Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘the guardian’

• ‘There have been a lot of lies. I will respond to them’
• Player says Barcelona move is a year too late

Javier Mascherano has warned Roy Hodgson that he will reveal the truth behind the “lies” that surrounded his departure from Anfield – and admitted his £17m move to Barcelona was a year overdue. He also insisted there was never an offer on the table for him to join Rafa Benítez at Internazionale.

Mascherano, right, was reported to have refused to play against Manchester City as he sought to force through a move to Spain, with Hodgson accusing him of being “selfish”. But at his Barça unveiling, he said: “Roy Hodgson knows the truth. This is a happy moment for me so now is not the time to say it, but a lot of lies have been told about me and I will respond to them.

“Last year Liverpool would not let me leave. There was no way they would sell me. They had Xabi Alonso and me, and they would only let Xabi leave,” said the 26‑year‑old.

“I was disappointed not to be able to sign last season. When the best club in the world calls you, then it is something that you want to happen. I have signed for the only club who really wanted me. In no moment did I ever think that Inter was a possibility. Rafa valued me and perhaps that is why people started saying that I could go there but this is the only club that pushed to sign me.”

But Mascherano was keen too to rebuild bridges with fans at Liverpool, with whom he spent three seasons. “I hope they get back into the Champions League as soon as possible. I still have a lot of affection for the fans of the club and I always will.”

BarcelonaLiverpoolTransfer windowSid Loweguardian.co.uk

The portents were not exactly encouraging for Roy Hodgson and Liverpool in Trabzon. Absences, enforced or otherwise, had complicated their interest in a competition the manager conceded fell a distant second to the Premier League and, as the thunderstorms rolled off the Kacker Mountains and Trabzonspor led, the watershed Hodgson had denied witnessing against Manchester City threatened to follow. His relief on the final whistle, however, showed this did matter.

With a clenched fist salute, a yelp that pierced the night air and a bear-hug for his assistant Sammy Lee, Hodgson demonstrated that, regardless what his team selection and pre-match comments may have suggested, embarking on a prolonged European campaign as a Liverpool manager was a prerequisite to any honeymoon period. “You’re Alone Here” taunted the fanatical home fans on one banner, but Liverpool will be in the hat with 47 other clubs in the Europa League group draw.

“Liverpool are a team with remarkable European pedigree so it would have been very sad to go out in the qualifying stages,” said Hodgson. “I think this is a very, very good victory. We were looking down the barrel here coming down to Trabzon, you saw their incredible support, you saw how fanatical their fans are. To get a result here was something important that will stand us in good stead for plenty of other matches throughout the coming season.”

Liverpool matured with the game but then they could hardly have started worse. Only poor finishing by Trabzonspor and another vital contribution from Jose Reina kept Hodgson’s team in the tie before the opening 25 minutes had elapsed.

The Liverpool manager was hamstrung to some extent in his selection but, having declined to risk Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger and Maxi Rodríguez due to various yet slight ailments (all are expected to be fit for Sunday’s league game with West Bromwich Albion) he took a major gamble in sparing Fernando Torres and Milan Jovanovic the journey. A Kop zealot would hesitate to show as much faith in the remainder of this Liverpool squad than Hodgson did in both encounters with the Turkish Cup winners. In fairness, his early days as manager are complicated by having to assess all options during an unrelenting, demanding sequence of matches. Most importantly, his decisions and his faith were vindicated.

It was the absence of Javier Mascherano that had the most detrimental effect on Liverpool’s fragile start. The displays at Manchester City on Monday and in Trabzon, where the hosts frequently by-passed a ponderous, rigid and soft midfield centre of Lucas Leiva and Christian Poulsen, have demonstrated the importance of the Argentinian. An anticipated move to Barcelona would leave a sizable void in this team but his replacements did eventually wrestle the tie in Liverpool’s favour.

Trabzonspor levelled the tie on aggregate with just four minutes on the clock. Dirk Kuyt, who will not be joining Rafael Benítez at Internazionale, was dispossessed deep inside his own half by Gustavo Coleman. The Argentinian’s shot-cross dissected the centre of the Liverpool defence and the unmarked Teofilo Gutiérrez prodded past Reina. Alarmingly simple, and the tone of the night did not alter until Trabzonspor’s energy and adventure drained late in the first half and anxiety plus Liverpool took over.

A characteristic block from an airborne Jamie Carragher prevented Ibrahima Yattara finding the target after the visitors were caught on the break from their own corner. Reina, targeted by lasers from the crowd, tipped a low drive from Colman wide seconds later and Yattara, the captain, squandered a glorious chance when he headed Burak Yilmaz’s free-kick wide when unmarked in front of goal. Liverpool did not respond with an accurate shot of their own until the 43rd minute, when Lucas drove straight at Onur Kivrak, but they had at least stemmed the tide.

Poulsen and Lucas began to impose themselves, Glen Johnson started to find space down the right, Joe Cole, on the receiving end of several fouls, improved the supply to the previously isolated David Ngog and Trabzonspor players and crowd alike were suddenly afflicted by doubt. They were silenced completely when Liverpool capped a vastly improved second-half display with two goals in the final seven minutes.

Ngog had gone close twice before helping to secure Liverpool’s passage into tomorrow’s group draw when, after Johnson had easily beaten the left back Hrvoje Cale and crossed low, he pressured Remzi Kacar into slicing the ball in off his own near post. With two minutes remaining the impressive substitute, Dani Pacheco, forced Kivrak into a desperate low save and Kuyt’s predatory instincts took over. The Dutch international converted into an empty net from close range. His Liverpool career, and his club’s involvement in Europe this season, is far from over.

Europa LeagueLiverpoolAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Klein group set to earn up to £260,000 in fees
• Fans worried by proximity of Klein to Tom Hicks

Michael Klein seems to have re-emerged as a key figure behind the scenes at Liverpool. The former Citibank grandee was instrumental in BarCap’s acquisition of Lehman Bros two years ago and was the man who recommended the appointment of Martin Broughton as the Anfield chairman in April.

Klein and Broughton were, until 2008, co-chairmen of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue lobby and it was Broughton who confirmed that Liverpool’s co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, “knew [Klein] from old”.

Now Digger can reveal that a certain Klein Group – whose backer is unknown, but is more likely to be Michael Klein than the WalMart builder or the Dallas kids’ clothing retailer by the same name – will earn up to $400,000 (£260,000) in fees from the setting up of the Hicks Acquisition Co II this column exposed yesterday.

That was set up at the time when BarCap drew up a refinancing proposal for Hicks and Gillett, and fans are worried the proximity of Klein both to Hicks and to BarCap will lead to Barclays assisting the Americans in retaining control of the club beyond Royal Bank of Scotland’s 6 October refinancing deadline. The Kop Faithful pressure group yesterday sent an open letter to 40 BarCap staff demanding that they do not proceed with the refinancing plans. But it may never get that far in any case.

Although Broughton knows Klein well, he did oppose the refinancing scheme when it was presented to the board. And RBS, which as primary lender stands to lose most if BarCap were to deliver Liverpool to Hicks with reduced debt, told Digger: “We have full confidence in Barclays and the chairman to complete a sale.”

Bellamy transfer scrutiny

Championship clubs are expected to challenge the Football League board to introduce measures against a repeat of the kind of player-loans characterised by the move of Craig Bellamy, below, to Cardiff City. The League’s board meets on 9 September and is expected to discuss the effect of the loan transfer from Manchester City.

The view that Doncaster Rovers’ chairman, John Ryan, expressed yesterday, that the deal “will distort the integrity of the Championship”, is shared by several clubs in the division.

Rules state that loanee clubs must pay the wages of borrowed players in their entirety. It would not be difficult to return the regulations to their previous form, but it will need much debate: several other clubs now host Premier League players and would not wish to relinquish that lightly.

2018 team says no to logo

Fifa demands stringent brand protection by World Cup organising committees, and even in the bid phase England 2018 has taken action against unauthorised marketing. Such strong action, in fact, that the cease-and-desist order it issued involved one of its proposed host cities. Douglas Fletcher, chairman of the Plymouth World Cup Bid 2018 group, sent an email to local businesses asking for a contribution of £1,000 towards marketing costs. Fletcher said: “In return you’ll get [inter alia] the chance to use the Official World Cup Bid logo when we reach £250,000 in donations.” No you won’t. England 2018 informed Plymouth that use of official World Cup Bid marques is not permitted without prior authorisation from England 2018, which itself must gain Fifa approval.

Taking the Michael

Michael O’Rourke, founder of the failed sports broadcaster Setanta, has re-entered the UK pay-tv market with the resale of Celtic’s Europa League play-off match against Utrecht on his new Premier Sports channel. You have to admire the man’s entrepreneurial spirit, but Celtic fans are quite reasonably questioning his gall after the Setanta collapse cost their club, along with the rest of the Scottish Premier League, millions in lost revenue.

LiverpoolMatt Scottguardian.co.uk