Spanish press claim striker may not be back until December…
Diagnosis of Fernando Torres‘ recent trip to Spain, for a second opinion on his groin injury, proved fairly inconclusive in the English press this morning. The Spanish media, however, are confident the striker will be out until after Liverpool’s crucial Champions League clash with Debrecen.
According to AS, Torres hopped on a private jet to see Dr Ramon Cugat, a respected sports injury specialist, after medical staff at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground claimed surgery - which Benitez is desperate to avoid - was the only solution. Cugat is reported to have prescribed a ‘conservative treatment’ which will mean El Nino is laid up until the Reds’ game against Blackburn on December 5th.
Spoiler Bonus:El Mundo Deportivo are reporting a gentleman’s agreement is in place for Robinho to sign for Barcelona in the January transfer window now both the Man City chairman and Mark Hughes (who allegedly ‘has always been receptive to his departure’) are resigned to losing the Brazilian forward.
Things get even harder for Rafa, Arsenal stroll to victory…
Arsenal 4/ AZ Alkmaar 1
Cesc Fabregas (angrily) opened the scoring 25 minutes into Arsenal’s televised training match against the Dutch champions; Samir Nasri doubling the Gunners’ lead with an exquisite shoulder drop. Second half strikes from Fabregas and Abou Diaby wrapped up the win, although Alkmaar bagged a late consolation in the form of a Jeremain Lens toe punt.
At the final whistle, there was only one question on the lips of a half empty Emirates… what the f**k has happened to the Dutch league?
Lyon 1/ Liverpool 1
Last minute comebacks are meant to be reserved for Liverpool, although it seems Lisandro Lopez didn’t get the memo. The Argentinean striker took advantage of some suicidal injury time defending to cancel out Ryan Babel’s impressive 83rd minute strike, signaling most Reds fans to start checking which TV channels are still showing Europa League football.
In a game of stark contrasts, Andriy Voronin plumbed new depths of unacceptable wankery, while Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris did a lot more to justify his billing as Football Manager-endorsed Keeper of the Future than Igor Akinfeev had on Tuesday.
It’s time for Rafa to dig himself out of yet another hole
Yesterday The Spoiler picked out a four-team accumulator and were just one goal away from celebrating a tidy £104.70 profit. With Liverpool a tasty 21/10 on 888sport to win away to Lyon tonight, we’re relying on Rafa’s knack of delivering results when they matter most to make us some money. Here’s why we’re trusting the Reds:
» No team has ever done the double over Liverpool in the Champions League group stage since Rafael Benitez arrived in 2004 and only one side - Benfica in 2006 - have beaten the Reds twice in the same season in the competition.
» Liverpool have won their last four Champions League games in France, beating Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille (twice).
» Lyon have triumphed in just four of their last 12 home matches in the competition and were beaten 2-0 by regular strugglers Sochaux the last time they stepped foot in the Stade Gerland.
To the causal observer, a list of Liverpool’s troubles right now would probably begin with an unusually cruel injury list. Next would be their manager’s inability to purchase any useful players since Fernando Torres, and then a close third would be Rafa’s failure to produce a single young player of note since he arrived.
So no prizes for guessing what 10,000 Liverpool fans will be taking to the streets to whinge about on Sunday afternoon - the owners of course. “They haven’t built our new stadium” - although most fans want to stay at Anfield. “They don’t give Rafa enough money” - well they gave him £40m for Dossena, Keane, Babel and Riera so would you shell out any more in their position? “They must sell up now” - the Americans are trying their hardest to shift the club.
Still, why let a valid argument get in the way of a good afternoon’s whining up at Anfield? Walk on indeed…
Remember Jermaine Pennant? We here at thespoiler certainly do, mainly for classily proposing to his girlfriend in a graveyard. On the off chance you care, Jermaine now strolls around the touchline for Real Zaragoza in the lower echelons of la Liga.
Pennant turns 27 in January, and it may be fair to say that he hasn’t quite fulfilled the potential of his teenage years, when aged just 15, that fine dissector of young talent Arsene Wenger, splashed out £2m on the Notts County lad. But whose fault? Being a footballer, the answer is inevitably, not his own. These are his thoughts on Rafa:
“Liverpool have had some great strikers come and go - Robbie Keane is scoring goals at Tottenham, Peter Crouch is scoring now. It didn’t happen at Liverpool: it must be about how the manager relates to players, how the tactics are and how he restricts players. The coach plays a big part when you arrive at a new team. If he restricts you, it’s going to make you play differently.
When I was there, sometimes I would like to get the ball and not even beat the man, just put it straight in. And he would be shouting: ‘Go to the byline.’ He’d say it before the game and, if I had put a ball in early, as I was jogging back he’d be there gesturing for me to get to the byline. You think, ‘Give it a rest. Can I just play like this? Can’t I just express myself?’”
With his PR team suddenly awake and jolted upright, Pennant later clarified:
“I have no qualms or bad feelings about Rafa and I still love the club. He’s a great manager and there are times when he is a genius but sometimes his approach can take the best out of you.
The quotes seem fairly typical of a footballer with an axe to grind, exploiting the current sports news agenda. Let’s just hope for his fellow travellers, that Pennant isn’t at the wheel of this particular bandwagon.
Here he is folks. Alberto Aquilani, all £19m worth, finally pulled on a Liverpool shirt last night, in a reserve team outing against Sunderland. Never has a player had so much pressure piled on him before even pulling on a club’s jersey, as the Italian midfielder is expected to save Rafa, get the best out of Steven Gerrard, and be as good as Xabi Alonso.
Not that we expect Aquilani to be around for long. The injury-prone midfielder managed a colossal 102 appearances in seven seasons for Roma. Across the same time period, Steven Gerrard played 335 games for Liverpool.
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