Liverpool Reserves 2, Crewe Alexandra Reserves 1: the video highlights

Featuring Xabi Alonso, Jermaine Pennant, Yossi Benayoun, Momo Sissoko, Lucas Leiva, and Sebastian Leto among others. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Carra officially set to return, Traore talking junk, Abigail gets the axe, & more

- Well, at least we'll have Carra. With the Agger injury and Hyypia coming off two full matches in five days, it was unclear what we were going to do for centre backs come Saturday, but it looks like Jamie Carragher will definitely start. I assume that Arbeloa will be there along with him. As for the full backs, it would be great if Aurelio was declared fit and ready, but I doubt it, and I haven't heard anything in regards to Finnan's condition. I'll assume it'll be Riise on the left though and who knows, maybe Stephen Darby on the right? That would be interesting.

- Djimi Traore, quite possibly one of the worst players ever to win a Champions League medal, is talking a little smack about his former club with whom he won that medal, Liverpool. The Portsmouth back thinks his side will win on Saturday because they won't give the Reds much respect and the long travel south will make them tired. What? Are they walking? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, but then again, this is Traore we're talking about. It's only about 250 miles by car and our boys will most likely be flying. Anyhow, the linked article which is from a Portsmouth fan site mentions that Portsmouth has won three of the last five games between the two clubs, but then mentions that one of the wins was against a weak Liverpool side as we were on the march in the Champions League last year and the other was on penalty kicks this past summer in a meaningless preseason tournament final. So against full LFC sides, they've won one of the last three. Luckily for them though, they probably won't meet a first team squad on Saturday.

- Peter Crouch's girlfriend, the sort of attractive Abigail Clancy (pictured above), has gotten the axe from Hell's Kitchen, the reality cooking show she's been a part of recently. She apparently will now use her new-found cooking skills to fatten up her boy.

- Rafa, who was named 33rd on the top 50 managers of all-time by the Times Online, has once again expressed the unfairness of our schedule. For the second consecutive time we have to play a lunch fixture following an international break. I can sort of understand his complaining with not having a lot of preparation time on the day of the game and some players being out of sorts with the earlier than usual start, but come on, it's only a couple of hours. I do think they should play a large majority of the matches following an international break on Sunday though as it would allow players an extra day rest and probably increase the quality of their play and the matches in general. Of course, that would just mean less time to prepare for the Champions League match in the middle of the upcoming week. By the way, Paisley and Shankly were 6th and 5th respectively on that list though both should have been ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson for obvious reasons.

- It's been revealed that Dirk Kuyt's schoolboy German lessons have paid off in helping Andriy Voronin adjust to Liverpool life. Though a bit rusty and sometimes unsure of what he was saying, Kuyt has been instrumental in helping the Ukrainian communicate with his coach and teammates. Kuyt also praised Voronin for his work rate and as one of the players he used to admire in his Bundesliga watching days. Being involved in the international scene so long, I'm sort of surprised Voronin doesn't speak English or even Dutch.

- Finally, just because you play for LFC and are named Jamie Carragher doesn't mean you get special treatment. Even if that means getting bumped to the front of a book signing line for a book in which you are featured. As was the case for Here We Go Gathering Cups In May, a book about LFC's seven European trophy runs. Carra had to wait in a line that wrapped around the bookstore just like everyone else.

Agger breaks hand, could be out up to five weeks

Well, our biggest fears have come to fruition with the loss of Danny Agger for up to five weeks with a broken hand. I guess it could have been worse, it could have been an injury to one of his feet or legs. A thorough evaluation will be done tomorrow and an assessment will be made, but our already thin backline just got a little bit thinner, at least for the Portsmouth tie.

Hopefully Steve Finnan will be available on Saturday, but since he didn't play today for Ireland, who knows? Will Hyypia be available? He probably will, but how effective will he be for a thirty-three-year-old who has played as much as he has recently?

I guess that leaves two options, using Xabi Alonso or Javier Mascherano as centre backs or bringing up one of the kids. It's going to be interesting to see what Rafa does, but I have a feeling that he'll try to field the most experience squad possible.

International Update: Agger injured?

From the looks of it, none of our boys suffered any major injuries today. In fact, some didn't even play which is awesome because it means there's a good chance they'll be available for Saturday at Portsmouth. Here's a round-up by player:

Sami Hyypia, Finland
Played the full ninety in his side's 0-0 draw with Poland. A win here would have been huge for the Finns chances of advancing, but since Portugal ended up tying as well, they stay in second place and live to fight another day. I doubt the 33-year-old will play versus Portsmouth considering this is his second full match in a row.

Andriy Voronin, Lithuania
Came in as a sub in the 60th minute in his country's disappointing loss in Kiev to Italy. They are pretty much eliminated from advancing now. His limited time on the pitch definitely makes him a possibility for Saturday. How you don't start Voronin in what is basically a must-win beats the snot out of me.

John Arne Riise, Norway
Riise scored an absolute cracker of a goal versus Greece today, but it wasn't enough as his side took a slight blow to their Euro advancing dreams with the 2-2 draw. I don't expect Riise to play Saturday, but he's known for his fitness and despite playing the full match, he is a possibility.

Craig Bellamy, Wales
Oops.

Steven Gerrard, England
Played the full 90 in the Three Lions crucial 3-0 victory over Russia which I guess it's good news since it means he's fit, but I doubt he'll play versus Portsmouth.

Peter Crouch, England
Came on with 10 minutes remaining for England in place of Emile Heskey. Will probably be on the bench on Saturday, but I doubt we'll see him play. Rafa will probably want to save him for our Champions League clash with FC Porto next Tuesday.

Daniel Agger, Denmark
Agger was substituted in the 28th minute of the Danes 4-0 romp over Liechtenstein. No news as of yet whether it was serious, but let's keep our fingers crossed. Losing a centre back could potentially be devastating for our side right now.

Fernando Torres, Spain
Torres played the full match and scored on a rebound in the 86th minute to assure his side's victory over Latvia. As long as he is deemed fit, I wouldn't be surprised to see Torres start against Portsmouth.

Pepe Reina, Spain
Didn't play, will start Saturday.

Ryan Babel, Netherlands
Played the full ninety for the Dutch in their last second 1-0 win over Albania, he's young though and I expect him to at least be on the bench Saturday.

Dirk Kuyt, Netherlands
Edit: Well, I just watched a majority of this match and it appeared that Kuyt was in the whole time, so it's unclear whether he'll play this weekend or not.

As soon as here something about Agger I'll post it. I'm just thankful we'll have Yossi, Xabi, JP, Arbeloa, and Momo ready for action. Cheers.

Today's Banter: McClaren coming around?, Barnes relates to Bentley, Mihaylov starts for Bulgaria U21, & more

- Let me first say that it would not bother me even for a second if Gerrard 'retired' from international play. Yes, I know that would never happen, since Stevie-G loves his country nearly as much as he loves his club, but one can dream, can't they? At least I hope so. Anyhow, it looks as if England boss Steve McClown has finally seen the light and decided to give Gerrard the kind of freedom alloted him at LFC. Wow, McClown, you're quite the manager. He even went as far as to call his number four the inspiration of the squad. Recalling the Andorra match at Camp Nou, the England boss stated when Stevie-G took control of the match in the second half and pushed the Three Lions through to three points, he knew how valuable Gerrard was. The fact that it took McClown this long to figure out how special Gerrard is should prove how incompetent he is.

- John Barnes has come out in support of David Bentley, questioning the so-called English 'fans' on what their motives were for booing the 23-year-old. I have to agree with the Liverpool Legend here. It does no good to react like that to one of our young hopefuls for any reason, if he had done something truly horrible, he would have never been offered a spot on the squad. It makes you look like donkeys and him insecure when we need to be instilling him with confidence. I was honestly ashamed by the display, no fan has any right to be any player's judge and jury, and I hope the lad doesn't take it to heart.

- Niklolay Mihaylov, one of thirty-odd keepers on our books, was on the losing end of a U21 match with England, 2-0, though apparently he did quite well in keeping it respectable for his out-manned Bulgarian side. The goals for England were scored by Tom Huddlestone and Mark Noble. I saw Mihaylov play in the preseason and though at times a bit melodramatic, I have to say he is quite good despite hearing otherwise. He is currently out on loan to Eredivisie side, FC Twente.

- Former manager Gerard Houllier has finally decided to end his holiday and become the new technical director of football for France. His first task is to help find a permanent home for Anthony Le Tallec. I personally think he should have to buy the 22-year-old midfielder from us with his own money to make up for the many mistakes he made as when he was in charge here.

- Finally, the transfer rumor of the day is Man City expressing interest in Yossi Benayoun. By the time January rolls around, Yossi will either be injured or be playing more often, so I doubt he'll be unhappy with his situation then. A lot of international matches today so unless something major happens I probably won't be posting until this evening. Cheers.

We should be all right Saturday at Portsmouth

I'm crossing my fingers that our boys on international duty get through the day tomorrow unscathed, but from the looks of the squad that we played against the Crewe Alexandra Reserves today, they might get the day off anyhow.

The starting line-up looked something like this:
GK - David Martin
LB - Fabio Aurelio
CB - Jack Hobbs
CB - Xabi Alonso
RB - Alvaro Arbeloa
LM - Sebastian Leto
CM - Momo Sissoko
CM - Lucas Leiva
RB - Jermaine Pennant
F - Yossi Benayoun
F - Jordy Brouwer

The second half line-up:
GK - David Martin
LB - Robbie Threlfall
CB - Mikael San Jose
CB - Ronald Huth
RB - Stephen Darby
LM - Ray Putterill
CM - Damien Plessis
CM - Jay Spearing
RM - Ryan Flynn
F - Craig Lindfield
F - Dani Pacheco

A couple of things come to mind. First, where is Emiliano Insua? I didn't see him named as part of the Argentina squad, so I'm assuming he's injured. That's not good, I hope it's nothing serious. Second, surprised not to see Carra. If he's expected to play Saturday and he didn't today, maybe that means we'll definitely see Aurelio get the start against Portsmouth. Finally, where's Harry Kewell?

Anyhow, it looks like we'll have a competent line-up on Saturday, though I doubt we'll see Xabi line-up with Carra at centre-back. To help us out, it would be nice to see Spain go up by a couple of goals early and allow Torres to take it easy the rest of the match and be fresh on Saturday. Also, I know I'm asking for the sky to rain dollar bills, but it'd be great if either Babel or Kuyt got the day off against Albania. If we can at least get a rested Torres back, we should be fine at Pompey.

Javier Mascherano & Carlos Tevez might face jail time?

I've been reading about developments in this story lately and before today have just rubbished them, but now it's picking up steam and not looking good for our world class defensive midfielder. Apparently he is being accused by the Brazilian government of withholding taxable income when he played for Brazilian Série side, Corinthians. Supposedly they could face up to five years in prison if they are found guilty of the charges.

I'm not going to lay claim to know anything about the situation but the first thoughts that came to my mind are:

A) Mascherano & Tevez are not only Argentinian, but they are part of a very bright future of Argentine futbol. I'm not saying that Brazil is intentionally going after these two because of this, but it doesn't look favorable when one rival is going after another's stars in such a seemingly malicious way. Are you going to guarantee me that there aren't Brazilian footballers who have done or are doing this exact same thing there? I didn't think so.

B) Second, I sincerely doubt that either Mascherano nor Tevez knew about it. Do you really think they manage their own finances when they are basically owned by an investment group (MSI)? I doubt it, especially when what's best for Masche and Tevez and the group is for them to concentrate fully on futbol and not have to worry about money issues. Common sense once again wins out.

Even if they do get convicted, which they probably won't, there's no way they'll serve jail time. That's utterly ridiculous. Fine 'em, ban 'em from ever coming into your country, but prison time just isn't reality.

Today's Banter: Aurelio returns, What about Harry?, Rafa laughs off Reina offer, & more

- Fabio Aurelio made an unexpected early return to action today as the Reserves beat a Crewe Alexandra Reserves side, 2-1, behind goals by Xabi Alonso and Ray Putterill. The 27-year-old Left Back played an impressive 45 minutes. This is great news, if he's able to play this Saturday against Portsmouth, it allows Arbeloa to play on the right if Finnan isn't fit or even in the middle with Carra if Agger or Hyypia are fatigued.

- Despite reports that he was also set to make his return against today, apparently Harry Kewell did not line-up against the Crewe Reserves side. Hopefully there will be a mention of his status when the full match report is published on the official site. The only good news is that Kewell was included on our 23-man Champions League roster, so obviously Rafa is expecting him to return to action sometime in the near future.

- Rafa has dismissed any talk of Pepe leaving to go to Atletico Madrid or anywhere else for that matter. I kind of figured it was a load of donkey dung, but again, £10m for a keeper is not an amount to scoff at especially when you have the likes of Scott Carson available to replace him.

- A FIFA source has revealed that Peter Crouch was not singled-out by referees at the World Cup, but an incident where Crouchy pulled at the hair of a Trinidad and Tobago defender as he headed in a goal was brought to the attention of match officials. There's a picture of the incident to accompany the article and honestly, I don't see how the striker can be giving himself an advantage by being anchored down by someone's hair as he jumps. Call me crazy, but wouldn't that prevent him from jumping higher, it looks like accidental contact if you ask me.

- The U18s won on Saturday versus Nottingham Forrest, 3-1, behind a brace from German Marvin Pourie and a goal by Scot Gary MacKay Steven. 16-year-old English striker David Amoo was apparently quite impressive himself. Just taking a peek at the U18/Academy roster, we have quite the international mix with players from seven different countries, though a large majority, 13, are English.

- Finally, here's a nice piece from Liverpool Legend Ian Rush on Rafa's recent decision not to replace his number two, Pako Ayesteran. It's interesting to read what role such a person plays on a club and why it's not a good idea to replace them in haste. Cheers everyone.

LFC Tea Time: Finnan still not fit, Torres unhappy with Aragones, Hobbs gets extension, & more

- Steven Finnan will not be available for Steve Staunton and the Irish for their crucial clash with the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Ireland pretty much have to win the match to have any chance of qualifying for next year's European Championship. A loss or draw would be devastating. No word on whether Finney will be available Saturday for Portsmouth, but it would be tremendous if he was.

- Apparently Fernando Torres was visibly upset over being taken out in Spain's Euro-qualifying match with Iceland on Saturday. Spain was down to ten men thanks to Xabi Alonso who received a straight red card for a stamping incident. Torres, who's been a staple on Aragones' side since the 69-year-old took over the squad, did not speak to reporters following the match. Being a Liverpool fan, I could care less whether or not he plays against Latvia on Wednesday, though if it means he'll be fresh for Saturday's match than I'm for leaving him out.

- 19-year-old defender/defensive midfielder Jack Hobbs was awarded a one-year contract extension that will keep him at the club through next season. I haven't really seen much of Hobbs, but what I have has not impressed me. Obviously though, Rafa thinks something of him.

- Jermaine Pennant feels he's playing the best football of his career and will try to continue to improve to better his chances of getting an England call-up. He has shown some flashes of improvement over his play from last year, but I think he was more consistent last season. I think he still needs to put together a solid string of five or six starts before I believe he's having a better season than last.

- Steven Gerrard has declared himself fit for England's match with Russia and has warned against his Three Lions teammates of being complacent. Just don't get injured, Stevie, any think else is a plus.

Man U and Chelsea have worst fans

I remember back during and after the Champions League final, when UEFA's William Gaillard came out with a statement saying that Liverpool had the worst fans and that the European football policing organization had proof of that statement. Well, set aside that the reason they came out with such a statement was to cover up their half-assed security job and planning for the final and the fact that they severely rigged the match with a English-hating German ref, and you still have they fact that they have yet to release the study or document to the general public that backs that statement. Where is it, guys? Did you lose it? Are is it that it's just a load of crap to divert attention to real issues like your incompetence?

Well, skip ahead to this past weekend when I read this here. Turns out that Man U and Chelsea have in fact the worst fans in English football according to Jane's Police Review. Not some organization trying to cover their ass for their mistakes, but an independent third party who has no monetary interest what so ever in the results of the study. And what were the grounds of this study? Fans who were "most likely to attack officers or be racially or sexually abusive." It's no secret that Chelsea has had a violent and racist past, but I was a bit surprised to see Man U there.

So next time some two-bit Chelsea loser slags on you for being a Liverpool fan, just laugh because they truly are the scum of the Earth. Who wants to bet that you won't be hearing about this study on World Soccer Daily? Ha ha ha.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Banter: Gerrard okay, Today's flavor: Pasquale Foggia, Abbey Clancy wants to be Crouch's baby's momma & more

- Despite limping off the field yesterday in the 70th minute of England's 3-0 win over Israel, Stevie-G did not re-aggravate his toe injury. He apparently just had cramps. I guess he boozed a little the night before with the boys. Unfortunately, that means there's a chance he'll play versus Russia on Wednesday much to mine and Gus Hiddink's dismay. Not only was Gerrard okay, but it looks like we escaped yesterday with a still fit side. One day down, one day to go.

- The transfer window may be closed, but that doesn't mean the rumors have to stop. Yesterday we saw the beginning of what looks to be a neverending saga about whether Steven Taylor will be a Liverpool player come January or not. Today the seeds of the Pasquale Foggia beanstalk were planted. I know very little about the 24-year-old other than he's Italian, he plays for Cagliari, and he can play left wing but is pretty versatile. And just to set the record straight, Giovani dos Santo will never be a Liverpool player. Seriously, if you sell papers writing crap like that...

- Abigail Clancy may be pissing off her co-stars on Hell's Kitchen for getting paid almost twice as much as them, but at least the girl has got good intentions when it comes to her boy Crouchy. She has come out and said she wants to have the striker's baby, the problem is though, her boobs have appeared to have shrunk from the heat of her latest Telly reality cooking adventure. Not sure what that has to do with having a baby, but anyhow, she also claims to have turned down a job with a top modeling agency in LA to stay with Peter. Hmmm, maybe his people should call the Galaxy people, a Beckham to Crouch connection would probably give the Los Angeles club a better chance of making the playoffs next season. Finally, Abbey says she attends "all the important games." Glad to see she's there when the cameras are.

- Finally, you'd figure a Spanish newspaper would know the difference between Xavi and Xabi. Apparently not. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Voronin backs Benitez, Steven Taylor in the works?, Rafa loves Rugby? & more

(Sorry for not posting but once yesterday and in advance for being so brief today, but really, there's not much going on and Euro-qualifying is on my mind. Cheers.)

- First up, Voronin has come out in defense of Rafa's rotation policy. Again, it's been proven that Rafa in fact rotates his line-ups just as often as Mourinho and Fergie, but who cares, right. I'm glad to see the Ukrainian striker has had a change in thought though, before joining the team he made some comments about being a starter and not a super sub. Now that he's actually here, he has seen the light despite being used as a super sub at times.

- Apparently Steven Taylor has alerted Rafa Benitez, a long-time admirer of the 21-year-old Newcastle centre back, that he may be interested in a switch to Liverpool as early as this upcoming January transfer window. If we can get a young talent like Taylor to pair for Agger in the future, that would be awesome. According to reports, Newcastle made an 'insulting' contract extension offer to the England U21 captain.

- Rafa Benitez was seen catching a rugby match at Knowsley Road. St. Helens boss Daniel Anderson also revealed that he and Rafa have met before and that he'd been to Liverpool's training facility, Melwood, to talk shop.

- Finally, if you want to catch up with Alan Kennedy and the Legends squad, here is a nice read. Cheers everyone and good luck to Stevie-G, Xabi, El Nino, Pepe Reina, Luis Garcia, John Arne Riise, Daniel Agger, Ryan Babel, Dirk Kuyt, Andriy Voronin, Sami Hyypia, Yossi (not really though, just stay fit), and anyone else I may have forgotten in their international ties. Hope you guys win (except Yossi) , but most of all stay fit.

Today's Banter: The needle & hopefully no damage done for Gerrard & more

- Well, he's gone and done it, Steven Gerrard has declared himself fit to Steve McClaren for England's tie with Israel tomorrow. No word on whether he'll get an injection or not, and though I doubt we'll hear about it if he does with all the controversy surrounding it anyhow. After tomorrow, I don't expect Stevie-G to play for us for about a month, call it Anfield intuition.

- Not really that much else going on other than Voronin getting a lot of love and if you wrote Steven Gerrard, Luis Garcia, or Harry Kewell a love letter between February 12 and April 21 of this year, there's a good chance it ended up in this guy's house. Cheers.

Mascherano 94th? Ha ha ha!

I've seen this list posted on a few sites and still can't believe how unbelievably retarded it is. First of all, what is FourFourTwo's criteria? The opinion of Nike, Adidas, and FIFA? They certainly didn't take all-round play into account, because Kaka is a second rate defender at best. That's why they have Gattuso on Milan. There's no doubting the Brazilian's attacking skills, but he's utterly useless and a borderline burden on the other end. I know, I know, they have to make sure he doesn't get hurt. My bad.

I know I may be biased, but please prove me wrong. Mascherano was arguably our best player in our Champions League run last year, he was arguably the best player on the pitch versus AC Milan in the final (Just ask Kaka, who did shit all when Javi was on the pitch), and he was arguably Argentina's best player in Copa this past summer (save maybe Riquelme, and that's a big maybe). The biggest difference between a player like Mascherano and Kaka? Mascherano can play on the attack as he has for Liverpool and his country, but Kaka could never become a holding/defensive midfielder.

I guess being great at a couple of things is better than being really good at practically everything? Yeah, I want a player that you can only play if you have another certain kind player on their with them. In that regard, Mascherano is two players for the price of one, Kaka is not. FourFourTwo aren't idiots though. They know how to ride the marketing machine that has already pumped the name 'Kaka' into millions of the air-filled heads of the mindless masses. They know how to sell magazines and that's all that matters.

Babel thanks Rafa, receives praise from Dalglish

In an endearing piece in the Daily Mail today, summer acquisition and winger extraordinaire, Ryan Babel, has revealed that he owes a great deal of gratitude to Rafa Benitez for his tremendous start with the club.

Apparently when Babel was at Ajax, he would let outside interference (a.k.a the crowd) affect his play, so much so that he would become 'depressed on the pitch'. Benitez saw this while attending an Ajax away match during Babel's stay there and told the future star that the abuse ought to make him stronger and that the more the opposing fans swore at him, the more afraid of him they were.

Yeah, he better get used to it, especially with Goodison Park, Old Trafford, and Stamford Bridge all in his near future. If he can fuel from those fans' hate, the kid has the ability to win those matches for us almost singlehandedly.

Also in the Daily Mail, was an article about Dalglish singing Babel's praises. The Liverpool Legend spoke of the young Dutch International's "cracker of a goal" against Derby and how he thinks that could have been the straw that breaks the camel's back, giving Babel the final piece of confidence he needs to become a force in the Premiership. Of course, King Kenny doesn't know anything about football.

Fagan receives four match ban

Derby County striker Craig Fagan received a four-match ban from the FA today for stamping Alvaro Arbeloa on the calf in Liverpool's 6-0 demolition exhibition of the Rams last Saturday. The punishment was originally only three matches, but an additional match was added due to the 25-year-old's appeal and calling the matter 'frivolous'.

I have seen the incident a few times and personally think that it is without a doubt the correct call. He doesn't lose his balance by any means and appears to be looking down at Arbeloa's leg before his cleat leaves the ground. I'm just happy that our player wasn't injured by the incident and still can't believe a card wasn't handed out as it was done almost right in front of the sideline official.

Today's Banter: Crouch an internet sex god?, Le Tallec snubbed Hearts, Xabi could get rare start, & more

- Apparently Peter Crouch is one sexy bastard. According to this article, the England striker has quite the following on Facebook with a group dubbed 'Peter Crouch is a Sex God'. I don't do Facebook so I can't confirm it, but when asked, here's what Crouch supposedly said: "I've never been classed as that before. I'd certainly like to meet these people. I'm sure they're all very attractive." He'd like to meet them? Uh, Crouchy, I don't think you do.

- Anthony Le Tallec is claiming that Hearts offered him 'crazy money' to play for them instead of returning to his home country of France on loan to Le Mans. Wouldn't surprise me since the owner of Hearts, Vladimir Romanov, is mental and has loads of cash. Le Tallec turned down the deal for 'sporting' reasons, which I'm assuming was because of international ambitions.

- Spanish national team manager Luis Aragones has hinted that Xabi Alonso could get a rare start in his country's upcoming Euro-qualifier versus Iceland on Saturday. Xabi had been reduced to bench status for the past year, ever since the World Cup. Aragones also said that, despite a minor knee injury, he expects Torres to start as well.

- Javier Mascherano has come in support of Rafa's rotation policy despite not playing as much as a World Class midfielder would expect. It seems like he's played more for Argentina lately. Javi is all right with his lack of playing time because he understands that it is a long season, we are going after the quadruple, and the more amount of fresh bodies, the better is our chance of winning. It's not rocket science. Too bad the pundits don't get it.

- Finally in two separate articles that have nothing in common, here's a look at our team's debt issues and an article that mentions a few of our former players who will be attending Rhys Jones' funeral. Cheers.

Liverpool Reserves 1, Middlesborough Reserves 1: the highlights

Here are the video highlights from Tuesdays Reserves 1-1 draw with the Middlesborough Reserves. The 'Hand of God' goal from 'Boro is about 1:30 into the video and the penalty incident for Liverpool is about 6:30 into the highlights. Cheers.

LFC Tea Time: Torres Injured, Gerrard trains, Finnan ruled out, Fagan denies stamping & Benayoun praises Stevie-G

- A pretty busy day for knocks and minor bruises on the Liverpool scene, speaking of which, Fernando Torres apparently slightly injured himself in training with Spain today on a challenge from David Abelda. It doesn't appear to be serious, but the 23-year-old striker said that it began to hurt more and more as the day wore on. He is still expected to play for his country in their upcoming Euro-qualifiers against Iceland and Latvia.

- Steven Gerrard participated more in training today for England as they prepare for their Euro-qualifiers against Israel and Russia. Apparently Stevie-G told McClaren that he would be fit for the first match against Israel at Wembley on Saturday. No word on whether he will receive an injection or not.

- With Finnan yet to show at Ireland's training in Malahide, Irish boss Steve Staunton has concluded that the right-back will not be available for his side's upcoming Euro-qualifiers against Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Finnan remained in Liverpool for treatment and assessment from club physicians.

- 25-year-old Derby County striker Craig Fagan has denied charges from the FA that he intentionally stamped on Alvaro Arbeloa's calf in last Saturday's match. He has appealed the decision and the case will now be heard by a regulatory commission tomorrow. Like I've said before, he may have not done it with the appearance of malice, but it looks very intentional.

- Yossi Benayoun has named Steven Gerrard as the best midfielder in the world and believes the Liverpool skipper will do all he can to play for England on Saturday. Not a bad compliment from a guy who has played multiple seasons in La Liga and now the Premiership. I have a feeling he just wants Gerrard to play, hoping he'll re-aggravate his injury, and bettering Benayoun's chances to get pitch time with the club. Just kidding. Cheers.