Now that the season is up and running and we are doing well, I was thinking, what would the situation be like now if we had signed Gareth Barry in the summer? Looking at Alonso, he is playing very well right now and I do not think that Barry would have been playing better than Alonso is currently. I have not watched much of Villa this season so I am not sure what kind of form Barry is in but I would put money on the fact that Alonso is doing a better job for us that Barry is doing at Villa.

I was never a fan of Alonso leaving as I knew he was a world class player and one of the best passers of the ball in the league. Alonso has hardly put a foot wrong for us this season and I hope it continues that way and he stays injury free. On the other hand; if we had signed Barry, Rafa would not have gone out to get Riera. Thank you, Thank you Hicks and Gillet for not allowing the Barry deal to go through because we would have missed out on a great attacking option which Riera has bought to the team. Read the rest of this entry »

Something caught my eye whilst I was watching the Premiership games this weekend and I thought I would share it with you this morning. I have seen, not only this season but in the past, how effective it is to have a central defender who is able to step out of the defensive line and provide an attacking option. The attacking option maybe in the form of carrying the ball from defence into midfield and then carrying on their run into the box to provide an attacking option. Or it could just be carrying the ball from defence and getting close enough to goal to take a shot.

We all saw how effective this was when Daniel Agger scored that wonder goal by stepping out of defence and the defenders were all backing away from him as most do not expect a central defender to be able to hit a scorcher from 30 yards. You literally have a free shot as a central defender if you are able to carry the ball into the oppositions half as chances are you will not be shut down as they expect you to pass the ball. Read the rest of this entry »

How I wish I was on Merseyside tonight as we now have the bragging rights! It always feels good to get one over the Toffees and I firmly believe now after todays game that we have the best two teams on Merseyside as Shanks said, “Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves”. I seriously think that our reserve team could beat the Everton team that we played against today. The Everton defence was in 6’s and 7’s and no wonder they are conceding so many goals.

The first half was not great at all as neither teams failed to make much of an impression. The half time highlights package was very short as there really was not much to show. But the longer the second half went, I knew we just had to score as Everton have a poor defence this season. We were piling on the pressure and at times it looked like we were the home team with all the possession and attacking play we had. Finally the deadlock was broken by a well taken goal by Torres after Keane had whipped in a great cross. It was great to see the Keane-Torres combination actually getting a goal. Read the rest of this entry »

So the 179th Merseyside Derby is pending for the City of Liverpool. Scouse unity is broken in the city tomorrow as Mothers and Fathers, brothers and sisters, friends and workmates pull on their jerseys and fall in behind either the Red or Blue section of the community. So who will come out on top and claim the bragging rights for the first time this season. Liverpool probably go into the match as favourites for all three points if you want to be really optimistic from the start as Everton have been unbelievably bad at Goddison and are without a point at home so far this season. However in my opinion this counts for nothing in tomorrows game because as we know the form book is tore up for these matches and the result can normally always go either way.

Both teams will be looking to bounce back from poor results last week against newly promoted sides. Everton fought back to claim a point away to Hull whilst LFC had a worse result by only taking a point from our home match with Stoke. Liverpool will be hoping that Evertons generous defense who have only kept one clean sheet in the last 14 matches will be in operation again tomorrow. Everton will be wishing the opposite as Liverpool have kept clean sheets in six of their last nine league outings.

Up front for both teams it has been a mixed bag. Everton are scoring goals but due to their defense the points return for these strikes has been poor. Liverpool however have not scored enough but their solid defense has meant a better goal/points return as the current league positions show. Liverpool are chasing a seventh win in nine visits to Goodison but something will need to happen up front tomorrow for this to continue. The Anfield faithful wait in anticipation for the Keane/Torres combo to spark into life. Yes we will give it time to gel but a goal from Robbie would be great.

Everton will be up for the match probably fuelled by that wee ginger whinger of a manager they have who will still be talking about the corresponding match last year where the term “robbed” will probably be used. They have a few dangerous players in Cahill, Arteta, Osman and the Yak up front but the sale of Andy J to me was a welcome surprise and may come back to haunt them especially if The Yak gets injured.

On a final note the Merseyside Derby is one of the worst Premier League fixtures for red cards; 16 players have been sent off in 32 meetings, including two in this corresponding fixture last October, them being Hibbert and the other half of the gruesome twosome commonly known as Philip Neville. So a lot is going to depend on the man in the middle employed to control the game in a fair and knowledgable fashion, never getting flustered or losing his control and yes you have guessed it who did we get, no not Mark Clattenburg but Mike”yellow card”Riley. The FA must have thought that he deserves another chance to show that he can actually control a match after his disaster last week during the Chelsea/ManU match but I am sure the cards will be flying tomorrow for anything and for some things that only Mike will know the reason for. So sit back and enjoy and hopefully Gerrard can score his 100th goal for the club this week( as long as it is allowed this time).

Shankly Quote Of The Week

If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I’d pull the curtains.

Reports this morning suggest that Liverpool could be making a bid for Tottenham defender, Gareth Bale in the January transfer window. Spurs must hate the sight of Liverpool now after we took their prized asset, Robbie Keane away from them and now we may be going back to London with a £15m bid for Bale.

A lot has been said about Bale in the past and I think he is one good football player and one that I would love to see at Anfield. We have Aurelio and Dossena at the left back position already but I feel Bale is way better than both of them. We have been missing quality delivery into the box from open play, free kicks and corners, and Bale could just be that ’supplier’ we need. And at only 19 years old, he would have a very long future with us and could easily become a legend at Liverpool if he stays on for 10 years or more.

I seriously hope that this speculation is true and Rafa will look to make a move for Bale. What do you guys think about the possibility of Bale as our left back come January?

Once again as we have come to expect we have witnessed another fine performance by the men in black over the weekend. The standard of football and the EPL itself is being touted as the best league in the world but can somebody explain why we seem to have the worst officials.

A ref assistant and the main mad man in the middle somehow award a goal that wasn’t even on target never mind over the line, some other so called referee assistant rules out Gerrards 100th goal for Liverpool for some other unknown reason and then we see Mike Riley making a complete fool out of himself yesterday and had his yellow card out more times than Wayne Rooney’s wallet in a Manchester city centre knocking shop.

It seems to me now that on many occasions it is not the performance of the players on the park that determine where the points are going to go but something that the managers can’t plan for, the performance of the officials. Some people say that this is all part of the game but sorry that’s bull. In todays cut-throat world that is management in the EPL i think they should come to expect their professional players to be appointed professional assistants. The ref who sent off JT got suspended from the EPL by the FA. Where are the guys going that gave this weeks goal that never was - down the salt mines in Siberia?.

It seems to me that the EPL needs a shake up and all the old guard refs that we are all sick of seeing making silly mistakes and ruining games need replaced by some fresh young blood who hopefully understand todays modern game. English refs could become a worldwide joke if they are not already after the so called “top” English ref didn’t know that 2 yellows equals red so gave out three instead.

Once again I will quote Shankly who understood this problem long before now and he said -

“The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game”.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I was unable to see the match today.

What I gather is that we dominated and yet failed to make our chances count, as is the story for us so many times over the past few seasons.  To be quite honest, it’s not acceptable with the level of talent we now have in our squad and on the pitch.

Gerrard’s freekick asided, we should be winning these matches 3-0 at least.

Comments?

Ok, here we go again. As per usual the games are coming thick and fast and as soon as you seem to have grabbed a breath another match looms on the horison. So Stoke come to Anfield on Saturday since November 2000 when they were thumped 8-0 in the Worthington (or as it was fondly renamed the Worthless Cup) when R.Folwer bagged a hat-trick. This is The Potters second trip to Meryseyside in the same number of weeks and will be trying to come away with a better result than they went home with against our “friends” across the park last Sunday.

So I am thinking can Stoke pose a threat this weekend and there is a few factors to consider to put forward any case for concern. Firstly, we all know that Rafa is going to make some changes in order for some players to have a wee rest but what we don’t know to what extent this is going to be. He must ensure that the winning momentum is maintained as success breeds success and there is no point doing all the hard work so far and especially last week against ManU just to toss 2 points away tomorrow against Stoke with a silly draw. Secondly, it is well known that Liverpool sometimes have a difficulty turning up for matches after a midweek Euro fixture. So no matter what Rafa does we still need the players on the pitch to treat Stoke with the correct attitude and not think that they simply have to turn up in order to secure 3 points. Finally Stoke themselves. This is the type of game that the Stoke players have been dreaming of since securing promotion to the top flight last season. They are going to be up for the match and Liverpool need to ensure that they arenot fought out of it but stamp the authority on the game from the start. Who knows, a draw between Chelski and The Scum on Sunday could see us on top on our own.

The match sees the second top against second bottom, the club with the joint least losses against the one with joint most, the second best defence against the second weakest, and the club with a 100% home league record against one without a point on the road. Liverpool are unbeaten against Stoke in eight games in all competitions and have won 6 and drawn 2. Liverpool did the double over Stoke when they last met for league action in 1984-85. Bill Asprey’s bottom of the table strugglers lost 0-1 to a Ronnie Whelan winner at the Victoria Ground, and to Kenny Dalglish and Steve Nicol goals at Anfield (2-0).

A good win tomorrow may bring some other reasons to celebrate. If we score three more goals we will become the third club to net 1,000 in the Premier League. Manchester United lead the way with 1,223 and Arsenal are second with 1,056. If Gerrard scores one of these goals it will be his 100th career goal for The Reds. Another milestone (if he plays) will be Hyypia’s 300th EPL outing.

Some other useless bits of info are that Liverpool will be facing two ex-players in Salif DIAO (61 games for LFC with 3 goals) and also Dominic MATTEO (155 games for LFC with 2 goals). Richard Creswell (31) and Jimmy Phillips (19) will be playing on their birthdays - so lets not give them the best birthday present ever.

Shankly Quote of The Week -

Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say “We’re Liverpool.”

I hope this is right but I have heard it through the “Rons Crib” grapevine that today it is Ron’s, our own Captain Fantastics birthday. Let me be the first from Our Kop to wish him a Happy Birthday with a little Irish Blessing -

May the winds of fortune sail you,

May you sail a gentle sea,

May it always be the other guy

who says, “this drinks on me”

So lets toast to a long life and a merry one.

A quick death and an easy one.

A pretty girl and an honest one.

A cold beer - and another one.

Happy Birthday Ron - YNWA

Congratulations to Rafa and his merry men last night for a great away win and an opening three points in this year ECL program. it was never going to be an easy match with all pundits and Rafa getting it right that Marseille were a vastly improved side from last year and it was not going to be another 0-4 reverse. The Stade Velodrome faithful who turned up for this one saw there club motto ” Droit Au But “ (Straight to the goal) fulfilled with a quick passing move from the good footballer in the Cheyrou family, Benoit (maybe we were meant to sign him instead of his crap bro Bruno) which released the club captain Cana to put the Frenchies 1-0 up. Their front line was looking very dangerous last night especially with the pace of Kone and my MOTM Cheyrou pulling the strings in midfield but I knew we had a good chance of scoring as they did look poor in defense. I didn’t have long to wait as Gerrard once again produced the goods to bring the Reds level with a looping,curling piece of excellence that left the keeper stranded and looking a bit foolish but there was nothing really he could have done. Read the rest of this entry »