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MONDAY 15 |
Rafa to undergo minor operation
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez will undergo minor surgery
later today after being admitted to hospital in the early
hours of this morning.
A club spokesman said: "Rafa was admitted to hospital last
night after suffering problems with a kidney stone.
"He will undergo a minor operation this afternoon and is
expected to return to work within two or three days.
"He remains in good spirits and everyone at Liverpool wishes
him a very speedy recovery."
(LFC Official Website)
Benitez singing from
his own songsheet
For several years Johnny Cash has been the crooner of choice
of the Anfield crowd.
But perhaps it’s now time they switched to Ol’ Blue Eyes.
Because, like it or loathe it, Rafa Benitez is going to do
it HIS way.
Frustrated fans, a complaining Press corps or a £20m striker
giving him hurt looks down the touchline, is not going to
change the self-confident Spaniard’s way of thinking.
Benitez was at his most bloody-minded on Saturday.
Few queried the 4-2-3-1 formation which saw Robbie Keane
left forlornly looking on; after all it was the same system
which had yielded a 3-1 away win seven days previously.
But as the Reds struggled against a refreshingly inventive
Hull side, his search for “solutions” defied popular
thinking.
(David Prentice - Liverpool Echo)
Benayoun rues dropped
Premier League points
Yossi Benayoun admitted Liverpool need to play more with
their heads if they are to retain their status as Premier
League leaders.
The Reds dropped another two home points in Saturday’s 2-2
draw with Hull and had to thank Steven Gerrard for getting
them back on level terms with a double goal blast.
Benayoun was delighted with the character shown by Rafa
Benitez’s side after their latest comeback but believes they
should have gone on to win the game had they showed more
composure.
“Even after we went two goals down we never thought it was
game over, especially after our experiences this season,” he
said.
“But we were all really disappointed to find ourselves two
goals down because I thought we started the game very well
and we were the better side for the first ten to 15 minutes.
“Then we conceded a goal and lost a bit of control but after
that we showed a lot of character to come back."
(Liverpool Echo)
Wenger eyeing Reds scalp
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes his side can defeat
Liverpool on Sunday, while striker Emmanuel Adebayor admits
the club have 'unfinished business' against the Reds.
When asked if the Anfield club are a cut above Chelsea and
United this season, Wenger said in the Daily Star: "No, not
really.
"There's no big difference between Liverpool and the other
two clubs. They're far away from us in the table but not far
away from the other two.
"I think we can beat Liverpool."
(Sky Sports)
Liverpool count cost of home form
With the groans of dissatisfaction ringing around Anfield on
Saturday you could be forgiven for thinking that Liverpool
are a club in crisis.
However, they remain top of the Premier League, despite a
third straight home draw that has raised serious doubts
about their title-winning credentials.
Consecutive goalless encounters with Fulham and West Ham
preceded this weekend's 2-2 draw with Hull City and Rafael
Benitez's side will know that this kind of form is no way to
end a 19-year wait for a league championship triumph.
Despite their uninspiring recent home form, Liverpool have
been aided by the fact teams around them are failing to
capitalise when they falter - and their fans' frustrations
are aimed largely at their team's inability to pull clear.
(BBC Sport)
Is Benny Hill now
Liverpool’s defensive coach?
In today’s tough economic times £27m can make or break
well-known companies, never mind Premier League managers. So
the plights of two struggling players recently bought for
that massive outlay is of particular interest.
A £7m full-back who’s clueless on the pitch. A £20m striker
who can’t even get on it.
It seems like Benitez is playing a game of chicken with
Robbie Keane which isn’t helping anyone.
When asked by a hungry pack of journalists about what the
American owners would think as he left a £20m striker on the
sidelines, the Spaniard was typically ambiguous, appearing
to say he’d like more £20m players on the bench next season.
Typical Benitez. Everything can be used to lay down a marker
about needing more funds.
You’d have been forgiven for thinking Benny Hill had been
brought in as a special guest defensive coach after two
comedic errors continued the struggle to chase down a league
title no one wants to win.
If something was going to deny Benitez’s men the title, you
would have thought it would have been lack of goals, not
defensive fragility.
Liverpool’s backline is a Fantasy Football dream, as is
captain Steven Gerrard, who once again rode to the rescue as
the defence capitulated.
(Andrew Gilpin - Liverpool Daily Post)
Hyypia can’t explain Liverpool's
lost points in Anfield matches
Defender Sami Hyypia is at a loss to explain Liverpool’s
recent poor
home form.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Hull continued a run of three
stalemates at Anfield which have hit Rafael Benitez’s side’s
title challenge.
And after the draw, the big Finn said: “We tried to do
everything we could to win, but today it didn’t work.
(Liverpool Daily Post) |
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SUNDAY 14 |
Lucas hoping to play with confidence
Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva has spoken of his
determination to make an impact for Liverpool this season.
Lucas has been criticised at times this season but manager
Rafa Benitez has shown faith in him.
Lucas realises the importance of staying positive and
accepts that his game can be affected when he is struggling
for confidence.
He is looking to play a major role for the Reds and hopes to
keep improving over the coming months.
"All players need confidence. If you have that it can help
you play better," Lucas told the Daily Star Sunday.
"Maybe you will try a pass that you may not normally do. If
you miss, you try again. You have to try to make something
different happen.
"But if you don't have confidence everything becomes more
difficult for you as a player.
"I've had more time to go forward this year. Rafa says it is
up to me to get forward to make more chances and that is
what I am trying to do for
the club."
(TEAMtalk)
Benitez defends Keane decision
Rafael Benitez has defended his decision to leave Robbie
Keane on the substitutes' bench during Liverpool's 2-2 draw
with Hull City.
The striker, signed from Tottenham Hotspur for £19 million
in the summer, was an unused sub for a second consecutive
league game despite a gutsy performance against PSV
Eindhoven in the Champions League in midweek.
However Benitez is sticking to his guns on the decision,
insisting that the introduction of Nabil El Zhar and Ryan
Babel to the game as second half substitutes instead of
Keane was the right thing to do.
"We wanted wingers with pace and ability. Babel and El Zhar
were both very good," Benitez said
"We wanted to get to the line and pulled the ball back, we
do not want to play long balls, we are not that sort of
team."
(Shanklygates)
Real rule out Rafa appointment
Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has effectively ruled
out any move for Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez following
the appointment of former Tottenham boss Juande Ramos on an
initial six-month contract.
Madrid-born Benitez is reportedly on the brink of signing a
new four-year contract with Liverpool, which is worth an
estimated £16million to
the Spaniard.
And Calderon told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek
programme: "Benitez is a very good coach and he was with us
as everyone knows. He was training the youth team at Real
Madrid. But he is the coach of Liverpool and I am sure he is
going to be there for a long time and so he is not an
alternative for us."
He added: "We know him very well, he is Spanish and worked
with Real Madrid a long time ago. He is a very good coach
but I would like to have Juande for longer than six months.
So let's hope everything is going to be okay and if it is
like that, he will continue with us.
"Ramos won the Carling Cup with Spurs and the UEFA Cup two
years in a row with Sevilla. In England, with the problem of
the language and different habits, maybe it affected him.
But we trust him very much."
(ITV Football) |
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SATURDAY 13 |
Brown: Referee was ball-watching
Hull boss Phil Brown accused referee Alan Wiley of being a
"ball-watcher" and missing several fouls as Liverpool fought
back for a 2-2 draw at Anfield.
"I think the worst kind of footballer is a ball-watcher and,
for me, every time the ball went into the box the referee
was ball-watching," said Brown.
"A lot of the times Dirk Kuyt was at the back post fouling
Michael Turner."
(BBC Sport Online)
Rafa: The game was too open
Rafa Benitez believes that the frenetic nature of today's
2-2 draw with Hull City could be to blame for Liverpool's
failure to take all three points.
"We showed character to come back and scored some good
goals," he said. "But we couldn't play the final pass
properly and the game was too open.
"The game was a little bit too frenetic and you have to be
able to control things a lot more in these games."
(LFC Official Website)
Reds foiled again by fierce Tigers
Liverpool struggled to a third successive Premier League
draw at Anfield as new-boys Hull impressed on the road
again, the game ending 2-2.
The Tigers had already won at Arsenal and Tottenham and
scored three in defeat at Manchester United.
And if not for Steven Gerrard, they would have ended
Liverpool's season-long unbeaten home record.
Hull were two ahead on Saturday through Paul McShane and a
Jamie Carragher own goal before Gerrard scored twice in
eight minutes, taking his tally for the season to 11.
(TEAMtalk)
Gerrard returns v Hull
Steven Gerrard returns to the Liverpool starting line-up as
Rafa Benitez makes a host of changes for today's clash with
Hull City at Anfield - a match you can listen to live
online.
The Reds skipper comes into the side in place of David Ngog,
while Dirk Kuyt, Xabi Alonso, Sami Hyypia and Javier
Mascherano also earn
call-ups.
The Liverpool team in full: Reina, Dossena, Hyypia,
Carragher, Arbeloa, Riera, Alonso, Mascherano, Benayoun,
Gerrard, Kuyt.
Subs: Cavalieri, Agger, Keane, Babel, Lucas, Ngog, El Zhar.
(LFC Official Website)
Youth Cup 4th round date set
Liverpool's FA Youth Cup 4th round tie at Bristol Rovers
will take place at the Memorial Ground in Bristol on
Thursday January 15, 2009, kick-off 7.30pm.
As in previous seasons ties in the competition must be
concluded on the night, with extra time and penalties taking
place if necessary.
(LFC Official Website)
Youngsters crash to United defeat
Liverpool Under-18s saw their hopes of extending their
unbeaten run to five matches end in disappointment after
slipping to a 3-1 defeat at home to Man United.
The Reds struggled to keep pace with the creativity and
flair of the visitors' attack throughout the contest and
although Lauri Dalla Valle grabbed a late consolation they
were ultimately punished for a shaky defensive display.
Liverpool U18s: Dean Bouzanis, Michael Scott, Shane
O'Connor, Conor Coady, Joe Kennedy, Christopher Buchtmann,
David Amoo, Adam Pepper, Lauri Dalla Valle, Thomas Ince
(James Ellison 73), Alex Kacaniklic.
(LFC Official Website)
Thor Zakariassen
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