Fresh Faces :: New Scalps

Liverpool FC celebrate winning the 1978 European Cup final at Wembley.

Having followed LFC for 30+ years it's interesting (to me at least) all the stats associated with LFC.

For example LFC holds the record for the most home wins (gives you some indication of the power of Anfield and The Kop) of any English Football Club throughout the history of the Football League/Prem, and tied with the most wins overall with Man Scum (of course we have a vastly superior GD over them 151 extra and a better winning percentage 47.13% compared to the Scum's 46.76% due to playing in 32 less games).


It's not just home, but in Europe over the last 43 years too. With so many successes in Europe (8 titles and 3 Super Euro's) it's not surprising that we've payed against so many teams (99 different ones to be precise in 37 different countries). Well LFC.TV today is theorising that we may face our 100th different opponent in the third round qualifying stages for the Champions League.

Personally I'm a little amazed that we haven't played any from the following group before now, but that highlights their failure to step up in the big time. Toulouse (France), Lazio (Italy), Fenerbache (Turkey), and Werder Bremen (Germany) could become the 100 club scalp for LFC.

If any of those dodge the bullet then there's also Stuttgart and Schalke 04 (Germany), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) in the group stages and even Man Scum (as I said, it highlights their failure to step up in the big time) in the latter stages - of course LFC won't be competing in the UEFA Cup after Christmas, so that scalp will have to wait for another season!

Kewell Shows Signs of Wanting to Stay

Is time running out?

With a number of players coming and going at LFC, Harry Kewell has been an interesting one. He being allowed to stay on in his final year, there is no desire to sell and there is no contract extension being discussed. At 28 he's should be at about the peak of his game. A series of long-term injuries, however, have make it difficult to assess if this is in fact true as regards the Aussie.

An encouraging development from an LFC point of view is that this year , the left winger has decided to for go a family holiday/vacation to join up with his LFC teammates as they continue to tour the Far East. Admittedly he's pretty much just around the corner, having just competed in the Asian Cup with Australia.

He's claimed that because of all of the extra competition for places on the starting 11, he wants to get in there and show he can be part of Rafa's plans, but I've got to wonder if he's hoping that he can convince the Benitez to extend his deal. I get the impression that LFC want to see him do the same and see if he can stay injury free. If he can show that he's still the same player that impressed at Leeds, it can only help LFC's push for the Premiership this year.

Here's hoping that if he stay fit and that LFC see something of what we expect someone who wears the #7 shirt to produce.

More here.

Time to "Conquer the Bloody World!"

Shanks said it best and now Parry is intent to make it happen, as LFC go to Asia.

Lucrative pre-season tours may help but only winning trophies will truly boost a club's worldwide appeal, according to Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry.

The Reds arrived in Hong Kong over the weekend ahead of the Premier League Asia Cup, which also features Portsmouth, Fulham and South China.

The mini-tournament represents the latest attempt by English clubs to cash in on the seemingly insatiable appetite for Premier League football in Asia.

Manchester United are currently in the midst of their own Asian tour which has taken in Japan, South Korea and China - with a frenzied reception greeting Sir Alex Ferguson's side wherever they have landed.

Meanwhile, Chelsea, Everton and Aston Villa are in north America and Tottenham are the star attraction in South Africa.

And while Parry is a confirmed advocate of his club's globe-trotting, he is adamant it must be supplemented by trophies to have any lasting effect.

"Nothing boosts your fan-base like success," Parry told the club's official website.

"We saw that in the 70s and 80s, then to a much greater extent in 2005 after we last won the Champions League.

"Had we been successful in Athens (in last season's final) then no doubt our fan-base would have been swelled even further."

He added: "Of course, we are extremely conscious of the huge following we have in this part of the world and it's good for us to repay their loyalty by visiting from time to time."

Licking Wounds

Well I shut down for a while after the Greek Tragedy that was the Champions League Final, and am now looking forward to the new season, with Rafa bringing in some interesting players, I'm just hoping that we can get off to at a flying start this time around.

It would be nice to win a cup trophy this year - the Champions League in particular (I still believe we will surpass Milan's hauls inside 5-7 years - which means at least three wins in that period), but to get the league back and then keep it for a bit would be heaven. Let's hope that it starts this year.

Head_2-Head :: G8-FORCE

STEVEN GERRARD

TACKLING :: Gerrard started out as a combative defensive midfielder when he broke into the Liverpool team as a teenager, matured into a box-to-box central midfielder before becoming an attacker outright. His development also saw him gradually curb the disciplinary naivety and regular horrendous challenges. However, he retains a real bite and still relishes the physical battle.

ATTACKING :: Gerrard has blossomed into a fine attacking midfielder and has even prospered playing out wide on the right, which would have seemed highly unlikely when he made his debut as a raw youngster in 1998. He has long boasted a fierce shot and incisive passing but in recent years has developed his running with the ball and crossing.

LEADERSHIP :: Gerrard was identified as a future Liverpool captain right from his early days in the famous red strip. He is not the most vocal of skippers but does have motivational qualities and solid knowledge of the game.

TROPHIES :: At club level, only the Premiership title has so far eluded Gerrard. The midfielder has won the FA Cup twice, the League Cup twice, the UEFA Cup and Champions League plus several peripheral trophies such as the Community Shield and European Super Cup.

GENNARO GATTUSO

TACKLING :: Gattuso is arguably the best in his position in the world. Never likely to be a playmaker, the former Rangers favourite has earned legendary status at the San Siro as a straightforward midfield terrier, pushing the boundaries of the law with high-tempo, aggressive ball-winning.

ATTACKING :: 'Rino' certainly knows his limitations and has never craved freedom to get forward. Instead, he roams in front of the defensive line, harrying, snarling and sniping. Cliched it may be, but the World Cup-winner possesses more football ability than people give him credit for, keeping it simple but efficient.

LEADERSHIP :: Like Gerrard, Gattuso leads by example. But despite his position, style of play and infectious passion, he has never captained on a regular basis. He has been unfortunate that at international level Italy are rightly captained by Fabio Cannavaro and the great Paolo Maldini still wears the armband for Milan. Coach Carlo Ancelotti prefers Massimo Ambrosini as Maldini's deputy rather than Gattuso.

TROPHIES :: Gattuso also has a loaded mantlepiece. He helped Rangers to the Scottish League Cup in 1997-98. In 2003 he won a Champions League medal with Milan and also the Scudetto in 2004. He played a pivotal role in Italy's World Cup triumph in Germany last summer, continuing his partnership with club-mate Andrea Pirlo on the global stage under then national team boss Marcello Lippi.

Thanks Chav$ki

There's only one team I hate more than Chav$ki, and them doing the "double" would've been unbearable, irrespective of whether or not we win on Wednesday.

I'm glad that the Chav'$ haven't won another Premiership title, but far less so that Scum were the ones to do it.

Now I can look forward to Wednesday in a slightly better mood.

Blessing in disguise?

I'm not sure how I feel about the news that Zenden is injured and may not make the final in Athens next week.

Part of wonders if he is the right choice to begin with. Yes he has a lot of experience, but I've never been that sure of our left side, ever since Aurelio got injured and Riise was pushed back to left-back.

Gonzalez, I think, doesn't have the experience to play in such an important game (although he could be useful as a late sub). I'm also not that keen on having Arbeloa at left back with Riise moving up, once again (although he's done well) it's Arbeloa inexperience for this kind of game that concerns me.

That really only leaves Kewell, who I think was in the running all along as far a Rafa was concerned. But with Kewell just coming back from injury, there's always the concern that he might not be 100% and match fitness will be an issue. I still remember how poorly he played in Instanpool at the same final as this, although he's subbing did lead to Smicer coming on, who then went on to score those all important goals.

If Kewell is at his best, and plays , it could be really useful. He does typically play well in the big games, and I 'm sure Milan won't have as much info on him and may find him hard to control.

Personally I think Rafa's slightly happy at the prospect as I feel he always wanted to pick Kewell, however, I think he'll be a little nervous at having slimmer back-up.

Milan Fear Liverpool

John Arne Riise believes Liverpool are AC Milan's worst nightmare because they hate playing against physical sides.

And the Norwegian full-back believes Liverpool will never allow the Italians the freedom to attack they had in the Champions League semi-final against Manchester United.

Riise prepares for his second final showdown with Milan next Wednesday in Athens convinced Liverpool can repeat their success of 2005.

Riise and his colleagues are increasingly aware that Milan believe them to be inferior to Manchester United, who the Italians eliminated in the semi-finals.

Their coach Carlo Ancelotti claims Liverpool are the poorest of the four semi-finalists and even United chief Sir Alex Ferguson believes Liverpool have no hope of success.

But Riise said: "We don't really care what people say, we deserve to be in the final. And we know Milan don't like playing against teams like us."

He added: "I heard some things earlier that they think they are the more tactical and we are the more physical side. But we can play football too.

"And they know we are strong and physical and we will use that to our advantage. They hate playing against those sort of teams.

"They looked like they struggled against the physical aspect when they played Bayern Munich earlier in the competition, even though they got through. But it is not something they enjoy facing.

"And we will play our own style of football that has been successful for us, we know that some teams hate to play against us because we play a physical compact type of game. We don't listen to other people because we know what we can do."

And Riise made it clear that Liverpool believe they can blunt the Milan style that caused Manchester United so much trouble in their calamitous second-leg mauling in Milan.

He said: "When they played against United their full-backs were almost like strikers or wingers. That is because United made room for them and gave them space.

"The way we play is quite compact and it will be hard work for their full-backs and wingers to get through.

"If they still attack us that way we will find space to hurt them. We have got the next few days to find their weaknesses and exploit them."

And Riise has faith in boss Rafael Benitez to produce the game plan to win Liverpool's second Champions League crown in three seasons.

"When he picks his team, and he knows who he wants to play, he will talk to every player to say what he expects from them and what the opposition player is going to do.

"Our manager is a tactical genius and he knows how to get his players ready."

But Riise accepts that this final must not start the way the Istanbul match did, when Liverpool were 3-0 down at the break. He said: "We cannot afford a three goal head start this time.

"It was called a miracle because of the comeback, but it can't happen again. This time we will approach the game perfectly and hopefully get a good start."

And Riise recalls Benitez's calmness in the face of that dreadful deficit in 2005. He said: "When you are losing 3-0 at half-time in a game like that you expect to get shouted at by the manager. All our heads were down.

"But the manager was very quiet and calm and explained what we were going to do. He wanted us to lift our heads, which we did. He said if we got a goal anything can happen. That is what we did and in the end, everything turned out okay.

"Once Steven Gerrard scored with the header, you could see the change in the faces of the players. We all seemed to get extra energy and the fans were lifted as well. We knew we had a chance. We just had to keep going."