Pepe: Why Torres wasn't scoring

Pepe: Why Torres wasn't scoring

Pepe Reina insists the whole team is to blame for Fernando Torres's lack of goals this season.

 

The No.25 believes the service to Torres has not been up to scratch throughout the early stages of 2010-11 - but he hopes his countryman's winner against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday will mark a turning point.

And Reina likened the situation with Torres to that endured by David Villa, who has scored just two goals in eight Primera Division outings since his big-money move to Barcelona.

"All strikers are about goals," said Reina. "They want to score them and they want to score the winners like Fernando did against Blackburn.

"I think he can build up now to what he was like of old. What has happened to him is more or less what has happened to Villa in Barcelona.

"They are both great players but when strikers are not scoring people are always disappointed in them. It's not fair. I don't think we have been giving him the assists that we should, particularly in the last few weeks.

He has not been able to do anything at all.

"We know he is the type of player that can win a game just like that but we can't expect him to keep doing it on his own. We have to feed him in. That's the point."

Meanwhile, after meeting new owners NESV at Melwood a week ago, Reina is confident the new regime can facilitate a turnaround in fortunes at Anfield.

"It was an important step," said the 28-year-old. "It has been a great moment for the club, an important step forward. Let's see if we can build up from now and maybe they can help us a little bit in the winter transfer window. They are very committed to the club now.

"What I understand is they have been doing really good stuff in Boston and let's be optimistic now."

Asked if he had spoken to John W Henry or Thomas Werner at length, Reina replied: "No. It was just a brief chat, like the rest of the team. We have just been keeping focused on what we are doing, because it has been a tough situation.

"Thankfully the win over Blackburn means we are slightly better off than we were. It is a really tight table.

We are only three points from eighth place and now the challenge is to keep winning games. We can't give this up. That's the way we have to be in every single game."

Next up in the league for Liverpool is a trip to Bolton, followed by a home clash with league leaders Chelsea.

Reina knows two victories could have a major impact on the season ahead - and he thinks the Reds will go into the fixtures with a new confidence.

He explained: "The supporters were great once again against Blackburn because we were showing a little bit of the old spirit and we have to keep believing in ourselves because we are not such a bad team.

"If we play like that and deliver this kind of performance there will be more victories than defeats.

"It is all about confidence, when you are not winning games it is difficult to be out there and competitive.

"We just have to win a couple of games in a row and get ourselves back on a better track and keep that philosophy that we have had for the last few seasons.

"We are not a bad team but we have to show it week in, week out. We have just got to keep winning games and not give it up."

Pepe: Why Torres wasn't scoring

Pics: Reds train in Italy

Pics: Reds train in Italy

Liverpool trained at the Stadio San Paolo on Wednesday night ahead of the Europa League clash with Napoli - and our photographers were there to get the following snaps.

Reds suffer derby defeat

Reds suffer derby defeat

Liverpool were unable to secure city bragging rights as the Reds went down to a 2-0 defeat in the Merseyside derby with Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon.

Tim Cahill put the Blues into a first-half lead with a powerful close-range strike after Seamus Coleman's cross had broken fortunately for him.

Mikel Arteta doubled the Blues' advantage moments into the second period when the Spaniard struck a thunderous drive beyond Pepe Reina from a half-cleared corner, with

Liverpool, despite a late spell of pressure, unable to find a response.

After a hectic week at Anfield, the game represented the final act in what will undoubtedly go down as one of the most historic weeks in the long and illustrious 118-year history of Liverpool Football Club.

New England Sports Ventures' acquisition of the club on Friday afternoon had provided everyone connected to the Red half of Merseyside with a surge in optimism as they geared up to make the short trek across Stanley Park.

There are few fixtures that can conjure up such raw emotion and passion as a Merseyside derby - and a little over 24 hours after meeting with the players and staff at Melwood, NESV Principal Owner John W Henry and Chairman Thomas Werner took their seats in the Goodison Park directors' box to sample that famed atmosphere first hand.

While much of the pre-match headlines had understandably centred on events off the field, the football talk had emphasised Liverpool's desire to return to winning ways following a disappointing run of league results.

Roy Hodgson - managing in a Merseyside derby for the first time - was able to hand Fernando Torres a starting berth in attack, while he also welcomed a return for Paul Konchesky into a defensive set-up that saw
Jamie Carragher deployed in a right-back role.

Like the gaffer, it was the former Fulham man's derby debut - and there were also first experiences of a Red versus Blue meeting for Raul Meireles and Joe Cole.

With the decibel levels inside Goodison cranked up to the maximum, the opening exchanges were contested with typical frenetic intensity.

Fans had to wait 10 minutes for the first chance, which fell to the hosts when Yakubu was sent tumbling to the ground after rolling Martin Skrtel on the edge of the box. Arteta's effort struck the wall, but Everton were able to scramble the ball back into the danger zone and Phil Jagielka powered a shot over the bar from 12 yards.

Moments later, Sylvain Distin, who had remained in an advanced position from an earlier free-kick, held off two challenges on the corner of the box before shooting inches wide of Reina's upright.

Everton were certainly in the ascendancy early on, but Liverpool fashioned their first opening on 22 minutes when Torres's flick header from Cole's left-wing centre was tipped over the crossbar by Tim Howard.

Lucas then blazed high over the bar after pouncing onto a loose ball 20 yards from goal, but it was much more encouraging from the visitors. Then, after Reina had repelled Tim Cahill's low attempt, Meireles saw a stinging drive blocked by the legs of an Everton defender.

But Everton broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute. Seamus Coleman's marauding burst down the right took him to the touchline before his attempted cross was kindly deflected into the path of Cahill, who made no mistake with a thumping finish from six yards to become the Blues's leading scorer post-war in league derby games

In truth, it was little more than the home side had deserved for their endeavours in the opening 45, leaving the Reds with plenty to ponder during the interval.

An improved showing in the second period was the order of the day, and seconds after the restart Torres drew a save out of Howard with a driven strike from 20 yards.

However, Liverpool were left with a mountain to climb as Everton extended their lead on 50 minutes.

Baines's corner was headed clear by Kyrgiakos, but it only succeeded in finding the unmarked Arteta lurking on the edge of the area, who crashed an unstoppable effort into the roof of Reina's net.

Liverpool enjoyed a sustained spell of possession as they sought an instant riposte, with Meireles seeing a strike smothered by Howard before Torres skewed Maxi's knockdown well over.

Cole went closer still when he fashioned space for a shot after a jinking run, but again the attempt was off target.

The Reds continued to press and Torres almost capatilised after Howard misjudged Gerrard's dangerous centre, but the bounce of the ball wasn't in favour of the Spaniard - while the American custodian produced a fine save to thwart the No.9 at the death.

It was in keeping with an afternoon to forget for Liverpool as Everton held on to secure the three points.

Liverpoolfc.tv man of the match: Steven Gerrard

Photos: NESV at Anfield

Photos: NESV at Anfield

NESV principal owner John Henry and chairman Thomas Werner were given a tour of Anfield on Saturday after meeting the players and staff at Melwood. Here are the best of our photos.

Chairman reacts to court ruling

Chairman reacts to court ruling

Liverpool FC Chairman Martin Broughton spoke with delight after emerging from Court 18 in the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning.

Addressing a media scrum alongside fellow Board members Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre, he gave the following interview.

Mr Broughton, your reaction to the outcome today?
We are delighted with the result. We feel justice has been done. That's what we came for and that's what we got. We are delighted.

Will you still have to seek a declaratory judgement as well?

We will take legal advice on that. We will get the board reconstituted by 8pm this evening and we will plan to have a board meeting soon after that.

And your intention is to continue with the sale to NESV?

We will continue with the sale process.

What do you think of the owners' behaviour throughout this process?

I don't wish to comment on the owners' behaviour. I've commented on that enough. I think the court has argued in favour of the sale.

Will NESV own the club by tomorrow?

There's a board meeting this evening, hopefully to determine whether or not that is the case.

Do you have a duty to consider any of the other bids that have come in that may be higher?

We will take legal advice on this.

Do you expect the owners to take part in this?

I would expect they will. They will certainly be invited as they were last time. I have no reason to believe they will not be there.

If there is an appeal next week will that affect the process?

We will take legal advice on that.

Has this been one of the most difficult periods in your business career?

It's been a bit difficult but we got the right result.

Mr Lim's complaint about not being properly considered - is there anything in that?

I think you'll find we considered all bids appropriately.

Has this had any damage to your relationship with New England - will there be any smoothing over to do?

No smoothing over to do. We are delighted they were there.

And have you continued to talk to them throughout this process?

We've continued to talk to New England.

It came out in court, is the declaratory judgement an option rather than a condition of the sale?

It's an option.

On either side?

Yes on either side.

You see all the supporters here, it obviously means a great deal to them - can they look forward to a better future?

Absolutely. We've been here to complete a sale process. We said right from the offset that we would find the right owners for Liverpool and that was our target. I think we've done that. We were very fortunate that we had two bidders, both of whom qualified as far as we were concerned for being the right owners. We had to choose between them and I think Liverpool Football Club can look forward to a great future with its new owners.

And what of your and Christian's futures now? Any thoughts on how long you will be involved with the club?

There hasn't been an item of discussion with New England at all.

What are your hopes for the club now?

The vital thing is that all of the offers have wiped out all of the acquisition debt and that puts the club on a sound financial footing. And that was the single most important thing.

What do you think won it?

Flagrant abuses of undertakings.

Were you always confident that you had a rock solid case?

Yes I was always confident. You can never be 100 per cent confident when it comes to court. That's the only element of doubt.

Rush sets Reds challenge

9th Oct 2010 - Latest News

 

Ian Rush has challenged everyone at Anfield to work positively together to aid a rapid climb up the Premier League table.

Despite a lowly league position ahead of the latest international break, Rush remains convinced the quality in Roy Hodgson's squad will soon ensure they are firing on all cylinders once again - hopefully starting in next weekend's derby.

"It is easy to criticise when you are not doing well. You can easily blame everyone but we have just got to get behind everyone," he said.

"We are all in it together, the owners the management, the players and the supporters.

"If we are all fighting against each other it is not working so what we have to do is for everyone to get behind each other and be positive.

"People say we are in the bottom three. I look at it and say we are five points from the Champions League.

"Two wins and you never know how things might change. That's the way I look at it.

"We will come out of this because we just need a bit of confidence and a bit of luck. If we get that...we are playing Everton in the next game. If we win that one everything will change."

The Liverpool week in words

The Liverpool week in words

It's been one of the most dramatic weeks in the club's history but of all the hundreds of thousands of words written about Liverpool Football Club this week, which ones have stood out the most? This is the LFC week in words…


Monday October 4: The words most often used in Milan Jovanovic's furious denial of quotes attributed to him in a certain tabloid newspaper.

Tuesday October 5:  The words most often used in the LFC statement posted on the official club website announcing two offers to buy the football club.

Wednesday October 6: The words most often used in the LFC statement posted on the official club website announcing the board had agreed the sale of the Club to New England Sports Ventures.

Wednesday October 6: The words most often used in Chairman Martin Broughton's interview with LFC TV.

Wednesday October 6: The words most often used in a statement about their bid for LFC from New England Sports Ventures.

Friday October 8: The words most often used in Roy Hodgson's interview about the proposed sale of the club and the season so far
tag : martin broughton , milan jovanovic , nesv , new england sports ventures , roy hodgson , week in words

Broughton takeover Q&A

Broughton takeover Q&A

Liverpool FC Chairman Martin Broughton has spoken about why he believes New England Sports Ventures are the perfect fit for LFC and why he's confident the sale decision could be completed by close of business next week.

In an exclusive interview with LFC TV, Broughton also thanked fans for their patience during the sales process and outlined the potential new owner's plans for the club.

It certainly has been dramatic. The latest position is that we have a sale agreement in place, we've agreed the sale to New England Sports Ventures, that sale is subject to a number of conditions like Premier League approval and other normal conditions. The specific additional condition is that it's subject to confirmation that the Board acted validly in drawing up the sale documents.

Last night fans read a statement on the official website claiming that the owners had sought to remove Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre from the Board. What was the reasoning behind this and were the owners successful?

The court will ultimately decide whether the owners were successful. The reasoning behind it was that the owners felt we were reviewing two bids which they considered undervalued the club and therefore they wished to remove Christian and Ian and replace them with Mack Hicks, who is Tom's son, and Lori McCutcheon, who also works with him.

We don't think it was valid to do it. Essentially when I took the role they gave a couple of written undertakings to Royal Bank of Scotland. Those written undertakings included that I was the only person entitled to change the board and that was written into the articles of the covenants, and also that they would take no action to frustrate any reasonable sale. And I think they flagrantly abused both of those written undertakings.

You announced on Tuesday night that the club received two excellent offers. Why, in your opinion, is New England Sports Ventures the right new owner for Liverpool Football Club?

I think both of them would have been excellent new owners. New England have a lot of experience in developing, investing in and taking Boston Red Sox - as the closest parallel - from being a club with a wonderful history, a wonderful tradition that had lost the winning way, and bringing it back to being a winner. Their commitment to winning is what it's all about there and they've extended it from Boston Red Sox to Nascar and other things, but Red Sox is the main one.
I have been meeting them now for several weeks in Boston, in Liverpool, in London, and I feel they are totally committed to supporting and getting the winning mentality back into the team.

Is their winning mentality the thing which has impressed you most about them during this period?
Yes. Their commitment is to winning on the pitch and that helps you win off the pitch too. The two are mutually reinforcing.

Fans have already got lots of questions, with three of the main ones being:
a) Will the debt burden be removed completely?
To all intents and purposes, yes. All of the acquisition debt that was involved in the current owners acquisition will be removed completely. We'll still have what we call normal working capital debt and there's a facility there for the new stadium which will remain in place, but to all intents and purposes all the major debt that has been causing our problem has been paid off.

b) Have the proposed new owners committed to investing in the playing squad?
Yes. They don't want any hostages to fortune, very sensibly, so they're not going to make any comments about how much or anything like that. But this goes back to the winning mentality. I think the demonstration is: let's look at what they have done at Boston, what they said in Boston, what they have done in terms of investing in players - and I think you get a high degree of confidence of their willingness to do that.

c) Is there a commitment from them to progress the new stadium project?
Yes, there's definitely a commitment to invest in a stadium and we will finish up with a 60,000+ seater stadium. Where they haven't finalised their view is whether that should be the new stadium or whether there are still opportunities to build at Anfield itself. They have done both. The people involved have built the new stadium at Baltimore Orioles, for example, and at Fenway Park they looked at the two options and decided that actually redevelopment with all of the tradition was better than a new stadium. So they have done both, they are committed to looking at both very professionally and seeing which is the best option, but there will be stadium development.

Just to clarify, what needs to happen now for the sale to be finalised?
The key thing is the court case. We need to go to the court to get a declaratory judgement, which is for the court to declare that we did act validly in completing the sale agreement, and then the buyers can complete the sale. We have to get Premier League approval and I'm certain that's not going to be an issue. There are one or two minor things like that but the key issue is the court, which should meet I would think next week sometime. That is the most likely time, in short order.

Can the owners block the sale of LFC to New England Sports Ventures?
Well, we have to win the court case. So effectively yes, if they win the court case they can block the sale. But then we may have one or two other thoughts in mind as well.

Could the sale process be dragged through the courts for months before a resolution is reached?
No, I don't think so. We should get a declaratory judgement I would have thought probably by the end of next week, in short order. There is an appeal process but that is also very fast.

How confident are you that Liverpool Football Club will soon be officially under new ownership?
I am confident. I wouldn't have taken the Board through that process yesterday if I hadn't been confident. I wouldn't have exposed everybody to that risk if I hadn't been confident, but you can never be certain. These things are legal judgements. We have been properly advised and I am confident.

Looking back, how thorough has the process been to identify the best new owners for the Club and how pleased are you with the final outcome?

Ideally one would have had buyers who were not only the best buyers but also satisfied the owners. That's what we were looking for and we haven't managed to do that second piece of it. Has it been exhaustive? Absolutely. We have, first of all through BarCap, contacted every plausible buyer. The media coverage has meant that you would have to be living on Planet Zog not to know that Liverpool was for sale and so if you had any interest in it you had the opportunity. We've talked to lots of potential people. At the end of the day, with the deadline for debt repayment looming we had two bidders, both very viable bidders. I think they were competing, there was competitive tension there and I think that demonstrates that we have the market price.

Finally Martin, what is your message to the Liverpool fans?

Keep the faith. We said we would deliver the best buyers for the club and I think we have delivered exactly that. I know they've been frustrated by not getting a running commentary and I know a fan wants to know what's going on. I thank them for their patience because I do believe the only way you really get these things done is out of the media glare and it's difficult to do it out of the media glare, but we've found the right owners. I thank them for their patience, their support, keep the faith, this is going to work. They're with us.
.

Hodgson: I'm responsible

Hodgson: I'm responsible

Roy Hodgson today reflected on Liverpool's 2-1 defeat at the hands of Blackpool and admitted: "I'm the one responsible because I'm the team manager."

The Reds boss was hugely disappointed with his side's first-half showing against the Tangerines and accepted he would come under criticism for a third league defeat in seven matches.

Hodgson told his post-match press conference: "It's a bad result and a very bad day. There's nothing more I can say. I can tell by the mood in here (press room), that you understand how bad it is for us.

"We were very anxious to get back on track, to get the three points and lift ourselves up the table. No words or anything I can say can change that situation or make it better.

"It's pointless to try and be positive and say the second half was better and we could have got an equaliser because we lost the game - a game we did not want to lose."

He added: "The fans are entitled to take out their frustrations, lots of things have happened to frustrate them and I'm the one responsible because I'm the team manager. When the team does badly criticism will fall my way and I have to accept it."

The Reds made a sluggish start to the proceedings and went in at the interval trailing to goals from Charlie Adam (penalty) and Luke Varney.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos did pull one back for Liverpool as they produced an improved second-half showing, leaving the boss to lament a poor opening period.

"I suppose I'm in a situation where I'd rather not think about the game," he admitted.  "I suppose in the first half we were correctly punished for our lacklustre play. We had the ball as much as them, but we didn't do anywhere near enough to satisfy my demands, the club's demands or the players' demands on themselves.

"We conceded two goals from counter attacks when we were high up the field and lost the ball on the edge of the area. We found ourselves 2-0 down against a team that played well in the first-half.

"In the second half we came out and did our best to turn it around but we only managed to get the one goal.

"I don't know whether the early injury blow of losing Fernando Torres had a psychological effect, but I don't think so. We knew they were an offensive team but if we dealt with their balls forward there would be chances for us to get them turned around and that's what happened in the second period."

Asked about the Reds' current position in the bottom three, he said: "My concerns are about making us play to our full potential. We are only doing it in periods and not from the first to the 90^th minute.

"I don't think it's because the players have not got the right attitude at the start of the game - I don't believe that. But at the start of games we are not at the level of intensity that we are in the second half of matches. We shouldn't need to go behind before we get the type of reaction we had."

The boss was also quizzed about what his views were on his first few months at the helm.

He said: "It's been strange. The early part wasn't that bad - we had some good results in Europe.

"We also had a stroke of luck in the league games, but that has deserted us in the last few weeks. I suppose everything I think is conditioned by the last few weeks. We went out of the Carling Cup to Northampton, we failed to win a home game last week and, even worse, we have lost a home game this week against a team that has just been promoted.

"At the moment it looks bleak. It's very difficult for me to put a brave or bright face upon it. There is a lot of work to do and things we need to sort out.

"I can only take heart from the fact that the spirit of the team is still there. I don't think I could have asked any more of them in the second half than they gave the club and the fans. The fans did well to get behind us and I'm sure we all would have loved an extra 15 minutes, but we didn't get it."