I've heard some people saying that Houllier is way better than Benitez in managing Liverpool.
This is the analysis made by Paul Tomkins about the two managers, you can read it here.

YNWA :)

Torres scored one goal every 95.2 mins (the best in the PL for players with at least 5 goals), compared to one per 95.7 for Drogba, one per 104.7 for Rooney and one per 139.6 for RVP.

Warning: Explicit Content

I can't fucking believe it. I do not care that some people call Benitez "fat Spanish waiter",but it's a fucking disgrace when the so-called self-proclaimed Liverpool fans are echoing the statement.

Yes he may have made some bad decisions but he is still our manager, who is also an integral part of the club. Every manager makes some bad decisions, buys some bad players. Houllier's only bad buys are Diouf and Diao? Please. There was even less competition to win the league then compared to these recent seasons. Were Aston Villa, Manchester City, and Tottenham challenging the fourth place too then? Think not.

If you ask me personally, yes Rafa has made some bad decisions. You guys want to get rid of him, what next? In my humble opinion I think we have to get rid of the owners first, ASAP. They are the overriding problem. Whoever the manager we will hire after Rafa won't be able to do their job properly either under various restrictions imposed upon them by the Yankee morons. And if we do fire Rafa, who's next? You guys want Mourinho and Hiddink, but why would those two unarguably great managers come to work with a financially troubled and instable club like us? Right now, we only have history, and only history will get us nowhere, you know it.

Thoughts :(

The last home game against Chelsea was something like a title decider, although that's not how I would like us to decide the title. But as the banner a Chelsea fan was carrying to Anfield said, "Gary Neville or Chelsea?" , Chelsea is definitely the lesser of two evils. Us and Manchester United go way back, while us and Chelsea have become rivals only in relatively recent years.

To be honest, I'm dead scared for the club I love. We're going to spend at least the next season without Champions League football, and that is bound to affect our finances. And with the emergence of teams the likes of Spurs, Manchester City and Aston Villa, who all are more than capable of challenging the sacred Top 4 places, our chance to be back in the Champions League would be an uphill struggle.

Since the takeover in 2007, our debt has increased almost 100fold. When David Moore sold Liverpool FC to some imbecile morons namely Tom Hicks and George Gillet, the morons inherited a total debt of approximately 100mil pounds. Fast forward 4 years, we currently owe the Royal Bank of Scotland around 473mil pounds plus 40mil pounds of interest. With our early elimination from the Champions League and failure to finish above the sixth place, it's no wonder that this season we recorded a loss in profit.

What's more embarassing is that Martin Broughton, the Chelsea season ticket holder had to go meet the Premier League committee to convince them because they were concerned that UEFA would not allow us to operate in our condition. It's fortunate that the license is already granted by the UEFA. Another report states that our current financial status is only good for another 5 years. If we keep going down at this rate, it would safe to bury Liverpool FC in another 5 years. :(

And I don't think anyone would meet the morons' asking price. Or if anyone, it wouldn't happen so fast. When the morons announced that they're selling, I thought it's too good to be true. I don't know why, but I'm not convinced with Broughton. :(

Last home game of the season

Watched the game from my hotel room in Bangalore last night. I don't know how I could stand watching the game in which Liverpool had only one shot on target in the whole 93 minutes.

Reina put on an impeccable performance as always. Was exposed by Gerrard's ill-judged back pass for Drogba's goal, and could do little for Lampard's goal. Made an excellent save to deny Malouda and 3 saves to deny Anelka. His athleticism and distribution are as good as always.

Carragher dealt with Drogba well, but had to be substituted early in the second half due to injury with a broken look on his face. Made some good interventions, but 126 minutes of football on Thursday had taken its toll on his fitness and he's not getting any younger either.

Agger put on a good performance at left back. Despite his niggling injuries, he has been one of the few consistent performers in the team this season, eventhough the second Chelsea goal came from the left flank.

Kygiakos is a monster. For just 1.5million, he's the best bargain of the season. He made some terrific challenges and seemed to be able to win every header that came in his way.

Ayala, a rookie 19-year-old centre back, surprisingly gave an assured performance. I was half-expecting him to be skinned by Drogba. Even some Mancs was impressed. Definitely one for the future.

Mascherano. The worst player on the field yesterday, simply put. I heard rumours saying that he was injured, not sure why he started yesterday. Was skinned by Kalou each and every time.

Lucas looked assured and confident. He moved the ball swiftly and accurately around the field. One of the better performers in our team yesterday.

Gerrard. History repeats itself, although he used to do that to Henry. It was a pretty even game before the disastrous back pass to Drogba to take advantage of. After the goal, it was all Chelsea. But to be fair, Gerrard did show some of his class in the game. Made some smart long distance and cross field passes from deep.

Benayoun. Not having his best day. Was quiet in the first half.

Maxi did well in link-up plays and looked composed on the ball. Made a fine pass to Aquilani but the Italian didn't score thanks to a late intervention by Ivanovic. Had to be substituted late in the first half due to injury.

Babel did little on the ball but showed some urgency .

Aquilani played well in the first half, was unlucky not score from a 25-yard shot that when a little over the bar. Spurned a chance to score due to late challenge from Ivanovic. Faded in the second half to be replaced with David Ngog.

Kuyt. Offered no threat as a lone striker, ran around like a headless chicken most of the time, but did some alright link-up plays.

As a Liverpool fan, I'm quite saddened by the loss, but it makes me feel better to think that Manchester United will probably not win the league this season.

And it's time to stop chastising Steven Gerrard. The man has had one bad season. He's been there for us in the past. Without him Olympiakos, Istanbul, Cardiff, to name a few, would not have been possible. I still have goosebumps thinking of the beauty of a goal he scored at Anfield against Olympiakos at Anfield in 2004. Let us all get behind him, he's had enough to deal with, what with the wild rumours surrounding him and his family. The least we can do for him is to offer him a moral support from us, the loyal supporters.

Champions League or Europa League?

It's been one hell of a season. 4th place is out of reach now, lets just hope that Manchester United won't win the league.

Come to think I it, I think I kinda want us not to be in Top 4. Don't get me wrong, I was us to succeed, I always have, but do we deserve to be in Top 4 this season? We've been playing like shit (with the exception of few games), enough said. Tottenham and City deserve it more than we do. So we'll have to wait for at least one more season to put ourselves together and start playing like the mighty Liverpool again to regain our place in Top 4, deservedly.

Let this be a lesson for all. We may be a club full of history, class and prestige, but that doesn't mean that we can stop playing well. What infuriates me the most is that sometimes I see those players in Red shirts on the pitch don't even look interested.

Well of course losing some major players due to both injuries and transfers were bound to cost us. Xabi Alonso's role last season as a deep-lying playmaker in our midfield cannot be more emphasized. While Johnson provides us an extra flair in attacking with his surging overlap runs, he is sometimes a bit suspect in defending, unlike the always-so-reliable-and-dependable Alvaro Arbeloa.

Maxi Rodriguez will come out good. Aquilani, can't say too much. He's had some good displays, including the man-of-the-match performance against Pompey, but at the moment he's a bit inconsistent. I just hope he'll be given a chance to show what he's made of. For 1.5mil, Kyrgiakos is a bargain. A bit nervy at first, but has been giving solid performances since. He's the best header in our team.

Yes, the lack of fund contributes to this dismal season, but the owners are not the only ones to blame. Here's an idea: why don't the owners, the manager and the players ALL take responsibility and stop pointing fingers at each other?

Benfica 1st leg

Well from last night's game I can conclude that:

- Steven Gerrard and Daniel Agger are geniuses. That backheel is cheeky!

-In Europe you can keep your boots 5 feet high in the air and hit someone (i.e. Ryan Babel) on the head and not getting punished at all

-You can deliberately tackle someone from behind with such a crippling force and not being given your marching order

-You can retaliate when the referee cautions you after your deliberate serious foul play on someone and not getting a second yellow card.

-Touching someone on the face with such gentle loving force is worse than volleying someone from behind with extra heavy duty force

-When you grasp someone's hand for a second and let go a second later and not affecting that person's balance at all, you could be awarded a yellow card

-You can bring explosive flares,firecrackers and missiles in Portugal but you can't even smuggle in a can of Coke at Anfield.

-You can throw firecrackers and missiles onto the pitch in Europa League games in Portugal but you will be heavily fined if you throw an empty crisp packet in England.

-When you want decisions to go your way all night, you can ask your supporters to intimidate the officials with missiles and shout at them in the face until they give in.


Okay what Babel did was silly and gave a reason for the stupid ref to card him, but is his offense worse than Luisao's on Torres? No where in the FIFA guideline that says that you can be sent off for what Babel did. How could it be deemed violent conduct. Babel didn't set to cripple Luisao. Luisao retaliated when cautioned by the ref, than didn't deserve another caution?

But I can totally understand why Babel did it. I'm sick of watching Torres gets kicked all over the pitch too. He apologized later and admitted it was silly. It was silly, but I hope he doesn't feel very bad about it.

We didn't play all that well. After babel was sent off we looked like we were already giving up. Benfica started pushing us. Insua and Lucas had a stinker, enough said. But in all fairness to Insua, he was put in a terrible position, ergo the foul. You can argue that Carra's handball wasn't deliberate cause his hand was up before the cross was made, but I thought it's a penalty at the first glance. Torres missed a great chance for us to re-take the lead at 1-1. That was uncharacteristic of him, with the keeper already beaten but he put the shot wide.

It was strange. The ref got some major decisions right but made a few horrible ones too. Like Danny Agger rightly said, what's the point of having 5 refereees is none of them can make a decision?

Also, we're out of left backs and wingers. Aurelio's injured, Insua's suspended. Kelly's injured, too. Babel's suspended, MAxi's ineligible, and I don't think Rafa will let that prat Riera play. Benayoun is available though.