He’s big
He’s Red
His feet hang out the bed
Peter Crouch Peter Crouch!

We haven’t seen Crouchie in quite some time. Rafa chose to put him in the lineup Saturday, preferring to rest Torres, Babel, and Kuyt. I’m sure even after Crouch’s performance at the Emirates, that salvaged a point, we’ll see the three amigos again on Tuesday and Crouch shall make his dramatic return to the bench. And this is why I think that maybe the best thing for Crouch is to leave.

For a 27 year old International player, the last thing you want to do is play second fiddle to anyone. Unfortunately, as long as Torres is on the team and is fit, that’s exactly where Peter Crouch is going to be. This does not benefit him at all and does not benefit the English national team. Quality English players are becoming few and far between and when one of them go down with an injury, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find someone to fill their shoes. Unless, they’re Wayne Rooney’s shoes. Those look quite small. And you know what they say about men who wear small shoes? They also wear small socks. Pervert.

Portsmouth have shown continued interest in the big man this season. Crouch could go there and be in the starting lineup. No, he wouldn’t be on a team that’s in the Champions League. No, he wouldn’t be on a team that could be a contender for the league title, but then again, there’s a difference between being on the team and in the squad.

Pompey is one of the few teams that stand a chance at challenging the big four for their status. With the right players, they just might sneak into Europe. Crouch could be in the starting XI every week and could improve his ability. Then, when international games come around, he can do more than sit on the bench in a coat. I don’t blame him for not wanting to give up Liverpool. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to leave after having a taste of what could have been.

For whatever reason, Rafa just does not have the big man in his future plans. He would prefer to keep him as a backup for when Torres is injured or needs to be rested and it just does not matter how much Crouch trains or how many goals he scores when he is put on the pitch, he won’t be in the starting XI. If Crouch wants to remain a part of the national team, he must get in with a Premier League club that will play him consistently and give him the opportunity to hone his skills. Then, he will be able to show his greatness and who knows? Maybe one day he’ll end up back with the one of the big 4 or maybe a team in Spain or Italy. For now though, the road he is on only goes one way, and unfortunately, is a side street that dead ends. And there’s no U-turn. Also, there’s those one way spike things that slash your tires if you try to back up. And crocodiles. You get the picture.

Here’s vintage Crouch to warm the soul.

Pepe Reina is away with Spain, and after last month’s appearance in the friendly with Greece, there is a possibility he may start for the Spaniards. Spain are away to Iceland today and host Latvia on Wednesday. Those two games should bring Spain six points, but you never know, as they have messed it up in the past. I hope they do, as my very own Northern Ireland sit a point ahead of the Spanish today, and any slip-ups would be very helpful.
Our back-up goalkeepers, Charles Itandje and David Martin, were either too old for the U-21s (Itandje) or out of contention for now (Martin). Scott Carson (loaned out to Aston Villa) is however in the England squad for the home games against Israel and Russia. He was a dark horse to take the jersey for the matches, until McLaren restored his blind faith in Paul Robinson.

Steve Finnan was to be on duty with Ireland until he got injured. Jamie Carragher is injured, but Steve McLaren appears to have recognised his decision to quit international football. Daniel Agger’s talent has not gone unnoticed (ed-uhuh, naturally), and he is set to be the Danes’ number one defender for the match away to Sweden today. However, confidence is low in the Danish camp, after the 4-0 loss to Ireland last month. John Arne Riise, as usual, is in the Norwegian squad and should play for them today in Chisinau and next week against Greece in Oslo. Four points from those games against Moldova and Greece would do the Norwegians nicely. Alvaro Arbeloa has been left out of the Spain squad, good news for us, I can’t see why with the form he’s in. Sami Hyypia is also a certain starter for Finland’s matches against Serbia and Poland.

Harry Kewell still ain’t fit enough for the Aussie squad. Steven Gerrard is going to threaten serious harm to his toe by playing Israel today. This could put him out of the Liverpool side for weeks. However, we can always hope that this story is true and that he won’t need painkillers. Yossi Benayoun will play against England for Israel today. Xabi Alonso has been called up for Spain, and Aragones has stated he may be in line for a rare start against Iceland. Jermaine Pennant, whilst he should be in the England squad (albeit not playing as I have said), he isn’t and so gains valuable resting time. Ryan Babel may well start Holland’s vital games at home to Bulgaria and away to Albania on the back of his excellent form. Unfortunately, Javier Mascherano has had to travel thousands of miles for a friendly against Australia. This ludicrous match means that he is unlikely to play next weekend for the Reds, even if the Tuesday kick-off is slightly more advantageous for the European players. Sebastien Leto has thankfully been left out. Lucas Leiva has also been left out of the Brazil squad, despite his appearance in the squad for last month’s Algeria friendly. This is good for us, as we don’t really want him to suffer jetlag as a result of the trip to the USA.

Fernando Torres has shook off a knee problem and should play for Spain. Peter Crouch is banned for the Israel game, but should start against Russia on Wednesday in place of former Red Emile Heskey. Dirk Kuyt may play for Holland, but with the return of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Babel’s fine form and some fitness concerns, that is not definite. Andriy Voronin is likely to start up front for Ukraine against Scotland and the Faroe Islands as their top striker.

5. We didn’t sign another keeper
Surely six or eight or who knows how many Rafa has in his back pocket isn’t enough for him.

4. Gabriel Paletta was sold
Though happy it happened, I was still a bit surprised when it did. I really thought Rafa was going to hold on to Paletta as long as possible, hoping that the Argentinian would wake up one morning and all of sudden be a Premiership quality centre back.

3. We signed a French midfielder
First, this is surprising because Rafa is not known for his affinity for French players. Sure, Momo is technically French, but he plays internationally for Mali and has learned the ropes under Rafa in Spain and now England. Second, I’m going to guess that Damien Plessis, the kid we signed, didn’t speak with Anthony Le Tallec nor Charles Itandje nor even Djibril Cisse beforehand. Which brings me to my next one.

2. Anthony Le Tallec is still a Liverpool player… for now
There’s still a little over three hours remaining and he can always be sent out on ‘emergency’ loan at anytime, but as of this moment, he’s still a Liverpool player collecting dust in the reserves. Maybe Plessis was brought in to keep him company. Wouldn’t it be ironic that one of our many, many heroes of the 2005 Champions League run would be needed once again to suit up for us this season? He’s without a doubt the most likely to be gone by the time Big Ben (doesn’t) strikes midnight.

1. We didn’t sign a defender
The only thing I can take comfort in is the fact that we have players like Xabi and Mascherano who are intelligent enough football wise and disciplined enough to possibly play centre back and also we’ll have Carragher back after the international break and Aurelio returning not too long after that, but it would have been nice to sign even more insurance.

Liverpool 2, Toulouse 0. Hyypia.

Liverpool 3, Toulouse 0. Kuyt.

Liverpool 4, Toulouse 0. Kuyt (2).

That’s not to say we didn’t make mistakes, because we did, but once we felt they were wounded, we pounced on them like a pack of wolves on a limping sheep. I would have to say Hyypia’s goal in the opening minutes of the first half was probably where Toulouse started thinking about waving the white flag, because after that our boys started salivating.

I’m still going to stick with Arbeloa as Man of the Match, though I feel Kuyt will probably get the accolade on the official site. Arbeloa put on a flawless performance and was not only superb defensively, but he was a catalyst a lot of the times on the attack. Kuyt definitely deserves recognition for his two goal and one assist performance. I was especially happy to see him get the first one as he seemed to have the luck of a leper beforehand. It was a nice one-two with Babel, whom he’s appeared to have formed a nice attacking relationship. The second in the 75th minute on a through ball from Benayoun was just icing on the cake.

Leto failed to put in a memorable performance as he needs to exert himself more on attack if he wants a regular spot at least for cup ties. Babel was a great example as he came more inside instead of sitting out on the flank and pretty much forced them to give him the ball. Leto has to learn to do this and command the ball more as he seemed content with not being much of a gear in the attack engine. Leiva came on as a sub as well and was pretty solid on both ends. He almost scored on a put back right outside the box which would have been almost too magical for the Brazilian wonder kid.

As for the rest of the squad, Hyypia really stepped it up in the second half. I’m sure his class header goal had something to do with it, but he seemed rejuvenated and ran up and down the field like a young fawn after. Everybody else put in solid performances, though Sissoko and Agger started to look a little ragged and hence, were substituted. I’m going to say something here that you may never read again and say Crouch played good as well. There I said it, though he should have probably had at least another goal. The big difference between this performance and past ones was he didn’t hold on to the ball as long as he has in the past. Go figure.

Yossi probably deserves some special recognition as well as his effort was tireless and he assisted on Hyypia’s header goal and Kuyt’s second. For a guy who was said to have complained about lack of playing time, he certainly showed he should be playing more. After today, I’m sure Benitez will at least think about using him more in League play, but there are just so many spots.

The best part about this match is that our defense didn’t have to over exert itself though that didn’t appear to stop Arbeloa, who I suspect might get a rest for Derby County on Saturday. I still think we need to sign either a right or centre back though. We’ll also have Pennant, Alonso, Voronin, Torres, and a relatively fresh Babel, Finnan, and Lucas Leiva, if needs be. Still this was a solid thrashing and should give all our boys even more confidence as we head into the group stages.

The most impressive aspect is how we’ve seemed to figure out our attack so quickly. It’s been concentrated mainly on the right side, through Benayoun and Arbeloa, and after figuring out early on that we need to space out more, our ball movement has been dare I say beautiful? The only thing I think we lack is figuring out what to do once we get down near their box. It seems like neither Sissoko nor Mascherano want to come forward at times and this lack of anchor is quite evident.

If I had to pick a man of the match for the first half, I’d go with Arbeloa. He’s been outstanding bringing the ball up, providing back-up for Benayoun, and being everywhere defensively, even if that means coming across the pitch to stop a potential goal for Toulouse. Mascherano and Sissoko have been solid as well, even if they can’t decided on who should go forward at times.

Up front, Kuyt has been great and should probably have at least one goal to go with his assist to Crouch. Speaking of Crouch, seems like he’s been reading my criticisms of him as he has only touched the ball more than three times on four occasions resulting in only two turnovers so far. He should also have another goal as both Benayoun and Leto have hooked him up with seemingly easy headers, which he botched both times. The goal was grand though.

Leto has had a very up-and-down debut. Early on he showed his class by taking it two defenders, beating them and then seemingly running out of options. Since then it seems the Toulouse defenders have figured him out and have given him space to make mistakes on his own. It also appears that his teammates haven’t really developed much of a trust in him as the ball is primarily being brought up on the right. Hopefully they’ll give him more chances to prove himself in the second.

Agger seems to have captured a little of his lost form as early on he made a stunningly skilled weave through the defense, though I would have liked him to shoot the ball in that situation instead of passing it.

I think what has made this match exciting is how tired our defense seems to be at times and have been caught off guard, but for the most part Toulouse has had little chance to capitalize as we seem to regain our composure at just the right moment. Anyhow, I sort of expect a less exciting second as it looks as if Rafa told everyone to calm down toward the end of the first.

The ref has been a wanker by the way, but what else is new? He must feel sorry for them, because he’s letting them get away with bloody murder.

Here’s the line-up:
Reina
Riise
Hyypia
Agger
Arbeloa
Leto
Sissoko
Mascherano
Benayoun
Kuyt
Crouch

Subs:
Itandje
Finnan
Torres
Alonso
Pennant
Babel
Lucas

I hope Mascherano will be on attack and Sissoko will sit back, but it really depends if Momo is tired or not. Leto and Benayoun will really have to step up on bringing the ball if we are going to score here. Agger needs to also play better than he has recently. I’m hoping we get to see Leiva come in for Sissoko at the half. Anyhow, here’s to at least an entertaining match and to Rafa for finally showing some balls and experimenting a little.

* If you thought the transfer window was closing without a bang, you’d be sorely mistaken as the rumor of the day has former Arsenal and current Real Madrid player Julio Baptista coming to us for £13.5m. The Brazilian international, also known as ‘The Beast’, did not fair too well in league play for the Gunners last season, but did score nearly half his all-competitions total in one match at Anfield when he tallied four netters in a less-than-memorable League Cup tie. I hope this goes through for a couple of reasons. First, I’m praying this means Crouch will be sold immediately, and second, if Voronin and Torres have showed us anything, it’s that strong strikers strike more fear in the heart of the defenders than tall, weak ones. You have to respect Torres and Voronin where ever they are on the pitch, while you only have to pay attention to Crouch when he’s in and around the box. Other than then, Crouch is almost always an easy takeaway.

* If that wasn’t enough, several reports have Harry Kewell going to Real Sociedad for roughly £2.5m. The more I think about this though, the more it sounds like rubbish. Even if they doubled that offer, we still won’t be getting back all we’ve invested in King Harry over the last couple of years in medical attention. If it does happen, at any cost, I’m going to be pissed. We need Kewell’s experience and energy if we plan on winning on multiple fronts this season. Plus Sociedad is in Segunda División, which I’m sure is a place the Australian International does not want to be.

* Finally, Robbie Fowler looks to make his debut tonight for Cardiff City in their Carling Cup tie with Leyton Orient. He’ll line-up beside fellow new signing and geriatric club member, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, as they take on the O’s, who are currently undefeated in all comps. Cheers.

That leaves only one position, beside Carra at centre back, and being that both Hyypia and Agger played the full 90 for their respective countries, the younger Agger will probably be called on to start. I can’t see him doing something crazy like giving Paletta the start this early in the season away from home.

What I would really love is to see is Leto start on the left, but I’m not sure if he legally can play for us yet. Also, it would be nice to have Kewell fit as well, but if he’s not ready to go, there’s no reason to rush him. Ultimately, I think Rafa will put the most rested, best available team regardless of the match-ups. We should be superior at all positions anyhow. Anyhow, here’s how I see it:

Reina
Arbeloa
Carragher
Agger
Finnan
Babel
Alonso
Sissoko
Pennant
Kuyt
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Riise
Mascherano
Voronin
Crouch

I don’t think we’ll have much trouble with Sunderland, even though it is away from home, but you never know. As long as we keep up our aura of not undermining our opponents as we have this season, we should be fine. Cheers.

The first thing me that struck me was how Sammi Hyypia played in the first, he looked like the Hyypia of five years ago. He was simply everywhere, making clearances with foot and head as well as marking strays and providing coverage for Arbeloa and Finnan when they went forward. There seemed to be a little gas left in his aging tank, revealing a couple of glimpses of seemingly long-forgotten pace. Unfortunately in the second half, heat and fatigue seemed to get to his geriatric bones and he was miles less effective. If he can learn to be a bit more reserved and distribute his energy more intelligently and evenly throughout the match, it will make our lack of depth on the backline a little less troublesome.

Babel is clearly better on the left, particularly when the opposition is so physical. On the right it seems he needs a little bit more time to gather his wits and think about what he wants to do, while on the left his instinct appears to just set in. A couple of his runs were impressive and as he gets older his decisions on the ball will probably improve. At times though, it looked as if it almost pained him to pass the ball back as he constantly wanted to go forward, which can be taken as a good sign of his development, though I would much prefer him be able to go forward at will. He almost looks best going forward horizontally, if that makes any sense. He also showed some solid defensive ability, which is always nice to have in a predominantly attacking player.

The ref was a bit of a plonker, especially in the second half. He was clearly calling the game more one-sided in Toulouse’s favor. A couple of incidents come to mind, Gerrard’s attempt that deflected off of Toulouse defender’s back yet a goal kick was awarded and when Mascherano clearly cleanly takes the ball away from a Toulouse player, who falls, and wins a free kick. Rubbish. I’m not sure how Toulouse didn’t collect more cards. One of the tackles on Benayoun was just ridiculously reckless and if it had more force to it, could have possibly broken his leg. That’s just inexcusable. Also, on the bicycle kick attempt, Carra gets dragged down by the shoulder, which gave Emana the space to make the acrobatic shot.

As for the rest of our squad, as mentioned in a previous post, Mascherano was probably the Man of the Match, though had Hyypia regained even half of his first half form, he’d probably be my choice. I don’t think Voronin warranted the superlative over those two despite his fantastic goal, but he played well otherwise. Arbeloa arguably played his best match for us and showed a lot of defensive discipline. Nobody else played particularly bad except for maybe Crouch, who brought a new element of my disdain.

For some reason, when Stevie-G was still on the pitch, every time Crouch got the ball down low, he would immediately look for our skipper. It’s not a bad idea most of the time, but when Babel or Benayoun or Voronin would pass the ball to Crouchy with the intention of getting it back on the forward, it completely destroyed the flow of the match. I hope this isn’t some sort of ploy to win over Gerrard, so the captain will argue more in the favor of giving Crouch more pitch time.

In conclusion, the final tally for this match would have probably been worse in our favor had the ref called a more even match and Crouch gotten off of Stevie-G’s jock. Those two factors really killed the ebb and flow. Anyhow, Chelsea on Sunday. Cheers.