(First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Brian and I used to do the Liverpool blog over at the Offside. I have taken over this blog from my brother and will be posting here frequently, especially in-depth coverage on game days. Feel free to leave any comments, particularly negative ones, I love haters. Cheers.)
- It appears that Steve McClown will get what he wants when a not fully fit Gerrard is expected to take the pitch for England next Saturday in their Euro-qualifying match with Israel at New Wembley. If you can't tell, I'm extremely over-joyed about this. I understand he's England's best player and they have little to no chance of qualifying without him, but if he re-aggravates the hairline fracture in his toe, he won't be available for the Wednesday match versus Russia and possibly even the mid-October ties with Estonia and Russia, again. The only thing I can take comfort with is the fact that we haven't needed our world class midfielder since the first match of the Premiership season at Villa. I'm also very thankful that Carra has quit the Three Lions and we should have him back when the break ends in two weeks.
- Rafa has added his voice to the dissent against UEFA head Michel Platini's proposal to have domestic cup winners be the final choice representative in the following year's Champions League tournament. Benitez basically shares the same view as most that it could potentially weaken the field of the world's greatest club tournament. Not only that, but it could potentially hurt not only the integrity of the domestic cup but also the league/country where it's participants play. Just imagine a manager of a mid-level Premiership club who knows that his team has a better chance of winning the domestic cup than finishing in the top three in the league, especially since they know the sides with the best shot of taking the CL league spots are akin to playing lesser squads in domestic cups. Champions League money is a great incentive if a side knows it can beat relegation with a half-assed EPL effort and still make it to the big European stage.
- We're fielding a pretty damn good Reserves side today in our opening fixture for The Barclays Premier Reserve League (North) against Middlesborough's reserve team. Among them will be first-teamer and Pepe back-up, the Frenchman Charles Itandje, recent official signing CB Spaniard Mikel San Jose, Former Stockport County wonder kid Ryan Crowther, and South Americans and part-time 1st teamers Lucas Leiva and Sebastian Leto. The normal crew will also be there including Emiliano Insua and Craig Lindfield. Our boys haven't played since their mid-August Scandinavian tour were they trounced Norwegian side, Kvik Halden, 5-1, and Swedish squad, Karlstad, 4-0 thanks to a Craig Lindfield hat trick. I have little doubt that our Reserves could easily maintain a mid-level spot in the Championship.
- Finally, there's been a lot of love coming from inside and outside of the club in recognition of some recent individual performances on the pitch. Rafa has recently praised Alvaro Arbeloa for not only playing every minute of every match so far this season, not only for playing out of his natural position most of the time, but also for just being awesome and showing an unbelievable amount of improvement over the last eight months since joining the squad. I have to concur, Arbeloa has went from an undisciplined back who appeared to care more about getting goals than stopping attacks to arguably our best defender, which when you have players named Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Finnan, and Mascherano at your club, that's saying a lot. Also, Real Madrid captain Raul has noticed a 'different' Torres, hinting that he believes his Spain teammate might be enjoying life a little better at Anfield than he ever did at Atletico. I think it might be the fact that there's a lot less pressure for him to be 'the man' at Liverpool with the likes of local boys Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher as well as our world class midfielder Javier Mascherano. Cheers.
Showing posts with label Raul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raul. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Today's Banter: Stevie to play injured for England, Rafa speaks out against Platini, Super Reserves to take pitch tonight, & more
Labels:
Alvaro Arbeloa,
Carragher,
Emiliano Insua,
Fernando Torres,
Javier Mascherano,
LFC,
Liverpool,
liverpool fc,
Rafa Benitez,
Raul,
Real Madrid,
soccer,
Steven Gerrard
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Before I get to my ratings for Saturday's match, I'd just like to say that there's absolutely nothing going on with our beloved ...
-
Three of our on-loan kids have a good chance of seeing action today as their respective clubs are in action for the Johnstone Paint Trophy. ...
-
Swansea City will look to extend an unbeaten run of 10 matches tonight when they face Huddersfield Town at the Liberty. It is unclear wheth...
-
Whether it be zonal marking or squad rotation, all too often football pundits are guilty of lazy journalism as they attempt to simplify a co...
-
Wow, I haven't seen a bad bit of business like this in a long time. Especially not in a single day. Ander Herrera will be 25-years-old ...
-
- One of the bigger mysteries at Liverpool, outside of the enigma that is Harry Kewell, is Javier Mascherano's contract situation. The ...
-
Most efficient attacking sides in the EPL: ape Man City 0.700 Tottenham 0.698 Man U 0.690 Arsenal 0.674 Chelsea 0.669 City and Tot...
-
We are obviously shopping for a left back with reports that we have bid for Alberto Moreno and are also looking at Marcos Rojo & Daley B...
-
Though nothing will be 'easy', good fortune gifted LFC with a very manageable Champions League group. Though we have met only three...
-
I remember back during and after the Champions League final, when UEFA's William Gaillard came out with a statement saying that Liverpo...