On Friday Rafa declared war on the mancs, but instead of leading his troops over the top of the trenches at the Britannia Stadium, he went and hid in a fucking bunker. After that rallying cry we needed to go there with all guns blazing, come away with a convincing win and say to the mancs and Chelsea “right, let’s see what you can do now”. Instead we just gave validity to Ferguson’s claims that we will bottle it, with a dreadful performance and painfully negative approach.

To read the full article, click http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/blog/?p=250

No i have not forgot about this blog but i have unfortunately neglected it so now I’m up and running and the blog will now be updated on a regular basis.

I have recruited help in the match reports and Dave Usher will now do the reports which can be viewed via his blog which i will link to after each match.

Here you can read the report Dave has compiled for the Newcastle game.

Well I didn’t see that coming! I’ll be honest, when I saw the team selection I was shocked and extremely disappointed. No Keane, Alonso or Riera? Kuyt on his own up front again? Lucas for Alonso? Babel starting despite the awful form he’s been in? Rafa took a huge gamble here because if it hadn’t worked out he’d have been absolutely battered. It did work out though, and then some so well done to him.

To read the full report please click this link

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/blog/?p=242

Thanks to Dave for allowing me to use his match reports and they are well worth a read.

Sorry about the Villa report but due to time constraints i have been unable to compile it but suffice to say just read the reports of the Sunderland and Boro games in that we were poor and unable to pass the ball 5 yards it seemed.

Now to the good stuff and typing a report on a victory over Man United.

These victories for some unknown reason used to happen on a regular basis under Houllier but Rafa just seems to struggle against Manchester United and for me shows them too much respect.

With Torres and Gerrard looking like they were going to be injured for the game i was pondering what the team would be so when i heard that our two talisman players were fit to play i instantly thought Torres upfront with Keane and i would have been tempted to play Gerrard out on the right drifting inside but when i read the team sheet i will openly admit i feared the worst.

We lacked pace throughout the team and after only 3 minuted my fears seemed justified as Man United were passing the ball around with ease and scored through Tevez and at that point it looked like a case of how many as the team in white looked like they could hold onto the ball all game without little pressure.

Something happened though around 20 minutes. I don’t know if it was at that point when there was an injury so Rafa took the opportunity to talk to Reira but we then seemed to step up a gear and pressured every single ball and Man United suddenly could not cope with the intensity of the players and we came close to scoring from Kuyt who on reflection will know he should have scored.

We didn’t need to stay disappointed for long though as Van der Sar who had dropped an early clanger went one better when he pushed the ball onto Wes Brown and the rebound went straight into the net.

As you would expect Anfield erupted and once again it was set to be another one of those special games at Anfield where the fans were on top form and the players responded to it.

When the half time whistle went with the score at 1-1 it was pretty much a reflection on the game as although Man United had dominated for 20 minutes we had clawed our way back into the game and set ourselves up for a great second half.

What Rafa said to the players at half time i do not know but it must have been something along the lines of ‘do not let them have a second on the ball’ and ‘harrass every player and he will make a mistake’.

What we witnessed in the second half was by fair Liverpools best performance of the season and we would have beaten any team such was our intensity and work rate.

Players such Keane and Kuyt would not allow any of the Man United defenders a chance to clear the ball and Mascherano and Alonso controlled the middle of the park in a way that would be a sacrilege to drop either player to accommodate Gerrard so i think the captain may have to play on the right.

Alber Reira was making his debut for us yesterday and i think he surprised many supporters who were remembering him when he played for Man City but Rafa had said that the winger had matured a lot since then and had ‘bulked up’ so therefore could handle the physical side of the Premier League and i thought he was superb yesterday.

He went down looking for a free kick too often in the first 20 minutes but i don’t think it was any coincidence that once Rafa had had a word he stayed on his feet and gave us an outlet ball down the left and also combined superbly with Aurellio to allow the full back to overlap him whilst Reira cut inside causing problems for Wes Brown.

Talking of the Man United full back he must have thought it was going to get easier for him when Reira was finally subbed only to see his replacement was Ryan Babel who has pace to burn and as we saw yesterday he also has a few tricks up his sleeve as well.

The introduction of Babel gave us that much needed pace and for me it was only a matter of time before we would score and whilst i would have loved it to have been the impressive Keane in these kind of matches you dont care and once again Babel lived up to his billing as ’super sub’.

The goal itself was testament to just how hard we had worked as a team and when Mascherano went on an attacking run he refused to allow Giggs the opportunity to let the ball run out and managed to get the ball to Kuyt who had seen the chance that the ball may run free and as soon as Dirk received the ball Babel was in acres of space and whilst he scuffed the shot it was enough to go into the back of the net and the Kop erupted.

To be honest whilst there was a nervous attack by Man United just before the final whistle i actually thought a 2-1 win to Liverpool flattered the away team as Kuyt will be upset he never scored 2 goals and at the moment Keane just can not buy goal as on another day he would have scored at least one himself.

The performance and scoreline will hopefully now breed confidence throughout the team and with Stoke up next at Anfield there is no reason why we can not cement our place at the top of the league and hopefully take it from there.

Well it had been rumoured for a day or two but it was confirmed today that the new stadium in Stanley Park has been delayed due to the ‘credit crunch’ and the owners feel that they can use the time whilst the financial market improves to discuss ideas of increasing the capacity to 73,000.

Well it seems a far cry from when the American owners first took over and we were greeted with claims of ‘a spade in the ground within 60 days’ and ‘Rafa can sign Snoogy Doogy if he wants’.

The reality is the owners can not afford to build the stadium and the statement of increasing the stadium to 73,000 is pure PR spin as are we expected to believe that at the moment they cant afford a 60,000 stadium but shortly we will build a 73,000 one.

Im still trying to think of the positives of David Moores actually selling the club to Gillett and Hicks because at the moment the only difference between been owned by David Moores and Gillett/Hicks is we now have £30 million a year interest payments to find on our new debt kindly given to us by the current owners.

You do have to think just what exactly was Mr Moores thinking of when the American approached him telling him of their grand plans for the club. Did he not think a bit of a background check on the two might be worth while as a quick google for Tom Hicks will give you all kind of information regards his past concerning Corinthians and the Texas Rangers.

The rumours are that Gillett and Hicks were asked to put around £200 million of guarantees to secure the loan for the new stadium which is something they were not prepared to do, or should that read unable to do.

So what does the future hold now for Liverpool (sure I’ve read something about that before) now that the stadium as been shelved.

Well obviously it means that the owners can forget about the millions they were going to make from extra fans spending their cash on tickets and merchandise so where do they get their extra capital from. Well i think its safe to say the transfer fund is going to take one hell of a beating.

The extra TV money and cash from the Premier League should about cover the interest payments but you then have the general running costs of the club plus any transfer fund so like i put the thing most likely to thing to get affected is the transfer fund.

Another potential way of getting a dividend is by the owners getting a loan secured on the club which they will then pay themselves with. Rumoured to have been done in the past by one of the owners so i would not put it past them again.

Obviously all this talk of problems of the owners in financial difficulty is going to make the name Sheikh Maktoum and DIC get dragged back into the media spotlight and there is no doubting the Sheikh wants to own Liverpool but he is a very smart businessman and when he made a generous offer previous the current owners which was refused he knew to bide his time and the chance would appear again.

The time is close and i fully expect in the next few weeks for there to be renewed interest coming from Dubai but it wont be under the guise of DIC but the Sheikh himself will be much more hands on.

So we now have to think would we be better owned by one of the richest men in the world with a track record of building some of the most outstanding leisure complexes in the world or two owners who have a rumoured track record of asset stripping and bankruptcy.

Well what should have been a tough but easily winnable tie turned out to be one hell of a battle and after Kuyt’s winner i was a very relieved man.

Once again i find myself reflecting on a game this season where we have lucky to get the win and if not for the heroics of Pepe Reina in goal we could have been humiliated over the course of two legs but as it turned out we qualified and now have trips to Marseille, PSV and Athletcio Madrid to look forward to and especially the trip to Madrid will be an emotional game for both Torres and Luis Garcia as both players making an appearance against their former employees.

Going back to the game on Wednesday and in all fairness i could just copy what i have typed in the previous match reports below and that is we were far too narrow and easy to defend against due to everything coming through the centre.

Even Andy Townsend could see this and i couldn’t believe i was actually listening to him talking sense. A surreal experience indeed.

The goal scored by Dirk Kuyt was via a superb cross by Ryan Babel and probably the best cross we have seen during the few games we have played this season and that one moment of magic won us the game and around £12 million pound for qualifying for the Champions League group stages.

Standard Liege came with a game plan to get in the faces of the Liverpool team and even their manager had a go at Rafa who must have felt like chinning him before then making a sarcastic comment to Sammy Lee regards a Liverpool player diving but little Sammy gave it back before finding his seat on the bench again.

Again because of the poor performance I’m not going to dwell on the match but suffice to say the positives have to be the performance of Reina who was flawless all game and also the performance of El Zhar once again who provided the much needed width on the right.

Quite a few people say that Keane coming off is resulting in us scoring the late goals but its not that its the fact that Rafa is putting on a player who will at least attack the full back down the touchline and get a cross in.

Aston Villa at the weekend and their new boy James Milner will no doubt want to make an impression although i would imagine he will not be the only player in a Aston Villa shirt who will havhe a point to prove on Sunday.

The first competitive game of the new season at Anfield and hopefully better performances to follow

It was once again a tough game to watch but the outcome was same as against Sunderland, 3 points.

I don’t think we were actually that bad and special credit must go out to Gareth Southgates team who did the manager proud and will wonder how after that game they never came away with at least a point and if I’m honest they deserved it but you don’t always get what you deserve in this life and i don’t care to be fair as the only thing that matters to me is Liverpool getting the three points.

The narrowness of the team was evident again and whilst i could see the benefit of the wingers cutting inside allowing the full backs to get forward and support the attack but when the full backs are not doing this it means all the play is congested in the middle of the park whilst there is acres of space on the wings for the opposition to exploit.

Back to the game and Stuart Downing was playing well but in all fairness the whole Boro team were playing very well, especially the defence who were rock solid.

Middlesborough are a tough team to beat and if they can carry on playing like they did on Saturday for the remainder of the season then i expect a very season for them as i don’t know how many more tougher opponents will come in the Premier League and have as good a go at Liverpool as they did.

From a Liverpools point of view it was a performance to forget but we got the vital 3 points but whilst its the old ‘cliche’ of all the top teams can win whilst playing badly we can not expect to play bad every week and pick up the victory as eventually it will catch up with us.

The positives i will take from the game was the ability to never give up and once we got the equaliser we then pressed for the winning goal and did not sit back settling for the draw.

Talking of the equaliser (no not Edward Woodward) i can not believe they are not crediting that goal to Jamie Carragher. The ball was clearly goal-bound before it took the deflection so i thought that if the shot was on target it would be credited to the player who struck the ball and not the player who it touched on the way through.

If Carras goal brought a smile to the face it was nothing compared to the once again beautifully struck Steven Gerrard’s winning goal.

Whether Keane fouled Pogatetz as the ball dropped to Gerrard i don’t know (or care) but the way Gerrard ran onto the knock down and fired it into the top right hand corner was superb and when you consider that he is not fully fit to find the energy to strike the ball with such venom at such a late stage in the game is testament to the Captain and once again proved what a vital player he is.

Aston Villa up next and no doubt we will face an extremely hostile reception after the way we chased after Gareth Barry this summer and you know full well he will have the game of his life but hopefully with Mascherano returning to the midfield we can have a little bite in there ourselves as we bid for maximum points in our opening 3 games.

Well the Premiership is finally back and 3 points in the bag after a tricky away game and we should be happy.

The performance was not the greatest and in all fairness as the season goes on I’m sure it will be quickly forgotten but the game of football is rewarded by whoever scores the more goals then the opposition not the manner in the way you score them so for me the victory and the 3 points is all that mattered.

You know the Premiership has started when people are questioning Rafa’s team selection and the game against Sunderland was no different as the inclusion of Hyypia instead of either Agger or Skrtel would make a few of the away supporters have a confused look when they looked at the team selection.

Sami started off as if he was just learning the game instead of the experienced pro that he is but he quickly went back into the role of ‘legend’ and was once again a rock in the heart of the Liverpool defence reading the game to perfection which is something that will benefit both Agger and Skrtel watching a player like Sami and how he reads the game to make up for his lack of pace.

Talking of lack of pace i thought it was a little worrying just how laboured we looked on the flanks with both Yossi and Dirk never really troubling Sunderland and only possibly Yossi’s shot in the second half the one thing of note either player really did in this game that they can take as a positive.

Both Benayoun and Kuyt are willing workers and especially in Dirk’s case he will run around all game and give you 110% every minute but the lack of pace and creativity means neither of them are really going to trouble the opposition full back too much and certainly against a top team who have attacking full backs they will get plenty of chance to get forward.

With Babel now returning to the team he can add the much needed pace and power to either the left or the right and hopefully against Middlesborough we will see much more action out wide enabling us to stretch the opposition more.

Back to the Sunderland game and whilst it was not Liverpool’s greatest performance it was still good enough to win at a ground where many will struggle this season.

I think Roy Keane has done a very good job at Sunderland and has been backed well by the board and realistically a mid-table finish is certainly not beyond them and who knows where their momentum will take them especially now a pacey striker such as Cisse has joined the ranks he has already proved he can score in the Premier League.

Torres was once again the hero and he showed just what a true world class striker he is with a superb low drive into the bottom corner which left Gordon with no chance in saving as it was so accurate. He had been so quiet all game but as we all know you have to mark a world class striker for 90 minutes and the first time Sunderland switched off he scored.

Whilst Torres grabs the headlines his striker partner Robbie Keane failed to really shine but he was guilty i think of trying too hard and over the coming weeks when he fully settles into Liverpool we will start to see the real benefit of Robbie Keane and that is a very intelliegent, talented footballer who im sure will be a huge success at the club.

Looking forward to the Middlesbrough game and watching Downing make an appearance at Anfield for possibly not the last time this season if you believe the papers and i do know Liverpool are interested in the lad but whether they follow up that interest with an offer that will interest Boro who knows

The Kop has a new idol by the name of Fernando Torres – and no one makes the famous stand bounce like Liverpool’s number nine.

Signed for a club record fee of approximately £20 million in July 2007, El Nino was handed the shirt vacated by Anfield legend Robbie Fowler.

Undaunted, he soon became the first Red since Fowler in 1996-97 to break the 30-goal barrier and is already on his way to achieving Godlike status.

Before joining the Premier League aged 23, Torres spent 12 years with hometown club Atletico Madrid.

Such was his prodigious talent he was named the best under-14 player in Europe following his performances in the 1998 Nike Cup.

Torres became the youngest player in Atletico history upon making his debut in May 2001. He went on to bag 21 goals in 2003-04 after being named Vicente Calderon’s youngest ever skipper at the age of 19.

Having already top-scored in European Under-16 and Under-19 Championships, El Nino earned a first senior cap in September 2003 against Portugal. Seven months later he chalked up a first international goal against Italy. The forward would go on to net three times in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Clubs around Europe, including Manchester United and Arsenal, were understandably circling. However, in May 2007 it became clear Torres had his heart set on Merseyside when he revealed the phrase ‘We’ll Never Walk Alone’ on the inside of his captain’s armband during a match between Atletico and Real Sociedad.

Two months of speculation and paper talk ensued before the striker was finally unveiled at Melwood.

Torres made his competitive debut for Liverpool at Villa Park on August 11, 2007. A week later he smashed in his first official goal (he’d already scored in a pre-season friendly versus Shanghai Shenhua) when a trademark burst of pace against Chelsea sent Anfield wild.

Successive home hat-tricks to see off Middlesbrough and West Ham helped the hitman total 33 in 2007-08, including 24 in the league to overtake Ruud van Nistelrooy and become the most prolific foreigner ever in a debut season in England.

His crucial strike in the Stade Velodrome against Marseille won Goal of the Season on Liverpoolfc.tv, and it came as no surprise when fans also voted him their Player of the Year.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Torres then topped off an incredible season by helping Spain to Euro 2008 glory in Austria and Switzerland. It was he who scored the winner in the final against Germany – one of two throughout the tournament. Remarkably, it was Spain’s first major honour since 1964 – and our number nine was the hero.

So Rafa for the second season running has paid big money for a striker and if this seasons purchase turns out to be as good as last seasons then we can expect some celebrating in the coming months.

I have to be honest and if someone had asked me at the end of the last campaign which player would i think would improve us and be just the signing we need i would not have said Robbie Keane but then i again i wouldn’t have said Gareth Barry either but then again I’m not a highly successful football manager.

Robbie Keane arrives at Liverpool a proven Premiership striker and could has in the last couple of season linked up well with Berbatov at Spurs which hopefully he will replicate at Liverpool with Fernando Torres.

One thing that Robbie Keane does guarantee you and that is mobility and hard work and the ability to play along most of the positions in the forward line.

When a player signs for Liverpool it seems a regular statement now when they say they are ‘boyhood Liverpool fans’ but in Robbie Keane’s case this is true, even if he did turn us down at a younger age to play for Wolves.

With Peter Crouch now plying his trade for Portsmouth and Voronin interesting a few teams from Germany it seems Rafa is wanting his strikers to be more mobile and he has not only signed Keane but N’Gog who is blessed with pace and power, something Rafa has identified to be important in a striker in the Premiership.

What will be interesting for me is how Rafa plans on utilising Keane’s ability and if he plays him slightly behind Torres or even alongside him in a three pronged attack with Babel and Torres.

The options are many and we all know Rafa likes to have possibilities and when you consider this season we could have Babel, Torres and Keane attacking teams whilst being supported by Steven Gerrard it really is a mouth watering prospect and then you have players like Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Mascherano and Reina making us very solid in defensive i cant wait for the season to start now, as long as we are not greeted with the KEAN-O chants.

What does the future hold for Liverpool whilst under the ownership of George Gillett and Tom Hicks?

Well one thing is for sure its wont be a financially secure one or at least not in the short term.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett are both leverage buy out specialists and both could see the opportunity to purchase Liverpool football club which was criminally under valued by David Moores for a cheap price and by building a new stadium and upgrading the marketing department make millions from the club for very little outlay.

The club was purchased with no debt was the claims by the owners and this is correct. When Tom Hicks and George Gillett bought Liverpool Football Club they borrowed the money from the bank to do so.

Now the owners had purchased the club they could exercise the plan of moving that debt onto the club via a refinance option.

The problem that they had not accounted for though was that in the take over agreement it was signed that all the board members had to agree to such actions of moving the debt onto the club and Rick Parry and David Moores did not agree to this and therefore only part of the debt was actually put onto Liverpool Football themselves whilst the rest of the debt was put onto Kop Holding, a company set up by George Gillett and Tom Hicks to purchase Liverpool FC in the first place.

Liverpool FC will have nearly £30 million a year to find in interest payments thanks to the owners which if you want to look at it is paying the equivalent of signing a player of the quality of David Villa each season.

This is a lot of money obviously but could be offset by the new stadium which both Hicks and Gillett know is the big money spinner at the club but although this week we heard rumblings of work starting nothing has yet to begin and at the moment it seems pure PR from the pair of them.

What neither Tom Hicks or George Gillett could have forseen was the collapse of the financial market in America which has resulted in an almost worldwide ‘credit crunch’.

Its pretty safe to say that had this ‘credit crunch’ not happened then the current owners would have put more debt on the club to get the stadium built but at the moment they are just struggling on.

So what is the future for Gillett and Hicks?

Well George Gillett seemingly has realised that he is over his head and is wanting to sell his shares in the club and had it not been for the ‘veto’ that Tom Hicks has over George Gillett then he would have already sold Dubai Holding/DIC already.

There are rumours that there is no such veto but i can assure you there is otherwise you would not have seen Gillett for dust.

The veto however is not exactly worded how many people think but still exists and stops George Gillett from selling to Dubai Holding/DIC at this current time.

Tom Hicks knows that there is money to made from Liverpool and therefore he is hanging on as long as he can to his shares in the club and although he can make a profit by selling to Dubai Holding/DIC he would make more money if he were to buy the club 100% himself, get the stadium built and improve the marketing.

The problem for Tom Hicks is again the ’credit crunch’ means that there is no way he can afford to buy Geroge Gillett’s shares and also pay for the stadium whilst still trying to find money available for transfers.

If work does not start by September and that both owners can prove the money is there for the stadium then they will lose over £30 million in grants so is it any wonder we have had a recent fanfare of unity.

Another stumbling block for George Gillett and Tom Hicks is when it comes to refinace again next year as the financial crisis in America shows no signs of getting any better and certain media outlets are forecasting it to get worse so you would imagine the owners would struggle to get the new finance as nearly all the banks just are not lending that amount of money at the moment and certainly not to people like Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

So whats the conclusion to this post.

I fully expect in the immediate future for Liverpool to be owned by George Gillett and Tom Hicks and for them to continue bluffing and chancing there way through but long term i full expect the boardroom to have a more Arab look about it.