AFTER last season’s jump from so far to so near, Liverpool are desperate to make a statement. The club wants to tell the football world that last season was no fluke; that the club is here to stay – feasting at the top table, back in the Champions League, challenging...
YOU should know that what you’re about to read isn’t going to unbiased. I love Mario Balotelli. Have done for years. He was born in Palermo where a large chunk of my family still reside. He played for Internazionale and A.C. Milan, the two teams that most of my...
THE flawed genius, the scorer of great goals, the personality, the pyromaniac, the impulse shopper, the petulance, the ill-discipline, the untameable beast. Yes, the Mario Balotelli roadshow has rolled into Liverpool, fireworks and all, writes CRAIG RIMMER. If there...
NEIL ATKINSON was joined by Rob Gutmann, Gareth Roberts and Mike Nevin as they look towards Manchester City away on Monday and the imminent arrival of a certain Italian international. Music this week from Paddy Clegg and Dane Pollard Paddy Clegg Paddy is a 17...
MARIO Balotelli then. Bit out of left field, wasn’t it? What with the categorical denial of interest 18 days ago and all that. And it appears, to say the least, to have divided opinion among Reds. After missing out on Alexis Sanchez, the collapse of the Loic...
ACCENTUATE the positives, eliminate the negatives. That’s exactly what Liverpool did during the second half of last season. Brendan Rodgers’ team was far from perfect during 2013-14 but – crucially – as the season went on he got them focused on what they could do...
WHAT an annoying buzz phrase it is. Having been a civil servant for a large part of my recent history, it has been haunting me, following me everywhere. Constantly being told what we are doing ‘going forward’. In the last year or so, I have noticed it...
AUGUST 19th, 1981. The day we sold Jimmy Case to Brighton & Hove Albion. Thirty three years ago today. Which means that one or two of you may not have seen him play on anything other than YouTube. The joys of being old, the joys of living through the glory years –...
DOO is a bit angry. Anger doesn’t suit Doo. Doo is a really nice fella. Doo is a Southampton fan. *This isn’t going to go all ‘I want to introduce you to someone’. Doo works at Southampton University, is a born-again fitness enthusiast and has been nowhere near Iran....
It’s 26 years to the day since Ian Rush returned to Liverpool after his short spell at Juventus. NEIL SCOTT remembers it well. AS anyone with a cursory knowledge of the football landscape will tell you, the transfer window has its own unique lexicon. “Sources...
