Bleacher Report - Articles by Steve Clark

Alonso, Mascherano and Why Liverpool Should Sign Ashley Young

Steve Clark — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:35:32 -0400

Is anybody else feeling a sense of Deja-Vu? Remember the tedious Alonso saga last summer? Well it's back, with a bang.

Real Madrid, not content with signing two of the best midfielders in the world, would like to add the ever impressive Alonso to their ranks. It appears that we would be prepared to sell too, but at the right price.

So why hasn't this deal happened already? What's the hold up.

Well firstly, if Alonso was sold before the end of July, Real Sociedad would take a generous slice of the transfer fee. So common sense ensured that the clubs held out for this date. So now the date has passed, let's just get on with it, right? Wrong!

Given Liverpool's tendancy to sell players well below their face value, is it any surpise Real are haggling. After all, this is a club that took Michael Owen for £8m, when he was still regarded as one of Europe's elite.

It is believed that Los Galacticos are willing to pay in the region of £25m for the Spain international. The Anfield outfit, however, value Alonso at around the £35m mark, and rightly so.

In the current over-inflated transfer market, what kind of money would Benitez have to pay to replace Alonso? The simple answer is a lot.

The range of passing and game intelligence Alonso posseses, isn't in abundance in the game. Even if you found the player to fill his boots, there's no guarantee the player would be allowed to leave his current employer.

When you weigh it all up, it would make no sense for the Reds to let Xabi Alonso leave for anything less than £35m.

Javier Mascherano, however, is a different story entirely. While it would be difficult to replace Alonso, it could be done. Could Mascherano be replaced. I think not.

The entire style of play at Anfield is built around the Argentine, who played the holding role in front of the back four, and a superb job he does too. In fact, I can't think of anybody that could do a better job.

We're talking about one of the worlds best midfielders here. This is a man that Captains Argentina. A man coveted by the European Champions, who aren't short of midfield talent themseves.

So why then, would you even consider selling this player?

Well, it seems in this age of player-power, sometimes your hand is forced. Sometimes players wives aren't happy. Sometimes you don't like the weather. Sometimes...well, I think you see where I'm going with this.

The stories ran in the tabloids again today. "Macherano's wife can't get Visa", "Javier not happy in England" and so on. So it appears this story is staying for a while.

All I would say here, is that if we do have to sell, I hope it's a ridiculous amount of money. The £30m or so that was being talked about just wouldn't cut it. No Liverpool fan in their right mind would entertain us selling Mascherano. The player is simply irreplaceable.

And if we don't sell, then surely a new contract would make some of this noise go away. I wouldn't begrudge a pay increase for him, he's certainly earned it.

This brings me briefly on to my last point. Ashley Young.

The rumours suggest that Liverpool are braced to make a £23m bid for the England wide man. Personally, I wouldn't complain if Hicks and Gillette sanctioned a £30m bid for Young.

This Villa star is exactly the kind of player that Liverpool should be going for. The fact that he's English, is an added bonus.

Ashley young has developed into the kind of player we all thought Ryan Babel was going to be. Fast, skillful, natural width, decent finish. He ticks all of the boxes.

Whether Mon would let him go or not is another story. Benitez does have a history with the Villa chief, as we all witnessed with the Gareth Barry saga last summer. It wouldn't be easy to say the least.

Whatever happens ragarding these three players over the next few weeks, we can still look forward to a serious title challenge this season. With the addition of Johnson and some attention to the small details, the title is within reach.

If the transfer dealings go our way, this will only serve to strengthen our chances. I for one, have my fingers crossed

Liver Bird Flying High: Liverpool FC Top Of The League at The Half Way Point

Steve Clark — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:36:27 -0500

2009 begins and we couldn't have asked for much more.

Liverpool currently find themselves at the Premier League summit. What a season it's been already.

We've already been on a whirlwind journey. Victory against our Mancunian rivals was well overdue and we managed to exorcise our Stamford bridge ghosts. Our good performances were summed up last week against Newcastle. Wasteful at times, but still cruising to a comfortable victory.

On the flip side, I still find myself confused when we drop silly points against the 'so called' lesser teams. Still, you can't win 'em all, as the saying goes.

Despite the points dropped and the inevitable blips, we do appear to be a class outfit this term. We seem to have developed some steel. A will to win and a throwback to the boot room era.

It's this attitude that has pulled us through in many games this season. A quality that champions must have.

I'm also impressed at the style of football we have begun to play. It's roots are planted deeply in Benitez soil, almost machine-like at times. But we also have the ability to turn it on. To step up a gear or two and turn on the flair.

Much of this is down to the introduction of Albert Riera and has coincided with a return to form from Xabi Alonso.

Riera is naturally a left sided player and is in the mould of your typical winger. He has the strength needed to survive in the Premier League and good flair and imagination. To top this off he has a clever football brain and I can only see him improving under Benitez.

Playing with the world class players currently at Anfield has brought out the best of him, something that couldn't be achieved during his time at City.

Alonso is like a new man this season. His passing is sublime at times and he practically ran the first half in the weekend cup game. If we are to maintain our current form and challenge the title until the end of the season, we must keep Alonso at Anfield.

A player that is sometimes overlooked and possibly under-appreciated by some is Pepe Riena.

For me, he is up there with the best goalkeepers in the world. I certainly couldn't name anybody worthy of replacing him.

The defence must feel less pressure knowing they have Pepe behind them. His first season was possibly his worst and did lead to undue criticism. Since then he's been collecting golden glove awards and earning respect, left right and centre.

Pepe can be for us now what Peter Schmeichel was for Manchester Utd in the 90's.

Aside from the players mentioned, I think we can safely say that Liverpool have quality all over the park. There's competition for places and we have coped well with injuries in key areas of the field, showing the depth we have (that some pundits still feel we lack).

We are no longer relying on the same players week in, week out. We now have a solid 'team' ethic.

Robbie Keane is finally proving the doubters wrong and with Torres, Skrtel and Aurelio just coming back from injury, I'm positive the best is still to come.

I am desperate for this to be the season we finally return to the pinnacle of English football. A place I feel we rightly belong. However, if for some reason we run close but fall short, I'm still happy at the sight of the best Liverpool team in well over a decade.

Not that I think we will be pipped of course. 19 years and our 19th title. Surely this is our season.

Liverpool FC and Putting Things into Perspective

Steve Clark — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:42:59 -0400

I have to say, I'm in utter shock at the amount of so called Liverpool fans calling for Rafa's head.

So we drew away against a team with Champions League aspirations. A team that were fired up by the Gareth Barry situation this summer. A team that also spent £50m in the close season.

So was this really such a bad result? Would it have been a disaster had Chelsea or Manchester United done this? I think not.

Sure, the football wasn't as attractive as we would have liked. But at this stage of the season I'm happy to get the right results. The performances will come in time.

We're three games into the league campaign now and sitting level with Chelsea at the top of the league. It's not exactly the worst start we could have had, is it? So you can forgive me for being frustrated at the fickle followers of our beloved club for their mindless rants and calls for Benitez to be sacked.

The same negativity surfaced after the Standard Liege game. Sub-standard opposition some said. So bad in fact, that one of their midfielders is now being linked with a £12m move to the Premier League.

I'm sure we'll put things into perspective once they face our neighbours Everton in the Uefa Cup.

Outside the Premier League's top four, there are two or three teams that are potential banana skins when playing away. Villa are one of them, and a draw is decent result, and on the day I guess a fair result.

We now have an inconvenient break for the international games, followed by the visit of our friends from Manchester. I'm certain we'll see a different mentality for this one as most Kopites would accept nothing less.

So as I sign off I'd just ask everybody to put things into perspective. It's the first of September and there's a long season ahead. Let's judge things later. For now, lets get behind the manager and team.

It's the Liverpool way.

The season in store for Rafa Benitez and his Reds

Steve Clark — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:49:03 -0400

What can Rafa Benitez and his Liverpool team expect from this season?

Benitez has arguably his strongest squad since making the switch to Merseyside. On top of that, the majority of current players were acquired by Benitez himself. So surely that means no excuses, no prisoners and our 19th title.

If only it were that simple.

How much of last season was determined by Lady Luck? The Chelsea game certainly springs to mind. If you can cast you mind back that far, I'm sure you'll agree that they were awarded a dubious penalty.

If this hadn't been the case, how would we have faired in the next few games? A big win over a rival club so early in the season. What more could we have asked for?

Confidence high. An extra two points in the bag! Who knows?

On the flip side, I'm certain Aston Villa fans would claim they too were victims of a bad decision in the game previous. Liverpool awarded a late free kick on the edge of the box. Villa left feeling robbed of points that were rightly theirs.

I guess the underlying point for me here is how much of an impact luck can have on your season. You can have the best squad in the league but if the gods aren't with you, it could count for nothing.

Two games into this season and the amount of people that have spoken to me about "Lucky Liverpool" is amazing. The games we've played so far have been lacklustre to say the least.

The difference this time around is that we appear to have a bit of this so called luck on our side. Playing badly is never a good thing, but playing badly and winning is infinitely better than the alternative. And obviously there a lot to be said about playing to the final whistle.

There have been some good additions to the staff at Anfield. Sammy Lee coming back on board and the return of the infamous Mauricio Pellegrino. Time will tell but at first glance, they would appear to be good additions to the already excellent staff we have.

Further additions on field have again added depth to the squad. The obvious eye catcher is Robbie Keane. A proven goalscorer and intelligent striker. More importantly he's an out and out team player. His workrate is second to none and he is the kind of player Rafa relishes working with.

There have been moments in the games played so far where Mr Keane and Senor Torres have linked well and given us a glimpse of the devastation they can cause once the understanding is there. I'm certain it won't be long until they show us all what they are capable of doing together.

All in all, the coming season should be an exciting one for Liverpool fans. We have the right players. We certainly have the belief. If only we could get things right off the pitch and gain the stability we crave, who knows what we could achieve.

At the very least we can expect another excellent Champions League run. I'm also confident we can improve our points tally in the league. I'd love to say we can mount a serious title challenge but I've been there before. Like Jamie Carragher and Kopites alike, I'll be very happy if we can stay in the chase until the latter end of the season.

No matter what happens, I don't subscribe to the idea that Rafa is on his last chance. I've previously mentioned player power, well welcome to Gaffer power at its best.

Benitez has a kinship with the fans that resembles a modern day Shankly. I'm not saying the man has a job for life, but I do feel the fans understand what he's trying to do at Anfield and fully understand the challenges he faces in achieving his goals. For now, despite what the tabloids will have you think, he's safe.

The key this season has to be "consistency". In recent seasons we've demonstrated the ability to beat almost any team put in front of us. It's maintaining the high standard that let's us down.

So let's hope the new players settle well and we can grind out results when we have our off days. Oh and the small matter of beating Standard Liege tomorrow. A wrong result there would certainly put a different angle on the year ahead.

Gareth Barry, Liverpool FC and Rafa Benitez's transfer priorities

Steve Clark — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:48:34 -0400

Albert Riera? Gareth Barry? Stewart Downing? You guessed it. Liverpool transfer targets.

If you are a Liverpool fan you'll be feeling frustrated, confused and maybe, just maybe optimistic. It's been a bit of a mixed bag for us this summer and it's difficult to stand back and take a real look at what's happening.

Forget the tabloid talk of Hicks, Gillett, Parry and Benitez rifts. What will be will be. While it is frustrating for us all to hear of what's happening at our beloved club, we don't make things better by adding fuel to the fire.

The papers will report on this story every time there's a development and to be fair, they're just doing their job. It's the so called fans jumping on the bandwagon that really frustrates me.

The confusion this summer has arose due to Benitez's reluctance to target a natural wide left player. It's no secret that Gareth Barry has been his number one target all summer. The fact that we have four or five player already fighting for the position Barry plays leaves me bewildered.

Three of these players are world class. The only logical explanation I can think of is that Rafa intends to play three central midfielders with two wingers/strikers and Torres. If this is the case than I'm certain Barry would be the man to slot in alongside Gerrard and Mascherano.

Whatever his plans are, Barry isn't the traditional wide player the fans are crying out for, though would be an exceptional addition to an already fantastic midfield. Rumour has it Gareth Barry will sign for Liverpool on Sept 1st for a fee of £15m. Watch this space.

On the plus side, Robbie Keane has given us a new dimension. The fickle amongst the fans have sharpened the knives already. For me, only two games into the season I can see signs that the Torres-Keane partnership is going to be special.

Keane has demonstrated himself time and time again to be a great striker and I see no reason why that should change in the famous red at Anfield.

So, before I sign off my first blog, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the close season. On player power or lack there of. On Benitez's transfer targets, in particular Barry, and the acquisition of Robbie Keane.

What does the season hold in store for us this year? Are we any closer to title number 19?