Is Gerrard's best season yet to come?

Statistically speaking, last season was our captain's most impressive.  He set career bests in assists per 90 minutes, chance created value, successful pass percentage, successful cross percentage, goal-to-shot ratio, true turnover index, and team goals scored while on pitch per 90 minutes (take a breath).  His next closest season was 2008-09, also the last time Liverpool finished second,  when he set career marks in goals scored per 90, goals created per 90, and goals-on-pitch-difference.  The common factor between those two campaigns was Gerrard's role in the side.

It seems to me, when Gerrard is not under pressure to create goals, he is at his finest.  He is not a natural goal scorer or finisher, he possesses the ability to do his part, but he lacks the touch and finesse of even a moderately good poacher.  The funny thing is, when he is allowed to do what he does best, roam between the boxes trying to control the tempo and ball movement, he creates goals anyhow.  His specialty is long passes and through balls, which is why we need another target for him other than Sturridge.  Sterling and Ibe have the pace to benefit, but aren't great finishers either.

No matter what, our captain has to show some discipline and continue to play the holding midfielder role.  He cannot get frustrated and try to force things like he has in the past, hopefully the maturity he has displayed the last couple of seasons will continue to strengthen.  Ever since Rodgers has arrived, Gerrard seems more content with his position and confident in his abilities as a world class passer.  One of the biggest mistakes Rafa Benitez made was playing Gerrard wherever he needed him because he knew Gerrard would be 'adequate' there.  I don't disagree with putting the team before the player, but not playing to your best player's strengths is borderline suicidal.

If he is allowed to be midfield maestro next season, he should post some of his best numbers ever.  With Can and Henderson there to be 'true' box-to-boxers, it should allow Gerrard to stay back and patiently control the match with or without the ball.  Our defence has to improve and that starts with the midfield.  Stevie-G has to recognize when a defender has gone too far forward and cover for them, a tongue-lashing would be nice as well, but sometimes throwing a 'different' player forward offsets the opponent and creates more good than bad.  Of course the most important number of all, that being the most points on the Prem table, is the only one Gerrard or any other Liverpool player should care about.

Gerrard is better than Pirlo

I have all the respect in the world for Andrea Pirlo, he is one of the few Italians that I admire, and that says a lot because I have no love for Gli Azzuri.  (There's too much blatant corruption and disrespect for the game in Italy, a history of rewriting itself for it's own greater good, but this blog is not about Italian football so I'll bite my tongue for now.)

He is not better than Gerrard though.  He does do some things slightly better, but overall, Gerrard is superior.  When I think of Pirlo, I think of George Best's quote about David Beckham: "He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right."  Of course, Pirlo can kick with his left foot (though not penalties, right RVP?) and he's more than just all right and certainly preferred over Beckham in almost all facets, except for maybe self-marketing.

                                           Pirlo                   Gerrard
goals (pens)                           4                      13 (10)
assists                                    6                         13
pass %                                88.5                      86
chances created                    68                        67
successful dribble %              71                        71
dispossessed per                  1.2                       0.5
turnovers per                        0.3                       0.5
successful tackles                  43                        98 
tackle per match                   1.4                       2.9
tackle %                               29                        52
interceptions per                   1.3                       1.4
clearances per                      0.5                       2.7
dribbled past                        1.6                       0.6
blocked shots                       0.2                       0.4

As the stats above tell, Pirlo is slightly the better passer, chance creator, and is less error prone, but the Italian Medallion benefits from playing in a league better suited for a pace-challenged, technique-reliant 35-year-old.  It's no secret that Serie A is a slower-paced league, though I would disagree that the Prem is technically inferior (that's a subject for another day).  Also Pirlo makes less errors mostly because he is less involved in matches than Gerrard, Pirlo does very little (at least not well) if anything on the defensive side of the pitch.  One thing that did stand out for me though is Pirlo being dispossessed more per a match than Gerrard, I would figure with Stevie-G's more risque style, he would fall short in this category.

Compared to Gerrard, Pirlo is a defensive liability.  If he wasn't brilliant on the ball, he'd long be out of work. Gerrard doesn't just top Pirlo in nearly every defensive stat, he dwarfs him.  Though Pirlo's age does figure in his ability to contribute defensively as stats show he has become less involved over the years.  Regardless of all this info though, club football and international football (especially World Cup) are two vastly different animals.  So at the very least, Gerrard is better and more valuable at the club level.

Emre Can: Better than Gerrard at 20?

At first I was a bit skeptical of the seemingly endless praise for Emre Can, then I started to research his stats and watch his videos.  The kid is a beast and not only reminds me of a reckless 20-year-old Steven Gerrard, but he actually appears more advanced.

They have many similarities, Gerrard from that stage and Emre Can now.  Both are good on the ball, though I would give the edge to Can, each are creative passers, especially of the long ball, and both are solid tacklers, though Gerrard was seemingly a bit more committal, which can be a good or bad.  The one thing Can has and will have a hard time emulating is Gerrard's passion and, oddly enough, his discipline.

I thought Gerrard was a bit feisty at that age, but Can collected three-fold cards last season.  Maybe that's because Can played in Germany and Gerrard was a good ole boy in the EPL, but three-fold is three-fold.  I honestly thought Gerrard collected more cards.

I just hope Can tries to learn as much as he can from our fearless leader before he's set to take his place. Here's some eye candy from our future and our past:

Just a glimpse of Maxi

Dirk Kuyt scored the winning goal, Javier Mascherano was a beast, Daniel Agger re-introduced himself to the footballing world, and Steven Gerrard was, well, Stevie-G, but the player who I thought put in the most important performance today was Maxi Rodriguez. If Liverpool are to finish in the top four, it's clear they are going to need a creative spark from somewhere and Maxi showed against Everton he's more than capable of filling that role.

Like Xabi before him, Rodriguez' passing prowess went unnoticed as the pundits, press, and fellow bloggers praised the performances of the aforementioned (as well as Carra and Insua, who both played well too I might add). In fact, I have yet to read anywhere about how Maxi's brilliant bloop pass to N'Gog set up the corner that lead to the game-winning goal. It was just one of about five that raised my eye brows. Not to mention, the Argentine showed a toughness that quite frankly before today, I felt he failed to possess.

The next big question is whether or not Rafa will try to integrate Maxi into a more central midfield position where he can utilize his skills with greater area to operate. He primarily played on the left today (a bit odd considering we got that Riera fella) and though he has the ability to play out wide, I personally think it's a waste of talent. Regardless, it was a promising performance and as he becomes more familiar and comfortable with his teammates and his role with the team, more great things are bound to come.

(By the way, I will not be updating this blog regularly but only sporadically due to other commitments. Sorry, that's just the way it is, but I greatly appreciate all those who read it. Cheers.)

Spurs 2, Liverpool 1: Absolutely pathetic

Not really that bad, but... well, you know... First, Babel is not a winger. When the fuck is Benitez going to wake up and realize this? Benayoun should have started, this isn't rocket science. Being an avid defender of Benitez is really making me look bad and having Ryan 'I have no clue how to the pass the ball despite having four defenders on me' Babel play wing is not helping.

Torres needs to stop being a little bitch, This is the Premiership, stop falling down when one of your hairs get out of place. Jesus Christ, yes, your a great player, but when the hell are you going to stop using your ability to deceive and start utilizing your strength to man-handle defenders? This is English football for fuck's sake.

I have beef with Carra as well, but I know when I'm walking on thin ice. What the fuck, dude? I know you love all things Liverpool, but when the fuck are going to learn to trust Skrtel? The guy hardly fucks up as it is, and we don't need you breaking his jaw on really bad decisions to go for the ball.

A bad start nonetheless even though Reina once again proved he's one of the best keepers in the world. Glen Johnson was outstanding as well, not to mention Lucas showing he's grown some balls. We need six points in the next two no matter what and fuck that FSC fucker who said that was our 'whole squad'. Really you dipshit England and Newcastle reject? Where was Riera, Agger, or Aquilani? Not to mention Martin Kelly is the next Steven Gerrard, Fuck off, you douche.

Steven Gerrard's goal versus Tranmere today

Not the greatest video ever made, but not too bad for a camera phone.

'Yeah, but how many of those were penalties?'

I can't remember how many times I heard that question when we signed Torres in the off-season. Some were even mislead to believe that he would be as turnover prone as Luis Garcia. Oh, how the football geniuses must be red-faced now. Sure, 'the Golden One' is far from perfect, but he's easily the best forward in the Premiership and well worth the £20m+ price tag.

I'll admit I myself was a skeptic, but as I was watching Tevez today, all I could think about was how much better El Niño is than 'the Little Argentine that could.' Hell, Masche is certainly the better of the pair to cross the pond and though I won't expound more than necessary, I still believe El Jefecito is our best and probably most valuable player.

'Somewhat disappointed' would have been a good way to describe my feelings before the season started when we failed to get 'the Cave Dweller' and had to 'settle' for Torres. I don't mind being wrong, sometimes I actually enjoy it. 27 goals in 36 matches? Ridiculous. Highlighted by brilliant goals against Chelsea, Internazionale at the San Siro, and countless others. Not to mention the three hat-tricks, the three braces, and the fact that he didn't even play in the 8-0 thumping of Besitkas.

I often ask myself if I have any faith left in Benitez and it's hard to say. As meaningless as it is, the recent relatively easy taking of the Dallas Cup by the Reserves side certainly gives me some hope that the youth movement Rafa is trying to instill not only with that side, but the Academy as well, allows me some patience. I just hope some of those kids develop in time to help Stevie-G bring home the Premiership. After all, he's only got a few more years in the shirt.

Liverpool 2, Inter 0: The show must go on...

All we heard coming into this match is how this was Rafa's last stand or how 'awesome' Inter, the supposedly best side in Europe, was going to 'crush' Liverpool. Fueling the delusions of the betting man, whether intentional or not. Unfortunately this win was about as legit as our American owners promises of bringing back the glory days. Not that I think Liverpool wouldn't have won otherwise.

Even when it was eleven-all, the Reds were the better, if not dominate side. When Materazzi was sent off, it was merely a matter of time. The fact that 'the Matrix' was the subject of 'poor' refereeing is comical nonetheless. Here's a player, who when he actually plays football, is pretty good, but he's also smart enough to know that he doesn't to be effective. His 'style of play' makes it almost too easy for a ref to give advantage to an opposing side. Nevertheless the red card was undeserving, though the powers-at-be had to protect their most likely scoring prospect.

Once again Rafa got away with poor tactics by not starting Pennant on the right. Hate him for his style of play, shady past, skin-color, what may you will, JP was a key to what little success we had last year in the Premiership and the Champions League. Even in this match he was misused by his teammates, who appeared to have forgotten what it was like to play with him. Regardless, he still had a hand in both goals.

Taking out Babel, even for Pennant, was also a little baffling since he didn't appear fatigued and was still somewhat a threat. As was taking out Lucas for Crouch. Crouch was once again useless if not detrimental to his own side. Even with service from Finnan, Pennant, and Aurelio, the 'lanky one' did nothing. If he has to rely on the perfect pass to be effective, then he is essentially ineffective.

Kuyt, on the other hand, looked once again as if he was taking 'Cristiano Ronaldo' pills. Maybe he is taking the PESs that the Portuguese Prince and his teammates have been taking for years. If so, more power to him, it gave him actual pace and made some decent decisions with the ball. In other words, he didn't appear to be a liability.

No one was really outstanding for the entire match though Torres did put forth a commendable effort. Gerrard made up for small snafus with his brilliant strike and it appeared 'the ghost of Momo Sissoko' had possessed Mascherano at times. If I had to pick a man of the match, why not award the man who gifted us a relatively easy win, Frank De Bleeckere. Until the next farce, keep lying to yourself, reading spineless crap, and most of all, betting against Liverpool. Cheers.

Swansea or Everton? Yes, it's that bad.

Until the Americans go and frankly, until we get a more qualified manager (Sorry, love Rafa, but I'm tired of defending someone who's clearly out of his element), I'm done giving a rat's ass about this squad. I'll always be a Liverpool supporter, but basically I currently find it to be a waste of my time and emotions. Sorry Stevie-G.

Why Crouch is still around is beyond baffling. Kuyt has clearly lost the plot and should probably be sent elsewhere as well.

I could reiterate everything in this article, but seriously, what's the point. We'll make Europe and blah blah.

Swansea it is.

Liverpool 2, Derby 1: When we find ourselves in times of trouble...

...all we have to do is call on Stevie-G. Fekkin' brilliant.

And he had a shit match otherwise.

As I said in my preview, this was not going to be an easy task, but the determination of our fearless captain pulled it out... again. I know I don't have to say it, but there's absolutely no player in the world with his class. Not even close. He can be having a woeful day and then put our side on his back and refuse to accept to defeat as he did. Absolutely, positively, fekkin' magic.

Fernando Torres, also once again, showed why we paid £20m for him. His goal was a phenomenal piece of class, something you rarely get to see at this level. It's disappointing that he can't play so mesmerizingly genius the entire match, but I'll take the few seconds that he can.

Derby needs to be commended for their effort. They certainly didn't deserve to walk away with nothing. I can already read the rubbish headlines now and honestly, it's disrespectful to the Rams. They were the better side in the second half by a mile.

I'm not sure what our deal was, maybe we were looking ahead to Sunday's match at Eastlands, but that's no excuse. We were not a top side today, to say the least. I was disappointed in Rafa's tactics as well. I would have gone with a different starting line-up and taking Hyppiä off, unless he was injured, was clearly a mistake.

I'll get into individual efforts when I do my player ratings, but if I had to pick a Man of the Match right now, I have no clue who'd I pick. Torres and Gerrard for their mere seconds of genius and conviction I guess are deserving, as is Xabi for his brilliant passing. In fact, Alonso made two world class passes in the first five minutes of the match, something we usually fail to do an entire ninety minutes.

And when the night is cloudy, there's still a light that shines on me... Stevie F'n G.

My 2007 World's Best XI

I'm pretty bored, so I thought I'd throw my irrelevant two cents into the mix. Here's who I think were the world's best XI in 2007. Feel free to flog me, I know nothing, of course.

GK - Petr Čech
Casillas, Reina, and Buffon are all incredible, but some of the saves Čech makes are just plain silly. Rarely does a side score against him without a phenomenal effort.

LB - Gianluca Zambrotta
Heinze, Thuram, and Lahm are all tremendous as well, but Zambrotta is probably the most consistent.

CB - John Terry
CB - Fabio Cannavaro
Just too many good ones, and really, it comes down to personal preference. Carra would no doubt be in the squad. I don't really want to get into it, but these are the two I would trust most if I were managing the world's best XI.

RB - Steve Finnan
Yeah, I know I'll get plenty of flack for this one, but Finney was the second best overall defensive player in the Premiership last season according to Actim and his qualities are undeniable. Even at 31, he's arguably the best right wing-back in the world. Dani Alves and even Arbeloa deserve recognition as well.

LM/LW - Lionel Messi
This isn't even debatable. Not even Ronaldinho takes his spot.

CM/DM - Javier Mascherano
Simply the best defensive midfielder in the world. Dietmar Hamann is going to be hard to leave out of the squad though.

CM - Steven Gerrard
If I have to defend this pick, you're a victim of the anti-English press or your own inability to know world-class when you see it.

RM/RW - Kaká
You can pretty much start him anywhere at midfield or forward with this side. With Gerrard and Mascherano there to provide cover, he, like Messi, are just additional forwards.

FW - Fernando Torres
FW - Didier Drogba
As with CB, there's just so much quality at that spot that it comes down to personal preference.

Squad (23 total):
Pepe Reina
Jamie Carragher
Cristiano Ronaldo
David Villa
Philipp Lahm
Andrea Pirlo
Patrice Evra
Franck Ribéry
Carles Puyol
Ronaldinho
Dani Alves
Deco

I think I'm pretty fair in my assessment overall. Like I said, I think the Finnan pick is a bit controversial, as even a lot of Liverpool fans don't seem to realize his consistency and contributions though he's clearly a tremendous player. Alves is not as good as Finney defensive-wise, but he is superior in the pace and attacking aspects.

I really hate putting Pirlo on just the squad. He's probably my favorite Italian player and for someone who loathes the Italian game, he'll always be one of my favorite players of all-time. Gattuso is nothing compared to Mascherano, and I'm not having a go with that, I'm just preaching the truth.

I don't feel as if I have to defend putting Carra on the squad, but I will. First of all, go ask the Milan and Chelsea players how good he is, they'll tell ya. Second, he's also pretty versatile having played fullback for Liverpool in his earlier years, and he can even play defensive midfield, as he has with England.

I'm pretty confident that this side could go undefeated and win any league at the moment and the Champions League and domestic cup as well. There's just very little fault. They may not be as defensive-minded as even I would like, but a clean sheet against a side of this caliber would be an unbelievable effort.

One of these players is world class...

...and it's not the one taking a dive.

Liverpool vs Man U: Which Rafanauts will heed the call?

The Mancs are coming.

If the Premiership title is the Golden Fleece and Gerrard our Jason, is this match merely a stall on the Island of Lemnos or is it the chance to free King Phineas, cursed by Helios for denying the sun? In any case, failure is not an option, though a draw most likely awaits. With the aid of Athena, will Rafargus be able to construct a side to weather the torrential Manchesteranean sea?

With Aggerus apparently unavailable, the anchors of the Rafargo have but two to labor, Hyppiälas and Carracles. With Finnaemon knocked as well, Arbelanta is the only viable option on the right, while on the left, I think Aurelycus gets the start. In recent history, Rafargus has called upon Riiseus to play left-mid in big matches, especially against adversaries with menacing right-wingers like Ronaldon, so I think he'll do so here as well.

Lining up aside the ginger warrior, I fully expect Mascheranion to pair Jason. He has apparently recovered from the knock received in the victory at Marseilles and was back in full training on Thursday. On the right, Benayophon is really our only, but best, option. If he marks as well as he did in France, whomever the Mancs put on the left will be rendered useless and hopefully run ragged in retaliation.

Up front, the great Torreses will certainly start, but whom shall be paired with him is a mystery. Crouchion is too much of a defensive liability and turns over the ball way too often. Giving a side like the Manchestereanans the ball on the counter is like giving a dragon oil, you're going to get burnt. Voroninus I can see, but I think Kuytalus is the best choice. We won't get pace from any other forwards to begin with, except for maybe Babeleus, but he's not ready to start in a big match like this, so Kuytalus' defensive attributes should come in handy. The other option is Kewellius, but he's so much better on the wing.

My final call:
Reinaus
Aurelycus
Hyypiälas
Carracles
Arbelanta
Riiseus
Mascheranion
Jason (Gerrardius)
Benayophon
Kuytalus
Torreses (the Great)

Bench:
Itandjemus
Babeleus
Kewellius
Lucas
Crouchion

As I mentioned prior, I believe this will be a draw, but hopefully at least one of excitement. May the Gods shine upon us.

Liverpool at Reading: We skipped the light fandango...

...but will we turn cartwheels across the floor?

Here's the line-up:
Reina
Riise
Hobbs
Carragher
Arbeloa
Voronin
Mascherano
Sissoko
Gerrard
Crouch
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Kuyt
Babel
Kewell
Hyppiä

Rafa never ceases to amaze me, but a lot of moves here are quite logical considering the opponent. Essentially four forwards is the ideal approach when taking on a side like Reading, who refuse to play defense. Sissoko and Mascherano provide insurance, just in case Hobbs has butterflies. I hope he doesn't feel seasick, because the crowd will call out for more. Let's hope we turn the Royals a whiter shade of pale.

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.

Steven Gerrard is currently the best player in the world

Statistically, Steven Gerrard is on pace for a career year. In the 2005/06 season, his best by numbers on record, he scored 23 goals in all competitions and assisted on 11 more, finishing the year with one of the greatest performances in FA Cup final history. At first, this season was not looking too bright, but his recent run of form has been nothing less than astounding.

During the last nine matches, while leading our side to a 6-1-2 record, and out of our Champions League Group cellar, Gerrard has scored 8 goals and assisted on 6 others, which accounts for 56% of our goals during that period. We only scored 25 goals in those 9 matches by the way, or 2.78 per a match including a scoreless draw at Ewood. He was also responsible for creating 21 more chances for his teammates as well and was deadly efficient at putting the ball past the opposing keeper, averaging a goal every 4.25 attempts and rattling the net on 40% of his shots-on-goal.

He gets even more impressive if you just consider our current five match win streak, where we have annihilated opponents by an overall goal difference of +20. Stevie-G has scored a goal in all five contests, added five assists, and just for good measure, has created 15 more chances for his teammates. He has averaged a goal every third attempt and placed 55.6% of his shots-on in the opponent's net. What's most impressive to me is that he's completed 235 of 286 passes during that span for an 82.2% completion rate and averaged a little more than three tackles a match. That's what you call a complete midfielder.

Our opponents, in order, for the last nine fixtures were Beşiktaş(A), Arsenal(H), Cardiff(H), Blackburn(A), Beşiktaş(H), Fulham(H), Newcastle(A), Porto(H), and Bolton(H). I know, a bunch of pushovers. Beşiktaş only has a chance to advance to the Champions League knockout stage with a win next week, Arsenal is totally feeble, and we played our top-side against the Cardiff geriatrics, but barely beat them, thanks to our world class winger, Nabil El Zhar (No offense Nabil, you're on your way, lad). Then we have that rubbish side Blackburn, I mean, where do they sit on the Premiership table? Beşiktaş, again?! Okay, so Newcastle and Fulham aren't exactly top quality at the moment, but Porto was undefeated in all competitions coming in and got walloped. Finally, Bolton were coming off their victory over shit-side Man U and had only drawn at that rubbish heap, Bayern Munich, a month earlier. Might as well have been playing Championship sides.

I know he has little to no chance being English and all, but if Gerrard continues his current form until the end of the season and garners a little silverware on the way, I don't see how he can't be considered the top candidate for World Footballer of the Year come next December. Nobody, not even Messi, is playing at his level right now. Ultimately though, I don't think he really cares about individual awards. He knows that if he can bring the Premiership trophy to Anfield, he'll bring far more joy to the Liverpool masses and further cement himself in the annals of legend.

Today's Banter: Bolton wish to keep Guthrie, Carson to Villa deal on hold, Gerrard wins style awards - thanks Carra & more

Danny Guthrie has impressed Bolton to the point that they are interested in keeping him on permanently, but according to manager Gary Megson, they have yet to speak to the 20-year-old about his intentions nor have they initiated talks with LFC. Due to the central midfield clutter, it is understood that Guthrie is available at the right price. If I had to take guess at his valuation, considering his age and the fact that he is not only already a regular starter in a Premiership side, but an obvious contributor to their better form, I'd say £5-7m. What do you think?

It appears that our club is waiting for a better run of form from Scott Carson to continue talks with Martin O'Neill about a transfer fee. Certainly Villa wanted to get it done shortly following his fiasco in the net for England so they could play off the negative press and low-ball us, but his first match back with the Birmingham club, he was phenomenal at Ewood, shutting down Blackburn, and he wasn't half-bad versus Arsenal last weekend. I hope we don't budge on the £10m asking price, there are a few other clubs interested in him including the aforementioned Gunners.

Steven Gerrard added two more awards to his ever growing list of accolades, but I get the feeling these are more likely to be used as paperweights instead of making their way into the trophy case. Our skipper won 'gongs' for Most Stylish Sporting Star and Icon from the inaugural 107.6 Juice FM Liverpool Style Awards at Sefton Park Palm House. In his acceptance speech, he had a go at Jamie Carragher and the awards themselves: “I would like to thank Jamie Carragher for this award.... If it wasn’t for him badgering me about my dress sense and hair cut then I wouldn’t be standing before you today. So ‘thank you Jamie’.”

Finally, two articles worth reading is one by Tony Barrett in the Liverpool Echo about Lucas and another at the FIFA site on Fernando Torres. The former tells how the Brazilian is learning from Gerrard and talks about his progression and role in the side in general while the latter brings up some interesting points about our world class Spanish striker. It talks of how his move to Liverpool has 'freed' him from the pressure of 'his iconic status with the Atletico fans' that also prevented him 'from leading anything resembling a normal life in Madrid.' Also, it brings up the fact that, at the age of 23, he already has 45 caps for Spain. That's just ridiculous and gives him a realistic chance at breaking records in that regard as well as total carreer goals (he has 15 now, Raúl scored the most at 44).

Kids watch and some other tidbits in the works. Cheers.

Anfield Banter Awards for November

My player of the month was Sami Hyppiä. I'm so glad I disabled comments because I can only imagine the garbage spewing from the mouths of those who have their own opinion. If you are one of those who know better, than I have a suggestion, start your own blog. Anyhow, here's the rest of the awards.

Unsung hero of the month
Well, I sort of shot myself in the foot on this one by naming Hyppiä as player of. Let me see, Carragher is certainly a candidate, as is Yossi, who seems no matter how well he plays gets little recognition, but I'm going to have to go with Javier Mascherano. The Argentine was instrumental in shutting down our opposition in the four matches he played and improved drastically from our previous matches with Beşiktaş and Porto. Not to mention he had to go to South America and back to play two matches for his home country.

Bench player of the month
Easy, Ryan Babel. In his three appearances as a sub, he scored three goals, utilizing his skill and pace to punish our opponents. Funny enough, he failed to net in his two starts. For now, Babel clearly is best suited coming on in the 60th minute.

Goal of the month
We scored 17 goals in five matches this past month, so there's plenty to choose from. I think I've got it down to five though. From the Beşiktaş match, Babel's first goal where he cleverly deflected a ball from Benayoun off the inside of his foot and Gerrard's nasty swerving blast in the box after receiving a cheeky back heel from Voronin, Gerrard's nasty free kick in the Newcastle tie, and finally both goals by Torres in the Porto match. The thing is, all of these goals have one thing in common, they were all team efforts, so I'll let you to decide for yourself. If I had a gun to my head though, I'd take Babel's first goal against Beşiktaş, only because it was a great announcement of the kind of talent the young Dutch forward possesses.

Assist of the month
Again, some great ones to choose from: Benayoun to Babel and Voronin to Gerrard against Beşiktaş, Kewell to Torres against Porto, and three corners from Gerrard to various players. I'm gonna have to go with the back heel by Voronin to a streaking Gerrard though, the whole play was just a thing of beauty.

On-loan player of the month
Hey, it's not Paul Anderson this time, even though the Swansea winger had another great month, playing in seven matches and scoring twice. No, this month's award goes to Danny Guthrie, who played in all but 16 minutes for Bolton while helping them go unbeaten for the month. Yes, you read that right, Bolton didn't lose in five matches in November, going 1-4-0. Only one win, but it was against Man U. Guthrie has proven a solid contributor to the side which makes me wonder what his future holds, our midfield is already cluttered as it is.

That's it for today... probably, but I'll be back tomorrow with my daily and a 'What will Rafa do?' for the Bolton match. Godspeed.

All I can say is, what the hell?

I was perusing the pics from yesterday's Porto match on the official site and came across this odd gem:


The first thing that came to mind was 'who in their right mind thought this was a snapshot worthy of inclusion'? Must have been slim pickings (no pun intended). I mean, this has to be one of the worse selections of a football match photo that I've ever seen. It looks like Gerrard is making a great catch in a rugby match or an American football game.

In fact, other than Torres showing off his vertical ability and a number geek's wet dream where Torres, Gerrard, and Kewell are embracing (9,8, and 7, in order, which, by the way, if you take away one equals 23! Oh, no!), most of the selection is baffling. Check it out for yourself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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