£4.5M for Four-and-a-Half

Out of favor left-back Andrea Dossena seems on the verge of bolstering transfer funds for Rafa Benítez after the Italian's agent confirmed that he is close to a move back to Italy. The defender moved to Liverpool from Italian club Udinese in the summer of 2007 for an undisclosed fee that was rumored to have been in the neighborhood of £7M. Dossena was a buy that most never saw a need for, especially for an unproven defender at such a price.
With Fábio Aurélio filling the position and with John Arne Riise's move to AS Roma completed, it seemed Benítez thought greater depth at the position was needed. Regardless, it was the youthful Argentinian Emmiliano Insúa that was favored over the Italian in more recent times. Despite the lack of possible left-back playing time, Dossena found that he was more-often-than-not employed as a left-winger. Finding himself in such a position enabled him to bag two memorable goals in two matches in the 2008-09 season. The more-memorable of which came in the four-one drubbing of Manchester United at Old Trafford. Pepe Reina's long blast down the pitch caught the United defense sleeping allowing Dossena to bang home the fourth Liverpool goal of the match (see photo). He scored a similar goal only four days prior during Liverpool's Champions League match against Real Madrid, in which the Reds went on to win four-nil at Anfield.
After a quiet few years on Merseyside, Dossena is set to move back to Italy. Napoli are said to be offering £4.5M for the left-back-turned-winger. His agent told Tuttomercatoweb that "the player will arrive in Napoli tomorrow. [But] at the moment there are logistical problems--that is to say he can't leave Liverpool because of the snow. The player will arrive on a permanent basis with a contract for four-and-a-half years."
[ESPN]

Rodríguez: An Argentine Link

Maxi Rodríguez has been linked with Liverpool for the few days currently passed in the January Transfer Window, and the week leading up to it. The Atlético Madrid midfielder is most often employed as a winger or not-so-often as an attacking midfielder. He's managed twelve appearances for The Mattress Makers in the current La Liga campaign, scoring five goals. He's also made a few appearances in the Spanish side's disappointing Champions League run, also managing a goal in the process. It has been rumored that the Argentina National Team player wants to move to Anfield. A loan deal has been mentioned, but a more permanent move shouldn't be out of question.
With Ryan Babel on the outs after under performing for two years, Rafa Benítez should be looking to off-load the Dutchman despite conflicting reports from the Liverpool camp. Regardless of Babel's comings or goings, Andrey Voronin seems set to leave the Merseyside club after failing to make much of a mark after returning from a successful loan spell with Hamburg SV during the Bundesliga season recently past.
La Fiera, as Rodríguez is known, will look to link up with fellow Argentine and friend Javier Mascherano despite the holding-midfielder's proclivity to want-away to Barcelona.

Reds Rubbish Against Royals

Reading 1-1 Liverpool

Reina
Darby Škrtel Carragher Insúa
Kuyt Gerrard Lucas Aurélio
N'Gog Torres

The Madejski Stadium saw Liverpool bring in the new year in a formation that had nary been seen in 2009. The 4-4-2 that Rafa Benítez decided to employ had been used successfully in the few matches it was used since the departure of Xabi Alonso. The decision to play with a more positive squad on the road is something that has also been hardly seen as the usual 4-2-3-1 tends to be more defensive when used away from Anfield.
Regardless of the positivity the use of two strikers ought to bring, the Reds still looked uncreative and flat for the majority of the match. For equal patches of time in each half, the Premier League side looked on the defensive as Reading bossed the game for fifteen minutes in each half.
The Royals went ahead after Liverpool were sent reeling during a free-kick set-play that saw the Reds essentially give up on the play as the home-side bungled home the opening goal. Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt combined in a moment of indecision by the Dutchman and he fained any action on Gerrard's cross allowing it to catch the Reading keeper out.
The second-half was more of the same. Reading, though, were the only side more likely to score in the first thirty-minutes. Alberto Aquilani's introduction saw the formation switch to the more regular 4-2-3-1. Regardless of it being a more negative formation, the positive influence of Aquilani and the more forward running of Gerrard allowed Liverpool to dominate the latter minutes of the half in terms of possession and chances. The closest came when Fernando Torres headed over from six yards out, culminating in epitomizing the the day for the Reds.
With the £20M signing on the bench, continuing to get match time--and therefore, match fitness--seems to be a not-so-inside inside joke that everyone but Benítez seems to understand.
The one-all result sees a replay of the tie required. A match that most would have wanted to avoid, but Benítez sees it as a chance to get the players playing together more often, an idea that is not lost on me at the moment as Glen Johnson is set to miss at least a month due to injury.
With the replay to be played on 12 January at Anfield, the winner has been drawn in the Forth Round to face Premier League side Burnley. With the season in shambles, Benítez and the players--let alone the supporters--need a good cup run to get anything from this season of disappointment.
The New Year starts on a clean slate despite the poor performance at Reading. At least it wasn't a loss at the hands of Leeds United...

The Reds see Red

Portsmouth 2-0 Liverpool

Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insúa
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Gerrard Dossena
Torres

With Glen Johnson returning to the South Coast and Steven Finnan facing his old club, it's an honest shock that Liverpool bought Johnson for £18M and sold the work-horse Finnan off to Spain for pittens. That right-back comparison showed exactly what's happened with those particular signings under Rafa Ben­ítez. The hard-working and consistent performers--even Alvaro Arbeloa fits that bill--that have been the revolving door of the Reds' right-back position have culminated in the over-priced signing of an under-performing player. However, it's foolish to point a finger at Glen Johnson and beset him with the burden of being the scapegoat that takes the blame off the entire squad of under-performing players.
Despite the fact that the pitch was a block of ice and it was cold as it would have been had hell finally frozen over, Liverpool never looked in the game. In the opening minutes, the Merseysiders looked slightly up for the match, but the true class, or lack thereof, showed through their paltry facade as they went behind after customary non-existent defending. After conceding, the Reds never looked like scoring, a sight that epitomized in Steven Gerrard's late strike that dribbled wide of Asmir Begovic's far post, harmlessly out for a Pompey goal-kick.
Disjointed and impotent is the nice way of describing the Liverpool attack, the other would be to deem it simply fucking pathetic. After a mid-week success over Wigan Athletic--a club six places above Pompey--Benítez felt the inkling to change the formation from the balanced 4-4-2 employed to the lately, highly unsuccessful 4-2-3-1.
When it comes to Rafa keeping his job, it has become simply unimaginable that the Spaniard would remain with the club much longer. But, perhaps it says something of his character that he's still around. In light of Mark Hughes losing his post at Manchester City--despite a four-three win over Sunderland--Benítez's want to right Liverpool and fix the problems at hand is refreshing, but he must recognize that he must first change, as a manager, to help the stale side.
Before jumping to the height of saying he ought to get the sack, one must recognize that any other manager would be in the same financial situation Benítez finds himself in. However, no one manager is the same, and one might think that someone else would make better personnel decisions. Many supporters were tired of finishing off the top. Consistently in the top four but never laying claim the most desirable title. Given Liverpool's current plight, most, if not all, would gladly take finishing second, third or fourth for years, to the current form that will invariably finish disappointingly far from their goal.
It's been said that Liverpool--in their current bane of form--have made football ugly, unable to watch. Again, the comparison was envisaged after the stale Portsmouth-Liverpool match was followed by the exciting and entertaining Manchester City-Sunderland tie. However, the syndrome does not appear to be affecting just the Reds of Liverpool. Manchester United--after suffering their second loss in three matches at the hands of a three-nil Fulham tonking--also seem to be suffering the same fate that their arch-rivals seem to be unceremoniously demised to live through.

Reds Get Easy Draw, Maybe

The ties for the Knockout Round of the Europa League were drawn early today. Liverpool are paired with Champions League surprise minnows Unirea Urziceni of Romania for their Round of 32 fixture that will first take place at Anfield on February 18th. Unirea almost qualified for the Champions League Knockout Stage after tonking Rangers 4-1 at Ibrox and felling Sevilla 1-nil in Spain. If the Reds and see past the Romanians they'll face either Lille of France or Fenerbahçe of Turkey in the Round of 16. A task that this time doesn't seem so daunting. But with the form Liverpool have expressed this season, nothing will be taken for granted.
Fulham's task is not so easily matched to Liverpool's as they face current holders Shaktar Donetsk in their opening fixture whose first leg is at Craven Cottage. Moving past the Ukrainians would see the Cottagers come up against huge European opposition in the form of either Ajax Amsterdam or Juventus.
Everton, much like Fulham, have a draw that falls into the most difficult of opponents category. In the Round of 32 they come up against serial-Champions-League-under-performers Sporting Lisbon before they'd have the chance to see either Atlético Madrid or Galatasaray in the Round of 16.
Fixtures in the Round of 32 are set to kick off with their first-leg matches to be played on the 18th of February.
[ESPN]

Winning for Shankly

Liverpool 2-1 Wigan Athletic

Reina
Carragher Škrtel Agger Insúa
Benayoun Gerrard Mascherano Aurélio
Kuyt N'Gog

On the fifty-year anniversary of Shankly's historic taking-over of the helm of Liverpool Football Club, Rafa Benítez found himself setting his own historic mark. But had things at Anfield gone the way of the visitors, that history would have been recorded for the wrong reasons. After having won only three matches in the last eleven, the Reds and Benítez desperately required a win, not to just help right their own floundering season's dreams, but to get their feet back under them in terms of confidence and stability.
The change in formation to a 4-4-2 was refreshing as Liverpool looked more attack-minded when they finished the Arsenal match just three days past. David N'Gog's backing from Dirk Kuyt saw the Fenchman put the opening goal away and come closer on a few other occasions. The two strikers plays into the hands of the pairing of N'Gog and Kuyt.
With the introduction of Fernando Torres in the second half, a change in formation to the normal 4-2-3-1 saw Liverpool boss the match more, but their creation in the attacking third was noticeably less definitive. Their holding midfield pairing of Lucas and Javier Mascherano seemed to invariably invite the Latics to attack the Liverpool half. The attacking influence of Alberto Aquilani was unarguably detectable as his own introduction saw Liverpool creating things out of nothing in the Wigan half. The Italian had his own chance of marking the nights Shankly inspired proceedings, but his acrobatic over-head kick was easily claimed by Chris Kirkland.
The final minutes of the match became sickeningly and unsurprisingly nervous as the Reds defense miss tackled not once, but four times before Charles N'Zogbia easily slotted past Reina.
Despite the concession of the dreaded reoccurring late goal, the result shouldn't disappoint. A vital three points collected should help buoy the team as they look forward towards their next match. Every match is crucial and it will become monotonous by the end of the season, since every match is essentially a must-win.
Regardless, it's nice to know that Rafa's a little less afraid of changing things. The formation change shows that the Reds have a few changes up their respective sleeves when it comes to tactics now that most of the first-team has returned.