Anfield Red

Check out this Interview with Carragher, love the bit where the interviewer asks if he is interested in a move to a ‘bigger’ club

 Can Steven Gerrard fill the void left by Wayne Rooney?

Gerrard has had a great season for Liverpool, scoring 23 goals when playing in a central role or on the right. He scored 2 fantastic goals in the FA cup final, and has displayed his superb striking ability throughout the season.

Voted PFA player of the year by fellow professionals, Gerrard is widely regarded throughout the premiership, and there is no reason why he cannot carry that form to Germany.

In recent england training sessions he has been playing upfront, and has been hitting the back of the net plenty of times.

He is known for his energy, strength on the ball, willingness to get stuck in, go forward, shoot from distance, and his passing is second to none.

Sven is spoilt for choice in the centre of midfield, so there is no reason why Gerrard cannot play upfront with Owen, or just behind him, leaving Lampard and Carrick in the middle.

When asked about the prospect of playing upfront, Gerrard replied:

"I am not sure what role I am going to be playing, the manager will decide where he wants me to play and I will give it my best shot wherever I am asked to play.

"It is a decision for the manager. I have joined the boys and am prepared to play anywhere, whether that is on the right, the left, the middle or in defence. Wherever it is I will give it my best shot."

 Teenager Aaron Lennon was awarded man of the match for his performance against Belarus in the England B game.

Lennon was a surprise inclusion in Sven’s squad, but showed everyone why he was picked, using his blistering pace to tear into the Belarusian defence all night. Lennon created  a goal for Peter Crouch which was ruled out for offside, and was on the receiving end of fouls all night as Belarus could not contain him.

Lennon faces competition from Beckham for the right side midfield spot,but his performance on Thursday will have done his chances no harm.

 Wayne Rooney will miss England’s group games after a scan on his broken foot revealed he will not be fit in time.

He faces an anxious wait until june 14th for another scan to see if he can play at all, but England have to decide by the 9th of june if they want to replace him or not.

If he is declared ok to play, he will have just 10 days to get match fit for the last 16 of the competition should England progress.

 Norwich goalkeeper Robert Green has been ruled out of the world cup after injuring his groin in the England B game against Belarus.

He has been replaced by Scott Carson of Liverpool in the squad.

No this isn’t Crouch showing off slinky moves on the field but him singing along to the tune by Ini Kamozoe ‘Here comes the hotstepper’

We have to assume Crouch is drunk and surely doesn’t think he is cool doing this Next week we’ll see Peter doing ‘there’s only one Rodney Trotter’

Thanks to Daniel Bower for this one

Fernando Morientes has returned to spain and joined Valencia for an undisclosed fee

Nando leaves Anfield after scoring just 12 times in 61 appearances. Morientes was recently left out of the Spanish squad for the world cup despite his previous good international record (scoring 26 goals in 43 international appearances)

Rumours are flying around that the fee is around £3.5 million, quite a lot less than the £6.3 million transfer to the reds in 2005.

Comments are welcome on his performance for Liverpool whether they are good or bad. Should he have tried another season and who will replace him?

  Liverpool have won the 2006 FA Cup after beating West Ham on penalties at Cardiff.

West ham took the lead through a Jamie Carragher own goal, then six minutes later, Matthew Etherington shot, Pepe Reina could not hold onto it and Dean Ashton touched it past Reina to make it 2-0.

Straight away, Liverpool went on the attack, and getting a goal through Peter Crouch, only for it to be ruled offside, then video replays showed he was onside.

Just after the half hour mark, Djibril Cisse brouight the reds back into the game, volleying Gerrard’s cross field ball into the bottom corner to make it 2-1, and suddenly Liverpool had a sense of urgency about them.

Ten minutes into the second half, captain Steven Gerrard equalised, after Alonso curled a free kick into the box, Crouch headed it down and Stevie blasted it past Shaka Hislop.

The game took another turn when Paul Konchesky picked up the ball on the left wing and crossed the ball, only for the cross to lob Reina and dip in to make it 3-2. No matter what the reds did, they could not break down West Ham, until the 90th minute when Gerrard hit a sweet shot first time from 35 yards, that left Hislop with no chance.

The match went to extra time, and the Hammers nearly won the game when Reo-Coker’s header was turned onto the post by Reina.

The match went to pens, and Pepe Reina saved 3 pens, from Konchesky, Zamora and Anton Ferdinand.

after the game, Rafa said:

I must give credit to my players as after a 62 game season a lot of them had cramp but they kept going until the end, never gave up and have done a fantastic job," enthused Benitez.
 
"Steven Gerrard scored two fantastic goals and you know the quality he has and I give him credit but for me it was the success of the team. Steven would say that himself and the energy levels the players showed was amazing. It was a fantastic final.
 
"Our supporters were fantastic as always and they kept us going. I was a little bit disappointed with the mistakes we made but we changed things. Cisse got a goal just before half-time which was important then I put Kromkamp on down the right side because Konchesky had cramp.
 
"We needed to control the midfield more and I put Didi Hamann on and he kept the ball and passed it for us."

 The sunday People is reporting that Harry Kewell will be allowed to leave Liverpool for £4million this summer.

The people has said that Rafa is after a new left winger, (even though we have Mark Gonzalez coming in so why they have written this who knows?), and that Kewell is the most likely target from other clubs.

Kewell has found form again recently, putting in a man-of-the-match performance against Chelsea in the FA Cup, and scoring notable goals against Spurs and Everton.

The people has claimed that Valencia are targeting Kewell, but this seems unlikely as they have spanish ace Vicente on the left.

If i were you i wouldnt read too much into this, however AnfieldRed will keep you updated

 Robbie Fowler has spoke of his delight after being offered a new contract at Anfield.

4 goals in 7 games has been enough to convince Rafa to sign him on again, along with reception he gets from the crowd each time he sets foot on the pitch.

Fowler said: "It’s not signed yet but you can imagine how happy I was when the manager offered me another year. I can’t put my feelings into words, this is something I have wanted for a long time.
 
"When I signed for six months in January the manager told me he would look at the situation at the end of the season. He’s had a look at what I’ve done and thankfully I’ve been given the best possible answer.
 
"I feel as though I’ve done alright and the manager has been pleased with me as well. I’m looking forward to next season now. I was buzzing when I got a six month deal so you can imagine how happy I am to have been given another year. I am absolutely over the moon.
 
"We’ve got two games to go and then a break before pre-season. I can’t wait for next season now. I just want to get going again. I’m gutted I have to miss next week’s Cup final but I wish the lads all the best and I know we can win it." 
  
Reds fans were over the moon when he first returned, and now they will be even happier after him getting a new contract.

"Ian Rush’s record for the club is frightening and if I can get a bit closer to it that’ll be great," he added.
 
"I had been treating every game as though it could be my last for Liverpool but now I’ve got the added incentive of knowing I’ll get more chances to wear the red shirt next season.
 
"This club is going places. If you look at the table this season compared to last season there’s been a big improvement. Hopefully we can take it a little bit further next season. I would love to be part of a Liverpool side that wins the league championship and I am sure the manager is on the right lines towards achieving it.
 
"Ever since I started at Liverpool as a kid the fans have taken to me and any player will tell you when the supporters of your club are behind you then that helps an awful lot. I just can’t thank them enough. They’ve given me so much support over the years and I’m grateful for that. Now I can’t wait to score more goals for them and the club over the next year.