The Window And The Wolves

 Transfer deadline day is upon us and all at Liverpool is, well, is fairly quiet. There is a rumour about Jermaine Defoe joining and whilst this would be a fantastic signing I don't see it happening. Tonight is the last game of Luis Suarez' ban and it would be very strange to sign a striker now rather than to have made the signing four weeks ago when we knew we would be short up front.
 It's good to see Djibril Cisse back in England, even if he never really came close to fulfilling his potential at Anfield he still came across as a likeable figure and I hope his move goes well for him, the Premier League needs characters and he is definitely one. He and Zamora should be a good pairing for QPR though I don't see them getting quite enough goals to move the team into the top half of the table.
 It also looks like reported Liverpool target Nikica Jelavic will be joining Everton from Rangers. I'd like to think if our interest in him was firm we would have been able to sign him ahead of Everton so the fact he is moving to the blues suggests we were never really interested, it may just have been agent talk trying to kick other clubs into action. No doubt certain fans from across Stanley Park will see it as some kind of victory over us if they do get his signature, take what you can get boys...........

 Tonight also sees us away at Wolves in what will probably turn out to be a very tricky fixture. Playing one of the Premier League's lower sides after two big results in two big games requires a huge amount of concentration and it's not a game many Liverpool fans will be expecting us to win comfortably despite the gap between the two teams. The line up tonight isn't easy to predict, Kenny may well rest a couple of players like Gerrard and maybe either Agger or Skrtel though Bellamy will probably return to the starting XI. I won't be watching the match so I'm not going to write a big preview and as far as predictions go it's a tough one to call, we SHOULD win and if our attitude is right then we will win but I have a sneaky feeling it will be a draw.

The Carroll Question

 The day after Andy Carroll puts in a match winning performance against the clubs biggest (but not bitterest) rivals and a story emerges about Liverpool trying to offload him. The rumours centre around a reported attempt by LFC to swap him for Man City's unsettled Carlos Tevez. I'm the first person to dismiss paper talk and I've never believed any story until it's actually happened but the club have been fairly quiet in the way of a denial so there is possibly some truth in it. With the struggle for goals this season it is a transfer that would make sense and certainly give us more firepower, Tevez has many undesirable personality traits but his performances on the pitch have been impressive and consistent for a good few years and he always seems to find the net when it matters.

 Journalists are saying this is the beginning of the end for Carroll in the red shirt but I don't think this is so. Think about it, if Barcelona were having problems with Lionel Messi wouldn't we all be delighted if we tried to sign him in a swap deal for Suarez or Gerrard, it doesn't mean you don't want either player, it just means there may be a way to improve the side and the manager wouldn't be doing his job properly if he didn't explore this. I remember before Danny Murphy made significant improvements to his attitude and performances Gerard Houllier saying he'd turned down the chance to sign Thomas Rosicky because we already had Murphy and I felt really disappointed, it felt like the boss hadn't put the needs of the team first.

 If it is true Liverpool have tried to swap our number nine for City's want away Argentinian they will have been well aware of two things. Firstly the likelihood was that City were going to say no, and secondly it was always probable that the story would emerge, not least with the presence of the never shy Kia Joorabchian in the Tevez camp. With this in mind it seems like making the move would inevitably lead to the 'Carroll's time is up' stories that seem to be developing and Kenny is not daft, he would have been well aware of all of this. I think if Liverpool have made moves towards this transfer it could well have been to give Andy Carroll a big kick up the backside and make him realise how big a club Liverpool is and how you must be on top of your game at all times or you will be moved on. Is it purely coincidence that Carroll played so well against Man Utd or has King Kenny pulled of a motivational masterstroke? It's all possible.

 Lets hope his performance on Saturday will kickstart his season and when Luis is back we can have a steady and productive partnership up front. Andy Carroll is one of the players on the fringes of the England squad and there is a big international tournament coming up in five months aswell as a cup final place to play for in late February and if all of this doesn't inspire him to play at the levels we know he can then nothing will. Let's all get behind him and we may just get big rewards from our big signing.

Liverpool's Moronic Monkey Man

 The Merseyside police have arrested a man over his actions at Anfield yesterday, aimed almost certainly at Patrice Evra. I had to think long and hard about adding this picture into the post as the 'fan' doesn't really deserve any publicity for his gesture but I eventually decided if I'm going to write about it properly I would have to include it.

The problem Liverpool fans have with Patrice Evra is the complete lack of evidence to support his claim of being racially abused by Luis Suarez, this is not to say Suarez is certainly 100% innocent but Liverpool fans (and I'm sure fans of any other club) are not willing to turn on one of their own without actual PROOF of any offence. It was not Evra who decided the FA panel could reach a decision without real proof, it was the FA who gave the panel license to reach a verdict based on probability rather than the traditional British justice system value of guilty beyond all reasonable doubt, but Evra is the public face of Suarez' conviction and is the only real visible target for those choosing to protest against this type of 'justice'. In a court of law Luis Suarez would have been found not guilty as the claims made were not proved beyond reasonable doubt, it boiled down to one man's word against another with nothing to back up the statements of either player. It will be very interesting to see how the FA handle John Terry should he be found not guilty of a similar offence in a court of law, will he then be subjected to the same kind of trial as Suarez or will the FA simply say 'not guilty is good enough for us, go ahead and captain your country John'. I know what my money is on. 

Liverpool fans will be pleased the gesture yesterday was caught on camera and the man causing damage to the reputation of our club will be dealt with in hopefully the harshest possible way. I suspect the gesture was made with the intention of being offensive rather than openly racist but in any climate, regardless of recent events it's an incredibly stupid act. Saying to Patrice Evra 'we believe you have invented or at least exaggerated claims of racial abuse by one of our players' by aiming racist abuse at him doesn't make any sense, it's an incredibly stupid way of failing to make a point and you really wonder just what kind of a moron this man is. I'll tell you what kind, the kind who will never be welcome back at Anfield.

Liverpool 2 Man Utd 1

What a great afternoon at Anfield!! Luis Suarez was in the directors box with his daughter to see it all and can't fail to have been moved by the support he received from the home fans.
 Team selection was slightly surprising, after initially thinking it would be three centre backs it finally clicked that Carra was likely to play midfield and so it turned out, putting in a decent performance until he was replaced by Charlie Adam once it became clear a defensive midfielder wasn't really needed against a 3 man Utd central midfield with superb ball retention but little forward movement and well done to Kenny for being brave enough to make such an attacking substitution.
 The first half saw Liverpool lagging behind in possession but certainly not in effort, if only we could inject this much energy into the games where we have the majority of the ball we'd be much better of than we are. If you don't see as much of the ball as you'd like it's vital to make set pieces count and that's exactly what happened when Agger headed home Gerrard's corner after some fairly indecisive goalkeeping from De Gea (it's about time a keeper had a shocker at Anfield this season!). From where we were sat (stood) it was hard to tell who had got the final touch and the stadium announcer was well and truly drowned out by the Kop so it was only on the way home we actually found out who'd scored. From then until half time Man Utd had almost all of the football and though they didn't really get into our penalty area much they merited their equaliser, Park hitting home Rafael's pull back after some sloppy play from Jose Enrique for pretty much the first time this season.
 The second half saw some improvement in the Reds performance and the substitutions made a big difference, Adam kept the ball well and Kuyt's introduction for Maxi allowed Downing to move to the left where he seemed more comfortable and managed to beat his man on several occasions, I think he needs to play left more often than right. Bellamy arriving for the driven but tiring Gerrard was another brave substitution but his contribution justified the boss' decision. The winner came late and was route one, long ball flicked on by Carroll and finished off by Kuyt who struck it well and now has two more goals than me this season.. A bit of keep ball by the corner flag for the last three minutes and a place in round five is ours.
 I must give mention to Andy Carroll's contribution, he had very little service in terms of goalscoring chances but his work rate, application and willingness to put his body on the line for the team bodes well for his future. He looked a lot more dangerous once he had a partner alongside him and will rightly get praise for his afternoon which can only enhance his confidence.

 That's the football dealt with, now how about the atmosphere and the fans behaviour.. A heavy and very visible but friendly police presence on the street around Anfield was to be expected and did a good job of keeping the crowds calm. As always there was plenty of banter between the two sets of fans but the pre match fears of the occasion turning into something ugly never really felt like happening and credit for that must go to both sets of supporters and the players, there wasn't a dirty tackle in the game and there was nothing controversial for the crowd to feed off. Suarez predictably got bucketloads of stick from the visiting fans and Evra was loudly jeered throughout the 90 minutes but neither set of fans really crossed the line with anything they chanted so fair play to everyone for that. The songs about nineteen titles were met with the response about five European Cups, Steven Gerrard 'kissing the badge on his chest' was met with 'you two face bastards, your hero is Scouse', humour all round and nothing unsavoury. There have been reports that one person has been arrested for making a 'racist gesture' and I'm sure anybody that can help with this investigation will do so and if anybody is guilty of any wrongdoing they won't be allowed to get away with it.
 The Kop slowly emptied a few minutes after the final whistle leaving taunts of 'there'll be no Mancs at Wembley' and 'you're Man Utd, you'll do what you're told' with the lucky supporters from the other end of the East Lancs who got to enjoy another hour of fine January sunshine in the lower Anfield Road end...

FA cup 4th round

Tomorrow sees the visit of the old enemy and with all the recent events it will be white hot. The Suarez vs Evra saga has left the two sets of fans as far apart as at any time in history and has even led to the two managers carefully asking for the right kind of support during the game. I've got plenty of opinions on the recent racism case and I'll certainly share them in the next week or so but I want to try to keep this post mainly about the game itself. The media has talked so much about the side issues surrounding this fixture for the last few days you'd be forgiven for forgetting 22 men will be playing for a place in the next round of the worlds oldest cup competition. With Man City already out and another of the heavyweights guaranteed to fall at this hurdle the prize for the winner is huge. And with all the hostilities between the two clubs aswell as an upcoming league fixture I don't think anyone will want a draw tomorrow meaning a replay and another potentially explosive encounter so I expect two sides to attack and try to win the game against a very noisy backdrop.

 Much depends on whether or not Craig Bellamy is up to starting again but if his knees will take it I'm certain Kenny knows he can't afford to leave him on the bench. The team shouldn't change too much from the semi final on Wednesday, maybe Carroll will come in for Kuyt and Bellamy will play out wide but that's about it. Spearing is a possibility but I think Adam, Henderson and Gerrard will continue in the middle. Much has been made of Utd's injury problems but let's be honest, of the list of players doubtful how many of them do we seriously expect to miss the game? I'd be surprised if Ferdinand, Giggs and Rooney aren't all in their starting line up.

 If Rafael plays right back then it provides a real opportunity for Stewart Downing to back up his claims that he's finding form and this could be key to our chances of scoring, not sure why but I've got a feeling Jose Enrique is going to be central to the games key moments. Agger and Skrtel will hopefully have got the Bolton performance out of their systems and I think Glen Johnson is due another goal,
Prediction? Only because I just feel it is meant to go to a replay bringing Suarez back into the team at old trafford I'm going to say 2-2.