Taking Sides: Liverpool vs Everton

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/4677639.stm

http://www.jordanstallard.com/images/lunchboxes/southpark_timmy.jpg

When the 9th goal went in, I suppose it was Goodnight Vienna. Or, Goodnight Gamlitz.

It's true, Stevie G seems to have played out of his SKIN, these two weeks!

They weren't dancing on the streets of Total Network Solutions by the time he'd finished with them!

When I heard that Crouch had at last made his move, I was going to revive this thread and say something like, 'Cor, with Crouch on board, they could become unstoppable'. I wasn't going to mean it. But then I realized that technically they already are. Unstoppable.

(I call that a) Bargain!

It would've been so much easier to stick with my current job and just supplement my income down Deptford market with me dodgy discs.

Everton lost on penalties to Thailand, I see. I think it was a strategic defeat to boost Chang beer sales.

Liam Ridgewell and Lee Hendrie managed one goal each.

Moore was only a half-time replacement for Phillips but needed 14 minutes to get on the scoresheet.

Weir and McFadden made no mistakes with the first two for the Blues, but then Yobo stepped up, took one step and, to quote a friend, kicked the ball as if he was returning it to a small child. Seriously, suspect packages get toeyed harder.

Not as interesting as my dreams either side of the match - the first in which the Blues were drawn with Linfield, Fazakerley and En Cho Ryu (of Austria, natch) in their Champs Lge group (the most dream-like aspect of it being that we qualify for the group stage), the second in which we faced Aston Villa away in a Premiership opener and either won 3-2 or lost 3-2 depending on which newspaper you read. Everyone seemed in agreement that Luke Moore got the last goal of the game but no one was sure in which net. The Observer said the press box were gripped by "a mental fog". The goal times were bizarre too - Cahill opening the scoring in the 177th minute.

I think the season may be looming.

Milan Baros to Villa? "My boy don't want any fucking silverware," said his agent, "the Brasso costs a bomb and it's all rub, rub, rub, like my old mum with the washing". His agent is a cockney.

It is understood the 25-year-old Australian is seeking almost double his current wage, which would make him one of the club's top earners.

"I'm very disappointed that we have not been able to agree terms," said Cahill, who finished his first season as Everton's leading goalscorer with 12 goals. "I was very keen to commit my long-term future to the club, but it looks as though that won't be possible."

Yes - I guess it looks that way. Pity, as you were so keen.

The bone-dry surface at the St Dariaus and St Gireno Stadium could prove problematic, the standard of the pitch not helped by the fact that the European junior athletics championships took place in this arena over the weekend. Javelin divot marks are visible on the turf and as the players trotted through their training routines last night the prospect of one of his key men turning an ankle sent shivers down Benítez's spine.

Javelin divot marks!

I guess we'll have to find a way to the SKY1, but we could get some tips by listening to the old Primitives track "(We've) Found A Way (To The Sun)" (which despite its brilliantly precise use of parentheses was to my knowledge never also known as "Found A Way").

As for Cahill, make him clean the toilets for three years!

Liverpool seem to be hoovering up players for "undisclosed" sums. Are three-digit squad numbers allowed? Hey, why not enter two or three teams in the FA Cup?

5th round: Liverpool vs Benitez Boys. BBs win on a 2nd replay, on a frozen plastic pitch, in Hatfield.

Spurs never seem to announce what they've paid either, these years. Perhaps this is for the best - it stops people knowing how much money we are wasting, or still have to waste on other players should another club demand it?

That pub's name is a bit mutually masturbatory, isn't it?

Michael, I recommend buying a totally knackered house and doing it up. That's my plan. Collins DIY Manual is on offer at the moment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/e/everton/4721337.stm

He's 35!

I am bored enough to find that interesting.

1) Morley and Thomson should review more widely

2) Amis is a worse realist than Nabokov

3) Sinclair has more quiddity than Amis

4) LFC weathered the storm

5) book reviews are the motor of intellectual history

6) Orange Juice = Pound, Lloyd Cole = Eliot

But we did not quite agree on the decline of radio as a public experience.

"I'm concerned about the draw, definitely," the manager said. "I've got clear concerns about what might happen. Of course the decision as to who is seeded or not is nothing to do with us. We can't influence who is seeded and who is not, but I do think that it's wrong that two clubs from the same country - the same city even - could be drawn against each other in European competition at this stage.

"You qualify for the Champions League in order to play teams from another country, not your local rivals. You don't usually expect to get one from your own country, let alone your own city, but there is only one club which is exposed to the fact that Liverpool have not been granted country protection, and that's Everton. That's a fact."

Everton fans must appreciate his gritty determination to stick up for the club.

Hmm - doesn't quite scan.

Perhaps Phil Thomson* will take over Strachan's role on MOTD2, then he can review more.

Oh I will have to do some book reviews then. I might start by actually finishing a book. That would be a start.

Lloyd is, I think, a bit of an Orange Juice copyist. Does that fit you analogy, or is it a bit of a (wait for it) Poundstretcher? (As in what ambulance drivers have).

(* - Carling Cup notwithstanding).