Gerrard ruled out for three weeks

15 minutes post-Keane. That’s all it took. 15 minutes. Throw in a Lucas red card, a hobbling Torres and a faded, disjointed Riera and Kuyt and you’ve got the rest of Liverpool’s season.

Gerrard to miss three weeks with a hamstring tear

As Gerrard walked off to the merciless cheers of the home support and Everton pricked Liverpool’s bubble of optimism post-Chelsea, Rafael Benitez faced up to an awkward couple of weeks, starting Saturday. Gerrard had looked tired in recent weeks, that is true and in fairness, post-bar brawl has not looked the player he was in the pre-bar brawl games. While this is fair and Rafa is right when he says that the press who complained when he withdrew his captain against Wigan can see the result when he got injured, the fact is Gerrard shouldn’t have started this game.

For a man so spectacularly singular in his thoughts, he can be absolutely mind-boggling at times. He rests teams in the FA Cup. The fans get their backs up. He rests half his team for the FA Cup. The fans finally get to the stage where they can see a league title somewhere, however vaguely, in the horizon, and he puts out the same, knackered team that he started with against Chelsea, albeit it with superficial Dossena and Mascherano changes. Why? He’s left himself with Ngog as a squad player who will certainly be called upon this season, without any doubt. Even if Torres miraculously goes without injuries, he won’t be able to play all the time. And why not last night? Torres got beaten, soundly, by Lescott and Jagielka in both recent games. His role is so important post-Keane that a majority would rather see Gerrard missing for three weeks than Torres. And yet both play last night, and what’s worse, Torres gets another kicking, gets dominated by Jagielka (who has to be in Capello’s thoughts now based on January alone) and it will not be a surprise if he doesn’t start against Portsmouth, thereby resting him for Spain’s clash with England on Wednesday.

Rafa knows Liverpool fans wouldn’t take kindly to a weak team being put out against Everton. But when has he ever listened to his heart over his head? Last night was a big blow to Liverpool and a timely reminder to the young players at Liverpool that they won’t get many chances to impress. Like Keane, Rafa expects total accuracy with tactics, and tolerates little else. Except from himself.

Not Keane enough?

You have to feel sorry for Robbie Keane.
Sure, he has earned another generous signing-on fee for a few months inactivity at Liverpool. Sure, you hated him every time he did the bow and arrow, roly poly, I’m an asshole goal celebration.  And yes, he does have an accent that suggests he might mess you up for looking at his bird.
But at least he seems to love his football. And he seemed to love Liverpool. And yet the two couldn’t be reconciled, either because Rafa Benitez never fancied him to fit in and was prepared to leave him on the bench as a power play in his contract struggles, or because Irish players seem to have been cursed at the club since Graeme Souness took over in the not-to-be-spoken about era of the 90s.

Hee has the right kwall-ities and ees a very good profethional no?

Keane tried his heart out, he ran and ran, as he has always done. He scored tidy finishes and that cracker against Arsenal. And he would have scored more had he been alowed to play more.But the sings were always there. On his debut for Liverpool, getting the chance to play for his boyhood club in the Champions League away at Standard Liege, Liverpool were huffing and puffing at 0-0. An away goal is seen as crucial in the Champions League, albeit Liverpool are the one club that seem to turn 0-0s into aggregate wins with ease. With 67 minutes on the clock, Keane’s time was up and Steven Gerrard awaited to renew his potent partnership with Torres.

The following match against Sunderland, on his league debut with the scores tied at 0-0 and 76 minutes on the clock, Nabil El Zhar readied himself and Keane was withdrawn. Torres would score the winner just minutes later and the tone for Keane’s Liverpool career was set. The match winners were Torres and Gerrard. They were Benitez’s luxury, the ones who he’d leave on because they had that spark to win the game. Keane never fitted into the luxury bracket.

Liverpool for the League?

 

Liverpool, apparent Premiership winners in waiting, face a tricky trip to Marseille tonight, buoyed by their victory over Manchester United at the weekend. If you are to read the papers you will see a ludicrous amount of hype being given to the 2-1 win on Saturday. Yes, it is a big deal that they won. Yes, they did it in unlikely circumstances and showed plenty of heart and commitment. However, they were at this very point last year with 10 points from 4 games and how long have we all been saying how hard Liverpool work as a team?

The truth is, Manchester United don’t always start the season very impressively. Maybe it’s the fact that Ferguson’s growing arthiritis is affecting him. Maybe he’s started using his free bus pass and the traffic  gets him in a rage so he can’t function properly. The fact also remains that Ronaldo scored more than goals this year and is currently sitting on the sidelines. Now, it’s true that Ronaldo is not the most prolific against the big teams. Man Utd fans can argue it all they want, but bar a goal in last year’s 3-0 win over Liverpool,the Portugese has generally been kept relatively quiet, again, due to Liverpool’s hard-working players who tackle back as though they were chasing goals. Still, he is a big loss, and Liverpool will still face problems this year due to a lack of imagination in the final third.

There is plenty to be positive about however for the Anfield faithful. Albert Riera actually ran at defenders. And beat them sometimes. It has been an exceptionally rare occurrence for Liverpool fans of recent years to see a winger jinking his way past a defender. Ryan Babel has done it often but has a languid style whereby he skips past defenders once they have committed themselves to a challenge. Riera didn’t give them time and had an impressive debut in intimidating circumstances against the best right-back of the season last year.
     Liverpool also did it without Torres and Gerrard and that is huge for the confidence of the squad players that Benitezso often champions but that you get the feeling the two lads don’t believe are quite up to it. When Torres scores he tends to have eyes for Gerrard and vice verca perhaps rightly so. They are among the best players in Europe and on a different level to their teammates. Well, at least they were. Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano and even Martin Skrtel deserve great praise for the way they step up to the mark set by Torres and Gerrard every week. Liverpool fans might now be forgiven for being more concerned when Mascherano isn’t playing, rather than their native captain.
To a lesser extent Keane, Alonso, and even Dirk Kuyt are capable of stepping up to the mark as well. Kuyt divides critics between fans who love his hard work and knack for scoring important goals and those who see him as a striker who can’t cut it and is thus used as a player who’ll ‘always give 100%’. I would be split between both camps. The truth is, Kuyt can score goals, but on the right wing has become an important player for the club. He was superb on Saturday, overlooked by many pundits for praise (except his biggest fan Benitez). Everyone looked to Keane, and he will eventually start getting plenty of goals, but Kuyt was instrumental in victory, with both goals coming from the right wing and Kuyt’s assist the action of a mature, team-minded individual. Kuyt had the chance to blast a shot at goal but thinks of his teammates more than himself and is deserving of his place, most of the time……

Abu Dhabi Doo….(Transfer Deadline Day)

Berbatov to Manchester City?? What?? Can a man not go to work for a few hours and come back to some sort of semblance of a normal footballing world. The weirdest thing is they actually have a bid accepted. 32 million. Ish. Give or take a million. What’s a million between friends? Still the smart money with less than four hours left is on Man Utd taking him. Despite Spurs insistence that Utd didn’t have permission to talk to Berbatov, the Bulgarian has apparently had a medical already and has certainly met with Alex Ferguson. Utd will more than likely have to up their offer to closer to 30 million given that City have had a huge bid accepted. I wouldn’t rule out Spurs playing hardball and keeping Berbatov if Utd refuse to budge, particularly as the relationship between the clubs has gone sour. Whether or not Berbatov will even meet with City remains to be seen. With his hear set on Old Trafford and Champions League football, the likelihood of City snapping him up must be slim…..

Chelsea and Robinho? Real Madrid insist the deal won’t be done. Media outlets believe it will, it would certainly be surprising if the Brazilian stays after being so public about his desire to leave…It would also be extremely strange to see Chelsea not buy anyone….Given that it is what they do best, we should probably expect some sort of signing before the end of the day….

Liverpool look more and more lightweight, despite the arrival of Riera from Espanyol. Man City fans remember him as being slightly average. Liverpool fans certainly won’t want to look at YouTube clips of the left winger, which make the words Gomez and Cheyrou spring to mind. Has Benitez splashed out on another expensive mistake? Steve Finnan has signed for Espanyol. In a slightly bizarre move (It’s nowhere near Aston Villa Stevie…) the Spanish and Irish players have swapped clubs, suggesting Liverpool got a little bit of cash off the deal given that both have been undisclosed….Liverpool have also offloaded Voronin to Hertha Berlin and with the news that Torres will miss their next game against Utd, the Merseysiders look slightly weak up front.

Sunderland have continued their recruitment drive by bringing in George McAcrtney from West Ham which could pave the way for Paolo Ferreira to move across London from Chelsea. Rumour has it the Portugese is on his way to Upton Park with Northern Irish international McCartney already signed on a year-long loan for Roy Keane’s men…

The thing about transfer deadline day is that once one deal goes through, a whole lot more follow…..

With Berbatov on his way out of White Hart Lane and Pavlyuchenko having already signed, Emile Heskey is reportedly on his way to Spurs. This will apparently pave the way for a Wigan bid for Man Utd striker Fraizer Richardson. Unless they go for Mido. Which could mean the Utd striker choosing Hull…..

Robbie Keane to Liverpool

Keane arrives at Anfield

Irish International Robbie Keane has become the second most expensive signing for Liverpool in the club’s history.
Hmmmm. 28 years old. £20 million? He’s a good signing definitely, but whether a £20 mil investment is a good one remains to be seen. There’s no doubt splashing out on the right striker is important. Especially for Liverpool who now have a third option for goals apart from Torres and Gerrard. The fact that Keane can score will also free up room for the likes of Babel and Benayoun to get more goals. It’s easier to mark two players than it is three.

And Robbie Keane is tough to mark. He drags defenders out wide, leaving Torres and Gerrard nearer the box. He can score from long-range meaning defenders have to go to him, they can’t leave him any space. It’s certainly a clever signing, and Keane has had very few problems with injuries until this point.

However Benitez has brought in strikers who hven’t worked in recent years. With a £20 mil fee, Benitez can’t afford to flog him off after a year as he did with Bellamy and as he may yet do with Voronin. Keane’s signing is vital, but Liverpool are still a striker short, unless Ngog can step up immediately, a prospect Benitez doesn’t seem to convince on: “Normally he will be available for the first team next season. He is a player who wants to improve quickly, so he will learn and then settle down”

Champions League Update: 20/02/08

All of the Champions League games are delicately poised going into the second legs in a fortnight’s time.
                
Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona are in strong positions having secured an early advantage in their respective ties.
Liverpool produced a dominant performance to secure a 2-0 win over Inter Milan. Having been held by ten-man Inter for 86 minutes, the Italians were on course to pull off a terrific result having defended doggedly from the outset. However goals from Kuyt and crucially Steven Gerrard in the 90th minute, have given Liverpool a terrific platform from which to secure qualification for the quarter-finals. Gerrard’s goal may well prove to be the difference as Inter would surely have settled for a 1-0 defeat. Materazzi’s suspension and an injury to the superb Ivan Cordoba will also give Liverpool hope that they can grab a vital away goal in the San Siro.
The Inter Milan team may well be a much-changed outfit however, with the likes of Viera, Figo and Hernan Crespo likely to feature prominently in the second leg. While Torres was, for the most part, kept quiet by Inter’s excellent defence, the Spaniard will fancy his chances against a weakened defence in the second leg, especially as Inter will have to push far further upfield than they ever did in the game at Anfield.
              
An 87th minute goal from substitute Carlos Tevez gave Manchester United a vital away goal despite a lacklustre performance. Lyon took the lead early in the second half after United-target Karim Benzema scored a terrific solo effort, with four Red shirts around him the Frenchman somehow shifted the ball from his right foot to his left and belted the ball past Edwin Van der Saar.
In a free-flowing game Wayne Rooney’s 1-on-1 with Coupet was well saved while Juninho went close with a free-kick.
Benzema had a chance to make it 2-0 when he evaded a Rio Ferdinand challenge only for the ever-reliable Vidic to step across and sheperd the forward wide.
Ronaldo had a quiet night but produced a terrific save from Coupet late-on when his free-kick threatened to sneak in at the far post. However when Giggs and Scholes were replaced by Nani and Tevez, United began to look brighter and sure enough when Nani’s cross was deflected by Fred, Tevez pounced on the line to give United a foot in the quarter-finals.

              

Celtic and Barcelona put on a terrific game of football at Celtic Park but with the Catalans running out 3-2 winners, Barcelona will be confident they can secure victory in the Nou Camp, and they are already looking like the team to beat. Despite a disappointing campaign so far in La Liga, Barca have cut the gap on arch-rivals Madrid to just five points and on this display they look like peaking at just the right time.
Celtic took the lead through Venegoor of Hesselink, a terrific header against the run of play. However despite Robson’s goal to make it 2-1, a brace from Messi and a brilliant strike from Thierry Henry leave Barcelona in the driving seat.
Gordan Strachan joked after the game that he wouldn’t put his house on Celtic winning in two weeks time and he’s rarely wrong about these kind of things.

Elsewhere AC Milan and Arsenal played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at the Emirates. AC will be favourites as the old masters denied an exciting Arsenal team. Adebayor’s stoppage time miss will be giving him sleepless nights this week, the Togo striker slamming a header against the bar with the entire goal gaping in front of him…..Chelsea did enough to take a 0-0 game back to London and should progress past Olympiakos. With one eye on Sunday’s Carling Cup Final, Avram Grant rested Terry and Lampard and with one of the strongest squads in Europe, Chelsea should progress to the next phase in two weeks time…… Fenerbache’s 3-2 win over Sevilla makes for a hell of a return leg in Spain. An 87th minute deflected winner means the Turks can progress to the quarter finals for the first time if they avoid defeat in Spain. However, Sevilla will be confident they can turn the game on it’s head at home, and are many peoples’ tips as a dark horse this season…..Roma and Real Madrid served up an entertaining encounter which the Italians shaded 2-1. Despite a strong first-half performance from Real, Roma take the advantage thanks to two Francesco Totti-assisted goals….Shalke 04 lead FC Porto 1-0 thanks to a fourth minute Kevin Kuranyi strike. While the game was always likely to be tight, Shalke are firmly in the driving seat, aware that an away goal will give the Portugese team a mountain to climb. While Shalke’s defence has been their achilles heel so far this season, in Kuranyi they have a top striker and they will look to score and force FC Porto to gamble at the back, having to attack in search of three goals…

Champions League 2nd Round

Tonight’s action:

Liverpool V Inter Milan
Olympiakos V Chelsea
Roma V Real Madrid
Shalke 04 V FC Porto

   V 

The pick of the ties comes at Anfield where Liverpool and Inter lock horns for the first time since their controversial 1965 European Cup semi-final where the Merseysiders took a 3-1 advantage into a second leg that the Italians won by three goals to nil, sealing their place in the final. Allegations of corruption have refused to go away since that night when the referee, Jose Maria Ortiz de Mendibil, allowed two goals that Liverpool felt should never have been allowed to stand. Ian St John also had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside. While the memories of that game still linger in the minds of the older generation of Liverpool fans, Inter Milan fans went out and bought Liverpool replica jerseys by the bucket-load following Liverpool’s 2005 win over their arch rivals AC Milan.
Tonight’s game is likely to be a tight affair with some intriguing battles. When Liverpool last came up against Zlatan Ibrahimovic they knocked Juventus out of the Champions League en route to glory in Istanbul. Sami Hyypia often struggled against the Swede though, and the lanky striker hit a post that night in Anfield.
Javier Mascherano will also come up against some familiar foes in his Argentine teammates Esteban Cambisso, Javier Zanetti and Julio Cruz, who is expected to lead the attack alongside Ibrahimovic.
Meanwhile Fernando Torres will start for Liverpool up front and will be anxious to score on a night that epitomises why he chose to come to Anfield.

Prediction: While many are predicting Inter to come and destroy a Liverpool team lacking confidence, this one should be tight. Liverpool respond well to Champions League adversity and might nick it, 2-1.

Olympiakos V Chelsea

  V 

The suggestion is that Chelsea will be resting the likes of John Terry and Frank Lampard, while Nicolas Anelka will drop to the bench to make room for Didier Drogba. Michael Ballack and Alex should return to the starting lineup for Chelsea in place of their captain and vice-captain.

Sunday Preview

MAN UTD V MAN CITY

                        

A thrilling derby is in store for the lunchtime kick-off tomorrow, Sunday February 10.
While the first talking point will be whether the Man City fans will respect the minutes silence for the victims of the Munich air crash, the game itself should be entertaining.
Benjani’s confession that he didn’t want to leave Portsmouth will probably not have endeared him to the City fans. A goal at Old Trafford may go some way to changing that.

Tomorrow….tomorrow…i’ll leave ya, tomorrow….

Wow that headline was clever.

Anelka has gone to Chelsea and is further evidence that Chelsea are going to attempt to play better football as they set about their Grant years.
Anelka will replace Drogba who is bound to leave soon. Like, this summer. Most of the Premiership defences wont miss him. Most of thefc100 wont either. Good player yes. Complete prat. Hell yeah.

Milan Mandaric has confirmed his belief that Harry Redknapp will leave Pompey for the sunnier climate of the North-East and Newcastle. Wait, no that’s….Anyway, Redknapp was in the process of something special at Portsmouth, a club that took him back despite his falling out with the chairman during his previous stay. Still, loyalty is tricky when, as the tabloids explained, you’ll be offered bucket-loads of cash and Pascal Chimbonda at your new club.
Does Harry have a thing for Pascal? Anyone who saw Jimmy Bullard’s teammates stint on Soccer AM will be aware that…’Pascal Chimbonda’s quite long’….but still, anyone else think that was a weird headline? News of the World I think.

Skrtel has completed his move to Liverpool. Sad day for Liverpool fans. Wasn’t so long ago that Anelka was pleading with Houllier to be allowed to stay at the club. Liverpool didn’t take up that option. They signed Cisse. And the rest, my friends, is history. Except history is coming back to haunt them. Leave it in the past I say. Skrtel wont play tomorrow as he is unfit having played his last competitive game in mid-December. Tomorrow, the Slovakian will presumably spend the day searching for the missing vowel in his surname.

Martin Skrtel to Anfield?

It looks like beleagured Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez will be the first Premiership manager to welcome a big money signing into the Premiership. Martin Skrtel looks set to join for £6-7 million from Zenit St Petersburg.

Seems strange that this money is suddenly being made available given that a move for Khaladze was seemingly rejected by Liverpool’s Yanky-Doodles as they weren’t happy to splash the cash.

A meeting between Hicks, Gillett and Rick Parry in the USA is expected to focus on the plans for the new stadium which have hit the brakes in recent weeks. Benitez will be hoping his masters rubber-stamp the deal for Skrtel with Liverpool desperate for centre-back cover.

Sami Hyypia is unlikely to leave, although rumours are linking him with Fulham. Skrtel is ineligible in the Champions League, which Liverpool will be prioritising at some stage in the second half of the season unless miracle results let them back into the title race.

Anyone know whether Skrtel is any good? Let us know by leaving a comment. We would also like to hear how Liverpool fans are warming to the American owners? Not very well….? We thought so….