Monday Brunch

 The boys were back in action Saturday for their yearly pre-season match at Crewe Alexandra. While the outcome of these games aren’t really as important as easing back into game speed, seeing what the youngsters have to offer and escaping injury free, I enjoyed what I was able to see of it.

Sadly, my laptop’s wireless internet connectivity issues continue (along with my growing rage)(anybody who can help explain why I’m losing a once reliable wireless signal is greatly appreciated), so I only was able to watch roughly the middle hour. But, it was entertaining to see the lads constantly attack (in those crap away kits), finally put some faces with youth names and even catch a few goals in the process.

Youth on Parade

With the bulk of the summer transfer window still to play out, with checks quickly being written and cashed, the short-term future of the club (and our opponents, as well) is still a bit hazy. Consider it the ‘Fog of War’. Despite all our recent transfer activity, there is no word coming out of Anfield that the spending is done. Perhaps once we get closer to the second week of August, we’ll have a clearer vision of the exact squad we’ll be going to battle with and what we might realistically expect from the 2007/2008 Premier League season.

Until then, I’ll hold off on the annual “Is this our year?” talk. (Rest assured, it will come)

 Oddly enough, it’s almost easier to look further into the future. As I’ve touched upon on in a multitude of recent posts, Rafa has been busy continuously bringing young talent to the club. (In fact, I wish I hadn’t used the Whitney Houston/”I Believe the Children Are Our Future” gimmick last week) The manager’s wish to scour the globe for young, inexpensive talent in hopes of grooming the next batch of Anfield stars has been no secret. But, it’s only been in the last year that the club has clearly started to make obvious progress and reap the benefits of all those energies devoted to identifying players and securing their signatures.

A simple look at the numbers hints at the strides the club is taking to ensure future on-the-field success. In fact, the simple act of cataloging each and every youth transfer the manager has collected proved more a task than I had anticipated.

Meet Your Wingers

 

If last week saw us bring one new player to Anfield, then this week’s haul of two should be twice as exciting, right?

Well… Not quite.

In an interesting juxtaposition, Rafa signed a player whom we’d been linked to for the whole summer and then a player who Arsenal had been linked to all summer. Yossi Benayoun signed on for four years after West Ham and Liverpool settled on a fee believed to be in the neighborhood of £5M. Ryan Babel comes over from Ajax for £11.5, inking a five-year deal.

Video Killed the England Star(’s Credibility)

As we wait on Benayoun and Babel (guess which one I’m more excited about), allow me to offer you a small apeirtiff in video form.

Firstly, I’ve really been enjoying watching Argentina in the Copa America. They’ve really been playing wonderful footy this tourney. It’s the perfect combination of dribbling and passing, individual flair and teamwork, without any of that Latin America/soft-touch dainty shit. This squad can play a very physical game, stay on their feet, and completely dominate a match. Y’all can have Brazil and their cute ball tricks. Give me Argentina.

The Argies rolled over Mexico last night, 3-0, to secure a final showdown with Brazil. The first goal came courtesy of current Liverpool ‘target’ Gabriel Heinze on a Riquelme free kick right before half-time. Truly class stuff.

Goals courtesy of 101 Great Goals

  

And, in the spirit of classy goals, Leo Messi’s sublime strike deserves some credit. When Messi hit this audacious chip, I actually shrieked outloud, “Holy shit, that’s sick!”

Our boy, Mascherano, played his usual quiet but effective game. While there was no third international goal, he did manage some hard/rash tackles and also broke up a promising Mexico break-away.

I wonder what kind of odds I could get right now on Argentina winning the 2010 WC in South Africa (or wherever the tournament actually is played)? 3 years out? No problem.

Back to Liverpool… Fancy some pictures of the team training, including El Nino? The Official Site has your fix.

Also, I came across this incredible video on YouTube last night. It’s not incredible because of what happens, it’s incredible because of the absolute lameness of everything associated with the clip. From the easily distracted mind of Rio Ferdinand, I give you the ‘punking’ of Peter Crouch.

Bellamy Sold

Craig Bellamy is now a Hammer.

The Welshman signed a five-year deal with the London club after a £7.5M fee.

Unlike Luis and Djibril’s departures, I don’t have much to say about Craig’s exit because I don’t have all that much nice to say about Craig.

I will, however, share this picture as it’s one of my recent favorites. Lucky for Craig, West Ham’s jerseys don’t have a collar he’ll feel the need to tuck in.

“Are you there, God? It’s me… Craig.”

Au Revoir, Lord of the Manor of Frodsham!

The protracted transfer saga of Djibril Cisse has finally come to an end. The French international, who joined Liverpool in the summer of 2004, has made the permanent move to Marseille after signing a five-year contract. The exact terms of the fee haven’t been announced, but it’s expected to be somewhere around £6 million. For weeks, there had been various reported interest from England and Spain, but the lure of Champions League football and a return home may have been a dealbreakers.

While his potential was never fully realized in a red shirt, he played with energy and I wish him well. Whether it was the sheer pace, the extensive body ink and ever-changing, eclectic hairstyles (or a combination of it all), I’ve always been oddly fond of Djibril despite his downsides.

The seeds were sewn the summer before he arrived when Houllier was still wooing him. Looking back, it was obviously that Ged had a serious Player Crush on Cisse. (A Player Crush is a non-homosexual crush, a lot like a Man Crush, where the manager becomes absolutely smitten with a player and his abilites, blind to any faults or shortcomings)

Ged had been chasing his signature relentlessly for a year before it was even announced that Cisse would come to Liverpool… the following summer. So, for a full season, all we heard was how fast and strong this cat was, how he was lighting up France’s Ligue 1 (26 goals in 38 games) and the incredible impact he was going to have on the Premiership. Every few months, Auxerre fossil/manager Guy Roux would stoke the fire, by speaking glowingly about the player Liverpool were going to get.

I bought into all the hype; Hook, line and sinker.

Monday Brunch

A few quick notes to start off what may be an eventful week:

• Sky Sports announced its live Premier League schedule (at least through November), which for those of us in the U.S., means (but doesn’t guarantee) that these games should end up on FoxSoccerChannel. No word on Setanta’s American schedule as of yet. The Liverpool games on Sky are as follows:

Sunday, Aug 19 – Liverpool vs. Chelsea – 4pm (11am EST)

Saturday, Aug 25 – Sunderland vs. Liverpool – 12:45pm (7:45am EST)

Saturday, Sept 15 – Portsmouth vs. Liverpool – 12:45pm (7:45am EST)

Saturday, Oct 20 – Everton vs. Liverpool – 12:45pm (7:45am EST)

Sunday, Oct 28 – Liverpool vs. Arsenal – 4pm (11am EST)

Saturday, Nov 24 – Newcastle vs. Liverpool – 12:45pm (7:45am EST)

• Jamie Carragher has confirmed that he is indeed considering retiring from international football. I personally like this idea as it will no doubt only help to extend his playing career, much in the same vein as Paul Scholes, as a multitude of peoples have already pointed out. As a selfish Liverpool fan, I want Carra to be a part of the team for as long as humanly possible and I can only imagine those extra week’s rest from training on international dates will help him acheive his goal of still playing for Liverpool when we make the move to Stanley Park. While it doesn’t seem like Jamie to ‘put himself before the team’ (which I don’t believe is actually the case), it’s sort of refreshing to see him ’stand up for himself and his career’ after all the disrespect (I feel) he’s recently been shown in the England set-up. Quit England, Jamie. It’ll be for the best. For his part, the Long-Sleeved One had this to say about his choice (from the Liverpool Echo, via Sky Sports): 

  There are a number of reasons why I’ve been thinking about this. I first thought about it after the World Cup because I wondered how many chances I’d get for England at centre-half.

  Then when Sol Campbell was out of the picture I thought I could put pressure on Rio Ferdinand for the other centre-half position alongside John Terry.

  Given my form for Liverpool, I genuinely thought that was possible, but over the last 12 months players like Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King have played there ahead of me.

  It’s just that from a purely personal point of view, it’s been disappointing because after some of my performances for Liverpool I thought I deserved a chance.

  I hoped I could come in, play out of my skin and do well enough to keep my place, not just for one game or two, but cement it. It was particularly disappointing for me when Rio was out against Estonia and I wasn’t picked. I thought I’d had a good season for Liverpool, especially helping us get to the Champions League final. Like any player I thought I deserved to play, but not doing so made the situation crystal clear to me.

  I’m 29 now, and I have to accept if I’m not a regular starter now, I don’t think I ever will be. It’s going to be difficult for me to be seen as anything more than a squad player, and at this stage of my career that’s not what I’m interested in.

  Playing the odd game here and there isn’t enough. Four or five years ago I was happy to have that role, but not now. I want to stress this has nothing do with Steve McClaren. It wouldn’t have mattered who was the England manager, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I’ve worked with Steve for five years as part of the England set-up. I have a great time working with him and a lot of the England coaches. I’m just thinking about this from a purely personal point of view. The reason I’m delaying a final decision is because I didn’t want people to think I have a bad attitude or I’m turning my back on the country at a bad time.

• Javier Mascherano scored his second international goal in as many games, as Argentina rolled over Peru (4-0) into the semi’s of Copa America. It was a fine knock-in after Tevez slotted the ball over to Messi, who had his shot parried into the path of an on-rushing Masch, who nailed it into the back of the twine. I know our little bulldog is new to this whole ’scoring thing’, but we’ve seriously got to work on the celebration. The video, courtesy of 101 Great Goals:

• Liverpool may have Cesc Fabregas to thank for Fernando Torres. Apparently the Arsenal midfielder had high praise for a move to England, and after a long talk between friends, El Nino decided he could succeed in the Premier League. Ironically, this revelation surfaces the same week Real Madrid have started tapping Fabregas up for a move back to Spain.

• And some quick transfer nuggets… Cisse to Marseille & Bellamy to West Ham should both be announced this week, Liverpool have officially lodged a bid for 20-year old Ajax winger Ryan ‘I Love Arsenal’ Babel, and the offers have starting to roll in for Robbie Fowler. God at Cardiff, anyone?

They’re Baaaaack

After an off-season that seemed to fly by (probably even more so for the players themselves), the boys were back in action today against League Two side Wrexham. Fielding almost two different sides in each half and heavily populated with youngsters, visiting Liverpool notched a 3-2 win with Austrian striker Besian Idrizaj scoring a hat-trick.

(Pictures from Getty Images - Jourdy Brower on the ball)

I must say, I think the white shirt, black shorts and white socks is a solid look. Whether this will be favored over an all-white kit remains to be seen, but I think it will be the preferred away ensemble. I would also wager on seeing a white top, white shorts and red socks combo at least once this season, maybe in the Carling Cup.

The starting XI: Martin, Finnan, Hobbs, Paletta, Arbeloa, Pennant, Peltier, Sissoko, Hammill, Brower, Idrizaj.

The substitutions: Darby, Roque, Huth, Threlfall, Flynn, Spearing, El Zhar, Lindfield, Simon, Nemeth, Hansen.

You can read more about it on the Official Site, but by most accounts Bes had a stormer and he and Pennant did a good job of linking up on the last two goals.

Rafa said most of the senior players who didn’t feature today will play at Crewe next Saturday.

Interestingly enough, in the post-game press conference, Rafa also said Craig Bellamy is definitely off to West Ham, Cisse to Marseille, but he’s unsure whether Benayoun is coming to Anfield. I would expect the Bellamy and Cisse official announcements on Monday.

I suppose West Ham’s splurging probably also signals the relative truth behind the Tevez-to-United talk. That’s a shame. Rooney and Tevez should form a tough partnership, regardless of their similiarities.

It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Bellamy spouts off once he officially joins the Hammers, and if he does, what he has to say. I have this crazy notion that he’s unafraid to burn bridges. It should prove entertaining.

When the initial rumors surfaced that Rafa was interested in Bellamy, I was not happy. I didn’t care for his attitude and routinely used the word ‘cunt’ in referring to him. But, when the time came and he pulled on a red shirt, I welcomed him as ‘our cunt’. I remember saying it’s better to play aside that type of player than against and hoped he’d be a constant thorn in the side of opposing defences.

While I won’t slag him off for his efforts on the pitch this last season, now that’s he’s gone, I will definitely resume referring to him as a regular ole ‘cunt’.

Should Liverpool receive roughly £8M and £9M for Craig and Djibril, £17M will offset the price of Fernando Torres nicely. Shrew business. Even £14-15 million would be a solid recoup of money, which should allow for plenty (or enough) cash for whomever we’ve got targeted for the wings.

Oh yea, Javier Mascherano got his first international goal for Argentina at Copa America this week. Even better, it was the winner versus Paraguay. The Red Cauldron has the video. Congrats, Masch.

The Transfer Market Gets Red Hot

 

What a week. I think I also need a seat.

In addition to all the juicy transfer rumors (which, we’ll get to soon enough), Liverpool said goodbye to a key member of the backroom staff, bid farewell to Luis Garcia, brought even more young talent to the club and extended the stays of some others.

And then there was the big splash in the summer transfer pool with a cannonball by the name ’El Nino’.

While I’m still buzzing about the arrival of the 23-year old Spanish international, I’m ready to put aside my bright optimism as we sort through all things Liverpool once again.

One Wicked (Witch) Pair of Boots

Looking for a new pair of boots which announces your allegiances to every one within a mile radius of your Sunday league matches?

Craving something that shouts, “Hey, everyone, come see how good I look!”

Need that elusive wardrobe piece which perfectly compliments the eyesore known as the new Liverpool training gear but doubles as a nightlight?

Well, I have just the thing for you. Allow me to bring this gem to your attention:

According to the pages of RAWK, adidas is issuing Special Edition boots for the five-time European champions. I intially had my doubts to as whether this (and accompanying photographs) are actually valid, but it looks like it’s true.

Regardless, it’s certainly quite, um… interesting. I’m sure, just like everything else for the adidas ‘tunit’ boots, you’ll have to purchase batteries seperately.