Liverpool 2008/09

[quote=ā€œfarmerinthecityā€]A pisstake I assume?

5pm today is the drawā€¦[/quote]

Just like the performances to date, a piss take.

But an even bigger piss take was arguing with the bar man who wanted to
leave Forest v Sunderland on over the Liverpool match. Fucking Coca cola cup !! the gee bag. I was left there for about 10 minutes, as i had ordered food, before i copped the manager and asked was there any chance of sticking on the Liverpool game. And to my pleasure he shouts down to cunty balls to switch overā€¦ of course the pleaure didnā€™t last long as the match unfolded and i sat there waiting for Liege to score and for cunty balls to appear with a big smileā€¦

something that has been done to death on forums, but still, why is there such a facination with Roy Keaneā€™s Sunderland ā„¢. Headlines on the radio this morning ā€˜Roy Keanes Sunderland need extra time to beat his former club Nottingham Forest, Phil Bardsley and new siging David Healy getting on the socresheet -intervew with Keane who atalks about how he was taking the cup seriously-, while there were also wins for Blackburn, West Ham blah blahā€¦ā€™

Seriously, who gives a fiddlers fook about Sunderland to give them a report on a Carling cup first round.

Gerrard is out for a few games now while he has a groin operation. At least Mascherano is back now to be in the side. I thought Alonso had a decent enough game last night in fairness.

We are a country who is fascinated with Keane, no other reason really.

He is good copy though, as Tom Humphries will tell you.

[quote=ā€œGmanā€]something that has been done to death on forums, but still, why is there such a facination with Roy Keaneā€™s Sunderland ā„¢.QUOTE]

Indeed. Iā€™m off to the Things that are wrong thread.

As for Liverpool, huge relief to get through last night. Thank God it was so late when we scored, as they managed to give one scare in the minute left after the goal.

jesus lads its hardly difficult to see why the interest is there, an irish manager in the top flight, irish owned club and a load of irish players?

its no mystery why there is fascination Roy keaneā€¦heā€™s Irelandā€™s most successful ever soccer playerā€¦ who has all his life never settled for second best and has now gone into management in one of the toughest leagues in the world as a relative noviceā€¦he was a player who could never understand why his more talented team mates werenā€™t totally as focused as him and werenā€™t driven to succeed like himā€¦so much so it cost him his United career for critiscising themā€¦now heā€™s at a club where top players donā€™t dream of joiningā€¦ so he has to work with lesser players and at the same time try to instill the belief that second best is first loserā€¦which basically goes against the whole history of the Sunderland football clubā€¦add to all this his red mist temper and a few ā€˜timebombā€™ signings it is easy to see why people are drawn to following his resultsā€¦whether they wish he succeeds or failsā€¦

Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia has admitted he faces an uncertain future at Anfield after being left out of the clubā€™s 25-man Champions League squad.

New Uefa regulations mean clubs have to include at least eight home-grown players in their squad.

The 34-year-old Finn said: "The managerā€™s decision to leave me out of the squad is a big disappointment.

ā€œI understand itā€™s partly because of the Uefa regulations, but the news came as a surprise to me and a shock too.ā€

The Finland international was subject to a bid from Stoke City during the summer, but Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez wanted to keep hold of him.

Hyypia, who has made 446 appearances for the Reds since signing from Dutch club Willem II in May 1999, hopes he still has a future on Merseyside but admits that had he known about Benitezā€™s decision earlier, he might be playing his football elsewhere this season.

ā€œThe club had a ā€˜perfectā€™ timing for this,ā€ he added.

606: DEBATE
Disappointing for him but I believe he still has a chance

gerrardinho
"They didnā€™t want me to move elsewhere, so thatā€™s why I was told the news of having been left out, just after the transfer window had closed.

"The club went public to say there had been offers for me, but turned them down. So perhaps that means I am still part of the plans for this season.

ā€œI donā€™t know if I would have wanted to move on had I heard news about the squad when the window was still open.ā€

Uefa rules state that four players in the 25-man party must be produced by the clubā€™s own academy, while four others can be produced by an English academy.

Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Jay Spearing and Stephen Darby make up the contingent from Liverpool, while Robbie Keane, Jermaine Pennant, Steven Irwin and Martin Kelly are the other four.

Liverpool begin their Champions League campaign away at Marseille on 16 September and will also face PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid in a tough group.

Should they progress beyond the group stages, clubs can submit a revised squad list prior to the knockout rounds in the new year.

Thatā€™s a surprise alright. Weā€™ve been going on about Homegrown players for ages on TFK and itā€™s been ignored elswhere but itā€™s starting to have a small effect on squads - remember how Chelsea ommitted Ballack last year. He was injured but there was speculation that heā€™d be back in time for the last couple of fixtures and without the Homegrown rule thereā€™s no doubt heā€™d have been included.

One of the negatives about the rule is it has meant that clubs are just buying up youngsters from elsewhere so they count as being homegrown. And with the flight of young players towards the EPL, even for rewarding fees, it will inevitably damage leagues elsewhere.

Anyone who plays Football Manager and manages a CL team will understand the dilemma here. It still strikes me as odd that he was left out though. Who are the centre backs included then? I presume thereā€™s Carragher, Skrtel, Agger and then some young Spanish or Argentine guy. Itā€™s 4 from your own actual academy and 4 from another academy within the same country, i.e England. So you can see how the balance at Liverpool has shifted to getting in quality youngsters from elsewhere in Europe as I havenā€™t heard of a few of the players that make up the 4+4.

The likes of Arsenal must be seriously fucked though. But most of their foreign youngsters probably came through their academy?

Makes Liverpoolā€™s decision to sell Finnan all the more oddā€¦

Exactly Farmer. The likes of Fabregas, Denilson, Clichy etc. are all ā€œEnglishā€ for the purposes of the homegrown test. You need to have been at the club or country for 3 years between 15 and 21 to satisfy the test.

Would be well harsh if a 17 year old Michael Owen or someone didnā€™t qualify because he was only 2 years as a pro.

i could be wrong but id say that jack hobbs got the last spotā€¦england under 21 defender who came up through the academyā€¦

No its not him, I think hes gone on loan.

I didnt recognise the lad that was named but Il try find him.

Here it isā€¦Steve Irwin is back in businessā€¦

As such, Liverpool have named Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Jay Spearing and Stephen Darby as their ā€˜domesticā€™ players, with Robbie Keane, Jermaine Pennant, Steven Irwin and Martin Kelly filling the other spots.

Robbie Keane has become the sixth Liverpool player in two years to be targeted by burglars after the Ireland strikerā€™s penthouse flat was broken into while he was away on international duty.

Thieves broke into the city-centre penthouse apartment Keane shares with his partner on Saturday while he played in his countryā€™s 2-1 win in Georgia.

It is believed thieves made away with an expensive watch and jewellery.

Keane is just the latest in a long list of Liverpool stars who have had their homes broken into.

Club captain and England midfielder Steven Gerrard was given extra security after raiders broke into his Formby home last December. Gerrard was away playing a Champions League match in Marseilles when four men broke in and confronted his wife, Alex Curran.

Striker Dirk Kuyt was burgled in November of last year while he was on international duty with his Holland, while Peter Crouch was busy scoring twice at Anfield in 2006 while burglars were rifling through his property in Cheshire ā€“ and defender Daniel Agger was also burgled in the same month.

Spanish keeper Pepe Reina returned after his penalty shoot-out heroics in a Champions League semi-final against Chelsea to find his house ransacked and his Porsche gone.

Liverpool are Scum.

Didnā€™t see the Liverpool-United game as it clashed with Celtic at Motherwell but what was the story with the match?

Saw the goals afterwards and United could certainly have defended better at both. Was it a case of lapses by United getting punished and Liverpool stealing three points or did they genuinely look better throughout?

Saw a small piece of the game on half time ad breaks and one thing struck me was how small the Liverpool players are from midfield forward. Benayoun, Keane, Alonso were getting muscled off the ball alot. Even Mascherano was struggling a bit.

Couldnt agree Rock, thought Masch bossed that game after the United goal. Once Carrick went off, United had nothing to go up against him and he singlehandedly dragged them back into the game.

Also, whilst Keane was again poor in front of goal, he done a world of work. However Keane should watch out, because this is all well and good, but Pool didnt buy him to run around like Kuyt, they bought him to score goals and heā€™d want to start soon I think.

Ah yeah sure I only saw about 5 minutes of the game but in that time I saw Mascherano, Keane and Alonso getting muscled off the ball, third one may have been Benayoun if he was playing.

Anyway I think Mascheranoā€™s a good player alright, just wondering if what I saw was indicative of the whole game but it seems not.

Benayoun was there alright, pants as usual, just not up to that level.

Riera had a fine debut, hugged the touchline for most part, but came in every now and again and got involved.

Saying that, United were very poor, Berb went missing after he made the goal, and Scholes looked poor to me.

Cant believe they spent 30mill on a striker when a goalie was what they should have been getting in.

i never rated van der sar myself mbbā€¦

Liverpool pretty much dominated the game alright, and fergie was fairly pissed off with Utd after saying no one had a good game, other than maybe Rio (didnt see him play well myself, but didnt see him do much at all really). Alonso had a great game for Liverpool. Riera looks alright, another good option on the left with Babel. No good right wingers tho, Kuyt works hard, but its not what you want. Keane didnt look sharp in front of goal, had a few half chances and swiped and hit fresh air on them all. Mascherano had a very good game after his fook up for Utd goal. Liverpool were lucky enough with the goals, bad mistake by Utd on both, and lucky how the bal went in on both too.