Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘sport’

• Argentina midfielder reports for pre-season training at Melwood
• Roy Hodgson faces task of persuading player to stay at Anfield

The Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano met up with his new manager, Roy Hodgson, for the first time this morning after returning to pre-season training.

The Argentina captain has been uncontactable since going on holiday after the World Cup but was back at Melwood on schedule, along with his compatriot Maxi Rodríguez.

Hodgson tried to speak to the 26-year-old, who has been heavily linked with a summer reunion with the former Reds manager Rafael Benítez at Internazionale, following the end of the player’s involvement in South Africa.

However, the 62-year-old Englishman was only able to leave messages for Mascherano telling him he was looking forward to meeting him back on Merseyside as his calls were not returned.

Hodgson will outline his plans to Mascherano in much the same way as he has already done to Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Fernando Torres in an attempt to persuade him he has a future at Anfield.

But there still remains a nagging doubt that the combative midfielder, who was offered a new contract in the latter stages of last season, has set his sights on a move elsewhere.

Neither Mascherano nor Rodríguez will be available for Thursday’s Europa League third qualifying round first leg tie against Rabotnicki in Macedonia. However, Hodgson admits he may have to field a number of his other World Cup stars earlier than he would have liked.

The club’s medical staff have warned their manager bringing the likes of Gerrard, Carragher, Glen Johnson, new signing Jole Cole and Daniel Agger back too soon may have dire effects later in the season. But a largely reserve side has failed to score in two pre-season friendlies and Hodgson admits he may not be able to afford to take the risk of not using senior players.

“I don’t know what to do at this stage,” he said. “I will have to liaise with them and [head of sports science] Peter Brukner and make a decision by Tuesday on what sort of team I can put out.

“I can promise the Liverpool fans we will put out the best possible team, without compromising the future. It is going to be a difficult discussion between myself and Peter because his feeling is we shouldn’t use any of them and I am going to be tempted to say I want to use quite a few of them.

“The only players I will take will be the ones that I definitely think will play a valuable part in the game. If we are talking about senior players, it would be players prepared to start the game. I would not take Steven Gerrard there to play for the last 10 minutes as a substitute.”

One senior player who will be available is the midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who sat out Saturday’s friendly defeat to Kaiserslautern with a knee problem. “Peter Brukner told me he ran for the first time on Saturday so I would expect him to be fit for Thursday,” added Hodgson.

Liverpoolguardian.co.uk

It’s twelve years now since Douglas Hall was caught by a tabloid sting scoffing at Geordies for paying £50 for replica shirts worth £5. Fans were outraged, and politicians attacked club greed and “exploitation”. Twelve years on, and Newcastle’s new 2010-11 shirt has gone on sale – yours for £50.

What the lack of change shows is that, deep down, fans don’t really mind paying mark-ups for club branding. What has improved in the last decade, though, is the quality.

This year’s new launches are a well-made, pretty good-looking bunch. They are almost all retro-themed, and, disappointingly, there’s nothing properly ugly like Tottenham’s 2009 urine-in-the-snow-themed yellow streaked top. The only one that comes close is Everton’s fluorescent pink away outfit – “a brave design”, says Leon Osman.

In fact, the only consistent negative about this season’s home tops isn’t the designers’ fault. The problem is the new range of sponsors’ logos: uglier and seemingly larger than ever.

Take Liverpool’s shirt (£44.99 from Kitbag.com). It’s a classic Adidas design – a modern version of the 1989-90 title-winning top. It feels classy: neat gold piping and quality, breathable fabric. But that’s not what you see first. What you see first is what Standard Chartered Bank paid £80m to make you see first. And it’s not a logo of beauty.

Likewise Spurs. Replacing the urine stains there’s a retro blue shoulder bar: a good-looking 80s-themed Puma top, spoiled by an ugly “A” motif, promoting a software infrastructure company.

And Manchester United’s top, billed as a tribute to the 1980-81 side, is actually all about Aon. (Although inside United’s shirt there’s a bonus: a chance to test your gag-reflex by finding the word “Believe” printed on the reverse of the club badge – positioned, says the PR blurb, “right next to your heart”.)

Arsenal’s 70s-style top, meanwhile, screams Emirates just as loudly as last season’s shirt – but at least there is a welcome return to white sleeves.

Maybe the best new shirt this year, though, is Blackpool’s – a top which proves they’ve already grasped the ethics of Premier League economics. On offer: a chance for fans to spend £40 on a top advertising their new club sponsor Wonga.com. Wonga’s line of business: selling short-term loans at 2689% APR.

Manchester UnitedArsenalLiverpoolTottenham Hotspurguardian.co.uk

• Rabotnicki defeat Armenian side to set up clash
• First leg at Anfield next Thursday

Liverpool will face Rabotnicki in the third qualifying round of the Uefa Europa League after the Macedonian side completed a 1-0 aggregate victory over the Armenian side Mika tonight.

The two sides played out a largely uneventful draw in Yerevan, meaning that Wandeir’s goal from the first leg in Skopje was enough to take his side through.

Rabotnicki won that match despite playing for more than 45 minutes with only 10 men.

The first leg will be at Anfield next Thursday, with the return in Macedonia the following Thursday, 5 August.

LiverpoolEuropa Leagueguardian.co.uk