Rafa Benitez said he would quit Liverpool if Fernando Torres is sold. The Spanish striker could have been sold last summer to Manchester City if Benitez had accepted their offer – and there will no doubt be more enquiries coming in for Torres until the day he does actually leave.
But what is remarkable about the offer made to Liverpool last summer is the scale of the City bid: £70million for Torres plus and additional £30million for Javier Mascherano. Click to continue reading...

According to Salvatore Landolina at Goal.com, Juventus youngster Sebastian Giovinco will not be leaving the club for Liverpool in January. His agent Luca Pasqualin said,

"I don't think there is much to read into the reports in the sense that Giovinco will remain at Juventus .

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Sebastian Giovinco's agent has slammed reports that Liverpool are staging a swoop for the ‘Atomic Ant.'
The young Juventus prodigy has been linked with a January move to Anfield, where he would join fellow Italian Alberto Aquilani.
"I don't think we can say there is anything true in these rumours," agent Luca Pasqualin told Goal. Click to continue reading...

The LA Galaxy have pulled out of a post-season tour of Germany that would have seen them play friendlies against Kaiserslautern and Schalke. The Galaxy cancelled the tour due to "a lack of communication and performance" by the promoter IMC Group.

The club said in a statement:

"Unfortunately, IMC Group Inc has not performed their obligations of the agreement thus far, nor do we have faith that they will be able to do so in the future.

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From the Galaxy press release:

"As part of the tour, the Galaxy were scheduled to face FC Kaiserslautern on Thursday, November 26, and a second opponent on Tuesday, December 1 in Germany .

"We are very disappointed to announce the cancellation of our 2009 Postseason Tour due to a lack of communication and performance by the tour's organizer and promoter IMC Group, Inc," said President of Business Operations Tom Payne.

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So another weekend has passed with another story linking Javier Mascherano with a move to Barcelona.
It was good to read in the ECHO yesterday that Liverpool quickly dismissed the speculation, as he is an important player.
But the time has now come for Argentina's captain to back up the faith many have shown in him with a string of top displays for the Reds at this most crucial period. Click to continue reading...

While the injury to Robin van Persie was disturbing news this past weekend, let's try not to go overboard. Posts on message boards and the like have been raging about how our season is over, etc., etc., etc.... That is hardly the case. Yes, he has been in the form of his life with 8 goals and 7 assists in 15 matches.

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What does former Red, Craig Johnson think he is on about?He is quoted in The Star as saying: "Has he lost the dressing room? Six defeats in eight games would say that he has."The former Liverpool fancy-dan has got that one wrong, big time.Despite our poor run of form, the players have not lost faith in Rafa Benitez, as anyone who has seen Liverpool's performances will tell you that they have given 100% commitment in every game. Click to continue reading...

Ever since joining Man United in 2007, Owen Hargreaves has been having a terrible time with injuries. Hargreaves finally joined United in 2007 after almost a year of speculation and negotiations between United and German side Bayern Munich.
The first season he was at United was successful; he helped United win the Champions League and the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

For all you football fans out there, Saturday will be an important date to mark on your calendars. Once again it will be a remake of the mouth-watering 2002 world cup quaterfinal match between England and Brazil.

That day Brazil prevailed 2-1 thanks to the ingenuity of Ronaldinho and company.

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Two things came up yesterday. Both through interviews with Portuguese players: one a current player, another a former red.

First, Nani:

"People expect more from me and it's not easy. 'I'. "I could be doing better, scoring more, but just think, I make a huge game today but the next one, I'm not even sure that I will play.

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In following with this week's pattern of posting hilarious pictures, photoshopped or no, we bring you this marvelous offering from the Sun. Luckily, the accompanying interview is not half bad. Thanks to reader Chelsea for the heads up.

Q: When Nicolas signed did you feel, Didier, you had to prove you were better?

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Owen Hargreaves can't wait to come back.

"It will be an amazing feeling to run out at Old Trafford again. I'll be so excited I'll probably pass out," said Hargreaves. "I just want to be part of it again, to be available and healthy. I can't wait to get involved. I want to be able to pull on the shirt and have an effect on games.

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Owen Hargreaves seems quite keen on making his return to the United first team desperate, even, but in a good way so much that he thinks he'll probably pass out when he returns.

"It will be an amazing feeling to run out at Old Trafford again. I'll be so excited I'll probably pass out.

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Long term readers of this blog may remember that my dad was very ill a few months ago.
It was a difficult time.
But I kept the faith and he emerged the other side.
Since then he has faced huge challenges, not least of which was that his kidneys failed and he has been on dialysis since. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United winger Zoran Tosic has vowed to fight on at the club in a bid to find a first team spot. Tosic was signed by United in January in a double swoop that also involved Adem Ljajic, but Tosic has yet to make an impact at Old Trafford while fellow Serb Ljajic bids his time at Partizan Belgrade on loan.

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I've mentioned how the Blues are my horse to win the EPL race many times. Taking all three points in a big match-up against Manchester United will help.
Of course Sir Alex said he has no faith in officiating after the match. Surprise, surprise. Do reporters need to ask him about anything else anymore? Click to continue reading...

Kevin McCarra's Match Report
Defeat hurts Sir Alex hard
Chelsea's belated revenge leaves Manchester United nursing grievances.
Sir Alex screams blue murder: "It was a bad decision, but what can you do? You lose faith in the refereeing sometimes. Click to continue reading...

Arsene Wenger has come out and said he has faith in Keiran Gibbs' ability to play a crucial part in Arsenal's push for Premier League and Champions League glory. The young Englishman is set to play a prominent role in the first team over the coming weeks as regular left-back Gael Clichy is facing a spell [. Click to continue reading...

Join celebrated football pundit, author, radio show host and DJ Andy Brassell every Monday on the Soccerlens Show.

This week's episode focuses on the Premier League relegation battle (it's already started), and the spotlight is on Portsmouth (who lost their first seven games, just beat Wigan 4-0 and are still bottom of the table) and Hull (who have been lurching from weakness to weakness, but still have faith in their unfortunately named manager).

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First things first, the US MNT has added another friendly to the November schedule by announcing their stop in Slovakia four days before playing Denmark, which will make for a good pair of measuring stick matches against a couple of fellow World Cup qualifiers on European soil. Both Slavakia and Denmark finished atop their UEFA qualifying groups, so these matches should provide a good show of where we stand against quality competition several months removed from the Confederations Cup.

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Hertha Berlin general manager Michael Preetz has refused to deny speculation linking them with a move for Andriy Voronin.
Reports in the German press have suggested that Hertha are eyeing a winter move for the Liverpool striker, who spent a spell on loan at the club last season, as well as Wolfsburg attacker Ashkan Dejagah. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday's game was like one of those pre Christmas pantomimes in which the main character is unaware of an imminent danger but everyone in the audience can see exactly what is going on and cries out, it's behind you, it's behind you.

These situations are usually funny and so should this one have been, if drawing with West Ham, after being two up, wasn't so utterly soul destroying.

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Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was pleased with how his players responded to their recent difficulties as they defeated Manchester United 2-0 this afternoon.
"The players they show good character and the fans behind the players were the twelfth man," Benitez told Sky Sports.
"I think the passion, the attitude, the character and also some good play some times but especially the mentality, everybody working together from the beginning and we won," he continued. Click to continue reading...

London Derby number two is up next when we play West Ham and as usual the media are building it up in their own typical manner.

Couple of them focused on Wenger's thoughts on Upson. As we know, Upson never quite fulfilled his potential at Arsenal. If I'm wrong about this do correct me but his last ever game in an Arsenal shirt was against Aston Villa in 2001 where he was absolutely shocking in the first half.

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That week was a tough week as I only got 6 out of 10, which keep me around 66% for the season. If you think you can do better than I can then go to http://scorefive.com/index.php/Register.html and register as a player (its free). After you login, it will ask you for the password to join a league.

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That week was a tough week as I only got 6 out of 10, which keep me around 66% for the season. If you think you can do better than I can then go to http://scorefive.com/index.php/Register.html and register as a player (its free). After you login, it will ask you for the password to join a league.

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So it looks as if Gordon Strachen is heading for 'Boro.
Thank goodness I say.
All that worry for nothing after all.
I must learn to have a little more faith. Football does have a way of testing that though doesn't it?
And whilst all that has been going on I haven't had chance to chat to you about the great girl story that has been in the news this week. Click to continue reading...

The phrase which was needed earlier to explain the result was 'in the greater scheme of things'.
Now it will be used. (Ironically, I'm not taking the piss).
The point is (geddit?), that whilst it was two points dropped rather than one gained, in the greater scheme of things its completely irrelevant. Click to continue reading...

Lyon's 2-1 Champions League victory at Anfield on Tuesday night sparked mass hysteria amongst the Liverpool faithful. While almost everyone points the finger at the absence of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in recent weeks, even more people are blaming manager Rafa Benitez. There is no doubt about it: people are calling for Rafa Benitez's head.

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Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become the latest Barcelona star to egotistically pronounce the treble winning club's's dominance over their global rivals. Following Sweden's bitter loss to Denmark this weekend, where the spotlight was stolen away from him thanks to Nicklas Bendtner's scintillating performance for the Danes, Ibrahimovic has taken his frustrations out on former club Inter Milan.

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Edwin Van Der Sar started his comeback from injury yesterday coming through a full ninety minutes of Reserve team action as United beat Everton 1 – 0 on Tuesday.

Van der Sar was rarely troubled in the match but the veteran Dutchman is pleased to have come through the test and is aiming for a first team call up in United's next match against Bolton on 17th October.

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Here's a little math for those who still have faith.

Here's how we stand now:

KC 32 points with 3 games left; can reach 41 at most
New England 38 with 3 games left; can reach 47 at most
DC 36 points with 2 games left; can reach 42 at most
Toronto 35 points with 3 games left; can reach 44 at most

Playoff hopes:

KC must win all points AND:
NE must lose at least 6 out of 9 points (we have the tie breaker)
DC must lose at least 4 out of 6 points (tie breaker up in the air since we have 1 game left vs DC)
Toronto must lose at least 4 out of 9 points (they own the tie breaker)

If KC loses one game they are out of the playoffs.

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The less than welcome international break gives us an early chance to take stock. We're seven games in now and what have learned?CelticAtop the pile and Tony Mowbray seems confident that they'll be up there at the end of the season. That's the positive. The negatives are he doesn't yet have the players to play the kind of game he wants, he has not got any faith in the defenders Gordon Strachan Click to continue reading...

Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has told the "News of the world" that he does not want to buy players, to stop the development of his youngsters. The french man especially has mentioned his exciting prospects Carlos Vela, Aaron Ramsey as well as Jack Wilshere.

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