Anfield last night payed tribute to one of the most iconic football managers of all time, as the club marked the 50^th Anniversary since the great Bill Shankly took charge of the club and made history during an incredible and awe-inspiring 15 years at the helm of the Merseyside giants.

The achievements of the club during the 1960’s are still fondly remembered on Merseyside – and probably always will be as the great man took them from the old second division – now the championship, and won three league titles, two FA cups as well as a Uefa cup, a period which kick-started Liverpool’s proud and inspiring history.

What the great man himself would have made of last night’s performance is anybody’s guess, let alone the troubles this great club somehow find themselves embedded in at a time in which most Liverpool fans will be really starting to panic despite last night’s slender 2-1 win over Wigan.

Never did a victory over a club like Wigan draw such a relieved bate of breathe from 45,000 watching kopites, however despite last night’s score line it was far from convincing and if anything highlighted just where Liverpool are right now and what is to be expected as a large and unpleasant cloud looms over Anfield and does not look like going away anytime soon.

The pre-match and half-time celebrations that took place at Anfield last night just goes to show how this iconic football figure will never be allowed to be forgotten.  The pre-match mosaic on the kop spelt out the words ‘Shanks – The Legend’ a fitting tribute which was followed by players, now labelled legends of Liverpool’s past, graced the hollowed turf at half-time along with members of Bill Shankly’s family.

The current crop of players have a long way to go before they can be even spoken in the same breath as the likes of Ian St John, Steve Heighway and Kevin Keegan.  Last night’s performance showed how far Liverpool have fallen since those days of the 1960’s.

At times last night, Liverpool players looked uninterested, unmotivated and during periods even clueless as to how to try and perform in front of those legends watching in the stands.  They certainly did not produce anything that inspired the watching Kop, as Anfield was as quiet as it has ever been with the odd Steven Gerrard chant and even the odd one for manager Rafa Benitez although it’s obvious that chant does not draw the same passion and emotion it did 12 months ago.

David Ngog put the home side ahead after nine minutes when the Frenchman glanced in a Fabio Aurelio cross after ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland had failed to palm the ball away to safety.

The early goal should have got Liverpool going, but if anything it only drew a more laboured approach from the men in red as they seemed quite happy to play the ball backwards to defenders Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel, an approach which did not win favour from the crowd. 

Liverpool’s defence has been wobbly at best this season and as the game wore on the away side looked as though they could sense nerves arising from the home players.  The centre back pairing of Agger and Skrtel again looked fragile and Paul Scharner will feel he should have put Wigan level with a point blank header.

The home side’s slow and static approach did not please the home fans and when the biggest cheer of the night did arrive it was due to the arrival onto the pitch of Fernando Torres who drew a rapturous standing-ovation from the crowd as he replaced the ineffective Ngog.  If any of the current Liverpool players comes close to mirroring the affection shown by the home fans towards the legends that stepped onto the pitch at half time, it is him and it is clear that affection is not a one-way thing.

The darling of the Kop made an instant impact, first winning the home side a corner from his first touch, before going on to double Liverpool’s lead.  The Spaniard making his 100^th appearance for the club, burst through on the Wigan goal before rounding Chris Kirkland and despite the best efforts of Titus Bramble who blocked the striker’s first attempt, Torres made no mistake with the second as he collected the loose ball before tapping home.

There was still time though for that Liverpool defence to again reveal the frailties that have become of it this season when Charles N’Zogbia was inexcusably allowed to dribble the ball past three Liverpool defenders before firing home however the homes side despite a nervy finale managed to hold on.

A win is a win but for manager Rafa Benitez this must be the start of a new beginning for Liverpool or he may begin to feel himself being pushed further and further towards the Anfield exit door.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Even before a ball was kicked on the 15^th August, fans of the 20 English clubs were anticipating one of the most intriguing premier league seasons to date.

And here we are, almost half way through the 2009/2010 season and it hasn’t failed to deliver by providing us with as many talking points as we might be forgiven for expecting through the course of a whole season.

Arguably the biggest talking point to date has been the much surprising demise of Liverpool.  With so much expected of Rafa’s reds before a ball was even kicked the Merseyside giants have again failed to provide Manchester United and Chelsea with an adequate challenge when it comes to mopping up the big prize.

The Reds kicked off their season with a disappointing 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane and since then Kop fans have seen their club’s problems go from bad to worse.  One win in nine league games saw the reds lose precious ground on the leading pack and with five defeats to their name already Liverpool look like facing a real battle to even finish in this season’s top four.

Liverpool’s disappointing league form came at a similar time to their horrendous champion’s league campaign.  The reds were handed what many saw at the time to be a fairly  simple group to get out of, with only Hungarian champions Debrecen, Fiorentina and Lyon standing in their way. 

Liverpool’s opening 1-0 win over Debrecen was hardly convincing, and then came defeats to Fiorentina and Lyon respectively which was then followed by a 1-1 draw in Lyon.  Despite the reds winning in Hungary they required Lyon to do them a favour in Italy which they failed to do and therefore the reds crashed out at an early stage.

In fairness to Rafa Benitez and his team they have had to put up with some rather unfavourable fortune.  Key players such as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have not yet enjoyed a consistent run in the side,  with the latter out for much of the season with a persistent groin injury. 

Add to that the incredible incident that occurred during their 1-0 defeat at Sunderland where Darren Bent’s shot took a huge deflection off a beach ball thrown onto the pitch by a Liverpool fan and Rafa Benitez can be forgiven for thinking the gods are against him and his team. One of the few highlights of Liverpool’s season so far being the 2-0 victory over Manchester United at Anfield in October.

Champions Manchester United however have favoured considerably better when compared to their bitter North-West rivals. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men find themselves just two points behind Chelsea, despite some rather average performances to date. 

Their opening day win over Birmingham was far from convincing and since that 1-0 win at Old Trafford, the Red Devils have struggled to overcome teams such as Stoke, Bolton and Blackburn and do not look the same force upfront since losing Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer. United though have recently enjoyed a rich vein of form, incidentally since their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool in October.

United owe much of that run in form to the performances of Wayne Rooney who appears to be enjoying the burden of leading the United line in the absence of the Portuguese winger. 

United have also had a good run in the Champions League with the only setback being their 1-0 defeat to Besiktas at Old Trafford, although they were already guaranteed to progress to the knockout stages before that result. 

Meanwhile further South, London giants Chelsea and Arsenal have experienced vastly different fortune up to this point.

Carlo Ancellotti’s first league game as Chelsea manager saw the blues require a last gasp Didier Drogba goal against Hull in order to make it an opening day three points. 

Nicky Hunt had given Hull an away day lead at the Bridge but a double from the Ivorian including that 93^rd minute cross-come-shot saw Chelsea steal the three points.  Chelsea have since gone on to record some precious wins defeating Manchester United and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge and running riot at the Emirates defeating Arsene Wenger’s men 3-0 on their own turf. 

Arsenal did themselves get off to the best of starts when they hammered Everton at Goodison Park 6-1 on the opening day.  Before the season started many pundits expected Arsenal to be the team to drop out of the top four however they soon had pundits changing their minds with the demolition of Everton.

Wenger’s men endured a miserable week in Manchester though, in two extremely controversial contests.  First at Old Trafford where Wenger’ men were enraged they hadn’t won a first half penalty before Rooney went down softly in the box, and he scored from the resulting kick.

A week later the gunners again travelled to Manchester where they were defeated 4-2 by Manchester City with Emmanuel Adebayor causing enough controversy to make even Joey Barton jealous.

Adebayor first carried out a malicious stamp on former team mate and friend Robin Van Persie before celebrating his goal against his former club in front of the Arsenal fans.  Adebayor’s actions enraged Arsene Wenger who labelled his former striker a disgrace before also questioning the intentions of Mark Hughes who defended the striker’s actions.

Events at the City of Manchester would lead to further confrontations in the league cup clash between the two which involved another skirmish in the dugout and resulting in Arsene Wenger refusing to shake Mark Hughes hand after City knocked Arsenal out of the carling cup.

Meanwhile Manchester City’s season appears to have hit a stumbling block.  Mark Hughes men were going well in the premier league at one stage and were for a short period just five points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand.  The blue half of Manchester was outraged however when they were beaten in the 96^th minute of an epic Manchester Derby which saw them level at 3-3 before Michael Owen’s goal was allowed to stand despite there only being four added minutes signalled. 

City have since struggled for form and recorded an incredible seven league draws in a row before eventually ending that run with a 2-1 win over leaders Chelsea at home.  The Eastland’s outfit now trail Chelsea by 11 points, they do however still have what could prove to be a crucial game in hand when it comes to the race for fourth place. 

Elsewhere in the premier league, Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham have arguably claimed the most impressive result of the campaign to date.  Spurs ran riot in their home game with Visiting Wigan Athletic with Jermain Defoe helping himself to five goals in the 9-1 demolition in North London.

Despite all recording similar results on the opening day, all three promoted sides have fared considerably differently in the premier league so far. 

Alex McLeish’s Birmingham currently find themselves in 8^th place and eight points above the relegation zone whilst Burnley, despite enjoying an impressive home run, have failed miserably on the road picking up a measly one point from their eight away games.  Mick McCarthy’s Wolves have found points hard to come by and despite a recent 2-1 success over Gary Megson’s Bolton – also struggling to keep their place in the top tier of English football, find themselves languishing in the bottom three.

Portsmouth remain rock bottom after a number of problems both on and off the field which has seen Joe Hart replaced by former Chelsea boss Avram Grant.  Despite defeating Burnley 2-0 in their most recent match, the South coast side remain four points adrift at the foot of the table.

Also struggling are Bolton Wanderers, West Ham, Hull, Everton and Wigan who have all suffered inconsistent form up to now.  The race for survival promises to be the most intriguing yet with just nine points separating eighth placed Fulham from 18^th placed Wolves.

We are however just under half way through this Premier League season and whatever happens there promises to be plenty more twists and turns before the premier league finale on the 9^th May.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The fates of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka may have been decided in the space of a week but with over 2 months still to go to this summer, there’s plenty of time for more ‘superstar’ signings to take place.

Here’s a list of the top 5 transfer targets (left standing) this summer – will they move clubs, stay loyal or sold to pay off debts? If they do end up moving, where will they move to? While it may seem that after Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea, the rest of Europe doesn’t stand a chance at getting these five, but not everyone goes to Madrid, or for the money (hopefully).

5) ALEXANDRE PATO – The 19-year old Brazilian striker is highly regarded as one of the brightest talents in both European and world football. Pato joined milan in the summer of 2007 from Brazilian club Internacional.  It didn’t take him long to prove his worth as he scored his first Milan goal on his debut against Genoa in a 2-0 victory.  He ended the season with an impressive nine goals in 20 appearances.

He has since played 54 games for the club with an impressive 24 goals.  David Beckham, who had a loan spell at Milan is one of a number of admirers of the young Brazilian labelling him ‘‘one of the brightest talents in the world”. Pato has also made a number of appearances for the Brazilian national team and scored his first goal for the national side on his debut against Sweden at the Emirates Stadium in 2008 beating Pele’s record of scoring a goal within seconds of making his debut.

Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment as Chelsea manager has fuelled speculation of a reunion between the two, with Chelsea reported to be ”very keen” to land the player.  However Barcelona and Real Madrid could also be tempted to snatch the star if given the opportunity.  Pato himself has expressed his desire to see out his contract with the Azzurri club.

4) DAVID SILVA- A Spanish winger who is both versatile and skilled, Silva has the rare ability of being able to play on either wing.  Silva officially signed for Valencia in 2004 but had loan spells at Eibar and Celta Vigo.  Since his return from Celta Vigo in 2006 the Spaniard has been a regular starter in the Valencia team and in 2007 signed a massive seven year contract, temporarily securing his future with the Spanish giants.  From the beginning of the 2004 season to the end of the 2006 season he missed only six matches but got injured with an ankle injury and missed a third of the last campaign.

Silva has a number of keen suitors around Europe including a number of English Premier League clubs.  Liverpool were thought to be at the front of the queue in the race to sign the winger with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez thought to be using his association with the club as an advantage to snatch a deal however financial problems appear to have hampered his plans.  Real Madrid and Barcelona as well as Manchester United have since shown great interest.

3) DAVID VILLA – Also a Valencia man, Villa has become regarded as the best striker in world football with a whole host of teams ranging from clubs in England, Spain and Italy wanting to land the 27-year old.  Villa has previously had stints at Sporting Gijon, and Real Zaragoza with impressive goal tallies.

In 407 club appearances, he has netted 204 goals, an impressive one goal every two games as well as 31 goals at international level.  The Spaniard has formed a strong international partnership with striking partner Fernando Torres and the two are often spoken about as the deadliest duo in all of Europe.

Villa himself has often expressed his desire to remain with Valencia, however the club’s astronomical debts have made the club think twice about holding onto their star asset.  Bids of up to £50m have been talked about with the striker recently being quoting as saying he wants to remain in Spain, alerting both Real Madrid and Barcelona.

2) KARIM BENZEMA – The French youngster has been heralded as one of the leading players in France’s new generation.  The Lyon striker was handed the prestigious number 10 shirt in the summer of 2007 after Sylvain Wiltord, Florent Malouda, and John Carew departed the club and the youngster was burdened with the task of leading the attack.  The Frenchman is said to be ”happy” at the club but having hit the proverbial glass ceiling at the French club, he now wants a new challenge.

The Frenchman’s 66 club goals in 149 appearances has seen him catch the eye of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson who sees the player as a long term replacement for the departing Cristiano Ronaldo.  The Scotsman is contemplating using a large chunk of the £80m received from the sale of Ronaldo to land the player. Real Madrid have also been after Benzema, who stated his preference for Los Merengues last summer.

1) FRANCK RIBERY – Ribery was described as the ”jewel of French football” by Zinedine Zidane and it appears as though he is now the most wanted jewell in world football.  Surprisingly Ribery has had spells at seven different clubs including four in his own homeland.  His longest spell at a club was at Marseille where he made 60 starts between 2005-2007.  The Frenchman’s best display’s have undoubtably been at current club Bayern Munich where he helped them lift the Bundesliga in 2008.

Real Madrid are reportedly leading the chase to sign the winger as they look to establish the Galacticos II era under president Florentino Perez.  Ribery could be signed to line up along other Madrid accquisitions Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka although a number of clubs in England including Manchester City, could yet have a say in the Frenchman’s future.

Where do you think these five will be playing come September?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News