Anfield Red

The Reds, as we all know have not been backed by a billionaire owner who can afford many mistakes done in the transfer market. Signing players properly is of top priority when you’re in financial turmoil. Recently, before the resignation of Rafael Benitez, we saw him take a lot of criticism for failed transfers. When you see the money spent by Liverpool on bad deals, you will realize that mHere, we list the best and the worst of Liverpool signings.

Worst signings, starting with this, mainly because we have had more bad signings than good ones recently.

Robbie Keane was one of the worst signings of Rafa

1. Robbie Keane – 20.3m

2. Alberto Aquilani(up until now) – 18m

3. Ryan Babel(super sub goals ain’t good enough) – 11.5m

4. Albert Riera – 8m

5. Andrey Voronin – 1.8m

6. Andrea Dossena – 7m

7. Phillip Degen – free

8. Jermaine Pennant – 6.7m

9. Fernando Morientes – 6.3m

10. Craig Bellamy – 6m

11. Mark González – 4.5m

12. Antonio Nunez, part of the deal which say Michael Owen leave to Real Madrid.

13. Gabriel Paletta £2m

14. Josemi 2m swapped by Jan Kromkamp who was also unsuccessful.

Best signings – this list will be well known to you, and if you are a Reds fan, you would have been a fan of each of these players at some point.

Fernando Torres has scored 56 goals for Liverpool in 80 games and has a great scoring record at home

1. Fernando Torres – 20m

2. Xabi Alonso – 10.5m

3. Pepe Reina – 6m

4. Dirk Kuyt – around 9m

5. Javier Mascherano – 18.5m

6. Glen Johnson – 17m

7. Yossi Benayoun – 5m

8. Martin Skrtel – 7m

9. Alvero Arbeloa – 3m

10. David Ngog – 1.5m

11. Maxi Rodriguez – free

12. Milan Jovanovic – free

All the prices mentioned above are in pounds.

In Benitez’s era at Liverpool, we saw him spend more money on the wrong players instead of the right ones. Selling these players have resulted in a commendable loss. However, there are several good signings, even if a few of them were overpriced, made his time really good and a successful period for Liverpool. However, if he had spent more wisely, we would have made more progress than what we did. Lets hope it gets better now. In Roy We Trust.

Ramesh Ganapathy – You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Liverpool v Chelsea is a fairly new rivalry; and is behind the likes of Man Utd and Everton in the pecking order, but the desire to outdo each other is still as strong. ChelseaD from The Chelsea Blog has answered a few questions about the upcoming season, Yossi Benayoun and which player she’d love to see at Chelsea.

Stories of a takeover of the club are in overdrive at the moment; but one man above all others can save the club from the current plight..

Liverpool have agreed a deal with Fabio Aurelio to rejoin the club, having spent 4 years at Anfield under Rafa Benitez. He hasn’t scored many goals for Liverpool, but when he has they have been decent; check them out here

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:

Forget the pundits and talking heads for a second. If you want an idea of what’s really going on at a football club, you ask the fans that live and die with their colours each and every week. Simple as that.

Whilst we’re nearing the end of the season, we figured we’d roll out a new feature on AnfieldRed called, “Who are ya?” We’ll see if we can’t keep this going for more than a couple of weeks.

The article will hopefully allow some of you to get a better idea of the opposition through the eyes someone who follows the club very closely. This weekend’s league match against Birmingham City at St Andrews is a critical one, so to get a better idea of what Birmingham’s all about this season, we’re pleased to have Kevin Ball from Birmingham City blog Joys and Sorrows here to discuss the club.

We asked Kev a host of questions about Birmingham City, and he managed to do his level best to answer them for us. His answers, after the jump!

Ever been commended by a colleague for your multi-tasking skills? I’m sure you have. Some of us can boast the ability to play Football Manager, whilst also being able to manage a full-time desk job at the same time. Others can eat a pie and skip rope simultaneously. Both are skills that should put you in the pantheon of multi-tasking greatness.

But I digress. If there are two things that go together like pubs and pints, it’s football and games. Seriously, what’s better than watching a football match when you’ve got a fantasy football team to deal with? It adds a little spice to the match.

That’s where Picklive comes in. This addicting game (yes, it’s beyond addicting), allows you to pick three footballers from the match and watch them gain or lose points based on completed passes (+1) or fouls (-3 points), etc during a 10 minute game period.

You play against a room of other players who are all trying to see if they can grab more points than you. You’re allowed to make three substitutions in the 10 minute period. The goal is to win as many 10 minutes games as you can before the real football match is over.

A two-and-a-half month injury layoff all but decimated his season until a couple weeks ago, but maybe, just maybe, Glen Johnson is finally finding his form that made him Rafa’s most sought after transfer signing last summer.

“It was a fantastic feeling to score my first goal in front of the Kop,” he told the Liverpool Echo.

“I cut inside and wanted to get a clean strike at goal and it was nice to see it go in with my left foot.

“I’m feeling good again. It’s not easy to come back when you’ve been out for so long but with every game my fitness is getting better.”

The right-back launched an absolute screamer with his left into the back of the net against Sunderland, showing everyone at Anfield why he’s such a unique talent for a wing-back. Whilst he cost a king’s ransom to bring in last summer (£17million), I think it’s safe to say he was the most exciting signing for the club.

To say Liverpool needed a spark during the last seven matches of the season would be akin to saying our victory in Istanbul was a ‘good’ night. Both are pretty obvious observations.

Steven Gerrard was the catalyst for most of the Liverpool’s memorable moments over last four or five years, so it only seemed fitting that someone else take up the reigns in Sunday’s match against Sunderland. Whilst Fernando Torres hasn’t been dormant during the recent stretch of games, his last few times out on the pitch appeared to be a preview of what was to come.

We were right about that. Torres’ perfect opener in the first three minutes told the Anfield crowd exactly what they wanted to hear, which was: “Don’t worry, lads. I’ll put this burden on my shoulders.”

Torres’ shoulders, as well as his body in general, appear to be fully fit at just the right time. The Spaniard spoke of his new-found form after yesterday’s victory and promised that there’s more to come from him in the coming games.

In a season of bizarre moments, there can only be one moment that stands over the others, and that moment came on 17 October 2009.

We all remember the moment: Sunderland’s Darren Bent, clearly open for a shot in the Liverpool box, fired home a goal past Pepe Reina with the help of a deflection off a red beachball that had made its way onto the pitch. Instead of calling time to remove the item, the referee called allowed play to continue and the goal to stand.

Given the hilarity of the incident, it’s still one that seems to sting given the razor’s edge margin between the clubs currently fighting for the fourth spot in the league. Liverpool have the chance to pay Sunderland back for the incident on Sunday, when the club invades Anfield in a must-win match for Liverpool.