Anfield Red

First off, an apology to everyone here on the site for going MIA for the last month. I’ve been working away and taking a break from the mess going on with the club. You can talk all you want about it, but sometimes it just makes sense to step away, take a breath and then pick yourself up and continue. The break was much needed – although it still looks like there’s plenty to talk about after yesterday’s announcement.

There are very few people I trust when it comes to real, legitimate news on our club. One look at the tripe that’s plastered across every rag in the country is more than enough reason for any sane person to treat every story and rumour surrounding the goings-on at Liverpool as false from the start.

But if there is one person I actually do trust more than most, it’s Tony Barrett. Say what you will about the Times journalist, but he’s usually one with real news and answers when it comes to the pulse of the club. I’d implore all of you with questions to read Barrett’s recent live chat, where he took the time to answer a host of questions.

While I’ll leave the transcript reading up to you, I did want to point out some of the more interesting questions and responses, and also give my take on what I think about his response:

5 years ago today, Liverpool went 3-0 down at half time to AC Milan in the Champion’s Leage Final, only to get the game back to 3-3 and eventually win on penalties. Watch the highlights of the greatest ever comeback in a European Cup tie here!

Given all the heartache and pain we’ve had to endure over the past couple of years, this morning’s news that Tom Hicks and George Gillett were putting the club up for sale was music to my ears.

Mind you, we’re not out of the woods yet. Whilst everyone will be singing in the streets and counting down the days until the Yank bastards are no longer at our club, there are some massive hurdles to jump before we’ll ever be able to reclaim the club from quite possibly the worse ownership duo I’ve ever seen.

There are still a lot of things that aren’t clear at the moment, with regards to the sale of the club. But here are the details we do know:

Fire up the transfer rumours, lads! We’ve got ourselves a whopper right here. The man in question? None other than Real Madrid’s Raul, a player that, like Steven Gerrard, has spent his entire professional career playing for one club.

At 32 years of age, Raul is far from being a spring chicken on the pitch. During his prime, the striker was one of the biggest names in the sport. Now, he’s looking more and more like a player that most certainly has to come off the bench.

So why is he being linked with Liverpool? I’d imagine it has something to do with Benitez and his affinity for Spanish players. Plus, the rumours that Madrid are planning a mass cleanout this summer, with roughly nine players being put on the block, have probably led us to this point.

It’s times like these that tend to make the average footballer unravel at the seams. The “times” we’re talking about are of course those up-against-the-wall kind of moments where you’ve got one of two options; you can run away and hide, or you can stand up and be counted on.

Rafa Benitez knows what camp Fernando Torres falls into. His tenacity and hunger for the ball has made him a lethal weapon at Liverpool since the first day he stepped foot on Merseyside. Whilst he hasn’t had the opportunity to lift the Premier League trophy at Anfield, he has felt the rush of fighting for a league race until the final day, as well as rarity of playing in a Champions League final in Rome.

All those moments of seemingly being on the doorstep of greatness, only to see the door slammed in your face, can will certain players on. But they can also have an adverse effect, causing some players to become disillusioned and frustrated when things aren’t going according to plan.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and that sometimes means offloading a player at even the most inopportune time in the season. With team looking for a bit of stability in these less-than-stable times, Rafa Benitez figured it made sense to offload the ’sinking ship’ better know as Albert Riera as soon as possible.

With almost every transfer window closed this late in the season, Benitez still found a way to make sure the club’s biggest wart could be removed and shipped away to Russia before Liverpool embark on what is surely the most critical set of matches this season.

Liverpool and CSKA Moscow have reportedly agreed to a deal that would ship Riera off to the Russian club for £6m. The move allows Rafa to bolster his transfer funds to £12m after moving Voronin and Dossena earlier this season.

Admit it: you’ve always wanted to be a world-class footballer. Playing in the Champions League, winning league titles, driving £100,000 Range Rovers and having your pick of WAG’s is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the life some world-class footballers lead.

But instead of the WAG’s and trophies, you’re saddled with a bird that just won’t stop going on about your trips to the pub for another pint, as well as a broken-down jalopy that won’t start on even the best of weather days. Such is the life of a writer at Anfield Red you lead, fair reader.

So how DO you get the lead the life of a footballer without actually having the bank account of one? Buy a license that makes people believe Steven Gerrard is really behind the wheel of that Leyland Mini Clubman!

And the debate for fourth rages on, this time with Jamie Carragher expressing his belief that Liverpool still aren’t out of the race for the final Champions League spot.

The defeat on Sunday left Liverpool in sixth place, four points behind Spurs for the last slot. The problem is, is that Liverpool have played one more game that Spurs, and two more games than fifth-place City.

Even still, Carra has keeping the faith that Liverpool can get the job done with a mix of good results and a little luck to go along with it.

“We have just got to recover from this as quickly as possible and get on a run of victories,” said Carragher in the Liverpool Echo. “Of course we believe we can still close the gap. They (Liverpool’s rivals) will have difficult spells and we have got to make sure we take maximum points when they do.

29 goals. If you want to look at a reason why Liverpool have struggled so much this season, you needn’t look any farther than that number right there. The figure is of course Steven Gerrard’s goal tally for the 2008/09 season. Whilst Fernando Torres played an ever-critical role for the reds last season, it was Gerrard who seemed to stir Liverpool’s drink — pushing them to the brink of their 19th league title.

Whilst it all seemed to be roses and lollipops from the outside, there were some on the inside who thought Liverpool had pulled off a miracle by making it as far as they did with their squad. Countless injuries and a couple of internal bust ups later, it’s easy to see that those pundits may have been right.

After Sunday’s defeat to United it would be easy to point the finger and blame Rafa Benitez for Liverpool’s problems. But next to the manager there’s another player who needs to take a portion of the blame, and that’s Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.

Rumours, rumours, rumours. That’s all we seem to be getting these days, with the entire world all but writing off Liverpool this season. Sure, I know this has been a complete and total clusterfuck of epic proportions, but even I’m not ready to write us off from grabbing that fourth spot in the Champions League. The same goes for our chances tonight against Lille.

With the rumours and rumblings about the club come new transfer rumours, and once again we’ve got to deal with the news that Chelsea (yes, Chelsea!) of all clubs are targeting Fernando Torres to rebuild their aging squad.

I’ve heard this one over and over since last summer, and I can promise you it never gets old. Unlike when Adebayor was shipped off from Arsenal to Manchester City for whining too much, Nando is the consummate professional.