Today's Banter: Liverpool may save Luton, Rush rates Crouch, Gerrard refuses Chucky Fab game, & more

If Luton Town can somehow manage to beat Nottingham Forest next Tuesday night and advance to the next round of the FA Cup to square off against Liverpool, it may prevent the side from slipping further into financial woe. The Hatters players have yet to be paid for October. It's sad to see a club so rich in history in such dire straits, a club that has been in existence for over 120 years. A club that finished as high as seventh in top-flight twenty years ago, won the League Cup in 1988, and won promotion to the Championship less than three years back. I'm not going to pretend as if I know what's going on over at Luton, but I do know that if a club has to go into administrative receivership, as the Hatters did on November 22nd, and there are prospective buyers 'banging at the door', something has to give.

Ian Rush has made a plea to Rafa for him not to sell Peter Crouch in the January window. The former legend can hardly contain himself when talking about 'the Lanky One': "He has done nothing wrong... Every time he has played for Liverpool he has been superb." With all due respect, Mr. Rush, he's done much wrong and is not good enough for a side that wants to win the League. A couple of weeks back I mentioned I was working on a database of stats for all the Liverpool players, well, I'm still not done with it, but so far, I've learned a couple of revealing things about Mr. Crouch. Most notably his wastefulness on possession. Not just giving the ball away, but also throwing it away by taking poor shots. In due time I'll reveal my findings, but as for now, unless Crouch really picks things up this month, he should be sold. Even if he does go on a remarkable run, one has to wonder, why did he play so poorly for much of this season? A journey into the psyche of Peter Crouch is probably warranted if so, analyzing his ego and pondering his true motivations. Rafa doesn't trust Crouch and he has no reason to. It also worries me that, even though Rush is a former player, a media pundit is making such a plea.

Steven Gerrard has no desire to compare himself to Chucky Fab (Fabregas for those unaware) and would rather concentrate on winning cups as part of a team. Kudos to Gerrard for an expected class response, but just for the record, no manager, including Wenger would take Chucky Fab over Gerrard at the moment. Fabregas is too young and immature, hence all the cards and reckless tackles. I also get the feeling that Chucky wants the rest of Arsenal to rely on him as the main man, which is fine when he's not injured, but as yesterday's 1-1 draw at St. James showed, a place where we demolished the Magpies by the way, is that the Gunners without Fabregas are a decent side, but no where near as good with him. Liverpool has coped without Gerrard at times this season and come out unscathed, beating Sunderland, Derby, and Toulouse, a combined 12-0. The opposition may not have been the best in the world, but is a Gerrard-less Liverpool three goals worse at St. James? No, in fact, Stevie-G played well against the Magpies, but it'll just be another solid performance lost in a book of legendary ones.

Speaking of Gerrard, he's been emphatic lately about getting to play with another world class caliber player in Fernando Torres. They certainly are brilliant to watch together. Remember a couple of paragraphs back when I mentioned the database I was working on, well, it has also showed some odd discrepancies concerning Torres. Let's just say his brilliant finishing saves him from finding a day job, but if you look at in a categorical sense, he does what's required of him with a little Spanish flare. I'm sure I'll rile some feeble bones when I write that post.

Finally, two things before I move on. First, Rafa has acknowledged the progress of Danny Guthrie at Bolton as something he expected. No word on whether we are willing to sell him though. A cluttered in-field is a cluttered in-field, a problem most managers would love to have, but I can't see Guthrie being any higher than sixth on the pecking order there. It sucks, but it looks like it's best for him if we sell him to the Wanderers. By the way, as I mentioned in my kids watch yesterday, Bolton plays in UEFA Cup action in a crucial match at Red Star Belgrade in a bit. No less than a win is required and there's a great chance Guthrie will start.

Also, the BBC should probably just ban the topic of Hillsborough from being discussed or mentioned on it's channels or website permanently. Once again an uninformed commentator has said untrue things about the tragedy for ill-effect. You can read about it here. Godspeed, you muppets.

Today's Banter: The mass exodus that would follow Rafa, The press & pundits toe the company line, Gerrard speaks up, & more

With the impending (and ridiculous) debacle concerning the future of Rafael Benitez set to play out in the near future, a potential aftershock to ponder is that his departure could gut our side, if not first psychologically, eventually physically. The possibility of those who followed Rafa from abroad requesting a transfer or, in the case of Javier Mascherano, refusing to sign a permanent, is highly likely. Contractually obligated or not, a band of discontent players is a near impossible task to motivate and in our case, a large portion of the squad would at least secretly harbor feelings of betrayal for the men signing their paychecks.

The lack of professionalism displayed in the situation so far would surely dampen any calls of such a notion from our players. Relieving Benitez of his managerial duties is akin to a spit in the face of our Spanish, South American, and other foreign players who played under Rafa at his previous clubs. If our owners want a plague of strife followed by a substantial player-forced reshuffle that has the plausible backlash of crippling the side, then by all means they should rid themselves of Rafa and his small-spending ways. The threat of Jose Mourinho and his thriftiness is laughable at best.

This is ultimately about money, nothing more and nothing less, not egos nor power-trips. Rafa has done an absolute brilliant job at building a squad using peanuts to lure elephants. If Gillett and Hicks think that ridding themselves of the Spaniard is even an option financially, they're far worse businessmen than can be fathomed. Securing a transfer fee for Kaladze of £4m and signing Mascherano to a permanent for £17m, fee and salary, were both tremendously savvy deals. The former appears to be no longer an option while the latter is in serious jeopardy.

The monetary repercussions of dealing with a squad full of scorned players is unimaginable. The losses due to Bosmans and circumstantial devaluations could easily reach a nine-figure sum. All investment of even the past year would most likely go to waste. The oath of fealty when it comes to players always lies with their manager. He's the one that shares their love of football and there will be always be someone to sign their checks. If Gillett and Hicks truly are shrewd businessmen then a simple weighing of pros and cons can only lead them to one conclusion, give Rafa the meager amounts he needs to make your club even more profitable when you sell or suffer the consequences of even more dire financial constraints.

Perusing the press today, I found two articles of particular interest. The first is a piece at Sky Sports which is disconcerting in tone, but suspicious in agenda. According to Spain-based journalist Graham Hunter, Rafa Benitez 'has changed.' Mr. Hunter says he has heard such notions regarding the alleged personality metamorphosis from 'many people' and it is 'why so many of his friends and supporters have left the club.' Friends and supporters left the club? Like who? The only person who has left the club due to a rift with Rafa that I'm aware of is Pako Ayestaran and from what I understand that was due to a philosophical change in training methods by Benitez that Ayesteran did not support. This article has anti-Rafa PR campaign written all over it and is illogical in premise. Rafa wants what is best for the club because in the end, it's what's best for him, an attempt to imply anything different is just absurd.

Then we have an even more odd article by former Liverpool great Ian Rush. He starts out chastising Rafa Benitez for not doing things the 'Liverpool way' and keeping the rift behind closed doors, but Benitez wasn't the instigator nor the violator of the unwritten rule, Hicks and Gillett spoke first with their official statement on the official Liverpool site. Had the owners not made such a strange announcement, Rafa wouldn't have been hounded and pressured by the press to reveal the true origins of the declaration. Then Rush's article gets even more uncanny as he goes on to praise Benitez for his accomplishments in his short time with our club and makes a plea for keeping him on board. So first he slaps Rafa on the hand for something he didn't do, but then follows it up with elicit praise for our manager. Interesting.

Steven Gerrard has basically stated that he will not be getting involved in the spat between our manager and owners. I can definitely see his view, I mean, as a club we are entering a crucial string of fixtures that we need to win, especially in Champions League, and all distractions should be set aside to concentrate on the task at hand. I do hope he realizes though that if push comes to shove, he has the power to play a major role in doing what is best for the club.

Finally, two Liverpool legends, Ian Callaghan and Gerry Byrne, are set to receive winner's medals for being part of the England side that won the 1966 World Cup. Since neither player were part of the XI that played in the final, they were excluded from receiving a medal. Now thanks to England 2018 World Cup bid ambassador Richard Caborn and FIFA President Sepp Blatter, all members appointed to the squad will do so. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Owners 'rift' rubbished, A return to England for Cissé?, Riise to stay, & Rush praises Rafa's tactics

Club Chief Executive Rick Parry has stated that the rift between Tom Hicks and George Gillett is totally fabricated. The 52-year-old revealed that he has recently spent time with both owners and drew no such conclusions of a breach in their partnership. Even if there was, I sincerely doubt the papers would know about it before something major occurred. Parry added that Gillett and Hicks are still on the same page concerning the future of the club and are working on a refinancing package to be completed in the next 30 days.

Former LFC striker Djibril Cissé may be on his way back to the Premiership. The 26-year-old French international has fallen out of favor with his current club, Marseille, and is looking to go elsewhere. It is no surprise that 'Money Bags' Shinawatra at Man City and Eggert 'Big Paper' Magnússon of West Ham are the two being linked to him. Cissé is married to an English woman and still owns a home in Cheshire.

John Arne Riise has rubbished claims that he'll be joining fellow Norwegian John Carew at Aston Villa in January. The recently turned 27-year-old seems very pragmatic about his current dip in form and is looking to improve. Riise has had glimpses of brilliance, but they've been far and few between. He was simply dazzling in the preseason, but at the very least, wholly inconsistent since. Maybe he can get some pointers from Hyypia about how to find his top self once again. I'd rather he stick around, but if he's going to continue to be a detriment, I can't see any reason to keep him aboard.

Finally, Ian Rush has praised Rafa for the tactics he employed in the Fulham match, especially bringing on Torres at just the right time. One of the things that he states in that article that I agree with is that he doesn't believe Rafa wanted to keep the same line-up as the Besitkas match. I really think Rafa did so as a message to his players that he doesn't always rotate on the basis of who's fresh or for tactical reasons. I think he wanted to let them know if they perform well, they'll get more playing chances, a notion some don't think Rafa believes in. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Aurelio returns, What about Harry?, Rafa laughs off Reina offer, & more

- Fabio Aurelio made an unexpected early return to action today as the Reserves beat a Crewe Alexandra Reserves side, 2-1, behind goals by Xabi Alonso and Ray Putterill. The 27-year-old Left Back played an impressive 45 minutes. This is great news, if he's able to play this Saturday against Portsmouth, it allows Arbeloa to play on the right if Finnan isn't fit or even in the middle with Carra if Agger or Hyypia are fatigued.

- Despite reports that he was also set to make his return against today, apparently Harry Kewell did not line-up against the Crewe Reserves side. Hopefully there will be a mention of his status when the full match report is published on the official site. The only good news is that Kewell was included on our 23-man Champions League roster, so obviously Rafa is expecting him to return to action sometime in the near future.

- Rafa has dismissed any talk of Pepe leaving to go to Atletico Madrid or anywhere else for that matter. I kind of figured it was a load of donkey dung, but again, £10m for a keeper is not an amount to scoff at especially when you have the likes of Scott Carson available to replace him.

- A FIFA source has revealed that Peter Crouch was not singled-out by referees at the World Cup, but an incident where Crouchy pulled at the hair of a Trinidad and Tobago defender as he headed in a goal was brought to the attention of match officials. There's a picture of the incident to accompany the article and honestly, I don't see how the striker can be giving himself an advantage by being anchored down by someone's hair as he jumps. Call me crazy, but wouldn't that prevent him from jumping higher, it looks like accidental contact if you ask me.

- The U18s won on Saturday versus Nottingham Forrest, 3-1, behind a brace from German Marvin Pourie and a goal by Scot Gary MacKay Steven. 16-year-old English striker David Amoo was apparently quite impressive himself. Just taking a peek at the U18/Academy roster, we have quite the international mix with players from seven different countries, though a large majority, 13, are English.

- Finally, here's a nice piece from Liverpool Legend Ian Rush on Rafa's recent decision not to replace his number two, Pako Ayesteran. It's interesting to read what role such a person plays on a club and why it's not a good idea to replace them in haste. Cheers everyone.