Here we go again. Another needless round of international friendlies, another needless round of inevitable injuries.

I know who my money is on to come back from the midweek ‘friendly’ exchanges with a niggling injury at the very least – Fernando Torres. Rafael Benitez’s decision to include his star striker in the squad against Manchester City last week may have come as a boost to most Liverpool fans, but for me the timing could not have come any worse.

His 15 minute cameo appearance during the Eastlands stalemate was all the encouragement Spanish national team boss Vincente del Bosque needed to include him in his squad to face Les Bleus at the Stade de France on Wednesday, one of 30 worldwide international matches that day.

They say lightning never strikes twice, but it was in this very stadium that former Reds player Djibril Cisse suffered the second horrific leg break of his Anfield career and for Torres, the lightning never seems to stop.

‘El Nino’ has more often than not come back from international duty with some form of injury, usually related to his troublesome groin. True, the Spaniard has never suffered injury on quite the same level as former France international Cisse, but the omens do not look good.

An unfit Torres has already won ‘pool games this season, most notably against Manchester United, but in truth he was never going to make a difference against City – a woeful game of few chances which saw both sides conjure up a measly one shot on target each.

Delaying the 25-year-old’s return until Sunday’s win over Blackburn, in which an unfit Torres proved a match winner for the Reds once again, could have been hailed as a masterstroke by Benitez – as the Spain squad had already been announced and del Bosque would have been none the wiser of the striker’s availability.

If Rafa wasn’t so stubborn, he could learn a thing a two from his nemesis Alex Ferguson who has been protecting his top players from being involved in pointless international friendlies for years, and he gets away with it.

It’s as simple as delaying a return or releasing a fake injury statement, but it can save weeks or even months on a player’s fitness. Some might say Torres needs the minutes under his belt, but I for one would much prefer to see the Spaniard play 75 minutes in a reserve game at Prenton Park than have him travelling to Paris to be left open to hefty challenges from a host of eager Frenchmen playing for an undeserved World Cup place.

It could be a poor physio in their national set-up or it could just be coincidence, but something is not quite right and I fear for Fernando’s fitness every time he ventures off with his compatriots.

Benitez knows it too, he’s made no secret of his disapproval of how Torres is looked after on his travels with Spain. But the boss has played right into his countrymen’s hands and, should Torres pick up a knock on Wednesday, Rafa will only have himself to blame.

Yossi Benayoun says he has already accepted that he probably won’t play in the UEFA Champions League opening group match for Liverpool later this week. This is despite the fact he hit a hat trick at the weekend to give Rafael Benitez further options ahead of the start of Liverpool’s European campaign for this season.

Classically, Benitez will always chop and change his side and despite the form that the Israeli international showed at the weekend, he may not get a starting place. Pepe Reina, came out in the media just the other day and said that one of the main reasons he thought that Liverpool were not able to win the Premier League or Europe in recent times was owing to the manager’s squad rotation.

The point is that when looking at all of the successful teams in recent years, they have all had settled sides that play together over long periods of time. This is not something that Liverpool always have the benefit of and it is a shame that a player like Benayoun, who is so clearly in form may miss out.

He said: “Everyone wants to play all the time – I don’t know anyone who is happy to sit on the bench. But at Liverpool that can happen because there are so many good players. You have make sure you take the chance when you are on the pitch.”

The one thing that Liverpool fans have been complaining about in recent times is the fact that the side is so inconsistent. Again a lot of this can be put down to the squad rotation that seems to happen on a weekly basis but when Liverpool do play well they are the best side in the country to watch and very rarely any teams will even get close to them.

Benitez is a frustrating manager to sometimes watch but more often than not he gets the big decisions right. He knows the right combination of players to link together and all players such as Benayoun can do is play well and hope that they do enough to become one of the few players that does not get rotated every week when the team sheet goes up on the wall.

Liverpool can win something this season but what remains to be seen is who will be in the team that eventually achieves something. Benayoun has done his chances no harm at all.

It’s fitting that Andriy Shevchenko used to be a boxer as a kid. The forgotten 32-year-old Chelsea forward is at the moment like a struggling fighter, lying on the canvas after a 10th round knock-down. He looks beaten, tired and fed up with what he’s putting himself through, but he knows he has to get up. He knows he can’t give in and succumb to throwing in the towel with his career on the line.

It was boxing which first captured the imagination of sports-mad Shevchenko as a kid, and he even competed at LLWI Ukrainian junior league level before discovering his gift for football. But after being coached at both sports as a youngster, the former Dinamo Kiev striker needs to take a boxer’s mentality into his current profession, and he needs it now more than ever.

Carlo Ancelotti took over the reigns at Chelsea at the beginning of this month, and for Shevchenko it must have felt like the bell sounding a second after he’d found his feet on time following that 10th round flooring.

After all, Ancelotti is the coach who guided him to great things at Milan. To winning the Champions League in 2003 and following it up with the Seria A title the next year, polished off with the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.

Under the Italian boss Shevchenko became the most feared striker in the planet and when Roman Abramovich sweet talked his fellow Eastern European into joining his billionaire’s playground at Chelsea in 2006, defences up and down the country feared for their dignity.

When the Russian finally landed the Ukrainian for £30.8m they were getting an AC Milan legend. The Rossineri’s second all-time goalscorer, who at the time was the 3rd highest scorer in the history of European club football. A genuine modern legend, who simply couldn’t fail to live up to his billing upon his switch to London.

Except he could…and he did. It wasn’t entirely the player’s fault however as he was brought to the club in circumstances the English game is not yet equipped to deal with. Jose Mourinho was the Chelsea boss but Shevchenko certainly wasn’t his signing, and the Portuguese master showed both the Ukrainian and Abramovich exactly why they called him the ‘boss’.

Mourinho was reluctant to use the Ukrainian as a mainstay in his starting line up, instead preferring Didier Drogba, the signing he himself had arranged. ‘The Special One’ proved exactly why the formula of chairmen and owners buying players simply doesn’t work in English football. Rafael Benitez reiterated this with his similar shabby treatment of Robbie Keane, a £20m flop signed by then Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry.





It’s the players who suffer ultimately, and boy has Shevchenko suffered. Keane, incidentally, has since returned successfully to Tottenham where Liverpool bought him from in a move which mirrored that of Shevchenko’s loan return to his ‘home’ at AC Milan last year.

Mirrored except for one thing – success. While normal service was resumed for Keane at White Hart Lane, it has been a different story for the Ukrainian’s return to the San Siro. The striker did not find the net once in his 17 league outings last term for Milan and was largely subject to embarrassing cameo appearances to please the crowd towards the end of the campaign.

Just two goals in all competitions after 26 games has damaged his previously incredible record for the Italian giants. But his performances were so poor and his confidence so low that not even his beloved Milan fans would take him back again.

And so the fallen star returns to Stamford Bridge with hopes of making an impact in the final year of his contract, and with his former Milan boss now in charge his hopes actually seem very real. He had the opportunity to join Monaco and bask in a luxury villa reflecting on what has been an amazing career. But upon hearing of Ancelotti’s arrival in London, the man who once coached him to be the best striker in the world, he fancies another crack at the Premier League.

At 32, Shevchenko is sitting in the corner ready to come out for the 11th round of his career. The next round is crucial if he is to prolong his career the full distance. He knows he hasn’t got long, he knows he’s already been knocked down, but he also knows it’s not over. The Ukrainian is now reunited with his father-figure coach, determined not to go out of his Chelsea career without a fight.

It’ll take all the patience, discipline and skill of a boxer to turn this one around, but for Shevchenko, next season is there for the taking. So don’t rule him out just yet, because this one could yet go to the scorecards.

Portsmouth right back, Glen Johnson, seems to be on his way, but not to the club that everyone had first thought. Liverpool have had a bid of £18.5 million accepted for the England defender and he will become the first summer signing of Rafael Benitez as he looks to push for the Premier League title next season.

Both Manchester City and Chelsea had been heavily linked with Johnson and both were expected to make big offers within the next few days. However, fair play to Liverpool for not resting on their laurels and seizing the initiative to make sure that they got their man.





It is a sensible signing for both parties concerned. Liverpool have now filled what was a problem position for them; Jamie Carragher was never going to be able to play the right back position next season as he is not young or fit enough. Johnson gets the benefit of playing in a talented team with a gifted manager and Pompey get a lot of money out of the deal. Liverpool are likely to raise the funds from selling other fringe players in the squad but this is the clearest sign that Benitez is in the right frame of mind and thinking well ahead of the next campaign. A large part of the Liverpool budget went on new contracts for important players so the manager had to be precise and go for positions where his squad were clearly lacking.

He has also gone for a player that still has a lot to learn and someone who is very young. Johnson arrives at his second massive club having plied his trade and developed himself down on the south coast. His performances didn’t go unnoticed by England manager, Fabio Capello, or Benitez who has now decided to buy the first choice England right back.







It could also see an end to the rare occasions when Steven Gerrard is forced to play out on the right wing in a Liverpool shirt. Johnson is similar to Ashley Cole of Chelsea in the respect that he likes to get forward as well as being able to track back and fill in other positions for players who are still out of place. It will probably come as a nice surprise to Liverpool fans. Johnson is a very underrated player and a lot of this is due to the fact that he was not able to make it when he played at Chelsea. However, he has improved massively since then and Liverpool must be credited for creeping in and getting their man before anyone else could blink.

The technicalities of the deal will probably be taken care of during the week but the move now looks a full on certainty. Unless Chelsea or Manchester City poach in with an absolutely stupid offer then Johnson will be playing at Anfield at the start of next season and he can rest safe in the knowledge that it is a terrific move and the right one for him.

Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, insists that Argentine midfielder, Javier Mascherano, is not for sale at any cost. Mascherano was being touted for a bigger move to a Spanish football club such as Barcelona but with Liverpool looking to build their squad this summer, Benitez is quite right to brush off any queries for his services.

Mascherano heads the important role at Liverpool of being the holding midfield player that allows Steven Gerrard to break forward and join Fernando Torres in attack. This accompanied with the fact that Liverpool missed out on the sale of Gareth Barry means that if Benitez let Mascherano leave then he would not have an equal or better replacement to fill in his position.

Benitez said: “Mascherano has no price. Barcelona could not afford to match his value to Liverpool Football Club. We do not want to sell and Javier is very happy here. Walter told me that two clubs with big, big names were asking after Mascherano. I told him to forget it, that Javier was happy in Liverpool. He has a long contract and any club can forget about bidding for him. They can offer £40million or even £50m, we don’t want to sell.”

However, in a summer where money is quite clearly talking in football it could be a matter of time before the Argentine leaves if Barcelona declare their interest early enough. Liverpool’s European chances are clearly not the same as the Spanish club who have only just regained the European Cup. This could be a big factor in the decision the Mascherano eventually makes.

He is also the exact sort of player that Barcelona do not currently have. It could be argued that Barca do not need him but what he would do in the side would mean Andres Iniesta and Xavi could play for a lot longer as their roles would become completely attacking without having to worry about tracking back or defence.

For Liverpool they need to do everything they can to keep him. He has been an integral part of the success at the club in recent times and if they want to entertain any thought of moving forward then they must hang onto him. With Xabi Alonso also being strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid, the importance of getting Mascherano to stay doubles.

Another worry for Liverpool fans will be the wealth that Real Madrid have just pulled out of the bag and displayed. This is a Spanish club that aren’t even the best side in Europe and yet they can afford to spend £140 million on two players. It makes you wonder at the potential cash that Barcelona could whip up if they wanted to go for a certain player.

As the whole Cristiano Ronaldo saga showed, if a club offers big money for a player then the host club will most likely accept the bid and this story could well turn out the same. Until FIFA steps in to do something about it, money will continue to talk in football.

After missing out on Gareth Barry, Liverpool will now be forced to hang on to midfielder, Xabi Alonso, as Real Madrid start to circle. It was thought that Rafa Benitez would let Alonso leave for his dream move but after Barry’s transfer to Manchester City, Liverpool’s Spanish boss has been forced into a re-think.

The club insist that they will now resist any offer that Madrid make and will not allow the player to leave unless the offer is a ridiculous one. Alonso is growing increasingly frustrated at Liverpool where he has not been able to hold down a regular first team place.

Barry’s snubbing has triggered a difficult start to the close season for Liverpool when a lot of things were meant to flow from one to the next with very little trouble. Alonso now has an importance that clearly was not attached to him before and Benitez will know that if he leaves he will have to do more rebuilding of the squad than he had planned.

Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez said: “Xabi is a magnificent Spanish player, so of course we’d love to have him. But everything would involve reaching an agreement with Rafael Benítez. It will need to be an agreement that is in the best interests of both clubs.”

The only scenario under which Benitez would probably allow Alonso to leave is if Liverpool were offered a large sum of money or a choice of certain players to be involved in the deal. Benitez may favour the financial option as it would allow him to go and sign David Villa from Valencia to play alongside Fernando Torres in a replication of the partnership that has propelled Spain to so much recent success.

However, the point is that Alonso is a vital part of the Liverpool team, he is part of the spine that holds everything together. If Madrid offered a high calibre swap plus cash then they would pretty much have a done deal as it should satisfy both parties.

Liverpool can’t be naïve in the respect that if Alonso clealry wants to go then holding him back from a deal would not only alienate his opinion of the club but it could spread to other sections. They would love to hold onto him but with the new financial muscle being flexed in their direction it could be a matter of time before a deal is agreed.

It is also quite refreshing to know that a player would not be moving for money related reasons. Madrid are one of the biggest clubs in Spain, the country that Alonso is from. Liverpool too have a strong Spanish element within the club so if there are any reports of Alonso not being settled, they can be easily dismissed.

What happens remains to be seen but Liverpool must bear in mind that if they are to push on again next season and get even closer to the title than they did this year then they need to hang onto their best players or replace them with ones that are just as good or even better.

Reds may count the cost

What price ownership of a Premiership football club? In the case of Liverpool owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, a very big financial headache, that’s for sure! Latest figures from the accountants of Kop Football Holdings reveal the Reds actually made a profit of 10.2 million pounds on a record turnover of 159.1 million.

But the company is still in debt to the tune of a massive 42.6 million pounds because of the interest payments on the loan taken out by the duo to buy the club in the first place. Makes the average mortgage payments and car loans pale into insignifance, doesn’t it?

The accountants are rather more worried than Hicks and Gillett, it seems. Although the financial experts feel the situation casts doubt on the group’s ability to keep going as a going concern, the owners are confident of securing a refinancing deal after July 24. After all, it’s only a matter of a mere 350 million pounds.

Whilst figures like these on the ordinary man in the street’s bank balance would produce a nervous breakdown, multi-million pound deals are commonplace in the world of football. It’s almost certain that Hicks and Gillett will secure the refunding they need and continue to be at the helm of one of the greatest football clubs on the planet when the season resumes in August. But what the financial situation does create is huge uncertainty for Liverpool and must throw doubts on future signings. And what of the ambitious project to complete a new Anfield ground?

With the emergence of billionaire owners for many of our Premiership clubs, spending big to bring in top players is becoming very much the norm. Look at the sums being touted around for Kaka of AC Milan, with Chelsea and Real Madrid both reportedly more than interested. They could probably afford the 65 million euros but could Liverpool? Not a chance, it would seem.

Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard says new blood is the key to the club achieving more success in the coming season. The Reds finished a close second to Manchester United, the highest position for some years, but were denied any silverware. Gerrard believes Liverpool need more quality players like Torres who has just been given an improved deal and could stay with the club until 2014 if he so wishes. The captain also admits that he fears the challenge of Chelsea, despite new manager Carlo Ancelotti making no bones about the fact that the Champions League is his main target.

The big question here is not about ability on the field but ability off it. Clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea and the up and coming Manchester City have the funds to dip into their deep coffers and buy a team. Arsenal are not so lucky. Now it seems as though Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is going to have his hands somewhat tied as well.

It will be a big shame and a huge rift in football if the Premiership suffers from a growing divide between the rich and the not so rich, no matter how famous the name of the teams.

Stevie G’s undying passion

Liverpool ace Steven Gerrard must be one of the most refreshingly honest players in football. Who else would collect a top award but then confess to the prestigious audience that he would rather have been in a dressing room in Wembley preparing for the FA Cup final? But then that’s Stevie G in a nutshell and sums up his continued lust for the game and success.

Gerrard was picking up the Football Writers’ Player of the Year Award in London. Accompanied by his family, he said it was a huge honour and a spectacular night but he would still have exchanged it all for a place in the FA Cup final. Gerrard said he was still hungry for success and believed both he and Liverpool were on the verge of an even better campaign next season.

Having just turned 29, he believes he is still getting better and says he is learning every day in training. There was, he said, still a lot for him to achieve with England and Liverpool and he is planning to pick up trophies galore next year. Gerrard also showed what a modest man he is by thanking everyone who had helped him, not least manager Rafael Benitez for his faith in him and all his team-mates.

Gerrard has certainly had a fantastic season, despite injuries, and can still show his passion and hunger when England meet both Kazakhstan and Andorra in the World Cup qualifiers. Tongue in cheek, England manager Fabio Capello – who presented Gerrard with his award – asked him to score a few more goals for him and his country when the clashes take place!

Stevie scored 24 goals during the season, 16 of them in the Premier League, and is well capable of putting more away to help Liverpool go one better than their second to Manchester United. In fact, scoring just a few more could well be key to Liverpool toppling Manchester United off their perch.

There is certainly a strong feeling in football that Liverpool are coming into their own and they will give the Red Devils a good run for their money. Steven Gerrard is without doubt Liverpool’s best ever midfield player and the team’s talisman. When he is on the pitch, anything can happen and usually does. As captain, he is an inspiration and leads by example, inspiring memorable comebacks.

It’s hard to believe he is already 29 but he will play until he drops and probably has a good ten years in him yet. Gerrard vowed during the presentation night to try and earn the Footballer Writers’ Player of the Year award again next year – unless he happens to be in the Wembley dressing room of course!

If there was ever a football manager who’s living on past glory, it’s got to be current Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez. This guy is basically the one-hit-wonder of football. He’s still milking the 2005 European Champions League victory in Istanbul, where his team managed to overcome a 3-0 half time deficit to AC Milan and beat them in penalty kicks.

However, even this victory is hollow. It’s comparable to Milli Vanilli winning a Grammy award, only to find out it was somebody else who did the actual work while they lip-synched. If you recall back in 2005, Benitez, as usual, sat two of his best players at the time (Dietar Hamann and Igor Biscan) on the bench when the final kicked off and paid for it very quickly. It didn’t take Milan long to totally outclass Liverpool and expose Benitez’s lack of sensible tactics, by building a 3-0 lead by the 44th minute.

It was in the second half when Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard took it upon himself to grab the squad by the scruff of the neck and single handedly turned the game around by putting in one of the best performances seen on a football pitch in decades. To hell with the lip-syncher Benitez and his tactics, Gerrard knew what his teammates were capable of and didn’t want to see the opportunity of glory go down the drain…and of course it didn’t.

Benitez, who was clueless and down 3-0 in Istanbul, should be giving Gerrard half of his paycheque every week, because if it wasn’t for his skipper, he’d still be a nobody. In fact, winning the Champions League back then in 2005, was probably one of the worst things that could have happened to the club as Benitez was revered as some sort of genius and rewarded with contract extensions. The club and its fans have been paying for it ever since with a trophy haul of just one FA Cup in 2006.

While this year’s Liverpool squad was probably good enough to take the English Premier League, it was definitely a case of too little too late for The Reds. Granted, they finished runners up, but who cares? Nobody’s going to remember the second place team years from now.

The problem now is Benitez is showing his true colours and refuses to congratulate Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United on a job well done. He lays the blame everywhere but himself for the club failing to win the League again for the 18th year in a row.

He even had the audacity to suggest Liverpool would have won the League if Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard had been healthy all season long, but fails to explain why he often left both of them on the bench when they were healthy, or substituted them during games they needed to win.

Benitez likes to take credit for beating Manchester United twice this season and figures his club was the league’s best because they did. But again, he’s nowhere to be seen when the topic of his team’s uninspired home draws to the likes of Stoke and Fulham are brought up. Where were his brilliant tactics then? He should also take full responsibility of blowing the Robbie Keane transfer deal by costing his owners millions and alienating a pretty decent striker when his team was dropping points week after week in scoreless draws.

All this guy has proven to me ever since he’s been in charge of Liverpool is that he is the most overrated and overpaid manager I have ever seen in football. I’m afraid Liverpool supporters are never going to celebrate a Premier League title until Sir Alex Ferguson retires, or Benitez is given the boot… and when he is, it’s going to cost the club millions more to get rid of him and his ridiculous contract.

Liverpool’s influential midfielder, Xabi Alonso, looks set to retun to his home country of Spain this summer, with Real Madrid ready to make a bid for him. All season long reports have emerged in a variety of press mediums suggesting that Alonso has become unsettled by the rotation system at Liverpool.

It is the clearest sign yet that Liverpool are going to be making massive changes this summer, which in a way mirrors the actions of the club Alonso could be joining. Madrid have already agreed a fee with Wigan for winger, Antonio Valencia, and the arrival of Alonso could compliment an entirely brand new Real Madrid system for next season.

However, Manchester United are also hot on the heels of the Wigan ace, which could prompt Madrid into intensifying their attempts to sign Alonso. If Madrid make a whopping offer for Alonso then Rafael Benitez may be inclined to let him leave. Alonso is clearly in the shadow of Steven Gerrard and is not as good a defensive midfielder as Javier Mascherano.

Liverpool would do well to get a good sum for the Spaniard and then try to go and poach David Villa from Valencia to join up with Fernando Torres in the Liverpool attack. However, nothing is yet certain but Alonso’s agent, Inaki Ibanez, suggests it could be a busy summer for his man.

He said: “Many things could happen in the summer. The first is to finish the season and after that to attend to other matters. Xabi has signed for three more years and his future depends on Liverpool.”

Liverpool have also been constantly linked with Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry, a player that nearly joined Liverpool last summer before having to play another season for Villa. His arrival could put Alonso even further back in the pegging order at Liverpool and could be just the transfer that prompts his decision to leave.

Alonso would fit in well with Madrid’s style of play. It was clear this seaosn that when Madrid got battered by Benitez’s men at Anfield, just how far off they were from other teams. The Spanish giants still have a number of big names but Alonso could be the exact sort of calm and collected individual that the club is looking to introduce into the first team.

His arrival would make the Madrid midfield a lot calmer and with Arjen Robben and possibly Antonio Valencia running up and down the wings all day long, it makes for a frightful propostion for the club’s rivals.

There remains a lot of arm wrestling over various terms and as of yet nothing has been decided, but each day the speculation grows and gets stronger and the chance to go back to Spain could be something Alonso cannot say no to. It would certainly improve his chances of getting back into the Spanish national side, as well as giving him the chance to later go and show Liverpool that they missed out on the chance of being able to mould and craft one of the most gifted European players to have ever played the game.