Pongolle and Mellor Away

Florent Sinama Pongolle today signed a one year loan deal with newly promoted La Liga outfit Recreativo de Huelva. Neil Mellor, meanwhile, is bound for Deepdale to play for Preston North End, after the clubs agreed an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around the £500,000 to £1,000,000 mark.

Mellor will be remembered for his match-winning goals against Arsenal and Olympiakos, a poachers goal against Newcastle, a brace against Boro in the League Cup, and a semi-final goal against his home-town club, Sheffield United, in the same competition.

Pongolle's loan deal apparently does not have a buyout clause, and therefore he will likely return at the end of the season.

Rumours suggest that Jan Kromkamp is on his way to PSV Eindhoven. Benitez has reportedly had a £2M offer rebuffed by Blackburn Rovers for Lucas Neil, who is eligible to buy out his own contract for a sum in the region of £1.7M which should ensure the signing goes through whether Blackburn like it or not, with Neil refusing to sign a renewal and reportedly eager to join the Reds. A versatile defender who can cover across the back line, Neil would be an excellent addition to the squad from a footballing perspective, even if many fans are questioning his attitude.

Another rumour has Harry Kewell linked with Tottenham Hotspurs. A well-known poster on certain Liverpool sites who is a known acquaintance of the Spurs club doctor has stated that a Liverpool player definitely had a medical with them this morning, which he is rumoured to have failed. A process of elimination suggests this was Harry, with Spurs in the chase for a left-sided player and Benitez having strengthened that flank this season.

One Flukey Goal and Three Points

As you can see from this image, the allegations that Reina was out of position and Zamora's insistence that he hit his goal on purpose on Saturday are somewhat stretched! In fact the replays clearly show Zamora looking into the box before trying to hit a cross, but the ball got away from him and he sliced it towards the near post. As for Reina, perhaps he could have got to the ball better, but he had set himself for a cross, and was perfectly positioned to stop the ball going to West Ham's free attacker on the left. When Zamora mishit his cross, Pepe had to change direction to get to the ball, which wriggled in off his fingers at full stretch.

You can see from this second image, which is the last frame on the TV footage before he hits the ball, that Zamora is positioned to cross the ball, not shoot. So the record will show that one of West Ham's three "shots" on target (the other two not being worth mention) was a mishit cross which resulted in a flukey goal. The Reds meanwhile had upwards of eight shots on target, but don't let that fool you into thinking we were on top of the game.

West Ham caused us a lot of problems, over-running our centre midfield at times and getting round us at the back too often for my liking when they attacked the space behind our fullbacks.

Harewood was unlucky with a chance not long after Zamora's fluke, and late on they should have punished us when Bowyer was desperately unlucky to put one wide after beating Reina. There was nothing unlucky about Man of the Match Daniel Agger's goal however: a super, curling, 35 yard effort (I'm guessing) which would have beaten the keeper even if it hadn't moved away from him in the air.

"Dagger" is increasingly proving himself to be the best defensive find of the last few years in any league, and makes the amount the Mancs overpaid for Vidic look rather risible. A cynical person might say our "interest" in Vidic was calculated to force them down the wrong path whilst we scooped up an absolute bargain. It's early in his Anfield career, but this lad looks like the genuine thing, and in a few years I personally believe he will be one of the classiest defenders in the world. If I'm over-enthusing then it's probably because we haven't had a defender this good on the ball since Jocky, although I'm not going to directly compare the two. Jocky would never have slotted one like that ...

Crouch also netted after a delicious move involving a sweet little backflick through a crowded box from Garcia. Peter still had some work to do, but rounded the keeper and stroked the ball in between Anton Ferdinand's legs. The goal was a bit of a redemption for both, as until that point they had probably been our worst players. However, even if all a player does in a game is to set up or score the winning goal, that will be enough for me. Crouch took his chance, when it came, with aplomb. The addition of Kuyt and Bellamy seems to have worked wonders on the big lad as he's now scoring goals like there's no tomorrow. Which may be partially correct, given the quality of Kuyt's debut.

In an earlier post I said that I had been advised that the newly crowned Dutch Footballer of the Year, Dirk Kuyt, was like Mark Hughes as a player. Well and good, but from what we saw on Saturday Sparky never had half so much pace as Dirk, and although forty minutes of football in a very open game is not a lot to base it on, I think this one is going to be a real star for us. A powerful forward who can finish with either foot, or his head, Kuyt can also drift wide for the ball and will be our first line of defence as he harries the opposition when they get possession.

With Gonzalez gaining momentum in the side, and rumours from RAWK suggesting that Momo was spotted out in Moods the other night strutting his funky stuff and telling people he would be fit for the Derby fixture, all I can say is bring on the Bitters ... it's just a shame that yet again the international break strikes when we're starting to hit our stride. They can't argue that it's the same situation for them, as they undoubtedly have fewer internationals involved. But I still think we'll be ready for Gollum and his legions of Orcs ...

p.s. Kudos to Murpheus from RAWK for two of the pictures I stole.

A Hundred Years of the Kop

As Liverpool fans prepare to celebrate a hundred years of the Kop tomorrow against West Ham, here's a video of the last day of the standing Kop to get you in the mood.



Video courtesy of Youtube.

Champions League Group

It's an auspicious group for Liverpool in some ways. The return of Vladi Smicer and our return to the Ataturk will add interest to two of the fixtures, and our first ever competitive game against Bordeaux will add another little piece of history to the pile.

PSV Eindhoven look the biggest threat for me, but a certain Dutch Liverpool striker has a great record against them for his old club, Feyenoord. I think we can win this group. It's certainly a lot less daunting than last years draw.

Our toughest fixture might be the away on 5th December. But if we have to go to the Ataturk requiring three goals then I can't think of many better places.

Liverpool Qualify for Champions League

Liverpool avoided tripping on a potential banana skin last night, although we did manage to tread squarely on it and have a bit of an unsteady moment first.

The game would have been boring to anyone who doesn't follow one of the teams involved, but for Liverpool fans it was the nervous, teeth-gritting experience that CL qualification always becomes. As a Liverpool fan said to Maradona at the Ataturk stadium before kickoff: we will win the game, but we will be made to suffer.

The fixture list won't get any easier in the next few weeks and we will certainly miss Momo and Carra in the derby, but we remain unbeaten at this stage of the season and will be looking to improve from here on in now that the distracting initial European hurdle is over.

Daniel Agger is a bonus from these initial games, despite a mini-injury crisis. Handed a chance at the Charity Shield, the young Danish centre-back impressed against Drogba and Shevchenko, and with Carra's injury against Sheffield United he is likely to get a run in the side, where he is looking increasingly assured.

Pennant and Gonzales also continue to impress, and Aurelio looks like a talented addition to the squad. Bellamy only got a late runout, but has looked useful in previous appearances.

Overall it looks to have been a very satisfying transfer window, although business may not be completely concluded: according to AS in Spain, Benitez has had Lucas Lobos, a £10M rated attacking midfielder scouted, and the Independent has him mulling over a bid.

Personally I think it's more likely to be a long-term target for next summer however, as if we had an extra ten million floating around we would have likely used some of it it on Alves.

There is also a strong undercurrent of rumour that we will sign Lucas Neil from Blackburn on a free, if Benitez can offload Kromkamp. The only thing I can say about that is at least he would be breaking the opposition's legs not ours, if it's true.

Liverbird Upon My Chest

Found on youtube ...

Rotation and An Away Draw

Benitez's ideas on squad rotation are part of what sets him apart from other managers. He has an extreme view on the subject, which forms an important part of his strategic armoury.

Even whilst bringing unprecedented success, he was criticised for his squad rotation by the fans and the pundits at Valencia, and he has taken criticism from Liverpool fans on the same subject. For instance, Saturday's away draw against Sheffield United is being blamed by many Reds on Rafa's rotation of the squad, in terms of not fielding his strongest eleven.

Let's ignore for a moment that the strongest Liverpool sides have put in poor results against what proved to be weaker sides playing out of their skins against a top club at the start of the season. The argument goes that if Benitez had started with his strongest lineup yesterday, and continued to do so for every game, then we would win everything in sight.

Before 1965, this was a superb argument. The lack of any substitutes meant that there was less point in having decent players outside the first eleven, and the game was played at less of an athletic level so it was possible for players to recover more quickly from games.

The first subsitution made in the game was on August 21, 1965, when Keith Peacock of Charlton Athletic replaced injured goalkeeper Mike Rose after eleven minutes of their away fixture against Bolton Wanderers. The laws have since been relaxed to allow tactical substitutions during a match, and the number of substitutions and the numbers allowed on the bench have since been increased to the current three and five, respectively.

A tactical substition is one unforced by injury. A player can be brought on to change a game and get a goal: such as Liverpool's use of Davey "supersub" Fairclough during our glory days. Substitutions can also be used to effect tactical changes on the formation or system of play during a game. Adding width, changing the qualities of the forward line, bringing on a man marker or compressing the game are all common ploys.

It's a fourteen man game, not an eleven man game.

The use of substitutions I haven't discussed yet, and the point of this ramble, is substitutions for fitness reasons. During the course of a ninety minute match, players will tire. Doesn't matter how fit you are, doesn't matter how much training you've done or how many games you've played, at the end of a match you will be considerably more tired than at the start.

In fact, if you were to put a top team of eleven players who had just played ninety minutes immediately back on the pitch against a lower league team who had not played for a week, they would start at a considerable disadvantage.

Bringing on a set or two of fresh legs can change the game. Switching completely like for like forwards, or bringing on a fresh winger in the last twenty minutes can unravel a tired defence.

Even within the ninety minutes of a game there is a strong argument that, all other things being equal, rotating players through substitutions can win you matches. The eleven man team becomes the fourteen man team. If you have fourteen players of high quality and your opponent has eleven, then you have an advantage.

In the same way that a fourteen man match squad can be stronger than an eleven man match squad, a twenty two man squad can be stronger than a sixteen man squad over the course of a season. If all players are at the same level, are able to interchange seamlessly, and are happy to do so then this is inarguably true. If you field more players over the course of a season, then you will have a fitter squad at the sharp end when all the teams are more tired.

No-one can argue that the level of fitness and athleticism needed to survive at the top level of football has not increased dramatically in the last twenty years. Sport science, dietary regimes, improved facilities and better trainers have all contributed to this change.

If a footballer is running ten or more kilometres over ninety minutes, with changes in direction and a lot of short burst sprinting then this is going to be at least as physically challenging as any other sport.

If a player features in every game over the course of a season in a winning side, they are putting themselves through the mill sixty or more times with a break of less than a week in between matches. This is not going to be enough of a recovery period in between matches to ensure a consistent level of performance, so fitness levels are going to deteriorate over the course of a season. This is inarguable and can be seen on the pitch towards the end of every season.

The idea of squad rotation was hardly invented by Benitez. In it's purest form, the idea is to even out the appearances of your entire squad over the course of a season, thus gaining a fitness advantage. The other advantage is that your players will accrue experience of playing in different combinations and fringe squad members will obtain match practise, so that when changes are forced through injuries and suspension it's not such a big shock to the team.

Of course, it's nowhere near so simple as just having two teams and swapping them round every other game. Squad rotation does not imply wholesale change for the sake of it. If you change too many players then your team may lose its coherence.

It's also true to say that different positions on the pitch require more or less energy on average, so that goalkeepers use the least energy during the course of a game and wingers the most, with centre-backs, full-backs, centre-midfielders and strikers in between the two in roughly that order. Obviously the higher the expenditure of energy for a position on the pitch, the more rotation in that position is advantageous.

There is a certain amount of background rotation which will take place anyway, due to injuries, suspensions and lack of fitness. Using your subs to full advantage will also afford you a certain amount of rotation. On top of this, it's normal to keep a core squad playing together and only change a few players at a time. The idea is to average out appearances over a season, using natural wastage where possible, and making other changes where you feel you can get away with it. You can see this in operation to one degree or another in any football club in the world.

Where Benitez differs from the herd is that he embraces the idea of rotation and takes it to its extreme. He relies on more wholesale rotation as a strategy, and is not afraid to make twice the number of changes to his squad between games that most managers would. This marries well with his philosophy of tactical fluidity, where the team, formation and tactics are picked with the opposition in mind.

A Benitez squad is one without many superstars but where all the different players and combinations offer different possibilities. By concentrating on the detail and preparing to a nearly unrivalled degree, he hopes that his tactical ideas will be implemented successfully by whichever team he chooses for the occasion.

The strength of the squad Rafa inherited at Liverpool however, was not strong enough for him to fully implement his ideas in his first two seasons.

He used rotation to good effect with an injury-struck squad in his first season, winning the Champions League after sacrificing fourth place by fielding understrength teams in certain premier league matches. Glancing at the team sheet for games such as Crystal Palace away will readily confirm this.

He also started last season using a lot more wholesale rotation than previously at Liverpool, but uncomfortable with the results and the fact that his ideas were still not imposing themselves on our play, he started keeping a large core squad of players together after an indifferent start to send us on an unbeaten run before christmas. Changes were made in this period, but much less so than at the start of the season or for his Valencia team.

This season sees the first time that Rafa has a "complete" squad, in that he has two strong choices in every position. The versatility of the squad also makes for a lot of extra cover, as Benitez favours players who can play in more than one position.

It's clear that with his determination to rotate his players, and with Haifa in mind tomorrow night, Rafa did not field his strongest line-up on Saturday at Bramall Lane. Whilst it's not guaranteed that our best available eleven could have improved on the result, there will still be some blame attached for the performance to this selection decision. To counter, Rafa might say that his substitution plans were affected by two early injuries, but if the initial selection were stronger perhaps we could have won in any case.

My feeling though is to judge the strategy at the end of the season, not at the end of the first game. This game may seem like points dropped at this stage, but it's a thirty eight game campaign and the strategy is based on the long term not the short term.

In Rafa's first league campaign at Valencia, he rotated the team wholeheartedly and received immense criticism from the fans, many of whom were calling for his head by christmas. His team then famously went on an unbeaten run in the second half of the season and took the title by seven points.

The Beginning is Nigh

Twenty-odd hours until it all kicks off again at the delightful Bramall Lane.

It should be an interesting match. They'll be trying to make themselves a difficult team to beat and will treat this one like a cup final. I hope we'll play a strongish team whilst keeping something in our locker for Tuesday, which is also an important game.

Perhaps go for a more attacking lineup against the Blades, who despite their ranting managers fetish for strikers are likely to play five in midfield, sit back and look for the break.

It's always been difficult to second-guess Rafa's lineups, and that's part of the excitement for the coming season as he now has a squad which is going to make predicting his selection nigh impossible.

Everyone has a favourite eleven from the squad though.

Mine for tomorrow would be something like:

            Reina
   Finnan Carra Agger Riise
Pennant Gerrard Alonso Gonzales
         Bellamy Crouch

What's in a Name

He looks like Iain Dowie in a blond wig, but the lad can score goals.

Someone said the other day that he's more like Mark Hughes as a player than anyone else. Mark Hughes was a Manc so it's hard to be objective, but I can see their point. Hard-working, tough and energetic, Hughes had an eye for a pass as well as a goal. Kuyt, or Kuijt, looks strong in the air as well, attacking the ball with his whole body.

Whilst we're on the subject, although this has possibly been the most protracted transfer ever, does anybody actually know this lads name yet?

I've seen it written Kuijt or Kuyt, and heard it pronounced about eight different ways. Cruyff was often spelt Cruijff seemingly correctly, so perhaps it's some wierd Dutch vowel that can be written different ways in English and we'll never clear that one up.

The pronunciation however, is "KOWT". I'd love it to be "KITE". That would make all sorts of songs and puns available. But I've been listening to Dutch radio broadcasts about the transfer online, and the closest I can get is"KOWT".

As long as the lad continues doing what he's been doing at Feyenoord though, I honestly don't give a showt.

Charity Shield and Stuff

I should have written a Charity Shield entry on here before now ideally, and one on last nights Liverpool XI game at Sincil Bank, but I've just been basking in the glory for three or four days instead.

Went into Sundays game with this horrible feeling deep inside that we would lose, not for any explicable reason but just one of them random ones that usually turn out to be right. Saw who we lined up with, and who they lined up with, and thought "oh well then, we will definitely get mashed here today". Not that it's an important game by any means, but I hate it when we lose.

It all got better from then on - even when Shevchenko equalised I knew we would win the game.

I've now started to feel massively optimistic about the season. It's a strange one, since I haven't felt optimistic about winning the league for a good few years now, and I've never in my life felt this excited about it because when I was growing up there was always more of an expectation that we would win the league regularly.

So I've just been wandering randomly about the place since Sunday with a massive grin on my face, without really communicating with anyone in any way. Like I said, just basking in the glory.

I expect I'll recover soon enough.

Liverpool 2- 1 Maccabi Haifa

Yesterday Liverpool snatched a slim advantage over Maccabi Haifa late in the first leg, on a night where two of our players reached European milestones.

Jamie Carragher rose to joint fourth highest European appearances in a Liverpool shirt, on the occasion of his 79th European game. If we reach the semi-finals of the competition, he could become the Liverpool player with most European appearances of all time.

Sami Hyypia is not far behind Jamie with 77 appearances, and last night became only the second Red ever to play 50 or more games in the European Cup itself.

Apart from those milestones, Steven Gerrard has notched up 67 European appearances, including 42 in the European Cup, and John Arne Riise has played 56 European games in a red shirt, including 47 European Cup games.

Considering our European experience within this squad is at such a high level, it's not such a big surprise as many claim that we were able to win it two seasons ago, and it shouldn't be a big surprise if we have a bloody good go again this season.

Beginning the qualifying leg last night, it was clear that the players are still not at 100% although it was a great improvement from the football on show in the friendly campaign and showed some positive signs for when we're fit and on form, which must happen in the next few matches.

The defence was a bit rusty: with Sami as short of pace as he always is at this stage of the season, we needed to be tight, and Riise's positional errors left us exposed at times. Haifa broke our offside trap with ease for their opening goal, using the space in between Riise and Sami to set off Bocolli, who dummied Reina to slide it into the net.

Liverpool looked out of shape in the midfield also, with Zenden struggling on the left, Alonso out of sorts and Gerrard pushed too far forward. Sissoko gave a man of the match performance however, bossing the middle of the pitch, and Pennant showed what he's about on the right, having a varied and skillful debut with some flashes of what's hopefully to come, particularly around the hour mark.

The equaliser came from Craig Bellamy, who held Steven Gerrard off to pounce on the rebound from Sissoko's saved shot and slot it into the roof of the net from an angle. Liverpool were finding it difficult to release Bellamy however, with little creativity on the left or through the centre, and Bellamy not being ideally suited for getting on the end of Pennant's crossing.

The second half saw Garcia come on to play off Crouch up front, with Zenden and Bellamy being sacrificed and Gerrard moving out to the left. This gave us a more direct, wide style, and we started to threaten their goal more, drawing a couple of saves and missing several opportunities to go ahead. Garcia also had a reasonable penalty shout turned down.

Although Liverpool saw 66% of possession in this game however, and had seven shots on target, we looked short of ideas to break the opposition down with our link man and wide men failing to get into the box enough to support the lone striker.

On 84 minutes, Benitez threw the dice and brought Gonzales on for Gerrard on the left. Two minutes later they came up sixes, as Gonzales initially stumbled over a ball which found him on the left of the box in space, from Alonso, but then recovered to scoop it right-footed over the keeper from close range.

A reasonable job done for the first half then, but not game over. They still have to beat us in the away leg however, and I fancy Liverpool to get at least one away goal when we're up to full fitness.

FSV Mainz 5 - 0 Liverpool

I know my first post on here was about friendlies being meaningless, but the team didn't need to take me so seriously!

Truthfully though, all the signs are that the squad have been training very hard and heavy legs got the better of us as much as the opposition (who are weeks ahead of us in their fitness schedule), combined with a flurry of substitutions in the second half.

I'm off away for the weekend so I'm not going to think about footie until Monday, then I'll be looking forward to Wednesdays CL qualifying game against Maccabi Haifa which will be our first real test of the season.

Before I go though, I'll just mention the last time we lost 5-0, which was in a pre-season friendly in '95 against Ajax in Moenchengladbach.

Our best league result that season was 6-0, and our worst defeat was 2-1, with Robbie Fowler scoring 28 goals. I wouldn't mind a repeat of those stats, although we'll hopefully finish better than the third place we managed that season.

Classic Goals

This is surely exactly what the internet was created for.

Courtesy of a link on the RAWK blog, and a subsequent search of YouTube, here are all seven goals from Liverpool's thumping of Tottenham Hotspur in September 1978:

* Dalglish: 10;
* Dalglish: 21;
* Kennedy: 30;
* Johnson: 48;
* Johnson: 57;
* Neal: 64 (pen);
* McDermott: 75.

Terry Mac's goal in particular is an all-time great. I won't spoil it by describing it - just click on it and watch. You can also read a match report at bobpaisley.com.

Expectations for the Season

Fuelled by an improved domestic performance last season including two runs of games where we showed title-winning form, a lot of the buzz amongst Liverpool fans at the moment is that this is the season Rafa Benitez will bring the Premier League title to Anfield.

Whilst I hope this turns out to be true, I think it's a big ask. In my opinion, the task for top premier league clubs at the moment must be to get as close to Chelsea as possible and be ready to take advantage if they slip up. They're able to call on virtually infinite transfer funds, with a shrewd manager who has showed before he arrived at Stamford Bridge that he's a winner, winning back to back domestic titles with Porto along with a UEFA Cup triumph and an unlikely European Cup win. Since arriving at Chelsea he's become the manager that the fans of other teams love to hate, but Chelsea's domestic form has been unassailable, dipping only once they have done the job of winning the title.

Whilst the stories of Manchester United and Arsenal's decline abound. United outperformed us (albeit by the smallest of margins) in the league last season, and Arsenal showed that they could replicate Liverpool's European form of the season before: only eventually capitulating to a Barcelona team who must be considered to be amongst the best sides in Europe over the last few seasons. In our favour, both sides have arguably been weakened in the summer, although there is still time for that to change.

There's no doubt that Benitez has worked miracles with Liverpool, and he has more than fulfilled my criteria for him of year on year improvement domestically whilst winning cup trophies where he can pick them up. If any manager is up to the task of surpassing the old guard and catching Chelsea, this is your man.

Adding to a defence which was one of the most miserly in the world last season and a midfield boasting as strong a centre as any, he has included pace and width in his squad in the close-season, as well as strengthening in depth to the point where we arguably have the second strongest squad in British football.

Additions such as Gonzales, Aurelio and Paletta have introduced strong competition to the left flank and central defence (along with the previous addition of Agger last January). On the right, he has added the type of player we have lacked at Liverpool for some time in Jermaine Pennant: a true wide player who can beat his man and deliver excellent crosses or passes from that flank. With Garcia and Gerrard also able to play more than adequately there, the competition on both flanks looks excellent, and in central midfield Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko and Zenden provide riches which Arsenal and United can only dream of.

Our goalie won the Golden Gloves in his first season at the club and has already broken club records after an exemplary season at Villareal. In front of him we have two of the premier leagues top five defenders statistically in Finnan and Carragher, whilst Hyypia looks as good as he ever did in the air and Riise was in my opinion the best left-back in the league last season. As mentioned before, we have strong, young competition in the centre of defence and Aurelio and Kromkamp provide more than adequate competion in the fullback roles.

Our weakest area looks to be up front: although Bellamy is a pacy, cultured forward who should prove to be a better option than the oft-lamented Cisse, we have still not replaced Morientes, leaving only three senior options up front, with Crouch and Fowler providing the other two. Pongolle has proved to be an excellent option from the bench in the past, but with his wantaway comments and with the player still looking short of leading the line on a regular basis, we must hope for the addition of another striker if we don't want to have any potential title challenge threatened by injury.

The talk is that Benitez would like to add Dirk Kuijt to his squad: a strong, versatile forward who has been prolific in the Eredivisie and looks to be the perfect complement to our existing strikers. However, with Feyenoord holding out for more than ten million and Benitez apparently needing to sell in order to fund such a move, the prospect looks unlikely at the time of writing.

Even so, the squad is looking almost complete, and much more in the mould of the manager: which is what has Reds salivating at the prospect of leaving the other challengers in our wake and running Chelsea down. I must admit I've even had a flutter at odds of 19/2. A nice, long bet which will leave me flush next May if it comes off.

I still feel we're a little short in terms of personnel though, and our league form against our immediate rivals in previous campaigns has not impressed. We've made Anfield the fortress it should be once again, and addressed the problem of our away form against sides placed lower in the table, but to challenge for the title we will have to play at least as well as last season, and translate our recent cup form against the big sides into league form.

There's nothing to say we can't do it, but we need to make a flying start and keep up our winning runs for longer. Competing on four fronts will make this difficult to pull off, and if we suffer an injury crisis such as in Houllier's last term or Benitez' first then we would find it difficult to be so consistent as last season.

In short, I'll be happy if we're within touching distance in May and end up a strong second. I won't mind so much if we don't win any cups this season, as I think we need to focus on the league. Although to sustain a financial challenge we need a strong run in the European Cup, and that will hopefully start next week at home against Haifa.

Can't wait!

Friendlies

There was a time when friendlies weren't on TV, and the only way you could find out what had happened or how the team was warming up for pre-season was to get your arse out of the house and on the bus, or talk to one of the lads who had gone to watch.

Not any more. "You're not going to challenge us for the premier league this season: you can't even beat second class German or Swiss teams", said a Chelsea fan I know. I just shook my head, and slipped another tenner on us at 9.5/1 on Betfair.

So far our pre-season friendlies would have us believe that our defence is littered with mistakes, (except Paletta, who is apparently going to take Hyypia's starting role), Gonzales won't settle in the premier league, Jack Hobbs looks calm and confident on the ball, no he's not, he's the worst defender in history, oh ok then, he looks ok again now, Pepe Reina may feature in midfield this season, we've forgotten how to pass the ball, and Craig Lindfield will cause Rafa to stop looking for that elusive fourth striker.

Let's have a reality check. These games were never an indicator of the season to come, as evinced by the number we've lost or drawn in title-winning seasons of the past. The coaches are working off the players holiday diets, the youth team get a runout as the squad straggles it's way back at various stages, depending on how busy their international schedules were this summer, the new players are bedding in, and the manager is relaxed and clearly more interested in having a laugh than working his tactical magic.

If we must watch these games on the TV, let's enjoy them for what they are: a chance to see a glimpse of our new players and a chance for the team to get used to playing against different opponents rather than playing against each other in a predictable training match.

If we make all our mistakes in pre-season, I'll be more than happy. And so might be my Betfair account, come the end of the season.

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