Rafael Benitez admits an ideal world would see Robbie Fowler score against his Liverpool side when Cardiff visit on Wednesday, but only if The Reds are 3-0 up.
Fowler will make an emotional return to Anfield during Wednesday's Carling Cup fourth round encounter, where he is guaranteed the warmest of receptions after spending over a decade on Merseyside.
The prolific striker, who has scored six goals in 12 games for Cardiff this season, failed to net on his final appearance at Anfield as he waved goodbye to The Kop for what he thought would be a last time.
Now he gets the chance, albeit in blue colours this time, to net one last time in front of his adoring public, and Benitez admits a small part of him would not mind seeing a Fowler celebration.
"I would like to see him very happy before the game but when it is over I hope he is a little bit disappointed," Benitez told the club's official website.
"After this match, I hope to see him scoring 20 goals and being the top scorer in The Championship. Maybe we can leave him to score a fantastic goal in front of The Kop but at the end of the game we will need to have scored three! The way he played for us, with the injuries he had and at the age he is, was fantastic. He was always joking and was very respectful and professional. I was really pleased with Robbie and you could see that some of the players were learning from his movement and his finishing, which was fantastic."
Benitez is likely to turn to many of his fringe players for Wednesday's match, as he looks to avoid picking up yet more injuries following the losses of Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.
One man who could make a first team return is Harry Kewell who, like Fabio Aurelio, stands to get some game-time after featuring in the reserves last week.
"It depends on which players are fit,' said Benitez. "Lucas Leiva needs to play, Sebastian Leto needs to play and so does Fabio Aurelio. So I don't know how many players we can use from the reserves, but I know I will also need some of the senior players. Harry Kewell played 45 minutes in the reserves last week and he too needs to play games, so we will see."
28 October 2007
Manchester City are set to hold talks with Nigerian starlet Macauley Chrisantus next week.
The 17-year-old striker was one of the stars of the recent World Under 17 championship as he helped Nigeria seal the title.
Christantus is currently plying his trade in his homeland with Abuja but a move to England could soon be sealed.
The youngster's agent, Adam Mohammed, confirmed that he and the player are set to hold talks with Sven Goran Eriksson.
"I can confirm Sven has written inviting myself and the boy for a discussion and we will be in England next week to conclude talks," he told the News of the World.
Mohammed admitted that an application for a work permit could be a stumbling block, but he voiced his optimism that one would be granted second time round.
"But there may be a snag with the issue of a work permit," he added.
"However, if it is refused first time we will get it second time if the club appeals."
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax, Internazionale and Milan are also reportedly keen to snap up the youngster, but it appears that City have won the race to secure Chrisantus' services.
Meanwhile, Eriksson has called on striker Georgios Samaras to utilise his strengths, which he believes are his ability to be a powerful target man.
"Georgios has to decide what type of players he wants to be. He shouldn't be doing lots of tricks; he should be using his physical power. For me he is a central striker - and a good one," Eriksson told the News of the World.
"There is a big difference between the Samaras that I see now and the one I saw when I arrived in July. He could have gone in the summer but said he wanted to fight for his place and I'm happy that he did."
28 October 2007
Some comical defending was to blame as Marseille shipped two own goals to lose 2-1 against Sochauax in France.
After an impressive 1-1 draw at Porto in the Champions League in midweek, hopes were high in the Marseille camp that they could finally find some form in their domestic campaign.
After a run of just two wins from 11 games in Ligue 1, they desperately needed a result but defensive lapses - and a missed penalty - thwarted them.
It had started well when Mamadou Niang put them in front after just nine minutes but Marseille hit the self-destruct button as both Ronald Zubar and Laurent Bonnart put the ball into their own net to gift Sochaux victory.
Former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse then had the chance to rescue a point but his weak penalty was easily saved by Sochaux keeper Teddy Richert and Eric Geret's side were left to reflect on another defeat that leaves them in the relegation zone.
28 October 2007
West Ham boss Alan Curbishley has revealed Craig Bellamy faces another spell on the sidelines through injury.
Bellamy suffered a recurrence of his abdominal injury during West Ham's goalless draw with Portsmouth and was forced off at half-time.
The former Liverpool and Blackburn striker underwent abdominal surgery last month and he was able to play for Wales in their recent internationals.
Bellamy will miss Tuesday's Carling Cup clash with Coventry, and Curbishley is unsure how long Bellamy could be sidelined for after revealing he has been struggling with the problem since pre-season.
"Craig's injury is not too bad but there's still something niggling there," said Curbishley.
"He won't be playing Tuesday. He has had this abdominal strain through the pre-season and despite the operation which we went off to have in Germany it has come back again. We are not very lucky with injuries at the moment. There's (Dean) Ashton, (Bobby) Zamora, Scott Parker, Julien Fauberdt, Freddie Ljungberg all out. Now Bellamy. He could be weeks out or it could be something that can be sorted out quickly but we have two more games now and then have to worry about the international break again - when I always seem to have players trying to come back from injuries."
27 October 2007
Xabi Alonso will not allow his friendship with fellow Spaniard Cesc Fabregas to get in the way of trying to beat runaway Arsenal on Sunday.
Liverpool midfielder Alonso is hoping to make his comeback from a broken metatarsal in the clash which could define his club's Premier League season.
The seemingly fit-again 25-year-old surprisingly remained on the bench as his side stumbled to a shock Champions League defeat at the hands of Besiktas on Wednesday night.
The assumption was that boss Rafael Benitez was saving him for the showdown with Arsenal and Alonso's good friend and Spain colleague Fabregas.
Alonso told the Reds' official website: "He is one of their most important players and one of the most influential in the Premier League, no doubt about it. He has had a very good start to the season but hopefully this will not be repeated at Anfield. I will have a chat with him before the game, but he is one of the best around at the moment so I will not let friendship deflect me from trying to beat him."
Alonso has been impressed with the start Arsene Wenger's young Premier League leaders have made to the campaign as he looks to deny them a 13th straight victory in all competitions.
He said: "They are doing very well and are playing excellent football, probably the best football in the Premier League at the moment. They have a lot of mobility and plenty of players who are comfortable with the ball. They understand each other very well and that creates good football, and they are really nice to watch."
27 October 2007
Winger Jermaine Pennant will miss the remainder of Liverpool FC's bid to advance from UEFA Champions League Group A as he is expected to be sidelined for about ten weeks because of a fractured leg.
"For the last eight weeks Jermaine has undergone intensive treatment between matches," said a Liverpool statement.
"But following an acute exacerbation of the problem during the game against Beşiktaş [JK] it has now been decided he requires surgery."
Pennant, who was substituted in the 59th minute of the 2-1 UEFA Champions League defeat in Turkey on Wednesday which left the Reds at the foot of the section, has a stress fracture of the right tibia.
Liverpool entertain Premier League leaders Arsenal FC on Sunday.
27 October 2007
Who has the loudest fans in the Premier League?
Decibel meter readings taken across home matches for all Premier League teams during August and September, showed that the loudest home crowd was Sunderland.
Average peak volume of the Sunderland crowd at home reaching 129.2 decibels & 150; louder than a rock concert (115 decibels) and almost as loud as an air raid siren/military jet (130 decibels).
As a volume of 110-115 decibels can cause hearing damage after just 15 minutes, football fans are being advised to wear ear protection if they want to hear the referees whistle clearly across their supporting career.
The findings are especially embarrassing for Arsenal and Manchester United, whose grounds dwarf the 49,000-seater Sunderland home ground by 11,000 and 21,000 seats respectively.
Quietest home fans were Fulham who could only muster an average maximum volume of 115.4 decibels at home.
And although not the loudest, Everton fans proved that they have the stamina to keep it up all match. Their chants were the most frequent (one every three minutes on average) and longest (52 seconds each on average) of all teams studied.
The ear-bending research was commissioned by 118118 who are searching for the best and loudest football chants in the country.
NOISE LEAGUE TABLE:
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester City
Aston Villa
Everton
Chelsea
Middlesbrough
Derby County
Newcastle United
West Ham
Birmingham City
Arsenal
Portsmouth
Blackburn Rovers
Bolton Wanderers
Liverpool
Manchester United
Wigan Athletic
Reading
Fulham
26 October 2007
Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks says Rafa Benitez must challenge for the Premier League title to justify his transfer spending.
Speaking after Liverpool's loss to Besiktas in the Champions League, Hicks said that the league is the club's priority after Benitez based his pre-season spending on creating a squad capable of challenging Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Hicks and partner George Gillet sanctioned the purchase of Fernando Torres for £26.5million and Ryan Babel for £11.5million - among others - and are expecting a quick return on their investment.
Hicks told The Guardian: "One of the reasons we made the signings we did in the summer was to create the depth we now have. Rafa explained to George and me that is how you win the Prem, because you have to play every team twice. We totally support Rafa, nobody wants to win more than Rafa. But I know when we committed the resources for signings in the summer the whole idea was to have a team that could compete for the Premier League. We've not had the depth previously to do that. This squad is good enough to win things. It should be winning things. If it doesn't we'll have to look at the circumstances and have a meeting at the end of the year to understand what happened. I don't want to predict failure, I want to predict success."
Liverpool face unbeaten league leaders Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.
25 October 2007
Defiant Jamie Carragher has called on Liverpool to rediscover the spirit of 2005 to haul themselves out of a deep Champions League hole.
The tough defender has been part of a Liverpool side who have lost key group matches to Marseille and now Besiktas, with just the point gained in Porto to their name this term.
For the five-time European Cup winners, who pride themselves on their foreign achievements, Liverpool are rushing head-long towards the sort of disaster that defines and wrecks careers.
After the horror of Istanbul that leaves them bottom of Champions League Group A and facing 'relegation' to the UEFA Cup - or even being dumped out of Europe completely - the beaten finalists of six months ago are facing humiliation.
The 2-1 defeat by Besiktas, in the city that staged Liverpool's greatest triumph in modern times two years ago when they claimed a fifth European Cup, has left boss Rafael Benitez and his squad stunned.
They are facing an exit from Europe's elite competition just as Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea are all confidently marching on towards the knockout stages and the last 16.
Liverpool had 28 attempts on goal against Besiktas, but only after Steven Gerrard's late header did they look capable of a salvage operation.
Now Carragher says: "I do not accept that there was much wrong with our performance in Istanbul, we were just unlucky in their penalty box. We feel we did not get what we deserved. But look back to 2005 and the group stages. We did not do particularly well then, but ended up winning it. Now we must show that sort of spirit. We went to the last group game then and got ourselves out of it. So it looks like we are going to have to do the same again."
Back in 2005, Liverpool managed to lose two group games against Monaco and Olympiakos and claim a scrappy drawn with Deportivo la Coruna.
All seemed lost ahead of the final home game with Olympiacos, but a dramatic fightback with goals from Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Neil Mellor and Gerrard produced an historic comeback.
They ended up winning the trophy that season, and now Carragher accepts that it will take that level of heroics to see Liverpool through this crisis.
He said: "We are not thinking about the UEFA Cup, we are still going for it in the Champions League. Win three games and we are through. You want to stay in the Champions League because it is a bigger trophy, but we have got great memories of the UEFA Cup and if we end up there we will try to win that instead. We cannot be too disappointed, we played the right way and dominated in Istanbul."
Liverpool now have the return with Besiktas in a fortnight, followed by Porto at Anfield and the potential for last-night heroics in Marseille in their last group game in December.
Carragher said: "We did it once before and we can do it again. It could well go right to the wire of that last game in Marseille. I am not down one bit, we must go into the Arsenal game in the league on Sunday with confidence because the only thing wrong in Istanbul was our finishing."
There has been plenty of criticism of Liverpool's display in Turkey, with claims they lacked direction, team spirit and drive.
But Carragher said: "It was a disappointing result, I felt the lads showed great commitment and we are proud of the way we played. We have three games left and we have to go for it. We deserved more, we had so many shots on goal. Conceding that first goal just made things more difficult. We kept going, but to have 28 attempts away from home in the Champions League showed how well we played. But it is another bad result in Europe, we can't hide from that. What it does is put more pressure on us for the final three games. We have nothing to lose now, we just have to go for it."
He added: "We must only look to beating Besiktas next, then go from there. It might take three more wins and probably will, but we have a team here capable of going anywhere in Europe and winning. We must make sure we are still in with a chance when we go to Marseille in the last match."
Boss Benitez, who might soon have to answer some tough questions from the club's American owners, said: "We had three chances before they scored. We kept attacking even after they scored. Our possession and shots were very high, and we created so much. It was our poor accuracy and their good keeper. It was as simple as that. The atmosphere was outstanding, but we should have had the quality to overcome that. Now we have two games at Anfield where our support will be just as powerful. We must stay calm, not get too worried about losing one or two matches. But in Europe you cannot make mistakes, and we needed to score the first goal."
25 October 2007
David Moyes believes the burning sense of injustice coursing through Everton's squad will spur them to success after claiming the Merseyside derby was like 12 v nine.
Boss Moyes is still livid with referee Mark Clattenburg after Everton had Tony Hibbert and Phil Neville sent off in the 2-1 defeat by Liverpool.
The Scot remains convinced the official was influenced by Reds skipper Steven Gerrard and wrong to ignore Everton's penalty shout when Joleon Lescott was wrestled to the ground by Jamie Carragher.
But ahead of the Group A tie at home to Greek side Larissa, Moyes said: "We had to play 12 v nine on Saturday but the disappointment will make us stronger."
