Hillsbrough Anniversary

Like Christians commemorated the death of Jesus on Good Friday, Liverpool fans take this day, 15 April, as a day to remember the 96 who perished at Hillsbrough 18 years ago. They suffered the fate that they don't deserve and worst thing was those lies that was written on that rag named The S*n.

Whatever it is, take this time and remember those who've perished and let's hope such tragedy will not happen again on the terraces of football.



To the 96, You'll Never Walk Alone.

How Well Are They Paid?

Have you ever wondered how much is Harry Kewell's pay? Thinking about the incentives that the players and manager receive? Well, I saw this 'exclusive' report about Liverpool's pay structure and it doesn't surprise me one bit actually. It just seemed like there is a need to 'save' some resources and use it in a better way...

Here are some facts:


HARRY KEWELL (Left, in case you forgot how he looks like)

BASIC SALARY
Contrary to popular rumour, the injury prone Aussie does not get £80,000 a week - he has to make do with £40,000 for the duration of his five-year deal.

BONUSES
Kewell has shunned the performance-related bonuses (just as well, probably) but he is the only player at Liverpool to have an image-rights clause. Also has a deal that will give him a slice of any transfer fee over £6million.

ADDED PERKS
Liverpool pick up the tab for six business class flights back to Australia.


RAFA BENITEZ

BASIC SALARY
A whopping £3.5million for the six years of his contract, which expires in June, 2010. That's a total pay packet of £21million.

BONUSES
Where do you start? A cool million if he wins the Champions League and £300,000 if he keeps Liverpool in third place in the Premiership. Various incentives in the other competitions.

ADDED PERKS
Again - where do you start? Mobile phone, business class flights to Spain, company car ... and English lessons for himself and the family.


STEVEN GERRARD

BASIC SALARY
A nice, round £100,000 a week until June 2009.

BONUSES
none

ADDED PERKS
none


JOHN ARNE RIISE

BASIC SALARY
Only £25,000 a week

Travel back to Norway on Economic class flights.


ROBBIE FOWLER

APPEARANCE FEE
£10,000 per appearance


CRAIG BELLAMY

BASIC SALARY
£2 million per annum
*Contract improvement upon qualification for Champions League


JAMIE CARRAGHER

Will receive 10% of the transfer fee IF Liverpool ever sell him


TEAM

Champions League winners: £100,000 a man

Premiership winners: £25,000 a man

FA Cup winners: £15,000 a man

Carling Cup winners: £12,500 a man

UEFA Cup winners: £15,000 a man


That's about it. Make your own decision on whether they're overpaid or underpaid....Oh hang on, how can they be underpaid?!

Reds And Blues In Bore Draw Shocker

Dreadful & Insipid Performance

English Premiership

Man City 0 - 0 LIVERPOOL

Shocking result? Not really, it was as expected. More so when I saw the starting line up for this game. Yet again, Rafa got it wrong from the start and he made changes a little too late.

There was a distinct lack of creativity from the Liverpool side, who welcomed back rested stars like Gerrard and Carragher but the scouse duo were not able to inspire Liverpool to the win.

City themselves are in a run of decent form as they're undefeated in 5 games but their home form has been pretty atrocious as they haven't found the net at the COM stadium for the last 5 games. Well, make it 6 then.

Rafa started with a 4-5-1 formation and in trying to stifle the opponent, Liverpool suffered and were negative. Bearing in mind that he is a cautious man, sometimes you've got to wonder whether he's been too cautious at times and his hesitation to gamble might have cost Liverpool points over the stretch of the season.

City, knowing that getting a point off Liverpool is a decent result for them, stood firm throughout and the defence comprising of Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin was solid throughout. Rafa made their jobs easier by resting Peter Crouch and the only striker on the pitch was Kuyt.

Gerrard was supposed to support Kuyt but was largely peripheral while Liverpool failed to exploit the flanks with Pennant and Riise not being able to provide much ammunition. Alonso's passing was found wanting most of the time and it made the game very difficult to watch.

Rafa has got a brilliant record in Europe and has the pedigree to bring Liverpool to yet another European triumph but when it comes to domestic league, Rafa still got to learn to gamble sometimes and be a little adventurous.

With Arsenal closing in with only 2 points behind, Liverpool will have to go out and win the game at Anfield against Middlesbrough. For City, it's a precious point but for the visiting team, it seemed more like 2 points dropped.

"2 More Wins To Secure 3rd Place"

Reds To Stay Focus In League

Despite Liverpool strolling into this season's UEFA Champions League semi-final and booking another meeting with fellow English giants, Chelsea, Reds boss, Rafa Benitez, has reiterated the importance of finishing third and sealing the place for next season's Champions League.

Rafa clearly doesn't want the Reds to miss out on the lucrative league and perhaps, the nightmare of the 04/05 season still haunts him. Then, despite finishing outside the top 4 in the domestic league, the sole saving grace was winning the Champions League and Benitez and his men are clearly not banking on winning the European Cup to seal a place next season.

And it is important to stay focus on the task ahead and not get carried away. Today's visit to the City of Manchester stadium is certainly no high profile game but by claiming all 3 points today might be a huge step towards sealing that place next season.

With the Hillsbrough anniversary looming, it's also a big weekend for the team as they look to step away from the past and into the future. Under the careful guidance of Rafa Benitez, Liverpool has the regular habit of starting slow and finishing strong. With 2 hard fought victories back to back, they'll be expecting yet another tough game ahead of them tonight.

With the blue half of Manchester ensuring safety at this point in time as well, they will do whatever they can to muster as much points as possible. After a proclaimed 'catastrophe in the making' few weeks back, their results have improved vastly and look very likely to survive any sort of scare this season.

Their 3-1 demolition of Fulham at Craven Cottage last week cost Chris Coleman his job and the Citizens will surely want to build on that win. But they'll have to do without star defender, Micah Richards while Craig Bellamy will miss the trip after being stretched off in the game against PSV on Thursday.

After being rested in midweek, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher will be unleashed and raring to go. After scoring 5 goals in 4 games, in-form Peter Crouch will start and is likely to partner Dirk Kuyt, who was suspended on Wednesday. He might even dedicate a goal to his new born baby, who was delivered on Wednesday.


A point of note, Robbie Fowler might come on for a cameo appearance against his former club while the flags at the COM Stadium will be flown at half mast in respect of all who perished at the Hillsbrough disaster. YNWA.

Drogballs' Prediction: Man C 0-2 Liverpool. Kuyt and Crouch to get the goals.

Possible Line up: Reina, Riise, Agger, Carragher, Finnan, Gonzalez, Gerrard, Alonso, Pennant, Crouch, Kuyt;

Wanna Join The "Anfield Choir" ?

LIVERPOOL have given the go-ahead to form an official ‘Kop choir’ for the start of next season – as the new owners’ vision for the most famous stand in the world becomes clearer.

The plans to restore the unique atmosphere come as it’s revealed the Kop in the new stadium – which won’t now open until the 2010/11 season – will be an awesome 18,000 seater, single tier stand.

From next August, the Reds have agreed to set aside 1800 Kop tickets for the most vocal, passionate supporters in order to preserve the Anfield atmosphere.

In an unprecedented move, club officials have acted to create a specific ‘singing section’ of the famous terrace in a bid to ensure every home fixture replicates the volume of more high profile games.

However, the ECHO can confirm the new arena on Stanley Park definitely won’t be open in time for the start of the 2009-10 season as originally stated.

Architect HKS see the new stadium taking the form of an orchestral theatre, with The Kop taking centre stage towering over the pitch and other stands.


Drogballs: Isn't it great news, lads. Not on the choir part but rather, the new owners being sensible and sensitive enough to understand the club culture and trying their best to do whatever that pleases the fans. That assured me we won't be turning into a soul-less club anytime soon.

And that New Anfield plan sounds really promising. It's going to look a little unorthodox, I reckon. The Kop tier being able to hold 18,000 and bigger than other stands is going to make it 'stand out' and break out from the mold of modern day football stadiums that all look like a prototype of each other.

About the Anfield choir, I'm in support of it. Although the Anfield crowd do have their own initiative to sing most of the time but I think it's great to have a group of appointed 'loud-hailers' out there to take the lead and wake some fans up.

The smell and feel of Anfield might not be able to be brought over but I'm sure with the fans and owners working together, it won't be that far off and the combination of football plus music is certainly a sight to behold!

We Should Be Paying For This

We pay around 20 Sing Dollars a month for the subscription of sports channel here in Singapore and sometimes, it's a little boring to hear people like Andy Gray talking and ending their sentences with the word 'son' and David Pleat's Pascal Shimbomba feat but honestly if we're paying for this commentator:



I'd pay 30 a month. Hands down.

Funniest Football Moments?

I know, it happens everywhere. But as limited as my time is, I went on to search for some really ridiculous and funny things that happen on and off the football pitch. Shanks said it's more important than life and death but hey, take a breather and have a laugh!

Most important thing, VOTE.

1. Olivier Bernard's 'Ball To Face' Incident




2. Pires' Penalty Routine Against Man City




3. Rivaldo's Knee Jerk Reaction




4. Chris Brass' 'Best Own Goal, Ever'




5. Macclesfield vs Walsall's 'Multiball'




6. Gerrard Merk'd By Chelsea Mascot




It's not a lot and it's probably all I could think of at the moment but do give more suggestions and the 'voting booth' is just below the tagboard. Cheers!

Darvid Viya Is Your Man

As expected, David Villa of Valencia is still the one all of you hope to see in the Liverpool shirt next season. I've seen the match in which Valencia fell to Chelsea at the Mestalla and thought he did okay whereas Daniel Alves of Sevilla really did impress me last night.

Albeit being theatrical at times, he has good pace, movement and ball control. He made a fool out of Pascal Shimbomba with a nutmeg and was a constant thorn to Spurs.

Samuel Eto'o comes second and it was as predicted. A proven goal scorer and an excellent goal poacher, the Cameroonian striker's ability is never in doubt. But his work ethic and team work is in question while the tinkering style of Rafa might not suit him and his gigantic ego.

Anyway, thank you guys for your votes and response. Very much appreciated.

Oh Pleat....

As I was watching the Tottenham vs Sevilla UEFA (Yoofa) Cup game last night, I can't help but laugh at the way David Pleat pronounces the player's name. I mean, you sure he used to be a manager? If he's my manager and he can't pronounce my name properly then it is really saddening!

Anyway, the volume of my TV wasn't very loud but I could so clearly hear all the wrong pronunciation and all. It made me giggle:

• "Good evening, everyone!" - I've NEVER heard a commentator do the opening speech like him, until last...evening :)
• "Yoofa Cup" - You guessed, UEFA Cup
• Shimbomba - Seriously? Chimbonda? (Shim-bon-da)
  
• Tayno - Teemu Tainio (Ta-i-nio)
  
• Malbranck - Steed Malbranque (Mal-Bronk)
• Sevillia - Sevilla (Se-vee-ya)
• Jaynus - Jermaine Jenas
  

This are just some funny pronunciation picked out. I shan't continue on with all the weird things he say like how Spurs should throw everyone up front and let Robinson do the sweeper role when they're 2-0 down.

But here's the big compilation by the F365 people during the World Cup. I beg you, don't drink anything now. If you spill your drink out, I'm not held responsible.

* "Liz Azaru" (Bixente Lizarazu)
* "Kakarrr" (Kaká)
* "Dirk Kurt" (Dirk Kuyt)
* "Drogbarrr" (Didier Drogba)
* "Adrianianho" (Adriano)
* "Mack-cher-arno" (Javier Mascherano)
* "Riqwelme" & "Rick Elm" (Juan Román Riquelme)
* "In-ga-zee" (Filippo Inzaghi)
* "Ronald Deano" (Ronaldinho)
* "Pear-lo" (Andrea Pirlo)
* "Poil" (Carles Puyol)
* "Inn-esta" (Andres Iniesta)
* "Doo-Roy", "Dough-Roy" and "Hoyte" (different player) (Johan Djourou)
* "Rays" (Jose Antonio Reyes)
* "Roque Junior" (Roque Santa Cruz - entirely different nationality and player)
* "Vieira" (Christian Vieri)
* "Sevilia" (Sevilla FC - the club)
* "Yung-berg" (Fredrik Ljungberg)
* "Marcus Da Beasley" (DaMarcus Beasley)
* "Ayorla" (Roberto Ayala)
* "Gilar-dinho", "Gilardini" and "Gilard Dean" - all in the space of 90 minutes (Alberto Gilardino)
* "Marqwez" (Rafael Marquez)
* "Heintzer" (Gabriel Heinze)
* "Shev-shenko" (Andriy Shevchenko)
* "Louie Garcia" (Luis Garcia)
* "Jockin", "Joe-Quinn" "Way-kin" (Joaquin)
* "More Reno" (Jose Mourinho)
* "Cliche" (Gael Clichy)
* "Trazago" (David Trezeguet)
* "Evrice" (Patrice Evra)


1...2...3.. Let's laugh at him.

EDIT: Patrick from SquadGod has listed another few golden lines from Mr. Pleat

"There's a little bit of a South American touch, if that's not Irish, about this European side, Portugal"

"I was inbred into the game by my father"

"There's Thierry Henry, exploding like the French train that he is"

"If there are any managers out there with a bottomless pit, I'm sure that they would be interested in these two Russians"

"At this moment there is not a problem at this moment"

Genius.

The 'Roles' In Football

Forget about the 'midfielders' and 'strikers' for positions in football. They're outdated terms and frankly, we've been using player's names and their abilities to epitomise a certain role and paste it into our reports and articles. Gone are the days of mentioning the 'anchor-man' role without the name 'Makalele' popping out.

Via <TheOffside>, there's a list of the 'roles' given to modern day footballers and you should really have a look <HERE>. Here are some examples:

Frank Lampard role (Chelsea) – Stand around for a bit. Get the ball. Whack it as hard as you can towards the goal. Hope for a deflection. Lampard thrives because the team is built around him, Makelele and Essien do all the leg work and give him the ball. Sure he’s scored 20 goals – but so could many players if they took every set piece and had 2 other players doing all the work in midfield allowing them to concentrate on shooting as often as possible. Imagine how many goals Lyon’s Juninho or some other more naturally talented player could score if you gave him the freedom and opportunities ol’ Franky enjoys. Maximum results for minimal natural talent defines the ‘Lampard role’.

Jamie Carragher role (Liverpool) – Fancy doing a job and not getting the credit you deserve? Try playing the ‘Carragher role’. The ‘Carragher role’ requires great patience as you are constantly overshadowed by more high profile team mates. You will get international recognition but only fill in for injured players at left-back, right-back and even defensive midfield - but never your natural position. But fear not, for those in the ‘Carragher role’ will soon join those in the ‘Makelele’ role as they are called underrated so often than they become overrated.

After much thinking, I came up with my own 'roles' about footballers and of course, most of them are just stigmas attached to them or even stereotyping. But, whatever. Have some fun with it eh?


The Djimi Traore Role (Or David May) - They are defenders who has gotten the European Cup winners medal, more than John Terry or CAshley Cole can ever imagine. But they're horribly bad defenders that you've totally no idea how they manage it and perhaps, they go under the 'most undeserving European Cup winners' category. But whatever, Djimi is famous for hacking players from behind, giving a large amount of penalties and of course that unforgettable 'Marseille Roulette', made famous by Zinedine Zidane, made infamous by Djimi for scoring with it, against Burnley. Sadly, into his own net.

The Momo Sissoko Role - All you need to do is to run around without direction. You can have an absolutely terrible sense of direction or positioning but fear not, long legs will bring save him from embarrassment. He can tackle well but what he does with the ball after that is most likely to be giving the possession back to the opponents. They call it the 'midfield destroyer', oh yea, sounds like a leaking dam. Passing is non existent under his 'technical ability' row.


Okay, I feel so bad criticising Momo actually. But honestly, everyone has flaws so either you take it seriously or like me, laugh it off. Any suggestions?