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...

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has hailed his scouting staff after new signing David N'Gog found the net again in Norway last night.

N'Gog opened his Liverpool account with an impressive solo effort against Rangers recently - one among four unanswered goals the Reds scored at Ibrox.

The score-sheet looked eerily similar after the Merseyside giants' clash with Valerenga, as the French striker - along with Xabi Alonso, Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres - netted again with a composed finish late in the game. Click to continue reading...

Andriy Voronin had a second-half penalty saved but Liverpool maintained their unbeaten record so far in pre-season with a draw against Hertha Berlin.

In front of 51,641 fans in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, Liverpool's starting line-up included just three players who could consider themselves first choice come the start of the season.

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Thus far, Reds boss Rafa Benitez hasn't shirked from blooding a whole host of youngsters during this summer's pre-season schedule. The likes of Stephen Darby, Daniel Pacheco, Emiliano Insua, Sebastien Leto and Jay Spearing have all performed with distinction after... Click to continue reading...

Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt believes the future is bright at Anfield after observing the performance of a host of youngsters during the side's 2-1 friendly win over Switzerland side FC Lucerne.

Manager Rafa Benitez stated last week that several of the young prodigies would be handed their first-team opportunity to "show (him) what they can do", and the midweek game saw the likes of Jay Spearing, Emiliano Insua and Damien Plessis feature. Click to continue reading...

Newcastle United boss Kevin Keegan appears keen to snare Liverpool's impressive young left-back! Newcastle United are toying with the idea of trying to bring a second Argentinian to St James's Park in the form of Liverpool left-back Emiliano Insua. And the key to any deal could be Insua's fellow Argentinian Jonas Gutierrez, . Click to continue reading...

Newcastle United are thought to be keen on a loan move for Liverpool's promising full-back, Emiliano Insua.

The Argentine was kept at Anfield for this coming season supposedly under express orders from manager Rafael Benitez, but the Toon are still hopeful of securing his services, if only for a year on loan. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benitez ran the rule over Liverpool's supporting cast while his mind was no doubt buzzing with ways of raising the money to complete deals for Gareth Barry and Robbie Keane.

The Liverpool manager admits he has to wheel and deal to do that - but he has raised almost £14million by moving on Peter Crouch and Danny Guthrie this week.

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Yossi Benayoun says he is determined to stay at Liverpool – because manager Rafael Benitez "loves" him.

Manchester City and Tottenham are both keen to recruit the Israeli international midfielder, but Benayoun believes there is no chance of Liverpool cashing in on him.

He said: "Even before the season ended, we determined that I would be staying. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benitez has lost his battle to prevent Javier Mascherano from going to Beijing after he was yesterday named in Argentina's Olympic squad.

The decision could prompt the Spaniard to speed up his attempts to sign Aston Villa's Gareth Barry as Mascherano will now be unavailable for both Liverpool's Champions League qualifying legs on August 12 and 27 as well as the first two games of the Premier League campaign at Sunderland and at home to Middlesbrough. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool have locked up one of their most promising young teenagers, signing 19-year-old Emiliano Insua to a three-year deal. The Argentine left-back had been linked with a move to Newcastle as part of a deal for James Milner but this... Click to continue reading...

This is a frustrating time to form part of Liverpool's reserve squad. Two FA Youth cup successes in a row and the national reserves title won with remarkable ease yet not one of the players seem to be anywhere near forming part of the senior team next season.

True Emiliano Insua and Damien Plessis did make it into the side towards the end of the season but those were exceptional circumstances where there was little to play for. Click to continue reading...

- Sami Hyypia has been the latest star player at the club to vocally back his boss' rotation policy. The 33-year-old Finnish International has deemed Rafa's tinkering critics 'silly'. I've actually been thinking a lot about the pros and cons of Benitez' ways and will write a post with my conclusion later today. Meanwhile there are talks of Hyypia getting either a contract extension now or a new contract offer at the end of the season when his current one runs out. Click to continue reading...

(First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Brian and I used to do the Liverpool blog over at the Offside. I have taken over this blog from my brother and will be posting here frequently, especially in-depth coverage on game days. Feel free to leave any comments, particularly negative ones, I love haters. Cheers.)

- It appears that Steve McClown will get what he wants when a not fully fit Gerrard is expected to take the pitch for England next Saturday in their Euro-qualifying match with Israel at New Wembley. Click to continue reading...

(First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Brian and I used to do the Liverpool blog over at the Offside. I have taken over this blog from my brother and will be posting here frequently, especially in-depth coverage on game days. Feel free to leave any comments, particularly negative ones, I love haters. Cheers.)

- It appears that Steve McClown will get what he wants when a not fully fit Gerrard is expected to take the pitch for England next Saturday in their Euro-qualifying match with Israel at New Wembley. Click to continue reading...

Broken record alert: Stevie-G and Carra are out for this one. God I hope this means Gerrard sits out the England qualifying matches. Come on, Stevie, let Limp foot Lampard get some playing time. Moving on, I first expect to see all those who weren't featured against Toulouse on Tuesday start, which means Torres and Voronin up front, Xabi & Pennant in the respective midfield positions, and Finnan at right-back.

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Apparently both teams will be missing their respective captains as well as other key players, but this being at Anfield and Liverpool being clearly the superior squad, the Reds should win this one and advance to the group stages of the Champions' League. With that being said though, stranger things have happened. Anyhow, on to the squad.

In goal, probably Reina, though I suspect Itandje will get a start at some point before League Cup or FA Cup ties start.

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First let's get the bad out of the way, Carra got injured. Not seriously, but he'll at least miss tonight's match with Toulouse. It couldn't have happened at a more opportune time as we should be able to manage without him tonight as well as next weekend against Derby County and then there's a two week break for international play. Looks he wouldn't have been available for England anyhow and word on the street is, either will Steven Gerrard.

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Well, Jermaine Pennant and Harry Kewell will definitely not be in the line-up, that's for sure. JP was given a rest and Harry Kewell is injured again, shocking, I know. The question is, did Rafa bring any youngsters and if so, is he going to play any of them? Looking at who's not on loan at the moment, I can definitely see Emiliano Insua, Robbie Threlfall, Stephen Darby, Gabriel Paletta, Nabil El Zhar, Lucas Leiva, and possibly even Anthony Le Tallec seeing time here.

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Well, I'm hoping he puts out our best XI despite having to go to Toulouse next Wednesday. There are no new nor niggling injuries that I have heard of, so here's who I'm thinking will start and/or possibly play tomorrow.

GK - Pepe Reina - If I was Rafa, I'd play Charles Itandje next Wednesday since he's probably familiar with Toulouse, which makes Pepe a no-brainer here
LB - John Arne Riise - Really no choice here unless Rafa goes completely bonkers and plays Insua, highly doubtful though
CB - Jamie Carragher - If he's fit and rested, Carra will get the call everytime
CB - Daniel Agger - ditto
RB - Steve Finnan - Until one of the kids step up or we sign somebody, I don't think we'll see Arbeloa starting since he can provide cover for all four backs
LM - Harry Kewell - provides much needed EPL road experience
CM - Steven Gerrard - the only time I ever see our skipper not starting is when he's not fit, it's against a much lesser opponent, or it's an irrelevant match
CM - Xabi Alonso - As much as I would like to see Mascherano or even Sissoko start here, I think Rafa will put a lot of importance on this match and Xabi just has more experience than the other two
RM - Jermaine Pennant - He's our starting right winger.

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