madskilz

I think the only reason he did'nt bring him down was because he was a booking away from a match ban and probably hoped someone else would stop him

Ashley Young is really showing his quality, if SCS has any sense he'll give him a go on the left for one of the matches

It's great that so early in the season all our strikers have already scored

Tragic news - RIP

The Times Only a fool would call Jamie Carragher a bottlerMartin Samuel From The TimesJuly 13, 2007 Torres ‘made up’ to join club who could have anyone in world Liverpool’s new striker, revelling in being given his chance on the biggest stage, tells Guillem Balague about his Anfield hopes Fernando Torres was walking his two dogs near his house in Madrid – “two sensitive bulldogs” that he plans to take to Liverpool – when he got a call from a number he did not recognise. He does not normally answer his phone when he does not know who it is, but thinking it may have been a call from England he decided to pick it up in case it was Cesc Fàbregas, José Manuel Reina or José Antonio Reyes. “I cannot remember if he said, ‘Hi, it’s Rafa’ or, ‘Hi, this is Benítez,’ ” Torres said. The Liverpool manager was on holiday in Portugal a week after the Champions League final, but he was focusing on signing the striker that would help his team to make the definitive jump in quality in the Barclays Premier League. “I was surprised but did not realise the dimension of what I was hearing till I hung up,” Torres said. “Then I thought, ‘Wow, this club that can get anybody in the world has rung me, they want me.’” A month and a half later, a couple of days ago in fact, he arrived at Mel-wood at 8am for his first Liverpool training session. Nobody was at the training ground yet, so he changed and started having breakfast while waiting for people to arrive. He shook hands with Peter Crouch first, then Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, and then he gave Reina a hug – he had arrived. At 23 he was finally where everybody predicted he would end up, at one of the big clubs, one that will help him to play for the first time in European competition and one where he is capable of fulfilling his dreams. Sadly, it could not be with Atlético Madrid, the club that saw him grow. And that became painfully obvious in the last match of the season just finished, a humiliating 6-0 home defeat by Barcelona. “We always raised our game against Barcelona,” Torres said. “It was one of our little victories during a season. We thought that proved that we could be at a higher level if things were done in the right way. But it was all an illusion and I realised it on that day. I had to move on.” When the offer from Liverpool arrived, he asked Atlético to listen to it and if possible accept it, even though Benítez was never going to pay the whole of his buy-out clause – €40 million (about £27 million). The offer was about €25 million increasing to about €30 million depending on targets, plus Luis GarcÍa, valued at €4 million. Then Torres went on holiday to Polynesia and he returned sooner than expected because everything was agreed. After passing the medical and signing he asked to say goodbye to his fans in Madrid before being unveiled at Anfield. “In one of the trips, at the passport control of the airport, we were there when a plane landed,” he said. “People recognised me and I started signing autographs, but at the same time opening a space so I could keep moving. I quickly realised life was going to be different in Liverpool.” Torres is talking about the weight of expectation that he has had to carry at Atlético, where, at 19, he became captain and the only person responsible for everything that was good and bad at the club. He was mobbed, criticised, scrutinised. He couldn’t breathe. People accused him of saying goodbye in a distant way, no tears or anything. When presented with the new Atlético shirt he rejected the opportunity to wear it. When the chairman offered a hug, he gave a hand instead. “I didn’t think it was convenient to wear Atlético’s new shirt when I belonged already to another club,” he said. But what he means is that it was never again up to him to represent the club he loves. There was no shield for the directors who for eight years had failed to build a team that could qualify for Europe. In the press conference at Anfield, the weight had gone. It was another Fernando Torres and the smile he wore that day has not abandoned him since. “I don’t care about the weather. My girlfriend, who I will live with, is from Galicia, where it rains constantly,” Torres said. “I know I am in a special club, in a city that has had better times, but that is getting stronger. I have already noticed that in the couple of days we have been here. “When my friends gave me the arm-band with the ‘we’ll never walk alone’ logo, the one they have tattooed in their arms, I was not thinking of Liverpool as my next destination, but there is a reason why we liked that sentence. At Atlético, in my district, we know what it means.” But training is different and he is already suffering the consequences of the hard work imposed by Pako Ayes-taran, the Liverpool assistant manager. “They do train here, don’t they?” he said. Torres knows how important the physical side of the game is in England. “I am going to play 20 more matches than at Atlético,” he said. “But I am sure the adaptation is going to be easier partly because I know some of the guys here, but partly because I can already see in training that the team moves like a unit. “It is a team that is already solid. I was running around trying to follow their moves but I’m still miles away to accomplish that efficiently.” However, other factors will help his adaptation. “I can see I could be useful when we use the counter-attack, with the long balls of Gerrard or the passes from Xabi [Alonso],” Torres said. “It is up to me to give even more to the team. I have scored more goals when I have been playing as a target man, but I can play off another striker, do his dirty work if you like. “I will have to get used to the different intensity of the Premier League. I also need to get rid of some of the habits one learns when younger. There will be a price to pay while I learn, a yellow card or two. At least I know from having watched the Premier League that referees allow more to the forward. In Spain if I made a fault it was a yellow card straight away, but here I can be physical.” Liverpool fans will have to wait until one of the friendlies in Switzerland next week – against Werder Bremen or Auxerre – to see Torres’s debut. His ankle is getting better and he is training normally. The forward played the last two matches of last season’s La Liga while injured to help the failed attempt to get Atlético into Europe despite the fact that he knew there could be moving on. Now he plans to start improving his basic English and keeps looking at the DVDs the club gave him when he arrived. “They are about the Kop, about the old players and managers,” he said. “I have seen a few of them and will see the rest when we go to China, it is a long trip.” Six years at Liverpool could also be considered a long trip, but Torres can’t wait to start. “How do you say ‘ estoy muy ilusionado’ in English?” he asked before going around Liverpool looking for houses. It is “I’m so made up” – in Scouse.

Who says we were ever interested in signing him after completing the Torres deal?

The Times West Ham in the wings as Bellamy nears Anfield exit James Ducker West Ham United were last night closing in on signing Craig Bellamy from Liverpool. Alan Curbishley, the West Ham manager, identified Bellamy as one of his principal targets after losing out to Tottenham Hotspur in the pursuit of Darren Bent and the impending sale of Carlos Tévez to Manchester United has strengthened his desire to bring the Wales forward to Upton Park. Liverpool originally wanted double the £6 million that they paid Blackburn Rovers for Bellamy last summer, although they are expected to accept a fee in the region of £10 million. Bellamy, 27, who has also attracted interest from Blackburn, one of his former clubs, and Aston Villa, is reluctant to leave Anfield but has been told that he has no future there after the arrivals of Fernando Torres and Andriy Voronin from Atlético Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen respectively. Rafael BenÍtez says that he has been assured by George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, the club’s American owners, that he does not need to sell before he can buy again, but offloading Bellamy would speed up the manager’s pursuit of a pedigree winger. Interest in Alessandro Mancini, of AS Roma, is said to be receding, while Liverpool are likely to face competition from Manchester City for Yossi Benayoun, of West Ham. Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, denied yesterday that the club had bid for Ricardo Quaresma, the FC Porto winger. However, it is thought that Gabriel Heinze, the Manchester United defender, remains a target. BenÍtez has warned Liverpool supporters not to expect to win the Barclays Premier League next season simply because the club have smashed their transfer record to sign Torres. He believes that the £20.2 million capture of the Spain striker will significantly improve their chances of ending a 17-year wait for the championship, but with Tévez likely to become United’s fourth high-class signing of the summer, BenÍtez is erring on the side of caution. “They [united and Chelsea] have been spending big money for years,” BenÍtez said. “Now we are spending some money, but I don’t know if it will be enough to be contenders in one year’s time. I’m sure that it will help, but you at least need to do it. We needed to sign players of this level if we’re talking about trying to be contenders.” Liverpool finished 21 points behind United, the champions, last season and Steven Gerrard believes that the team will have to hit the ground running in August if they are to have any chance of winning the title, what he refers to as “the holy grail”. “We don’t want the pain of being losers again,” the captain said. “We let ourselves down at the start of last season and the start we made left us with a mountain to climb.”

At last!

Gutted to see him leave, his contribution over the three years has been brilliant - he was a steal at £6m

Not sure about the first point but as i understand it as well you can only move to a foreign country if you buy out your contract

Very sad news - R.I.P

Benitez closes on top target Torres for £24m By JOHN EDWARDS Daily Mail Rafa Benitez is on the verge of smashing Liverpool's transfer record, closing in on a £24million deal for Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres. The 23-year-old golden boy of Spanish football looks to be heading for the Premiership for £20m plus Liverpool's £4m-rated forward Luis Garcia. It is believed nothing has yet been signed and that Anfield officials are anxiously waiting for Atletico's under-fire president Enrique Cerezo to confirm crowd favourite Torres can leave. Atletico fans have protested against the sale but sources close to the club believe Cerezo is on the point of sanctioning the move. Torres has a £27m (740m) escape clause in his contract but Liverpool remained adamant in weeks of haggling that they would not meet it. Hopes of using Djibril Cisse — whose £14m transfer from Auxerre makes him Anfield's most expensive player — as a makeweight were dashed when the unsettled striker insisted he wanted to join Marseille. But the clubs found scope for a deal when Garcia said he would return to Spain, preferably with Atletico. Torres is on holiday until July 10 but could cut it short to complete a move that would hasten Craig Bellamy's exit. Benitez was given a boost yesterday when midfielder Momo Sissoko, a target for Juventus, signed a new four-year deal.

I don't doubt he would come to Liverpool, i just don't believe we have the money for both him and Torres.

He'll either end up at Arsenal or Man Utd IMO, the only way i can see him signing for us is if the Torres deal does'nt go through

1. Reina 2. Mascherano - what an inspirational signing 3. Carragher Honorable mention to Kewell, he may not have played, but with him coming back from injury in time for a final - you just knew we were going to go through!

Crouch Aurelio Mash

He always seems to score against us as well, both in his chelsea days and now with Arsenal

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Saw him at Emirates when he came on for the Brazil v Portugal friendly, I knew about his ability going forward but was impressed with his tenacity, he put in a few good heavy challenges

That challenge was probably the only one worthy of a booking, never seen such a poor referee

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ool/6316199.stm Mascherano free to join Liverpool Mascherano has played for West Ham and Corinthians since July West Ham midfielder Javier Mascherano has been given special dispensation by Fifa to join Liverpool from West Ham. Under Fifa's rules, a footballer cannot play competitively for more than two different clubs between 1 July and 30 June the following year. Mascherano, 22, has already represented Corinthians and West Ham in that time. But Fifa said: "The Fifa single judge ruled that Javier Mascherano is eligible to play in official matches with Liverpool with immediate effect." Mascherano arrived at Upton Park with international team-mate Carlos Tevez on 31 August. But he has played only six minutes since the defeat at Tottenham on 22 October and had been desperate to leave the club.

Good old Thommo had a proper go at Neill on Soccer Saturday

Particulary annoying as when Kuyt or Crouch went anywhere near thier defenders the ref was blowing for a free kick

He always is, he along with Riley, Poll and Rennie are the worst referees around