MOURINHO WANTS TO LEAVE ITALIAN JOB

Jose Mourinho wants to quit Serie A.
In a sensational statement, the Inter Milan coach has voiced his unhappiness with life in Italy.
"I am unhappy with Italian football. I don't like it and it doesn't like me. Simple."
An extraordinary outburst from The Special One which is sure to alert many clubs, including Liverpool to his willingness to manage a new team.
Weather he would want to manage the cash-strapped Liverpool who are enduring massive internal turmoil remains to be seen.
However, it is known that Mourinho is a life-long fan of the Reds, so he may be tempted by the prospect of guiding his favourite team to the holy grail of the Premiership. 

HICKS BLOCKING INVESTMENT IN LIVERPOOL

BASTARD

Tom Hicks is at it again. The scumbag is refusing to allow new investment in Liverpool FC because he won't make any money out of it.
Thats right. The man who borrowed money to buy the club and then put that debt on Liverpool's balance sheet is blocking vital investment in the club so he can make a few million for himself.
It seems that Liverpool MD Christian Purslow has agreed a deal with the Rhone group.
They want to invest £100 million for a 40% stake in the club and they are also pledging investment funds for the new stadium plus cash for new players in the summer.
However Texan millionaire Hicks is refusing to agree to the deal, the parasite.
How did this fraudster ever get to own our club?
David Moores, you made a huge mistake which is damaging the club with every passing week, how do you sleep at night?
In any case, RBS which owns the debt is demanding that £100 million be repaid by June, so Hicks and Gillette may have little choice but to agree to relinquish their cancerous control of the club.
It seems that Gillette is willing to go along with the deal.
Lets hope it happens sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, on the pitch, Liverpool had a great win against Sunderland at Anfield this afternoon.

Fernando Torres scored two great goals to help Liverpool to a facile 3-0 victory over ex- Man Utd man Steve Bruce's team.
We played some great football in the 1st half especially and could have won by much much more.
We are getting back to the form of last season, which is great to see. 

ONLY SACK BENITEZ IF MOURINHO COMES IN

Rafa Benitez has had a very poor season by his and Liverpool's exhalted standards. 15 defeats in all competions, ten in the Premiership alone, has made for some unpleasant reading

As we speak Liverpool lie 6th in the League with a game more played than most teams around them, not the stuff of Champions.

A poor season has seen us crash out of the Champions League, FA Cup and the Carling Cup with only the Europa Cup to play for.

From a team which nearly and should have won the League last season, it has been an almity loss of form.

We are in grave danger of missing out on 4th place and no Champions League football next season.

So do we sack the manager after five years of good work and replace him with someone else just because of one below par season?

Anyone that would come in would be expected to win the league with a budget of around £20 million to spend and would be expected to win the League while the likes of Man City and Spurs are spending  money on new players like it was going out of fashion.

The big rumour is that Jose Mourinho is interested in the Liverpool job, but only if he is given plenty of money to spend on the team.

He is a bit in your face, a bit arrogant but he is also a winner.He is a master tactician, he won the Premiership with Chelsea two or three times and after his Inter Milan team knocked Chelsea out of the Champion's League, he is still one one of the hottest properties around.

Jose Mourinho

I for one would welcome him on board at Liverpool but he will not come unless he can sign his own players and with the hated Hicks and Gillette unable to find a brass farthing to keep the club afloat, I doubt it will happen.

Instead, I expect Benitez to remain in charge next season under a shoe-string budget and we will likely finish in the top three next year under Benitez to keep the sorry show on the road..

I would not get rid of Rafa just for the sake of it, I would only replace Rafa with Mourinho, nobody else.

RAFA: PLAYERS MORALE IS ROCK BOTTOM

Rafa Benitez has admitted this evening that things are not going well with his players due to the bad season we are having.

"We were not doing well at the beginning (of the season) and we lost a bit of confidence because we couldn't be contenders but you cannot change what has happened in the past," he said.

"If you analyse some games we were so close to winning and we lost and in the head of everyone it is not easy to manage.
"That small difference often means you lose three points or win three points.
"In two or three games you concede the gap is too big and then you cannot (change this) and you lose your confidence and that has been the situation this year," he added.
"This season has been very difficult because expectation was too high and once we lost one or two games it was more difficult mentally for everyone.
"We have had too many injuries to important players but if you put all these players together and are fully fit we play much better.
"We have to keep our confidence and energy and try to do our best until the end."
Lets hope so Rafa, you are responsible for this Liverpool team and you must shoulder some of the blame for our poor performances this season.



Source: SkySports

MAN CITY AND VILLA SLIP UP IN RACE FOR FOURTH!

Reina stops the opposition!

A good night for Liverpool, without even playing a game!
Man City lost to our neighbours Everton 2-0 with goals by Cahill and Arteta to leave City on 53 points, two ahead of us still, but with only one game in hand now.

Aston Villa could only manage a 1-1 draw with improving Sunderland, goals scored by Frasier Cambell and John Carew
Villa are level on points with us, also with a game in hand, but I just don't fancy them this season.
So, the race for fourth is beginning to swing back in our favour a little bit.
Don't write us off yet!

     League Table    Pd Gd P W D  L
1. ManUtd                   31 47 69 22 3 6

2. Chelsea                    31 47 68 21 5 5
3. Arsenal                    31 40 67 21 4 6
4. Tottenham             30 26 55 16 7 7
5. Manchester City   30 16 53 14 11 5
6. Liverpool               31 18 51 15 6 10
7. Aston Villa            30 17 51 13 12 5

BATTLE FOR FOURTH: FIXTURES RUN IN

Torres and Gerrard

After today's defeat to our hated rivals Man Utd, its time to take a look at our remaing games and also those of our rivals for fourth place.

Liverpool Fixtures:
Sunderland (h)
Birmingham (a)
Fulham (h)
West Ham (h)
Burnley (a)
Chelsea (h)
Hull (a)

Man City Fixtures:
Everton (h)
Wigan (h)
Burnley (a)
Birmingham (h)
Man Utd (h)
Arsenal (a)
Aston Villa (h)
Tottenham (h)
West Ham (a)

Spurs Fixtures:
Portsmouth (a)
Sunderland (a)
Arsenal (h)
Chelsea (h)
Man Utd (a)
Bolton (h)
Man City (a)
Burnley (a)

So while we have lost ground in our quest for fourth place, Man City and Spurs still have tough run ins to the end of the season.
All is not lost and I still believe we are in with a chance of gaining 4th, expect Man City and Spurs to drops points in the rest of the campaign.

MOURINHO WANTS THE LIVERPOOL JOB

The Special One

JOSE MOURINHO will only consider becoming the next Liverpool manager if Tom Hicks and George Gillett are stripped of power.

The Inter Milan boss is very interested in the chance to replace Rafa Benitez this summer.

But Mourinho has no intention of joining a club with a divided boardroom under the American co-owners.

Mourinho has told associates the prospect of reviving the Merseysiders does appeal, but he would need to be sure he would have the resources to succeed. Liverpool will sound out Mourinho as they consider a change of management this summer.

But Manchester City and Real Madrid are also interested in the ex-Chelsea boss.

Ironically, Mourinho would want the same guarantees on funding and ownership at Liverpool that Benitez has demanded.

The Kop boss is aware his position is under review and his boardroom support has been evaporating since January.

It seems that Rafa Benitez is also considering his future.

Mourinho is top of any list of candidates to replace the Spaniard although Manchester City and Real Madrid are also in the hunt for his services.

Although the Kop fans are divided on the position of their manager, they are united in their concern about what calibre of replacement Liverpool will attract if the Americans don't go.

There is a growing sense of desperation and exasperation at the Americans' stance as they appear to be in a state of delusion about the true value of the Merseyside club.

Kop officials will know in the next two weeks if the £100m cash injection from the Rhone Group hedge fund will go ahead.

While I think Rafa is still the man for the job, what would Mourinho bring to the club?

Maybe the coveted Title after all these years.

What do you think?

Is it time to embrace 'The Special One', or should we stick with Rafa for one more season, after all, we still might win the Europa League and gain 4th place this year.


(Source: NOTW)

TORRES BANG IN FORM FOR UTD SHOWDOWN

Torres firing in the goals

Fernando Torres is back to his goal-scoring best at Liverpool.
Four goals in four days against first Portsmouth and Lille have seen the striker finally emerge from the long shadows of injury and into the limelight once again.
Liverpool's poor season has coincided with El Nino's injury-ravaged season, 15 defeats in all competitions has left us all shell-shocked.
But the reappearance of a fit again Torres in the team is providing the spark the club so desperately needs.
We com up against our despised rivals Man Utd on Sunday at 1.30pm in a must win match for both teams.
For Liverpool, it is not just about 4th place, it is about beating Utd for the fourth game in a row to dent their hopes for the title.
A few weeks ago, I would not have given us a prayer, but we have 'turned a corner', dare I say it?
We now have the ability and confidence to go to 'Old Red Nose's' backyard and win.
The Lucas/Aquilani Debate:
Lucas has played well this season, but for me, I would have Aquilani in the team.
The best form of defence is attack as they say so its the Aqua man for me.
However, I think Rafa may go for Lucas and Mascherano in midfield for this one.

RIERA BANNED AFTER OUTBURST

Riera in the dock

Albert Riera has been banned from Anfield until Monday and will be fined at least two weeks wages by furious boss Rafa Benitez.
Complaining about his treatment by the boss, Riera said: "He's never sorted out a situation with a player by talking with him. He thinks he's in charge and everything else falls on deaf ears. His dialogue with the players is practically nil."
Scathing remarks for a player who has never quite lived up to his potential.
In fact, he is determined to leave the "sinking ship.." as he calls our beloved club.
Well ta ra Albert. We don't need people like you at Liverpool, clear off.

LIVERPOOL AIM TO OVERCOME LILLE HAZARD

Aquilani hopes to be fit

Liverpool face Lille at Anfield tomorrow night hoping to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg in France.
The Reds played well enough in Lille only to concede from a late free kick from that man, Hazard.
He is their play maker so we will have to pay close attention to him tomorrow night.
After Monday's fabulous performance in beating Portmouth, Rafa today suggested that a more cautious performance will be required to overcome the French side.
Man of the match against Pompey, Alberto Aquilani may be the one to miss out.
The classy Italian, who finally produced a display of quality and capped it with his first goal for Liverpool has been struck down with a virus which may rule him out of Thursday's game.
Many pundits felt that he would have been replaced by Lucas in any case as a more robust midfield is Benitez' prefered option.
Liverpool need to score twice,at least, on Thursday.
But we dare not concede an away goal or we will face an uphill battle to win the tie.
They say 'the best form of defence is attack' and most people would agree with that dictum.
So Rafa faces a tricky decision, does he go all out for the win and risk giving away an away goal or does he play it cagey, solid in defence and hope to catch Lille on the break?
I say: Go for it Rafa! Let the team play like we did on Monday and we can beat anyone.
 

LIVERPOOL 4-0 UP!

Torres got two

Liverpool are 4-0 up with ten minutes to go at Anfield.
In what is our best display in months, Liverpool scored 3 goals in 6 first half minutes.
First Fernando Torres converted a pass from Maxi into a goal.
Two minutes later Ryan Babel scored in the box, then Aquilani scored his first Liverpool goal with a well-struck shot.
In the second half Liverpool struck again when Torres scored a trademark goal for his 15th of the season.

AQUILANI STARTS FOR LIVERPOOL

Alberto Aquilani starts in the middle for the Reds tonight instead of Lucas while Ryan Babel retains his place in the side against Portsmouth.

The Reds side in full is:
Reina, Insua, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Mascherano, Aquilani, Gerrard, Babel, Rodriguez, Torres.

Subs: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, Benayoun, Kuyt, Lucas, Kelly.

RAFA: SEVEN DAYS TO SAVE HIS JOB

Rafa under pressure

Rafael Benitez faces a crucial week which will define his and Liverpool's future.
The manager is under severe pressure to save Liverpool's season and his own job as well.
We play Portsmouth at Anfield tomorrow night in a must win game in the fight for 4th place in the League.
Avram Grant's struggling team have already beatn us 2-0 at Fratton Park in December and their manager has the Indian sign over Rafa both as Chelsea and now Pompey manager, winning 3 and drawing two of the five games he has played against Benitez.
Should he get through that one with a win, Liverpool have to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Lille in the Europa League on Thursday night.
While Liverpool could have won the first leg in France, they should never have conceeded from that free-kick in the last 5 minutes.
It leaves Liverpool in the tricky position of having to score at least twice and hope that dangerous outfit Lille don't score on the counter to get through to the quarter finals of that competition.
It doesn't get any easier then because we have to go to Old Triffid on Sunday lunch-time to face Wayne Rooney and company, lose that and we are out of the race for 4th spot.
The Mancs are going for their 19th League title, we have won 18, so we must get something from that game.
With all this talk on potential new investors Rhone, not keen on Rafa and wanting their own man in the job, should they invest in the club, it really is a crucial week for Benitez and Liverpool FC
As a fan of Rafa's, I hope him and his team finally go on a roll and get Liverpool back on a winning streak.

NEW INVESTORS AT LAST

Hicks & Gillette

It looks like Liverpool may finally be getting fresh investment.
The club has lined up a spectacular deal with the Rhone Group - reported to be worth £3billion - to dilute the controversial ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

The New York-based private equity firm have begun due diligence with a view to buying around a 40 per cent stake in the club.
The £100m deal would see controlling interest pass to billionaire financiers Robert Agostinelli and Steven Langman.
If the deal goes through it would repay the club's Royal Bank of Scotland debt and enable work to begin on the £350m new stadium.
There would also be considerable investment in the transfer market - although it is unlikely Benitez will be the man to spend it.
He has reached the stage where he believes it is time to quit Anfield, with Real Madrid a possible destination in the summer.
That would then allow potential new owners to install their own man at the Liverpool helm.
Managing director Christian Purslow has been scouring the globe to meet a summer deadline to repay £100m of a £237m debt to RBS.
There is still interest from India, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but the Rhone Group are seen as the most viable proposition in the market.
Founded by Agostinelli and Langman in 1996, the Rhone Group describes itself as 'one of the world's leading mid-market private equity firms'.
They specialise in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, recapitalization and partnerships with particular focus on European and Trans- Atlantic investments.
Rhône is headquartered in New York, and has offices in both London and Paris.

Rhône Group was established in 1997 and has been under its present ownership since. It is a private company which has been owned and managed by Robert F. Agostinelli and M. Steven Langman since inception.
The new Americans would take a controlling interest, leaving Hicks and Gillett with around a 30 per cent stake each.
Sounds like the perfect partners for Liverpool FC, lets hope it comes to pass.

100K A WEEK STARS MUST DELIVER

We have all heard of lots of Liverpool players who have been rewarded with lucrative new contracts this season.
Many of Liverpools star players are now in the millionaire bracket thanks to new deals agreed this season by Rafael Benitez and Christian Purslow.
On the face of it, a good idea to tie down your best players to new deals to keep the squad intact and to keep the nucleus of a side that finished second in the Premier League last season.
However, it seems to have back-fired.
Instead of seeing individual performances improve, we have witnessed a slump in form by many key players.
Financially set up for life, they look like and play like disinterested individuals, unwilling to do battle for the cause, looking only to ride it out until the World Cup comes along.
Under-fire boss Rafa Benitez has done the right thing in securing his top players on improved deals, but isn't it time they started repaying Liverpool Football Club by busting a gut in every game to justify the faith and finance given to them?
Porthmouth on Monday night, a game we must win to keep alive our faint hope of Champion's League qualification.
Time for the star players to deliver.

Rafael Benitez is getting £5 million a year too, so an awful lot of money is being spent, just to finish 6th, then again, what do I know?

I'm only on £25 grand a year!

DEFEAT NUMBER FIFTEEN OF THE SEASON

Liverpool lost their fifteenth game of the season in France against Lille.
Things are going from bad to worse to awful this year.
The game looked to be heading for a deserved draw when Lille scored from a free kick in the last ten minutes of the match through forward Hasard.

It was Liverpool who had the better of the chances all through the game with Babel and Torres having shots saved by the French keeper.
It was a scrappy game on a poor pitch that showed few glimpses of quality from either side.
Losing a European tie 1-0 away from home is not the end of the world, but I am beginning to wonder when is our luck going to change and when are our big name players going to play to their best again?
It better happen soon, otherwise we will have nothing left to play for.

BABEL AND JOHNSON START

Glen Johnson makes his first start in ages for Liverpool while Ryan Babel is also in the first team for today's game in Lille.

The team in full: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Insua, Mascherano, Lucas, Kuyt, Gerrard, Babel, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Aquilani, Riera, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, El Zhar, Kelly.

RAFA TRIES TO RALLY HIS TROOPS

Rafael Benitez today tried to rally his dejected troops after that deeply disapointing defeat at Wigan.

This season has seen one poor performance after another.
We are down in sixth and likely to remain there with an appalling nine defeats in the League already, this season.

Rafa under pressure

The future of the Manager is again under the spotlight as he tries to salvage something from the season by attempting to win the Europa League.
Liverpool travel to France to play Lille tomorrow night and a good performance is the very least the Anfield faithful will demand.
"Monday was an opportunity to get back in the top four in the league - an opportunity that was lost," said the Spaniard. "We cannot change that but we have an opportunity now in the Europa League and must do our best.
"We have to approach every game thinking it is the most important game of the season. We have to be really focused."
Benitez does not expect easy matches against the French outfit. But he believes a good performance and result will not only help them on their way to Europa League silverware but also aid their league performances.
"The players are keen to show what they can do. If we show the real character we have it will be easier for us to get a good result," he said.
"Lille have some good players with ability and their form at home is good. It will be tough but we have to be ready.
"When a team is playing well it doesn't really matter the competition you are in. It helps your confidence going into league matches."
Yossi Benayoun is a doubt with an ankle injury, otherwise Rafa has a strong squad to choose from.
Liverpool team (from): Reina, Johnson, Degen, Agger, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Gerrard, Lucas, Aquilani, Benayoun, Riera, Ngog, Kuyt, Torres, Cavalieri, Pacheco, Spearing, Darby, Babel, Kelly.

RAFA BENITEZ NOT A HAPPY MAN

Rafa Benitez refused to excuse his team after their abysmal defeat to Wigan.

Liverpool crashed to a catastrophic 1-0 defeat to the relegation-threatened club, leaving Liverpool's Champion's League dream in tatters.

Rafa's Revulsion

"I think we didn't play well, especially in the first half. We didn't show attitude."

Benitez admitted his side gave the ball away too often.

"That is very clear, especially in the first half," he added.

'You are always disappointed after a defeat, but when it is a crucial moment and you know you can do so much better, it is especially hard to take. We did nothing in the first half, and it is really hard to explain.

'We were not winning the first or second balls, and it is hard to come up with a reason for that. I let the players know I was not happy, and at least there was a response in the second half.'

"We're not happy. We have to show more character if we want to be in top four."

We remain in 6th place with a mountain to climb as the teams above and below us, all have games in hand.

The manner of the defeat was hard to take.

We couldn't get our passing game going, this was due to Wigan's clever tactic of hounding whoever had the ball into making a hurried pass under pressure, which usually meant the ball found a Wigan player.

But even in yards of space, the Reds were guilty of some woeful play.

Kuyt, in particular gave the ball away unopposed time and time again and it was one of his many stray passes which lead to Rodellega's goal on 35 mins.

Gerrard had an off night and Torres had an off night and when those two are not playing well then Liverpool struggle and so it proved tonight.

So its back to the Europa League on Thursday where we face Lille of France.

Expect to see a big improvement in performance from this Liverpool side.

YNWA.

LIVERPOOL LOSING 1-0

Liverpool are losing to lowly Wigan with seconds to go.

A Rodellega goal on 35 mins looks to be the winner as Liverpool were very flat tonight.

Our passing game completely let us down as we kept giving the ball away time after time.

Torres had several chances to score but unusually, failed to take any of them.

Wigan have defended stoutly all game and we have lacked the guile to break them down.

Final Score: Liverpool 0 Wigan 1

So thats it, three more points dropped and 4th place may be out of our reach now.

What a disasterous season it has been for us, over to you Rafa.

TORRES AND KYRGIAKOS START

Sortirios Kyrgiakos and Fernando Torres both start for Liverpool at the DW stadium in Wigan tonight where a win would see us move up to 4th in the table.

Team
Reina, Mascherano, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Maxi, Gerrard, Lucas, Benayoun, Kuyt, Torres.

NANDO TO GET 'IMAGE RIGHTS' DEAL TO FEND OFF SUITORS

Liverpool's talismatic striker Fernando Torres is to be offered an image-rights deal in addition to his £100,000 a week contract in a bid to fend off interest from other clubs like Man City and Barcelona in bidding for the player in the summer.
The club are endeavoring to attach a monetary value to Fernando Torres' image as Liverpool FC is a global brand followed by millions of fans throughout the world.
It is hoped that this extra revenue for the Spanish striker will ensure his continued commitment to the Liverpool cause after this year's World Cup and into the coming years.
It is good to see that Liverpool being so pro-active in ensuring all our best players are happy to stay with the club.
The player himself has said he is happy with life on Merseyside and he is doing everything he can to help our club gain 4th place and that all-important Champions League position.

TORRES ON LIVERPOOL

Fernando Torres received the Liverpool Post's player of the year award for the second year running, the last player to do it was Kenny Dalglish back in our glory days of the Eighties.
Torres, speaking via video-link, expressed his delight at winning the trophy again and seems very happy at life on Merseyside: "The people have been very kind to me since the first day. I feel here like I do at home. I can go to any part of the city and receive kind words.
I get on well with Evertonians too, it is a big surprise that I can talk with Everton fans about everything. They respect me and I respect them."
No, he is not joining Everton next season.
On the contrary, he is determined to do his utmost to help Liverpool qualify for the Champion's League:
"I've only played 20 games and I'm desperate to help the team. I hope to score as many goals as possible until the end of the season."
So, despite all the rumours in the press, El Nino is fully committed to helping the Liverpool cause, well done young man.

SKRTEL OUT FOR EIGHT WEEKS

Liverpool FC have tonight disclosed that Martin Skrtel's broken metatarsal will not need an operation.
However, he is expected to be out for eight weeks thereby missing most of the run-in to the end of the season.
The no-nonsense defender will be missed by the Reds as his uncompromising style of play endeared him to the Anfield faithful.
With Danny Agger leaving yesterday's game on crutches following 'severe bruising' to his right knee, we should be thankful that we can call on our Greek defender, Soto Kyrgiakos to deputise for Agger and Skrtel.
We play Wigan next Monday followed by Lille in the Europa League that Thursday.
Onwards and upwards.