Julien Faubert The Poor Soul...

You would've probably heard about this certain French player named Julien Faubert. I thought his story is pretty interesting.

A few weeks back, before his move to West Ham happened, he was on strike and didn't want to train with his former club, Bordeaux, because they issued him with an ultimatum.

His agent Philippe Sol said: 'Julien was given an ultimatum by Bordeaux: West Ham or nowhere.

'He wanted to go to Rangers and had given them his word. Everything he did last week was about moving to Rangers and he wasn't looking to line up a move anywhere else.

'But there is nothing he could do about the transfer fee and you can understand why Bordeaux wanted to accept the offer from West Ham.'

So, he had no choice but to move to West Ham, who have collected probably the biggest bunch of players likened by everyone (Bellamy, Bowyer, Ferdinand) and now Faubert. His attitude stinks even before he kicked the first ball.

Then the ever big-mouthed French coach, Raymond Domenech, consulted his star signs and decided that it's silly for Faubert to move to West Ham. It's reported on various UK newspapers that he is an 'unspeakable fool' for moving to West Ham.

After all that happens, look what happened.

Poor sod.

The Fuhrer & HIs Nazi Germans Supports SheffYoo

Now this video is brilliant. Excellent in every way mind the terrible language in there. A must watch for all football fans.

Create The Best Carlsberg Moment

It's May of 2008 and the Premiership title is down to the wire. It was down to Chelsea and Liverpool but both teams ended up with the same amount of points and same goal difference. The only way of deciding the winner of the Premiership title would have to be a play off match.

As both team looked to have finish the 90 minutes with a dull draw....






The most unexpected thing happens. Momo Sissoko scores his first EVER Liverpool goal.

Oh, and it is Frank 'Deflection' Lampard who deflected it in. How ironic!

Anyway, do your own 'Best Moment' here at Carlsberg's website. And do post your own favourite moment on here by leaving a link of your masterpiece or host it somewhere Have fun!

Good Luck, Becks

"That was a miserable performance which was totally unacceptable and not something we will ever be proud of. If I could figure it out, I would have done something about it" - Alexi Lalas, coach of LA Galaxy, after their 4-0 thrashing

Wow, certainly doesn't inspire much confidence, eh?

Price Tags Doesn't Equate Quality....

Voronin Double Over Bremen

Pre-season Friendly

Werder Bremen 2 - 3 Liverpool

Scorers:
Voronin x2, Riise

Liverpool 3-2 Werder Bremen - All the goals and highlights

It's easy to write off a certain player without even watching him play, especially in this age where 'Youtube scouting' is so common and that we often judge a player by the amount of videos put up over at You Tube and how the certain player look in them.

Like how Andriy Voronin came to Liverpool under the shadows of a much more expensive and 'large scale' signing of Fernando Torres, he was already slagged off and named as a 'bit part' player due to his fee, which is zilch, and perhaps a lack of You Tube compilation of him.

But I think that he could very well be an impact player for us as he'll probably turn out to be a surprise package. He has already stated his claim that he won't be contented to be a player that sits on the substitute bench all year long and only getting a game or two in the league cup.

He was good against Crewe and there might still be some doubt of his ability because it's Crewe after all. But against Werder Bremen, a top notch German opposition, he showed his class and looked better than he did last weekend and scored two fantastic goals to secure Liverpool's third pre-season friendly match.

John Arne Riise's famous 'Thor Hammer' fell on Bremen but the German were still able to put two past Liverpool as both sides chopped and changed their team from time to time.

The new signings such as Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun and also Fernando Torres made appearances in the match and did impress the fans. Torres was exceptionally unlucky not to score with two good chances and will have to work harder on his fitness for the upcoming season.

From what I've heard, the team played pretty well overall and the intent to attack was there. It might be a turning point as to how Liverpool are going to shape up for next season as I believe Rafa might have already settled his defence and move on to the offensive side of things.

Players are more willing to take on opposition defenders and less one dimensional in the attacking play. Xabi Alonso seemed to have gotten his passing radar back on track while Sissoko seemed to have a good game.

Let's hope that the form of Voronin will spark a revival within the strikers department and that the players step up from where they are now to prove their worth and claim their stake and place in the team.

Overly Excited? Or Just Tongue Tied?

Well, there has been an raging debate and discussions on commentators and acquaintances who pronounced footballer's name in a strange way. We've been through it once before, with David Pleat ending up the winner of all.

Here's a list of footballers who had their names mispronounced and ending up sound like buffoons:

Yossi Benayoun - Benny Yossayoun
Sissoko - Skissoko, Sissosko
Zinedine Zidane - Zinedan Zidou
Youri Djorkaeff - Yuri Jerkoff
Jon-Dahl Tommason - Thomas Dahl
Pascal Chimbonda - Shimbomba (Pleat TM)
Mido - Meedoo
Berbatov - Bervatob, Berbov
Teemu Tainio - Teemootinnyarnioo
DaMarcus Beasley - Marcus De Beasley
Patrick Vieira - Patrick Vieri
Thierry Henry - Terry Henree
Del Piero - Pel Pee-ree-ooh
Cannavaro - Cavanro
Jenas - Jaynus
Reyes - Rays
Djourou - Doo-roy, Hoyte
Kenny Cunningham - Cunny Kenningham
Ryan Giggs - Brian Riggs
Petr Cech - Petra
Muzzy Izzet - Izzy Muzzet
Ugo Ehiogu - Ego Uhiogu
Hahnemann - Heffernan
Kevin Keegan - Keggy Keegle

Have a giggle...

Reds Set Sight On Asia

Liverpool Appoints New Commercial Director

Sounds like we're moving in the right direction.

Liverpool, being one of the biggest clubs in football, sounds like a pretty marketable brand name and the reputation, prestige and history of the club makes it even more attractive.

But I do feel let down on the commercial and merchandising side of the club. We have lagged behind when it comes to entering the Asian market, which is extremely profitable and lucrative.

With ManYoo already had club stores set up in various Asian nations, they have managed to harness the spending powers of club fans from the developed nation such as Singapore and also, one cannot dismiss the likes of China, who has a gigantic market of 1.3 billion people.

Meanwhile, Chelsea too, saw the potential of Asia and signed a agreement with the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) to develop players from China in a plan named 'Vision Asia'. That'll certainly increase the popularity of the club.

But the barren years within Liverpool's trophy cabinet for the past decade prior to Rafa Benitez's appointment means that the Reds had lessen it's hold on the Asian market and that without a man in charge of the merchandising side of the club, it does look like the brand is fading away.

But the appointment of the new commercial director will certainly bring an amount of interest, especially for Liverpool fans in Asia. We're excited to see what's in store for us and how is the club going to 're-establish' itself within the region.

Adding on to the fact that Liverpool recently signed a deal with both Carlsberg and Adidas, I feel that the owners now believe that the matters on the pitch are now more or less settled, with Rafa Benitez at helm. Now they're ready to go onto the off-the-pitch matters.

But like a double-edged sword, there's always a flip side to this and that's the accusation of the club extorting the Asian market and that they're only interested in money, not about helping to develop Asia and the growing support for football in the region.

Like I said previously, I believe this is the right move and that I firmly believe that the club will gain much from the Asian market provided we come up with the right business strategy and the right way of approach.

The appointment of Ian Ayre will be a great help to CEO Rick Parry and that his expertise in commercial development plus sponsorship would probably get us the most lucrative deals out there and we'll no longer be 'blackmailed' by companies, making sure we'll get the most lucrative deals out there.

Once the outreached hands of the Reds touches Asia, the club would certainly reap great rewards and if the club continues to do well on the pitch, it'll certainly be an upward curve for the Reds from now on.

Football Clubs Raided!

Well, the police just thought that today's a good day to go have a visit around the country. Below are the reports written by the police after the raids:


Arsenal - At the end of the hallway stood a huge vault with security lock so advance that Transformers would probably struggle to break in. Guess what's in it?

Money, a whole lot of them! Arsene was seen charging in and tried to block the police. So now we know where all the money are...they kept it there.

Also, the police discovered an adoption home for the French/African kids. In good living conditions and the video tapes of Thierry Henry's 100 Best Goals for Arsenal playing on the TV in 'repeat' mode.


Newcastle - Found Freddy Shepherd and Sam Allardyce having a sumptuous breakfast at the charman's office. There were pies and a whole lot of doughnuts.

While barging in, the police was promptly stopped by this group of players called the 'defenders' but they were overran in under 3 seconds. Probably another reason why they leaked goals in a football match as well.

Physio room was full at that time, Michael Owen was seen sitting outside the room yelling 'WHEN IS IT MY TURN?!' while a voice that sounds distinctly like Kieron Dyer shot back at him with some expletive words.

They were still shooting 'Goal!' there as well.....

Updates, Updates

Apologies for the late update. I've been pretty busy with stuff lately and should be a little more free after tomorrow so bear with me. Meanwhile, I'll just do a quick summary of everything that has happened over the weekend and of course the latest transfer rumours.


Too Good For Crewe

Pre-season Friendly

Crewe Alexandra 0 - 3 Liverpool

Scorers:
LIV - Peltier, Crouch, Putterill

Crewe vs Liverpool Highlights
Uploaded by redhalfofmerseyside

With the big guns reporting back for training last week, Rafa Benitez was able to field a pretty strong side compared to the previous friendly against Wrexham.

Skipper, Steven Gerrard, was put straight into the starting line up along with the likes of Peter Crouch and John Arne Riise but it was the backups who made the news headline, particularly Ray Putterill and of course, new signing, Andiry Voronin.

Prior to the American take-over, he signed for Liverpool after his contract ran out and decided to join Anfield for free and by the looks of his performance, he'll be quite handy in some matches. Despite coming on a free, he might still have a part to play in the team as he's given the number 10 jersey.

His style of play looked pretty similar to Dirk Kuyt, as they are industrious attackers who likes to drop deep between the lines and create opportunities and open up space for their strike partner. He was involved in a couple of chances and seemed pretty active.

Jay Spearing too, received rave reviews for his performance in the central midfield, alongside Gerrard, whom he must be yearning to emulate in the near future.

Ray Putterill's performance was also decent and got the goal he deserved. One of the players who participated in last season's victorious FA Youth Cup campaign, he was lively and his tendency to drift infield makes him a very difficult player to track.

Liverpool will now move to their training camp in Switzerland before facing off with the big guns such as the upcoming match against Werder Bremen before moving off for an Asian tour.

New signings such as Yossi Benayoun, Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel are expected to make their first appearance for the club in tomorrow's match and it'll be interesting to see what tactics Rafa will put out and how is he going to use the new signings.


Reds After Chiellini?

We've been pretty busy in the market lately with a couple of important signings for the first team and countless number of players for the reserve and youth squad.

Rumours has been doing its round that Gabriel Heinze, the ManYoo defender, is interested in a move from Old Trafford to Anfield. It might sound ludicrous but the story seemed to get more real as each day passes by. Even Sir Alex admitted that he wants out.

We're aware of our situation and that co-owner, Tom Hicks, has mentioned that there'll be one more name to be added before we call it a day.

Simao, Mancini, Quaresma are the names in the whirlwind pool but from many people's point of view, a left back would be needed, especially after the announcement that Fabio Aurelio will miss the start of the 07/08 season.

Heinze's name was linked to us because he could play in the left back slot as well as providing cover for Carragher, Agger and Hyypia.

But as Rafa is unlikely to let Gabriel Paletta, another Argentinian defender, off for season loan, Heinze's versatility might not be necessary and now it seemed like Rafa has turned his attention to Italian U-21 defender, Giorgio Chiellini.

A very highly rated attacking full back of Juventus, he has captained the Italian U21 side and was named in the 'UEFA Team of the Tournament' in the U21 Championship last month.

It is reported that Liverpool has offered 5million GBP for his service but Juventus will only let go for 7million. More to follow...