Apparently Espanyol has already reported on their website that he is in Liverpool for a medical, so he could be in the door at any moment.

Rafa basically said that until it’s finalized he will speak of him only as an option, but this seems to be all but finished up.  Whether he performs or not, I think it’s brilliant that we’re signing him for less than our little neighbors offered.

I’m calling for him to do a double over them at Goodison, just for proper measure.

From BBC Sport

Liverpool have revealed their plans for a new £350m stadium in Stanley Park will be delayed “in the short term”.

Reports had suggested Liverpool’s American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett were struggling to raise funds for the next stage of the project.

A Liverpool spokesman said: “Our commitment to building a new world class LFC stadium is undiminished.

“Like many other major development projects in the UK and overseas we are affected by global market conditions.”

The spokesman revealed: “We will use this period productively and revisit the plans for the stadium to increase its capacity to 73,000 seats.”

Liverpool’s plans for their new home, which was expected to have a 60,000 capacity, were approved by the city council in May, but it now remains to be seen if and when serious work will begin on the stadium which was expected to be finished by August 2011.

When the Americans took over 18 months ago they immediately redesigned previous plans and had to allow for new planning permission.

The current credit crunch is being blamed for the latest delay, even though enabling work has already started in and around Stanley Park.

Now over the past seasons matches against Villa never fill me with great excitement as there isn’t really any great rivalry between the two clubs plus add the fact that Liverpool are undefeated in 14 league and cup matches, winning nine with five drawn since Villa won at Anfield in 2001. Funnily enough the last time Villa beat us at home was Feb98 with two goals from Stan “the can” Collymore before he came to us and before he started beating Swedish weather girls up and dogging. Last seasons corresponding fixture produced a 2-1 victory for The Reds with Gerrard scoring the winner on 87mins after being assisted with a Laursen OG. Liverpool have won more points off Villa than any other Premier League side (58). Read the rest of this entry »

September 16 v Marseille (a)
October 1 v PSV Eindhoven (h)
October 22 v Atletico Madrid (a)
November 4 v Atletico Madrid (h)
November 26 v Marseille (h)
December 9 v PSV Eindhoven (a)

Torres returns home for the first time, and even more CL action against PSV. Personally I wish we had gotten some new faces, but all in all we ought to progress fairly easily. We have 3 decent sides in the group but really none on our level. I think that may be even better than sharing a group with another contender and 2 minnows. In this case our competition ought to beat themselves up for us, so as long as we can take care of business, we ought to be in that last 16 yet again.

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the match at home. Now for me thats strange as I normally go to the pub because I have come to learn that lately I cannot watch Liverpool without losing the head every 15 minutes and shouting at the telly using words I will not publish in this post and that my 16month and 3 year old daughters can do without hearing. This is why I go out. Unfortunately I only got home from work just before kick off so as I have said I sat down in my sitting room with the youngest sleeping in her cot beside me and my eldest playing contently on the floor. As you can probably tell this picture of contentment did not last for long. Soon the baby was awake and the eldest was asking her Mum what certain words meant. It was two minutes later that I had the room to myself. Feeling a bit ashamed I calmed down and decided to bite my lip in fear of having to sleep on the sofa for the night (as if). Read the rest of this entry »

He will undergo the routine procedure sometime today and his recovery is estimated at 10-15 days. This will, unfortunately for him, rule out his playing in England’s two World Cup qualifiers in that time period.

In the long run for LFC, however it may be for the best that he get this sorted now, and the fact that it is on international time is even better.

Best wishes and a speedy recovery Stevie.

Well against what seemed to be almost destiny today, we managed to avoid a penalty shootout at Anfield tonight via a last minute dagger by Dirk Kuyt, celebrating his 100th appearance for the club.

Again, when all seemed lost it was a fairly harmless ball in from the left side that the Dutch international snuck onto to punch it home from close range.

On the whole, our performance lacked any real sense of urgency for most of the match. We had very few ideas in the midfield or up top, and even our passing in from our defensive line was predictable and even tired at times. Gerrard clearly wasn’t fit as he didn’t put a touch on his left foot all night and found himself at nearly a walking pace towards the end. He then suffered a blow to the jaw apparently as the match drew to a close and appeared to spit out a tooth or two. Whether that was the case was not confirmed immediately, but it certainly did not appear to be a pleasant final minute for our captain.

A bright spot on the evening for me for Nabil El Zhar. As he was on the pitch, his confidence seemed to grow and grow. He was denied a fairly clear cut penalty late in extra time that upon replay showed a clear view for the referee who simply missed it. We were very fortunate that call didn’t help turn the tide against us, or at the least leave us with a shootout on our hands.

Read the rest of this entry »

….does Steven Gerrard have?

Having watched the first 25 minutes of the qualifier today I have to say it pains me to see how absolutely deadset against using his left foot he is.

Riise anyone?

Reports today say that Newcastle winger, James Milner, has handed in a transfer request and wants to leave the club before the transfer window closes. Now, we had been linked with James Milner earlier on in the transfer window in a bid to fill the hole in the left hand side of our midfield. Now with this news surfacing today about Milner and that he fancies a move to Liverpool or Villa, should Rafa take notice of this and rather get Milner than Riera?

Perosnally, I do not think Milner is a great player, he may still be young being 22 years old and he has bags of talent for his age but asking him to come into a team like Liverpool and putting all the weight on his shoulders to be our ‘left solution’ may be a bit too much to ask of him. Milner has the benefit that he has played in the Premiership for a while and thus will not have to adjust to the English game. But then again, Riera has also had a spell in English football during his time at Manchester City. Read the rest of this entry »

Addressing the issue of wide players yet again (let’s snag one or two already), I think it’s worth pointing out a few things.

First of all, Kuyt possesses a solid attacking sense for us regardless of where he plays. What he doesn’t have is the ability to create for himself. He thrives off chaos on the pitch, whether it be a deflected pass or an overstretched defensive line. Regardless of what it is, if you give him just a moment he can be exactly what need from time to time.

Thnk about his goals against Inter, Arsenal, and Chelsea last season in the CL. Each time the ball worked it’s way over from the left and he found a little room moving in behind the defense. He is a suitable player running in from behind as a supporting winger from the other side. I”d even say it fits him well when you put it together with his work rate and ability to defend from the front.

Our problem is we simply don’t attack down the left flank. It allows the defense to remain much more stationary and to save energy for the latter stages of matches. Every time Kuyt finds himself with the ball it’s with a defender already stationed right in front of him.

Read the rest of this entry »