Things do not appear to be getting any better for Liverpool with a defeat at the hands of Wigan and a brand new controversy for Steven Gerrard.

The Liverpool captain appeared to make an insulting gesture towards referee, Andre Marriner, during the match last night after he was booked for sliding into a challenge a little too late.

Marriner talked to the player and booked him before Gerrard appeared to make a v sign at the referee while he was backing away from the incident.

It is just the thing that Rafa Benitez said recently that he was looking to avoid as he tries to gear up his side for a difficult run in to the current Premier League campaign. Liverpool’s frailties were once again exposed.

Benitez said: “I don’t know, I was too far away. We have to be really disappointed. After a defeat always you cannot be happy, but after a defeat in this way … the first half we didn’t do anything. We gave the ball away, we didn’t win any first or second ball and that is difficult to explain.”

“I think it was a question of attitude in the first half. Sometimes we played too quickly, we were in too much of a hurry. It was a poor half. In the second half there was a much better attitude, but it was not enough.”

“We had some chances but we didn’t play well. If you approach the game in this kind of way you cannot win this kind of game — or maybe any game. Everyone is very low. There are too many things we cannot understand.”

You would have to say that based on this result, Liverpool will not be playing Champions League football next season.

The point is that when big teams play well but do not score too many goals, they always manage to find a way to win the game. This often leads to a number of valuable points by the time the end of the season arrives.

Liverpool simply cannot afford any more mistakes and they will have to rely on the teams above them to make their own. The only problem is that these teams very rarely make such mistakes.

No doubt the club will let the Gerrard row wash over like water off of a duck’s back but the point is that they just do not seem to be going anywhere quickly. The club need to start winning and stay out of the headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

Wigan will be pleased that they managed to battle through a game they would have been expected to lose. Roberto Martinez has been coming under a lot of pressure himself and this will result will go a long way to acting as a pressure release valve.

Wigan need a few more points to maintain their security in the Premier League and they’ll be happy they have bagged another three and stayed out of the limelight.

Liverpool captain and England player, Steven Gerrard, has said the decision to leave close relatives at home for this World Cup is the right one.

A lot was made during the 2006 World Cup over the fact that wives, girlfriends and close relatives of players were allowed to travel with the players to the international tournament.

Media pundits have said that this is the worst possible thing, which will affect a player’s preparation before a game because he clearly will not be focused on the football.

Gerrard said: “When I joined up a couple of days ago and Fabio [Capello] told me I was captain, I was delighted. I don’t think we make too much of it. Every kid dreams of being England captain. I was no different. But Rio has been put in to become the captain and in an ideal situation, if he’s fit, he’s a massive player for us.”

“It’s not just as captain. The spotlight’s on every player, even more so the closer you get to the World Cup. The manager has taken the decision to take the captaincy off John and, as another player, you have to respect his decision.”

“I don’t know whether having the WAGs there [for the 2006 World Cup in Germany] affected our performance, but my wife won’t be there. Not unless we get to the semis or the final.”

Capello’s banning of these relatives is part of the disciplined regime, which he promised to install from the moment he walked through the door of the FA to do the job.

Hopefully the move will benefit the team and they will be ready and prepared to take on some of the best teams in the world. It is important at all stages that not a single player in the squad is distracted by any thing, which is going on off the field.

All the time there are relatives at the ground or staying with the players, a part of the players will be thinking about them. Capello wants them to know nothing but football for as long as the side are in the World Cup.

His results since he started the job have been pretty good so you cannot really argue about his methods. The only teams England have lost to have been full of world-class players on top of their form.

England’s job will be to play football as only the English know and if the players start missing their loved ones and friends, it could even work in favour of the national team.

When they approach games, they could be so fired up that they launch themselves into the game with a lot more intensity and passion. This can only bode well for the chances of the team in South Africa.

Whether the Wags were a problem last time round is not known. No one is ready enough to admit they were. However, them not being there cannot harm the team in any way.

England manager, Fabio Capello, blames football’s off field problems on the amount of money that modern players earn.

The likes of John Terry are on a contract worth over £160,000 per week and Capello says that this is the reason for so much developed jealousy and personal problems in the game.

Capello is quite within his rights to come out and make statements such as this because he has lost the services of Wayne Bridge, England’s second best left back, to an off field issue he held with Terry.

Fabio Capello said: “The private life is a big problem for some players, but also brings big problems for the clubs and for me. It’s always the same. Young players, young boys, rich boys, this is the problem. It’s not only here. In Italy, in Germany, in Spain and in every country where football is so important. They have to be an example to the children, for all the fans. For that reason they have to stay careful and sacrifice something in their lives. It will be really important in this last period to be careful in their own lives. I ask them to take no chances.”

“I told the players we have to recreate the spirit of the group and train really focused. I want to speak about the performance. I want to speak about the style that we played, only about what really happened during the game. Not outside the pitch.”

“I know they (England fans) are worried after what has happened, but I hope they will help us. They have to understand that the private life of some players has not been so good, but that on the pitch it will be different. We are dressed in the England shirt and it’s important for us that they help us.”

England have a very quick chance to test out how the team spirit is holding up ahead of the World Cup when they take on Egypt, the newly crowned Champions of Africa, at Wembley this evening.

Hopefully the football can take over and we will all be talking about what an impressive performance the team has put in as opposed to the number of off field problems, which threaten to split the team at such an important time.

Key player, Steven Gerrard, added: “It was short and sweet and he told us to focus on the football. He reiterated that we have responsibilities as players both on and off the pitch. All the players take it as read what the manager says. We understand what he wants, listen and take note.”

Capello will be slightly annoyed by the amount of media stories surrounding his players. He said that discipline was a big factor, which would help the team to success and it is likely to be emphasised even more from now on.

England will only win the World Cup if the players play for each other and this seems almost impossible in the current football climate.

Rio Ferdinand has escaped the axe ahead of England’s game against Belarus this evening. Ferdinand was the cause of the error that led to goalkeeper, Robert Green, from being sent off against Ukraine over the weekend.

Fabio Capello has demanded an automatic improvement from his side and the Italian is no stranger to making strong and instant decisions. England were below the normal standards that he expects against Ukraine and he has said that the fact England have already qualified is irrelevant as to what he is trying to achieve.

He said: “I asked him what happened. I spoke with him about the moment, and different things, but only about the last game. I spoke with him on Monday, this morning, and I will speak on the day of the game. He’s a good man, a big man, an important player for England and United.”

“Rio will play because he is one of the best defenders in England. He needs to play. The experience of Rio will be very important for us. I have big confidence in him. He will play and I’m sure he will get better with every game.”

“We spoke after the game against Ukraine and he thought he’d be fit [Steven Gerrard], perhaps for this game. He practised with us, but after ten minutes he felt it. Gerrard decided to stay here. We asked him what he thought and he thought he’d be fit. If he’d not been fit, he’d have gone home, but he’ll be fit in two or three days. The Liverpool manager will decide if he plays on Saturday as they have the Champions League afterwards. But it’s not a big problem.”

“James is not good. He’s getting better, but if he’s not 100 per cent he can be on the bench. We didn’t choose Foster originally because we spoke with United and they told us he could train only after Thursday. We chose the player who was fit [Joe Hart].”

So it is clear that Capello is thinking about mixing up the side a little bit but his overlying message has never changed. He is a perfectionist and will probably never be happy until John Terry is holding the little golden trophy above his head in South Africa next yea

As for now, the focus is on Belarus and the point is that Capello seems to know the right balance between showing faith in the players that need it and making changes when they are necessary.

Liverpool manager, Rafa Benitez, has said he is satisfied regardless of Liverpool’s win in their opening Champions League match against Debrecen. Liverpool won the match 1-0 but failed to cash in on the ample chances that they had through out the entire match.

On another night captain, Steven Gerrard, could have scored a hat trick but the manager says that as far as he is concerned, it is three points and a win is a win. Liverpool fans were audibly annoyed by the display, as the side struggled at times to make the most of their advantage.

Dirk Kuyt got the only goal of the game and even that was off a rebound after Fernando Torres had sent a tame shot in at the keeper. For Liverpool to stand a chance of competing against the bigger sides in the Champions League this season then they will have to drastically improve and improve quickly.

Benitez said: “This was always a dangerous game because before people were talking about us maybe scoring eight goals or something like this. But we knew that in Europe it is not easy, especially at this level.. They have won their league four times in the last five seasons because they have some quality so it was important just to get three points.”

“Today it was important just to win and now we can approach the next game with more confidence. We are winning games in a row now so hopefully confidence in the dressing room will be higher. You have to take your chances and then this type of game would be easy..”

“You have to give credit to them. They were well organised and they were working very hard, pressing every single ball. But they also made some mistakes in defence and we didn’t score – that was the difference for me. We had to be careful, especially at the end. We were expected to score a lot of goals and we had the chances but couldn’t score.”

Liverpool and the rest of the English sides all won their matches but were all unconvincing. It seems that Real Madrid were the only team to absolutely romp to a win as they scored five times in their opening match against FC Zurich.

Attention will now switch back to the Premier League but it looks like it will be an interesting campaign in Europe this year for Benitez’s men, one that they could just as easily do well in as fail in.

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.

Frank Lampard has refused to get carried away with England’s impressive form and believes success in South Africa will define their progress. Fabio Capello has a perfect record in qualifying for the World Cup with seven wins from seven games in his first campaign with the latest win a 6-0 drubbing over minnows Andorra.

The win put England 10 points clear of Croatia and Ukraine in Group 6 and their form has prompted many England fans to suggest the squad are well equipped to win the tournament next summer. Lampard netted his second of the campaign in the Andorra rout but has called for calm heads as England near automatic qualification. “Going into the World Cup on good form can be a good thing, as long as we do not get carried away and have the right attitude,” he said.

“As a group we are not overconfident. We are playing well, but we realise there is still a long way to go. “We just need to keep the form going into the World Cup and then get our minds right. “We are scoring regularly, there is a confidence about us and it is important we carry that on and qualify as soon as possible. We have always had good individuals, but now we are playing as a team. After missing out on the European Championship finals last summer, Fabio Capello has restored pride in the national team after a change in personnel and formation rejuvenated the England team.

Lampard came under scrutiny during the last campaign for failing to strike up a working partnership with fellow midfielder Steven Gerrard. The pair failed to gel in the centre of the pitch under former boss Steve McClaren, but Capello’s changes have seen both Lampard and the Liverpool captain operate in new roles. “The manager has tweaked it a little bit and everyone is happy,” said Lampard. “We are both playing slightly different roles than we do for our clubs, but we are happy because we are in a winning team and it is gelling.

“I basically stop a lot more, am playing more of a central role. “The manager wants discipline in the centre of the park. Stevie has more freedom to roll in off the left where he can be very dangerous even though it is not his Liverpool position. The emergence of Gareth Barry as regular in Capello’s side has seen an improvement in the midfield’s performance and Lampard admits that a bond has formed as a result of their good form.

“We were playing well for our clubs week in and week out, but never hurt teams as a group. Now we are. “There is a togetherness about us, you can feel it in training every day, and that is the difference. “At the moment it is all clicking, but we will be judged at the end of the World Cup rather than winning games against Andorra.” “I feel the hunger even more with the more experience I get. I am enjoying my football for both Chelsea and England. “I am feeling more confident and just want to keep playing. There is a big season ahead for me.

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has also benefited from a return to international form as he took his tally to 10 for the campaign against Andorra. England teammate Lampard has hailed the 23-year-old’s form and believes it is down to finding the right balance in his approach play. “Wayne has been up there for quite a while and now he is scoring a few more goals at international level people are sitting up and taking notice. But he is right up there with the best,” said Lampard.

“Maybe he occupied himself a bit much with dropping deep and trying to put people in and do everything. “Now he has found that medium where he is doing that stuff, but also getting in the box on the end of things.”