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Liverpool completely ousted Newcastle United in a comfortable 3-0 win on Sunday. Though Newcastle started out strong, it could not continue its ongoing onslaught and was deterred by the stiff resistance from Liverpool.

Alan Shearer the Newcastle manager left his former England striker Michael Owen on the bench which proved to be an added disadvantage in the face of constant inaction and failure to convert by the Newcastle players. Yossi Benayoun with his seemingly blessed Nike Mercurial Vapor III SG football boots and Dirk Kuyt, who also has the perfect touch, gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead by halftime and substitute Lucas Leiva converted a free-kick by Aurelio into a third goal in the 87th minute. Joey Barton infamous for his aggressive tactics added to his reputation with a dreadful tackle near the Newcastle corner flag and caught Xabi Alonso on the left ankle. This uncalled for lunge left Newcastle with 10 players.

This was Liverpool’s 22nd victory that upped their points to a total of 77 leaving them only three points short of Manchester United which stands at 80 points. Rafa Benitez the Liverpool manager was clearly ecstatic with the win but still urged the players to push on. Newcastle’s latest defeat leaves it on the brink of it losing its English Premier League membership at the 18th place with only three games to go while the title seems like a distant dream. Weak defence led to the complete collapse of the team. However, Liverpool stands strong and improves its game with every win. Manchester United better take notice and be prepared to take on Liverpool that seems to get hungrier as the finals draw to a close.

Stamford Bridge a week back wasn’t all that the audiences had to witness. The Chelsea with four all draws toped. It seems that it was difficult for Liverpool to decide where they were going for the last night, for the leading or for the supporting actor.

Liverpool seemed to have ignored Andrei Arshavin who had 4 goals in his kitty after the audition of the Invisible Man’s character in the movie. In 1988-1989 Michael Thomas the last moment victory over Andrei Arshavin is still remembered as a bleak chapter in the history of Liverpool. Steve McMahon reminder to Anfield about the championship being only a minute away couldn’t be topped by anything. He defiantly taught Anfield a lesson. Another Arsenal takeaway never happened.

As Emmanuel Adebayor & Robin van Persie weren’t there for the for the strike and Robin van Persie was benched, Premier League wasn’t Arsene Wenger’s fight. Arsenal London’s focus is the red shadow looms for the coming week. Yellow was worn in the powerful breath taking opening, witnessing Arsenal defensive line with the red tide breaking. Lukasz Fabianski, the goal keeper was no clown here to wait to reconcile Wembley’s error.

10- match surge of Liverpool after the Riverside nadir and that unexplained surrender of 2-1 with wobbling 30 miles east has forged the idea of the a first championship for 19 years and the Premier League crown into reality driving the Merseysiders on.

Liverpool’s team is learning the way home despite the points dropped. Rafa Benitez’s project cannot be denied, even if they might not be there this season. Arsenal were there for most of the games, establishing that it was Arshavin’s night & football’s.

It is now 20 years since that the unfortunate incident on April 15, 1989 where 96 football fans of Liverpool lost their lives during the FA semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham at the Sheffield stadium, but the memories are still very fresh. Thousand are expected to assemble at the Anfield which will include families of the Victims, survivors of the disaster, past and present players to lit candles as a remembrance service.

The club’s spokesperson said that Hillsborough Memorial eternal flame in the darkest nights will surely bring light. Watching a match live should not be any deadlier than watching it front of your Sony KDL-46W5500 flat screen, and yet on April 15, 1989, the worst imaginable happened to fans at the stadium. It was the South Yorkshire Police on that tragic day that had opened to the Liverpool fans that outsized exit gate resulting in a rush of Liverpool fans in large numbers on the terrace. This resulted in the fans that were already inside getting trapped between the people who came in forcefully and the metal fences that were erected at the front side of the stand.

The campaign for complete investigation into the tragic event has been kept alive by the victim families who deserve the justice. They have Ian Rush supporting who was part of the Liverpool team at the time of the unfortunate incident. The build up has brought those bad memories and pain back into the present that has further strengthened the conviction for keeping the fight on for the deserved justices added Ian Rush.

The boss of Everton David Moyes said that he was greatly impacted by the event and said that with all the rivalry that exists one should not forget the fact that after all it is just a game that has the objective of providing entertainment and nothing is above life.

A total melt down of the world of Rafael Benitez that included the failure of his strategy, the ineffectiveness of the tight controls, and incorrect results of the precision in planning was witnessed by the fans of Liverpool. The main person responsible for this chaos was Guus Hiddink. The Dutch manager’s tightly guarded secrets when unlocked created this havoc on the totally confused Liverpool team as they went down 3-1 to Chelsea. This match was the most absorbing match out of the preceding eight encounters in the Champions League and it more than justified the hype that was created before the match started.

At a point of time when Benitez’s team refused to accept the fact that they can be beaten by the opposition however strong they may be, but now they are finding it difficult to accept one of the worst defeat in the recent times at home. Hiddink triumphed over the normally confident Benitez, and if both managers were to play against eachother in a game of Football Manager 2008, then it would be clear from their last meeting who would win. The scoring in the eventful showdon was started by Liverpool’s Fernando Torres in the initial third minute of the match when Liverpool looked all set to dominate the game but the climax came from Branislav Ivanovic when he scored in almost identical fashion two goals that totally changed the direction of the game. The final one came from Drogba who gave the final touch to the 3-1 win of Chelsea.

The win can be attributed more to the tactics of Hiddink who literally disarmed Steven Gerrard threat and led to the confusion in Liverpool that is most likely considered to be the crux of the reason of such defeat. Michael Essien was given the job of disarming the main weapon of Liverpool as he followed around Steven Gerrard all night. This he did it with great success as he is one of the best athletic midfielder of Chelsea.

This week the most eagerly awaited match of the first leg of the quarter-final match of the Championship League is between Chelsea and Liverpool. Even though both the teams have already faced each other in all the previous four seasons, but still the excitement is very high. This is due to the fact that on the one hand Chelsea has resurged under the guidance of Guus Hiddink their interim manager coach. Similarly Liverpool has given some stunning performances both abroad and at home. They under the guidance of Rafa Benitez had beaten Real Madrid at home and in the final round away from home. In addition to this they also recently humbled United to open the title race for the Premier League. The Captain of Liverpool Steven Gerrard who is in this term of the Championship League jointly is the top Scorer is really on fire and is expected to put in his best against the team which at one point of team he had almost joined.

Before Chelsea defeated Newcastle United with a score of 2-0 and a close win for Liverpool over Fulham with a score of 1-0 Guus Hiddink had remarked on uefa.com that the modern game of football is very open. The managers know the games of the players as the players are representative of the manager, also the players are well acquainted with each other also, and therefore the entire game is very tight and open. Praising Rafa Benitez he said that he is a very intelligent and smart manager and added that he was very keen for this battle. The main question is whether Drogba in his Nike Mercurial Vapor III SG football boots, or Steven Gerrard will lead their side to victory. After all, whilst the managers can make key decisions, it is up to the players to actually play and win the game.

In the process of safeguarding and fixing the future of the club, Rafael Benitez has been successful in getting Steven Gerrard to sign an extension contract for a period of two years. His present contract expires after a period of two years so after this new contract he is tied to Liverpool till the year 2013.

After celebrating his success for the fifth “Barclays Premier League Player of the Month award” he was very satisfied and happy and said that he wanted to remain with the club for the rest of his career. It looks like that Adidas Liverpool Away Gerrard 2009 football shirt will now be good until at least 2013. Moreover, Gerrard has now also become the highest monthly award winner in the history of the Premier League. The 28 year old skipper of Liverpool further added that it was a great feeling to sign the contract. He also said that he has always maintained that as long as the club wants him he will always be there at Liverpool. Recollecting his past he said that he has always been a fan of Liverpool and said that it would be a fantastic feeling for him to make a statement that at the close of his career that he has been with Liverpool all along.

Steven Gerrard said that ultimately the main aim for every football player is to be successful in his career and for him if his aim is that he wants to remain successful with the club he loves it. His desire is to win as many trophies as are possible together with the club. His immediate focus is to win the big matches for Liverpool FC ahead that are cup finals so that they remain in the race for the title and finally fly to Rome

Rafael Benitez last week had signed a fresh deal for a period of five year as manager with FC Liverpool has wasted no time in implementing his strategy for the club’s future. Starting with the backroom team, he has secured new contracts for a period of two years for five of his members namely Eduardo Macia the chief scout, Paco de Miguel the fitness coach, Xavi Valero the goalkeeping coach, Mauricio Pellegrino the first team coach and Assistant Manager Sammy Lee. With this he has made it very clear that his commitment to the club comes with enhancement of his authority.

Frank McParland the former chief scout of Anfield has also been appointed for the Kirkby based academy of the club to undertake an exercise for the root and branch review. McParland will look to scout out local talent and sign the next generation of homegrown players to fill Steven Gerrard’s Adidas Predator trainers, rather than sign expensive mercenary talent from abroad. Rafael said that his signing of the contract was based on the agreement that his influence and power would increase significantly in the academy. This he said was necessary for deciding the future course of action for the academy. He further added that he has a very high opinion for Frank McParland and feels that he has the ability of making a comprehensive analysis of the academy’s operation.

Rafael Benitez also said that before signing his contract he had made it clear that Continuity of the technical staff was essential for sustaining the progress of the club and also for making it move forward. This he said was his top priority. The signing of the new contracts with five of the main support staff further confirms Benitez’s commitment to his team.

After the stunning defeat of Manchester United by the in-form Liverpool, Rafael Benitez is very high on confidence and believes his team has bounced back for contention of the Premier League title. Running through the previous week, he said with the Reds having a superb win of 4-0 of Real Madrid have once again have thrashed Manchester United 4-1 and are on their way for the Premier League’s title.

At Half time, Fernando Torres capitalised on the mistake of the United defence and fired on them making it a level. Fernando Torres in his Nike Total 90 Laser football boots has been instrumental to Liverpool’s success and Benitez has often called him the key to winning the Premier League title. Finally before half time, a penalty by Steven Gerrard gave them the advantage before going in for half time up 2-1. The second half also saw some disadvantage for United as their team got reduced to ten players. A free kick from Fabio Aurelio with the sending off of Vidic with the substitute from the Red’s Andrea Dossena making a lob in the 90th minute did the final scoring.

As a result of this win their gap has moved to four points with the Manchester United at the top positions. Though United is in the driving seat, Rafael Benitez feels they are back in the title run. He further added that they have defeated Europe’s top two sides, the Manchester United and Real Madrid with convincing margins and scoring 4 goals in each of the match which is fantastic.

When confronted with the possibility of getting the title, he said for that United have to lose some games while they will have to win practically all the games. He said that they the Reds are better placed as they are high on belief, confidence and are winning matches convincingly. The only thing is that they should not commit any mistakes and need to be focused and consistent with concentration on every match.

There was a claim by some national newspaper that the name of Ray Ranson Chairman of Coventry City has come up as a strong contender for taking up the role of Chief executive at Newcastle and Liverpool. Chris Coleman however laughed off the claim and dismissed the news of Ranson planning on going to the Premier Leagues as baseless.

This is confirmed that Liverpool needs a replacement, as Ricky Parry confirmed that he would be leaving Liverpool by the season’s end. Similarly this summer long line of shuffles is being planned at St James Park in Newcastle. Further Ray Ranson has been in the limelight and has got widespread praise for the financial turnaround he has brought at Coventry City resulting in a transformed Sky Blues in a span of just one year.

When Ranson was asked to comment on the so called rumours of his leaving Coventry City, he did not give a clear cut denial and said that he was really flattered that his work was being noticed and appreciated by other clubs. However he said that they have all, which included Chris Coleman and the dedicated players and everybody has done a lot of hard work, but still there is a long road ahead as they have still not achieved anything yet.

Meanwhile Chris Coleman was sure that Ranson will be staying for a long term and there was complete commitment to the project of Sky Blues. He further added that he had talked to Ranson and both of them had a laugh at the story. It seems we can sooner expect to see Ranson in a pair of Merrel Siren Ventilator womens shoes, than see him as the executive at either Newcastle or Liverpool. Nevertheless Ranson never completely denied the rumours and stranger things have happened.

The Saga of signing the contract by Rafa Benitez still continues with Liverpool. Already four drafts given to Benitez have been rejected by him clearly bringing out differences which should have been sorted out by now. But Benitez feels there is still plenty of time left. There is no doubt that Benitez enjoys a good support from the team which is evident from the fact that the star players of Liverpool have been issuing statements strongly in favour of their coach and expressing how he is an integral part of the club.

Players like Javier Mascherano have said that though he has not talked to Benitez but he is delighted over Benitez’s staying back. Speaking high of him he said Liverpool is doing a great job in the Premier League and the Champions League and the all the credit goes to the manager. He further added that all the players are giving their 100% for him and the matches with Real Madrid, Inter and Barcelona have proved that. Similar feelings have also been expressed by most of the influential players of the club.

Benitez’s statements also reflect the same sentiment which rule out his leaving the club in the near future or in summer. This can be seen from the fact when he emphasised that his job at Liverpool is far from over and that he has cut out his goals for transforming the club.

But certainly his rejection of the four draft contracts offered by the Board has certainly raised question in the Boardroom on Benitez’s worth for these months of wrangling. The 1-0 success of Liverpool over Real Madrid has certainly given some more time to this issue.