I just hope like hell he works out.

This is an open letter from John Arne Riise that was published on the official Liverpool website.

Dear fans of Liverpool FC,

After seven seasons at Anfield, it's time for me to "walk on". In many ways it feels inspiring and exciting to be familiar with the pressure of a new employer, meet new fans, meet a new culture and play a new kind of football.

Some would agree that this was an absolute borefest while others would not. Martin O'Neil and Rafa didn't get into a scrap and Barry didn't cry so it was definitely not the grudge match we were hoping for. For me, the game pretty much ended when Torres came out with a pulled hamstring because at that point the attack threat was gone.

Hey Liverpool monkeys, if you haven't registered on the new Offside/World Cup Blog Forums, do it. Pick a fight, stab someone in the eye, or just have a nice conversation over tea.

So how do you get on these new awesome forums? Click Here, then register. Show your support for the Reds... or else!

I didn't get to see this one, but apparently we're still playing like ass and now to top it off, we've lost Stevie G for 10-14 days. He's finally having that pesky groin operated on, which apparently is not that serious, but will keep him off the pitch for club and country. Hopefully, he will be back in shape for when Man U come to town on September 13th.

How the Reds put this one away, I'll never know, but we definitely found out why an exhausted Steven Gerrard was left on for the full 90′. I'm getting a little tired of the criticism he's been facing. The guy has had multiple injuries, one before the first match with Standard Liege, and since then has been playing every few days for either club or country.

While Captain Fantastic was being horribly misused against Denmark and being subbed out, Xabi Alonso was being subbed in and making waves.

Seriously, let's not sell the guy. He's beaming with confidence right now and if he gets a start this Saturday, I think he's going to come up with a solid performance.

Personally, I think the whole idea is a little silly, but it's worth mentioning and wondering about. It's been suggested on message boards and speculated that Rafa gave instructions to Mascherano and Lucas that whoever was going to lose the Brazil/Argentina match would get red carded so that they could possibly get back to Merseyside before the next Premier League game.

Ah, yes... a win and a goal from Torres. What could be better? For starters, the entire first half could have been better. In fact, let's pretend that the first half didn't happen at all because some other team wearing our kits showed up and attempted to play football.

Sami Hyypia's first couple of touches made it look like Sunderland had twelve men on the field.

This about sums it up...

So, it looks like were going to finally get an answer to the one question many Liverpool supporters have been waiting on for over a month now: Are we going to get Gareth Barry?

Whilst I'd love to tell you that this deal was close to being finalised, the reality of this whole ordeal is that we're no closer to making Barry an Anfield star now than when we started this whole transfer mess with Aston Villa.

I previously wrote about how much I hated the Olympics and what they do to football, but after signing Keane, I'm suddenly not as worried. Keane can easily slip into a wing position and we can cover Mascherano's position with the current roster. If Barry were to sign on soon, it would be even easier.

It's official! While I think this is a great signing, others would tend to disagree. steven. would be one of those. You can read all about his warped opinion here.

I've heard the nay sayers: he's too old, he's overvalued, Owen was less and more the player. Anyone who doesn't trust the judgment of the almighty Rafa is really just sort of a terrorist.

Robbie Keane will be undergoing his medical in Liverpool today and is set to sign a five-year contract worth £80,000 per week. On behalf of all Yanks who don't know beans about football, I'd like to offer a big Flavor Flav, "YEAHHHHHHHHHHH BOYEEEEEEEEE!"

This is the signing I've been most excited about when I first heard the rumor that Keane wanted to leave Spurs for his boyhood heroes, Liverpool.

Just a bit on non-football news to report today involving our skipper, Steven Gerrard.

The current MBE is now also an honorary fellow at the John Moores University yes, the same Moores family that used to own our beloved club to mark his achievements and contributions (and domination of Everton) to the sport.