Benayoun to carry on the new boys tradition (Voronin, Torres, Babel) of scoring superb first goals for Liverpool. Against Reading he didn't disappoint and went on an excellent run before smashing the ball into the roof of the net, what a goal !

As for Hobbs, he didn't get quite the debut expected (pitiful few minutes), Leto and Leiva showed some lovely touches, Itandje was a mixed bag with some excellent saves but at fault for Reading's second goal.

With Pennant in such good form I imagine it'll be a while before we get to see Benayoun again, shame given his sheer class and creativity, but with Benitez you just never know what team he'll pick on the day.

The Reds youngsters might shine tonight

Say what you want about the Carling Cup but at least it gives the younger fringe players a chance to prove their worth. Tonight we should get to see several in action, I for one can't wait to see how they perform, there's always been something exciting about watching a new player break through at Anfield, sadly it's not happened under Rafa just yet.

Jack Hobbs has been highly rated from day one and he gets his debut tonight (along with Itandje in goal). Leto, Leiva, Insua and El Zhar are also bound to play at some stage, I've only seen these guys in reserve games so far (and they're impressive), hope they play to their potential tonight :-)

Why become a one man team again ?

It's sad so much of the media rounds on Benitez for leaving Torres out against Birmingham. It's not like Voronin and Kuyt aren't more than capable against a team of Birmingham's quality (they just didn't perform). Torres is only used to playing 40 games per season, we can't all of a sudden expect him to step up to 60 odd games played at a faster pace, therefore it makes sense to rest him from that perspective (shame Benitez focused on tactics in his explanation).

Everytime results don't go our way will the focus be on rotation (we have the squad to make it work) or leaving out Torres. The last thing I want is for Liverpool to become a one man team again, this season we actually have a decent squad and I hope for more of a team focus in the future.

Rafa needs to address the human dimension

Liverpool's form has dropped immeasureably since Paco Ayesteran left the club a few weeks. The one thing which Paco offered the players was an outlet, he developed good relationships with them.

Benitez may be technically brilliant, but he reputedly views them as mere pawns (Guilleme Balague on Sky) and has no interest in developing good relationships with them. What concerns me a little is, who is going to take over the role as trusted advisor to the players. It's something which they need.

It might be asking too much for a leopard to change his spots, but with Benitez being a self confessed 'loner with a laptop', perhaps he could start blogging as a means to try communicate more with his players ;-) Joking aside, we need someone with excellent people skills to act as a conduit for the team. But who ?

Just what are the Reds playing at ?

I think it's high time for a little perspective. We've played 6 league games now, and if you exclude the goal rush at Derby, we've really only averaged 1 goal per game. Each year the optimist in me likes to think, feel and believe that this will be our year. The pragmatist in me realises that after only so many games yet another false dawn has occured.

While the media might round on Rafa's rotation policy, this year I've been agreeing with Rafa and today I can't fault his decision to drop Torres (only my rational would have been based on his inept midweek performance).

Despite all the new faces, its the same old LFC, the new attacking philosphy has yet to materialise. Mostly the players just don't look like they want it enough. The raw talent is there, but what will it take to motivate them ?

Football managers are funny little things

Childish temper tantrums and throwing their toys out of their prams are common place amongst the footballing elite. Witness the rivalries of Ferguson & Wenger, Benitez & Mourinho over the last few years.

It never ceases to amaze me how easily wound up these guys get with the silly (sometimes entertaining) mind games they play with each other. Half the time I feel these guys are seconds away from blurting out, "I'm telling my mom".

So with Mourinho's departure I was half expecting to get a nugget or two from Benitez. But nope nothing he declines to comment, other managers were content to 'pay their respects' to the man, but not Rafa who may as well have given him the finger in the process ;-)

My Anfield now in 100 different countries :-)

Hello world :-) I started this blog a few months ago, but friends and family couldn't remember the long drawn out blogspot web address. This lead me to getting my own domain www.myanfield.net a few weeks ago.

One thing I do is constantly tweak the site to try make it easier for people to navigate, to this end I use Google Analytics & StatCounter to see how people navigate the site and adjust things accordingly.

But the other cool thing about Analytics is that it shows a map of the world and lists the number of different countries which people visiting the site come from, today that figure has now reached 100 different countries. Thanks to all who have stopped by and to those of you who continue to do so ;-)

Mourinho leaving is a problem for LFC

So the self styled 'Special One' is no longer at Chelsea, apparently he left by 'mutual consent' which is management speak for 'getting sacked'.

But this could present problems for Liverpool, because we dropped 2 points against Chelsea already (controversial I know) it makes things harder for us with Manchester United playing them this Sunday (easy 3 points for them) and Arsenal to follow suit in a couple of months (should be another few easy points for them as I doubt Chelsea will have acclimatised by then).

While I wouldn't want us winning the Premier League without beating the top teams along the way (although I'm sure I would get over it if we did), it's now more important that we do beat ManUre & Arsenal.

Agger & Alonso out for up to 6 weeks

Both players had scans which confirmed they had a stress fracture of their metatarsal (right and left foot respectively).

Ouch, that wasn't the news I was hoping to find out, being without Alonso isn't all that big a deal given the wealth of talent we have at our disposal in central midfield. But losing Agger for between 4-6 weeks is a bit of a problem as we don't have any real cover for Carragher and Hyypia.

Jack Hobbs might be highly rated but he's also highly inexperienced, still with our busy schedule coming up I'd expect he'll find himself starting against Reading in next weeks Carling Cup game.

Shame Pennant lacks self awareness

I devoted my previous post to saying that Pennant and Reina were not to blame for last nights draw with Porto. Many of todays papers chose to single out Pennant for the 'blame game'. Typical shortsightedness on the part of the media in general (they love a scapegoat) as it wasn't until Pennant was sent off that Liverpool's players started to put some effort in. I'd be more inclined to point the finger at Gerrard or Torres for their lack of effort.

I read an article on the official LFC site in which Pennant seems to feel his 'unjust' sending off was because referees are stricter in Euro games and he will try learn from that. Shame he lacks sufficient self awareness to be able to see that it was his petulant and unnecessary tackles which got him sent off and that he would be better served to learn from that instead !

Pennant and Reina NOT to blame

Reina may have had an off night, silly foul to gift them a penalty and nearly gave Quaresma a clear chance by flapping at a clearance, most of his passes went straight back to Porto's players (same can be said for the whole team).

Pennant on the other hand was guilty of some rather rash challenges, both his bookings were when the ball was either clearly gone or out of play.

But what of the likes of Gerrard & Torres ? Some people may be tempted to use Pennant or Reina as scapegoats but Stevie G and Torres put in lazy inept performances.

I reckon Pennant did us a favour, it was only after his sending off that several of Liverpool's players started to put in an effort (only just) which was sufficient to hold off Porto.

Why are Liverpool scared of the football ?

What a terrible game, I almost felt sorry for Porto having to tolerate our glaring ineptitude. Why is it that Liverpool's players were so scared to pass to each other, I can understand players misplacing a pass when under pressure, but even when we weren't they would just give the ball away.

People criticise Benitez when he doesn't play what they feel is our best team, I disagree, tonight he played the people's choice best 11 to win, and guess what awaytitis (not an official disease, but hey I'm using creative license here) set in again, at home we destroy teams, away from home we collectively go missing :-(

More injury woes for Liverpool :-(

Xabi Alonso limped off the training ground yesterday after aggrevating a foot injury picked up against Portsmouth last weekend, should he fail to recover in time for tonights match, he joins a growing list of players recently injured.

Having said all that though, it does pave the way for Mascherano to make start, I think long term himself and Gerrard will make the best central midfield partnership. With regards to tonight's match against Porto, I think having Mascherano and Alonso starting in midfield with Gerrard on the right wing would give us more defensive solidity to thwart the threat of the impressive Quaresma.

Premier League Table 2007/2008

The Table can be accessed from the top left of the homepage.
To keep track of matches and events for LFC, there's also the Live Calendar.
The latest My Anfield Articles are on the main homepage, http://www.myanfield.net/

Riise, Sissoko & Kewell to miss Porto game

John Arne Riise picked up a groin injury last week while on international duty with Norway. Also Mohammed Sissoko and Harry Kewell will also miss the champions league match against Porto tomorrow night. Despite Fabio Aurelio recently returning from injury, I'd expect (and hope) that Alvaro Arbeloa will get the nod over him for the left back starting slot.

Daniel Ayala has signed for Liverpool

This is the second time that Liverpool has raided Sevilla for one of their players who hadn't signed professional forms yet (remember Antonio Barragan, who left the club a year later for a hefty profit).

Daniel Ayala is a very highly rated central defender, but that's something Liverpool had been able to experience first hand as he played some games for our youth team before joining LFC.

Is it fair to criticise Benitez rotation system ?

Ok yesterday we slipped to 2nd spot in the league thanks to a bore draw with Portsmouth. Nearly all the papers have poor Benitez trying to justify his rotation system. In previous years we haven't had the squad depth to make rotation work, and like most people I wasn't the biggest fan of it, but this season we do and yesterdays starting 11 should have easily been good enough to win.

His team selection made perfect sense, he went with the fittest players available, but those players didn't perform 'on the day'. If there's been one constant about Liverpool over the years it's that the players lack confidence away from home, we can destroy teams at home but then most of our players go missing away from home and that I feel is our real problem area. So maybe we should cut Benitez some slack and see how the season pans out before condeming him yet again.

Carragher & Aurelio are back from injury

Jamie Carragher has recovered from his rib and lung injuries, Benitez has confirmed he will be included in the game against Portsmouth this weekend. Fabio Aurelio on the other hand was out for much longer due to an achilles injury, he played 45 minutes for the reserves and is getting closer to full fitness. Gerrard's condition will be re-examined after his 2 recent games, I doubt there would be any problems but suspect he might be rested this weekend.

Benitez opposes a form of 'Yin and Yang'

So Rafa Benitez has publicly stated how it's ridiculous that he doesn't have time to prepare his players for matches after internationals and champions league games have taken place. This is the same situation for all the top teams who have the most cash and the best players.

Is it really unfair on the top teams that they aren't more favourably accomodated after those midweek games so that they can beat the smaller teams ?

It's largely because of those midweek games that the top teams have the most cash and best players. I think this is just a case of yin and yang trying to strike some semblance of balance to the league !

Javier Mascherano up for tax evasion / jail ?

One minute I'm talking about him being available on the cheap (but not this cheap!), the next thing I'm reading about reports from brazilian newspapers (O Estado & Folha) which allege that the likes of Mascherano, Tevez, Alberto & Ricardino are at the centre of a police probe for dodging taxes.

Corinthians are being investigated over financial irregularities involving players supplied by Kia Joorabchian's company MSI. Given that the company pretty much 'owned' these players I doubt they had too much control over their own finances and will probably be found innocent of any wrong doing. Still it will be interesting to see what happens as the investigation unfolds.

Peter Crouch stalls offer of a new contract

Despite Benitez saying that he won't sell Crouchie, it looks as if his hand may be forced given that the player is stalling on the offer of a new 3 year contract. To be fair to the player you can't really blame him, he must be confused about how he fits in these days, he's only had several minutes of Premier League football (hasn't even made the squad for 3/4 of those games) so far this season and a single champions league game.

Juventus and Manchester City are believed to be his main suitors. Unless injured I can't see him displacing Torres, Voronin or Kuyt. If he does go in January, I hope Craig Lindfield gets the call up as opposed to Benitez hitting the transfer market again.

No new injuries for Liverpool

Well the international weekend passed without incident for Liverpool's players. Gerrard made it through 70 minutes, his limping coming off due to cramp and not his toe. Alonso got sent off which means he comes back to us in one piece ;-) Torres who also took a knock during training made it through most of Spain's game before being substituted. Finnan had to withdraw from the Irish squad due to a knee injury. Agger, Riise, Voronin, Babel and Hyypia also played without any problems. Most of them still have another game to go midweek, but I hope they all come back in one piece so LFC can continue its march towards the title :-)

Pepe Reina is being sounded out by Atletico

According to AS, Atletico Madrid have been in contact with Reina's agent to sound him out over a possible move back to Spain. Despite Reina only signing a new contract with Liverpool earlier this year, they're counting on the emotional aspects as his father Miguel used to play in goal for Atletico.

While I can't see anything happening until the end of the season, if he does go back at least we can recall Scott Carson to take his place, however, I'm not yet convinced he's as good as Reina.

Liverpool FC - Season Calendar

Click on any of the events to see more, or use the scrollbar to cycle through months/years. It can be accessed from the top-right of this blog.

Javier Mascherano on the cheap

Unlike many players who moan incessantly and throw their toys out of the pram when they don't get a game, it's good to hear that Javier Mascherano is ok with the rotation system employed by Rafa Benitez.

Aside from the 'team player' aspect of this, his attitude (not to mention phenomenal ability) on the pitch is there for all to see. Liverpool has him on loan until the end of this season at which point we've also got an option to sign him.

The less exposure he has the lower his transfer fee will be (read: affordable especially with our proposed new debt). I reckon we'll sign him and from next season onwards we'll see him in a lot more games (I'd rate him higher than Alonso and Sissoko).

Liverpool FC proposed debt of £500 million

One of the things which Gillet/Hicks were quick to point out when they bought Liverpool FC is that it wasn't going to be anything like the Glazier's takeover of Manchester United. Instead of heaping debt on the club they were buying the club without any debt (although they did borrow £285 million).

Now it's transpired that they intend to borrow £500 million (the debt will be on LFC this time) to refinance the original loan and building of the new liverpool stadium. Given that its 16 times LFC's operating profits (2007), I think it's inevitable there'll be a marked increase in ticket prices and probably stadium naming rights being sold off (I might rename this blog in a few years time to "My Old Anfield").

Funny situation for "ugly" Liverpool

Its interesting reading about how the Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster is slagging off Liverpool, saying our playing style is unattractive and ugly. He would prefer a balance between the attacking might of Manchester United and the defensive solidity of Chelsea.

With "ugly" Liverpool only scoring 11 goals in 4 games and conceeding 2 goals, well 1 ;-). Whereas the attacking wizards of Manchester United have scored a great big whopping 3 goals in 5 games, never mind the defensive frailties of Chelsea shipping 6 goals in 5 games.

Not sure what brought on the unprovoked attack, doubt its Liverpool's snatching of 18 year old defensive prospect Aridine Hernandez from under his nose !

Players lose 3 games, referees 1 game

Craig Fagan stamped on Alvaro Arbeloa last Saturday, the incident was missed by the referee but TV evidence has been used to charge the player and if found guilty he will receive an automatic 3 match ban, fair enough, justice done.

Compare the impact of Fagan's (no not our Joe) actions to that of Rob Styles, ok so the guy made a huge mistake, has come out and apologised, but his actions could potentially affect the outcome of who lifts the Premiership trophy at the end of the season. PGMOL say they hold referees accountable for their actions, so they don't let him referee for a single game, the time don't fit the crime :-(

Should Steven Gerrard play for England ?

There's a load of hoopla (?) in the media about this subject. What it boils down to in my opinion is that if Steven Gerrard requires pain killing injections it will take him 4/5 days to recover from them. Will the FA compensate Liverpool for the loss of their captain ?

I've nothing against players playing for their national teams, but it's the clubs who get hit in the pocket (or worse, it affects the teams results) in the event of injuries. What happens should the injury become aggravated, then he'll be out for even longer. Unless his injury has cleared before either of the upcoming games, then it's best he doesn't play.

Rafa Benitez & Jose Mourinho - hairy stuff

The Special One is never content to let others usurp him in any way. When Benitez came out with his new goatee look during the summer I silently wondered how long it would be before Mourinho responded in the style stakes.

It was great to hear that Chelsea had lost yesterday, which meant Liverpool retain the lead at the top of the table :-) But it was more of a surprise to see The Special One sporting a new hedgehog style hairdo.

If Liverpool wins the league, there'll be goatee's all round, but god forbid Chelsea win or there'll be hedgehogs everywhere :-(

The new lads love of scoring great 1st goals

Following in the footsteps of Torres & Voronin, Ryan Babel ensured his first goal for Liverpool was going to be an excellent one. He took out 2 of Derby's defenders with a sublime dummy and finished off well. All we need now is to see Benayoun follow suit and make sure his first is cool too !

The more I see of Voronin, the more I'm convinced himself and Torres would make Liverpool's best strike partnership, he's got pace, skill, intelligence and is a hard worker. No doubt Crouchie and Kuyt will keep the two of them on their toes throughout the season ;-)

Liverpool are top of the Premier League :-)

Liverpool tore apart a hapless Derby today, winning the game 6-0. Both Alonso and Torres scored a brace each, with Voronin chipping in with a goal (2nd game in a row) and Ryan Babel scoring his first goal for Liverpool. The only consolation for Derby is that it could have been much worse.
So Liverpool are now top of the premier league, which is just the way I like it, hopefully we'll still be there come the end of the season.
Don't forget the Live Calendar for keeping track of matches/events for LFC.

Liverpool face Reading in the Carling Cup

Remember last years thrilling 4-3 game against Reading ? While the odds of a repeat are pretty darn slim, there's a good chance that we'll get to see more of Liverpool's young new talent on display. The likes of Leiva, Leto and Insua are likely to get a game. The third round draw has yet to be finalised for either September the 25th/26th, but I'll update the Live Calendar once I know.

Anthony Le Tallec has left Liverpool

He was labelled a prodigy as a youth player, but never did quite cut it at Anfield. However, his contribution to Liverpool winning the European Cup in 2005 deserves to be remembered, it was his insight/genius with a pass, which cut through Juventus to set up Luis Garcia for his wonder goal (without which we wouldn't have made the semi finals). While it's long been known he would be heading for the door, the day finally arrived yesterday. Hearts had been hoping to sign him but he has joined Le Mans in France instead.