Liverpool

Liverpool: All the latest Liverpool flavoured news, views, rumours and other assorted bits and bobs

• Premier League recap – West Ham 1-0 Liverpool, Chelsea 1-0 Reading, Man Utd 2-0 Portsmouth, Everton 0-0 Spurs, Derby 1-1 Man City January 31st, 2008 Chelsea

  
  West Ham 1-0 Liverpool An injury-time penalty by Mark Noble denied Liverpool a point that they didn’t deserve anyway. West Ham had the best chances, whereas Liverpool looked flat, as if their players were painfully aware that any chance of winning the league had disappeared several weeks ago. Rafa Benitez’s team are now 17 points behind both Man Utd and Arsenal. Fourth place is the best they can hope for now, and even that is no certainty.
  Man of the match Mark Noble. On this form, the England U21 star must be close to a full England call-up.
  Photo Getty Images

• Havant & Waterlooville score, Matt Le Tissier goes mad, Phil Thompson goes mute and Jeff Stelling goes misty-eyed January 28th, 2008 Liverpool

  This fantastic video shows the reaction on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday to Havant & Waterlooville’s goals against Liverpool. Legendary Jeff Stelling begins a countdown to their victory, Matt Le Tissier gets all over-excited and the whole team take great pleasure in ribbing Liverpool old boy Phil Thompson.

• The Daily Balls January 24th, 2008 Arsenal

  This morning’s five hottest football stories, rumours and lies: 1. Middlesbrough are happy to sell injury-prone Jonathan Woodgate to Newcastle Utd or Spurs. ‘Boro will want to recoup the £7m they paid to Real Madrid though. Independent 2. Arsene Wenger has been on the phone, offering Theo Walcott to any Premier League club that can […]

• The Daily Vote – Do Liverpool fans deserve better than Hicks & Gillett? January 22nd, 2008 Liverpool

  
  Photo Alex Livesey/Getty Images
  Yep, it seems most Liverpool fans would be happy to ditch their ‘Yank’ benefactors, Tom Hicks and George Gillett – if only because they could then return to baiting Man Utd fans about the Glazers. Even Steven Gerrard voiced his concern about the state of Liverpool FC last night, after his side drew 2-2 at home with Aston Villa – a result that virtually guarantees another season without the league trophy going to Anfield.

• Football AM – Keegan wants Micah Richards, Sven wants Lukas Podolski January 21st, 2008 Liverpool

  This morning’s five hottest soccer scoops & rumours… 1. Sven-Goran Eriksson wants to bring Bayern Munich starlet Lukas Podolski (pictured) to Man City. Not gonna happen, Sven. F365 2. Tom Hicks has no intention of selling his stake in his beloved Liverpool. BBC 3. Alex Ferguson in hot water with FA over ‘gestures’ to Reading […]

• Daily Club Pies 18/01/08 January 18th, 2008 Arsenal

  The votes are in:Gooners want Arsene Wenger to sign cover for Kolo Toure Arsenal Pies Branislav Ivanovic’s wife is not as sexy as this Chelsea Pies Steven Gerrard named in Uefa’s Team of the Year. Liverpool Pies How well would a Man Yoo Old Boys XI do in the Prem? Man Utd Pies Does Tottenham’s […]

• Football AM – this morning’s top 5 stories January 18th, 2008 Arsenal

  The hottest five football stories doing the rounds this morning… 1. Kevin Keegan to be unveiled at St James’ Park today, but not in front of the Toon Army. BBC Sport 2. Rio Ferdinand: ‘I’d love to be England captain, innit. I’d merk that job.’ Sky Sports 3. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermain Defoe issue ‘come […]

• Daily Club Pies 16/01/08 January 17th, 2008 Arsenal

  Arsenal Pies Will Mathieu Flamini join Claudio ‘The Tinkerman’ Ranieri at Juventus? Chelsea Pies Will Shaun-Wright Phillips be Kevin Keegan’s No.1 transfer target at Newcastle? Liverpool Pies Dubai Investment Capital are willing and able to buy out Tom Hicks’ stake in Liverpool. Troubling times ahead at Anfield? Man Utd Pies Five weeks and counting until […]

• Jon Arne Riiise releases the Kraken! January 15th, 2008 Liverpool

  Here’s US commentator Max Bretos calling a Riise free-kick. Beats John Motson, any day. (The Kraken is a mythical sea monster, in case you didn’t know.) Links Liverpool Pies

• Pies’ halfway Premier League team of the season January 14th, 2008 Arsenal

  I meant to put this team up when we were 19 games (i.e. exactly halfway through the season) into the Prem campaign. Still, better slightly late than never… here, for you to peruse/violently disagree with, is Pies’ Premier League team of the season, at the halfway stage (it will be interesting to see how much […]

• Jamie Carragher goes nuts after being told to ‘calm down!’ by Luton fans wearing shellsuits and curly wigs January 8th, 2008 Liverpool

  I love this story, from the website of the Current Bun. Carra reportedly ‘lost it’ after being taunted – i.e. told to ‘calm down’ in a bad Scouse accent – by a small section of Luton fans wearing curly wigs and shellsuits. The Sun’s story is accompanied by a blurry picture of Carragher, supposedly enraged, […]

• Liverpool 1-1 Wigan: Liverpool lack the genius to win the league this season, and Titus Bramble scores again! January 3rd, 2008 Liverpool

  
  Liverpool are a well-organised, powerful, athletic, talented team – but they don’t half play some dull football. I have no doubt that Rafa Benitez makes sure that his players eat the right shape of pasta, but football is about more than pure science. It’s about genius, it’s about inspiration, it’s about impossible-to-define moments of magic that win you games.

• Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool, League Cup quarter final: video highlights December 20th, 2007 Chelsea

  Peter Crouch’s sending-off was the turning point. The decision was correct: it’s clear from the clip that Crouch suddenly saw red and had no intention of going for the ball. He wanted to clatter Mikel – wouldn’t you? – and did. And not like Frank Lampard to get a deflected goal, is it?

• 3 conclusions: Liverpool 0-1 Man Utd, Premier League December 17th, 2007 Liverpool

  
  Like the Arsenal vs Chelsea clash, this was not a classic encounter. It was also a surprisingly low-key affair with relatively few talking points. Here are three things I learned from the match:
  No.1 Playing in black worked wonders for Liverpool at Marseille, and it also worked for Man Utd at Liverpool on Sunday. So if Man Utd played Marseille at home and Marseille wore black, the French club would win… or something like that. Is there something about playing in black that makes you play better? I’d argue yes. I cite Reservoir Dogs:

• Three conclusions: Marseille 0-4 Liverpool, Champions League (with video highlights) December 12th, 2007 Liverpool

  No.1 Playing in black suits Liverpool, it seems. Playing in peach-and-sky blue definitely does not suit Marseille. One look at the respective kits of both teams, even before the match had kicked off, told me that Liverpool would win. That and the fact they have much better players. No.2 I never thought I’d say it, […]

• Guess the score: Champions League Tuesday, 11th Dec. December 11th, 2007 Chelsea

  Pies says:
  Marseille 1-2 Liverpool I agree with Alan Hansen that Liverpool will sneak the win they need to qualify for the next stage.

• Forgotten wonder goals: Erik Edman’s rocket, Spurs vs Liverpool December 11th, 2007 Liverpool

  The first in a new series that celebrates forgotten wonder goals recalls Erik Edman’s thunderous, out-of-character strike for Spurs against Liverpool in April 2005. Edman, a full-back, currently plays for Rennes in France. He hasn’t yet scored for them.

• Should Rafa Benitez let Liverpool’s squad stay up to watch the Hatton vs Mayweather fight? December 7th, 2007 Liverpool

  The Guardian has a story today that made me chuckle: Rafa Benitez has apparently told his Liverpool players that they can’t stay up until the small hours to watch Ricky Hatton’s boxing title fight against Floyd Mayweather – the fight is scheduled to begin at 4am this Sat/Sun morning. Spoilsport!

• Snapshot Classic: Liverpool vs Man Utd, Anfield, 1995 December 7th, 2007 Liverpool

  March 1995 A knackered-looking Steve Bruce tries to keep up with Robbie Fowler during the Premiership match between Liverpool and Man Utd at Anfield in the 1994/95 season. Photo Shaun Botterill/ALLSPORT

• Shit Lookalikes: Peter Crouch and the logo of Special K breakfast cereal December 4th, 2007 Liverpool

  Chringle, our Shit Lookalikes specialist, has outdone himself this time. I don’t know what new form of crack you’re on Chringle, but I’d like some please.

• Funny old game: Liverpool fans chant ‘We’ve got the best midfield in the world’ November 29th, 2007 Liverpool

  ‘Xabi Alonso, Momo Sissoko, Gerrard and Mascheranooooooo!’ They definitely haven’t got the best midfield in the world (I’d argue that AC Milan – Kaka, Gattuso, Pirlo and Seedorf – win that one), but Liverpool fans never let the facts get in the way of a good chant. And this is a good chant. Shame that […]

• Three conclusions: Liverpool 4-1 FC Porto, Champions League Group A November 29th, 2007 Liverpool

  
  So Liverpool are still alive in the Champions League. They have to go to Marseille and win in their final game of the group stage, but I think they’re capable of doing that. Here’s what I learnt from the match…

• Head to head: Rafael Benitez and Sam Allardyce November 27th, 2007 Liverpool

  
  Billy Davies is the sixth Premier League manager to leave his club this season – there’s a Pies pat on the back if you can guess the others? But, it could be unlucky seven before Christmas with these two hanging from tenterhooks – Rafa’s upset the owners while Sam isn’t the fans’ favourite.

• Peter Crouch is walking tall, but he’s doing it with lots of make-up on November 9th, 2007 Liverpool

  Peter Crouch is the latest footballer to bring out a book. Crouchinho has brought out Walking Tall (oh, I see what he did there!) just in time to cash-in on the Christmas market. Perhaps including a huge sock as a complimentary Christmas stocking would improve sales. Anyway with most of these books you have to wait until the inside pages for the unintentional comedy gold. Not so with Walking Tall. How much slap is he wearing in the cover photo? He looks like Alan Hansen’s make-up artist has been let loose on him!

• Caption this! Liverpool’s Peter Crouch takes some time out November 9th, 2007 Liverpool

  
  “We always said that Crouch was all legs!”