In the wake of an encouraging win it would be easy to simply focus on the positives like normal, happy people who know how to enjoy success. But what those happy people who know how to enjoy success don't know is that failure and pain is lurking just around every corner, waiting to spring. So really, you're much better off embracing a more negative outlook that asks, "Why hasn't Jose Enrique been called up for Spain yet, and does it mean there's something wrong with him we don't know?

Rejoice! International break is officially over, and as far as we can tell, everyone should return to Liverpool in relatively good health. Which mostly just means that we can shift our collective focus of complaining from the utter stupidity of having a bunch of mid-November ticklefights to the teeth-gnashing prospect of two matches away to Chelsea sandwiched around a home date with Manchester City, with the latter two coming in a 48-hour stretch just under two weeks from now.

Two weeks without club football? Check. The potential for the club's most important players to pick up injuries? Check. All the time in the world to stew over a bad performance leading into the break? Check. A fully functioning liver? That might depend on how many Liverpool players go to sleep Tuesday night without having picked up an injury between now and then.

Middlesbrough star Rhys Williams insists that he has no intention of leaving the club in January.
Williams stated earlier this week that he was not ready to sign a new deal at Boro - unless they improved their offer.
This led to renewed speculation about his future with Bolton and Liverpool linked again, with Aston Villa also previously linked.

The Newcastle players not away on International duty, put in three good hard days of training last week at the Benton Training Ground. Yohan Cabaye - likely to be fit for for Manchester City And Newcastle's new policy of bringing in players who are hungry to prove themselves on Tyneside seems to be paying off big time, with the summer transfer window now looking one of the best [.

In the only match of the day that really counted, Luis Suarez absolutely shredded Chile, hitting them for four and having a fair shout at at least a couple more. Other things happened today too, but this is a little sexier than international friendlies played at half-speed, even if those other ones did involve a certain Christian P*****n.

It's few and far between for the matches that actually matter this weekend, with really only one from a Liverpool perspective, as none of the current squad members are involved in the playoffs for the final Euro qualifying spots. Those of you with a strong affiliation for any of the nations facing off Bosnia-Herzegovina v.

Enough with the doom and gloom, it's time for the news and notes. See what I did there? Yeah, I know, sorry. Plus one of the items we've got for today involves "Steven Gerrard," "injuries," and "English national team." Which doesn't bode well for moving on from said doom and gloom, but what the hell.

We can look at this international break in a couple of ways. The typical way is to curse and swear and moan that all our world class players Robin van Persie is away with their national squads to play football and get injured, while Arsenal pay the wages and have to endure weeks without the player due to injury and/or fatigue.

The English FA has gone quiet when it comes to Patrice Evra, Luis Suarez, and allegations of racism, but with the case still theoretically open there's finally some new information to talk about. Plus Liverpool's inability to stick with Plan A even when it seems to be working and preparing for a public execution at Wembley in today's news and notes.

Football federations are clueless at best, corrupt at worst, and in other breaking news the sky is blue. At least when it's not overcast. Though even then it's probably blue above the clouds. Unless there are no planes flying overhead and so nobody to see it, because then you're getting into trees falling in the forest territory.

Daniel William returned from international duty to earn a second straight start for Hoffenheim, however a third straight scoreless game for the Hoffe saw them fall thanks to a pair of second-half goals.

By Chris Wright

Despite only flying in from international duty in Mexico just 26 hours earlier (though he didn't actually play), Fluminese striker Fred bags himself a hat-trick against Coritiba on his return to Brazil on Wednesday evening opening his account with a truly beautiful, angled overhead kick.

As you all know, this weekend we were deprived of our Liverpool match in order for the final round of Euro 2012 qualification to go through (England, of course, sealed their advancement). While it may be frustrating to miss out on our own weekly dose of Reds football, it is still worth taking a look at how our players performed when out with their national teams.

Another round of internationals done and dusted, and once again Liverpool's participants come out unscathed. That makes it two breaks in a row without serious injury, which is both a refreshing change and strangely unnerving. At least this latest break wraps up the European Championship qualifying group stage.

The last round of Euro qualifiers, as well as a pair of matches in South America, take place tomorrow, leaving us in a mess of anxiety about the international break finally being over, the hope that everyone returns in full health, and Manchester United's visit on Saturday. As johnnysingapore pointed out the other day, we'll do it all again in November, but getting through each round of internationals feels like a victory.

Bolton Wanderers defender Gary Cahill earned his sixth cap when he lined up for England's Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro last night. While England only needed a draw to secure their place in the finals that was all they got. 2-2 was the final score — England's overall performance was enough but disappointing.

This is the internationals wrap up thread. Try to contain your excitement.

We'll get back to Liverpool soon enough, as we're now more than halfway there, and for the most part it was a successful Friday for Liverpool's internationals. It was a complete success for us, though, as we didn't see anyone pick up an injury on the day.

Pretty much everything's underway or will be shortly on the international front, so a reminder that you can find links to streams in the matchday thread, along with news about Liverpool's squad members in action. Should be a relatively interesting day for those involved, or at least as interesting as international break can be, as almost all in Europe have a chance to see their country move on.

Slovakia and Russia get Liverpool's day started from Zilina at 7:15PM BST/2:15PM EST

Ways to Watch:

ESPN3.com

MyP2P.bz
StopStream.tv
ATDHEnet.tv
FromSport.com
FirstRowSports.eu
KiwiSportz.com

*
Euro 2012 Qualifiers:

Slovakia v.

Liverpool's two biggest matches of the early season are divided by yet another international break, with all of the active national sides on the continent wrapping up their Euro 2012 qualifying campaigns, and World Cup 2014 qualifiers starting nearly everywhere else. Fitness struggles mean there's a bit less action than usual for Kenny Dalglish's side, but there's a decent amount taking part in qualifiers or friendlies around across the globe.

Bolton Wanderers needed a break after their six defeats but once again Gary Cahill will be joining the England squad ahead of next Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier when England travel to Montenegro. If he takes his place in England's defence it will earn him his 6th cap.

Recently not only did Cahill play his part in two successive clean sheets for England he scored one of the three goals against Bulgaria.

Spoilers: Everybody came out of this set of internationals fit and unscathed and ready to take on Stoke on Saturday. Except perhaps for Martin Skrtel, though any damage he picked up is going to be of the mental variety. In any case, September's international break is over and done with, which means no more worries about Liverpool players getting injured in borderline meaningless games.

Liverpool Stoke Charlie Adam to return

Charlie Adam is available for selection for Liverpool against Stoke despite picking up a hip injury on international duty for Scotland.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-09-08 14:58:25 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

It's no secret that one of our favorite pastimes around here is drinking. Whether it's in an attempt to cope with the punishing reality of last fall or to celebrate any or all of life's little wonders, a nice drink is something to be enjoyed and cherished, often in large quantities. Our regulars seem to have embraced this ethos, churning out some remarkably coherent and insightful stuff while reportedly tipping back man's finest creation.

Serbia is set to face the Faroe Islands in Group C action, while Kazakhstan heads to Azerbaijan in an exciting match-up of countries that can't qualify for next summer's European Championships. Plus there might be a couple of games that you'll be vaguely interested in because hey, it's football, which is better than nothing.

It's Monday. It's September. The summer is over, with little but short days and dreary weeknights at Stoke to look forward to in the fall. Unless you're one of our five Australian readers, of course. But then you've got the local wildlife being in a 97% more killy mood to look forward to, so it's not all good.

Internationals. Qualifiers. Friendlies. Fun.

Three out of four ain't bad?

Hey, at least none of Liverpool's players came out of the first round of distractions with any knocks they didn't go in with...

Bulgaria v. England

England kicked another puppy around to the cheers of the press and have now clinched a top two finish in their group—first gets you into the Euros automatically, while runners-up get to head to a playoff.

With the drama of the past few days behind us, focus begrudgingly shifts towards the meaty part of the international break and a full slate of matches for Liverpool's internationals. It'd be nice if the end of the window was closely followed by a match for the club it's not a completely new-look squad, but it has the feel of some sort of fresh start, and a chance for renewed optimism after a relatively disappointing end to the summer's activities.

No, you're the greatest Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has been up to some interesting antics yet again. While on international duty for Italy last night, he hijacked Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara's interview with Spanish channel TVE to declare that the young midfielder is the greatest. With the director no doubt sweating about what would [.

Plenty to talk about today having something to actually discuss might take some getting used to, but it's a welcomed change as the action picks up, both for Liverpool and our sliver of the internet around here.

The Thursday news and notes:

* Noel mentioned the cancellation of the England v.

Over the past couple of days, the biggest story of Wednesday's slate of international friendlies has quickly shifted from the meaningless matches themselves (which, let's face it, where never a huge story to begin with) to the England versus Holland game scheduled for Wednesday evening at London's Wembley Stadium facing the threat of cancellation due to the imminent collapse of western civilization.

European Club Association board member Umberto Gandini has warned clubs could refuse to release their players for international duty in the future.

Three years after winning the European Championship, Liverpool's gone and done it again by capturing the Copa America. Wonder if there's a date set for the parade yet...

* It was a starring role once again for Luis Suarez, scoring the winning goal and setting up another as Uruguay cruised to a 3-0 victory over Paraguay in a final where for the first time in this year's Copa America a match went something like everybody thought it would.

It's only the preseason, and already a long off-week between matches is making time drag in a way it didn't during the weeks in June and July when there wasn't any Liverpool football waiting tantalisingly out of reach. For those content with being out of Europe and so avoiding those somnambulant Europa League group stage Thursdays, this is your future.

Liverpool are playing football again, the Copa America's moving on to the knock-out rounds, and Stewart Downing's at Melwood undergoing his medical as we speak. After six weeks of rumours and wasting time, everything's starting to pick up again, so we'd best get on with it, too...

* On Liverpool's arrival in Kuala Lumpur in advance of Saturday's match against a Malaysian all-star XI, Kenny Dalglish sat down to talk to the press about life, the Universe, and Stewart Downing.

As a fair few mentioned yesterday, one of the residual effects of the Charlie Adam really for real this time medical is that we can stop talking about what might actually be happening. We saw him arriving with Kenny Dalglish, we saw him getting all checked out by Zaf Iqbal in the Melwood training room, and soon enough we'll see him putting pen to paper.

We've made more than our share of jokes about the long, dull, dragging days of summer without Liverpool football to distract us from cruel reality, but when you get right down to it there are few sports that span the calendar quite like football. And so, three long, hard days (or thereabouts) after Barcelona beat Manchester United in the Champions League final to close out major European competition, the first wave of players begin to trickle into pre-season training camps in England to kick off July.

Alejandro Beodya returns from international duty as Orebro take on Elfsborg, while Ryan Miller has earned a permanent spot in the Halmstad starting eleven even as the club looks for its first win in nearly two months.

Local media in Argentina may still be caught up in the historic relegation of River Plate, a side that until a few days ago had never in its long and illustrious history found itself out of the Argentinean Primera, but for the rest of the world the bigger story in South America is the 2011 Copa America that kicks off on Friday at 9:45PM local time (8:45PM EST & 1:45AM in the wee hours of Saturday GMT), when the hosts face Bolivia in Group A action.