Carlsberg don't make Torres adverts....

....but if they did, they wouldn't be far off this cool [read: different] new Nike ad for Torres. The song is also pretty cool. For subscribers to My Anfield, the Youtube video might not show up in your reader / email, so click on over to myanfield.net to view it.

The farce of being ranked number 1 in Europe

I think it's great that we've been the most consistent team in Europe over the last 4 seasons and it's a sign of how far we've come under Rafas leadership. Yet it's kind of ironic that despite being ranked the best team in Europe (for this coming season) we still have to qualify for the group stages !

But being ranked number 1 seems a hollow achievement in the absence of trophies [read: lots of] to go along with it. I'd love nothing more than to see our consistency in Europe translate to the domestic scene as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have the better of us there. Only then will the ranking carry much weight.

My Anfield is still alive and well

Just so you all know, I haven't forgotten about My Anfield or anything. It's just that time of year when things are pretty quiet surrounding Liverpool FC. The media is full of farcical rumours about all sorts of transfers. Personally I'd rather avoid all that nonsense and focus on more factual stuff as it arises...

Thomas Ince signs for Liverpool

Lots of people probably have very mixed opinions about Paul Ince but to be fair he was a pretty darn good player for us. There's a great big long line of kids of great players who never turn out to be even half as good as their fathers.

In this particular case though, there might be a possible exception in that Rafa has considerably raised the standard of our youth system and I really doubt LFC would sign a kid as a favour to Paul Ince. As I understand it young (16) Thomas is a striker but know little else of him, should he possess his fathers drive then he's already half way there. If anyone would care to enlighten us further then please do.

Not an exciting addition to the squad

How is it that a player at just 25 years of age makes it through to the end of his contract [at Borussia Dortmund] without being a transfer target for anyone significant ? If Philipp Degen was really all that good how come he wasn't a target last summer for the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United (never mind the likes of Everton, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur).

Granted he's a very fast attacking player with lots of energy and I remember him being rated highly prior to the last World Cup. But players like that attract attention [lots of] and I suspect that numerous scouts who've watched him play realise that consistency might not be a strong point of his. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we've started 'rebuilding' our squad for next season, but I think Degen might be Voronin #2.

Our best summer signing this year

Regardless of which players we end up signing this summer, I feel the most important signing we've made is that of Sammy Lee. While Rafa is a tactical genius, his people skills are reputedly lacking.

With Sammy on board we now have someone who can easily communicate with and get on well with both the players and of course Rafa. It's going to make for a much happier dressing room (so to speak) and the boost in morale amongst the players is going to make a difference on the pitch. I think he could prove to be our missing puzzle piece, ok a couple of wingers/wingbacks would help too ;-)

Wanted:- transfer funds and a new stadium

Hicks talk about buying out Gillet and building a new stadium, appears to be precisely just that, all talk. He can't afford it, check out this article on RTE.

If he can't even afford to finance the building of a new stadium for his Texas pet project, how can we expect him to come up with the necessary funds to either buy out Gillet or far more importantly start construction of LFCs new stadium this summer.

Hopefully DIC are watching all this and getting ready to move in for the kill. It's not like DIC aren't offering them a ridiculously inflated price for our club. Both Hicks & Gillet will make a supernormal profit on their 'investment'. If they don't sell out to DIC, then how will this affect our transfer funds for this summer, and what will the impact be of further delaying construction of our new stadium.

Encouraging positives from the season

Forgetting the fact that we won nothing this season, there remains plenty to be positive about, we're scoring lots and conceeding few.

In Torres we finally have a truly world class striker. Babel might be tagged as a supersub but next season we should get to see a lot more of him. Skrtel has adapted incredibly quickly to life at Liverpool, himself and Agger look set to have an awesome central defensive partnership. Mascherano the monster is ours for keeps now. We've got plenty of very talented youth players which should provide a solid foundation for us to build upon for the future.

Our switch to 4-2-3-1 looks set to stay now that we're fast approaching having the right personnel to make it work. With the addition of a couple of wingers & wingbacks, next season we could very well be basking in the glory of a long awaited Premiership trophy making it's way to Anfield :-)

Diego Capel is a very gifted left winger

The transfer window is finally open [Edit: actually it's not till 1st July], exciting times indeed. But for all the rumours doing the rounds about who we're going to sign this summer, there's one name which hasn't sprouted up yet.

It's well known that Liverpool has been scouting Seydou Keita who plays for Sevilla, surely they must have noticed Diego Capel who also plays for them. The likes of Juventus, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal are known to be chasing him, yet there's nothing from the LFC camp yet.

The 20 year old winger is blessed with pace, acceleration and exceptional ball skills, plus he's Spanish, what more could Rafa ask for ? So far we've been linked mainly with wingbacks & midfielders, but we badly need wingers too.

Reina better than Grobbelaar & Clemence ?

He may lack the eccentricities & charisma of Bruce Grobbelaar, or have quite the reputation which is attributed to Ray Clemence. But Pepe Reina has a much better shut out rate than both of them, and is after winning the Golden Glove award for the 3rd season running.

Sure enough at times he has been a little suspect at crosses or fluffed the odd ball. But I remember Grobbelaar having his moments in his first couple of seasons (although I wasn't even born, I'm sure Clemence did too).

Defensively Reina's solid as a rock (gives the rest of the team confidence to go forward) and offensively he's brilliant too, starting attacks instead of randomly punting the ball away. Maybe you'll disagree with me, but I'd rate him our best ever goalkeeper with the attributes to develop into the best in the world.

Is money all that matters to Kewell ?

While it's no great secret that Kewell would be leaving LFC this summer, it was somewhat surprising to hear that Rafa had offered him a new deal, albeit on lower wages. When Kewell is on form, there can be no denying he's an excellent player who can pass, shoot, dribble and provide penetration down the flanks.

He has had a remarkable tendancy to be injury free and on form whenever a potential trophy is on the horizon, but when there's nothing to play for his form is poor and injuries (whether real or imagined) come out of the woodwork.

I wonder what makes Kewell think he's worth so much money. Robbie Fowler accepted a pay cut for the privilege to play for LFC in his tender years, yet Kewell has never come across as someone who considered it a privilege to play for us. He's already mega rich, I wonder what his priorities in life are ?

The future is bright Red for Liverpool

Rafa has completely revitalised our youth & reserve team setups since arriving, bringing in some extraordinary talents such as Lauri Dalla Valle, Gerardo Bruna, and Dani Pacheco to name but a few.

In recent seasons we've won 2 youth cups and after tonights reserve match against Aston Villa, the Liverpool reserves were crowned National Champions and did so in style (as they have done all season). A cynic might suggest it was only a reserves game (we play our youth players), but watching it on LFC TV was no less exciting than a first team game.

In fact, it was more exciting at times due to the free flowing football on display (something we don't see often enough from our 'senior' players). Lucas, Insua, and Plessis have already had first team debuts but it's clear we've many more talents capable of making the step up :-)

Third time lucky for our new stadium ?

There's far too much uncertainty surrounding Liverpool FC at present for me to get excited about the latest stadium plans being approved. I want to believe that work will commence shortly on building it but how many times have we heard it all before (well ok, 3 times in 5 years to be exact). Not only that but it was previously announced that the revised stadium plans would be for a 71,000 seater but this latest redesign is only for 60,000.

It's no secret that there has been plenty of financial & political hurdles with Hicks & Gillet, plus with DIC still hoping to takeover LFC, lord only knows when construction will begin. Maybe this will be 3rd time lucky for us though ?

Possible implications of the Olympics for Liverpool

I expect an even tighter title race next season and wonder how much of an effect the Olympics will have on the shape of the Premiership. The games are staged between 8th - 24th August with training camps starting 2 weeks before that. I don't know how many [if any] players from the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal & Manchester United will be at the Olympics.

But for Liverpool, Lucas Leiva is now the second player (after Mascherano) to announce his intention to play, which leaves us a little light in central midfield. The signing of Gareth Barry seems a foregone conclusion and I wonder if that means Rafa will try hold on to Alonso until the end of the transfer window but maybe Alonso will have other ideas. All it would then take is an injury to one of our remaining midfielders and we risk gifting a slight edge to our title rivals.

Wasted opportunity to blood more youngsters

With nothing left to play for at this stage of the season, I'd hoped that Rafa would take the opportunity against Manchester City to blood some more youth players (e.g. Plessis & Nemeth). Sadly it didn't quite work out that way but at least Insua & Lucas got their game.

Insua showed some nice touches, got forward often and played the full game. He's shown plenty of potential in the reserves and depending on transfer activity this summer we just might get to see more of him next season.

Lucas had an ok game, he keeps things nice and simple, but was well impressed with his overhead kick attempt. I reckon he's still just finding his feet and gaining confidence, next season we should see what Lucas is really made of.

What's with the new jerseys being worn today ?

Maybe I'm just missing something here but I don't recall us ever doing that before. I like the new jerseys and all but I wish they'd waited until next season before parading them on the pitch, just didn't feel right to me. I've always associated new jerseys with new player arrivals at LFC and the departure of others.

Seeing Voronin wearing the new number 10 jersey made me wonder if he's part of Rafas plans next year, I hope not because aside from a few promising games at the start of the season he's been terrible ever since, doubt he'd make it at Championship level. If there was any fringe player I'd like to have seen wearing the new jersey it would be Crouchie but he didn't even make the bench, I hope we don't lose him this summer but fear we will.

Do we really need Gareth Barry ?

It's great that LFC has started chasing players for next season, but not so great that top of the list so far is Gareth Barry (£10m bid made). We've got a crowded midfield as it is with Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Alonso and the emerging Plessis (really hope this kid makes it). Unless Alonso is being shipped out this summer, where are we going to fit Barry ?

I hope it's not on the wings as a workmanlike non-winger type (ala Kuyt). The really key positions for us are proper wingers & wingbacks who can take on players with some pace, power and creativity. I yearn for the Liverpool of old when we played arguably the most attractive football around. Maybe I'm being harsh on Barry, but do we really need him ?