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FRIDAY 6 |
Benitez denies war with owners
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has moved to counter claims that
he is 'at war' with the club owners over his contract.
Reds midfielder Xabi Alonso had spoken earlier on Friday
about the ongoing struggle for power between the Reds owners
Tom Hicks and George Gillett and Benitez.
Alonso voiced his opinion on the matter citing that he
reckons the Spanish tactician will come out on top should a
feud between the involved parties break out.
But the Liverpool boss has responded to his midfielder's
recent claims in a bid to calm down talk of a war between
himself and the club's chiefs.
Benitez said: "We are not in a war, we are working together
trying to improve and we are looking for the best things for
the team.
"We are still talking over my contract, but there is no more
progress yet.
"We are talking; we do not have any problems. But we do have
different ideas in different things so we will keep
talking."
(Sky Sports)
Keane: Reds squad exclusion was final straw
Robbie Keane admits he could not understand why Rafa Benitez
dropped him from his squad, insisting “I’m no bad egg”.
Keane spoke for the first time of his horror six months at
Anfield, where he became increasingly jettisoned before
returning to Tottenham in the January transfer window.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work out for you. I worked hard in
training every day, I did everything I possibly could,
sometimes the manager just doesn’t fancy you,” Keane said in
Friday’s press conference.
“When you’re in and out of the team it’s never easy as a
striker. You need your fitness and sharpness. I love
playing, I didn’t play as often as I would have liked.
“To be left out of the squad was particularly difficult to
take. I’ve never been left out of a squad since I was 17, as
a player I found that difficult.
“If I was a bad egg I could understand but I work every day
in training.”
(Setanta Sports)
Mascherano: We're well placed
Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has told Setanta
Sports’ Friday Football Show that his side are still in an
excellent position to claim their first title in 19 years.
The Argentine is hoping to line up amongst Rafa Benitez’s
side against Portsmouth on Saturday, as The Reds look to
maintain their chase of league leaders Manchester United.
“We lost against Everton, but we are in a good position in
The Premier League so we need to look forward and try to
keep the level we did against Chelsea,” he told the Friday
Football Show.
“But we know that we have to win if we have any chance of
fighting for the title. If we draw it’s a worry for me
because it will be very difficult."
(Setanta Sports)
Rafa facing Torres decision
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admits he faces a big
decision over whether to play Fernando Torres at Portsmouth
on Saturday as the Reds look to keep the pressure on Premier
League leaders Manchester United.
The striker has already missed two lengthy spells this
season with hamstring trouble but his goals are needed if
Liverpool are to keep United, who have a two point lead at
the top of the table and a game in hand, in their sights.
"He's fit but tired. We will see if he's ready for
tomorrow," Benitez told Sky Sports News.
(Sky Sports)
No room for sentiment in
Liverpool’s quest for trophies
Harry Redknapp’s first act after re-signing Robbie Keane was
to give him the Tottenham captaincy.
Now that might just be a simple act of man management by the
Spurs boss, designed to lift a player whose confidence has
been knocked by his in and out treatment at Anfield.
But it might also hint at one of the reasons why Rafa
Benitez was prepared to cash in on a striker he only signed
five months ago.
Redknapp’s gesture was the kind of hand round the shoulder
you don’t get at Anfield.
Not even if you’re Steven Gerrard.
(David Prentice - Liverpool Echo)
Five Reds earn Spain call-up
Five Liverpool players have been named in the Spain squad
for next week's friendly international against England in
Seville.
Goalkeeper Pepe Reina, full-back Alvaro Arbeloa, midfielders
Albert Riera and Xabi Alonso, and striker Fernando Torres
have all been included in coach Vicente del Bosque's 22-man
squad.
The Euro 2008 winners will be looking to protect a 28-match
unbeaten run when they go head-to-head with Fabio Capello's
men on Wednesday night.(LFC Official Website)
Reds eye Barca wonderkid
Liverpool are planning a move to lure Barcelona wonderkid
Gerard Deulofeu away from Camp Nou to Anfield.
Deulofeu is regarded as one of the best young prospects in
European football and scouts from a host of clubs have been
tracking his progress.
Liverpool scout Paco de Gracia has recommended the youngster
to Reds boss Rafa Benitez as they look to pull off a similar
coup to that which saw Daniel Pacheco make the move from
Barcelona to Anfield.
(Sky Sports)
Arbeloa: Self-belief is
Liverpool's strength
Liverpool have barely had the chance to dust off their derby
day disappointment and they are faced with their latest in a
string of "must win" games.
Over the past month Rafa Benitez and his players have found
out just how tough life at the top can be with their only
victories in this testing period coming at Preston in the FA
Cup and at home to Chelsea last weekend in the Premier
League.
With the pressure continuing to build with every passing
week one might be forgiven for thinking it is all becoming a
bit too much, but Alvaro Arbeloa remains adamant that such
weighty expectations and mounting anxieties are a pleasure,
not a pain.
"It is really nice to feel the pressure of fighting for a
title," said the 26-year-old
"This is why I came to Liverpool. Every player here wants to
fight for the title, to feel this pressure and to play in
massive games."
(Liverpool Echo)
Alonso: Rafa will win tug of war
Xabi Alonso has backed Rafael Benitez to come through the
"tug of war" at Liverpool as the behind-the-scenes battle
for control rumbles on.
The Spaniard wants a more hands-on approach when it comes to
transfer dealings and the running of the club in general
before he commits to a new contract, but thus far the club's
American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks - who
themselves remain at loggerheads - are yet to agree to
Benitez's demands.
But Alonso is fully confident Benitez will be given the deal
he wants to stay.
"The owners and Rafa seem to be involved in a tug of war,"
Alonso told The Sun.
"Even if they are trying to resolve it for the better of the
club, there is no question in my mind when you have the
right man for the job, securing his continuity is important.
"We've been through our bad moments but constant change, or
change for the sake of it, isn't a good thing at a club like
this.
"It's a subject between Rafa and the owners and the team
must not let it affect us at any cost, but my personal bet
is Rafa will stay with Liverpool.
(TEAMtalk)
Rafa hopeful of swift Gerrard return
Manager Rafael Benitez is hopeful that Steven Gerrard's
injury-enforced absence will not derail Liverpool's Premier
League title challenge.
He is fortunate in that, because of an international week,
there are only two league fixtures - against Portsmouth on
Saturday and Manchester City - in a short month.
However, with the captain ruled out for three weeks with a
hamstring tear it is up to the rest of the side to raise
their game to ensure leaders Manchester United do not extend
their two-point advantage further.
"He is an important player for us. It is always more
difficult to play without him," said Benitez.
"You can't change things so it is better to concentrate on
the next game.
"We have some problems with injuries and Portsmouth will be
tough so we need players with fresh legs."
(TEAMtalk) |
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THURSDAY 5 |
Kennedy rues 'irreplaceable' Gerrard blow
Liverpool legend Alan Kennedy says the club cannot succumb
to the temptation of rushing Steven Gerrard back.
“It’s a massive blow to Liverpool Football Club,” Kennedy
told Setanta Sports News. “Steve has been tremendous this
season both in making goals and scoring goals. He’s just
about irreplaceable."
(Setanta Sports)
Amoo keeps Youth Cup dream alive
David Amoo was the goalscoring hero as Liverpool Under-18s
booked their place in the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals with a
1-0 win over Chelsea on Thursday.
The 17-year-old headed the only goal of the game in front of
more than 2,000 spectators on a dream Anfield debut.
Hughie McAuley's side now face Bolton as the Reds look to
win the competition for the fourth time.
Liverpool Under 18s: Bouzanis, Wisdom, Buchtmann, Ayala,
Kennedy, Irwin, Amoo, Pepper (Kacaniklic 73), Dalle Valle,
Ince, Eccelston. Unused subs: Chamberlin, Metcalf, Roberts,
Ellison.
(LFC Official Website)
Kuyt remains positive
Dirk Kuyt says Liverpool must remain positive.
The Reds crashed out of the FA Cup last night thanks to a
deflected goal at Goodison. Kuyt says they have to put this
defeat behind them and concentrate on the league and
European Cup.
"The key now is how we react to this defeat. The positive
thing from our point of view is that on the two other
occasions we have lost games this season we managed to come
back in the weeks that followed."
(LFC Online)
Rafa douses Torres injury fears
Rafa Benitez has dispelled fears that Fernando Torres was
injured during Wednesday’s FA Cup exit to Everton.
Torres was withdrawn during extra time as Liverpool threw on
Ryan Babel in an attempt to freshen up their striking
options.
The live match coverage persistently claimed Torres was
injured, yet the Spaniard was merely suffering from
exhaustion due to his new training regime.
The Reds have put Torres on an intense strength-training
programme to improve his hamstrings, meaning his physical
levels have dropped in the short term.
"Torres was really tired and that's why I took him off,”
Benitez confirmed after the match.
"He needs to keep playing games and keep training because
his match fitness is not the best but that will come."
(Setanta Sports)
Gerrard to miss three weeks
Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard faces three weeks on the
sidelines after suffering a torn hamstring.
Gerrard was forced off early on in Wednesday's FA Cup relay
defeat at Everton after picking up a hamstring problem.
Scans have confirmed Gerrard has suffered a tear to his left
hamstring which is likely to rule him out of action for up
to three weeks.
(Sky Sports)
ITV apologise for missed goal
Liverpool fans may not be too bothered, but ITV have
apologised after an ad break blunder which caused TV viewers
to miss Dan Gosling's extra-time winner.
"If you missed the goal we apologise. It was because of
technical problems we had at that time," said commentator
Steve Ryder at the time, after the TV company's automatic
system momentarily switched from live action to a commercial
break.
"ITV experienced some technical problems which would appear
to be an issue with network transmission. We apologise for
any interruption to the game," added a spokesman for the
broadcaster.
(LFC Online)
Rafa: "Tired" Gerrard hamstrung
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is waiting to learn the extent
of captain Steven Gerrard's injury after he was forced off
during the FA Cup defeat at Everton - and says fatigue was
to blame.
Gerrard was taken off early in the game at Goodison Park
with a hamstring injury, will not play at Portsmouth on
Saturday and is almost certainly out of England's friendly
next Wednesday against Spain
in Seville.
Benitez said: "Steven Gerrard will have a scan on Thursday
to see the extent of the injury, we do not really know yet.
"Steven was tired, and he gets injured. He was tired, too,
at Wigan but when I took him off there everyone was saying
he had to play every single minute of every match. Now you
have seen the consequences."
(Football 365)
Toffees boss keeps feet on ground
David Moyes has warned Everton fans not to get too carried
away with the memorable 1-0 FA Cup fourth-round replay win
over Liverpool.
Teenager Dan Gosling struck the injury-time winner on
Wednesday night to set-up a fifth-round home tie with Aston
Villa on February 15.
The Toffees boss, however, urged fans to keep the win in
perspective.
Moyes said: "We haven't won the cup just yet. It was a great
result and everyone was really desperate for it. But let's
not think the cup is already here, there is a very, very
long way to go yet."
(TEAMtalk) |
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WEDNESDAY 4 |
Gosling dumps out 10-man Reds
Teenager Dan Gosling won the Merseyside FA Cup battle for
Everton with a winner deep into extra-time to dump out
10-man Liverpool.
The 19-year-old from Plymouth, in only his fifth appearance
for the club, scored in the 118th minute to finally break
the spirit of 10-man Liverpool.
Everton now face Aston Villa in the fifth round on February
15.
Liverpool ended in disarray. Robbie Keane sold, Steven
Gerrard limping away after just 16 minutes, while Fernando
Torres was withdrawn, exhausted, in extra-time.
They had been facing defeat from the moment Lucas was
sent-off with 14 minutes of normal time left.
The Brazilian midfielder became the 23rd player to be
dismissed in Merseyside derbies, with 16 of those coming in
the last 10 years.
It summed up a fourth-round replay that was a war of
attrition from the start between sides meeting for the third
time in 17 days.
(TEAMtalk)
Gerrard worry for Reds
Liverpool are sweating over the fitness of Steven Gerrard
who limped out of Wednesday’s FA Cup replay with Everton
with a hamstring problem.
Gerrard left the field just 16 minutes into the match,
holding the back of his leg as he made his way to the
changing rooms.
There has been no word on the severity of the problem other
than that it is a hamstring injury.
Liverpool face Portsmouth in The Premier League on Saturday,
but Gerrard must be rated extremely doubtful for the trip to
Fratton Park.
(Setanta Sports)
Lucas returns to face Everton
Lucas Leiva is recalled to the starting line-up as Liverpool
look to book their place in round five of the FA Cup at the
expense of Everton at Goodison Park tonight.
The Brazilian comes in for Javier Mascherano and is one of
two changes from the side that beat Chelsea with Andrea
Dossena replacing Fabio Aurelio.
The Liverpool team in full: Reina, Arbeloa, Dossena,
Carragher, Skrtel, Lucas, Alonso, Gerrard, Kuyt, Riera,
Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Hyypia, Agger, Benayoun, Babel,
Mascherano, El Zhar.
(LFC Official Website)
Speedie title warning to Reds
Former Liverpool striker David Speedie has told setanta.com
that his former side must not let the series of derby ties
with Everton derail their title prospects.
Liverpool are back in the Premier League title race after
last weekend’s 2-0 home win over Chelsea, and now face
Everton in the FA Cup 4th round replay on Wednesday night,
facing their Stanley Park neighbours for the third time in
just over two weeks.
Speedie was part of the Liverpool team in 1991 that played
their city neighbours four times in 18 days, a year that saw
the side finish second to Arsenal in the league standings.
Speedie believes that the high intensity of the derbies took
its toll on The Reds’ title aspirations in 1991, and hopes
that the 2009 team’s three derbies in 16 days does not
affect the current crop’s league hopes.
“Those particular games take a lot out of players,” he told
setanta.com.
“The atmosphere is so draining, that is what I found. I made
my home debut for Liverpool against Everton, and then played
them the following week in the FA Cup.
“Two derby games in a week is demanding on a team, it is
draining.”
(Setanta Sports)
Moyes: Liverpool get all the luck
Liverpool have had all the luck this season, that is the
view of David Moyes ahead of Wednesday’s FA Cup replay.
Moyes leads his men into the fourth-round replay having
masterminded two draws at Anfield in the space of a week.
Those two games have inspired some inevitable bad blood
between the two sides, with Rafa Benitez accusing The
Toffees of negative tactics, while Javier Mascherano’s
card-waving antics hardly endeared him to Everton fans.
Moyes also thinks his men were denied a clear penalty at
Anfield when Alvaro Arbeloa stumbled into Steven Pienaar and
– despite Benitez’s claims that Manchester United get all
the luck – Moyes claims Liverpool get favoured when it comes
to big decisions.
“I think Liverpool have had an awful lot going for them,”
Moyes told The Times.
“We are wholehearted, but when you get players lying on the
floor waving their hands suggesting cards and the referee is
missing challenges, it’s very hard.
“But we will keep going. We won’t be provoked by it. We will
be disciplined but, more importantly, we will keep doing
what we have been doing.
“We thought we had a penalty kick when Steven Pienaar was
tackled from behind. Was it much worse than the one Mikel
Arteta gave away at Old Trafford on Saturday? There are
moments in games when you think it could have gone for you,
but it doesn’t.”
(Setanta Sports)
Spurs offered Liverpool
swap deals for Keane
Rafael Benitez has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur were so
keen to secure the service of Robbie Keane that they were
prepared to offer players in return. In the end the deal
came down to cash payments only with speculation still rife
as to how much the Merseyside club lost in
the deal.
The Irish striker returned to White Hart Lane on deadline
day and has since been offered the captaincy but there is
now speculation that his return could cause unrest amongst
other members of the squad.
David Bentley, Jermain Jenas and Aaron Lennon were all
linked with possible moves away from North London during the
transfer window and are thought to have been possible
make-weights in the Keane deal while Giovani dos Santos was
also cleared to move to another club.
Speaking about the transfer saga, Benitez claimed:
“Tottenham were talking about giving us certain players. We
thought that would be the right way with the right names.
“But then, in the last day, we decided that we had to do it
with the deal on the table. We knew as a club that we had to
do it. We were talking and everybody agreed that we had to
do it now.”
(Sport.co.uk)
Premier League defends Keane transfer
The Premier League has defended its decision not to invoke
Rule L19 in the transfer of Robbie Keane from Liverpool to
Tottenham.
Keane returned to White Hart Lane just six months after
leaving Tottenham for Liverpool in a £20.3 million deal, in
apparent contravention of a Premier League rule that says
that a player cannot re-sign to a previous club for 12
months after the initial transfer.
Rule L19 expressly states that “A club which transfers or
cancels the registration of a player may not apply to
register that player within a year except with the prior
written consent of the board.”
However, Tottenham have this transfer window re-signed
Keane, Jermain Defoe from Portsmouth and Pascal Chimbonda
from Sunderland all within a year of their initially leaving
White Hart Lane.
The Premier League has insisted that they have acted
correctly in allowing dispensations for the three players,
and that the Rule L19 is not in place to prevent legitimate
transfers occurring.
(Setanta Sports)
God heads Down Under
Robbie Fowler has signed a two-year deal with Australian
outfit North Queensland Fury.
The 33-year-old striker was a free agent after leaving
Blackburn Rovers in December and will join up with Fury for
their debut season in the Hyundai A-League, which is
scheduled to start in July.
Fowler, who scored 183 goals in 369 appearances for
Liverpool over the course of two spells at Anfield, admitted
the move to the other side of the world was a huge decision
for him and his family but also an exciting new chapter in
his career.
"I had nothing but good things to tell my family about the
football side of things and the lifestyle opportunities
North Queensland can offer us,"
said Fowler.
"From a football perspective, everything Fury coach Ian
Ferguson put on the table and showed me was first class and
the enthusiasm and drive of everyone at the club is
fantastic.
"It's a huge decision for my family but it's also an
opportunity to continue my football career in a truly
wonderful part of the world."
(LFC Official Website)
Gerrard wins another PFA award
Steven Gerrard has rounded off a string of impressive
performances in a red shirt by winning the PFA Fans' Player
of the Month for the second month running.
The Reds skipper found the net twice against Everton during
January and rekindled his formidable relationship with
Fernando Torres to set up El Nino for a host of goalscoring
opportunities - including his comeback strike against
Preston North End in the FA Cup third round.
(LFC Official Website)
Thor Zakariassen
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