Not the best way to break in new year

Well that certainly makes a change for us, you get used to Gerrard & Torres bailing the team out of trouble but against Manchester City it was the other way around with the rest of the team performing very well (Carragher & Mascherano in particular were awesome) and Gerrard & Torres both playing badly.

Sadly I think this could prove to be the result which finally revealed our lack of title credentials. I've been optimistic about our chances up until this stage but we've still got to play the big 3 away from home and the only way we can possibly beat them is if the entire team performs on the day.

It's not yet mission impossible for us, just mission improbable :-(

Agger not yet ready, but is Hobbs ?

With Hyypia limping off in the second half against Derby, it remains to be seen just how serious his twisted ankle turns out. Realistically he'll probably miss the game against Manchester City.

With Agger only having recently returned to training and apparently using 'special' boots to make it easier on his foot, I wonder if Rafa should consider rushing him back in to the fold given his lack of fitness.

Like I've said before, I like Hobbs and think he's one for the future but I do have some concerns over whether he'd be up for such a big match as the City one. But the only way we're going to see another Carragher emerge from the youth set up is to give them games. Still I'll not try second guess Rafas line up for the game, but I hope whatever option he chooses turns out to be the right one.

You don't need to win pretty, just win

Gerrard & Torres obviously deserve all the plaudits for our win against Derby, Gerrard for his persistence and Torres for his sheer skill. Both of them have rescued us many times so far this season and we'd be in a lot of trouble without them. But I'm surprised by the level of negativity surrounding our performance, it might not have been great, but who really cares ?

Any other team which has won the premiership has done so while winning ugly many times, that's the mark of the eventual champions, to be able to win when playing poorly. In previous years we would lose so many of the type of fixtures which we've been winning this year. You take the good with the bad and as long we win then happy days ;-)

Alex Cooper signs for Liverpool

The young 16 year old left winger is a bit of a speedster with an aggressive streak (which can help in the premiership if he makes it). Despite his young age he has already played for Ross Countys first team and has been called up for Scotlands under-17 side as a result (yes that's right he's Scottish!!).

So that troublesome little left wing of ours has another pretender stalking it, as ever he joins a long line of youngsters signing up for us and I hope we end up reaping the benefits much like Arsenal have done over the years.

Why can't Setanta & Sky play together ?

The latest date change for Liverpool has gotten me thinking about a few things. While it's great news for many of us who can't make the game at Anfield (against Aston Villa), I can't help but feel for the poor souls who've already booked flights and accomodation for a weekend trip to Liverpool. Switching a game from a weekend to a weekday rules out a lot of people and can also hit them in the pocket if they've already booked it.

I can't see what it would be such a problem for both Sky & Setanta to screen live matches on the same day, even at the same time, it's not like everyone wants to watch multiple teams playing, most just want to watch their own team and from time to time maybe another big match.

Premier League Table 2007/2008

The Live Table can be accessed from the top left of www.myanfield.net.
To keep track of matches and events for LFC, there's also the Live Calendar.

Payback time for 1965 unless the referee....

....gets bought again (LINK). So Anfield gets to welcome Inter Milan in the next round of the champions league. With the form Inter Milan are in at the moment this is going to be a very tough draw. If we're to win the competition of course we'd have to beat the best teams anyway, but it would've been nicer to meet Inter Milan at the later stages.

I don't think we've anything to fear by them and if anything I reckon they should fear us, we're well capable of winning the champions league. Watching the draw take place I could only think thank god we can't get Liverpool ;-)

Crouch re-signs for Southampton

It's hard to believe I know but true it is. After our very own Peter Crouch decided to be a bit silly with his 2 footed lunge on Mikel and got sent off, it was only natural that he was going to make headlines for it.

But I don't want to jump on that particular bandwagon instead I'd much rather focus on Crouch who has been re-appointed as Southamptons chairman (LINK), well Leon Crouch that is ;-)

Is Tomas Ujfalusi a transfer target for us ?

Not sure how much truth there is to this, but the 29 year old centre back is a possible transfer target for us and he only has 6 months remaining on his existing contract with Fiorentina.
My gut instinct is that his agent is only playing with Fiorentina by naming the clubs which have expressed an interest in signing him as the player has said that he's 50/50 on whether he wants to leave or not, which kinda implies he wants to stay. I doubt he's anywhere near the top of Rafas list and is probably more of a backup option if any deal for Kahka Kaladze slips through next month.

Does Sky pay for expert analysis ?

Last nights prematch build up was typical of the media morons who like to critic Liverpool FC and Rafa. For example they said Chelsea were right in the hunt for the premier league title, yet Liverpool are out of the race, if we win our game in hand we're only 1 point behind Chelsea (when we're not even half way through the season does that really make much difference?).

Also on the subject of rotation they were up in arms because Rafa made 9 changes to the team, this despite Avram Grant stating he would have made 8 if Pizarro was fit (they said nothing about that). To top it off they criticise Rafa for not making the Carling Cup a bigger priority yet say nothing about Avram stating that the Cup wasn't his 1st, 2nd or even 3rd priority.

I can't believe these people actually get paid for their 'expert' analysis !

Missing Agger more than Alonso

Life isn't the same when your best players are out injured, Agger is still sidelined but at least tonight should see the return of Xabi Alonso to the side after Gerrard picked up a stomach bug yesterday.

I'm looking forward to seeing Alonso back in action but with the quality midfield cover we possess it's Aggers absence which hurts the side most. Alonso may be our best passer, but in the absence of Agger he has to play further down the pitch and has less influence on the game as a result.

Aggers pace allows the defence to play further up the field, but he also has excellent ball control and passing ability. Despite our excellent defensive record, it's in the attacking stakes that Agger gives us what the other defenders don't.

Downgraded, not a different new stadium

Rick Parry had an interview with the Liverpool Echo this morning and stated that the new Liverpool stadium would be a 'downgraded' version of the plans which were unveiled in the summer. Later on the official LFC site changed his wording to 'different' version.

Since it's been announced there's been numerous delays and construction costs continue to rise exponentially. The official line now is that it will be a 70,000 seater stadium which will still have the Kop as the focus, originally it was going to be 78000, so it's clearly a 'downgraded' and not a 'different' version.

Not sure when we'll get to see the plans for it or when construction will actually start but I just hope they actually commit to it this time. Am getting tired of all the setbacks :-(

Terse statement reveals little

LFC released a rather terse statement regarding the meeting between Rafa and the custodians of LFC. They don't go in to the details which we all want to hear, such as what's happening with transfers, the new stadium and Rafas position in LFC. But it does say that the discussions were positive and constructive which for now can only be interpreted as a good thing. When the transfer window reopens in a few weeks we'll get to see just how positive and constructive they really were !

ManUre have become a bogey team for us

In recent seasons we've been the better side on the pitch but sadly the Mancs have a habit of scoring a goal against the run of play. Yesterday we pretty much dominated the game, some might say we lacked a cutting edge in the final third but credit to United I think they contained us quite well also.

I'm sure there's plenty of doom merchants who think our chances of winning the Premiership are all but lost but that makes little sense to me at this stage of the season. Points wise we're still in a healthy position with a game in hand. As long as the lads don't let this result kill their confidence we should be able to enter the new year within several points of Arsenal & ManUre. Winning the Premiership is still a realistic target for us.

Please don't bring Xabi Alonso back

Some slightly disturbing news on the official LFC site that Xabi Alonso might play against ManUre this weekend. I think Alonso is an amazing player but he's going to be severely lacking in match sharpness, he hasn't even played any reserve games since his metatarsal injury.

If it's a case of Mascherano being unavailable due to the knock he took against Marseille, I'd much rather see the highly impressive Lucas Leiva take the centre stage. Lucas is sheer class and I'd trust him over a grumpy Sissoko any day of the week and twice on Sunday (especially this Sunday).

Rotation required to keep burglars guessing

As much as I like Rafa and his rotation system (regular readers will know I really do), I just don't think he rotates enough.

Last night 4 masked men broke in to Gerrards house. It's become a regular enough occurence for Liverpool players over the last couple of years that I've even joked about it on occasion (LINK). This time round, it's a little different in that his wife and kids were also in the house while it happened which I can only imagine must have been a traumatic experience for them.

As a potential solution, either the players should invest in better security or alternatively Rafa needs to start rotating as much as the media makes out, so as to keep the burglars from guessing who is away ;-)

That wasn't a perfect performance at all

I don't see how any Liverpool fan can be sufficiently deluded so as to think our performance against Marseille was near perfect (as Rafa claims).

Sure at the start the lads showed some hunger (Stevie, Torres & Kewell were the real stand outs) and it was great that we went 2-0 up so soon. Perhaps because of that the lads didn't play too well after that, although they didn't need to, as Marseille lost all confidence and desire to win.

When you consider the quality of Besiktas & Marseille, it beggars disbelief how we managed to only finish 2nd in the group, we must have set a champions league record for scoring 18 goals and only finishing 2nd ?!?

Still if it gives the lads a confidence boost coming up to the ManUre game then great but they'll have to play alot better to beat ManUre.

Seriously easy going for Reds Legend

Ok, so I nicked the slogan for Malibu there, but it seems appropriate given that John Barnes has agreed to become Sunderlands Caribbean scout. Apparently because Africa is flooded with scouts they feel the next best place to get upcoming talent is from the Caribbean.

I feel this could be a step up for Barnes as I never really thought his stint on "Strictly Come Dancing" was really going to get him anywhere ;-)

Liverpool will help pay Luton wages

Cash strapped Luton Town have deferred payment of player wages due to serious financial problems, fortunately for them they beat Nottingham Forrest 1-0 tonight, so we get to play them in the 3rd round of the FA Cup which should prove a much needed financial windfall for them.

While I doubt we're in for quite as exciting a game as last time we played them (4-3 thriller), it should be a walk in the park for the Reds. Famous last words I know, I said the same about the game with Reading and look what happened there, I know the referee didn't look at what happened there ;-)

Gillet the best a man can get ?

It has the potential to be disastrous, this Thursday George Gillet will be live on Talksport radio. I don't see any reason for why he should be, he probably (hopefully) has the best intentions.

I've got images of ManUre & Chelski fans pretending to be LFC fans phoning in to voice their concerns over Rafa. Hopefully the lines will be flooded by real LFC fans pretending to want to criticise Rafa but then when they get on, they'll be in full support for him ;-)

I would much prefer if Gillet wanted to address LFC fans, that he used our own LFC TV channel, at least that way he can be shielded from an inevitable bunch of glory hunting muppets who might make a farce of things. Still it'll be interesting to see what he intends to achieve by it.

The Sun starts another rubbish rumour

While I'm sure many Liverpool fans are well aware of The Suns ability to accurately report events surrounding LFC, it seems only natural to take certain things they say with a pinch of salt.

Sadly though the rest of the media has followed suit reporting on this 'breaking news' about Klinsmann being in line for the Liverpool hot seat, going so for as to even credit the Sun as being the source. Jeez, how credible can you get lads ?

You win some, you lose some, no big deal

We can't have too many complaints about losing to Reading, it's pretty much what we deserved. It's all too easy to blame the referee and he was rather useless, but in reality the players just didn't put the effort in themselves.

What should have been an easy 3 points for us has proven a right little kick up the arse. Sure this result puts a wee dent in our title aspirations but the league is still well within reach.

I got the impression that Rafa gave up this game when he decided to take off Gerrard, Torres and Carragher, made sense though with Marseille & ManUre coming up and it wouldn't have done us any good to have them injured or booked. Hopefully the referee will allow us to win on Tuesday, if not I hope the players put so much effort in that we win anyway.

Players don't have sex before matches

It's one of those age old myths, managers not allowing players to have sex the night before matches so that they'll be fully fresh for the game.

Now we've got Rafa in his infinite wisdom banning players from watching the Hatton fight in the early hours of Sunday morning so that the players will be fresh throughout the week.

I've always wondered if managers really believe that players actually abstain from certain pursuits the night before, but in this case we've got a good few days off before the next match, what are the odds of the players heeding Rafas ban, or how will he ever find out ?

Heaven forbid Besiktas were just shite !!!

No laughing please but maybe UEFA wouldn't be doing their job properly if they didn't investigate the record breaking result. Actually what do UEFA do in their ivory towers that's of any real value ?

Apparently there was a small rush of bets placed before kick off for a heavy win in Liverpools favour (who in their right mind would have done the opposite!). I wonder if UEFA will also be investigating Arsenals & Manchester Uniteds heavy wins too, somehow I doubt it !

I hope they investigate our away leg with Besiktas also, how on earth did they manage to beat us ?!?

Capello 'claims' are made up nonsense

I've lost count of how many articles I've seen where poor journos claim Capello said the Yanks contacted him before and after the game with Porto. But it's amazing how they don't quote him they only say he 'claims'.

That's another way of saying we're fabricating another rubbish story so you will buy our papers, blah, blah, ad nausem.

At best, maybe Capellos agent leaked the story so as to alert the English FA to his availability, at worst, maybe it's the good old media realising they can't hammer Rafa over rotation lately so need something else to knock him and us :-(

My Anfield contracts 'irregular bloggage'

LFC has been ripe with potential blog material about Gerrard the Great (courtesy of his recent form), the first Lucas Leiva (not the next anyone), Kewell (no he's not injured again), even more surprisingly is the u-turn by the media (muppets) on Liverpools prospects of challenging for the title.

The last thing I expected to happen to My Anfield was that I would contract a form of "irregular bloggage" which is precisely what I have done since reading an article about it last Friday on a usually funny blog called MooDog (link).

Despite all that potential for blogging topics, my output has been lacking since Saturday, apologies to all and I hope for a swift return to a regular blogging existence very very soon :-)

Who will it be and when do we find out ?

For those of you who follow LFC proceedings using the Live Season Calendar, there'll be a week long wait until our FA Cup 3rd round fate has been determined, so for now I'll just stick down both Luton Town & Nottingham Forest for the 6th January and we'll see what happens ;-)

And for those of you who don't yet use it, it's a nifty enough tool which can be accessed from the top left of this webpage.

Reds lack of defensive depth exposed

With Carragher having to come off against Bolton our lack of depth at the back was exposed. I like Jack Hobbs, think he's one for the future but didn't fancy having to face Marseille & Manchester United with him at the back.

With Aggers return still up in the air it's fortunate Carragher only bruised his ribs and is expected back next weekend. We're well placed to mount a very serious title challenge, but if having to rely on rookie defenders for any prolonged period, that challenge could fall off the rails.

Fortunately this all makes it easier for Rafa to convince the Yanks of our need for experienced defensive cover and obtaining the services of Kaladze in the January transfer window could go a long way to ensuring the Premiership trophy ends up in Liverpool at the end of the season ;-)

Hicks rubbishes the media morons

Like I said before, I figured that the media were just making mountains out of molehills about the situation between Rafa & the Yanks, but for Hicks to actually come out and publicly state that the whole thing was blown totally out of all proportion is definitely good news.

He also rubbished the fabricated story made up by a particular newspaper that he was trying to sell his shares and that his relationship with Gillet had broken down. I can't stand when the media make up sensationalist nonsense but love it when the people concerned come out and show up the media.

In this case though I'm just relieved that our owners have restored a certain amount of confidence in LFC as there has been an air of uncertainty lately.

Crouch has stopped being a Grouch

Crouchies ego had been getting the better of him earlier this season, with his poor attitude and performances he seemed highly likely that he would be leaving LFC. Fortunately with his recent improvement in attitude as well as performances, Crouch appears to have gotten himself back into the good books with Rafa, who has been singing his praises.

I hope Crouch does go on to earn himself a new contract as an on form and motivated Crouchie is a very valuable asset to the team who clearly gives us more options (as Benitez likes to say).