Friday, June 24, 2005

Champions League Draws and Premiership Fixtures announced!







Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez can afford a smile after his Champions League winning side, not the same one that will compete in next season's competition(!), were drawn against Welsh side Total Network Solutions in their first qualifying round.
More from .tv

Dirty Dan's Comments
We wanted them and they wanted us. Even though there was a 1 in 12 chance of it happening, we'll now be travelling to Wales instead of some Eastern European country. We will have either HB Torshavn or FBK Kaunas (anyone knows where the fuck they are??) for the second qualifying round.

Saw the premiership fixtures yesterday, and i've gotta say our hopes of challenging for the title have been given a huge boost. Our traditional bad spell (nov-dec) only has Everton from among last season's top 6. And with (no disrespect) easier fixtures towards the end, we might even be able to rest a few key players for the CL semis and Final, if we go that far (which i do believe we will).

There hasn't been any serious transfer activity at Anfield, no new players have come in yet and I've gotta admit I'm getting a bit worried. I do trust Rafa will have something up his sleave and we still have a few weeks, he still has the cash and Anfield is still a very exciting prospect for even the best players in the world.

COME ON THE REDS!

Mark's comments (Don't know Marky Mark yet? He'll be our Chief Far-East Correspondent soon)
Liverpool go into the forthcoming season probably looking the strongest (once we get a couple new players) that they have in a long time. TNS are not going to lie down because the European champions don't exactly come visiting every day. Hopefully Rafa put outs an experience squad there and doesnt take a gamble. We all don't want a repeat of the FA cup with Milwall last year. As for the Premiership, i have heard from Dan that the fixture list is quite freindly, which should help things. Rafa has shown he is a quick learner with Valencia, so i expect him to be a lot more aware of the premier league this year and hopefully put us back where we belong in English Football, at the top.

Benny C's comments
I think it's still a bit early to speak about our chances for the Premiership at this moment in time. There is still a lot of speculation about which players will be wearing a Liver bird next season. The squad we had, amazingly came in 37 points off the pace, despite playing well for much of the season. Saying that though, the consistency will come. Rafa has proven that he knows what is happening and will look to strengthen what, on paper, should be an extremely strong side indeed. Barring injuries and incidents though, we have as much chance as the next team (And probably more than United.)

As for the draw, we have learned hard lessons from fielding weakened sides in competition, and even though I feel a few of the lads will get a run out (Their performance in the league cup was phenomenal) I don't think Rafa will risk the embarrassment of going out first round. I apologise to TNS, I know very little about them, but I also feel the revenue generated will be good for them (they wanted it....) We should get through. After that either Lithuanian champions FBK Kaunas or the Faroe Islands very own HB Torshaven......Nope, I have no idea either.

The way things are going, can't you just feel Everton over the horizon? It's almost destiny....

In Rafa we trust


Leave your own comments by clicking the comments link below - you don't need to register for that.

5 Comments:

Blogger Benny C said...

Middlesborough away (On my birthday no less.)

Not a bad side, but quite erratic. Let's hope our away form is improved on last season and that there have been no major developments due to our extended qualifying run...

City away...oh. They are not a bad side either you know. I think a point may be a fair evaluation though. Consistency is not their strong point. And if you start as you finished...who knows.

Wouldn't like to predict our result, but I'll go with a win. Rafa will sort us, and stats prove we are pretty good first day of the season....

01:23  
Blogger Benny C said...

Sarah - Amendment. If the papers are to be believed this morning, the loss of Shaun Wright Phillips to Chelsea (what are you thinking Shaun?) could hand you 3 points opening day. Looking at the squad, City are looking pretty toothless at the minute.

Come on Psycho, get a grip. You don't want to be battling relegation after the highest premiership finish ever.

10:24  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gaaaaaaaaaahhhh...My beloved Leeds are no longer in the Premiership...it's been too long...

12:42  
Blogger Benny C said...

Liverpool Have just confirmed that the Qualifier will be played at Anfield on Wednesday 13th July @ 7.45pm.

Come on you reds.

20:05  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Should there be a Salary Cap in Football?
Personally I think there should be! It’s just getting to be stupid money in football at the top of the premiership!
It’s always the same teams at the top proving that football success is based purely on money which ruins the idea of it being a sport! They’ve done it in rugby, basketball, hockey and American football and it makes the sports more competitive and better to watch!
I do a little Spread Betting from time to time and most matches don’t hold much surprise who is going to win, its boring! I want to see a team at the bottom pulling off an amazing season beating last seasons winners in a close fought battle!
Make things fair! It shouldn’t be about money!

21:07  

Post a Comment

<< Home

English Blogs.
Search For Blogs, Submit Blogs, The Ultimate Blog Directory


Blogwise - blog 

directory
Search For Blogs, Submit Blogs, The Ultimate Blog Directory
Blogarama - The Blog Directory
British Blogs.
Blog Directory & 

Search engine


Free Web Site Counter
Site Counter

Blogarama - The Blog Directory eXTReMe Tracker  View My Public Stats on MyBlogLog.com