Today's Banter: One part wind-up, two parts wind-down, & 44/100% certifiable

All appears quiet on the Liverpool front, which is fine by me, but apparently not so for the wind-up bloggers. There's this one site in particular that holds contests for it's 'writers' to see who can attract the most hits. Basically it's who can write the most outrageous title followed-up by the most inane, speculative garbage that any half-witted teenager could author. One of these 'articles' is about how Steven Gerrard doesn't deserve a starting spot on a fully fit Liverpool squad. Yes, they are that feeble-minded.

Another 'article' attempts to blame Liverpool and more specifically Rafa for the supposed stunted development of Momo Sissoko. He didn't have to sign that contract extension this past summer and furthermore he's had two major injuries in his first two seasons with us, but let's leave facts to the thinkers. For this bullocks to stop, please make an effort to ignore these imbeciles. Don't click on their articles and definitely don't comment. It'd be nice if they dropped dead, but that would be asking way too much, so ignoring them is the best way to go about. They don't write such rubbish for the good of anyone but themselves. Moving on...

According to this article, Mascherano is close to signing a five year, £17m contract. Well, this is news to me. I know his transfer fee is around that amount, which we obviously have to pay first, but I didn't know we've already negotiated a contract with him. Of course, this is the first article I've read that's mention such notions, so someone might just have their facts wrong, intentional or not. Another part of that article I've yet to hear is Mascherano 'insisted he would leave Anfield unless a deal was finalised within a month.' Really? Hmmm....

Tony Barrett of the Liverpool Echo has written a short but sweet article praising Alvaro Arbeloa. He basically just reiterates a lot of what's already been said of the Spaniard by myself and other bloggers. One thing I slightly disagree with is how he thinks that Arbeloa is better on the left. To me, he appears more comfortable on the right and gets more involved on attack when he's over there. I chalk it up to him having more confidence on that side to get back on defense. Barrett even goes as far as to compare Arbeloa with Stevie Nicol.

Speaking of which, Nicol's New England Revolution face the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup final today in a repeat of last year's match-up. The Revolution have already won the US Cup this season and will be looking to complete the double in Washington, DC, where the match is being held. As painful as it is for me to watch MLS, I'll probably take in this one. Nothing really better to do, actually.

Finally, I can't end my daily without mentioning an article or post by a questionably mental Man U or Chelsea fan. That would be unforgivable. Today we have a Chelsea supporter from the ever reputable site Vital Chelsea. If you've ever visited that veritable armpit of the world wide web, you'd know that it's one of the more dim-witted sites around. The most humorous aspect is that it's supposed to be a place for Chelsea fans to write about their own side, but most of their articles are usually about Liverpool. I guess when you don't have much of a history nor brain cells, you get short on subjects. Anyhow, this clown starts off writing about how a reporter from the Echo chastises Michael Essien for not apologizing for a vicious yellow card-earning tackle on Leon Osman last Sunday and then ends up talking about Didi Hamann and Dirk Kuyt. What?! Oh, because the paper is in Liverpool. Brilliant. Yeah, Evertonians and Liverpool fans are one in the same, just like Chelsea supporters are the same as Fulham fans. I mean, Chelsea is in Fulham after all. Cheers.

Congrats to Steve Nicol

I would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate Stevie Nicol on leading his club, the New England Revolution, to victory in the US Open Cup final last night. What's even more impressive is they did so by beating FC Dallas on the opposition's home field. The 45-year-old former Liverpool back has been at the helm with the MLS-side for 5 years now and has finally brought silverware to the club. It was the first time in the team's history that they've won anything despite making it to the MLS Cup final three times, including the last two years under Nicol, and the US Open Cup final once before.