“Liverpool’s continued absence from the Champions League is dangerously becoming something of a self-defeating cycle. Without the prestige and, more importantly, the revenue from competing in Europe’s elite club competition, the Reds lack both the financial clout and the pulling power to compete with the top sides for the big names – and, on top of that, they’re now becoming vulnerable to other teams coming in for their star players, with the lure of big-money contracts and Champions League football potentially turning the heads of key members of Brendan Rodgers’ squad.” Sabotage Times

“There are two main ways to approach the selection process. The first is to pick each player by ‘type’ and select men who will complement each other on the pitch, producing a balanced and cohesive team. The manager simply gives these players a general framework to play in and lets them play. This method is not very detailed; the trick is in signing the right archetypes. We can broadly call this the ‘macro’ method. The second approach is much more sophisticated and requires a much deeper understanding of tactics and the ability to translate these ideas into instructions the players can absorb and understand. They will need to know precisely what they are expected to do in any given situation. Player types become less important as specific instructions can govern behaviour – but the balance and detail of the manager’s plan has to be spot-on. This, then, is the ‘micro’ method.” Tomkins Times

“Football is a folk game in the truest sense of the word; it is of the people, by the people and for the people. Therein resides its power and longevity. The Victorians lay claim to codifying and defining the sport but the game itself has existed in some form or another all over the world for centuries. The Romans and ancient Greeks played a ball game with their feet, as did the Chinese; indeed the practice of Cujo (literally kick-ball) dates back to 1BC. There are variations in most cultures that are region-specific and as different from each other as football is to rugby. There seems to be something enduring and fascinating across the world about these team ball-games played with the feet. However, the game in England evolved from games that involved neighbouring towns and villages attempting to move a ball to a specific geographical location, the balls were usually carried and involved an unlimited amount of participants and resembled localised riots rather than a hobby or pastime.” Tomkins Times

“Football fans hover on the edge of insanity all year round. But the summer seems to push many over the precipice. It’s the time of hope and imagination, and that can be dangerous. The massive increase in newspaper space dedicated to football, allied to the rise of the internet, has helped turn the summer into a stress-fest. But the advent of Twitter has given voice to a thousand wind-up merchants, pranksters and wannabe transfer scoopers, the result of which is to multiply the insanity.” Tomkins Times

“The UK’s wartime leader undoubtedly had many virtues, but an interest in football was never amongst them. Nonetheless, however unintentionally, his above quote accurately summarises the current position of Liverpool FC, because if ever a football club has reason to be proud of its history and traditions, it’s Liverpool. At the same time, if ever a football club was at risk of that same tradition becoming an unintended euphemism for inertia and underachievement, it’s also Liverpool. Churchill is perceptive in his counselling that the past is there to be respected but should not be allowed to dictate the present.” Tomkins Times

“I can’t stand the noise. Please, make it stop. In the old days we wanted Liverpool FC to do its business in private and only release it to the world when it was complete. Now, in life in general, no news is bad news. Indeed, no news is terrible news. No news is an excuse for mass hysteria. I’ve been guilty of it, too; Twitter, in particular, does that to you. You stare at the screen as it updates … and still no news! It’s been five seconds! Refresh, refresh.” Tomkins Times

“Joey Barton doesn’t need legal aid but we typical Guardian do-gooders are going to give him free advice anyway. When he appears in front of the FA Committee of Investigation into Sustained Attacks on All and Sundry following the misunderstanding in Manchester on Sunday, Barton might try to curry sympathy among the powers-that-be by pointing out that Opta statistics show that, despite incurring a record-equalling nine red cards, Queens Park Rangers were the most fouled team in the Premier League this season. And Barton was their most fouled player.” Guardian

“Roy Hodgson’s West Brom completed the ultimate smash-and-grab raid to record their first win at Anfield for 45 years as Liverpool dominated but dropped yet more points at home. Had the hosts converted all their chances they would probably have made it into double figures but their season-long goalscoring problems cost them dearly once again.” ESPN

“Since taking over at Liverpool Kenny Dalglish has spent almost £100 million on buying the ‘best’ of British players within the Premier League in a bid to instigate an overhaul of Liverpool and return them to their former glory. Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Adam, Craig Bellamy and Andy Carroll were all brought in to start a British revolution at the club.” Just Football

“In the latest ‘Secret Footballer‘ column in The Guardian, the unnamed Premier League player made some very interesting claims about which statistics are valued by Liverpool’s former director-of-football Damien Comolli…” Tomkins Times

“Ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous. Liverpool’s Wembley warm-up consisted of an evening of engrossing ineptitude on as strange a game as even they, and even the beleaguered Blackburn Rovers, have endured in their surreal seasons. It concluded in suitably peculiar fashion as the outnumbered, the out of favour and the out of position somehow contrived to earn only a second win in ten league games.” ESPN

“Luis Suarez’s late header prevented a fourth successive league defeat but it only served to paper over the cracks of another faltering Liverpool performance. The Reds went into the game on the back of six losses in seven matches, their worst sequence for almost 60 years, and with criticism mounting on both the players and manager Kenny Dalglish. Fragile confidence was eroded further when Chris Herd put the visitors ahead early on but a much-needed win for the midlanders, for whom relegation worries have been growing, proved beyond them.” ESPN

“I’ve been saying for many months that I don’t quite know what to make of this Liverpool side. And it only gets more confusing with the passing of time. I always felt that I knew where I was with Rafa Benítez’s Liverpool, even if the ride could still get bumpy. And I certainly knew where I was with Hodgson’s: desperate to parachute off. (The Croydonian was a successful Cessna pilot who looked terrified and confused at the controls of a Boeing 747. What does this lever do? – ah, drop Daniel Agger in place of Soto Kygriakos.) This is different.” Tomkins Times

“Papiss Cisse showed £35 million man Andy Carroll how to do it as Newcastle increased their advantage over Liverpool to 11 points. The Senegal international’s 19th-minute header set the Magpies on their way to a victory which leaves them in pole position to claim a top-six Barclays Premier League finish, and his second with 59 minutes gone sealed it. But on a black day for the visitors, keeper Pepe Reina was sent off nine minutes from time for head-butting defender James Perch, indicating as he belatedly left the pitch that he would resume their discussion after the final whistle.” ESPN

“What is now starting to become a familiar hush fell over Anfield on Saturday afternoon as Liverpool huffed and puffed their way to another home defeat, this time at the hands of Wigan Athletic. Whilst this result didn’t necessarily qualify as the shock of the season, it was another sign that a club that has been in the headlines more than most since last August is continuing to derail, with only the inconsistency of those below them in the table keeping them in seventh place in the table. Moreover, some – perhaps many – of the clubs supporters are now having to do what they may previously have considered the unthinkable: question Kenny Dalglish.” twohundredpercent

“This season, Liverpool have not won enough games because they have not scored enough goals. What started out as “one of those days” (Stoke away, 24 shots, 3 clear chances, 0 points), became a blip (Norwich home, 29 shots, 2 clear chances, 1 point), became a season-long malaise. By the time we played Blackburn at Anfield (27 shots, 5 clear chances, 1 point), there was little more than a resigned shrug from Liverpool fans.” Tomkins Times

“In last week’s derby Liverpool had four homegrown players, here’s five more who are ready for the first team, thanks in no small part to Rafael Benitez’s work on the academy set-up…” Sabotage Times

“Kenny Dalglish’s innate, instinctive reaction is to defend his charges, whatever the accusations levelled against them. He can appear especially touchy when the players in question are his signings. But even those accustomed to a defiant Dalglish forming a protective shield in front of an under-fire footballer were taken aback by the Scot’s January justification of Stewart Downing’s recruitment when he said: ‘He is better than what I thought he was.'” ESPN

“Nicklas Bendtner’s second goal in a week secured a 1-0 victory for Sunderland over Liverpool as Jose Reina endured another miserable afternoon on Wearside. The Denmark international pounced from close range with 56 minutes gone to fire the home side ahead after strike-partner Fraizer Campbell’s shot had twice hit the woodwork with the Spaniard unable to do anything about it.” ESPN