Was the European Cup easier to win before 1992?

It's an interesting question. On the evidence you would suggest that it was. No team has retained the 'Champions League' since the European Cup was rebranded in 1992. Prior to 1992 that was pretty much the norm.

But it really depends how you look at it.

'Back in the day' you didn't get any second chances in the European Cup. If you lost a game you were pretty screwed unless you could turn it round in the second leg. These days it's a little more forgiving. If you get drawn against someone pretty handy in the group stage and they give you a bit of a kicking then so long as you can beat the other two sides in your group then you'll be OK. Just look at Man City getting taken apart by Bayern last season. Although they very nearly did actually turn it around, and perhaps could have had they been able to do their sums.

You couldn't have gotten away with that pre 1992.. losing 3-1 at home pretty much meant you were out of it, it still pretty much does once you get to the interesting bit after Christmas.

In 1978 Liverpool drew Nottingham Forest and got beaten 2-0 in the away leg, and that was that. Two successive European titles and the run was halted by the first game of the season.

From that point Forest didn't look back.. winning it that season and keeping it the following year. Nottingham Forest did that.. won the European Cup and kept it. Pretty compelling evidence for it being easier then.

And this is also the reason "We hate Nottingham Forest.." always sounds a bit weird that these days. Especially how they get top billing over Everton and Man Utd.

It was almost the polar opposite to now.. teams were able to dominate then. From 1971 until 1980 only 4 different teams won the European Cup, but perhaps more significantly they took it in turns keeping it. Ajax 71 - 73 (three times), Bayern 74 - 76 (three times), Liverpool 77 -78 (twice), Forest 79 - 80 (twice).

So it does beg the question what changed?

Well it's pretty obvious that there are more stronger teams in it. When you consider England, Spain and Germany put in four sides each plus 3 Italians.. well there is just more stronger opposition now.

Before you could have got away with just meeting one or two from those countries.. these days to win it there's a fair chance that your road to the final is going to feature a few from Europe's stronger leagues.

Teams do still seem to have periods of 'domination' but there just not quite as... well, dominant.

It looks as though Bayern are wrestling the domiination away from Barca at the present, a 7-0 aggregate win is pretty compelling evidence. Barca did dominate.. no question. Beating Arsenal ('06), Man Utd ('09 and '11). And before them it was Milan.. winning in '03 and '07 and another less successful final appearance in '05.

Maybe we just have to redefine what counts as domination.. but that doesn't really answer my question. What has changed?

It seems to be a matter of the edge that teams gain by being in the European Cup. When Liverpool dominated (just for example), they had an advantage over the other teams in England by being able to test themselves against the better teams in Europe. Learning new tactics and it made them a more attractive proposition for potential new signings.

Now the same is true these days.. being in the Champions League males you a better proposition, but you are in there with 3 other teams from your country. So less of an advantage. Imagine for a moment (now bear with me, this is going to get horrible) that Man Utd had dominated in England with the European Cup in the old format.

With pretty much a monopoly on European Cup football amongst the English sides... like Liverpool had in the 70's and 80's then it is entirely reasonable to to assume that they would have won a few more European Cups as well.

Indeed it is only their misfortune to have the best Barcelona team in history to play against.. they would most likely be on 5 European titles and Ferguson would have actually achieved his mission to de-perch Liverpool.

But they didn't and the world is a happier place for it.

But there is a flip-side to all this... it does seem that these days you can blag your way to a European Cup.

Just look at Liverpool in 2005. Pre '92 that side wouldn't have come close to a European Cup. Finishing 4th in '04, getting through the group stage by the skin of Gerrard's right boot. Losing to Graz at home, Monaco and Olympiakos on route.

It picked up after Xmas when it turned back into a more old school competition.. but a side containing Igor Biscan and Djimi Traore wouldn't have got a look in previously. Largely because you had to be a much better side to get in it in the first place.. a side that finished fourth in the league wouldn't have been that close to European football.

So it's a bit paradoxical. It seems easier to win, because you don't have to be as good as you used to to win it. 

But that's also the reason why it is harder to win - or at least to keep. Because they just let anyone in it these days, there's more competition.

This theory of course will most likely be blown out of the water when Real win 11 and 12 in the next two years.   

(International) football is rubbish.

The debate between club and country is never far away around the time of the (usually quite pointless) friendlies.

This was highlighted again when Daniel Sturridge played the full 90 minutes against Germany this week. This despite him struggling with injury, to the extent that he wasn't even available for the other game against Chile.

Given that the papers were full of Roy Hodgson stating he'll pick Sturridge if he likes... well it comes across as a power struggle with the only risk being to Sturridge and his club. Now, as Sturridge's club also happens to be my club, well this causes me concern. And given Hodgson's recent incompetent history concerning Liverpool, well I am concerned... but I already said that.

But this whole thing raises a more general question, for me personally at least. I seem to be losing interest in the national side. I am not sure why this is exactly.There are a number of things that this could be caused by.

I have been away with England a couple of times.. to the Euro's in Portugal and a couple of years later to the World Cup in Germany.

That was maybe the start of my general apathy.. I went to Frankfurt where they played Paraguay in a group game and touts were wanting hundreds of Euros for a ticket. Considering the stakes involved it seemed excessive. I didn't much mind that.. it was more of a general birthday piss-up anyway, but it would have been good to go to an actual World Cup game, but never mind about that.

I did go to the England v Croatia game in Portugal, and this does weaken my argument slightly as I had a far better time of it watching England play there than when I went to same ground to see Liverpool in 2006, although that had more to do with the respective results. Although I did end up having to pay ticket touts on both occasions.. firstly, well with England games it's pretty much the only way you will be able to get them.  for the Benfica v Liverpool, well that was more my fault. 

Did have a ticket for that one but the Police took it off me after they breathalysed me on the way in. Quite why they felt the need to do that wasn't clear as I'd spent the day drinking in Lisbon and the effects were pretty obvious. Also, why they felt it was a good idea to send all the people too pissed to go into the away end off to find their own way into the home end something I never really figured out, but since when have coppers been that switched on.  

But my point was this, you can't really go away with England unless you go everywhere and that seems ridiculous. But more than that, more recently at least.. the point is I just don't really give a shit anymore.

I missed one of the qualifiers against Moldova.. mainly because it was painfully predictable. Think I watched Scotland v Belgium that night actually.

He seems quite pleased with himself.

I also missed Sturridge's goal against Montenegro because I'd got bored of the game by that point. I can safely say I've never switched off a Liverpool game early because I was bored we were winning so easily. It was the same in the game this week against Germany. Ended up watching France v Ukraine as there was actually something on that game.

International friendlies really are the most pointless thing in football that isn't Andy Townsend. One of the dullest games I ever went to was a friendly.. a nil-nil draw with Holland at Villa Park. I haven't been to another one since.

Quite why they feel the need to have a pile of friendlies every time there is the opportunity is beyond me. Spain played Equatorial Guinea (119th in FIFA rankings) the other day.the reasons for which are detailed here (link). I'm sure they learned a great deal.

That is one game that Fernando Torres would have undoubtedly got injured in had he still been playing for us.. it was ridiculous. He got injured every single time he went away with Spain.. fact. Not an actual fact obviously, but it seemed like it to me and that's good enough.

The main reason for my general sense of apathy is the general predictability of it all. Watching England is generally quite dull. If you don't particularly care about the result in a game of football and it isn't a particularly good game then it's really fucking dull. 

It doesn't particularly matter how good a Liverpool game is because it will hold my interest regardless.. it has held my interest since the age of 7, that's nearly 20 years ago (ahem). 

I am now going to show you now how predictable watching England is..

The World Cup is coming up next year. See I told you, how predictable. Actually there is more, but it's about as predictable as that.

England will scape though the group stage.. probably with two draws and a win against whoever the shit ones are in the group. If they get one of the big teams in the group then they will maybe go through with four points.

Come the first knock-out round will progress and everyone will get a bit excited if we manage to draw someone a bit shit. If they get anyone who know's what they are doing then they will lose.

If they do get through the first knock-out game they most likely will get someone who knows what they are doing and England will lose.

I suppose technically Belgium count as a decent side now.

The moment England get a half-decent team then we fail. If you don't believe me look at the record in World Cup knockout games since 1966. England have won 5 of these games. Against Paraguay (1986), Belgium (1990), Cameroon (1990), Denmark (2002) and Ecuador (2006). That's it. In 48 years. 

During the same period Germany have been to as many finals, winning it twice.

It's getting to the stage now where I hold the England football team in the same regard as I hold the England cricket and rugby teams. Take a bit of an interest when they are winning, less so when they aren't. The only difference being that England football games never clash with Liverpool games

Now don't get me wrong, I'll be watching the World Cup.. you kind of have to. It's the World Cup, and it's in Brazil. And if there is one thing that Brazil does well it's football. Well football, police brutality and corruption, but for the purposes of this we'll stick to the football.

It will actually be a relief to watch one with the incessant whine of vuvuzelas in the background, although the ever present whine of Andy Townsend will still have to be suffered presumably.

When it boils down to it what do I want to happen more... Steven Gerrard picking up THE trophy for Liverpool in May or one for England in July?

I'll get back to you on that one.

Approaching 10 games in... time to assess the possibilities?

....anything is possible.

As it was drummed into us during the days of Rafa... We have many possibilities. Although this was probably more to do with his favourite English phrases when a camera was shoved in his face.

It's still very early days, but a couple of iffy results aside, we're doing pretty well so far. The Newcastle game was disappointing. It seems strange to be talking about two points dropped after equalising twice away from home, but this was against 10 men for 50 minutes and no disrespect to Newcastle (prepare for disrespect to Newcastle) it was only against Newcastle. A team we ground up into mush (without Suarez) only 6 months ago.

But let's not dwell on that.. largely because we didn't win so it's best forgotten.

It's usually about this time you get to see how the various teams are shaping up and where we are likely realistically end up, and sadly usually revise out expectations for the season.

The rather horrific reality is that quite a lot of you reading this won't actually remember the last time Liverpool won the league.. basically if you're under 30 you'll probably struggle. I've never actually thought about it in those terms before. That really is depressing. I'm just going to go and have a bit of a cry. I shall be back in a minute.......

Right, I did have a point earlier but it was lost for a moment. Well it was this, it took a long time for the hope to be eroded. It was always going to be "our year" when very few occasions this was ever a remote possibility.

Bob Paisley.. quite good.

It used to be that Liverpool's expectations could be summed up in this rather elegant quote from Bob Paisley - "Mind you, I've been here during the bad times too - one year we came second!" Now that was a while since as we have established. The goal-posts have shifted somewhat. Quite what the likes of Shankly and Paisley would have made of the clamour for fourth place is anyone's guess. Contemplating pretty much anything involving modern football would be enough to make their heads spin.

But it is what it is.. finishing fourth is now apparently an achievement regardless of whether you actually achieve anything when you get there. Just ask Arsene Wenger. Seventeen (ish) consecutive appearances in the Champions League is impressive, although less so when you consider they have only got past the quarter-final stages once.

It looks like that we might actually be in the mix for for the top 4 this year. Admittedly we've not exactly had the toughest run of games, but then neither have Arsenal and they are now apparently the greatest side in Europe because they beat Norwich at home.

But we have been picking up the points and we are only a couple off the top which frankly makes a refreshing change. Normally by this point we're about where Man Utd are now.. "well maybe if we have a good run, and there's always the cups"... and really where Man Utd isn't really a good place to be.

Phillipe Coutinho... (life size)

We do have pretty brutal run around Christmas. Spurs, Man City and Chelsea all away and it would have been handy to have some of those around the European games, but you can't really pick and choose your games.

The most promising aspect of the upcoming games is the thought of Coutinho linking up with Suarez and
Sturridge. If those three can hit form together, preferably around those Christmas games then I'd be pretty confident of us beating anybody.

In the end I think it will come to how well we can keep momentum going. If we can keep our first 11 more or less together then we will still be in the mix when it gets towards the pointy end of the season. Actually it's not even the first 11.. Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho. If we can keep at least 2 of those fit we have a decent crack at the top four. If we can keep them all fit, well we might even be in with a shout of having a decent season.. in Bob Paisley terms* and you never know.... siempre es posible.

(* Please excuse the rather wild optimism.)

#LFC - So far, so good.

It's early days... very early days. But the signs so far are promising. I know it's only four games in, but if Liverpool can beat Southampton on Saturday, we will go four points clear (briefly).

I know you can't really pay too much attention to it just yet, but given that by this stage of the season we're usually looking over our shoulder into the relegation zone.. well, OK not actually looking at relegation, but lurking about in 14th or worse.

We're currently on 10 points from four games.. It took us 9 games to get to 10 points last season. Nine!! Now that is relegation form.Although we were a bit unlucky early on, we were also pretty shit on occasion as well.

After a season to bed in and get used to the place, Brendan Rodgers seems to be finding his feet. The fact that the press haven't been banging on about Suarez quite so much is proof of that. You can imagine what it would have been like if we had been 14th about now. "Suarez will be off in January" etc.

If you're sat at the top of the league, then the players who aren't playing don't appear to be all that important all of a sudden. Bill Shankly used to deal with injured players in a similar fashion, if you weren't playing then you weren't of much relevance to the next game. I can imagine Luis Suarez being handled slightly differently back then.. or perhaps when Graeme Souness was a player rather than sat in a TV studio. Actually if been about when Souness was in charge, we'd have barely noticed Suarez antics among the general wreckage of the team... I'm getting off topic.

The fixtures from now until the trip to Arsenal at the start of November look winnable, especially if the current form continues. Arsenal's fixtures up until that point don't look particularly threatening either, so there is the possibility of that being a top two clash.. Even then it'll still be early days, and we do have a history of wobbling in November, but we are operating at the pointy end for once and long may it continue.

One thing that does need to be addressed is our habit of switching off in games. We have taken the lead in the first half of every game we have played so far this season. And we have been relatively comfortable in those first halves.. more or less. Average possession stats for our first halves this season is apparently 55.6%.. now I don't generally set too much by Sky obsession with possession stats, but this one is telling. Our average possession in the 2nd half of games is 37.4%!!!

That is not a team controlling games.. admittedly we have been leading for pretty much all that time, apart from when Swansea equalised, but this is something that Rodgers' needs to address urgently. Whether it's fitness, or more likely confidence.. backing off to hold what we have, I'm not sure. But when the likes of Notts County can put you on the back foot to the extent that they did, then questions need to be asked.

One possible solution could be the return of Suarez...  if we carry more of a goal threat then teams will back off. If we have Suarez and Sturridge in form then the prospect being better off than 1-0 up is very real. Even with the loss of Coutinho for a few weeks, hopefully Suarez's return will mean that is less of an issue.

We need to rack up as many points as possible, pretty obvious I know, but it starts to get trickier around Christmas, but if we're keep up momentum then anything possible.

Steven Gerrard - The Greatest?

You will all have seen the comments from Steven Gerrard this week leading up to his testimonial game with Olympiakos this weekend.

Comments, focussed largely (as much seems to be lately) with the likely outcome of the Luis Suarez transfer saga. Gerrard questioned Suarez's curious fixation with Arsenal. Now, this isn't going to be about Luis Suarez (much) but the timing of this game does highlight the lack of loyalty there seems to be in the modern game.

Now Gerrard is better placed than most to comment on this area. Back in 2004 and again in 2005 he seemed to be on the verge of signing for Chelsea. We prayed that he wouldn't and in the end sanity prevailed. I actually met Steven Gerrard in 2004, just after he announced that he would be staying at Liverpool. My recollections are sketchy as I was a little the worse for wear at that point, as you can see from the photo (I'm the one in the Jamie Carragher no. 16 England shirt). I do recall however telling him that "If we don't win the league this year it would be your fault." 

I was quite mortified when I remembered this the next day, but in fairness he held up his end of the bargain (sort of) by winning us the Champions League that season instead, which on balance I probably would have accepted at the time.

Now, the Gerrard and Suarez situations are different. Luis Suarez isn't playing for his hometown club. I suspect if he was he wouldn't be on quite the same money as he is these days. And it probably isn't true to say of Suarez that "A league title won in Rome Liverpool is the same as 10 won anywhere else." I may have borrowed that one from Francesco Totti.

But as Gerrard more or less pointed out - why the fuck would you want to go to Arsenal? He's better than that. Certainly if he stays, has another good season and doesn't bite anyone else, then he probably will be able to take his pick.

The crowd reaction to Suarez coming on against Olympiakios was interesting. Unsurprising really given the current state of affairs. Whilst, I can't imagine many Liverpool fans being too happy about the way he has handled himself over the past few weeks, he is still a Liverpool player and we'd quite like him to stay that way. Or at least sign for pretty much any other club apart from Arsenal (or Spurs). If the reaction had been less than positive then that would have made his mind up, if it hasn't been already.


Enough about Luis Suarez. This should really be about one man. A man whose Liverpool performances over the years I think were best described by Gordon Strachan - "I think he get's changed in a phonebox."

Steven Gerrard, has not won the title with Liverpool (yet - there is still time, although probably not enough) but he has won everything else. The only man to have scored in Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup finals. A man directly responsible for quite a lot of the happiest moments of my life. Now it's fair to say that I'm not married or have kids yet - but they are going to go some to beat some of the levels achieved during 2005. Like for example, the reason we're playing Oympiakos today (click here for the link). 

Less so in 2006 as I managed to miss the 30 yard screamer (and another video here) as I was having a piss, but that was probably a little more information than you needed at that point.

The greatest player in Liverpool history? I'm not sure. He's certainly up there with Dalglish and Rush. For me it's always going to be Rush, but that's because he did this in 1984 and I've been a Liverpool fan ever since (link).

He is certainly the best all round player Liverpool have ever had, and probably anyone has as far as I can remember. Ask yourself this.. you get a keeper each and put 10 Steven Gerrard's against 10 whoever else you like. Who would win? This is particular favourite pub conversation of mine.. and as has been pointed out to me frequently, it is a bit stupid. But what has not been pointed out to me is someone who would beat him - I'm reasonably confident a team of Carragher's would get battered.

He is head and shoulders above anyone else to have pulled on a Liverpool shirt for some time.. and sadly, probably for a while to come yet. But you never know.. there might be a couple of kids coming through the ranks to fill his boots, if they're not too busy playing FIFA.

I've had just about enough of Luis Suarez now.

The increasingly complicated transfer merry-go-round is grinding into gear. And once again, seemingly controlling this half-arsed machinery is Real Madrid. Well I suppose 'controlling' is something of a strong term for what they seem to be doing, but it is what it is.

Basically everyone wants a new striker. Liverpool haven't been doing well enough to keep their best one so

Maybe we need some kind of gag. 

everyone else wants to sign him, despite his bitey tendencies. 

Well, by everyone else this seems to be Real Madrid and Arsenal, but there's no doubt a few others in the fray who for some reason don't want to conduct transfer negotiations on the back pages of newspapers, like it must be said a certain Mr Suarez seems to be keen on.

For someone with such a stated issue with the media, he does seem to spend an awful lot of time talking to them.

Arsenal seem to gathering their pennies together for a £40m bid for Suarez, which triggers some kind of clause in his contract. Presumably along the lines of us having to tell him about it and him the having to put in a transfer request if he wants to actually go. Which will also cost him money if he does indeed go, if he walks out of the door rather than being pushed.

Now this could all work in our favour IF Real Madrid do actually want to sign Suarez. Nothing like a bidding war to ramp the price up a bit. If we can get up to £50m for him then this would be a decent amount to play with, certainly in terms of getting a replacement or two.

Whether Arsenal are serious about Suarez and if they are just trying to force Madrid's hand over their proposed signing of Higuain remains to be seen. It may even piss Madrid off completely and they won't want to do business with them at all.


Personally I can't see Suarez being happy wth a move to Arsenal. Granted, he seems to be burning his bridges at Anfield reasonably effectively every time he opens his mouth, but it's hardly a massive step up in class. 

Reaching the Champions League Quarter-Final and going out the moment you face anyone half-decent is hardly the stuff that dreams are made of. Even if they do sign Suarez they will still have Per Mertesacker in defence. An interesting coincidence, but Mertesacker is actually German for wardrobe *.

* I'm not sure if this is a fact, but I am just going to assume that it is.

Enough of Arsenal. How does this all affect Liverpool?

Well, we seem to bringing a squad together and hopefully not too recklessly any more. 

We need rid of Suarez sooner rather than later. Incredible that I should be saying this, but his attitude since the end of the season stinks and we do not need that around the club coming into a new season. 

We need him out - preferably out of the country - quickly. Possibly to Real Madrid, and if they want to send us Higuain as part of the deal to piss Arsenal off, well it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. But with more cash than the Higuain plus £10m rumblings I heard.

Real Madrid's increasing valuation of Higuain leads me to think that this may be what they are angling for and it would have the added bonus of us getting a decent replacement striker out of it as well.

It is still only July - and you never know. The grim realisation that he might actually have to go and play for Arsenal might bring a grovelling apology from Suarez for his actions over the summer and he may stay at Liverpool after all.

Frankly though, I think it would be better all round if we just get rid.

Luis Suarez... making it up as he goes along.

I read today, with some amusement that Arsenal are still sniffing round Luis Suarez.. and whilst you cannot believe everything you read, or in the instance of the British press (especially regarding transfer rumours) anything you read, the story seems to be rumbling on.

Take for instance this from the Independent (click here for link)

Now it seems a little curious for them to describe this £30m bid as being welcomed by Suarez when the only actual quote from Suarez relating to this in the article is  "clubs are still assessing players on their ability which means I could go back and do things well over there"

Rather flimsy grasp of the the words "welcomes bid" and you don't usually get such nonsense from The Independent, but that's not really the point.

The facts are as follows. Luis Suarez has stated previously that he wants to leave Liverpool, not because he wants to leave the club as such, but it is all the fault of the British press. Now amongst Liverpool fans this is keeping it as much on safe ground as you can, whilst still saying you want to leave the club.

However, and I may be being a bit naive here, but he hasn't referred back to his previous comments when being asked about the Arsenal bid. If his actual reason for leaving was that he wanted to leave England, then you would have thought he would have said something along those lines. Although I do appreciate that a player with itchy feet doesn't want to be burning any bridges, especially when he's not actually put in a transfer request as yet. Although he is still on holiday, on his tour of the radio stations of Uruguay... popular tourist attractions I'm lead to believe.

The fact remains that he wants to leave. Now these days, that seems fair enough with player power as it is. But don't just make shit up and start changing your story to suit.

I'd have much more respect for the man, if he said something along the lines of.. "I'm at a time in my career when I need Champions League football and that is something that Liverpool cannot give me at the moment."

Now it's not something we want to hear, but it would at least be true.

I suspect the Arsenal bid has more to do with their own bid for Higuain, trying to force Real Madrid's hand as is often the case in these transfer merry-go-rounds. I'm sure they'd love to sign Suarez, but there is certainly an element of cheek about the whole thing.

One of the worrying thoughts I had about this whole transfer mess concerns Luis Suarez's 10 game ban. Now he's only served 4 games of it so far, with 6 games to go into the new season. Now if Suarez cannot play for anyone until October then why would they want to buy him now?

If I were in Real Madrid's position I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't want to spend £40m on a player that cannot play until October just yet. Sign him nearer the deadline day and you save yourself a month or so in wages and you have a player with a two game ban by the end of August. 

"I've been expecting you"

Now this makes sense if you're Real Madrid, if a little risky, but what that would do is fuck our season right up. Now £40m plus is a decent chunk of change to spend on players, but you cannot do anything with it in September and we'd be back to where we were this time last year with a striker or two light. And we all know the perils of shopping in January when everyone knows you're desperate. Christ, we'll probably end up spending the £40m on Papiss Cissé.

We're not quite in the same place, as Rodgers does seem to have been doing business strengthening the squad, but it remains to be seen how strong he is making it at the moment. Attacking options like Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas may prove to be effective, especially if they click with Coutinho. But if
Suarez does leave than there will be a very big hole to fill, and unless we want to be flapping around in seventh again come next April, it needs to be filled by kick-off in August.

A New Dawn... yes, another one for #LFC.

In 7 days time, I'll be walking 54 miles in 24 hours for World Child Cancer.. This is my just giving link


In the 'odd' summer months, (It is apparently summer although for some reason the thermostat outside appears to be stuck on October) When we don't have the distraction of the World Cup or Euro's then the new season takes on more significance earlier on.

It does seem to be helping Liverpool as we do seem to be getting our business in hand earlier than usual this year. We have the usual Suarez rumblings, although we will see where we are with that when Suarez comes back from South America.

I suspect that making vague statements in press conferences thousands of miles away is easier than sitting down and being reminded that he has a contract for a good few years yet, and if you do want to leave than there are ways of going about it.

It is good that we do appear to be getting on with it regardless though.

In so far we have Kolo Toure, Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas and Simon Mignolet.

Not sure what's going on here.

I'm not going to pretend I know too much about Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas, beyond having a nosey on-line once we'd signed them, but they seem reasonable enough. And I would hope cleverer men than me have been a bit more rigorous in their research. But what their signings do give us is options.

Brendan Rodgers has in his head what he wants his team to look like.. and whilst he does seem to like teeny, tiny footballers that's not too much of a problem if you keep the balance right, or if you don't let the other side have the ball.

Seriously though... Why?

Options in attack will be vital next season. One thing that would be fatal to our season would be if Daniel Sturridge is unchallenged for his place. It seems to me that when he is comfortable then he seems to switch off in games. An angry Daniel Sturridge, fighting for his place is a significantly better player than when he isn't. You just have to see his impact off the bench against Chelsea, just before Suarez got a bit bitey.

Suarez may still be around, but not for a while and when he does come back you can imagine he'll be sulking which won't help.

The signing of Simon Mignolet means that Pepe Reina will be out of the door soon I think. Personally if I was Reina I wouldn't mind the chance of playing for Barcelona. Frankly I could play in goal for Barcelona and get away with it. One of the easier jobs in world football.

I cannot imagine the Simon Mignolet has not been briefed on his chances of playing regularly next season. In a World Cup season he needs to playing regularly. He is fighting with Thibaut Courtois for Belgium.. a very handy keeper on loan at Atletico Madrid from Chelsea.

Although dislodging Pepe Reina at Liverpool would look quite good on his CV.

Kolo Toure is probably a shrewd move as well. With the man, the legend, Jamie Carragher retiring to do battle once again, with Gary Neville, we needed experienced back-up and that's what we have in Toure. Although if he get his brother along next time, well that would be just peachy.

And we could steal the Yaya / Kolo song off City, although this does seem a distant prospect.

One thing to our advantage next season is whoever we sign, they will have Phillipe Coutinho stood next to them, so it's all gravy from here.

Luis Suarez.. Should he stay or should he go? (Part 2)

Please check out my Just Giving link - Thanks.

The never ending transfer saga surrounding Luis Suarez is rumbling on.. well, I say never-ending, you suspect that it will come to an end at some point with a transfer to Real Madrid if Suarez has his way.

It would be a shame, particularly given the support he has received from the club following his various transgressions since signing from Ajax (while he was serving his first ban for biting an opponent). You can't imagine there will be too many players where you have to specify which ban for biting people you are actually talking about.

The latest rumour mill is following the usual pattern... (see my previous blog). Off to Uruguay, press conference, back-tracking / denial / more fucking nonsense.

It's pretty clear that he wants out... you tend to pick these things up when a player is constantly on about it. Although it does seem strange that Real Madrid (for once) seem relatively quiet about the prospect. When they're after player they usually let you know about it.

There are a few issues muddying the waters at the moment.

£85m... seriously?

They haven't got a manager now the self-proclaimed special one has fucked off back to Chelsea.

They are also sniffing round the Spurs Super Chimp for some kind of crazy money.. I read £85m but that
seems insane, even for Madrid.

With the financial fair play rules dribbling in, and now the Spanish government is skint Real Madrid will most likely have to find another "revenue stream". Probably  by selling some of their squad or just Tinkerbell, possibly back to Man Utd, hopefully off to Russia somewhere.

You suspect that there are quite a lot of machinations before any potential Suarez deal is done. Which could cause Liverpool all kinds of problems.. the last thing we need is £40 odd million in the bank and a closed transfer window.

Actually - scratch that- the last thing we need is to panic like last time and buy Papiss Cisse off Newcastle for £45m.

If we can get that kind of money, then we need to spend it quickly and wisely. And hopefully not £20m plus each on players from the North East.

Peter Beardsley

It's not the end of the world if Suarez leaves.. but you do wonder how effective a mardy Suarez will be next season if he hasn't managed to engineer his move.
I keep thinking back to when my world collapsed in 1987 when we sold Ian Rush to Juventus and with the money we bought John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and John Aldridge (and then got Rush back for less the next season). The modern-day equivalents (if they even exist) would do very nicely.

We all dream of a team of Carragher's

This picture doesn't really need a caption

So that's it then. Jamie Carragher will play his final game for Liverpool this Sunday... his 737th appearance
 for the club. Pretty special in todays era of agents moving players round just for the sake of their bank balances.

It is also fitting that he leaves Liverpool with the supporters not wanting him to leave.. well stop playing at least. You can be pretty sure he's still going to be around on matchdays, especially now he's working for Sky alongside the anti-Carragher.. although credit where it's due, he has done a good job for Sky despite being "a busy little cunt" at Man Utd.

It is curious that Carragher's  announcement that he would be retiring at the end of the season coincided almost exactly with his return to the first team. Personally I am surprised that he didn't have second thoughts once it seemed that he did have another season left in his legs. Maybe that was the problem, if he was finding it a struggle, although it didn't seem too apparent. Not enough of a problem for Skrtel to get much of a sniff of a game. The fact that he already had something lined up with the move to Sky probably influenced his decision also... I suspect if that wasn't there we'd still be seeing Carra next season. But getting paid a shit-load for sitting about talking about football doesn't seem too taxing does it. Even Andy fucking Townsend gets paid for that despite barely having a basic grasp of the game.

The Carragher Manifesto

My hope is that this isn't the last the Liverpool FC will see of James Lee Duncan Carragher.. and not just sat in the stands with all the other ex-Reds. Or working for the TV with all the other ex-Reds. After reading "The Carragher Manifesto" (I believe it was called something different officially but that's not important) I want that lad in charge of Liverpool Football Club.

Football autobiographies are usually achingly dull, but Carragher's is one of the best one's going which is actually mainly about football. There are interesting ones but they aren't really about football (for example : Tony Adams, Steve Claridge).

But why am I trying to sell you this book, you've probably already read it and if not you're more likely to be interested in what the Anti-Carragher (Rat-Boy, Gary Neville, the devil has many faces) has to say for himself, which he tends to do quite a lot more these days now he's got a job for Sky.

Actually in many ways they are pretty much the same, it's just that they played for different clubs and depending on your allegiance. You either love Jamie Carragher.. or well there's probably something wrong with you if not.

Whatever Jamie Carragher does or says just makes you like him more.. (whilst the exact opposite was true of Neville) whether it was scoring a penalty for Everton at Anfield, or looking at the interviewer as if he had three heads when asked whether he'd consider leaving Liverpool for a bigger club and then telling him "Who's bigger than Liverpool?"

Or on the eve of the 2nd leg of the 2005 Champions League semi-final when on a booking saying that he didn't mind getting booked and missing the final so long "as it mattered".

Or the the story of how Salif Diao confided in him that Everton we're interested in him, but he was worried about the Liverpool fans reaction. "No.. don't worry about that.. you go and sign for Everton." Please for fucks sake go and sign for Everton.

I got stuck in a bit of a loop then... sorry.

To get back to my point.. I want to see Jamie Carragher in charge of Liverpool. He eats, sleeps, and breathes football. He studies the game like not many players do and I believe would make a  great manager - a few years down the line admittedly, but he will one day.

Now this is a bit of a leap, but say 5 years down the line, perhaps more.. hopefully we haven't gone through too many managers by that point, because a high turnover is not a good sign - maybe even with him in as a coach before then. He's practically doing this already - I read that he barks orders at Andre Wisdom whilst on the bench apparently - you can bet that this isn't an isolated incident.

But can you imagine a better person to be in charge for the re-perching of Liverpool?

Liverpool v Chelsea - Welcome back Rafa Benitez... Fuck Off Chelsea.

Who would have thought when Rafael Benitez left his job as Liverpool manager in 2010 that when he returned, in a professional capacity at least, that he would do so in charge of Chelsea. Well I say 'in charge' in the loosest possible sense.

The 'I want that one' child-like mentality of the Chelsea's oligarch means that that whoever is in charge won't be for very long and they've even given up the pretence of this by calling Benitez the 'interim' manager which
is setting him up to fail. You cannot really manage a football club, or anything else for that matter if you don't have the authority over those that you are trying to manage. Particularly when you've got insufferable pricks like John Terry about the place.

I didn't really want this to turn into a Chelsea rant, but I suppose that's inevitable.

Benitez was living on borrowed time from day one.. to have a stadium booing you before you've even kicked off your first game cannot have been easy, even if it is only Chelsea fans doing it. It is curious how it's never 'Abramovic Out' that they're are whining about is it. He is clearly the common factor in their revolving door manager recruitment strategy.

It is a strange one today.. not least because the Chelsea manager is held in much higher regard by the Liverpool fans than his own. It's hard to think of the equivalent really. Perhaps it would be if Mourinho rocked up at Anfield, although I'm not sure that quite fits. Largely because of the careers of the two men since they left Chelsea and Liverpool respectably. Highlighted by the fortunes of both men at Inter Milan. Mourinho winning the Champions League there has to rank about as high as Benitez winning it with us.

I didn't like the self-proclaimed 'special one' when he was at Chelsea - this won't come as much of a shock - but, when you look at his career since and indeed while he was at Porto I have to admit a grudging respect for his achievements. A point brought into sharp focus when you consider who will take over at Man United when Ferguson finally leaves - although you suspect that might be in a box.

Back to today. Liverpool are now into the customary April 'dead' league games.. this is something that needs to be rectified very quickly. By this time next season we need the last few league games to have significance. Now I'm not deluded enough to think that this would mean a challenge for the league (We haven't the strength in depth of squad just yet), but we certainly need to get towards the pointy end in terms of fighting for the top 4 places... because if not we can wave goodbye to Luis Suarez.

At the pointy end of the fight for the top 4 is where we find our visitors today and personally I would love it if we could kick a large hole in their chances today. Chelsea have gradually risen in my levels of contempt  over the past few years. They are a club with very few, if any, redeeming features and they represent an awful lot of what is wrong with modern football. They represent this and also they are the cause of a lot of it as well. And when I say Chelsea I do mean specifically Roman Abramovich.

Nothing to see here.

Chelsea are where they are today on the whim of a deeply suspicious character. Not wanting to make sweeping generalisations (standby for a sweeping generalisation) but you don't get that rich in Russia (or anywhere else) by operating within the margins of what is legal.. allegedly. That's how it works isn't it, just say allegedly at the end and you can make any old shit up.

Now the story goes that Abramovich originally intended to buy Tottenham but saw Stamford Bridge from his helicopter and changed his mind. Now I'm not sure how that true that story is, but it does't sound very far off the mark.

And once he started throwing his money around it was up to everyone else to try and follow suit.. a course of events that nearly destroyed Liverpool when we went cap in hand to Hicks & Gillett. And of course you now have the likes of Man City spending eye-watering sums of money which who cannot generate through football. A point summed up by Arsene Wenger when he said that the success of a football club should be built on sweat, not oil.

Aren't I doing well not turning this into a Chelsea rant?

Back to today's game.. hopefully a repeat of the 4-1 demolition of Chelsea last season awaits us this afternoon, but that is perhaps a bit optimistic. The goals do seem to have dried up a little over the past two games. But quite how that happened against Reading was thanks almost entirely to the almost super-human efforts of Alex McCarthy in goal.

But Chelsea's away form is a bit ragged.. the win at Fulham was their first away win in the League since their Jon Walters assisted battering of Stoke in January - with only a point picked up from 4 away games at Reading, Southampton, Newcastle and Man City. Not really the form of a convincing top 4 push.

As far as Liverpool are concerned.. well it depends which Liverpool turns up. We have had plenty of games this season where we've been scoring goals for fun, but we have also had several where frankly we just haven't turned up. Inconsistency is one of the major wrinkles the Rodgers is going to have to iron out for next season.

But hopefully we do turn up today.. we don't particularly need the points any more, but if it fucks Chelsea up then that's good enough for me, particularly as the only redeemable feature of that 'football club' won't be around next season anyway.

Why European Football is shit..

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Time for a bit of a rant, this time caused by the never ending saga of european tournaments, or more specifically, why UEFA never stop making a mess of them.

I'm reasonably confident, that doesn't say Europa League.

This has more to do with the UEFA Cup, not called that anymore but that is just the start of the constant cocking about that annoys me.

For a start it goes on way too long, to the point where Alain Depardieu recently said that he didn't care if Newcastle actually won the thing, it would still be a waste of time.

I'm paraphrasing slightly, and he is fundamentally wrong. If Newcastle actually won a trophy there would be such a regional orgasm that.. well I don't want to think about such a gruesome spectacle, but happily that's unlikely to happen before we are all long dead, so we'll move on.

His main point that his side couldn't cope with the demands of playing that many games is a fair one.

So far Newcastle have played 13 games in Europe and we're still only at the Quarter Final stage - it should be pointed out that they have only won 5 of those to get as far as they have.

Part of this is due to the sheer number of teams involved. 18 of which drop into it from the European Cup (see UEFA Cup). I agree that teams who lose their qualifier should drop into it, but the 3rd place teams from the European Cup is a joke - Chelsea I am talking about you here.

It's embarrassing and it all adds to the sense that the UEFA Cup isn't worth it. This is more of a view among the English sides although this may change if a few get through to the semi's tonight.

If they were to trim a few rounds off it.. and most of all make it worth winning, a place in the Champions League group stage would be a sufficient reward for slogging your guts out round Bratislava and the Ukraine since July.

It needs trimming down and personally I would like to see them not play all the games on a Thursday as I am  not a huge fan of going to the league games on a Sunday, but that isn't going to happen.

It is part of the larger picture of what is wrong with modern football. It used to be the point of football to win trophies. That is it.

Didn't win the league? Fuck it, we won the Cup instead.

Winning a trophy used to mean a successful season. Last season Liverpool got to two Cup Finals, winning admittedly the shit one, but people (by which I mean the press) were saying that it was still a poor season EVEN IF WE  WON THE FA CUP as well, but didn't finish in the top 4.

The Holy Grail of Modern Football - "getting in the top 4 is as good as a trophy" No it isn't Fuck Off Arsene.

But the sad thing is as long as the money keeps rolling in - by getting into the "Champions" League, not by the hard way of actually being Champions (although thank fuck for that) then that counts as success these days.

But let me ask you this... When did you last see a victory parade with the board of directors waving the club's balance sheet?

Luis Suarez - should he stay or should he go?

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Do you like the deliberately provocative title.. not even a question really, from my perspective anyway and probably yours as well if you followed the link to this blog on twitter anyway.

We have however had the now customary Luis Suarez transfer episode.. the stories were splashed all over the papers that read as if Suarez was on the verge of leaving Liverpool. A popular theme when the football press has nothing more pressing than the International friedlies.

It went along the usual lines.. some interview which said that he would welcome bids from clubs in Champions League. This was swiftly dismissed by Suarez who said that he expects this kind of nonsense from the press in the UK but not in Uruguay and that if they kept it up then he would solve the problem by stopping talking to them.

This of course wouldn't solve anything as they just make it all up anyway so actually talking to them doesn't make the slightest difference anyway.

Cristiano Ronaldo

It is an interesting twist on the perceived bias on the London centric press..  which let's be fair they have had quite a few column miles out of Suarez since he signed for Liverpool. I did especially like the comparison between their reaction to the form of Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale. It does seem that when Suarez is in form that Liverpool are a one-man team, but when Super Chimp hit form this season by scoring pretty much all Spurs' goals then he is being hailed as the "New Ronaldo".

I'm getting side-tracked. As I've previously stated, the press make up any shit they like anyway - Liverpool fans are more painfully aware of this than most. The press lie about things that are actually important so which footballer plays for which team is way down the list and fair game frankly.

While Suarez keeps signing new contracts (and getting pay-rises) I think it's safe to assume he's happy enough. But we have to be realistic. Luis Suarez is 26 and only 6 months in to a 4 year contract. Now we all now that contracts are really only a gauge of how much a player is worth rather than an actual commitment to be at a club for four years. But if we don't get our shit together soon, by which I mean next season, then Luis Suarez is going to start to get nervous. And if he has another daughter, but names her something like Rebanbeu then it's a pretty safe bet that he's off to Madrid.

If by March next year we are still flapping about in a similar position in the league then I'm reasonably confident that the Luis Suarez transfer stories will become more frequent and less vigorously denied, especially if Uruguay (and Luis Suarez) haven't got the World Cup to distract them.

Luis Suarez with one of the new boys.

So this leaves the ball firmly in Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers' court. If we can get through the summer (by keeping Suarez, obviously) and also not fucking up another transfer window (the most recent one being the only one for a while that we haven't) then it's time for everyone else to step up.

If Suarez keeps doing what he's been doing and everyone else starts to chip in, with a little help from the new boys then just maybe we'll be able to win the Arsene Wenger Trophy and get in the top 4.

Because the problem is that if Luis Suarez does keep doing what he has been and is top scorer in the league next year as well then he won't hang around if we are seventh.

He will go somewhere where his goals aren't being wasted.