Liverpool at Reading: Live-blogging? Why not.

I'm not gonna promise much, but let's see how this works out. The line-up is here. Expect a lot of rubbish and Crouch-nagging. T-minus 30 until kick-off...

Scarf? Check. Guinness? Check. Looks like I'm prepared... maybe a Jamison too? We'll see...

I loaded up my fantasy side with Man U players and though it doesn't appear to be paying off as much as I like, I'll have to wait and see what kind of residuals I collect. Lots of shots on goal at least and Tevez is helping me out with a brace.

C-Ron with a dive in the box... shameful... but I'll take the fantasy points.

I've been reading Gerrard's book when I get bored analyzing the poetry of Richard Cranshaw. Quite a change of pace. His honesty is just brutal... not to mention his vocabulary.

Five minutes to go. I have some jitters... a good sign.

I might be at the worse pub in Belfast, a little place called the Duke of York... the barmaid might be the most annoying I've ever had to deal with... She wants me to say she's Steven Gerrard's lover... ahem.

The boys come out... serious and all. Torres has hair like a wet dog.

Here we go... Reading full speed ahead... pinball time. Neither side taking control early. We need to calm down and be calculated in our approach. We can beat Reading at their chaos theory, but why bother?

Torres looks hungry, trying to take on the whole Reading side. Not this time.

Mascherano tries a brilliant through ball to Torres... almost gets there.

4' Gerrard tries to jump start the attack... too many Reading players in too little space. We seem out of sorts.

6' Looks like we have a touchy ref here. Foul on Riise for basically out-jumping a Reading player.

By the way, I can't check comments during the match. Sorry. Maybe at the half.

8' Torres controls a Riise throw-in in the box, nutmegs a defender, but it's straight at Hahnemann.

All right, this isn't working out, sorry, I'll be back at the half.

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: Crouch not for sale, Hicks not selling, Agger not fit... yet, & more

Greetings, hope everyone is doing well. I'm neither sick nor incarcerated so life can't be that bad. Anyhow, I guess Rafa and Crouch have kissed and made up since it appears that the England International won't be going anywhere come January. If he continues to play like he did against Porto, even I wouldn't mind having him around. There was speculation earlier this season of him being unhappy about playing time and basically acting bigger than his boots, but apparently egos and differences have been put to rest and for the most part everyone is content. Which brings me to my next point.

In this past month, there's been a visible change in our side. Though there's always plenty of room for improvement as a squad, there appears to be a metamorphosis in attitude. Peter Crouch not whining about playing time being just one of the signs. The thing is, between the Blackburn match and the Fulham tie, our boys began to approach matches with a new found outlook. Instead of going in thinking that they will win because we're the better side, they started believing they would win despite the circumstances. I firmly believe it was the record-setting performance against Beşiktaş that assured them that they are a class bunch capable of beating anyone. Funny how revenge that would make Montezuma blush does that. Then, despite coming up empty most the Fulham match, we didn't give up and continued to push and attack until we finally broke the camel's back. I just thought I'd share that observation.

Apparently Hicks isn't interested in selling his shares in the club. In fact, he's angry that such speculation has come about. I find it a bit humorous that any grown man would get angry over such a thing, not that the press didn't just make up that angle to lure readers. Whether he's interested in selling his shares or not, I don't know, but with how unstable financial markets are these days, anything is possible.

The metatarsal injury Daniel Agger sustained two-and-a-half months back, still isn't fully healed, or at least it doesn't feel right to the soon-to-be 23-year-old. He could return next week though versus Reading thanks to special protective boots. Killer boots, man!


Going into tomorrow's match with Bolton, Rafa gave former Liverpool coach Sammy Lee some credit for Bolton's current run of form. As I mentioned in my kids watch yesterday, the Wanderers are unbeaten in their last five matches including a win over Man United. I'm not sure how much recognition their former manager deserves though, not playing Kevin Nolan wasn't exactly the brightest of ideas. He did break in Danny Guthrie into the starting side though, so I guess he's entitled to some credit for that. By the way, Bolton will not have either Nolan, due to suspension, or Guthrie, due to on-loan regulations, when we face them tomorrow.

Finally, Rafa has come out and said that Torres needs to improve his current form. I know that may shock some supporters who believe the striker was our best player in the Porto match, but let me assure you, if he was our best player, we would have lost. Two flashes of brilliance don't make a great match and I've seen Fernando play far better than that. If he was top that match, he would have probably scored four. Be back soon with my 'What will Rafa do?' for Bolton. Godspeed. Yes, that's my new favorite word.

Liverpool vs Porto: Crouch on the bench, Aurelio nowhere to be found

Here's the line-up:
Reina
Arbeloa
Carragher
Hyypiä
Finnan
Babel
Mascherano
Gerrard
Benayoun
Voronin
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Crouch
Kewell
Riise
Sissoko
Lucas
Kuyt

I'm beginning to wander about Aurelio's fitness. He's yet to see action for three weeks now with the international break and two matches since. That's probably part of the reason that Crouch is on the bench since they work best together. Babel starting is a bit baffling as well, his record shows that he's exponentially more the threat as a super-sub, while Crouch is just the opposite. Far from me to question Rafa's tactics, but if it doesn't work out, he's going to have a lot of questions to answer.

The worst Liverpool site possibly ever

Well, we've found our winner for Liverpool 'wind-up blog' of the year... and possibly ever. It's clearly a case of someone trying to garner fame by slagging off on popular conceptions and theories because his mother waned him from the nipple prematurely. His lack of empirical evidence and legitimate data to back his raucous claims are clear indications of his inability to write an article as he put it 'rejecting biased media hype and and fawning 'blind-faith' fandom.' What a wanker and that's just one of the reasons I refuse to link him.

If you want someone who ignores other's opinions and in fact, mocks the status quo, look no further than here. I consistently mock mass media released articles for their ignorant zealotry and purposely shut out the rest of the world when watching Liverpool matches, just so my opinion isn't persuaded by outside influence. I doubt this plonker even watches matches and his 'data' is primitive at best if not made-up. The difference between me and him is that I do the actual work and am able to write a critical article without spouting half-truths riddled with overbearing arrogance to justify my opinion. This lad clearly has a severe case of cognizant dissonance to go with his Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Let's take a gander at the front page of his site so I can prove my point. His first article is 'Croatia debacle proves one thing: Steven Gerrard is NOT world class.' If that's not a good laugh, I don't know what is. His opening sentence? 'Steven Gerrard’s abject ability as a Captain was exposed once again as England suffered ignominious defeat to Croatia.' Well, if that doesn't prove that this guy spends more time during a match looking in a mirror than he does actually watching a match, I don't know what does. He clearly isn't a Liverpool fan. Gerrard worked his ass off in the Croatia match, but got little help from his teammates, which is essentially the problem for England, they don't play as a team. Gerrard was covered in mud by the end of the first half, anybody notice how Frank Lampard looked? Anybody notice that Frank Lampard was even playing? It's hard to inspire a bunch of prima donnas who are more worried about how they look then if they'll win or not. Furthermore, who cares? It's England, not Liverpool, and I could care less if Gerrard ever put on a Three Lions shirt again.

To say Gerrard is not a leader is all the evidence I need that this idiot doesn't watch Liverpool matches and is not a LFC supporter. Where to begin? Let's see, what about March 31, 2001? Man U? Ring a bell? Probably not. September 15, 2001? Everton at Goodison? Just to give this guy a backlog of matches so he can learn something, here's a list:
October 16, 2001 at Dynamo Kiev, European Cup
February 3, 2003 vs Manchester United, League Cup Final, Cardiff
April 21, 2003 vs Charlton, Premiership
December 8, 2004 vs Olympiakos, Champions League
May 3, 2005 vs Chelsea, Champions League
April 29, 2005 vs Aston Villa, Premiership
May 25, 2005 vs AC Milan, Champions League Final, Istanbul
May 13, 2006 vs West Ham, FA Cup Final, Cardiff
April 18, 2007 vs Middlesborough, Premiership
This is just a few that stick out, rarely was there a better nor more inspirational and influential player when Gerrard was on the field between the beginning of the Premiership season in 2003 up until our last match versus Fulham. Go get a copy of each of these matches, son, and then make your cretinous claims. If match performances don't make a player world class, what does? He painted himself in a corner on that one.

This paragraph is a perfect example of this guy's inept understanding of football:
'Truly world class players deliver not only in their domestic league but on the INTERNATIONAL stage. Any player who does not deliver in the big tournaments cannot be considered world class. There are of course exceptions to this, such as George Best, who never got to play in a major tournament, but players like him are a special case. The whole idea of ‘world class ability’ needs to be redefined, and in my view, achievement on the international stage should be the main criterion.'

Name one 'world class player' who's proven himself on the international stage? Zidane? Uh, no, Zidane sort of had a bunch of other great players, most of them not French I might add, playing along side of him. In fact, this moron's inability to recognize Claude Makélélé as the most important 'French' player of the last dozen years proves he's a plonker. Don't believe me? How many cups and trophies did Zidane win after Makélélé left Real Madrid? Try zero, zilch, none and he did nothing in France without him either. This guy wouldn't know world class if it stabbed him in the chest. He has the nerve to call out Gerrard for lacking football intelligence, but he clearly hasn't a clue about the sport. Just because Stevie-G didn't take a dozen shots or score a hat-trick, doesn't mean anything. He's a box-to-box midfielder, not an attacking one. If you need dazzling displays than think about this, Steven Gerrard is the only English league-based player ever in the history of the game to score in a domestic league cup final, a domestic cup final, an UEFA cup final, and a Champions League final.

Every single other player on your list had other world class players playing with them. Ronaldinho and Pele each had about half a dozen world class players playing with them at one time or another, but they never have carried a side by themselves. Maradona? I seem to recall a player named Passarella, among others. It is Argentina after all. Cruyff had the van de Kerkhof brothers, Platini had Trésor & Papin, Beckenbauer had almost as many great players as the Brazilians and Argentinians in Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller, Berti Vogts, and Uli Hoeneß among others, and Puskás was part of the legendary Golden Team. Gerrard can't do it on his own and England has nobody in his class with either the ability nor desire to help him, which is just another reason I don't care if he plays for England. Maybe Rooney when healthy, but as long as he plays for Man U, a hangnail is legitimate enough of an injury to prevent him from playing for England. John Terry is great, but legitimate injuries have kept him scarce. Beckham is at least three years past and no one else has even the potential to reach that level. Michael Owen stopped caring when he started hanging out with the wrong crowd.

Furthermore, saying players should be judged by their international performances as to whether or not they are world class and then making an exception for George Best makes no sense. How can one say that those Northern Ireland sides that Best played on aren't better than England today? You can't and therefore you're argument becomes null and void. In fact, it just proves my argument that one world class player can only carry a side so far. To prove this guy has no class and just a wind-up ponce, he then goes on to criticize Steven Gerrard's post match comments. Make up your mind you loser, is he a footballer or a pundit?

I could reduce every article he writes to rubbish, but honestly, I have better things to do with my time. This person clearly lacks the intelligence to write 'hard-hitting critical analysis' of anything without using manipulative methods of spin and illogical reason to prove his point instead of having an objective outlook. He deserves all the proper attention of a child kicking and screaming because they aren't getting it in the first place. The humorous aspect is, he's not going against the grain at all, he's just a muppet with the mass media's hand up his ass. Gerrard is constantly ridiculed in the national press and Peter Crouch is consistently praised and Rafa questioned for the forward's scarce use. By the way, I won't be doing a daily today (obviously) because there's shit-all going on. 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.

Weekend Recap: Harry Kewell, Norway falls, Finland wins, Paul Anderson plays, & more

Even though we didn't play this past weekend, we had a ton of players who saw action for country or on-loan club. First off, as I mentioned in my daily, Harry Kewell played the full match for Australia in their Wembley friendly with Nigeria. He appears to have come away unscathed, but I'll believe it when he suits up for us again. By the way, the Aussies won 1-0.

I guess Paul Anderson wasn't subbed off early for injury reasons in his side's 1-0 Football League Trophy victory over Yeovil Town last Tuesday. The 19-year-old winger was replaced in the 50th minute of that match by Thomas Butler. This past Saturday the Swans looked to continue their current unbeaten run of ten matches when they faced Huddersfield. Paul Anderson started and played the full match, but Swansea lost 0-1, costing them a chance to go to the top of the League One table. Their next match is away to Tranmere on Saturday.

Of all the internationals, John Arne Riise probably had the worst weekend. All Norway had to do was draw with visiting Turkey to almost assure themselves a spot in the 2008 Euro, but they failed to do even that. The Norwegians took a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute on a goal by Erik Hagen, but a little under twenty minutes later Newcastle's Emre Belözoğlu equalized. Then in the 59th minute, Villareal's Nihat Kahveci, a player I think Liverpool should inquire about, put the Turks up 2-1 with a clinical finish. That ended up being enough and now Norway will have to rely on the Bosnians to go into Istanbul and get a positive result or else their Euro dreams are over. Riise played the full match, but wasn't much of a factor.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sami Hyppiä and Finland won, just not in the fashion they would have preferred against group doormat Azerbaijan. Playing in Helsinki, it was believed that the Finns would have little trouble with the cellar dwellers, but it wasn't to be. The Azeri took a 1-0 lead on a stunning shot by Makhmud Gurbonov which sent the host side into a frenzy. Upping their play, the Huuhkajat managed to even things up with 11 minutes to go on a cheeky chest-catch and finish by Birmingham's Mikael Forssell. Then seven minutes later former LFC star Jari Litmanen placed a free-kick cross into the box that after bouncing off a head or two found Shefki Kuqi right outside of the net. The recent Fulham addition had powered himself into position and easily headed the ball past the line. The Finns next travel to Portugal on Wednesday, where they have to win to have any chance of advancing.

Javier Mascherano played the full match in Argentina's 3-0 World Cup qualifying match. The win kept the Albicelestes as the only side with a perfect record and to have yet to yield a goal in the CONMEBOL group. They play Colombia tomorrow in Bogotá. I really don't see the point in making Argentina and Brazil qualify. Despite Brazil's recent stumbles, and by stumbles I mean draws since they're still undefeated, both of these countries will easily qualify. I guess they do need to play home matches to raise revenue though.

In other on-loan action, no one managed to score, but a few saw action. On Saturday, Robbie Threlfall played the full ninety for Hereford United who won 3-0 on the road at Stockport, while Craig Lindfield started and played 72 minutes for Notts County in their 0-1 home loss to Macclesfield Town. On Sunday, Lee Peltier played the full match in Yeovil Town's 2-1 victory over Gillingham at Huish Park. Those who didn't play were Godwin Antwi at Hartlepool and Miki Roque at Xerez CD.

In other International matches, Steve Finnan played the entire ninety in Ireland's meaningless 2-2 draw with Wales at Cardiff on Saturday. Andriy Voronin started and played 69 minutes in the Ukraine's 0-2 embarrassing loss at Lithuania. Dirk Kuyt came on at the start of the second while Ryan Babel was subbed on in the 84th minute as the Netherlands clinched a spot in the 2008 Euro with a 1-0 win over Luxembourg in Rotterdam. Finally, as expected, Pepe Reina did not get to play in Spain's 3-0 home victory over Sweden which also booked their ticket to the exhibition tournament next summer. That probably means he'll play Wednesday against Northern Ireland. Great.

Oh yeah, then there was that insignificant friendly between England and Austria in Vienna. England won, Crouch scored, and Owen got hurt. Sounds like the typical Three Lions match. Steven Gerrard only played the first half as he and his English teammates prepare for Croatia on Wednesday. I could care less if they advance or not. Knowing my luck though, they'll lose and then replace Austria when the host country pulls out of the competition. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Sissoko to Everton?, Crouch departure looks likely, Kewell may start for Socceroos, & more

Well, this is quite alarming. Apparently David Moyes is interested in bringing Momo Sissoko to Everton. Why do I get the feeling that this is going to spark Toffee cries that Liverpool stole him away from them in the first place? Of course they just want to ignore the fact that he played under Rafa at Valencia. As for this rumor, I'm going to have to give it the Heston treatment and say, 'From my cold dead hands!' There's just no way Rafa can allow a talent of Momo's proportion to go not only to our friends in blue, but to any Premiership side.

Apparently Sissoko wants to talk over his future with Benitez, which I'm sure will just lead to the Malian announcing that he's got to work harder or some rubbish of the sort, but if he does go elsewhere, it's best he goes to Italy or Spain. I personally want him to stay, as his athleticism could eventually be an asset to allow him to be more than just a defensive midfielder, as he showed in the preseason. Plus at times he's a beast on the pitch and with the motivation that our side didn't think he was good enough for us, I'm sure he won't be very fun to face. Not to mention recklessly dangerous.

Word is Rafa is tired of Crouch's ego and is looking to sell him in the January transfer window. Do you hear that? Are you sure? Well, it's a heavenly host of angels in my head singing glorious psalms of triumph. Who needs coffee when you've got news like this? With that said, Rafa will probably come out sometime next week and say that Crouch is, in fact, not for sale, crushing my hopes. Well, apparently his valuation has been set at £10m and among those interested are Newcastle, Portsmouth, and Aston Villa. I would just like to ask those clubs not to give in to the good fight and if it'll help, I'll donate a couple of quid to their cause. By the way, unlike Momo, I would pray that other clubs would play Crouch against us. One less player to worry about.

Any hopes of Harry Kewell not seeing action for Australia tomorrow have appeared to've been dashed. Apparently Tim Cahill is unfit to play which will move Kewell into a starting role. So he has yet to start for Liverpool this season, but he may for the Socceroos? I can't say that I'm shocked. Anyways, I'll be keeping tabs on the situation on Saturday and may even watch the match. Stay fit, King Harry... please.

Now for the fun stuff. Steven Gerrard is once again the slag flavor of the month for his so-called 'xenophobic' comments regarding a foreigner quota in the Premiership. First off, the fact that this is getting any attention is just pure rubbish. All he said was that it might be something to look into, that's it, but I realize it's Stevie-G, the greatest player in the world, and everything he says is front-page news that sells copy. Fine, whatever. The best thing is when complete morons chime in on their opinion, believing they know what Gerrard said, which, let me assure you, they don't. They weren't there and didn't ask Stevie himself. Muppets.

Patrice Evra is apparently one of them. The French International has been quoted as saying that Man U have more England Internationals than Liverpool. I just love it when Senegalese players... what? What was that? He's French? But... Really though, Patrice? Let's look into that for a second. I'm looking at the latest squad selection right now and I only see one Man U player, Wes 'I'm having a laugh' Brown, and two LFC players, Crouch and Gerrard. Last time I checked, two was more than one. Oh, wait, do you mean players with caps for England? This will be fun.

Let's start with Gary Neville. Gary Neville? Paging Gary Neville? Nevermind. Then you have Wes Brown... hold on... I can't stop laughing... Jamie Carragher is ten times the player Brown would ever hope to be. Michael Carrick? B team at best. Hargreaves? Like I said yesterday, he only has knee cartilage for his club. Kieran Richardson? Oh, wait, nevermind. Rooney? Always seems injured when his country comes a-calling. That leaves Rio Ferdinand, who, unlike last year, is well-deserving of a spot to represent his country, but alas, he's suspended. So there you go, Man U's latest contribution to England in a nutshell. Stick with being a cheat Evra, you're good at that. It's in your Senegalese, uh, I mean French blood.

Finally, we have another good laugh when this bloke tries to say Jermaine Jenas is as good as Steven Gerrard. Of course, Jenas is more of a holding midfielder and Gerrard is a true box-to-box, but let's ignore that. Also, Gerrard plays in more matches for club and country and has scored more goals overall, but let's just manipulate the data to prove our point. No manager in the world would take Jenas over Gerrard and if he did, he'd be an unemployed manager. Cheers.

Liverpool 0, Fulham 0: halftime thoughts

For the first ten minutes of this match, it appeared we didn't learn anything for the Besitkas match. Immediately we started lobbing the ball forward looking for a cheap goal instead of being patient, working hard, and trying to open up the Fulham defense. Thankfully we appeared to realize this and slowly worked our way back to playing intelligent football.

Surprisingly, for the most part, Fulham is not keeping ten behind the ball, but are still effectively absorbing our attack. It's probably the fact that luck seems to be more on their side and less on ours though. We've created chances despite appearing to be somewhat out of sync, but either Fulham was able to smother such efforts or we place it wide.

I can't really complain about anyone's effort on the whole, but Mascherano and Crouch are definitely not having their best matches. Masche is giving the ball away nearly every other time he touches it and Crouch has been wholly ineffective. The England International has collected more fouls than shots and he has turned the ball over virally. Basically just your average outing for the forward.

Our best player so far has been Arbeloa, who's been simply amazing. Twice he's taken on a Fulham defender on the flank and twice he's made him look like a donkey. He's also made some superb tackles and the yellow card was for incidental contact, which is ridiculous. Other players that have put in solid performances have been Voronin and Hyypia.

I'm hoping we come out in the second and patiently enforce our will. If we can just keep passing, working the ball around, something will eventually open up. If we do bring some other players in, I hope Torres, Lucas, and Babel all get to contribute to our effort. We look the better side and a draw here would be just as bad as a loss in my opinion.

Peter Crouch vs Dirk Kuyt: Who's the ideal second striker?

vs

It appears that following our 8-0 drubbing of Beşiktaş, the player that has gained the most points in the fans' approval ratings polls has been Peter Crouch. In my opinion, there were at least five other players on the pitch that night who were bigger contributors to our cause and that's not including either Steven Gerrard or Ryan Babel.

Most of those who are exalting Crouch's performance to delusional proportions appear to be the same people who kept complaining about his seemingly constant exclusion from the side in previous matches. Of course, none of them will admit that the England International has played a part now in five straight matches. Starting or not, if he doesn't take advantage of the time alloted him, when will he?

Crying over not getting the start when opportunity is clearly given, especially when afforded time when your opponents' energy levels have been somewhat depleted is irrational. A team player contributes to the whole no matter the circumstance and I, for one, would not be surprised if such a notion is not part of Crouch's character. His whining to the press in the past are a clear indication of that.

At the other end of the spectrum is Dirk Kuyt. Other than the Turkish side, the Dutch International seems to be the second biggest loser from Tuesday's Champions League clash. Coming off the match at Blackburn, where Kuyt clearly was not his best, the worse thing to happen would for an explosion of goals to occur with the second-year striker in the stands.

I'll be the first to admit that Kuyt has been in poor form so far this year, but Crouch has as well, and one match a season doesn't make. How quickly has everyone forgotten about the Marseille match where if Crouch had gotten a red card in the first ten seconds, we would have probably had a better chance of winning. The lanky striker was so horrid that one could easily make an argument that he was throwing the match.

In fact, since both strikers got a chance to take the pitch, let's take a closer look at their performances in the Marseille match, one I consider to be the worse home loss in Liverpool history. Crouch played 75 minutes before being subbed off for Kuyt. Now guess which of the two took a shot? Crouch, who played nearly 80% of the match, or Kuyt who was on for only about 20%? If you guessed the former, you're wrong. Crouch failed to take a single shot, not a shot-on-goal mind you, but an attempt in general, not even a half-assed, ten-feet off the mark crack at the net.

Comparing these two is not easy because they have such different styles. Crouch's strength is obviously his height. Outside of the box, he best uses the attribute to set-up others, while inside the box, other than scoring goals with his head, he puts it to use to create space for his teammates. Kuyt is more of a 'utility' forward, utilizing his passing abilities to set up others and his movement off the ball to create space.

Before I get into the statistical comparison of the two players, I just want to say that though neither player will be at their respective countries' Olympic trials for the 100m dash ever, Kuyt clearly has more pace than Crouch. A blind man listening to the rate of their footsteps could tell you that. Now for the bread and butter.

What do you look for in a second striker? Probably the penultimate player at the position is Wayne Rooney. Last Premiership season, he was second in assists and goals for Man U with 14 and 11 respectively, he's goal/attempt percentage was 31%, and he had a pass completion rate of 72.8%. He's also a decent defender at that spot with 30 tackles at a 78.9% success rate, 9 interceptions, and 47 fouls committed. Now that's quality.

Let's look at Crouch and Kuyt's total Premiership stats, last season and this season combined. First, Crouch has played in 36 matches, 17 as a substitute, with an average of 43.7 minutes per match. His minutes are irrelevant though and actually comes back to bite him, but I'll get to that later. He has scored 9 goals, assisted on 6 others, his goal/attempt percentage is 23.1%, and his pass completion rate is 67.3%. His defensive stats are: 10 tackles at a 71.4% success rate, 5 interceptions, and 42 fouls.

Kuyt's Premiership combined stats are: 43 matches played, 34 as a starter, 9 off the bench, with an average of 76.4 minutes per outing. He has scored 14 goals, assisted on four others, his goal/attempt percentage is 35.9%, and his pass completion rate is 71.2%. Finally, his defensive stats are: 41 tackles at a 70.7% success rate, 15 interceptions, and 64 fouls.

So what does this conclude? Well, that Kuyt is clearly the superior all-round player, something which should be required from a second striker. Crouch takes nearly twice as many shots per ninety minutes and is far less efficient at putting them in the net. He also commits way too many fouls for the significantly less time he is on the pitch than Kuyt. Every time he misses a shot or commits a foul, he gives the opposition possession of the ball, allowing them the opportunity to score.

Kuyt is the better passer and can provide some defensive help while Crouch is best suited to leave that side of the pitch alone. In fact, I make no qualms in saying Crouch is a defensive liability. I don't mean to put down Crouch, but anyone who thinks he's better suited to line-up beside Torres, you're wrong. Voronin maybe, but if both Kuyt and the Ukrainian are at the top of their game, I'll take Dirk most of the time.

The thing that bothers me most about Crouch is when he sits near the middle of the field waiting for someone to serve him the ball so he can head it forward to Gerrard or Babel or whomever is screeching down the field. That's the thing, without someone there to service Crouch, he's useless at the spot. I'd much rather see him further down the field, which opens up space over the middle for Gerrard. All I'm really saying is that Crouch is best suited near or in the box, while Kuyt is the better second striker.

Liverpool 8, Beşiktaş 0: post-match reaction

Cooler heads will prevail. Liverpool fans need to take that statement to heart. We won nothing but a match yesterday and need to realize that. Fabio Aurelio knows exactly what I'm talking about. The 28-year-old Brazilian has pleaded with everyone to remain focused: "Winning 8-0 against Besiktas gives us confidence and we need to take that on. We knew we needed to improve after recent results and we still need to improve. We must still work really hard - starting on Saturday. We must keep pushing ourselves." It was only one positive step forward on a long, arduous journey to come.

The Irish, ever self-involved, made a point to say that one of their own 'played no part' in the record-breaking performance yesterday. I disagree. Finnan is one of our best and most important players, without him available to rotate and rest Arbeloa, there's no way the Spaniard would have been able to put on the performance that he did. Finney should be back to take on his former club, Fulham, on Saturday.

Turning to the blogs, we have Who ate all the Pies? chiming in with their '10 conclusions' of the match. That site never ceases to amaze me with the brainless drivel they produce. Taking a quick gander, they make a half-assed attempt to pat themselves on the back with their first conclusion by stating that Rafa should play Crouch more often. More often? No surprise that a superficial site, easily manipulated by the media, would fail to do any research. Crouch has now appeared in five straight matches for us. I'm not going to spend much more time deriding such nonsense, but the eighth conclusion caught my eye as well: "I have never rated Alvaro Arbeloa particularly highly, but he was outstanding at right-back last night. Whether that was just because his defending was never really called into question remains to be seen." First off, they've never rated Arbeloa because they're Man U fans, but I won't get into that. Second, um, did you not watch the Champions League match at Camp Nou last season? Arbeloa owned that nobody Lionel Messi, there must have been a Man U match on at the same time. Anyhow.

Another blog that tries to woe the hits with shock jock headlines is CaughtOffside. One of their reactions to the match was this: "Rafa Benitez gets cocky after Liverpool thrash a very bad team." It's quite convenient that the article was apparently without an author as no one with even the intelligence of a baboon would own up to such rubbish. It was probably either an Everton or Man U fan sickly green with envy. The backbone-less author alludes to the thrashing of Derby and how it made us Liverpool fans 'think they might win the title before they went on their usual run of disappointing draws and losses.' What losses is he referring to? We're still undefeated in the league and only six points out from Arsenal. His delusion continues by trying to ridicule and spin Rafa's post match comments from yesterday by trying to convince himself that Rafa believes Beşiktaş are on par with the best clubs in the world. A pathetic attempt to assuage his irrationality nonetheless.

Unlike our friend over at CaughtOffside, the Guardian printed more of what Rafa said instead of just picking and choosing to spin and manipulate. If you want to read more on that, go here. It's funny how it sounds completely different when one lacks an agenda, doesn't it?

The Beşiktaş side is expectedly dire in their response. Their manager, Ertuğrul Sağlam, only had this to say before walking out on the post-game press conference: "It is very upsetting and we would like to apologise to our fans. It is very difficult to accept a result like this. We know we must work harder and we will do. Thank you very much." Club president Yildirim Demiroren seemed to think hard work won't be enough as he has proposed letting players go for such an embarassing result. Wow, that's a bit harsh. Imagine if we did that after the Marseilles match. There's a good chance Peter Crouch wouldn't have been around for this one if so.

Finally, two quick links if you have time to kill: icLiverpool has a list of greater European victories & the ever-intriguing Paul Tompkins sounds off on yesterday's match. Cheers.

Liverpool 8, Beşiktaş 0: Player Grades

Pepe Reina 6
Didn't have to do much, but got the job done and made a great save.

Fabio Aurelio 5.5
The Brazilian made little contribution, but it wasn't required. He came off early in the second for Babel, which I'm hoping was because of fatigue more than anything else.

Jamie Carragher 6
Wasn't called-on to do much, but did what he had to.

Sami Hyypia 6
Stayed back, didn't get beat. One of his better performances so far this year, but I bet you he can't wait for Agger to get back so he can go on holiday.

Alvaro Arbeloa 7.5
Was a real instigator on the attack early and can probably be credited for getting us going. Once Beşiktaş had to worry about him as well, even more space opened up. By the way, he completed 100% of his passes. Wow.

John Arne Riise 5.5
Made up for his passing woes by causing havoc.

Steven Gerrard 5.5
Must have been nice for him not to have to play his arse off and our side win like this.

Javier Mascherano 7
Another solid performance from our other World Class midfielder, was utterly dominate in midfield and lead our side with 8 tackles.

Yossi Benayoun 8
I don't think it's possible for a player to have as good a night as Yossi. 3 goals and 2 assists? Ridiculous. Man of the Match.

Andriy Voronin 7.5
An inspiring performance from the Ukrainian as his relentless attack caused problems all day for the Turkish side.

Peter Crouch 7
Get ready to hear a bunch of nonsense about Crouch being the reason we dominated this match. He wasn't. In fact, he missed quite a few opportunities that could have made the score even worse and turned over the ball many times. With that said, Crouch was good at creating space and drawing fouls. His effort should be commended.

Ryan Babel 7.5
Was a ball hog early, which appeared to annoy his teammates, but adapted and made a solid contribution. Once Kewell came on and he moved up front, he looked more comfortable. The first goal was simply brilliant and he was unlucky not to have a third when one of his headers from a corner hit the cross bar.

Harry Kewell & Lucas Leiva 6.5
Both players brought a lot of energy to our side, but neither really got enough time on to get comfortable. Kewell definitely needs a full match or close to it, so we can see what he can do.

I hope this match strikes fear into our upcoming opponents more it goes to our heads.

Liverpool 8, Beşiktaş 0: Utterly Ridiculous

I think the score pretty much speaks for itself here, don't you? I was worried that we might be tired after expending so much vigor in the opening 32 minutes of the first half, but it appears that I was the only one who was wasting energy by thinking about it. The second half was just stunning.

Seven minutes in, Yossi Benayoun scored his second goal of the match on a rebound from a John Riise rocket that the keeper did his best to stop. Unfortunately it rolled right into the path of the Israeli International who was lurking in the area. Four minutes after that Yossi made it a a hat-trick on a similar free kick attempt by Steven Gerrard. Once again the Beşiktaş keeper failed to contain the shot and once again Yossi was there to calmly slot the ball into the net.

Now down by four goals, the Turkish side looked beat and bewildered. To their credit, they played staunchly, but never really looked the threat. Once Gerrard broke free on a one-two backheel from Voronin and slammed home a shot in the box with about 21 minutes left, the Beşiktaş spirit was officially broken. To make matters worse, Benitez put in Lucas and Kewell to go along with a newly-introduced Babel to rejuvenate the side.

Six minutes following Babel added to the opposition's woes by cheekily deflecting a Benayoun cross into the opposite side of the net. The brilliant finish appeared to do wonders for the young Dutchman's confidence as he looked the threat from then on. Not three minutes later though, he had to believe luck was on his side as well when a Beşiktaş clearance hit off his back, shot up into the air and landed on the other side of the goal-line. Simply ridiculous and pretty much summed up our evening.

We weren't done just yet though. In the closing minutes, as the attack was pushed forward by Lucas and Kewell, Yossi Benayoun found Crouch on a cross and the lanky striker notched his second goal of the night with a powerful header finish. We not only set a new Champions League margin-of-victory record, we crushed it by two goals.

The true character of this squad will now be revealed this Saturday when we travel to Craven Cottage. If we continue our no-holds barred, rampant ways that began with about twenty minutes left in the Blackburn match and proceeded to run over the Kara Kartallar all day today, then I think we can once again have hope of a season ending in some sort of success. If not, if we resort to playing the long-ball, getting in each other's way, fail to use the entire field, and basically give half-ass efforts all-around, well, then we'll know today was just a fluke.

The worst thing for this side to do is think that they've accomplished anything worthwhile. A record is nice, but if we fail to qualify for the next roudn of the Champions League, it doesn't matter. There's still plenty of work to be done and no time to really sit back and revel in victory over a side that we should have beat at their home. If we can carry this momentum into the next dozen matches, this season could end up being something special.

Liverpool 2, Beşiktaş 0: halftime thoughts

So far, so good. We came out with a vengeance and frankly the first thing I thought was that we were expending too much energy. In fact our attack during the first fifteen minutes or so was highly enthusiastic, but had little organization. Once we stopped pushing everyone forward, especially Hyypia and Carra, and made a couple of simple, possession passes near the midfield, we appeared to gain some composure.

You wouldn't have known of it from the first goal though, which was a succession of Beşiktaş defensive blunders egged on by the determination of Peter Crouch. I was glad to see he didn't just give up for once and kept his cool.

After that, we could sense blood and the onslaught continued, except this time it appeared we had more of a plan and that was to attack down the right. Arbeloa played out of his head and created a couple of chances for himself and Benayoun, as the Spaniard came racing down the flank, noticeably alarming the Turkish side's defense, which had to scatter to mark him. Surprisingly nothing came out of it.

Even more surprising might be that the goal came from the left. Riise, aware of a screeching Voronin, rushed a throw-in to the Ukrainian, who crossed the ball to an awaiting Benayoun. Yossi calmly knocked down the ball and then slammed a cross-shot that found the corner of the net. I've read this week that neither Voronin nor Riise can cross, well, both have proved their critics wrong so far today.

After the second goal, we appeared to sit back and absorb the Kara Kartallar attack. I'm hoping we were just resting and saving up our energy for the second half and aren't becoming tired. Probably the most astounding aspect of our performance so far is that Gerrard has probably been our worst player. It's not that he's played horribly, but he's just made the most noticeable mistakes.

Anyhow, the second half is about to start. I'm hoping we can hold on. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Mourinho to replace Rafa?, Torres back in training, Benitez backs Kuyt, Babel, & more

Well, first let's get to the ridiculous rumor of the day. Apparently Jose Mourinho is interested in taking over at Liverpool if Rafa were to leave. I don't think 'The Special One' has thought this one through though. First, unlike at Chelsea, he would not have the resources to build a squad to his liking. He'll have some funds available to him and will probably be able to scrape up more by selling players he deems undesirable, but there's quite a gap between Abramovich money and Gillett/Hicks money. Second, does he really want to put up with the criticism he will most likely receive if he doesn't win the Champions League or Premiership title in the first season? The press and some 'fans' just don't live in reality in summing up our prospects and ability. Chelsea had little if any history or success before Mourinho, so he was pretty much their saviour and could do little wrong. The impatience among the so-called Liverpool faithful and the press seems almost viral at this point. Benitez wants to build the squad using players groomed and tested in the Academy and the Reserves, I don't understand what is so difficult to comprehend about that plan.

Moving on, it appears that Fernando Torres has already returned to training and could even be on the bench for Fulham on Saturday. The problem I see with that is it might give Luis Aragonés the idea that the 23-year-old Spaniard is available for Spain's Euro-qualifier with Sweden on November 17th. The last thing we need is for El Niño to get injured playing or training for his country again. We don't need the next Harry Kewell in that aspect.

The main course of today's banter meal appears to be the Kuyt/Crouch controversy. First off, unfortunately people, pundits, press, and bloggers need to be reminded that hindsight is 20-20 and that not knowing what Rafa knows, makes it a whole lot easier to criticize. In other words, you don't know who's slightly knocked, who's fatigued, nor who Rafa will need for our next match, which is coming up fast on Tuesday. Kuyt worked hard yet failed to take advantage of the opportunities afforded him. In my opinion, he was playing out-of-position at the true striker spot when his talents are much better utilized in the second striker position.

One of the arguments is that Rafa should have brought Crouch in for Kuyt and done so earlier in the match. I honestly think Rafa was trying to preserve Crouch for Tuesday's match with Besitkas and wanted to use the England International as sparingly as possible. As for bringing him in for Kuyt, well that would have crippled our efforts even more as Crouch appeared to take up and excel at the second striker position, pushing the ball forward to Kuyt, Gerrard, and Kewell with the use of headers. One other point I want to make is that it seems Harry Kewell is not getting the proper credit he deserves. The Aussie was just as much if not more so a contributor than Crouch to our sudden onslaught of attack late in the Blackburn match. I guess self-aggrandizement requires blinders.

Anyhow, I was glad to read that Benitez is in full support of not only Kuyt, but Babel as well. I feel most of the Kuyt criticism stems from a misunderstanding of the situation, but I can see why people were disappointed in his performance on Saturday. I was one of them after all. Kuyt is playing hard and giving it his all, but being played out-of-position and having to adjust your game to hinder your strengths are always potential recipes for a poor outing. As for Babel, after being arguably our man-of-the-match against Cardiff, the young Dutchman would have probably been suited to start from the bench, but Rafa didn't have the luxury to do so.

Before moving on and while I'm on the subject of the Cardiff match, I've read in a lot of other people's reviews and posts about the Blackburn match the questioning of why Lucas wasn't played. Well, first off he looked spent at the end of Wednesday's Carling Cup qualifying match and second, do you not think Rafa would have played him if he thought the young Brazilian would have been able to make a positive contribution? This second guessing Rafa is getting to the point of idiocy. He does what he does for the benefit of the club, why would he do otherwise? Use some common sense.

Finally, on the transfer speculation, we apparently now seem to be the front-runners for Burnley youngster John Cofie and are willing to pay £8m for a Spanish defensive midfielder named Juan de Dios Prados. The former is only 15-years-old, has been chased by Man U and Chelsea among other suitors, and would probably be an Academy player and possibly never heard of again. I know that may be negative, but odds are he, along with most Academy products, won't make it to the first team. As for Prados, if we pay £8m for a 21-year-old defensive midfielder when we already have Mascherano, Sissoko, and Damien Plessis, I have to believe that we either aren't going to re-sign Masche, which is insane, Sissoko is gone in January, which could happen but I doubt it, or Plessis will never play for the first team, which is possible, but from what I've seen from him, he's quite capable. Of course, that rumor may all very well be a pile of rubbish. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Kewell may have to wait?, Chelsea drawn in Carling Cup, Ashley Young would welcome Crouch, & more

Well, this is disappointing news. Apparently Harry Kewell is not in-line to start today at Blackburn and may not even play nonetheless. Rafa has said that he will be extra cautious in integrating the Aussie into the first-team. This may be a ploy by Benitez, but I doubt it. To be honest, King Harry looked oddly spent within minutes of taking the field against Cardiff on Wednesday. I was hoping he'd start today, but now it looks as if our home tie with Beşiktaş is a more realistic opportunity for him.

With all eight teams remaining in the Carling Cup being top flight sides, it looks as if the competition will actually have a little meaning this year. Even more so for us or Chelsea as we have drawn one another for the quarterfinals. I have mixed feelings about this to tell you the truth. On the one hand, I'm glad we get to play the Blues as no matter the Cup, when it's do or die between us, the intensity is so thick you could cut it with a tree branch. On the other hand, do we really need another tough fixture? I guess Rafa could have sat Gerrard on Wednesday to lessen the chance of our advancement, but he didn't. I doubt now he's shooting himself or anything, but I'm betting he hoped we'd be playing West Ham instead.

Ashley Young wants Peter Crouch to become a Villain. So do I. You know what would piss me off? If Crouch went to Aston Villa and actually played up front like he should instead of trying to be a midfielder. Every time I see him out of position it reminds of that part in Zoolander when Mugatu goes on his rant about Derek Zoolander only having one pose. "Can't anyone see that he's a forward and not a midfielder?! He's playing out-of-position! He's a forward! Doesn't anybody else ever notice this?! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

Finally, with all our metatarsal injuries this year, Rafa is calling on the boot companies to develop a more reasonable cleat with less studs. You know, I really don't understand why there isn't a more protective boot especially on the top side where most injuries occur when one player's cleat collides with the top of another's foot. Anyhow, also in that article is a mention of Itandje being injured. Not major, but a concern nonetheless. Cheers, I'll be back with line-up analysis about an hour before the match.

Liverpool vs Cardiff: the line-up

Here it is:
Itandje
Aurelio
Carragher
Hobbs
Arbeloa
Leto
Lucas
Gerrard
El Zhar
Babel
Crouch

Subs:
Martin
Riise
Kewell
Benayoun
Mascherano

Mascherano?! Wow, that was a quick recovery. Where's Sissoko? Hopefully he's okay. Anyhow, I'm really excited to see El Zhar out there, he's really improved over the course of the season with the Reserves and is fun to watch.

Harry Kewell starts from the bench, huh? Does that means he'll be available against Blackburn on Saturday? I guess it really depends on how much he plays today. Anything more than the last thirty minutes and he's probably questionable against the Rovers.

The backline looks familiar. Babel and Crouch up front is interesting. A lot of youth in Hobbs, Leto, Lucas, El Zhar, and Babel. Let's see how it goes.

Liverpool vs Cardiff: What will Rafa do?

I have to admit that these are the funnest matches to try and predict what kind of line-up Rafa will put out. Most of the time I just go with who I would play, which is rarely ever the same as Benitez, but he's got a few more credentials and a lot more experience than me. For this match though, the boss has already alluded that he's going to rest certain first-teamers and let some kids get playing time.

The biggest news is that Harry Kewell is set to start. I'm not sure where though. The most obvious spot would be on the left, but for some reason I get the feeling that he'll start up front. If he does, reportedly his partner will be Peter Crouch. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense, as we can rest Voronin and Kuyt for Blackburn and have Crouch for our Champions League clash with Beşiktaş next week. I would love to see a Voronin/Crouch pairing with Kewell on the left but with Rafa alluding to playing Leto, it just makes more sense.

The easiest midfielders to predict are the central ones. I have little doubt that Lucas and Sissoko will start there. The flanks though are much harder. We could see Leto, Babel, Kewell, or even Benayoun on the left. After hearing Rafa say Leto will play in some capacity, I have to believe that he'll start there. On the right I have a feeling that Gerrard will get the call, though wouldn't be surprised to see Benayoun there either. It all depends on what Rafa has in store for Saturday or if he plans on splitting halves with two different players.

On the backline, I think we'll see Aurelio on the left, Carra and Hobbs in the middle, and Arbeloa on the right. I was hoping that either Insua or Darby would get a chance to play, but I have my doubts now. We could possibly see Arbeloa start at centre back instead of Carra, since JC looked awfully spent at the end of the Arsenal match, but I'm not sure Rafa wants to risk having to play a potential keystone cops backline of Aurelio, Arbeloa, Hobbs, and Darby. One thing is for sure, Steve Finnan will have the night off.

In goal, Pepe has the night off which means Itandje will get the call. Would be interesting to see David Martin here, but I know Rafa won't take that big of risk in not only giving such an inexperienced player the nod, but also because it would probably make Itandje unhappy. I'm praying Itandje is a bit more consistent than he has been in previous performances.

Anyhow, here's my final guess:
Itandje
Aurelio
Carra
Hobbs
Arbeloa
Leto
Sissoko
Lucas
Gerrard
Kewell
Crouch

Bench:
Martin
Insua
Benayoun
Voronin
Darby

Before anyone gets their panties in a wad, I fully expect Gerrard and Kewell to come out with plenty of time left for Benayoun and Voronin. Also I expect Insua to get a run out so Rafa can assess his progress. Here's hoping we don't have to use any subs for injuries. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Riise upset over wageslip leak, Villa want Crouch, Rafa afraid of 'God'?, & more

Well, another match day is here and I'll get to the normal routine in a bit, but first it's time to cover what's going on in the world of all things Liverpool FC. First off, John Arne Riise is furious that one of his wageslips from last season has been made public. The 27-year-old defender is convinced the paper was somehow stolen from him since he would never just throw something containing such sensitive information in the trash. Why this interests anyone except a criminal trying to use Riise's information to steal his identity is beyond me. Furthermore, it's obvious that there's a severe case of cognitive dissonance going around that is more viral than images of Riise's wageslip. I seriously doubt any of those people who have published the photo of the papers would want their wages and/or personal information revealed. Have some class and stop doing things just for your own self-benefit.

Martin O'Neill has revealed that Aston Villa are interested in making a bid for Peter Crouch in the January transfer window. It looks as if O'Neill is ready to break the £10m mark for the lanky striker, smashing the club transfer fee record in the process. Other interested parties such as Sven-Göran Eriksson and Man City seem reluctant to pay a proper sum for Crouch, obviously seeking a bargain. Rafa has recently said that the England International is not for sale, but I personally hope he's willing to change his mind for the right price.

Speaking of Crouch, there seems to be speculation that he could start tonight. I would sort of be surprised if Rafa didn't save him for Saturday, but then again, maybe he's planning on resting him then so he'll be in top form for our crucial Champions League clash with Beşiktaş at Anfield next week.

Rafa just can't stop praising Robbie Fowler. Benitez feels that 'God' could very well score against his former club this evening, but hopes he does so in a losing effort. He continues the Robbie Fowler love-fest by thanking the 32-year-old striker for his second term service to the club and being like an additional coach on and off the field. I love Fowler and am worried about him being extra motivated to score tonight, but I'd rather he didn't, losing effort or not.

Finally, Rafa has called a fit Harry Kewell like a new signing. I concur, but let's all hope he stays fit. The Aussie is due to start against Cardiff this evening and with Gerrard likely to sit, I look to him to be our leader. We need his heroics now more than ever. Cheers.

Today's Banters: Our injury crisis worsens, Wenger is a racist?, Gerrard praises Fabregas, & more

- At the start of yesterday's match with Arsenal it looked as if we were about to emerge from our current injury crisis with both Xabi and Torres starting and Arbeloa on the bench. It was all for naught though as El Nino was subbed at the half and Xabi re-aggravating his foot injury later in the match. To make matters even worse, Javier Mascherano left Anfield in a medical boot. Hopefully none of the injuries are too severe, but we'll find out soon enough. Thank God Harry Kewell is near return, Aurelio and Agger are not far behind him, and Arbeloa is back to form, I don't think we can take another major player loss.

- You gotta love stupid fans who try to exaggerate and manipulate what players say to create an illusionary controversy with their beloved club and manager. This idiot tries to imply that Jermaine Pennant is calling Wenger a racist, when in fact JP is saying that he thinks Wenger prefers non-English players, not non-White players. Only a retard would interpret Pennant's word in such a manner. By the way, there's a very good reason why Wenger prefers non-English players, and it has nothing to do with skill-level.

- Stevie-G has nothing but praise for Cesc Fabregas. The world's greatest midfielder said of the young Spaniard: "The world is his oyster. He can go on to be one of the best in the world, there is no doubt about that." I agree, Chucky Fab has all the talent in the world, but sometimes I feel his attitude and the 'South American influence' sours his performances.

Some more links to digest:
- Souness interested in Ireland spot
- Crouch for Sunderland's Jones? I say yes.
- Crouch to Newcastle? Yes, please.
- Goran Pandev in the works? Eh.