liverpool | Wait until next year

September 12, 2009

Sports stuff I’ve enjoyed this week

I’m still searching for a catchy title for a weekly roundup of sports content I’ve enjoyed on the web and elsewhere, so any suggestions would be more than welcome. I probably haven’t read as much as normal this week, but have still come across some interesting stuff.

I’d love to be pointed in the direction of more interesting blogs, on any sport – it’s wonderful to discover writing out there with a little imagination and thought put into it. That’s something I could work on here!

So, onwards with my lazy blog post of the week full of links and lacking in content…

In baseball, The Hardball Times takes a look at the New York Mets top prospects. Coming off such an injury plagued season it’s good to read about the talent that might break through. As someone with little or no knowledge of what goes on in the minor leagues, I need all the assistance I can get…

In football, a new discovery, Oh you beauty, provides a stats analysis of Liverpool’s failures at set pieces to fuel the zonal vs man-for-man marking debate. It’s refreshing to read some statistical thought in relation to football. While it has its limitations, obviously, it makes a nice change from the purely opinion-based articles that flood the web. Looking forward to more from this blog.

As a Liverpool fan, who has also watched more than my fair share of non-league football over the years, High hopes for AFC Liverpool from twohundredpercent could have been written purely with me in mind.

And finally Pitch Invasion looks at George Gillett talking nonsense in Liverpool Stronger than Ever! Parsing George Gillett.

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August 25, 2009

The Not Watching (Liverpool versus Aston Villa)

I am perhaps the worst sort of armchair supporter – one who cannot even manage to catch every game shown on television. Last night, just before heading to one pub to watch the game I ended up diverted to another, as a friend who is a father-to-be was in town. So, instead of watching what appears to have been a poor display, I just had that sinking feeling each time someones phone lit up with another Villa goal. And then home to the even more unsatisfying conclusion of reading the match report online. Just reading a report isn’t that wonderful anyway, unless you are lucky enough to encounter a really skilled journalist. Football just doesn’t lend itself to poetic writing in the way other sports do, such as cricket, baseball, boxing. There’s often no overarching narrative, just a sequence of random events. And when your team has lost you don’t even get the joy of revelling in reading their exploits.

Liverpool have now lost as many games this season as they lost in the whole of last season. It’s going to be a long one. Still, I had a lovely evening all the same.

August 14, 2009

What I’m looking forward to in the Premier League this season

The hype and the expectation will soon be over – the Premier League kicks off tomorrow. Here we go again, then. As a Liverpool supporter I have already braced myself for another season of dissapointment, essentially playing a trick on myself to save heartache further into the season, and to make any sort of success a nice surprise.

So, beyond wall-to-wall football, what am I actually looking forward to?

Well, I think we could be looking at an even closer title battle. Last season showed just how narrow the margins of error are. Liverpool lost only two games, but didn’t win the title. It wasn’t the ‘big four’ games that decided the title, it was winning week-in, week-out against the smaller teams. So, essentially, every game matters from day one. This could be the most competitive title race yet.

How Manchester City progress should be fascinating. I’m not convinced they will gel right away, but Mark Hughes has done a good job of bringing in some proven Premier League would should settle soon enough, so they do seem the great unknown quantity.

The relegation fight could be fiercer than ever too. Hull and Stoke showed last year that you just can’t write off any team coming up. And Newcastle showed anyone can do down. And this year there are so many clubs who conceivably could get relegated. Taking a quick look at the Paddy Power site, seven teams are 4-1 or worse (down to odds-on) for the drop. There are probably ten or eleven clubs who will be looking at getting the mythical forty-points-for-safety before worrying about getting into Europe or anything fancy like that.

Finally, World Cup year. Everyone is going to be out to impress.

So, I’m strangely optimistic about this season. Hopefully no one team will run away with it, and no team will stay rooted to the bottom, and things will stay interesting. How do you think this season will pan out?

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August 6, 2009

Liverpool Champions League winners 2005 – Where are they now?

I was surprised to read in the coverage of Xabi Alonso’s transfer to Real Madrid, that his departure from Liverpool left only Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher as the only 2005 Champions League winners still on Liverpool’s books.

So, I thought I’d explore what happened to the rest, to coin a phrase – “Where are they now?”

Jerzy Dudek

Alonso will see a familiar face at Real in Jerzy Dudek, who moved there at the end of the 2006/7 season. He hasn’t played much, with Iker Casillas the regular ‘keeper and hard to displace.

Steve Finnan

Steve moved to Espanyol in September last year, in an unlikely transfer, but is now back in England, having signed a one-year contract with Portsmouth.

Jamie Carragher

Still very much a key figure at Liverpool.

Sami Hyypiä

After ten years at Liverpool Sami moved to Bayer Leverkusen this summer, but has suggested that he may well return in the future in a coaching capacity.

Djimi Traoré

Djimi has been something of a journeyman since leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2006, playing for Charlton, Portsmouth, Birmingham (on loan), and recently signed a two-year deal with AS Monaco.

Xabi Alonso

As previously mentioned, moved to Real Madrid this week.

Luis Garcia

Scored that goal to send Liverpool to the final, and seemed to have a knack for scoring crucial goals. He moved to Atlético Madrid in 2007, but has failed to establish himself as a first-team regular.

Steven Gerrard

Chelsea couldn’t tempt him away – and has stated that he’s likely to finish his career at Liverpool.

John Arne Riise

Riise moved to Roma last summer, and scored against both Inter and AC Milan last season.

Harry Kewell

The man fated to get injured in Champions League finals moved to Galatasaray last summer, a controversial move with fans of his old club Leeds, as he had been a Leeds player when two of their fans had been killed prior to a UEFA Cup semi-final with Galatasaray in 2000.

Milan Baroš

Milan left Liverpool in August 2005, soon after the Champions League win. He is another journeyman of sorts, playing for Aston Villa, Lyon and Portsmouth, before joining Galatasaray last summer, finishing up top scorer in the Turkish league.

Substitutes:

Dietmar Hamann

The substitution that perhaps turned that final around. In 2006, after backing off from a deal with Bolton, Didi signed with Manchester City. This summer he was released by City, but there have been reports of him signing with Preston North End, or QPR.

Djibril Cissé

Cissé went on loan to Marseille in July 2006, signing with them permanently a year later. Last season he went on loan again, this time to Sunderland, and in June signed with Panathinaikos.

Vladimír Šmicer

Vladi knew the final would be his last match in a Liverpool shirt, and would move to Bordeaux that summer. In 2007 he returned to his first club, Slavia Prague, but has been plagued with injuries.

So, interesting (I think anyway) to look at where these players ended up. Arguably nobody has gone onto bigger and better things. Is that just down to bad luck and bad decisions? Or were these a reasonably limited group of individuals who worked so much better as a team – the whole being better than the sum of the parts? Being sentimental here, but maybe Istanbul really was a miracle…

August 5, 2009

Liverpool sign Alberto Aquilani

Liverpool haven’t hung around when it comes to replacing Xabi Alonso, signing Roma’s Alberto Aquilani for £18million.

Apart from a few clips on YouTube I haven’t seen much of the guy, but he’s an Italian international, so you’d hope isn’t half bad, although I thought that with Dossena…

Still, credit to Benitez for getting new blood in so quickly after the loss of a key player. The new season is just around the corner, and it’s clear that the squad needs bolstering. Hopefully, one or two more names are on their way, as the stronger the squad the better.

Anyone seen Aquilani? Any thoughts?

Tag: liverpool