The genius of Rafa shines through Ryan Babel

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been tediously mulling over data during the international break, the extent of which might deem me certifiably insane. Basically I'm trying to create a 'performance database' for each and every player on our squad in an attempt to quantify as many determinants as possible to figure out what would be their optimal situation to provide maximum performance. I would probably go as far as including elements such as what they ate and at what time on match days if I could get a hold of such data, but as for now, I'm going to stick with basic corporeal information.

Though I've barely built a foundation hardly worthy of drawing any thorough conclusions, today I decided to attempt to assess Rafa's seemingly erratic use of Ryan Babel. When you take a young, inexperienced player with immense talent like Babel, it's usually best to slowly ease him into a new competitive environment as intense and grueling as the Premiership. Rafa has appeared to have done an astounding job, delicately and almost nonchalantly allowing the young Dutchman to familiarize himself with new challenges on his own. Statistically, the results have been more than just positive, they've been extraordinary.

Most sides would probably start Babel and play him as much as possible, but Rafa has the convenience of a deep squad with many players who can occupy the left flank and forward positions. Such comfort afforded our gaffer to use Babel in advantageous situations where he's most likely to utilize his talents to produce positive results and increase his confidence. The 20-year-old has only played in 16 of our 20 matches for a total of 809 minutes by way of 7 starts and 9 substitution appearances. That breaks down to roughly 50 minutes per tie, which is important when computing his contribution per a full appearance in comparison to the team's overall average output.

The data speaks for itself, when Babel is on, we appear to be a better attacking side. As a squad our standard performance consists of 2 goals with 15.3 shots, 6.5 on-goal. Our possession percentage, passing rate, and territorial advantage is 55.7%, 76.8%, and 50.6% respectively. With Babel on the pitch, all those numbers increase, some significantly. Our goals per match average increases to 2.46 on 7.9 shots-on and 17.14 attempts overall. As for the percentage stats, possession swells to 58.2%, passing rate ups to 77.9%, and territorial advantage increases to 51.1%. We average a goal every 36.8 minutes he plays. It's pretty clear that the winger/forward is quite the catalyst in our offensive forays.

Where it gets even more interesting is on defense. Babel clearly isn't much of a contributor at the other end of the pitch, but in using the 'best defense is a good offense' logic, the most telling stat that he positively effects our defensive output is the fact that, as a side, our goals against per match decreases from 0.65 to 0.53 when he's on. Taking in consideration that the obvious circumstances of statistics such as possession percentage and territorial advantage increasing for our side results in a decrease for the opposition and that a total of only 5 goals have been scored against us when Babel is playing, he's arguably just as valuable as any of our defenders.

As our season wears on, I don't expect Babel's role to change. He'll get the occasional start, particularly when cup matches come around, but for the most part I expect him to maintain his super sub status. Just because our team is a better attacking side when he's on the pitch, doesn't mean we should keep him on as much as possible. The genius of Rafa is knowing when and where to use certain players to best help the club. He's proven it with Steven Gerrard, Steve Finnan, John Arne Riise, Alvaro Arbeloa, Fernando Torres, even Craig Bellamy in the past, and now he's affirming it with Babel.

Five interesting stat facts from the season so far

For the past few days I've been mulling over data from the obscure to the obvious for a number of reasons. I really want to get an idea of the contributions each player makes to the whole, who's the most efficient at which position, and most specifically, what players work best with one another. It also reveals some trends that are more than likely coincidental, but interesting nonetheless. Here's five of them:

1. youth + height = win
Though it rarely happens, when Rafa puts out a side that is younger yet taller than the opposition, we win. Four times so far this season it's occurred: Toulouse (2nd leg), Derby County, Cardiff City, and Fulham. Of course this means little considering the opponent and the fact that they were all played at Anfield.

2. Goals are scarce at Anfield?
If you take away Toulouse, Derby, and Besitkas, we've only scored 8 goals in 7 matches at home this season. Not that we've been much better on the road. Take away the Reading match and we've only managed 10 goals in 9 matches away from Anfield.

3. Our most dominating performance of the season was a scoreless draw at home
You read that right, our most dominating performance was the 0-0 draw against Birmingham at Anfield. In that match we had our highest possession percentage at 71.5%, and both our second highest pass success rate (81.9%) and territorial advantage (56.8%). We also had our most corners won at 11. So why didn't we win nor score? Our shooting was piss poor. We had 4 shots on goal the entire match, 3 right in front of the net.

4. Statistically our worst performance was a draw on the road
You know, I didn't think we played that bad at Porto, but the numbers tell a whole different story. In fact, we had no right even taking a point. How bad were we? Try one shot on goal, a single corner kick won, a possession percentage of 43.5%, and a passing rate of 64.2%. All four of those stats were season lows. Pennant's red card didn't help either. The amazing part is that Porto needed a penalty just to get the draw.

5. The Riise factor
This is one of those odd stats where there's much more at play than just one simple movement, but it is sort of eye-opening. In the 5 matches that John Arne Riise has had to move to left-back due to substitution reasons, we've scored 8 goals... in 130 minutes. If Rafa could somehow tap into this trend, we could average more than three goals a match, rather than 2 as we do now. Of course, there are two other factors that play into this that aren't present at the beginning or during an entire match. First, fresh players are brought in to revitalize the attack and second, the opposition has tired out a bit.

These are just some odd bits I've come across so far and I have a ton of more work to do, but I hope to have a better feel for our side when it's all said and done. Expect more interesting tidbits in the near future. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Kuyt burgled, Deco talks dirt?, Gerrard pep talks England, & more

Dirk Kuyt became the fifth Liverpool player in eighteen months to have his home burgled last Thursday while he was away on international duty. Just another reason to quit the national team if you ask me. Anyhow, this of course shows that Merseyside is riddled with crime and a far worse place to live than say Manchester or London, right? Wrong. If anything it shows that at least the criminals are smart enough to know who to target. Just for kicks, check out the 193-page report on crime in the UK and Wales from the Home Office. If you don't want to bother, ponder this: per 10,000 households in Merseyside approximately 0.0352% were burgled between August 2006 and July 2007. Greater Manchester? 0.0518%. London? 0.0422%. In fact, those two areas are worse percentage-wise in every category of crime, but facts don't matter, right? Moving on...

Oh my God, Barça's Deco forgot to mention us as contenders for the Champions League, so he must not think that we have much of a chance. I am so riled up at the moment, I mean, just because we have a slim chance of advancing to the knockout stage, doesn't mean we can't win at all! That Brazilian, uh, I mean Portuguese ponce! This is called 'mocking a shit rag site who has nothing better to do than make things up.' Deco doesn't mention us, big deal.

Gerrard must want some expensive gifts for Christmas. I mean, who are the two England players whose asses you'd kiss to get, say, most likely a Ferrari from as a present for Christmas? It's not Joleon Lescott or Nicky Shorey, I assure you that. Our captain was just full of praise for John Terry and David Beckham in this article.
Stevie-G wants the side to win it for the Chelsea defender and thinks that Beckham is still 'international class.' Those comments are worth at least a bottle or five of Krug Clos du Mesnil.

Robbie Threlfall dreams of playing for Liverpool one day. The soon-to-be 19-year-old local product may be far down the left-back totem pole, but he knows if he works hard and continues to develop, he's got a shot at making the first team. He's currently on-loan at Hereford United where he has started four matches. They play again today in FA Cup action at Leeds. I honestly think the kid's got what it takes to be a first-team contributor in two-to-three years after being impressed by him in the preseason against South China FC.

Finally, I feel sorry for Pepe Reina. It looks as if our keeper will be in net for Spain when they face Northern Ireland in Euro qualifying tomorrow. The game is meaningless to the Spaniards so I hope Luis Aragonés plays youngsters who care and are looking to impress their coach for future call-ups. If not, it could be a long day for Pepe as Norn Iron has to win to have any chance of advancing. Of course, with the Green & White Army relying on Latvia to upset Sweden, they might as well not even try either. Cheers.

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: Kewell survives Nigeria, No interest in Javi Martínez, West Ham want Hobbs? & more

Probably the best news to come out of the weekend was Harry Kewell playing the full match for Australia. The 29-year-old started on the wing for the Socceroos as they beat Nigeria 1-0 at Wembley. Interim manager Rob Baan hopes this helps Kewell get more time and play more often for us. Obviously he's not too familiar with the ways of Rafa.

I don't know where the rumors of our interest in Athletic Bilbao central midfielder Javi Martínez emanated from, but they've been rubbished by Rafa Benitez. I thought it was a bit strange that we were going after the 19-year-old with the amount of players we already have at that position. This pretty much scratches any chance of a move for Momo in the January window, something I'm against anyhow.

There's a little disinformation in this article regarding West Ham's interest in obtaining Jack Hobbs on loan in January. He actually has made his first team debut. In fact, I believe he's played three matches overall for us, one start and two subs, but that aside, I think it'd be a great idea to let him go to the Hammers on a six month loan. He might actually get some pitch time there and if he's as good as everyone says, they won't include an option to make it permanent. I've yet to be impressed by the lad myself, but it's not like he's really had a chance to 'settle in' with the first team.

Finally, in other transfer news it's been reported here that the £17m quoted as the transfer fee for Javier Mascherano may also include his salary over five years. Not sure how that'll work out and it sort of makes little sense, but I hope he's not getting screwed over by MSI and Kia Joorabchian. In that same article is another reference to Racing Santander centre back Ezequiel Garay, who I have to believe is our top target in January. Cheers.

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.

Today's Banter: Carra praises Hyypiä & Reina, Bayern wants Benitez, Javi responds, & more

With all the time he's got on his hands these days, Jamie Carragher has decided to give somewhat of a state-of-the-club address with particular praise for his centre back partner and Pepe Reina. Carra makes a good point that taking eight points from a run of Goodison, Arsenal, Ewood, and Fulham at Anfield is a decent string of results. He then goes on to point out how Hyypiä has raised his level of play recently, something that hasn't gone unnoticed, but also adds that it seems when the Finn plays well, the whole team appears to follow suit. That's something I haven't really recognized, but come to think of it, he may be right. Finally, the man from Bootle calls Pepe Reina one of the three best keepers in the world along with Petr Čech and Gianluigi Buffon, as well as the best he's ever played with. Good call, Carra, way to schmooze your teammates so close to Christmas and all.

Apparently Bayern Munich wants Rafa to replace Ottmar Hitzfeld at the end of the season. I won't even address such rubbish, Bayern is no where near the club they once were just six or seven years ago and Rafa is investing too much time and energy to be lured away by what's frankly a lesser club.

Moving on, one of our transfer targets, Javi Martínez of Athletic Bilbao, appears to be open to a move to the Premiership, but wants to do what's best for his club and himself. Sounds to me as if he's going to go elsewhere, he wants his current club to make a substantial financial gain for doing so. I've got to wonder that if he's not a true winger or can even be effective on the flank, do we really need another central midfielder? I think not, unless Rafa has something up his sleeve like selling Momo, but I doubt it.

Finally, we have a delusional and ill-informed Man U fan trying to compare their debt issues to ours. Sorry, but as usual, a Man U failed to do the actual work and tried to pass half-assed biased opinion for fact. The Red Devils (not Reds, mind you) have a current debt of at least £660m, stemming from the Glazers refinancing in July of 2006, so it could actually be more than that, especially if you consider the amount they spent on players this past summer and that the Glazers will probably do their best to keep the fans and media in the dark about financial matters at the club due the negative light it tends to shed. Liverpool's debt currently sits at around £300m, but the owners are will have to refinance soon to fund the building of the new stadium. At most it will increase to around £520m, which is still well less than the Mancs. I realize that misery loves company, but I refuse to be dragged into the hell of ignorance that epitomizes the typical Man U 'fan'. Cheers.

On-loan watch: Will Paul Anderson play tonight?

Swansea City will look to extend an unbeaten run of 10 matches tonight when they face Huddersfield Town at the Liberty. It is unclear whether or not Paul Anderson will be available to play, but since I've yet to read otherwise, I'm going to assume that he will. On Tuesday, the 19-year-old winger was subbed off in the 50th minute of the Swans' League Trophy match with Yeovil Town, though there have been no reports to think that it was anything but a precautionary measure. Anderson will be looking to add to his goal tally of eight as the Swans have a chance to go to the top of the League One table if they manage to win by a margin of two or more. If anyone gets the chance to see this match, feel free to comment below on Anderson's performance.

Flash Friday: Volley Challenge 2007/08

Ugh, I had nightmares about this game for about two weeks until I finally won the league. My hand-eye coordination is not what it was 20 years ago when I was vying time between my Commodore 64, NES, and Sega Master System. Ah, those were the days...

Anyhow, the premise is basically to slam volleys past the opposing team's keeper to collect points. Each club you face has a set number of points you need to beat in order to draw or win the match. The number of points per squad depends on how good they may be, in other words, Man U and Chelsea have the highest amount to overcome.

Once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy. I now like to go ahead and get the necessary amount to earn my three points and then try to smash the ball in the head of the defenders. Most of the time it's Gary Neville... it feels so good.

Just in case you missed the link, go here. Cheers and good luck getting any work done for the rest of the day.

Transfer target: Javi Martínez

Javier Martínez Aguinaga is a 19-year-old midfielder currently plying his trade with La Liga outfit Athletic Bilbao. Born in Pamplona, Spain, Martinez attended the youth academy at Osasuna where he eventually earned 32 starts for the B team, scoring a pair of goals. In 2006, the young Spaniard was bought by Los Leones for €6m and has since become a first-team regular. He has been compared to Patrick Vieira for their similar size and style of play. In 48 matches, he's scored 3 goals.

Here's a video of him scoring a brace against Deportivo. The second one is a nice display of his speed, ball control, and determination:


Here's a compilation of the 'best' goals from La Liga and 2006/07. Martinez is number 9 with a great curling lob from right outside the box. The music is awesome as usual by the way:

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.

SHOCKING NEWS!!! Another Man U player can't play for England!!!

Are you shocked?!?!?!? I'm blown away!!!!

It's practically predicted on every other page of Nostradamus' Prophecies. Word on the street is that Michael Carrick stubbed his toe and was walking around on crutches with a cast on his foot until someone told him he wasn't selected to play in the upcoming matches for England. He was back training in less than an hour.

Anyhow, kudos to Fergie for his ingenuity. If you don't know what I'm referring to, Owen Hargreaves has declared himself unfit for England. He claims that he only has enough cartilage left in his knees to play for Man U. Well, at least it's a legitimate reason.

Another story coming out of Old Trafford is that Wes Brown cut himself shaving and won't be able to go if Russia beats Israel on Saturday. More on that story as it develops. Now back to the 'real' news of Gerrard's xenophobia.

Busting the 'big spending' Benitez myth

I love the 'wind-up' blogs, don't you? The ones that end their post titles with lots of exclamation marks or just have a moronically vague title like 'Is Rafa crazy???' Yes, he is. Wow, that took more brain power than the content of the actual post. Anyhow, earlier this week, some idiot, who claimed to be a Liverpool fan by the way, referred to Rafa as a 'big spender.' I nearly lost the plot I laughed so hard. I wonder, does anyone actually think that? If so, let me rather easily convince you otherwise.

For sake of argument, let's take the period between Rafa's hiring and the end of last season to analyze how much of a spender Benitez is compared to the other big four managers. Rafa was hired in June of 2004, so for instance, I won't include the amount earned through the sale of Emile Heskey since it occurred in May of that year. I also won't include the transactions of this past summer since their affect is of yet not quantifiable in the terms I aim to utilize.

Between the period of his hiring and the final whistle of the Champions League final last May, Rafa had paid out roughly £80 for 16 players, from Josemi to the loan-fee of Javier Mascherano. During that same period, he sold £43m worth of players, 13 in all, from Danny Murphy to Stephen Warnock. I didn't include Djibril Cisse since technically he wasn't sold until this past July. That's a difference of approximately £37m for 1 major trophy (2005 Champions League) and 1 minor trophy (2006 FA Cup).

During that same time frame, Sir Alex Ferguson spent around £75m on 9 players, from Wayne Rooney to Michael Carrick, and rid himself of 8 players for roughly £26m, Van Nistelrooy to Real Madrid being a large chunk of that. That's a difference of approximately £49 for 1 major trophy (2007 Premiership) and 1 minor trophy (2006 League Cup). The same amount of cups won by Benitez only at £12m more.

Jose Mourinho, who joined Chelsea the same summer as Rafa took the Liverpool job, has spent a whopping £209m on players and sold £49m worth. That's a difference of £160m for 2 major trophies (2005, 2006 EPL) and 3 minor trophies (2005, 2007 League Cup & 2007 FA Cup). That's basically £32m per trophy, roughly £8m more per than Ferguson, and a little more than twice as much as Benitez.

The undisputed king of getting the most bang for your buck is Wenger though. The Arsenal manager has spent around £29m during Rafa's reign and, thanks in large part to the sale of Patrick Vieria to Juventus in the summer of 2005, has received roughly £27m for departures. Of course all he has to show for it is the 2005 FA Cup and a 2006 Champions League second place medal, but that's what £2m will get you these days.

Clearly Rafa has not been a 'big spender' and has done wonders with the limited funds and players provided. If one wants to call him a 'big spender' after this summer, well, that's mythical as well. He may have bought 5 players (Lucas, Leto, Torres, Benayoun, & Babel) for a total of £43.5m, but he also sold 4 players (Gonzo, Bellamy, Garcia, & Cisse) for £21m. Compared to Sir Alex at Man U, who spent somewhere in the ballpark of £50-60m depending on how much the Tevez loan fee actually was, £22.5m is chump change.

(By the way, all the data used in this post was collected through hard work. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the official financial data of any club, so I had to peruse numerous sources, checking and re-checking figures I might add. If you'd like to take the time to prove my numbers otherwise, well, I'd appreciate it and make the proper corrections. Otherwise, comments questioning the figures presented will be rubbished. Good day!)

Today's Banter: Bellamy named Welsh FOY, BBC half-ass apologizes, Injury update, & more

Congratulations to Craig Bellamy who was named Footballer of the Year for Wales, beating out the likes of Ryan Giggs and Gareth Bale. Anytime a Liverpool player, former or not, beats out a Man U player for something, the sun seems to shine a little brighter. It was the first time the 28-year-old striker has won the award. The always humble Bells was surprised to win, but thought he was more deserving in previous years. I sometimes wonder if he was still with our side, what kind of contribution he'd make. Outside of leading the club in offside calls that is.

The BBC just doesn't get it. In their apology for an Eastenders character making remarks about Heysel, Hillsborough, and hooliganism, they claim it was 'misinterpreted.' Any chance of such a notion should be avoided when referencing such a sensitive subject. The causes and the consequences of those events are much too complicated for a television show to handle in just a matter of a couple of lines. Stick to the lame-ass imaginary story lines and stop trying to mix in reality where real people were/are killed and other real people were/are traumatized because of it. Moving on...

There's a good chance that Daniel Agger will be back for the Newcastle match at St. James Park. The 22-year-old Dane is expected to return to full training next week. Since Hyypiä will probably play for Finland next Tuesday, the young centre back's return couldn't come at a better time. Yossi Benayoun could be back in action for the Tyneside tie as well, but Xabi Alonso will be at least an additional week if not more.

In transfer market news, Rafa is ready to sell Scott Carson to Villa if the club are prepared to meet his valuation. It is thought that Benitez wants at least £9m for him. I wonder if we waited until the summer, we could get a bit more for him, especially since Arsene Wenger is an admirer and is in need of a better goalie. Of course, if we could use that money to sign Masche on a permanent, there's no question we should sell.

Sticking to transfers, we are apparently interested in Juventus defender Jonathan Zebina. The 29-year-old Frenchman has apparently fallen out of favor with Claudio Reyna at the Old Lady and could be available in the January transfer window. He can play both right-back and central defense. I say if the price is right, why not? The more the merrier, as long as he doesn't mind not playing every match.

In the laughable news category, apparently Hamburg SV stole the next greatest striker in the world, Macauley Chrisantus, out from under us and every other big club in the world. Let's see here, a youth player has a great U17 World Cup, gets hyped up and apparently everyone wants him. Well, that always works out... *cough* Anthony LeTallec *cough* *cough* Florent Sinama-Pongolle *cough*... We've learned our lesson there.

Finally, in the pot -> kettle -> black category, Real Madrid youth coach Michel took a cheap shot at us for 'stealing' 16-year-old Argentine Gerardo Bruna after the young forward had spent the three previous seasons with the Spanish club. Michel goes on to say, “How many young players taken by Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have played for their first team? They sign the boy to a contract, make all sorts of promises and then put him in their reserves and never give him a competitive game.” Ha ha ha... is he kidding? Two words: Alvaro Arbeloa. Cheers.

on-loan watch: Miki Roque for Xerez? & League Trophy results

The only kid that could have saw action today was Miki Roque for Xerez CD. The Segunda División side faced former LFC player Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Recreativo de Huelva in the first leg of the 5th round of the Copa Del Rey. Don't expect the 19-year-old to have seen any action though, for according to the official Xerez site, he's yet to play a single minute for his temporary side, which currently sit third from bottom on the división table, a point from relegation safety.

If he's not going to play, why is he there? He may be injured, but since he hasn't played at all, I have to assume otherwise, even though with Torres we know how rough the Spaniards can be in training. At least if he had stayed he'd play once in a while with the Reserves and get a chance to train with top flight players occasionally. Seems like a waste unless Rafa doesn't figure the young Spaniard in the club's future anyhow. Who knows. Anyhow, it looks like his side fell 0-1 to Recre on a goal by former Xerez forward Javier Camuñas.

In yesterday's Johnstone Paint Trophy action, Paul Anderson and Swansea City knocked Lee Peltier and Yeovil Town out of the competition, 1-0. Anderson failed to score for the first League trophy match of his career and was actually substituted in the 50th minute though it doesn't appear because of injury. Lee Peltier played the full ninety for his club.

Finally, Hartlepool United and Godwin Antwi were eliminated by Morecambe on penalty kicks as the match ended 1-1 in extra time. Antwi played the full match, but did neither score his side's lone goal nor participate in the decisive penalty kicks. Cheers.

Comparing Arbeloa and Finnan

I've been quite surprised to read on other blogs and elsewhere, that it's time Alvaro Arbeloa get regular starts over Steve Finnan at right back. I'm even more shocked when I read that some think Finnan is past it and should be sold in the January transfer window. I strongly disagree. First off, when did Steve Finnan become known for his pace? The Irishman is a player who has always used his head more than his physical attributes, so to say that he is a turtle compared to Arbeloa's hare is stating the obvious.

There's no doubt that Arbeloa has improved from last year. In January, he came onto the club like gangbusters and made an immediate impact by shutting down Lionel Messi in only his second match ever for us. As last year wore on though, his faults started to show. He got caught out of position by going too far forward on numerous occasions and his tackling abilities came more into question. I honestly think he was just bored in some of these incidences, but still, that's no excuse.

This year the Spaniard seems to be playing back more, especially later in matches when fatigue sets in and his pace can't save him from being out of position. His early match spurts of going forward, even though they have yet to produce a goal, definitely help open opposing defenses and force them to pay attention to his movements. His tackling has improved greatly as well.

The biggest difference between the two players is that Steve Finnan is a true wing-back and Arbeloa is more of a straight-on attacking fullback. I'm not saying that the Spaniard is incapable of making a great cross, I'm just saying he's more adept at approaching the goal from the front. I feel really sorry that Benitez has to decide between the two different styles when analyzing which would be best at exposing an opponent's weaknesses. That's called sarcasm, by the way.

Finnan is by no means past it. He is solid on defense as always, but I do feel that he appears to go forward less this season than in the past. When we were suffering through that string of numbing draws earlier in the season though, at times Finnan looked the only one on the pitch who was trying to make something happen. The one negative thing I will say about Finney is that at 31 he needs to retire from international duty. It would actually probably be best for Ireland as well, since they need to start integrating youth into their squad, especially since they won't have a chance to participate in any major competitions until the 2010 World Cup.

Liverpool fans should embrace the fact that we have a class player like Finnan to teach and show Arbeloa the ropes of playing fullback in the Premiership. Finnan doesn't exude the flashiness of Arbeloa, so I don't expect him to get the kind of praise he deserves, but at times, even with that dedication and undying resolve he gives our club, some aren't giving him the proper respect. He is still one of the best right backs in the Premiership and most clubs would give their right arm to have him. We should appreciate him while we can because no matter what, Arbeloa will get his chances to impress.

Transfer target: Ezequiel Garay

Ezequiel Marcelo Garay is a Argentine centre/right back currently playing for Racing Santander. The 21-year-old signed with the La Liga club from Newell's Old Boys two years ago and has made quite an impact. Adept with his head on set pieces and solid on penalty kicks, Garay has amassed 9 goals in 38 league matches for the Spanish side. He has received multiple call-ups to the Argentina National team, but has had to reject all but one due to injury. He was also a regular for his country's youth side that won the 2005 U20 World Cup in the Netherlands. Manchester United are among the other clubs in pursuit of his services and his valuation is set at £10m. I think he'd be quite the pairing with Agger. Here's some videos of his work.

A header goal for Newell's Old Boys from a free kick. It begins about 40 seconds in:


Another sensational header goal, this time for Racing:


A six-minute interview which includes a bit about the anchovies of Santander:

Today's Banter: Gerrard for foreigner quota, Eastenders sensationalizes Hillsborough, Carra enjoying time off, & more

I would write a headline like 'Gerrard hates foreigners', but unlike just the one single comment I have ever received calling me a 'wind-up merchant', I am in fact not and honestly, anyone who states such an opinion does not read me regularly. Furthermore, I cannot stand the non-news sites, a.k.a. 'wind-up blogs', who write rubbish trying to draw people to their sites so they can increase their hits. They are not fans of football and just do so for monetary reasons. It makes me sick. Maybe I'll do a post calling these people out in the near future because they severely water-down the soccer blog community and nearly nullify efforts such as my own to provide quality opinions and insight into my club and the sport itself. Those idiots give solace to the idea that football fans are thick-headed. Anyhow...

Steven Gerrard is all over the press like ants on sugar. First, our captain chimes in on the topic of a foreigner quota or at least a set amount of English players required for each Premiership squad. There's a number of reasons why this will never happen and the first is that it just won't work. All the propositions I've read about are having a set number of English players on a side's squad. With no limits on the amount of players a club can have, that wouldn't matter. Take a wild guess as to how many English players are in Liverpool's squad? Try nine and that doesn't include the seven we have out-on-loan neither the nine at the Academy. That's 25 of the 74 total players in all.

Second, if they set a quota for only allowing the number of foreigners eligible to play for a certain match, then you delude the quality of play on the field. Like it or not, it's no longer England's Premiership, but the world's, and it's going to have to reflect that notion to maintain it's popularity and economic status. To blame the failures of the national team on the lack of playing opportunities in the EPL is simply rubbish, especially when you have tactless and spineless individuals running your country's squad.

Speaking of McClaren, Gerrard sees 'no point changing managers every five months or every year.' Stevie G, I love ya, but what are you talking about?! McClaren has been at the helm for 15 months now and has the second worse record of any England manager in history. He's clearly out of his element. As long as he is allowed to continue, England has absolutely no chance of winning anything. I don't know why I'm complaining, eventually it just means more rest for Gerrard.

Popular BBC soap opera, Eastenders, created quite the controversy when it alluded to the disaster of Hillsborough as being the responsibility of hooliganism. The scene in question involves a group of 'hoodlums' in search of another character with a hooligan past, but are apparently confronted by a character who says, 'Five years out of Europe because of Heysel, because they pinned you lot in to stop you fighting on the pitch, and then what did we end up with – Hillsborough.' Though clearly socially irresponsible, it's not as if it doesn't represent the ignorance of most people who either choose to know nothing about Hillsborough and just chalk it up to hooliganism out of convenience or the other poor sods who use the disastrous event in poor taste as ammunition against LFC supporters.

The show does try to portray a social realist angle, but the insensitivity of the approach here is quite inconsiderate. Sadly the influence of imaginary people spewing mis-educated opinions is greater than truth and reality. I won't divulge anymore on the subject, but do agree that Eastenders owe the families of the victims and those that were present and traumatized by the event, a sincere apology.

Recently we've added a couple of kids to our ever-growing world youth arsenal. Lauri Dalla Valle, a 15-year-old Finnish attacking midfielder, was signed to a contract to join the club in January. Valle is considered one the best talents ever to come out of the Scandinavian country and was at Inter last year. Other clubs that pursued him include Chelsea. The plans are to keep him at the Academy for a year-and-a-half and then integrte him into Melwood. More recently, 16-year-old Swedish centre back Tim Bjorkstrom was granted a trial of indeterminate length to train at the Academy. Bjorkstrom has played with the Swedish U17s and for Swedish side Brommapojkarna.

Finally, Jamie Carragher is enjoying his two-week fixture-free 'holiday' since he doesn't have to suit up for England. The 29-year-old centre back is enjoying the light training sessions at Melwood and spending more time with his wife and kids. Doesn't that sound great, Stevie? Furthermore, he has no regrets about quitting England. He shouldn't, being played out-of-position constantly and not getting the opportunities he was entitled to and earned was just pure rubbish. Cheers.

Paul Anderson's goal vs Millwall

Still looking for the Gillingham goal and the League Trophy goals, but here's his crucial 78th minute equalizer versus Millwall on the 6th of November. It's the last one of the highlights about 40 seconds in. Cheers.

Johnstone Paint Trophy: Loaned kids in action today

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. Two of them might even square off against one another.

Godwin Antwi and Hartlepool United will host Morecambe at Victoria Park this evening. The 19-year-old Ghanaian-Spanish centre-back/defensive midfielder saw action for the first time in a month two days ago. He replaced Gary Liddle in the 56th minute of the Monkey Hangers' 6-0 thrashing of Gainsborough Trinity in the first round of the FA Cup. The last time Godwin started or even played for the 'Pools prior was in their last League Trophy match, a 5-2 win over Lincoln. He has one goal for his temporary League One Side and that came in their August 18th 2-1 home win over Doncaster.

Paul Anderson looks to add to his goal tally of eight as the Swans welcome Yeovil to Liberty Stadium. The 19-year-old winger will also be looking to extend his streak of scoring in League Trophy matches to three as he as already netted in his side's wins over Millwall and Wycombe.

On the other side of the pitch, Lee Peltier could very well be facing his former youth-side teammate as he looks to get the start for Yeovil. The 20-year-old defender/midfielder has started in 14 matches so far this year for The Glovers, though has yet to score. He did net in pre-season for Liverpool though, in a friendly versus Crewe.

It's too bad James Smith is no longer at Stockport, because the Hatters are in action as well.