Fickle fans were flattered by flat Reds

Despite everything which was supposedly at stake (knocked out of Europe & Rafa being sacked) I thought that the crowd at Anfield was relatively subdued for half the match. The fans were full of voice for the first half hour but as soon as Porto scored it's like they just gave up until Torres second goal.
4-1 is certainly an impressive scoreline, but it was a very poor performance from most of the lads (Gerrard, Babel, Voronin and Benayoun). The result is great but I would've expected so much more from the players. Hopefully they'll take solace from the result so their confidence doesn't dip.

Aggers eagerness aggravates him

It's certainly great to hear that Agger has been very eager to get back in to the swing of things as soon as possible, sadly he managed to aggravate the same metatarsal injury yesterday in training.
Fortunately for Benayoun he has recovered from his abductor problem and should be back in the squad soon enough.
Despite how well the lads have been playing recently we seriously lack quality defensive cover, if only Rafa would ask the Yanks if we could make a transfer move for Kahka Kaladze, oh no wait he already has ;-)

Online petition for Rafa continues to grow

Support for Rafa continues to grow unabated, a demonstration has been organised (LINK HERE) by the RTK campaign and is taking place tonight at 6:30 outside the Sandon pub (near the Kop).
Also although the online petition (LINK HERE) for Rafa to stay as LFC manager only started on Sunday night it's experiencing massive growth and it'll be interesting to see just how many people sign up for it.

The Kop are about to vent their fury

The Yanks are about to see the other side of the Kop, shame they won't be there in person to witness it in the game against Porto tomorrow night but you can bet every single media outlet around will be only too happy to report on it.
I think Rafa made a stupid mistake playing this out in the public eye, but am relieved by reports yesterday that he intends to call a truce, which I hope the Yanks will reciprocate, no one is bigger than LFC (including the owners).
I still don't think this is as big as the media makes out but if left unchecked it will escalate beyond repair and then we all lose out. As far as most LFC supporters are concerned though, this is as serious as the media makes out which is why we'll see a mass show of support for Rafa from the Kop tomorrow night.

Arise, Sir Rafa the great rotator :-)

Ever notice how the media never seems to notice when we win games despite Rafa rotating the team line up !
The Reds look motivated and are playing with confidence again, that's something which went missing for a short while, but for so many football pundits (morons) to put the blame squarely at the feet of rotation demonstrates a complete lack of understanding/awareness on their part.
The whole rotation debate is something I hate, mainly because I believe in it, more so because this season more than any other in LFC history we actually have the squad to make it work properly. Jose & Fergie both won the Premiership while rotating just as much as Rafa, we've got an excellent chance of winning this season but how will the media handle it if we do ?

Lucas & Babel destined for greatness

Gerrard will get most of the plaudits for the game against Newcastle, but I think that would be a disservice to some other players.
In Lucas Leiva & Ryan Babel, we have 2 players who Rafa is gradually introducing to Premiership life and both look destined to become world class players. Lucas Leiva plays with such class, composure and intelligence, while Babel has terrific pace, skill and vision. They both keep getting better and better and I love seeing their names on the teamsheets.
Other notable performances from the Newcastle game were Harry Kewell (for all the right reasons) and Momo Sissoko (sadly for the wrong reasons).
It was great to see the lads dominate a game so comprehensively, I think it's fair to say our bad patch is behind us now and the title is still well within reach :-)

What's up with Rafa and the Yanks ?

I'll bet nothing at all is wrong and as ever the media are making mountains out of molehills about Rafas weekly press conference earlier today (you can watch it here).
I'm not too sure what to make of Hicks & Gillet press statement earlier on or why they felt the need to issue it, it's timing seemingly prompted by what the media deem is Benitez strange behaviour in his conference. The only thing I found strange about the Yanks statement was that they released it on thanksgiving day (which is as big for them as christmas day is for us).
If there is any problems between them and Rafa, I hope it's not too serious and they can all kiss and make up next month when the Yanks come over to discuss things ;-)

Ryan Flynn goes on loan to Hereford

Ryan Flynn scored some important goals for the youth teams which won 2 FA Youth Cups, but now the 19 year midfielder joins Robbie Threlfall at the League Two side Hereford United for a months loan.
He's never made a first team appearance and given the level of competition for midfield places, realistically never will, hopefully he'll make the most of his loan so another club will come in for him.

Carson & Crouchies balancing act ;-)

Being an Irishman, I've never really enjoyed listening to all the ludicrious nonsense which the media spouts about England winning whenever they're in a major tournament. So I'll not be shedding any tears now that they're knocked out :-)
Still the Croatia game represented a chance for Carson & Crouch to bump up their transfer value for the Reds in January. Sadly for Scott Carson he made a bit of a blunder so that'll knock a million or two off his transfer value come January :-(
Fortunately Crouchies excellent goal should increase his transfer value by a million or two, so that will help balance LFCs coffers ;-)

Evertonians trying to get LFC medals ?

I wonder what lengths Evertonians are willing to go to get their hands on a medal, there's been 6 Liverpool players in the last 2 years who've been burgled. Fortunately for Dirk Kuyt he wasn't in at the time his house was burgled although if he was I hope he would have dished out similar Duncan Ferguson style justice (hospitalising them).
Or perhaps it was a disgruntled Liverpool fan who felt that Kuyt robs us of goals lately, so perhaps this could be a cruel form of karma at work !
You'd think with the kind of money footballers make and that they're obvious targets they would invest in decent security systems !

Heartening response from Benitez

No mind games or any nonsense, just a very straight forward and firm commitment from Benitez that for any clubs which are interested in obtaining his services that he's fully committed to Liverpool FC.
While no one is bigger than the club, I do believe Benitez is more important than the players and considerably harder to replace. In Rafa I believe we have someone who is well capable of bringing the title back to Anfield, so this is certainly very good news for our club :-)

Javi Martinez or Javier Mascherano ?

They may share the same initials and buy out fees but there's big differences between the 2 players. For one Javier has got more letters in his name and I think it sounds cooler so for that reason alone I would prefer we signed him at the end of the season ;-)
The Reds amongst many other clubs are currently heavily scouting the impressive 19 year old Martinez who plays for Athletic Bilbao but at £17 million, I doubt we've got room to buy both himself and Mascherano at the end of the season, plus we've got a packed quality midfield as it is !
With Mascherano we've got a proven performer (premiership & europe) both on and off the pitch who has a real hunger to play for the Reds so I really hope he's the one we go for.

Oh purlease ... Madrid should get Real

I think it's a little rich to hear Real Madrid warning their youth players not to leave and join other teams. Fair enough they may be a little incensed lately having lost Gerardo Bruna to us. Their argument is that most young players who leave will just find themselves playing reserve team football etc.
Of course if those same youth players were to stay with Real Madrid, would they really have any better chance of making a breakthrough with all the Galacticos they buy every year ? I think not !
The likes of Arsenal (in particular), Liverpool & Manchester United have much better track records of youngsters breaking in to the first teams, which is why I imagine the youngsters are enticed in to leaving Real/Barca.

Tim Bjorkstrom on trial with Liverpool

While it's unusual for us to be linked with non-latino players, there is the occasional gem which pops up. One such potential player is 16 year old Tim Bjorkstrom who is currently on trial with the Reds.
Probably his biggest advantage is that he doesn't play in midfield or goal (Benitez seems to be stock piling in these positions) which should make any possible breakthrough a little easier, the central defender is quite highly rated after a string of good performances for Swedens under-17 side.
Given that his trial is of indeterminate length we could be waiting a while for any confirmation of his signing.

Benitez truly baffles me sometimes

No this has nothing to do with the ludicrious 'R' word. Instead it's got to do with his choice of substitutions against Fulham.
I can understand a manager wishing to make tactical changes during a game, certainly if it's with a view to improving the team. But surely it would make sense to take off players who are not performing, Leiva coming on for Mascherano (who was playing well) instead of Stevie G who was anonymous throughout, Torres coming on for Voronin (who was also having a decent game) instead of Crouch who one header aside did nothing for the entire game :-(
I just can't see any logical reason for him doing that, it's hardly a motivational aide for the players if how they perform bears no relation on whether they get picked or not !

Injuries are hurting our width

Lovely stuff (not), our treatment table continues to get bigger with the news that Benayoun tore his abductor muscle during the boring game with Fulham (thank god Torres made the trip to Anfield bearable).
With an expected 3 week layoff, we won't have him available for the Newcastle & Bolton games but perhaps more crucially he'll be missing for the must win Porto game. Which will only serve to ensure we lack a certain amount of width, both Babel & Gerrard tend to drift inside far too often, which leaves Kewell as the only recognisable winger (Leto isn't ready) available.

Mascherano - music to our ears

Best news I've heard all day is Rafa giving Mascherano the thumbs up for a very likely permanent transfer at the end of the season :-)
Right from the start of his 18 month loan with us he's impressed with his exceptional ball winning skills, rarely having an off day, but it's his attitude off the pitch which I like most. You don't hear him moaning incessantly about being left out of the squad or anything like that, he takes his chances when given and is a true team player. If only all our players were like that !

Is 'Danny G' , the next 'Stevie G' ?

While I thought that premiership level experience would do Danny Guthrie the world of good if he wants any chance of breaking in to the Liverpool first team, it turns out he got European level experience last night against Bayern Munich. He's on a season long loan with Bolton and played the full 90 minutes against Bayern, even setting up the opening goal for Bolton.
True he's a dynamic midfielder with a great engine and even though hailed in some quarters as the next Steven Gerrard, it's hard to imagine him breaking into the LFC first team and I reckon he'll be sold come season end.

Lauri Dalla Valle has signed for Liverpool

And the youth ranks continue to swell, according to Finnish newspaper Karjalainen, Liverpool has signed Lauri Dalla Valle, they also claim he'll receive a signing on fee of between €0.5m & €1m.
While he is widely regarded as one of Finlands hottest ever youth prospects (not that there can be too much competition for that title), I doubt LFC would be willing to pay a signing on fee for a 16 year old attacking midfielder !
Having said that he was on trial with us last summer after failing to settle in Italy with Inter Milan and has been hyped for quite a while now (scores a goal every second game), so it's not like LFC have no idea of what they're getting for the money.

When can we see our new home ?

While it's certainly great news that the new anfield/liverpool stadium has been given the go ahead from Liverpool City Council despite some last minute concerns raised by the police regarding the potential terrorist threat element of the project.
I'm a wee bit disappointed though that it's opening has been pushed back from 2010 to 2011, I imagine this probably has a lot to do with the rapidly rising stadium costs (£285m to £400m) and the subsequent financing of it pushing back the commencement of contruction (now next spring).
Despite all that there still remains the possibility of further delays should the Secretary of State call in the application or if there's any legal challenges....

It'll mean nothing if we don't build on it

Maybe it's just my post-holiday blues or something, for weeks now I've been saying the lads will soon get their form back, yet I'm lacking the feeling of elation which I would've expected after last nights 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas :-(
The way we played against Besiktas though is what impressed me more than the scoreline, despite all the prematch pressure the lads played confidently and actually passed the ball quite well, never mind the corresponding off ball movement. In particular Voronin & Benayoun both had amazing games, but what are the odds that they'll find themselves on the bench come Saturday !
Marseille and Porto will provide much sterner tests than Besiktas, but if we maintain the recent momentum, we should qualify from the group :-)

It might be the best thing for the Reds

I know the Premiership is supposed to be our number 1 target this year but I don't think any of us would have thought we wouldn't at least qualify from the group stages of the Champions League, which is now a distinct possibility. We should comfortably beat Besiktas tomorrow night, but Porto in particular could be a tricky fixture and if we drop any more points we're out.
Under Rafa, whenever we progress to the Champions League final it's been at the expense of domestic success, 2 years ago when we were knocked out we ended up finishing with our best points tally (82) for nearly a couple of decades and won the FA Cup. If we don't have Europe as a 'distraction' maybe that could help focus the lads on performing in the Premiership, if we win the Premiership who really cares what else happens ?

The Tipping Point for the Reds

Although we've nicked some points along the way, we've had a diabolical run of performances lasting several games. Ignoring much of the media nonsense about the 'R' word being responsible, when it was really due to a lack of confidence or motivation in the squad, I've felt that all it would take would be a couple of good games for us to get our form back.
Tomorrow night we've got a pretty big game with Blackburn who are a point ahead of us. I hope last weeks game against Arsenal does prove to be our Tipping Point and that the hunger the lads showed will carry over and hopefully result in us winning against Blackburn, that could prove to be the result which restores confidence in the side ! If the Arse draws ManUre that would also bring us that bit closer to the top this weekend ;-)