Liverpool Season 2008/9

[johntheclaret]

Well it had to happen. A club the size of Pool just couldn't go the season without the odd headline or two.

This story has been doing the rounds lately

Thanks to the Mirror and others

Juventus shortlist Liverpool's Rafa Benitez to be their new manager

Rafa Benitez is on a shortlist of three if Juventus sack under pressure coach Claudio Ranieri.
The Italian boss has been given until Christmas to save his job in Turin. If he fails, then Juve want one of Benitez, Frank Rijkaard or former Italy boss Roberto Donadoni.
And that effectively could leave Liverpool’s American owners with a new year deadline to secure their manager’s long-term future.

The Spanish coach has indicated that he is ready to sign a new contract to ensure he stays at Anfield.
So far, despite stating several times that they want the manager to extend his current deal, owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have failed to make any sort of offer.
But with Ranieri seemingly certain to be sacked within the next few weeks, it adds some urgency to talks, with Benitez’s contract running down.
He has just over 18 months left on his deal and admitted recently that he has not heard a thing from the club about an extension.
He is sure to be a favourite for the Juve job, and reports in Italy this weekend suggested that it is only a matter of time before former Chelsea boss Ranieri is replaced.
Ranieri has endured a difficult start to the campaign and a poll in a prominent Italian newspaper last week revealed that two thirds of the club’s fans want him to go.
Already talk has turned to his successor, with Benitez and Rijkaard the most popular alternatives.
Even former Inter manager Roberto Mancini has been linked with the job, along with Juve legend Alessandro del Piero. But the club’s board have whittled down their potential shortlist to three.
They are prepared to place current assistant coach Ciro Ferrara in temporary charge to ensure they get their man.
Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, meanwhile, has insisted that he is happy at the club, despite admitting his affection for Juventus.
The Spaniard almost joined the Italian side in the summer for £16million, but was eventually turned down because it was thought that he was “too slow” to cope with the team’s formation.
Despite that implied criticism, Alonso revealed that he still has an “attraction” for Juventus.
But he added: “You can hardly say that a club like Liverpool is second best. You cannot be disappointed when you play at Anfield.”

[johntheclaret]

UEFA's pathetic ban on Athletic at such short notice has affected liverpool fans more than Athletico's (the fans they intended to punish in the 1st place)

Liverpool's Champions League game with Atletico Madrid to be moved

Liverpool will play their Champions League match against Atletico Madrid 300 miles from Madrid after the Spanish side were found guilty of racism.
Atletico have been hit with a three-match stadium ban and fined 150,000 euros (£120,000) by Uefa after crowd trouble and racist abuse during their game against French side Marseille earlier this month.
Uefa confirmed the sanctions today and said the next two Champions League home games could not be played within 300 kilometres of Madrid.
Atletico coach Javier Aguirre has also been banned for his club's home and away fixtures against Liverpool for insulting Marseille players.

Liverpool have complained at the "disruption" caused to their fans by the decision. “To say the decision is a bit late in the day, is to put it mildly," said chief executive Rick Parry. We have 3,000 fans going to the game and we are extremely concerned for our supporters, the vast majority of whom have already made travel arrangements. If the match is played at least 300 kilometres from Madrid, it will cause major disruption, inconvenience and large additional expense for our fans. UEFA have to take their needs into account when making a final decision on the game."

[johntheclaret]

Just in time for Xmas.

Thanks to the Mirror

Liverpool FC launches new fragrance for men

Just in time for the Christmas market Liverpool FC has announced that it’s launching a fragrance for men.
L4Men will go head-to-head with the likes of David Beckham, Posh Spice, Paris Hilton and J-Lo on the celeb fragrance rack at your local Boots.
We’ve not had a sniff of the aftershave yet, but judging by Liverpool’s performance on the pitch we’ve compiled the following aroma notes.

“At first it smells brilliant, but soon fades to nothing”

Along the same lines, here’s what a handful of other Premier League team’s fragrances might smell like:

Manchester United - “The sweet smell of success tinged with burnt hair. Popular in the Far East”

Tottenham - “Looks promising on paper, but reeks of failure. And Tapas”

Chelsea - “An oily, cosmopolitan fragrance that suits anyone with new money”

Hull - “Surprising and refreshing with a hint of tiger”

Arsenal - “We won’t go there”

Here's one of mine.

Manchester City. "Very Expensive Fragrance Only for the Rich and Prostitiutes

Feel free to add your own

[johntheclaret]

Game on.

Thanks to The Times:

Liverpool match will be played in Madrid

Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, had been hopeful Uefa would overturn decision

Liverpool's Champions League match against Atlético Madrid on October 22 will be played at the Vicente Calderon stadium after Uefa agreed to temporarily suspend a three-match ban on the hosts using their own ground, pending an appeal.
Uefa had banned Atlético from playing their next two European matches at home, with one further game suspended, and within 300 kilometres (about 186 miles) of Madrid after the club were found guilty of crowd trouble and a “lack of organisation” during their previous Champions League group D match, against Marseilles on October 1.

The decision brought protest from Liverpool over the short notice of the switch as many fans had already made travel arrangements, and could have left thousands of supporters heavily out of pocket. "We were concerned that if the game was moved it would have created tremendous problems for Liverpool fans," William Gaillard, the Uefa spokesman, said

Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, expressed his satisfaction that Uefa had listened to the club's concerns. "We're delighted at the decision because it means our fans can travel to the game as previously planned without additional expense or inconvenience," he said. "Liverpool are grateful for the help the FA have provided and pleased Uefa have listened to and acted on the arguments we put forward this week."

The punishment was issued after monkey chants were aimed at Marseilles players and the French side's bus was also attacked following the match at the Calderon. There were also outbreaks of violence as police clashed with visiting supporters.
In addition to the two game stadium ban, a third match was suspended while Atletico were also handed a £117,000 fine.

Earlier this year, Bolton lodged an official complaint to Uefa after "overzealous and disproportionate" action by police against supporters during a Uefa Cup tie at the same stadium.

[devilsadvocate]

Here's one of mine.

Manchester City. "Very Expensive Fragrance Only for the Rich and Prostitiutes

Feel free to add your own

Brilliant JTC!

Newcastle "Smells like the rotting carcas of a dead horse"

[smithy]

Liverpool are linked with re-signing Emile HEskey cause his contract is running out.

WELL LET IT RUN OUT !!!!!!!!!!!

[devilsadvocate]

Liverpool are linked with re-signing Emile HEskey cause his contract is running out.

WELL LET IT RUN OUT !!!!!!!!!!!

You guys can have him.....as long as he doesn't come to Spurs!

[MightyEagles]

Won 3-2 overnight. Don't ask who it was against, because I do not know.

[devilsadvocate]

Won 3-2 overnight. Don't ask who it was against, because I do not know.

Wigan. Lucky is a word that should be used in every match report! Hahahaha.

Nah it was a cracking game, Wigan were great until Vlencia had a brain removal procedure and got himself sent off in a minute of madness. After that it was all Liverpool and Kuyt scored an absolute screamer to win it late again for Liverpool.

Once again, I'm going to bang on about Amir Zaki. the bloke is a star. He's everything you want in a striker - big, strong, athletic, good in the air, fast, excellent finisher and most important IMO hussles defenders like an absolute bastard when not in control himself. ARE YOU LISTENING DANIEL LEVY?

[RoosterMarty]

"Absolute screamer"???

Zaki's was an absolute screamer, Kuyt's went straight into the ground and then luckily bounced in. He has the technique of a donkey but is popping up late recently.

They face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next week though, that will be a test for them.

[devilsadvocate]

It was a cracking goal mate. Bloody hard to do. And yeah, the Bridge may be a slaughter if Chavski continue on their current march. The could have put 10 past Boro yesterday.

Argee though, Zaki's was a screamer. That had the class of Berbatov written all over it. I'm not sure there's too many strikers in the world that could have timed that shot so well, let alone get it on target from where he hit it.

[JK]

It was a cracking goal mate. Bloody hard to do. And yeah, the Bridge may be a slaughter if Chavski continue on their current march. The could have put 10 past Boro yesterday.

Argee though, Zaki's was a screamer. That had the class of Berbatov written all over it. I'm not sure there's too many strikers in the world that could have timed that shot so well, let alone get it on target from where he hit it.

Peter Crouch

[johntheclaret]

Won 3-2 overnight. Don't ask who it was against, because I do not know.

Wigan. Lucky is a word that should be used in every match report! Hahahaha.

Nah it was a cracking game, Wigan were great until Vlencia had a brain removal procedure and got himself sent off in a minute of madness. After that it was all Liverpool and Kuyt scored an absolute screamer to win it late again for Liverpool.

Once again, I'm going to bang on about Amir Zaki. the bloke is a star. He's everything you want in a striker - big, strong, athletic, good in the air, fast, excellent finisher and most important IMO hussles defenders like an absolute bastard when not in control himself. ARE YOU LISTENING DANIEL LEVY?

Valencia's 1st yellow was ridiculous. The Liverpool player rolled the ball forward for Gerrard to take a blaster, and Valencia ran forward and nicked the ball away. As soon as the Pool player touched the ball, the free was taken. Valencia gets booked for "encroaching". Pathetic decision brought on because Gerrard was too slow and complained to the ref.

[devilsadvocate]

It was a cracking goal mate. Bloody hard to do. And yeah, the Bridge may be a slaughter if Chavski continue on their current march. The could have put 10 past Boro yesterday.

Argee though, Zaki's was a screamer. That had the class of Berbatov written all over it. I'm not sure there's too many strikers in the world that could have timed that shot so well, let alone get it on target from where he hit it.

Peter Crouch

Touche

[devilsadvocate]

Valencia's 1st yellow was ridiculous. The Liverpool player rolled the ball forward for Gerrard to take a blaster, and Valencia ran forward and nicked the ball away. As soon as the Pool player touched the ball, the free was taken. Valencia gets booked for "encroaching". Pathetic decision brought on because Gerrard was too slow and complained to the ref.

Exactly. The second booking was the brain explosion - stupid tackle at the best of times, but WTF was the ref thinking with the first one? Does he have magical 3D distance measurement abilities?

[johntheclaret]

It looked like he was conned by the two Liverpool players. I don't know who one of them was but the other was Gerrard.

Typical Big Club decision by the ref. Just like the Brum game.

[devilsadvocate]

It looked like he was conned by the two Liverpool players. I don't know who one of them was but the other was Gerrard.

Typical Big Club decision by the ref. Just like the Brum game.

Gerrard, Rooney, Terry - disgraceful that they have the ability to influence a referee's decision.

Although, better that than the wanker who threw a coin at Harry Redknapp yesterday hitting the assistant in the head and leaving him with a nasty gash. Disgraceful.

[johntheclaret]

Yeah, agreed. Same happened today at Stoke. TV said someone threw a coin at the Spurs keeper during the penalty.

Cowardly is the word I would describe it. Standing (hiding) in the crowd and throwing a coin at someone on the pitch who isn't looking your way. Bloody cowardly

[JK]

It looked like he was conned by the two Liverpool players. I don't know who one of them was but the other was Gerrard.

Typical Big Club decision by the ref. Just like the Brum game.

I didn't see the incident in question so can't make judgement on it, but in the main I do agree that the smaller clubs, particularly away from home, cop the rough end of the stick.

That said, the big clubs cop a share (whether it's equivalent or not I'm not sure) ... In recent seasons we've been hurt particularly against Chelsea (although they would argue we got lucky on the most important one of all) and even this year had a goal wrongly disallowed v Stoke that likely would have earned us an extra 2 points.

Perhaps the penalty given against the Wigan bloke was as a result of all the media voicing very public opinions about lack of punishment for advancing on a free kick for so long?

As for my mob, I hope I'm wrong, but I get the feeling a customary slump of sorts might not be too far away, we surely can't keep surviving on "get out of jail" cards.

[devilsadvocate]

Just found this little piece from Carragher's auto biography:

On 28 February 2008, Carragher was arrested and cautioned for assault outside a school near his home in Crosby. Liverpool refused to comment.[7]

On September 11, 2008, Carragher's biography, Carra, was released, but controversial excerpts were leaked to the press beforehand. In one instance, Carragher claimed that his close friends were looking to assault fellow Premiership player Lucas Neill but that the incident was averted only because Neill was in the company of David Thompson, one of Carragher's former teammates, who Carragher did not want to "become a witness to an assault." Carragher sent a text to Thompson, "telling him Neill should give him a hug of thanks," suggesting had Thompson not been there, Neill would have faced an assault.[8][9]

Carragher claimed he launched a deliberate hard tackle in a practice session against former Liverpool teammate Rigobert Song because of the latter's perceived mockery of Carragher's defending.[10] "Song walked on to the training pitch with a smile on his face. He was limping off it with a grimace an hour later. The first chance I got, I did him. Never have I hunted down a 50-50 tackle with greater appetite. 'You're not ******* laughing now, are you, you soft c**t?' I said as he hobbled away."[9]

Carragher also asserted therein that his brothers have trouble finding employment in the city of Liverpool because of the number of foreign immigrants working in England, prompting claims of xenophobia.[11][9] He also claimed he took solace from international defeats with England because he was less concerned about results for his national side than for Liverpool.[12][9]

Sounds like a pleasant young man.