GWistooshort

The Daily Post this morning says that according to Rafa Liverpool are considering arranging a practice match during the international break to help Aquilani improve his sharpness. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverp...534-25121637/2/

Click on the links below........... Highlights + Rafa's post-match interview (Sky) [6:28] Kuyt & Reina's post-match interviews (LFC) [3:35]

Click on the links below for the highlights & clips from the post-match interviews...................... Highlights (UEFA) [0:30] Rafa (Sky) [2:07] Rafa (BBC) [3:46] AUDIO Toulalan & Reina (UEFA) [1:46]

Some match reports in the papers this morning have said Bastos was offside in the build up to the goal - perhaps it was that?

Click on the links below for clips of the pre-match interviews.............. Rafa & Kuyt (BBC) [1:26] Rafa (Sky) [1:38] Rafa (BBC) [3:20] AUDIO

Some quotes from the player on our rumoured interest......... Sky Sports website Reds linked with starlet Sampdoria midfielder delighted with link By Juha Pal Last updated: 3rd November 2009 Liverpool are reportedly lining up a move for young Hungarian midfielder Vladimir Koman. The 20-year-old left-sided player is on loan at Italian club Bari until the end of the season from Sampdoria, but the Reds are reportedly lining up a £4million bid for him. Koman, who has a Ukrainian passport as well as a Hungarian one, has come off the bench during Bari's last two Serie A games and admits it is an honour to be linked with Liverpool. "This is an honour for me if the news about Liverpool is true," he told Nemzeti Sport. "This is a famous and giant club but at the moment I want to concentrate on getting regular first team football. "I wouldn't go there to sit on the bench. Getting into the starting 11 of Liverpool may be a bit early for me but so far I haven't only thought about this possibility. "I want to play football and a smaller club may be a more suitable choice for me. "I have plenty of time as I am a young footballer. In Italy it's difficult to get into the first team as a young player, I'll see how I can deal with my chances at Bari." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_5672104,00.html

Confirmed in the Echo today............. "Johnson’s absence means Jamie Carragher will shuffle across to right-back but that could change if Daniel Agger – who was forced to stand up for the majority of yesterday’s flight – does not pass a fitness test on his back." http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...00252-25086250/

We were linked with at least 13 strikers plus a couple a youngsters in the mainstream media http://www.ynwa.tv/forum/index.php?showtop...p;#entry2480227

Sharper?

Andy Hunter in the Guardian this morning claimed "It was financial constraints at Liverpool, not only form, that forced Benítez's hand on Keane in January, however, with the Spaniard having to cut his losses and recoup as much of the original transfer fee as possible in the first window of opportunity." http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/...transfer-policy Interesting if true & would explain why the Keane money doesn't appear to have been seen since

No - he's not in the squad

Rafa's transfer record is an interesting one - if you look at the players that he's bought since he's been at Liverpool IMO there are very few that can be classified as failures (ie those that he hasn't been able to sell on for a profit) & they are: Morientes, Pennant, Keane & currently Babel & Dossena (both of whom we are extremely unlikely to be able to recoup our money for should we sell). There has been a high turnover of players under Rafa, which increases the perception that he has been a failure in the transfer market - "all these players must have been failures otherwise he wouldn't have sold them", but I think the context in which Rafa has been making these signings is very important. He inherited a squad with a lot of players who (despite Istanbul) weren't of sufficient quality (Biscan, Traore, Le Tallec, Diouf, Cheyrou, Diao etc) & many of whom had little or no re-sale value & were hard to shift because of the wages they were on. Our squad was significantly weaker than those of our rivals - compare the number of £10m+ players for an illustration. He has had to radically transform the squad with limited financial support - limited in the sense that in his first few seasons he wasn't able to afford any £10m+ players apart from the £10.7m Xabi Alonso (compare that to our rivals) & then although he can now afford £15-20m+ players, apart from 2007-08 when he was able to buy Torres & Mascherano, his net spend since then has been zero. I think a large number of Rafa's signings have been made with the short-term in mind (especially so in his earlier years) - they have been bought to do a specific job or provide competition or cover in a specific position with the intention that they are 'upgraded' at a later date. He has either recouped his money or made a profit on the vast majority of these players. Another attribute Rafa has when it comes to transfers is that he admits when he has made a mistake & will sell quickly.

Yes, he said it before the Lyon home match http://www.ynwa.tv/forum/index.php?showtop...p;#entry2474053

& Rafa may well not have been able to afford to do the first option anyway even if he wanted to given what we know about the summer - wage increases coming out of his transfer budget as confirmed by Puslow, approx zero net spend for the second year running, Tony Barratt saying he pulled out of selling Dossena & Voronin after failing to be given reassurances that he would get the transfer fees to reinvest in the team

I would have preferred to keep Arbeloa too (although of course we don't know whether he would have performed at the same level having been told to stay) We don't know if Rafa would have preferred to keep him or not But what is likely, given what we do know, is that if we didn't sell Arbeloa we wouldn't have been able to afford a replacement for Sami (& would have been £2m short for Aquilani or Johnson) - his wages may well have come into consideration as well given the need for Rafa to fund wage increases out of his transfer kitty as confirmed by Purslow

Rafa made a circa £5m mistake, but he's paying for a £20m one

The Echo today says Ngog’s ankle knock "has improved significantly" & Agger is "likely" to start, but Aurelio "has lost his battle to recover from a calf problem". http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...252-25076109/2/

From article by Ronay posted yesterday on the Guardian website............ No soft landing for Benítez Rafa Benítez can seem like a slightly difficult character. He doesn't "play the game": palling about with other managers or pandering to journalists in the style of, say, Harry Redknapp. The significance of this is that, outside his own club, Benítez has very little goodwill salted away for when things start to go badly. There are plenty of people who would like to see Benítez sacked, and not always as a result of a dispassionate analysis of his achievements. Liverpool have lost as many games as the second-bottom club so far this season. They've also conceded as many goals as Portsmouth. But the mini-furore over Benítez, quite rightly, taking off the injured Fernando Torres on Saturday is either misguided or mischievous. And talk of a crisis – papers today suggest Benitez will be sacked if Liverpool fail to beat Lyon on Wednesday – is hasty this early in the season and so soon after Liverpool finished second in the league. Benítez will not be sacked, not yet anyway. And with a little more residual sympathy, and a few more friends in low places, we might even be talking about something else right now, like injuries to key players, or destabilising owners, or a team that's simply having a poor run of form. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/...-king-tottenham

Fairly decent article as well from Rory Smith in today's Telegraph exposing alot of the criticism as ill-informed, but lets itself down at the end Liverpool's Rafa Benitez should be criticised for what he does, not what he doesn't By Rory Smith Football Ronnie Whelan, it is fair to say, is not an ardent supporter of Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager who is coming to define the word beleaguered. Speaking on RTE Sport in the aftermath of Liverpool’s chaotic collapse at Fulham, Whelan launched what is known in the business as a blistering tirade at the Spaniard, detailing his desire to win the European Cup “so he can get a job anywhere in Europe,” insisting that his “days have got to be numbered” at Anfield and declaring that his team selection at Fulham proves that Benitez is, once more, “putting all his eggs in one basket.” Stirring stuff. Wrong, of course, quite wrong. Mainly because Benitez’s team selection at Craven Cottage – the inclusion of Sotiris Kyrgiakos, Philipp Degen and Andriy Voronin the most eye-watering for any Liverpool fan – was defined not by a desire to rest players for the Champions League clash with Lyon on Wednesday, a game Liverpool must win to retain any real hope of reaching the lucrative knock-out rounds, but by injury. That’s right, Ronnie. Glen Johnson, injured. Martin Skrtel, injured. Daniel Agger and Alberto Aquilani, ill. Fabio Aurelio, injured. Steven Gerrard, injured. Martin Kelly, Nabil El Zhar and David N’Gog, three players who would all have played because of their absent senior counterparts, all injured. Even reserve goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri, injured. Fernando Torres, not fully fit. Yet the accusations that Benitez (did you know he’s foreign, by the way? He’s not from here, so he doesn’t understand English football. In Spain, they hate winning the domestic league. In fact, the only domestic league that matters is the English domestic league. All the others are just held because there’s not much to do in the bits of the world that aren’t here on a Saturday) does not value the Premier League as much as the Champions League is all too easy to level in his direction because, well, for several years it was true. Not that Benitez would have dismissed the opportunity to win the Premier League, obviously, just that he knew his side, with resources scant by the gluttonous standards of Manchester United and Chelsea, were better equipped to deal with the intricate skirmishes offered by a 13-game competition than a 38-game one. So, to an extent, he prioritised the tournament he thought he could win, knowing full well Liverpool were capable of finishing in the Champions League slots domestically but not likely, with a side of £6 million players in a league won by £20 million ones, to stay the course at the top. He did win it, of course, in the most remarkable final, the most remarkable upset, in the recent history of European competition. Dortmund beating Juventus in 1997 comes close, perhaps, but that aside nothing quite so strange has happened since Nigel Spink and Aston Villa overcame the mighty Bayern Munich in 1982. That Istanbul, the miracle thereof, has been forgotten so easily, as though it were a mere fevered dream, as though it was so unlikely a triumph that it could not possibly have happened, speaks volumes about modern football fans. That, though, is a different story for a different day, probably one when Alan Curbishley is announced as Benitez’s successor by Tom Hicks, George Gillett and whichever unfortunate they bring in to give them the money they claimed they had – another dream, another fever – on the same day that Fernando Torres moves to Inter Milan, Javier Mascherano to Barcelona and Steven Gerrard to Real Madrid and £130 million goes straight into the hands of RBS Liverpool’s coffers. If anything, Benitez has, this season, gone too far the other way, and his priority is domestic pre-eminence. Liverpool’s travails in Europe – though they ran into a side in inspired form in Florence and did not, in truth, deserve to lose to Lyon, a game in which a draw would have been an eminently fair result – can be largely attached to the fact that Benitez has built a side designed, purely and simply, to swat aside the lesser lights of the Premier League. He wanted, this season, to avoid the draws that cost Liverpool so dear last time around. He has, at least, achieved that, though it will come as no consolation as he looks around the wreckage of what was supposed to be his defining season in England. Whelan’s critique, though, is apt in its lack of substance. Much of what is thrown at Benitez is based on prejudice and supposition. The obvious example – zonal marking, a practise employed throughout the game, throughout England (what do you think putting a man on the post is?) – comes up whenever Liverpool concede a goal from a set-piece. Yet, as Benitez rightly points out, he could compile a DVD of dozens, hundreds of goals conceded while man-marking. Neither system is flawless, both are susceptible to quality delivery and both rely on defenders attacking the aerial ball. A manager can do little if, as has been the case at Anfield all too often this season, his defenders choose not to. Similarly, the idea that Benitez’s sides are too cautious is wheeled out by the lazy pundit whenever a convenient stick is needed to beat a manager who has never been truly understood in this country is needed. It has a vague basis in fact, but such a stark analysis is overly simplistic. Likewise, his love of unnecessary tinkering. Or the most recent addition to the critic’s canon, that Benitez is too devoted to his 4-2-3-1 system, that he will not change it. When he does start to change it, of course, expect a barrage of abuse about his tactical befuddlement. That is not to say Benitez is above reproach, that he has not made mistakes. He must be held accountable for the inexplicable lack of quality in depth beyond Liverpool’s first 15 or 16 players, financial restrictions or no. His man-management approach may be too inflexible in light of some of the complicated characters who call the Anfield dressing room home. The buck stops with the manager, of course, and he must, above all, take responsibility for Liverpool’s imploding campaign. There are enough genuine concerns, genuine issues with which to take him to task. Inventing new ones, Ronnie, or choosing hackneyed old complaints resurrected from seasons past is not necessary. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rorysmi...what-he-doesnt/

Andy Hunter's article is more balanced New Fernando Torres scare exposes Rafa Benítez's sub-prime deals Hit by injuries to 10 first-team players, and already fielding the Premier League's cheapest defence, Liverpool's squad looks threadbare There is surely no greater indictment on the sorry state of Liverpool's squad than the prospect of Rafael Benítez regretting excluding Philipp Degen from his Champions League list. There is also no weakness more glaring in Liverpool's transfer strategy than the defence that Benítez fielded at Fulham, the cheapest to appear in the Premier League this weekend with the exception of a club that spent the previous 33 years in the lower leagues, Burnley. It is easier to find order to Liverpool's chaotic finale at Craven Cottage than perspective on Benítez now that the post-Manchester United bubble has spectacularly exploded but the above realities demand consideration at a time when every mistake, whether in the transfer market or in David Moores' choice of his replacements as owners, is returning to haunt the Spaniard. The Liverpool manager has been accused of prioritising tomorrow's Champions League tie in Lyon over a title challenge on the evidence of his starting XI in west London and his decision to withdraw Fernando Torres after 63 minutes, although the news that Torres may need a hernia operation justifies that substitution. Yet with first-team regulars missing through injury or illness, 10 if Martin Kelly is included, Benítez had no alternatives at Fulham. Benítez had to turn to his fourth choice centre-half, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, his reserve right-back, Degen, and persist with the promising but now struggling left-back Emiliano Insúa. Alongside the home-grown Jamie Carragher, that entire defence cost £2.5m. And to think there are those in the Anfield hierarchy who deny the club squandered a glorious chance to push on this summer, having finished second last season with 86 points. No squad in the country is immune to 10 absent players plus the finest talent available hobbling with injury, as is currently the case with Torres. Although, and this is the failure costing Benítez most of all, it is doubtful any club with consistent Champions League income and designs on the title would enter a season with such woeful cover for their one world-class, and injury-plagued, striker. The extremes are swinging violently at Liverpool and their squad for tomorrow is liable to turn the beads of sweat on Benítez's temples at Fulham into a torrent in France. Before the Carling Cup tie at Arsenal last week, when the relief and ecstasy of beating United were still tangible, Alberto Aquilani was preparing to make his first-team debut and Steven Gerrard had hope of facing Fulham, the manager could envisage the luxury of options on his horizon. Merely 48 hours later it was back to crisis management once again. With the exception of the club's record signing, every decision Benítez has taken on a striker in recent seasons was open to scrutiny given the lack of adequate replacements for Torres at Fulham. Even Craig Bellamy's departure is suddenly being mourned in some quarters when the Wales international was barely given a passing thought at the time. The inability of Ryan Babel to realise the rich promise of his appearances at the European Under-21 Championship in 2007, and to justify his £11.5m fee from Ajax, is well documented. So too Benítez's misuse of Robbie Keane in the six months he spent at Anfield before returning to Tottenham Hotspur, although the Republic of Ireland captain rarely seized the opportunities that did come his way. It was financial constraints at Liverpool, not only form, that forced Benítez's hand on Keane in January, however, with the Spaniard having to cut his losses and recoup as much of the original transfer fee as possible in the first window of opportunity. Those same constraints were exposed again against Fulham. Degen, Kyrgiakos and Andriy Voronin have been presented as evidence of Benítez's most obvious transfer errors since they started on Saturday but, while only their mothers would champion their causes, all three provide a more accurate reflection of transfer policy. Degen, now Liverpool's only fully fit and recognisable right-back but ineligible for Lyon, was a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund. Voronin was a Bosman from Bayer Leverkusen and Kyrgiakos was all Benítez could afford at the end of a summer when he balanced the books and was priced out of moves for Michael Turner and Matthew Upson. He would also have sold the Ukrainian back to Germany until it became apparent there was no money for a replacement. They are signings made after Benítez has concentrated his resources on Torres, Javier Mascherano and Aquilani. They are padding to the Liverpool squad but, with the enforced exception of Degen, may be required again in Lyon and elsewhere in the weeks to come. Benitez will be praying they can follow the example of Neil Mellor, Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Antonio Nunez in the must-win group game against Olympiakos on the road to Istanbul, and finally deliver. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/...transfer-policy

Tony Barratt in The Times this morning, The Daily Mirror & The Daily Telegraph are all saying that we have decided/believed to have decided not to appeal Carra's red.

The Times November 3, 2009 Surgery the ultimate solution to repair Fernando Torres hernia Nick Szczepanik Is Rafael Benítez risking Fernando Torres’s long-term health by asking him to play on with a hernia? Probably not, but an operation will be required eventually, according to Nigel Sellars, the Portsmouth club doctor. “A sports hernia is essentially a defect or disruption of the posterior wall of the inguinal canal, which goes from the bony lump at the front end of the pelvis to the pubic bone in the middle,” he said. “It causes pain when sprinting, turning, pushing off, but also coughing and sneezing. “It tends to get worse as you exercise, so it comes on halfway through or later in a game and can get worse that evening or the next morning. It settles down, but you stir it up again by playing.” Although no long-term damage is caused by playing through that pain, it will eventually become unbearable and can only be cured by surgery. “I had one young player who developed symptoms in pre-season and barely lasted two weeks before he couldn’t play,” Sellars said. “Another reported symptoms in August and lasted until Christmas. “It is possible to get through a season if you are lucky, but you do have to be lucky. You have to be managed, to train at the right level. The physios at the club would decide what was an appropriate training regime.” But surely Torres cannot play at his best with the condition? “You can play at 90 per cent for a lot of the game, or play and be in pain after the game. I don’t know whether Torres was symptomatic at Fulham, but his facial expression when he came off would suggest that he wasn’t.” And if Torres needs to go under the knife, how long will he be out? “If you go to Ulrike Muschaweck in Munich, you can get back on the pitch in two weeks. She does a limited repair of just the posterior wall defect. I’ve used Gerry Gilmore in London for seven or eight years, and I haven’t had a recurrence. But he does a more extensive repair and recovery would take six weeks.” With the World Cup next summer, Spain and Liverpool may have to fight over those options. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle6900089.ece

The Echo today says Ngog’s ankle knock "has improved significantly" & Agger is "likely" to start, but Aurelio "has lost his battle to recover from a calf problem". http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...252-25076109/2/

Tony Barratt in The Times this morning says we've been given special dispensation to add Ayala to the B list

They could do with taking a leaf out of Alan Hansen's book http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ool/8338376.stm