Pepe Reina or Simon Mignolet?

Since Napoli have admitted they won't be able to pay Pepe Reina to stay, he may be sold to Arsenal at a discount of £5m.  I think most would agree it would be bad business to sell Reina to a competing club like Arsenal, but what if a lesser club like West Brom or even Villa come knocking?  Should Reina be given the chance to be our number 1 again?  Should we try to keep him as a back-up? I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't exactly blown away by Mignolet last season.  Let's look at the stats, two seasons ago for Reina and last season for Mignolet, league matches only.

	Reina	Mignolet
matches (sub)	31	38
clean sheets	14	10
goals allowed per	1.1	1.32
saves per match	1.35	1.97
saves per goal	1.27	1.7
avg claim success %	89	96
dist. success %	75	69
pass success %	70.8	67.3
aerial duel win %	85.7	83.3
long ball success %	45.8	39

The most important stats here are saves per goal and average claim success percentage, both of which go to Mignolet.  The 7% difference between the two keepers in ACSP is crippling to Reina if he has any aspirations to win his old job back.  It is an indication of what many think of the 31-year-old Spaniard: he takes unnecessary risks and has frequent momentary lapses of reason and concentration.

In his last couple of seasons, Reina appeared to be more interested in trying to create goal scoring opportunities instead of trying to prevent them.  The thing is, he's quite good at contributing to the attack, much more so than Mignolet, but what's the point if you can't do your primary job as a keeper?  I would even argue that Reina had a better defense in front of him than Mignolet does now.

Reina had Jamie Carragher and a healthy Jose Enrique for most of the season.  Though Carra was in his twilight year, he knew his limitations, made few mistakes, and was in command of Liverpool's defense, even when he wasn't on the pitch.  When he was, Carragher rarely went forward as much as Agger, Skrtel, and Sakho tend to.  The thing about Mignolet is that he doesn't take command like a keeper should and if that doesn't change, he should find his way somewhere else soon.

Today's Banter: Torres backs Benitez, Pepe praises defense, Baros EPL return possible, & more

Fernando Torres has warned that a Rafa exit could result in a mass exodus of players including himself. I believe this 'crisis' has been pretty much put to rest, unless of course the upcoming meeting between Rafa and the owners doesn't go accordingly. You can't really blame Rafa for leaving if he isn't going to get the funds needed to continue to strengthen our side. The thing I find interesting is Rafa saying he was asking about two 'free' transfers. One is widely considered the signing of Masche on a permanent but the other is still a mystery. I wonder if it's someone like Francesco Coco or Jonathan Zebina?

Pepe Reina made sure to thank his defenders for making his job easy. Ya think, Pepe? He should probably pay homage to lady luck as well after Anelka missed a wide open net yesterday due to a poor decision by the Spanish keep. Clean sheets are great when earned, but yesterday Reina had no right walking away with a goose egg under our opponents name on the scoreboard. I realize he probably gets a little bored and rusty with minimal involvement in the match, but it's still no excuse to make glaring mistakes.

Milan Baros may be returning to the Premiership as the Czech striker has lost hope in retaining a first team spot with Lyon. To increase his chances at making the Czech Republic Euro squad, the 26-year-old is looking to move to a club where he'll have a better chance of playing regularly. Wigan, Middlesbrough and Birmingham apparently are all interested in obtaining 'ole condom head'.

Finally, for the FA Cup, we drew the winner of Luton Town and Nottingham Forest. Personally I prefer Forest. Competition-wise, there's little difference between the two League One sides. Forest may be the slightly better club at the moment, but it's far from apples and oranges. The chance to annihilate old foes is always a relishing prospect. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Punch-drunk LFC love for Torres, the march toward Marseilles, Pepeadamus, & more

Fernando Torres has jumped on the Rafalution bandwagon, epitomized by the fans on the march yesterday. The enigmatic Spanish striker has praised Benitez as 'one of the greats' and 'more than just a manager.' He also added how impressed he was by the display the fans showed at Anfield yesterday, stating: "And we all had an idea that he's somewhat special here but, honestly, what I saw at Anfield tonight was really impressive... I'm really impressed at how much he's loved by the people, above anything else, even the players... I feel their affection, the support for my team-mates and with each passing day I'm feeling more of a part of this and happier with everything and at the end of the day those things are reflected on the pitch." The kid is all class, on and off the field. Do you think he's regretting not going to Man U now? At Old Trafford, he'd be just another cog in the soulless machine, while here he's sowing the seed to be an esteemed legend.

Build-up for the Marseilles match has already begun. The December 11th tie at Stade Vélodrome will decide whether or not we advance to the next stages of the Champions League. A win will assure us of it, a draw will require help from Beşiktaş, who would have to win at Porto for us to continue. It's probably best we walk away from Marseilles with all three points. The hero for the Ligue 1 side from the first meeting at Anfield, Mathieu Valbuena, has stated: "We'll approach that last match as if it were the Champions League final." Never heard that one before, think they'll score eight on us though? l'OM and their supporters have little else to anticipate these days though, they currently sit 14th on their league table, a point above the relegation zone. Steven Gerrard is looking forward to match as well, stating that he is 'happy that a win will almost certainly be required in Marseille.'

Pepe Reina has revealed his second occupation to be soothsayer. The 25-year-old keeper claims that he knew our recent deluge of goals was on the brink and it was only a matter of time before we broke the dam. No word yet on what the stones say about us winning the league.

Finally, Danny Guthrie is set to play for Bolton today in UEFA Cup group stage action as the Wanderers face Aris Saloniki at the Reebok. I don't see how the 20-year-old midfielder won't get the start as he is ineligible to play against us on Sunday citing on-loan rules. The Shrewsbury product was instrumental in Bolton's 1-0 upset of Man U last week. Coincidentally enough, Guthrie was released by Man U as a fifteen-year-old. Revenge must be sweet.

By the way, yes, I turned off commenting because there's not enough minutes in the day to go through them and for the most part, they're a waste of my time and energy anyhow. Thick-headed, baseless, and ego-driven jabs that were spineless, unwarranted, and for the most part, ignorant, were rampant and I have better things to do than deal with that crap. Blogs are about readers, not commenters. If you'd like to have an intelligent exchange or just drop me a line for any old reason, my email address is in plain sight. If you don't read this blog regularly and are wound-up by something I write, take a deep breathe before writing a scathing email to chastise me. My bite is much worse than my bark. Cheers.

Rafa outwits media in pre-Porto match press conference

Despite numerous attempts to get Rafa to 'slip-up' during the pre-Porto match press conference and talk about the ongoing rift he's having with the owners, our manager wouldn't budge. You could tell from the beginning by his playful smirk of a countenance, Benitez was fully prepared to dodge any questions in that regard. The more I think about it though, and after watching it for a second time, the body language of both Rafa and Pepe Reina can almost be described as giddy. It was as if they were ecstatic that instead of concentrating on tomorrow's match, the press was concerned with off-the-pitch diversions. Maybe they are hoping this distracts Porto into thinking our boys won't be focused. It reminds me a bit of the first Barça match from last year. Don't be surprised if a win tomorrow pushes the Rafa/owners conflict down the memory hole.

Overall the press conference was quite entertaining as everyone appeared to be in amicable spirits. You can read the transcript on the official site here (or if you have an e-season ticket, you can watch it there as well). You can also watch a part of it here as well.

One of the many highlights is this exchange:

Journalist: You've won a lot of trophies in your career by being single-minded and doing what you think is best for the club you've represented. Are you ever willing to compromise on that?

Rafa: The best will be to win tomorrow, so I will try to compromise and win tomorrow.

Cheers.

Euro-qualifying: A great day to be a Liverpool fan... well, almost.

I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. With the conclusion of today's matches, a large majority of our players who would normally be representing their countries in next year's Euro Championship, will now be getting the summer off. Like I've said prior, I don't give a rat's ass about international play, especially exhibition tournaments like the Euro and the World Cup. They're great for killing time or for an excuse to binge drink, but for the most part they aren't legitimate competitions anymore and have certainly ceased to matter. Too many questionable calls and duplicitous actions have tainted them far beyond any rational person's belief.

Anyhow, to get to today's matches, four teams, three featuring our players were given glints of hope before having them squashed by the all-mighty hand of reality. John Arne Riise and Norway crushed Malta, 4-1, but occurring at the same time Turkey was hosting Bosnia-Herzegovina in Instanbul. The Norwegians needed the Bosnians to at least manage a draw while they took care of business in Ta' Qali. After going up 2-0 in the first 28 minutes and Turkey appearing to have their problems scoring against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Norway probably started to believe they had luck on their side, but it wasn't meant to be. Villareal scoring machine, Nihat Kahveci, placed a shot in the far side of the net with two-minutes to go in the first half and Ay-Yıldızlılar managed to hold on, 1-0.

Sami Hyypiä and Finland were hoping to travel to Porto today and pull off one of the biggest upsets of qualifying by beating Portugal at the Estádio do Dragão. The only way for the Finns to advance was to win. They were lucky to come away with a 0-0 draw as Portugal unleashed an onslaught of attack on the Finnish side, but came away empty each time. The result eliminates the Huuhkajat from competition and with the summer months off, might allow Hyppiä to come back for one more season.

Then we have the Three Lions. After going down by a pair of comical goals by Croatia, England battled their way back to draw even, the latter goal a magnificent chest-catch and finish by Peter Crouch. It looked as if Gerrard and company might just get it done, but then Sol Campbell forgot he was supposed stop the ball from going towards the goal and conveniently got out of the way of a Mladen Petrić shot, which found itself in the back of the net. Carson hadn't a chance. Euro dreams for England were crushed and Steven Gerrard will finally have a couple of months off to recuperate. I can't say I'm not ecstatic.

Finally we have Spain with Pepe Reina the lone Spanish Red starting in goal. Thanks to a deflected shot from Xavi Hernandez, our Pepe got the win and the clean sheet. Other players who saw action include Andriy Voronin, who was the only goal scorer from our club, and the Dutch duo of Kuyt and Babel. The former came in at the half, while the latter played the full match and collected a yellow card to prove it. So Spain and Holland are the only two teams with our players that advance, which may mean up to six of our players, but it could have been worse.

Today's Banter: Pepe seeks to stop Healy, Torres title talk, Rafa outclasses Big Sam, & a tad more

As I alluded to in yesterday's daily, Pepe Reina might be setting himself up for a fall today when he starts in net for his native Spain. The match is meaningless for the Spaniards who have already booked their ticket to the 2008 Euro, but their opponent, Northern Ireland, need to win if they want any chance of advancing. Pepe may be looking to shut down David Healy, the hat-trick hero when Norn Iron beat La Furia Roja 3-2 in Belfast in September of last year, but it doesn't mean his teammates will have the same kind of commitment. I'm still hoping Aragonés plays younger players or ones that will at least care, I don't want Reina to get embarrassed.

Fernando Torres has made some interesting points lately. Most notably how our side has yet to play our best yet are only six points off the pace of league leaders Arsenal. He also claims that there is a 'winning mentality' ever present in the LFC locker room before matches. The problem with our side is that we may have a winning attitude at the offset, but as matches wear on and goals aren't produced, we begin to doubt ourselves instead of believing that as long as their is time on the clock, we'll still get it done. Finally, Torres gets a little cocky and says “From what I have seen so far in England we do not have anything to fear from any of our opponents for the title." That may be true, but there's no need to give our opponents more motivation to beat us.

In anticipation of our clash at St. James Park on Saturday, Tommy Smith at the Echo has taken a few stabs at 'Big' Sam Allardyce. It's not as if the Newcastle boss doesn't deserve it, he feels as if he has the right to criticize Rafa Benitez despite lacking the silverware to do so. As Smith mentions, the only accomplishment of Allardyce worth any sort of recognition was keeping Bolton up for six seasons and reaching the UEFA Cup once. 'Big' Sam would get a lot more respect from others if he learned to keep his mouth shut. In fact, I'd go even as far as to say he'd make a better manager for England than Steve McClaren.

Two of our players saw action yesterday. On-loan Robbie Threlfall helped Hereford United upset Leeds 1-0 in first round FA Cup action. The left back, who turns 20 on Sunday, started and played the entire match. Meanwhile, Javier Mascherano and Argentina suffered their first loss of World Cup qualifying to Colombia in Bogota. Carlos Tevez conveniently received a red card in the 25th minute and despite going up 1-0 on a brilliant strike from Lionel Messi, the Albicelestes failed to hold on, eventually succumbing 2-1. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Kuyt burgled, Deco talks dirt?, Gerrard pep talks England, & more

Dirk Kuyt became the fifth Liverpool player in eighteen months to have his home burgled last Thursday while he was away on international duty. Just another reason to quit the national team if you ask me. Anyhow, this of course shows that Merseyside is riddled with crime and a far worse place to live than say Manchester or London, right? Wrong. If anything it shows that at least the criminals are smart enough to know who to target. Just for kicks, check out the 193-page report on crime in the UK and Wales from the Home Office. If you don't want to bother, ponder this: per 10,000 households in Merseyside approximately 0.0352% were burgled between August 2006 and July 2007. Greater Manchester? 0.0518%. London? 0.0422%. In fact, those two areas are worse percentage-wise in every category of crime, but facts don't matter, right? Moving on...

Oh my God, Barça's Deco forgot to mention us as contenders for the Champions League, so he must not think that we have much of a chance. I am so riled up at the moment, I mean, just because we have a slim chance of advancing to the knockout stage, doesn't mean we can't win at all! That Brazilian, uh, I mean Portuguese ponce! This is called 'mocking a shit rag site who has nothing better to do than make things up.' Deco doesn't mention us, big deal.

Gerrard must want some expensive gifts for Christmas. I mean, who are the two England players whose asses you'd kiss to get, say, most likely a Ferrari from as a present for Christmas? It's not Joleon Lescott or Nicky Shorey, I assure you that. Our captain was just full of praise for John Terry and David Beckham in this article.
Stevie-G wants the side to win it for the Chelsea defender and thinks that Beckham is still 'international class.' Those comments are worth at least a bottle or five of Krug Clos du Mesnil.

Robbie Threlfall dreams of playing for Liverpool one day. The soon-to-be 19-year-old local product may be far down the left-back totem pole, but he knows if he works hard and continues to develop, he's got a shot at making the first team. He's currently on-loan at Hereford United where he has started four matches. They play again today in FA Cup action at Leeds. I honestly think the kid's got what it takes to be a first-team contributor in two-to-three years after being impressed by him in the preseason against South China FC.

Finally, I feel sorry for Pepe Reina. It looks as if our keeper will be in net for Spain when they face Northern Ireland in Euro qualifying tomorrow. The game is meaningless to the Spaniards so I hope Luis Aragonés plays youngsters who care and are looking to impress their coach for future call-ups. If not, it could be a long day for Pepe as Norn Iron has to win to have any chance of advancing. Of course, with the Green & White Army relying on Latvia to upset Sweden, they might as well not even try either. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Carra praises Hyypiä & Reina, Bayern wants Benitez, Javi responds, & more

With all the time he's got on his hands these days, Jamie Carragher has decided to give somewhat of a state-of-the-club address with particular praise for his centre back partner and Pepe Reina. Carra makes a good point that taking eight points from a run of Goodison, Arsenal, Ewood, and Fulham at Anfield is a decent string of results. He then goes on to point out how Hyypiä has raised his level of play recently, something that hasn't gone unnoticed, but also adds that it seems when the Finn plays well, the whole team appears to follow suit. That's something I haven't really recognized, but come to think of it, he may be right. Finally, the man from Bootle calls Pepe Reina one of the three best keepers in the world along with Petr Čech and Gianluigi Buffon, as well as the best he's ever played with. Good call, Carra, way to schmooze your teammates so close to Christmas and all.

Apparently Bayern Munich wants Rafa to replace Ottmar Hitzfeld at the end of the season. I won't even address such rubbish, Bayern is no where near the club they once were just six or seven years ago and Rafa is investing too much time and energy to be lured away by what's frankly a lesser club.

Moving on, one of our transfer targets, Javi Martínez of Athletic Bilbao, appears to be open to a move to the Premiership, but wants to do what's best for his club and himself. Sounds to me as if he's going to go elsewhere, he wants his current club to make a substantial financial gain for doing so. I've got to wonder that if he's not a true winger or can even be effective on the flank, do we really need another central midfielder? I think not, unless Rafa has something up his sleeve like selling Momo, but I doubt it.

Finally, we have a delusional and ill-informed Man U fan trying to compare their debt issues to ours. Sorry, but as usual, a Man U failed to do the actual work and tried to pass half-assed biased opinion for fact. The Red Devils (not Reds, mind you) have a current debt of at least £660m, stemming from the Glazers refinancing in July of 2006, so it could actually be more than that, especially if you consider the amount they spent on players this past summer and that the Glazers will probably do their best to keep the fans and media in the dark about financial matters at the club due the negative light it tends to shed. Liverpool's debt currently sits at around £300m, but the owners are will have to refinance soon to fund the building of the new stadium. At most it will increase to around £520m, which is still well less than the Mancs. I realize that misery loves company, but I refuse to be dragged into the hell of ignorance that epitomizes the typical Man U 'fan'. Cheers.

Should we sell Scott Carson?

Pepe Reina is only 25 years old. Barring major injury, the two-time defending EPL Gold Glove award winner has at least five to seven years of quality play left in him. He has alluded at times of returning to Spain though, more specifically Atlético Madrid where his father became a legend, but I can't see him going anywhere in the near future. He is our number one for now.

Before yesterday, I wasn't all that impressed with Charles Itandje, but now I see why Manchester United and other big clubs have been after him in the past. The 24-year-old Frenchman may have over-played some balls, was rightly beat once, but also made some stunning saves. I'm not sure how long he'll be around, but for now, I think if he ever had to step in for Reina, he'd do fine.

Following Itandje in the pecking in order is David Martin, the Reserves number one. The 21-year-old son of former West Ham player, Alvin Martin, saw action with the first team on three different occasions in the preseason. In my best judgment, he seemed to have the qualities to make a solid Premiership keeper, though signs of his youth and inexperience showed at moments.

Though he probably won't play for us for a few years, if ever, next we have 17-year-old Danish prospect Martin Hansen, who's been at the Academy since the beginning of last year. And just for good measure there's out-on-loan Nikolay Mihaylov and Australia wonder kid goalie, Dean Bouzanis, who is the current top keep at the Academy .

In other words, we're loaded at that spot for years to come without Carson. Rafa seemingly likes to collect keepers like the old woman in the shoe likes to collect kids. In all we have seven keepers if you count the Academy and nine if you include Carson and Mihaylov. That's just ridiculous. Is Benitez collecting and cultivating keepers as part of some master plan to keep loaning them out to other Premiership sides, so they'll be without their top goalie when they face us? If so, it's brilliant, but highly doubtful.

Carson is quite the talent though. Just this past summer numerous clubs including Arsenal inquired about his services. I have no problem saying he would be our starter if we didn't have Pepe. The thing is, we do, and there's only one keeper in the world I would even consider starting in front of Reina and that's Peter Cech. In other words, if Carson wants to be the regular starter, he's going to have to be perpetually loaned or sold and though I'm for either of those options, the latter looks to be the most realistic.

Price might become an issue though. If Craig Gordon is worth £9m, Carson can't be too far off. If I were Rafa I wouldn't accept anything less than £8m. If a club doesn't want to pay that much so be it, we got £2m for him from Aston Villa for his one-year loan there and we can just continue to lease him until someone feels like taking out a mortgage. The only thing is, if we can sell him this summer, than we can turn around and use that money to strengthen our squad.

Today's Banter: Cisse injured?, Benitez demands defense improve, Fabio wants love, & more

- Apparently Cisse was injured in practice at some point in the last couple of days and may or may not be able to go tonight. I'll be shocked if he isn't at least on the bench. I expect him to start though and I'm not playing this up to mind games, but it wouldn't surprise me.

- Despite the fact that it's been thirty years since we've allowed less goals in league play and that we've yet to concede a goal from open play with Pepe in the net, Rafa still demands improvement on the defense. I have to agree. We were lucky not to allow a goal against Wigan. When Agger comes back, it'll be a lot easier though.

- Fabio Aurelio wants to repay the fans for their loyalty. The first Brazilian ever to play for Liverpool, Aurelio has finally returned from a devastating knee injury he got against PSV last April. Going into that match, the 28-year-old was showing signs of improvement and finally adjusting to the English game. I think the big thing with him was patience on the ball. Early on he tried to force things, but as he got more relax, his skill and style really came through. I just hope he doesn't revert back to his old ways.

Some more links to digest as we wait to take on Marseilles:
- Kudos to this fellow American blog for banning the Sun
- Bolo believes Rafa can lead us to the Premiership title
- Does Fernando Torres have obsessive-compulsive disorder?

The official site is celebrating Halloween a little early

Two things on the front page of the official site, Liverpoolfc.tv, are giving me the chills. First, Pepe Reina looks like a cold-blooded vampire who's spotted a fresh drink of blood. Seriously, he's got crazy eyes. Also, if you click on the related article, 'Pepe proud to equal record', he thanks everyone in the defense for helping him achieve the clean sheet record except Jamie Carragher! Probably just a typo.

The other thing that's a bit creepy is the pictures of Beşiktaş J.K.'s stadium accommodations for visiting fans. They look like a seating section for an insane asylum with high white fences that drastically intrude the view of the pitch. There's just no way in hades that I would go to that match and sit in that cage. I understand other Turkey clubs (ha, no pun intended) visiting and their fans causing problems, but that just won't happen with our supporters. You'd think they'd have movable fencing or something of the sort for such occasions so they don't look like a country of barbarians.

Today's Banter: Allardyce calls Rafa 'lucky', Love for Arbeloa & Pennant, Porto smack talk begins, & more

- Sam Allardyce, who's Newcastle side lost to Derby 0-1 yesterday, the same Derby County we dismantled 6-0 a few weeks back, has stated that Rafa is 'very lucky' to still be employed with LFC and the only reason he is so, is because of our Champions League showings. Other than the obvious that Big Sam needs to worry about his own job and his own side, the Magpies manager appears to be showing signs of amnesia. He says, and I quote, 'Being a foreigner, Rafa doesn't understand it's supposed to be Premier League first and Champions League second.' Really, Sammy? I didn't know that Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho were suddenly British.

- Football365.com has named Alvaro Arbeloa and Jermaine Pennant to their EPL side so far this season. Though I agree with the former, the latter is a bit odd of a selection. Pennant's performance so far this season is neither as impressive nor consistent as his November-on form from last season. One glaring omission from the team is Pepe Reina who has yet to allow a goal from open play. The Spaniard does get a nod, but Brad Friedel? Come on.

- Porto captain Lucho Gonzalez and boss Jesualdo Ferreira have made their feelings about today's match heard. The 26-year-old Argentine has made it clear that his side is ready and capable to beat Liverpool, while their manager thinks that Ricardo Quaresma will be instrumental in beating the English side that has not impressed him. Apparently Ferreira sent his assistants Rui Barros and Joao Pinto to scout LFC at the Pompey match. Hopefully, that's how they think we normally play.

- Supposedly Crouch is set to move to Portsmouth in the January transfer window. No... please... don't... if only it were true.

- Finally, Rafa gives Pepe some love. Cheers, I'll be back for the Porto line-up.

Liverpool 0, Portsmouth 0

Well, if I learned anything from this match, it's that we're not going to win tough away matches like this without Torres playing the full ninety. When he came on in the 63rd minute, we immediately became a greater threat to score. Gerrard came on four minutes later, was his usual class self and probably was the reason Torres had so much freedom up front, but for the most part Stevie-G wasn't too involved in the match the roughly thirty minutes he was on.

The thing I disagree with was taking out Pennant instead of Benayoun or Xabi for Gerrard. Pennant was having a better game than those two, and was beginning to get more involved in the attack in the second half, creating an early chance for Voronin that bounced off the top of the bar. Neither Benayoun nor Xabi did much the rest of the match to justify them staying on and in fact, Yossi wasted a golden opportunity in the box.

The officiating was wholly inconsistent, but that's expected on the road. Two things really bothered me other than the obvious horrible penalty call. A bogus foul was awarded to Portsmouth after Arbeloa stole the ball on the left side of the field and we looked to have the advantage on the attack and for the life of me, I don't know how either Davis or Johnson didn't collect more cards. Their play was appalling. Every time they were outclassed, they just stuck a dangerous foot out.

Overall, I don't know, we just didn't have it until Torres and Gerrard came in. Like I said before, I think taking out Pennant was a bad decision. He and our two world class players probably would have been enough to get a goal. In the end, this is not a devastating result, but a win would have been obviously been better. To look at it half full, a draw at Fratton Park is certainly better than a loss.

Liverpool 0, Porstmouth 0: the save

Here's Pepe's save on Kanu's penalty, that was wrongfully awarded, by the way. Cheers.

Liverpool 0, Portsmouth 0: halftime thoughts

Well despite the officials trying to gift Portsmouth the three points and the home side giving a clinic on how to cheat English football style, our boys find themselves drawn 0-0 at the break. Of course if it wasn't for the greatest penalty keep in the world, they'd probably find themselves down 0-1.

The awarded penalty in the 32nd minute was absolutely atrocious. On a Portsmouth cross into the box, Arbeloa went up beside an awaiting Pompey player and knocked the ball away with a flying karate kick. As he came back down, he momentarily, and I mean it maybe lasted one-and-a-half seconds at the most, grabbed at the Portsmouth player's shirt to regain his balance. If that was the line judge's reasoning for the call, bullocks, the ball was far away at that point. There was no contact prior to the ball's arrival either. It was completely unjustified.

Thankfully Pepe stepped up and saved Kanu's attempt by diving to his right. His uncanny ability to know where the ball was headed saved the line judge the embarrassment of having to apologize after the match. By the way, Xabi got a card in the mass protest that ensued after the call and before the penalty was tried.

As a team, we're letting Pompey's overt and near criminal physicality get to us. Early on we had a free flowing transition and looked a real threat to score, but that momentum has dissipated. We need to focus more on organizing our attack and in that regard getting the ball to Pennant more. In the beginning he was our main carrier and then for about a half an hour he disappeared. Toward the end of the half, we got the ball to him a couple of more times and things started to happen.

Our best player has probably been Momo. He's made some fantastic defensive stops, but he tends to revert back to his horrid passing decisions from time to time which seems to almost negate his stops. Pepe has been great on not allowing the ball to get past him, but once he gets possession of the ball, his decisions on who to give it to and how have been at times baffling. I hope it was just the jitters from not playing for a couple of weeks. The only other stand-out has been Carra, who seems to be the only one at times to have a head on his shoulders.

No one has been particularly bad, though I wouldn't call this Voronin's best match by any means. The Ukrainian seems to be letting the Pompey scum get to him. Neither Xabi nor Benayoun seem to be much into the match either and for once I don't have much to complain about Crouch's performance since he's hardly touched the ball.

It looks as if we're going to have to bring either Gerrard, Torres, or even Babel for an offensive spark. The Crouch-Voronin pairing isn't working today so maybe replacing one of them would be a good idea. We definitely need to get Pennant the ball more and I think the way to do that is by getting Benayoun more involved. Anyhow, the second half is about to begin. Come on boys!

Liverpool vs Portsmouth: the line-up

Reina
Finnan
Agger
Carragher
Arbeloa
Pennant
Sissoko
Alonso
Benayoun
Crouch
Voronin

Subs:
Itandje
Hyypia
Torres
Gerrard
Babel

No big surprises except Finnan. Looks awfully familiar though. Cheers.

Liverpool vs Portsmouth: What will Rafa do?

It's baaaccckkkkk!!!! My favorite game trying to predict what Rafa 'the Mad Tinkerer' Benitez will do tomorrow against Pompey. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. Anyhow, let's go...

With about half the squad on international duty this past week, Rafa's choices have been somewhat limited to players who didn't play or play much on Wednesday because they aren't part of their country's national team (For now, that includes Pennant & Arbeloa), were injured or retired from international play (Finnan, the former, Carra, the latter), their country didn't have a fixture (Yossi Benayoun), they got a red card and were suspended for the match (Xabi, I'm talkin' 'bout you), or were an early exit or late sub from their teams' matches (Agger, the former, Peter Crouch and Andriy Voronin, the latter). That in turn makes my job of predicting who Rafa will field pretty simple, well, probably not.

Reina in goal as he didn't get to play for Spain because Aragones gets hand jobs from Iker Casillas. Honestly, I don't care, I'd rather have a fresh Pepe than see Spain advance and have the chance at having Torres injured at the Euro next year. My backline has Arbeloa on the right as it looks like Finnan will be a scratch thanks to a knee injury suffered in the Toulouse match at Anfield two-and-a-half weeks ago. Get well soon, Finney, we're gonna need ya. In the middle I have Carra back in action and Danny Agger, unless of course he did break his hand, but I figure we'd see something form the official site by now if he did. Finally, on the left will probably be Riise. Though Aurelio did play 45 minutes earlier this week in a Reserves match, I don't expect him to take the pitch in a first team match for at least another week. No need to rush him.

In midfield on the right will be Jermaine Pennant. Time to step it up lad, if we've ever needed a solid performance from JP, it's here. It the middle, despite Rafa supposedly amusing himself with thoughts of starting Gerrard, will be a well-rested Xabi Alonso and Momo Sissoko. Don't be surprised to see Gerrard on the bench though and he'll probably get into the game at some point in the second, if we're down, probably with at least twenty minutes left. On the left I expect to see Yossi since Babel played the full 90 for Holland on Wednesday, but I certainly hope the new John Barnes will be on the bench. Calling Harry Kewell, Harry Kewell, where are ya?

Up front is the toughest dilemma, using my theory of starting the least tired players, probably means Crouch and Voronin, which I'm fine with. As long as we have Torres or Kuyt available on the bench, just in case. Speaking of the bench, I think we'll see Gerrard, Hyypia, Leto, Torres, and Itandje there. Leto gives us coverage on the wings, though he probably won't see the pitch unless Pennant or Benayoun get hurt. So here's my final guess:

GK - Reina
RB - Arbeloa
CB - Agger
CB - Carra
LB - Riise
RM - Pennant
CM - Momo Sissoko
CM - Xabi Alonso
LM - Benayoun
F - Voronin
F - Crouch

Bench:
Gerrard
Hyypia
Leto or Babel
Torres
Itandje

Cheers and see ya tomorrow.

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.

Today's Banter: Carra training, Atletico want Reina, Crouch stalls contract, Cheryl Cole praises fans, & Kewell returns!!!

- Reports are that Carra returned to training today and will be ready for action on Saturday when we travel to Portsmouth. Great news considering how many players we have out on international duty including Hyypia and Agger. Hopefully everyone will return fit and rested, Pompey at Fratton Park will be no easy test.

- Apparently Atletico Madrid are keen on Pepe Reina and are putting together a bid for him in the realm of £10m to offer LFC in the January transfer window. Whether this is true or not, I wonder if Rafa would consider selling Pepe. £10m is a respectable offer and we do have Scott Carson on the books yet on loan to Aston Villa. I doubt he'd sell him in January though unless he could recall Carson.

- Peter Crouch, who's current contract expires at the end of next season, has apparently been offered a three year extension from the club. Supposedly though, he's withholding his signature to see what kind of playing time he's going to get this season. What an ass, he knows what kind of playing time he's going to get, so he needs to commit his future or gotten rid of. I've been for the latter for the past year or so anyhow.

- Cheryl Cole has praised Liverpool fans for their unconditional love of their club and players and thinks England fans should be the same way. The problem is fans of Liverpool know that the people who run their club, love LFC, while those who run England, the FA, do things that say otherwise. For starters, they would have gotten a class coach at what ever cost.

- Harry Kewell returns to action tomorrow night for the Reserves versus Crewe Alexandra Reserves. Well, that's promising. I'm hoping he'll be able to play this Saturday so we can give Babel and Yossi a little rest from International duty. Despite the rise of the new signings, we need Kewell as a key contributor this season if we want to go after all the silverware. Cheers.

Pepe Reina White Classic

Denying Chelsea European glory.