Jermaine Pennant is hopeful he can force his way back into contention for a regular place in Liverpool's starting line-up after an impressive performance in their 2-1 Carling Cup win over Crewe.

Pennant was a constant menace on the right flank and delivered the cross for Lucas to score the winning goal after Daniel Agger's free-kick had given Liverpool the lead on Tuesday night. Click to continue reading...

Cavalieri
Degen Agger Hyypia Insua
Pennant Lucas Plessis El Zhar
Ngog Babel

Subs:
Torres for Ngog 66'
Carragher for Degen 73'
Keane for El Zhar 87'

Goals:
Agger 15'
O'Conner 25'
Lucas 58'

This is a placeholder; for the first time in recent memory, there weren't even any streams, just radio commentary. Click to continue reading...

GARY ABLETT'S title winning Liverpool reserves side suffered their first defeat in almost a year last night.

The Reds second string went down 2-1 at Sunderland in the FA Premier Reserve League North.

Sunderland were the last side to beat Liverpool when they inflicted the only defeat suffered by Gary Ablett's side in the whole of last season. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool FC have named both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard in their squad to face Manchester United at Anfield tomorrow.

The duo have been forced out in recent weeks with hamstring and groin problems respectively.

Boss Rafa Benitez is hopeful both may feature at some stage. Click to continue reading...

Rafa says he doesn't intend to freeze him out and may also look to extend his contract. It sounds like a ruse to avoid losing money which is fair enough, as he is in the last year of his contract. We signed him for £6.7 million and it would be nice to try and recoup some of that.

I like Pennant when he's on form, but it's clear that he's fallen down the pecking order. Click to continue reading...

11am eastern, live on FSC.

Last 4 head-to-head:
2-2 (h) 01.21.08
2-1 Liverpool (a) 06.11.07
0-0 (a) 03.18.07
3-1 Liverpool (h) 10.28.06

Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 1-0 Standard (h); 2-1 Boro (h); 1-0 Sunderland (a)
Villa: 1-1 FH Hafnarfjordur (h); 2-3 Stoke (a); 4-2 City (h)

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Dossena
Kuyt Mascherano Alonso Benayoun
Torres Keane

Naturally, as soon as the players who starred at the Olympics were ready to return, there's news that Gerrard's out for the next 10 days at best. Click to continue reading...

Gees, what a way to win the match. Played useless for most the match and then he comes up with the most important goal for the season so far. No big surprise.

So I've slept through the season so far, this match being little difference. In our defense, Liege played 8 back for the majority, but with the amount of talent we have, it shouldn't have been this hard. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has acknowledged the impact made by youngster Nabil El Zhar in the weekend's last-gasp 2-1 win over Middlesbrough at Anfield.

The 21-year-old came on as a substitute in the 83rd minute when the Reds were trailing by a goal. The home side soon wiped out the deficit before the Moroccan international winger played an important role in the build-up to captain Steven Gerrard's late winner. Click to continue reading...

Aside from the Barry saga, this was the summer in which the core of Liverpool's successful reserve side got an opportunity to prove their worth at a higher level. Daniel Pacheco, Damien Plessis, Jay Spearing, Kristian Nemeth, Stephen Darby and Emiliano Insua all got to play in the club's pre-season friendlies with each one hinting that, should the need arise, they were more than capable of doing a job. Click to continue reading...

Andriy Voronin's days at Liverpool appear to be numbered following the Ukrainian striker's admission that his first-team prospects are non-existent.

Voronin has endured a less than stellar time of things since arriving at Anfield on a free transfer last summer.

Despite leap-frogging Peter Crouch in the pecking order last season - much to the bewilderment of many, it must be said - the 29-year-old failed to establish himself in the starting XI due to a combination of injury, poor form and the brilliance of Fernando Torres. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benitez hailed the performance of Liverpool's young guns after they concluded their pre-season schedule with a 1-0 win over Lazio at Anfield.

The Reds boss admitted he was pleased with his side's overall display after Andriy Voronin stoppage time winner sealed a deserved victory against the Italians and Benitez felt the impact of the likes of Jay Spearing - who created the winning goal - was the main highlight of the night. Click to continue reading...

Andriy Voronin scored at the death to give Liverpool a 1-0 win over SS Lazio at Anfield in their last pre-season friendly.

The kick-off of Liverpool's pre-season friendly against Lazio tonight was delayed until 20:15 because of ticketing problems.

New signings Robbie Keane and Andrea Dossena were making their Anfield debuts against Lazio, with Pepe Reina and Damien Plessis returning to the starting XI in place of Diego Cavalieri and injured captain Steven Gerrard. Click to continue reading...

After watching this highlight video of our Reserves side manhandling a Wigan Reserve side, I wonder if some of our kids are wasting their time against obviously subpar opponents.

Sebastian Leto, Nabil El Zhar, and Ray Putterill are all obviously more adept then their opponents in the 3-0 thrashing of a Wigan side that featured many Lactics first-teamers. Click to continue reading...