Liverpool will never win the league while Rafa Benítez keeps tinkering. That is the view of renowned intellect, existentialist and bon viver, Stanley Victor Collymore. Are we having our intelligence insulted by a ‘wife/(Ulrika)-beater’ and ‘dogger’ who wasted his career and, to my knowledge, has never managed a football team, and has therefore not developed [...]
Abridged excerpt from “Dynasty: 50 Years of Shankly’s Liverpool”, book available here. Graeme Souness 1991-1994 Introduction On paper it was the perfect appointment. A canny ex-Liverpool player (and a Scot, to boot) with exacting standards, and whose football education after leaving Anfield had continued in the rarified tactical arena of Italy, before enjoying success north [...]
Perhaps the main thing we learned this week, following victory at Bolton and the fortunes of various other keepers, was how thankful we should be for Pepe Reina, and pray that he stays fit. We also learned that the Reds’ zonal marking is back to its best. (When I say ‘learned’ in these pieces, it [...]
Clearly, this is the best chance Liverpool have had to win the league title for almost 20 years. But it could also be the best chance for the next few years. Not that I think the Reds will peak this season, because it’s a fairly young team with scope to keep improving, but simply because [...]
[Piece submitted to www.liverpoolfc.tv on 13.11.08, but had yet to appear on site so published here. Since posting here it has now appeared on the official site.] Take a look at this imaginary Premiership XI: Jasskelainen, Agger, Vidic, Evra, Pires, Ronaldo, Lampard, Mascherano Bergkamp, Henry and Adebayor. On the bench there is Riera, Drogba, Flamini, [...]
(Some formatting, such as italics, may have been lost in transfer) Glamourous locations arrived at in global travels; power and money; unfeasibly big hair; silver ostentatiously displayed; success that peaked in the ‘80s with huge TV ratings; and warring silver-haired American tycoons –– but not a Joan Collins or Heather Locklear in sight. This is [...]
It seems clear that Rafa Benítez has tweaked his rotation policy, in the way he suggested, several weeks ago, that he would. That’s right, he’s tweaked it; made a small but subtle alteration. However, several times in the media last weekend, I was told that Rafa has now dispensed with his wholesale changes – rotation [...]
