Despite the media hype before hand, there weren't any fireworks on the pitch or off the pitch at Villa Park on Sunday. Rafa and O'Neil, the mortal enemies since their Gareth Barry tug of love, managed to shake hands without stabbing or head butting each other. The game itself was without major incident too. Both defences were on top and once Torres came off we looked a lot more toothless. On the plus side, our full backs Dossena and Arbleoa did well in keeping the pacy Villa attackers Young and Agbonlahor quiet. Keane did well enough and linked well with N'Gog and the team. He could and should have done better when he was put through on Friedal. He waited slightly too long before taking his shot which gave Reo Coker time to get back and tackle him. On another day he would have gotten a peno for it. I think that his confidence is lacking somewhat and once he gets a goal or two he'll be putting chances like that away again without thinking too much about it.
This is really bad news. Given Torres hamstring and Gerrard's groin, I think we're going to struggle badly against Utd at Anfield. I would be very surprised if either of them are fit in time for the game.
The Mirror provide some trial by youtube evidence on Albert Riera. He flew to Merseyside on Friday for a medical and it was tied up today before the transfer window deadline hopefully. Given that Parry is in charge of negotiations, I was a bit worried that there might be a last minute hitch. A lightly less high profile is 18 year old brazilian striker Vitor Flora who has signed from Botafogo. Cue many margarine puns. I wouldn't stoop that low (low) on red in Dublin.
As expected while there were arivals, there were also departures. High fiving Riera and Flora in John Lennon airport were Steve Finan and Andre Voronin. Finnan leaves for the sunny catalan climes of Barcelona as he's signed a 2 year deal with Espanyol. I hope he enjoys a beautiful city and does well for it's second club. I really like Finnan and he gave us great service over the past few years. But he fell down the pecking order towards the end of last season and was told he could leave this summer. Most reds will be happy to hear that Voronin is off to Hertha Berlin on a season long loan. Despite a few stunning goals in pre season this year and last, he wasn't of the level required for LFC.
The stadium news was as disappointing as it was predictable. If the banks won't give these fools anymore money then surely their game is up? If they can't borrow to build the stadium, and don't have the cash to fund it either, then their project is dead in the water. They have no chance of getting the £1billion Hicks wants without a complete stadium. I hope this all hastens their departure and the arrival of DIC and the Sheikh.

This is very worrying. The fact that Xabi is staying and Barry isn't signing for £18m doesn't bother me much. I love Xabi and am thrilled he's staying. Would have been terrible to see him in an Arsenal shirt. IF he plays this Wed then he's definitely staying. I do rate Barry and think he would have done well for us but £18m is a lot of cash. But the worrying part of this deal is the fact that it appears the owners aren't willing to back Rafa over this. Back him or sack him is my view. If they are vetoing certain signings then we're going down a perilous path. Do they think they know more than Rafa about football now?  I hope Rafa doesn't walk over this. There is some DIC talk again but I'll believe that when I see it.


Analysis of the win over Vallerenga here. The scoresheet was the same as the Rangers match with Torres, Yossi, Xabi and Ngog on target. Xabi's was the pick of the bunch for me.

The Lazio match wasn't quote as goal filled. Voronin came off the bench to score the winner in the 89th minute at Anfield. That should help with putting him in the shop window. I don't think that he's good enough, and should be sold but the booing of him as he came on the pitch was a disgrace. I'm never in favour of booing our own players. But fairplay to the lad, he came on and struck a fantastic goal. He shushed  the kop for his celebration and I think he was spot on to do so.


Rafa is happy with the progress that Ngog has made in fitting in with the squad. His goals against Rangers and Valarenga will have helped him settle. In the same report, Tony Barrett says that Rafa doesn't want to sell Yossi to Roma, despite what Spaletti has been saying.

Looks like the boy Brouwer might be off to Utrecht on loan. I suppose it makes sense as he won't be anywhere near the first team this season. I have a feeling that he'll end up permanently back in Holland sooner or later.

The Hungarian contingent at Anfield looks to be on the rise. Otikba Kenneth is a 17 year old centre half and will be singing from Bekescsaba this week according to the mirror.

Chain chasing at melwood this week.

I've two friendlies and four goals to report on this sunny bank holiday Monday in Dublin. The Villareal match was pretty boring. It was arranged as part of the Riena deal a few years back. It had the look of a friendly about it, which is what it was. The only noteworthy incidents were seeing Keane wearing the shirt for the first time and seeing the reception that our Spanish heroes got from the home crowd. That Torres chap seems to be quite popular.

Then we paid a visit to Ibrox to put Rangers back in their box. I have no interest in Scottish football myself, especially the sectarian bullshit that goes on between the old firm. I think it's particularly brainless when you see somebody like Robbie Keane get booed by Rangers fans because he's Irish. Similarly, Celtic fans booed David Healy when playing for Fulham in recent weeks. That's not far off the bad old days when black players would get booed in my book.

Given all that, it was especially satisfying to see us wallop Rangers 4-0. Torres, Yossi, Ngog and Xabi managed to get on the score sheet. It's a pity that Robbie didn't join them. The Echo give N'Gog a glowing report. The young Frenchman scored the goal of the game when he beat a defender or two before firing past the keeper from distance. He could be the surprise package of this season. I would expect that he'll be used like Babel was last year, mainly from the bench to run at tired defenses in the last half hour of games. The Mail tips him as one of ten Prem teens to look out for this season.

Kevin McCarra suggests that King Kenny was the greatest British footballer from the last 50 years. Who am I to argue?

Despite hearing this on Wednesday, we heard this later in the week from O'Neil. Rafa says that he doesn't want to or need to unload Xabi. We'll see about that. If we do sign Barry, which is looking likely, then I think we'll have too many midfielders and one of them will have to be let go. Xabi is the obvious one to be sold in that scenario. Reports today say that Arsenal will sign him when we sign Barry.

Sky suggest Roma are interested in Yossi. How about De Rossi coming the other way if the Barry deal falls through?

One player we won't be seeing this season is Leto. He's been refused a work permit and is off on loan to Olympiakos for the season. I hope he makes a go of it there.

We drew Standard Liège in the champions league third round qualifiers. That's a handy enough draw and we really shouldn't have any problems over two legs. It would have been much worse if we drew Atletico Madrid, although El Nino would have been happy to go home for a visit. It would be nice if we drew them in the group stages.

I'm off to enjoy the sun while it lasts. I doubt it will be for long.

He's always been a red but now it's official. Rafa's signed a premiership star who's going to drive us crazy with his goals and passes. He wants the premiership. As Captain Picard would say, "make it so". Love at first sight. The BBC website has a video of his press conference. The money quote from Robbie's unveiling: "My whole family are Liverpool fans. I remember every Christmas asking for jerseys and tracksuits – it's great now that I get the tracksuits for free!" Good to see he's remaining true to his roots, although, there's no accounting for taste. Chris De Burgh? Jaysus.

Check out some of Keane's goals here, here, here and here.

Here's what Lawro said about Torres last summer. Now he seems unimpressed wiht the Keane signing. Hopefully he'll be equally wrong this time around. Personally I'm very excited about the signing. I think his record shows us that he almost guarantees you around 15 league goals per season. It's interesting to note that he gets as many goals away as at home. I think he'll be another match winner to add to Torres, Gerrard and hopefully Babel if he continues to improve. This added goals and attacking threat should help us to win matches we drew last year.

I listened to some of the Hertha Berlin 0-0 draw on the e-season ticket. The only real incident of note seems to be the Voronin penalty miss. You can read the Liverpool Echo report here.

Rafa continues to hoover up Spanish teens like there's no tomorrow. The latest addition is Emmanuel Mendy, an 18 year old right/left back who'll go straight in the reserves.

Here's a good Rawk article on our defence. He thinks it'll be Agger and Skrtel and I'm inclined to agree, but I'm sure Carra will get his fair share of games. He's still the best organiser and leader in the defense.

The Ngog deal was completed for £1.5m as he only had a season left on his contract. Rafa says that he'll make a contribution to the first team. I expect him to get games in the Babel and Kuyt positions last season.

The Guardian have reprinted an old interview with Bill Shankly. Fantastic stuff.

The official site had an interview with Rafa's chief scout, Eduardo Macia. Keep up the good work.

Olympiakos officials laud Liverpool loanee Leto land, as a cheap tabloid might say. So Seb is Athens bound for the year. It seems that passport problems are limiting his chances with us for now. I hope he gets some experience in Greece. He's a hard one to figure out. He clearly has talent but the end product is missing at the moment.

A sign of things to come?

I must admit that I only saw highlights of the friendlies seeing as I don't have channel 5. The first of our two matches this week was a 2-1 victory over FC Lucerne with goals from Lucas and Voronin. Lucas was happy with his goal and reckons that we can expect more of them from him this year as he plays more of an attacking role this year. It was a great pass by Pacheco to set up Lucas. I know he's only 17 and has a bright future but can we expect Pacheco to make an impact at senior level this season? I think we might see him in the carling cup and maybe in the FA cup if we get another handy draw.

The second match was a 1-1 draw with Wisla Krakow and we'll face Hertha Berlin next. Gerrad has a strain so he didn't take part and went back to Melwood for treatment but Dossena made his debut in the red shirt. Voronin got the only goal. We've surrendered our 100% record for the season.

All is lost and woe is us now our 100% pre season record has gone up in smoke. We'll be lucky to make the inter toto cup. Very lucky considering it's being scrapped. Fingers crossed that we can avoid relegation and finish 17th ahead of Stoke, Hull and West Brom. Scott Carson has competed a move to West Brom rather than the anticipated move to Stoke or Boro. I hope it goes well for the lad but it has to be said that Parry and Rafa did a great job making a massive profit on him. All goes back into the transfer fund, hopefully. The more cynical among us might suggest it goes on dividends to our directors.

Despite his flurry of goals pre season, it looks like Voronin could be on his way out of Anfield. I don't think that he's of the standard required so I would be happy enough to see us make a few million profit from him, considering that he was signed for free last summer. Hamburg and Olympiacos are the clubs being linked with him at the moment.

Rafa was impressed with Dossena on his debut against Wisla. Dirk is impressed with the impact of Pacheco and the other youngsters this pre season. Another youngster, Adam Hammill has gone to Blackpool on loan. With the skills like these displayed by him in Scotland, I can see him being a success for the Seasiders in the championship. Given the fact that he's signed a new 3 year deal, it's clear to se he's a bright future with the club.

Some reports in France and the UK are linking us with David Ngog. He's refused to sign a new deal at PSG and is supposed to be available for around £1.5m. Can't say that I know much about him, beyond the fact he's a 19 year old forward at PSG. Here he is in action. If this deal goes ahead, as looks likely now, maybe we'll see a triple unveiling at Rafa's press conference later this week. Barry, Keane and Ngog would be a healthy boost heading into August. I think that everybody concerned is sick of the Barry deal and wants it over. The Robbie Keane one seems much more straight forward and should be done this week by all accounts. Being Irish, I'm happy to see one of our top players switch to Anfield. If the fee is a speculated £15m + a possible £5m if we win the league then it's good business for a proven premiership player. I can see him doing well with El Nino.

Until next time.