Liverpool 2009/2010

[Latic]

This thread is for specialist news on Liverpool of interest to the Fantasy Football fan.

Please keep irrelevant comment and banter AWAY from this thread.
Please post banter and comments on the Liverpool General Chat & Starting XI Thread or start a thread in Football Talk & Events.
Any post other than news on this thread will be DELETED.

Links:
Official Site
NewsNow Liverpool

[murf]

icLiverpool site compiles stories from Liverpool Daily Post and Liverpool Echo.

[Latic]

Pre-Season Fixtures

15 Jul St Gallen A D 0,0
19 Jul Rapid Vienna A L 0,1
22 Jul Thailand A D 1,1
26 Jul Singapore A W 5,0
2 Aug Espanyol A L 0,3
5 Aug FC Lyn A W 2,0
8 Aug Atletico Madrid H L 1,2

[abc]

Glen Johnson has agreed to join Liverpool in a £17.5m move.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldow ... 2-1758.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[flyingkillercob]

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/sport-news/l ... -23947241/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dailypost report his official fee is 17 million.

[zippybungle]

Yossi Benayoun extends his contract till 2013

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 137165.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[zippybungle]

18 year old left back Chris Mavinga signs from PSG

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... -24103429/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[zippybungle]

Steven Gerrard signs new 4 year contract

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009 ... l-contract" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[zippybungle]

Defender Fabio Aurelio out for about a month after knee cartilage operation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 142592.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[zippybungle]

Winger Nabil El Zhar signs a contract extension to keep him at the club till 2012

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 33,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AKNel1]

Teenage French Left Back Chris Mavinga signs from PSG.

http://goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/ ... is-mavinga" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Aurelio injured playing Football with his kids - out 2-6 months

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2 ... io-aurelio" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting situation re: LB going into the season - Insua ?, Dossena ?, Mavinga ?, Arbeloa ?, Carragher ?, Agger ?, New signing ???

[murf]

Pre-Season Journal: blog.php?u=1486&b=5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've decided to do my coverage of pre-season as a form of journal, partly as a way of testing a new facility on the site called 'blogs' which are apparently something young people know about.

I think the link above should work.

[Latic]

Skrtel out for three weeks
Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel faces a race to be fit for the start of the new season after being ruled out for three weeks.
Skrtel picked up a hamstring strain during Wednesday's friendly with Thailand and he has flown back to England for treatment on the injury.
Scans have shown Skrtel has suffered a strain which will keep him on the sidelines for three weeks.
It means Skrtel faces a battle to be ready for the big kick-off at Tottenham on 16th August.

Nabil El Zhar is set to miss the start of the new campaign after he suffered a knee injury against Thailand.
The winger has sustained medial ligament damage to his knee and is expected to be sidelined for a month.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 67,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ISSACA]

Reds and Real agree Arbeloa fee

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 174135.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ashers]

Liverpool agree fee for Aquilani

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 186102.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Latic]

Aquilani signs Reds deal

Alberto Aquilani has successfully passed his medical with Liverpool and has agreed a five-year contract at Anfield.
....
But Liverpool do not expect the 25-year-old, who is believed to be set to earn £80,000 a week, to be fit for between four and eight weeks.
Aquilani had surgery on an ankle injury this summer and he will now complete his rehabilitation under the guidance of the Anfield medical staff.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 10,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Latic]

Rafa plays down Carra concern
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is hopeful Jamie Carragher will be fit for next week's Premier League opener at Tottenham after suffering an injury scare.
Carragher was forced to limp off after just 15 minutes of Saturday's pre-season defeat to Atletico Madrid with an ankle problem.
However, Benitez has played down the extent of the injury and revealed Carragher was only withdrawn as a precaution.
"He twisted his ankle and it was just a precaution to bring him off because we have had problems with the other centre-backs and we wanted to protect him."

Carragher's defensive colleagues Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger are both facing a race to be fit for the trip to White Hart Lane, but Benitez is confident all three could be available for the big kick-off.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 58,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Goosey]

Skrtel fit

Martin Skrtel has given Rafael Benitez a major boost ahead of the opening weekend of the season by making a successful comeback from injury earlier today.

Skrtel came through a run-out in a behind closed doors friendly against Oldham at the Academy, in which Lucas and Daniel Ayala were on the scoresheet in a 2-0 win.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldow ... 2-1528.htm

[andye]

Mikel San Jose has gone to Atletico Bilbao on loan for a season

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... 4446616/3/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AKNel1]

Mikel San Jose has gone to Atletico Bilbao on loan for a season

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... 4446616/3/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thats a bizarre decision with Agger injured , Carragher & Skrtel just getting over knocks and no recognised 4th Centre Half - Ayala & or Kelly on the bench on Sunday ? New signing next week ???

[murf]

Mikel San Jose has gone to Atletico Bilbao on loan for a season

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... 4446616/3/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thats a bizarre decision with Agger injured , Carragher & Skrtel just getting over knocks and no recognised 4th Centre Half - Ayala & or Kelly on the bench on Sunday ? New signing next week ???

San Jose is arguably the most experienced of the three but I thought Kelly and Ayala looked better in pre-season. Will be good for San Jose to get some proper experience.

Rafa must be getting a new senior (4th choice) centre back?

[murf]

Rafa is getting a new senior (4th choice) centre back:

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldow ... 9-2245.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Liverpool today agreed a deal with AEK Athens for centre-back Sotirios Kyrgiakos, subject to a medical.

[AKNel1]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/features ... 1-0844.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wonder if this signing will prove to be one of the best under Rafa's reign. I think given the current financial restraints Rudolph Borrell's role within the Club is critical for the Clubs future success.

[murf]

Daniel Agger will make his comeback from injury for the reserves at Manchester City on Tuesday night.

Philipp Degen and David Ngog are also expected to feature for John McMahon's side at the City of Manchester Stadium (kick-off 7pm).

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldow ... 8-1146.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Degen isn't in the CL squad because of quotas - can't remember about Ngog]

[andye]

Insua has been called up by Argentina fo the first time

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... -24794850/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[murf]

Javier Mascherano is out of Tuesday's Champions League match against Fiorentina with a tight hamstring.
The Reds midfielder was not among the 18-man party that arrived in Tuscany earlier this afternoon and will not be risked in tomorrow's Group E encounter at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

The Liverpool squad: Reina, Cavalieri, Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Aurelio, Insua, Lucas, Spearing, Plessis, Kuyt, Gerrard, Voronin, Torres, Babel, Riera, Benayoun.

[murf]

Daniel Agger will make his comeback from injury for the reserves at Manchester City on Tuesday night.

Liverpool team:

David Martin
Philipp Degen
Stephen Darby
Daniel Ayala
Daniel Agger
Steven Irwin
Nathan Eccleston
David Amoo
David Ngog
Victor Palsson
Alex Kacaniklic

Subs

Emmanuel Mendy
Martin Hansen
Chris Mavinga
Nikola Saric
Zsolt Poloskei

[murf]

Agger played 68 minutes for the reserves in their 2-0 win at Man City and looked fine in the highlights I saw.

Ngog scored a nice goal (from good work by Amoo - don't buy Garrido for your FF teams, he was regularly outclassed by a player just out of the Academy....)

Degen didn't get injured. Again! He just went off at half time with a stomach upset....

Agger comments
Match report

[murf]

Rafa on players off on international breaks

Key bit is "We know Lucas, Mascherano and Insua will not be back until Friday afternoon and we will have to manage them carefully." The two Dutch players are going to Oz but back early so no worries.

On other pages he is trying to get Denmark not to play Agger for 90 minutes in both games and he praises Insua (softening the blow of dropping him for Aurelio who is still on Merseyside training??????????????)

[murf]

Update on Liverpool players in international action today. The headline is Agger playing for 90 minutes again.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldow ... 4-2254.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT - Mascherano played 90 mins for Argentina, as did Lucas for Brazil. Insua didn't feature despite playing and getting rave reviews at weekend.