LIVERPOOL'S AMAZING WIN AT WEMBLEY: SURPRISING MATCH STATS

Liverpool resisted a brave and committed display from Cardiff City in the Carling Cup Final on Sunday afternoon.

The Reds were taken all the way to extra-time and penalties against Malky Mackay's Championship side, but they saw it through in the end to win their 8th League Cup, a record, in dramatic fashion.

Owners John W Henry and Tom Werner were in the stands and the post-match dressing room to join in the celebrations with the players at their first Trophy as new owners and Liverpool's first piece of silverware since 2006.

Liverpool made tough work of it though and statistics show that they were the dominant side who would have put the game to bed in normal time had they taken their many efforts on goal.

But a Cup Final win is very welcome, well done to Kenny Dalglish and the squad.

CARLING CUP FINAL	LIVERPOOL	CARDIFF
GOALS	2	2
CORNERS	19	3
SHOTS ON TARGET	19	7
SHOTS OFF TARGET	20	4
OFFSIDE	5	1
YELLOW CARDS	1	2
FOULS CONCEDED	14	11
POSSESSION	53%	47%

COUNTDOWN TO KICK-OFF: CARLING CUP FINAL

After Liverpool's demolition of Brighton in the FA Cup at Anfield on Sunday, all eyes are now firmly fixed on Wembley Stadium and the Carling Cup Final against Cardiff City next weekend.

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Both teams will feel they have a realistic chance of claiming the Trophy having done it the hard way in the qualifying rounds.

Malky McKay's side beat Huddersfield Town, Leicester City, Burnley, Steve Kean's Blackburn Rovers and Crystal Palace on penalties to get to the Final.

They currently lie fourth in the N-Power Championship, very much in the race for promotion to the Premiership.
Peter Wittingham is the Bluebirds top-scorer this season with ten goals from the midfielder.

Liverpool have overcome some pretty tough sides themselves en- route to their first final since the Champion's League defeat to AC Milan in 2007.

The Reds had to beat Exeter City, Brighton (again) at The Amex Stadium before a  2-1 defeat of Stoke brought them up against Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge, goals by Maxi Rodriguez and young Martin Kelly were enough to see off Torres's new team.

Liverpool were then paired with Manchester City in the League Cup semi-final.
Liverpool won the first leg at the Etihad Stadium 1-0 thanks to a Stephen Gerrard penalty.

The second-leg at Anfield ended in a 2-2 draw with another Gerrard penalty and after City went ahead through a Dzeko strike, Craig Bellamy sealed a win for Liverpool 3-2 on aggregate and a passage to Liverpool's first final under Kenny Dalglish's second reign at the club.

The big question this week is who will make the starting eleven for the final at Wembley.
Will Bellamy and Agger recover from injuries, will Kenny Dalglish stick with Carroll and Suarez upfront, will Bellamy replace Downing who had two goal-assists against Brighton on Sunday.

Whoever starts, its great to be in a Cup Final at Wembley again.

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PUYET DETERMINED TO BEAT LIVERPOOL

Ahead of this evening's 5th round tie between Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield, Gus Puyet was in resilient form ahead of the FA Cup tie:
"I will do everything I can to win a football match, whatever you can imagine."

Brighton lie two points of the play-off places and are undefeated in ten games to date.
That run has coincided with the return of winger Will Buckley who has scored five in the last seven games for The Seagulls.

Brighton, having knocked out Newcastle in the last round are sure to be really up for the game against Liverpool and we can expect a tough encounter at a packed Anfield.

Liverpool are unbeaten at home in all competitions this Season, winning six and drawing nine of their games at home.

We did beat Brighton earlier this Season in the Carling Cup at the all-new Amex Stadium with goals by Bellamy and Kuyt cancelling out a Barnes penalty to give Liverpool a 2-1 victory at the former Goldstone ground.

Lets hope for more of the same this evening.

SUAREZ: STORM IN A VERY BIG TEA-CUP

This furore over Luis Suarez Suarez 'non-handshake' with that Evra fella has gone out of control and is totally out of proportion for what has occurred.

True, Suarez is guilty of going back on his promise to shake that man Evra's hand and he did make a mistake there after previously promising to Liverpool that he would do so.
But "victim" Evra who grabbed him by the arm, tried to break his legs early in the game, only to scythe down team-mate Rio Ferdinand, who also refused to shake Suarez's hand, is no angel.

"Your sister's pussy" and repeated rants at Suarez calling him a "South-American, South-American, South-American" show that Evra is no Angel.
When Dirk Kuyt intervened in that match back in October, Mr. Evra forcibly pushed placid Kuyt away, without a booking.

Then to cap it all, he goes on a personal victory March around Old Trafford on Saturday, eventually having to be restrained by Referee Phil Dowd.

That particular Frenchman has behaved very foolishly all throughout the whole sordid affair and he has been extremely
fortunate to emerge unscathed.

Next Up: FA Cup: Brighton v Liverpool

LEAVING BELLAMY AND ADAM OUT WAS A MISTAKE

King Kenny got his team selection and tactics wrong on Saturday afternoon against Man Utd.

He opted for a cautious, defensive line-up with Luis Suarez up-front as Kuyt lined up on the right wing and youngsters Spearing and Henderson were in midfield, bizarrely at the expence of Charlie Adam.

Adam has been an integral part of the midfield all season and I was stunned to hear he was only on the bench.
Also Stuart Downing was prefered to bang in form, Craig Bellamy and that simply put was a bad call by Dalglish.

It worked ok until half-time as the sides went in level 0-0, but it back-fired early in the second half as two quick goals by Rooney undid Liverpool's cautious approach.

Dalglish soon afterwards changed his personnel bringing on Carroll and Bellamy for Spearing and Kuyt.
Charlie Adam then entered the fray for the ineffective Downing and his influence was almost immediate when he swung in a great cross into the box which Luis Suarez prodded home.

Glen Johnson had a good shot tipped over by DeGhea late on, but Utd ran out comfortable winners thanks to a less than inspired performance by Liverpool on the day.

It was a far cry fom the 3-1 defeat of Utd in March last year when we attacked them from the first whistle and ran out easy winners thanks to Suarez's trickery and Dirk Kuyt's goals.

Attack Kenny, is the best form of defence.
We finished fifth last Season and for whatever reason, we are stuck in Seventh this year.

Bring back Sammy Lee.

POSSIBLE LIVERPOOL TEAM V UTD

So its almost upon us, the biggest derby in the Premier League.
Man Utd v Liverpool FC at Old Trafford today at 12:45pm, live on Sky Sports to a watching and waiting audience of millions arounds the World.

With Utd chasing for their 20th League Title and Liverpool aiming for The Champions League, its all to play for in this lunch-time kick-off.

United sit in second place behind Man City in the league, while Liverpool are only in 7th following too many drawn games at Anfield.

However, Liverpool beat Man Utd in late January with goals by Daniel Agger & Dirk Kuyt to seal a victory by 2-1 at Anfield in the FA CUP.

Luis Suarez is likely to start up-front at the expence of Craig Bellamy who has been outstanding in front of goal lately.

A possible partnership with Andy Carroll may put Utd to the test at the back.

Expect a 2-1 or 3-1 victory for Liverpool.

HOW DID HARRY GET AWAY WITH IT?

I was amazed earlier today (Wed) when the jury at Southwark Crown Court found Harry Rednapp innocent of avoiding tax payments in an off-shore account in Monaco.

The Spurs Supremo had been under investigation for five years by the Inland Revenue concerning his HBSC account in Monaco's tax haven.

He has £189,000 stashed away there from his days as Portsmouth Manager under Chairman, Milan Manderic.

'Arry opened the account under the name of his dog: Rosie 47 .
This was discovered by the Revenue Commissioners and they begun proceedings against everybody's pal Harry and the dour Croat Milan Mandaric.

The week-long Court Case finally concluded on Tuesday and the jury retired for the day to decide on their verdict and on Wednesday they found Harry Rednapp Not Guilty of dodging tax and national insurance payments.

Speaking on the steps outside London's Southwark Crown Court, the Tottenham Hotspur manager said: 'It really has been a nightmare. I've got to be honest.
 It's been five years and this is a case that should never have come to court because it's unbelievable, really.

'It was horrendous, you know, but it was a unanimous decision.
The jury were absolutely unanimous that there was no case to answer. I'm pleased now we can go home and get on with our lives.

Amazing that a wealthy man in Harry can go to a foreign country on the quiet, lodge £189,000 into a Bank and then cry foul when he is found out.

How has he been found innocent?

I don't know, can someone please tell me?

LIVERPOOL HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF BEATING UNITED ON SATURDAY

 I HATE HIM

Liverpool face Man Utd at Old Trafford on Saturday lunch-time in what may look like a daunting task, to earn points away at the Manchester venue.

On paper, it seems a difficult job to get anything from the game, but I believe Liverpool are in the right frame of mind to gain at least a point, if not all three against Ferguson's creaking side.

Yes, they are second behind Man City and are 15 points ahead of us in the Premier League but recent results between the teams have shown that we are well capable of beating them on our day (see graph).

They held us to a draw last October while we beat them last week 2-1 with goals from Danny Agger & Dirk Kuyt to dump them out of the FA Cup.

Despite being second in the table, Utd are vulnerable as showed by their concession of three goals to Chelsea on Sunday, with their defence struggling to cope with the loss of Vedic at centre-back, putting the likes of Smalling and Evans in their defence, they are always likely to conceed goals.

Also, the fact that Ferguson had to coax Scholes out of retirement to shore up midfield added to 38 year old Giggs playing on shows how close their team is to implosion.

Liverpool, with the attacking ethos, energy and drive have found a winning way past Man Utd already this Season.
Expect more of the same on Saturday, expect a hostile reception for Suarez aswell.


   Last five head-to-head fixtures:

DATE	HOME TEAM	SCORE	AWAY TEAM	COMPETITION
19 SEPT 2010	MAN UTD	3-2	LIVERPOOL	LEAGUE
9 JAN 2011	MAN UTD	1-0	LIVERPOOL	FA CUP
6 MAR 2011	LIVERPOOL	3-1	MAN UTD	LEAGUE
15 0CT 2011	LIVERPOOL	1-1	MAN UTD	LEAGUE
28 JAN 2012	LIVERPOOL	2-1	MAN UTD	FA CUP

DALGLISH DENOUNCES SUAREZ BAN AGAIN: VIDEO

After another frustrating draw at Anfield, this time against Spurs, Liverpool had to settle for a scoreless draw with the Londoners.

Despite taking the game to 3rd placed Tottenham, Liverpool failed to break down a stubborn defence in which Dawson, King and  Parker at times excelled at repelling everything Liverpool threw at them.

Clearly playing for a point, Spurs minus Harry Rednapp, who was stranded in London poor chap, early in the contest realised that Liverpool were up for this game.

They decided to play deep and hope to catch Liverpool on the break.

They did once with 'simulator' Gareth Bale having a prodded shot saved by Reina.

Liverpool had shots of their own by Spearing, Kelly, Carroll and Kuyt plus a late header by the returning Luis Suarez into the grateful arms of Brad Friedel.

But Liverpool had to settle for a point which leaves them rooted in 7th place in the Premier League.

After the game Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was quizzed about the return of Luis Suarez following his eight-match ban:

"Fantastic for us to get Suarez back - he should never have been out in the first place," Dalglish told Sky Sports. "It would have been totally unfair to start him, having not played since Boxing Day. As much as we admire and love him, we've also got to manage him."

Well said Kenny, lets hope your comments are not jumped on by the Holier than thou brigade, Suarez was harshly treated by the Evra incident and it is great to have the talented striker back playing for Liverpool again.





Should be an interesting game against Utd at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon with Evra and Suarez likely to be on the same pitch again, expect sparks to fly.

POSSIBLE LIVERPOOL TEAM V SPURS

With the return of Luis Suarez to the Liverpool on Monday night, having served his mammoth ban from football, reports are that Manager Kenny Dalglish will opt to unleash the talismatic Uraguyan striker from the bench.

Monday night's game from Anfield will see Liverpool pit their wits against 3rd-placed Spurs who are 13 points ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League.

Indeed, Liverpool were given a harsh footballing lesson by Tottenham in the encounter last September when we had Charlie Adam sent off after half an hour following a Luka Modric goal, once Martin Skrtel got sent of that day aswell, we went down to a 4-0 defeat at White Hart Lane.

There is every hope that Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool side will provide a much stiffer test for Harry 'Bung' Rednapp's side and I firmly believe Liverpool have the momentum to do just that on Monday night.

After dumping the two Manchester clubs out of the FA Cup & the Carling Cup plus the 3-0 victory against Wolves, I think that the way Liverpool play, they have enough about them to beat Spurs on Monday night to move into 5th and fight for the Champions League places

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LIVERPOOL V TOTTENHAM RESULTS ALL-TIME & NOW

With Liverpool facing Harry Rednapp's Spurs next Monday night,
statistics over the years show that Liverpool have the edge over Tottenham in the Primiership down the years as shown in the graph below.

However, in the last three games between the two sides its Spurs who are on top with a thumping 4-0 beating of Liverpool, preceded
by a 2-0 defeat at Anfield last May.

Prior to that, Liverpool defeated Rednapp's side 2-0 in January 2010 while we were beaten again in September of that year 2-1.

So, there is very little to choose between the teams in terms of results nowadays, let us hope for a victory against Harry Rednapp's tax-dodgers on Monday night.






       LIVERPOOL V SPURS

RESULTS	LEAGUE	FA CUP	CARLING CUP	TOTALS
LIVERPOOL	43	20	9	72
SPURS	6	34	6	46

BELLAMY MOVES AHEAD OF SUAREZ IN LIVERPOOL GOAL-SCORING CHARTS

Folowing Liverpool's great 3-0 win at Molineaux in which Andy Carroll, Craig Bellamy & Dirk Kuyt all scored, Bellamy has emerged as Liverpool's top scorer so far, this Season with a total of 9 goals in all competitions compared to the controversially suspended Luis Suarez's 8 thus far.

Can't wait to see the two of them play together in a Red shirt. 

PLAYER	PREMIER LEAGUE	CARLING CUP	FA CUP	TOTALS
BELLAMY	6	2	1	9
SUAREZ	5	3	0	8