On Wednesday the 3-2 defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League ended our season this term as the two remaining Premier League games are meaningless now and hopefully should Rafa the chance to give a couple of the promising youngsters a chance in the first team.

We were shocking in the first half against Chelsea but were by far the better team in the second half and in all fairness i fully expected us to win the game in normal time.

Chelsea i don’t think are a better side then us and you are talking very fine margins that led to defeat on Wednesday when better finishing from Torres or better standard from the officials and over the two legs we could have gone through quite comfortably which is very encouraging.

Chelsea picked up the pace for about 5 minutes in extra time and this was enough to win them the game but when you look at the first goal it was clearly offside and Sami appeared to be clearly fouled in the box which would have resulted in a penalty and possibly a different outcome.

The game has finished now and i dont want to sound like an Everton fan going on about ‘ifithadntbeenfor’ so im going to change the subject and just hope we learn from the experience.

Obviously for reasons in the posts below there have been worse seasons then the current one but i feel the off field wrangling has had a big impact on season.

Everything can not be blamed on the board room squabbling though and our inability to convert draws into victories has cost us a challenge this term.

Games at Anfield against Birmingham and Wigan instantly spring to mind plus for me the perfect example of where we have gone wrong this season was the draw against Aston Villa. We completly dominated that game and a four or five nil victory would not have been harsh on Villa, instead we had to snatch a late draw.

Other areas we need to improve on is games against the other top four. Man United are top of the league and they also have the best record of ‘head-to-head’ when the top four have come up against one another and that is something we need to address.

So now can prepare for a summer of International football we can also think of players who we can sign to hopefully make a challenge for the major honours next season but with a very limited budget that is going to be difficult.

 

It was 19 years ago that 96 fans died whilst doing something they loved, watching Liverpool FC.

Its unbelievable to think that so much time as passed but still justice for the events on that day have not been resolved.

RIP to all the 96 who lost their lives on this day 19 years ago.

YNWA

No i dont mean another Champions League semi final but its time for the leaked pictures of our new strip.

Below is confirmed to be the proper kits and not fake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the picture the the collar has been changed once again and the three Addidas stripes only go three quarters of the way down the sleeves.

I must admit i like it even if it does look like a Bayern Munich shirt.

Some more pictures are below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the bottom right picture it has small details into the cloth but it seems the liverbird is missing that was on the back of the current strip, shame really as i liked that design feature.

Obviously you have plenty of fake pictures of various kits and this may well be one of them but i have it on good authority that this is what the ‘new’ home shirt will look like.

Thanks to www.footballshirtculture.com for the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to the Liverpool reserve team for winning the Northern Reserve League with still two games to play.

We now await the winners of the Southern Reserve League (currently Aston Villa) to see who is crowned the national champions.

Thanks to a 0-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers tonight it leaves them 8 points clear with only a possible 6 points to play for.

The single goal was scored once again by Kristian Nemeth who has really impressed me this season. He has an eye for as his record this season shows but he also can play in a role slightly behind a striker as he seems to be able to thread a great pass as well.

Tonights team had an average age of 19 and although in the current media setup its fashionable to say how good Wenger and his kids are i think Rafa is currently building a superb reserve team and i would imagine quite a few of tonights team will be knocking on the first team door over the next season or so and in the long run this could save us millions.

Rafa can not do all this on his own and special mention has to be made to Gary Ablett who is proving to be an inspired appointment as reserve team coach.

I will admit that i wanted Gary Mac or possibly Sammy Lee to be the reserve team coach so i wasnt blown at the appointment of Ablett but he has come into the job and having so far lost just one league all season showing he is a superb coach and more importantly for me he seems to have the respect of the youngsters who are obviously paying attention to what he coaches them.

Plessis made his first team debut for Liverpool on Saturday away at Arsenal against the golden boy Fabregas and he didnt look out of place all game. This is a testament to the lads talent that he was able to make the step up from reserve team football to the Premiership.

The young french lad is not on his own as been quality looking youngsters we currently have in our reserve team who must be near to be ready for first team football and im sure if we can secure Champions League football for next season with games to spare i expect to see a few of them experiencing for themselves what Plessis did on Saturday.

Players such as Nemeth, Insua and Spearing if can recapture his early season form can all be close to making the step up.

The thing for me is in the summer players such as Voronin hopefully should be sold but why spend money on a squad player when a player such as Nemeth can step up and become the fourth choice striker at the club.

In the summer i expect Rafa to sign at least one high quality player, hopefully in the Torres standard of player but i also expect some more youngsters brought into the club and if they are anything like the currnent crop of kids then i cant wait.

Where was the drama, the passion.

Bill Kenwright, Evertons theatre loving Chairman will have been disappointed to watch his team show no fight at all this afternoon in trying to beat Liverpool although he may have been impressed by Yakubu’s acting to try and get a penalty.

 Before the match i wondered how we would react to the Manchester United defeat and if i was honest with Mascherano missing i hoped the players would not be feeling sorry for themselves.

 I need not have worried as after only 6 minutes Fernando Torres scored yet again as we were tearing into Everton with ease.

As the first half continued we looked like scoring every-time we went forward. Both Babel and Kuyt should have scored and i admit i was disappointed that we only went in at half time only one goal to the good.

If you had said to me before the game that we would be leading 1-0 at half time and looked comfortable then i would have been happy but the way we were playing and the chances we were creating we really should have been three up at the interval and able to rest key players for the upcoming games against Arsenal.

This was not to be so Everton were still in the game as the second half started and although all the way through the half i don’t think Everton looked like scoring it was still nervous towards the end as we just strolled through the whole half and allowed Everton to think they could snatch a draw at the end.

We won today but in all fairness i would like to think we can play a lot better. We had spells when we looked capable of scoring at ease but most of the game it was just a stroll and i don’t think i have seen for many a year a merseyside derby with as little fight from the opposition.

Everton offered nothing today and they were lucky to come off the pitch with only a 1-0 defeat as it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

In midfield we surrendered possession way too much for my liking and if we do that against Arsenal we will get punished a lot more.  Even Gerrard dropped back into midfield at times to retain the ball but even then Alonso and especially Lucas proceeded to just give it away.

Once again Torres will grab the headlines for the goal but it was his partner in crime Steven Gerrard who i think special mention.

Gerrard came under a lot criticism after his display against Man United but today i thought he was superb. He chased down loose balls all game and there was no way we were going to lose today with Gerrard in this form.

 Of course however well Gerrard played it also helps when you have a player with the ability and pace of Fernando Torres upfront.

When the ball broke to him at the start of the first half you knew it was going to be a goal. His pace and reaction are superb and Everton just didn’t know how to cope with him. Every-time he received the ball the they would just back away from him as they had no answer for his pace.

A victory is still a victory and im been greedy having wanted more goals but it is a shame we didn’t score a few more and really allow us to have a good laugh at Everton but at the end of the day we got the three points and hopefully have put enough distance between us and Everton to make Champions League football next almost secure.

In a radio interview last night George Gillett let his feelings known regards Tom Hicks and there relationship in running the football club.

Gillett goes on to say that there is no way he will be selling to Tom Hicks, not even one percent but mentions ‘don’t think about selling but buying’.

What that statement from Gillett means i don’t know, could he be the minority partner that DIC were interested in to help buy Liverpool?

Gillett goes on to say that DIC would be great owners for Liverpool as they have the history and the finances to be able to make Liverpool the best again.

What i found interesting about the interview is that Gillett implied that Tom Hicks had to chance to buy Gilletts shares but couldn’t afford them and that time has now passed. This to me indicates that a period of time for Hicks to veto any plans for Gillett to sell has now passed and that DIC should be clear to buy Gilletts shares but they will go for Hicks as well.

 Gillett is pretty damning of Tom Hicks and makes reference to his ‘public provardo’ been the most important thing for Hicks when the reality is much different.

What Gillett is making reference to is the fact that Tom Hicks is in financial trouble thanks to the credit crunch (more detail can be found on my last blog entry) but is trying to put on a ‘public face’ to make out he is alright when the reality is far from it.

What i did find disturbing is Gillett speaking out about death threats to both himself and his family. I want the ownership issue resolved as much as the next person but to resolve to those kind of tactics should not be encouraged by any fan however deep their hatred for the Americans are.

The interview can be listened to at the link below and it is worth it as it does make a couple of things clear but as you would expect some things are still left unanswered.

One thing that does come clear and that is i would expect changes at Liverpool but probably not until the end of the season.

http://www.fan590.com/media.jsp?content=20080327_191143_5912

According to The Independent newspaper this morning DIC are still wanting to buy Liverpool Football Club and according to the paper a deal should be concluded within 4 weeks.

Here is the article in full -

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/dic-to-seal-163400m-deal-for-liverpool-in-three-to-four-weeks-800255.html

We have heard all this before and if the newspapers were to be believed then Liverpool would have been taken over weeks ago. A deal was supposed to have been imminent and a matter of days about 2 months ago and still we are no nearer to having new owners. Or are we.

At the moment The United States of America are going through a ‘credit crunch’ in that banks are refusing to lend money and this is leading to many investment firms witnessing their assets plummet in value.

A fine example would be if you had a £100,000 investment then it would probably currently be worth about £60-70,000.

What this means is if you have an investment which is currently valued at more then you purchased it for and you have an interested buyer who is willing to pay over the odds then in the current climate you would be foolish not to take them up on this offer as the ‘pinch’ in America is showing no signs of getting better.

Tom Hicks recently announced he was breaking off talks with DIC regards the take over of the club and used his power to veto a deal for his business partner, George Gillett, to sell his shares.

The reason for this is Mr Hicks knows that as soon as DIC purchased 50% of the club then they can force the American out via the power of the board and DIC themselves vetoing any potential plans Tom Hicks may have had for the club.

 Tom Hicks has already been advised by JP Morgan (a very large investment bank in America) to accept DIC’s offer as the long term outlook for being able to make a substantial amount of money from Liverpool is bleak under the current circumstances.

 Mr Hicks may well have thought he could get through the ‘credit crunch’ but when you have a company like Bear Stearns, one of Americas largest investment banks in crisis then Tom Hicks has to seriously consider his options and that best one if to sell Liverpool FC whilst he can.

 What if he doesn’t sell Liverpool? Well the repercussions of that are that Tom Hicks has to initially ‘buyout’ his partner George Gillett. That will cost in the region of £200 million which Hicks just doesnt have and no-one, especially from America is willing to invest that sort of money at the moment.

If Tom Hicks does manage to get the £200 million to buy George Gilletts shares then the next step to start generating money from Liverpool is to build the new stadium. This is going to cost around £300 million to build and is the most important factor in whoever ‘owns’ Liverpool FC in making some serious money.

This is where teams such as Manchester United are miles ahead of Liverpool in that they can attract nearly 30,000 people every home game through the turnstiles.

The problem here for Tom Hicks is the price tag of £300 million to build the ‘New Anfield’. This can be offset by getting a loan which is paid for by future profits like what Arsenal have done but once again most banks are not prepared to lend anyone a large amount of money as that and especially to someone as high risk as Tom Hicks.

The clock is ticking now for the Texan. Does he accept DIC’s bid of £400 million for the club or does he get a new business partner who is prepared to bankroll everything but have little say.

The longer Tom Hicks leaves it then the lower the price will be that DIC will offer due to the fact earlier next year Hicks and Gillett are going to have to re-finance their loans again and the banks will not be willing to lend them the money therefore DIC can offer them far less knowing they are not in a position to refuse.

I don’t think we will be having a media frenzy like we did a couple of weeks ago when a new story was leaked every day but take my word for it there is still plenty happening at Liverpool but it seems to be conducted in the Liverpool way which is keeping it behind closed doors.

Who says the new owners wont win us some silverware.

We played Tigres in the final and beat them 3-0 with Tom Hicks presenting the young lads with the trophy.   Goalscorers on the day was Nemeth 2 and Kelly the other goal

  

 Its great to see the young lads doing so well at the moment and the form of Spearing, Putterill, Plessis,Insua and Nemeth has been very encouraging over the last couple of months.

On the subject of Nemeth i think this guy can be a real star for us and i wouldn’t be surprised to see him get the call up to the first team next season, especially with the 7 sub rule been brought into it.

He is a natural finisher but also seems to have a very quick footballing brain to get himself into those positions to score.

I’m expecting big things from Nemeth, Insua and hopefully Spearing over the course of the summer and ready for the start of next season where hopefully they can challenge for a place in the first team.

 Thanks to Supersub on The Liverpool Way for supplying the photo.

Before the start of today’s game i had firm belief that we could go to Old Trafford and get the three points.

We were on a run of seven straight wins and in Gerrard and Torres we have players that can score against any defence in the world.

The new formation seemed to be working and allowing strength in the middle of the park and allowed Gerrard to get forward much more in support of Torres.

The game kicked off and we actually went at Man United and looked like we may be getting ready to enjoy a superb afternoon. This all ended though after only seven minutes.

Carragher mis-judged a pass and Rooney found himself clean through and had the Man United striker gone down it would have been a penalty and a potential sending off for Carragher.

 From that moment on we stopped playing. Man United stepped up a gear and controlled possession and it wasn’t any real surprise to see them take the lead, although the scorer was a shock.

Mascherano got himself booked early in the first half and should really have stayed away from the referee but thanks to the emotion of the game allowed himself to lose discipline and kept reminding Bennett that he had yet to book a Manchester United player.

When Torres was repeatedly fouled i expected finally a yellow card to be brandished but instead the ref, Steve Bennett decided to book Torres himself for complaining about been kicked.

This decision prompted a reaction from Mascherano and although Alonso tried to stop him he asked the ref ‘whats happening’. This act of petulance prompted the referee to once again produce a yellow card which was Mascherano’s second of the afternoon and a subsequent red card followed.

For me it was a crazy decision as Steve Bennett should have just told Mascherano why Torres had been booked and told the Liverpool midfielder to go away. This act by Bennett will not have done him any favours however as he already as a reputation as been whistle happy and seems to have taken the mantle from Graham Poll of the referee who likes to be centre of attention.

The Mascherano incident only masked what was a very poor performance by all of the Liverpool team.

Players who you can normally rely on in Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres had pretty quiet games and it seemed only the Manchester United players who actually wanted to win today’s match.

For me the Liverpool keeper was at fault for two of Man Uniteds goals, although he did save another couple of efforts but Pepe seemed un-characteristic in his lack of confidence today and hopefully he will get todays game out of his system as we have some very important matches coming up, starting next week with Everton

The People newspaper are reporting that Rafa is wanting to sign Blackburns highly rated David Bentley.

Bentley is a good player and could well play the role that Kuyt is currently playing in and if the deal includes Pennant going the other way then its another player off the wage bill that is not getting much of a look in at the moment.

Here’s The People story.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is confident of beating off competition from Atletico Madrid to land Blackburn’s David Bentley in a sensational £12million swoop.Bentley is desperate to join a side who regularly compete in Europe.

And the lure of playing in the Champions League could see him quit Ewood Park for Anfield.

The England star has a little more than two years remaining on his current Blackburn deal, but is stalling on a new contract at the club because of his desire to play on the big stage.

Rovers have offered the 23-year-old new terms of around £30,000 a week, but Liverpool could easily offer him double that.

The Kop offer is similar to the sums being talked about by Atletico, though it is understood Rovers boss Mark Hughes is reluctant to sell to another Premier League club.

But the blow of losing a player of Bentley’s stature to their north-west rivals could well be softened by the inclusion of Liverpool wide-boy Jermaine Pennant in any deal.

Money is far from the like-able Bentley’s main motivation and he knows that, if he is to push on and become David Beckham’s regular replacement in the England set-up, he has to be playing his club football at the highest level.

People Sport understands England boss Fabio Capello has already told him as much and Bentley will heed the Italian’s advice.

Manchester City and Valencia are among a host of other clubs interested, but their poor league positions have ruled them out.

Let me know your views on this potential transfer.