It wasn’t a good night for Liverpool Football Club, or for ITV.
Liverpool’s FA Cup run this season is over after 19 year old Dan Gosling’s extra time goal sees Everton into the fifth round of the FA Cup. That’s only the start of Liverpool’s problems.
1) Steven Gerrard limps off with a hamstring injury. With Gerrard out, Liverpool lacked a cutting edge in the midfield and now the questions will be how fast does he rush back into the line up. You always have to error on the side of caution with hamstring injuries as coming back from a little problem too soon almost always ends up turning into a bigger headache.
2) Lucas’s red card. With Gerrard out, an argument can be made about the center of midfield being weakened for their Premier League clash at Fratton Park Saturday tea time.
3) Rafa’s comments post match will only get those who are in the camp of ‘Rafa’s cracking under the pressure’ all nice and happy.
About the only positive for Liverpool to come out of this night is that they can now focus on staying in the top two and the Champions League. Other than that, it just wasn’t a good night.
ITV will be wishing they could crawl under a rock after their ESPN in the United States during the 80s blunder. When I heard about that, all I could do is laugh my tail off.
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Ivan Gazidis may have lost the plot with his comments yesterday. Saying Arsenal is in position to withstand a year out of the Champions League is such a risky thing to say. In order to keep getting the talent that Wenger wants, Champions League football is almost a must. Also, I’m not sure Arsenal could cope with the
loss of Champions League TV money. Yea, they probably have some cash in reserve. But with the old Highbury project not coming along to plan, how tight will the budget be should Arsenal finish outside the top four?
Shawn Wright-Philips FA charge for Violent Conduct just screams of hypocrisy. Why is it okay for the FA to act on something after the fact only if a referee doesn’t see it but not okay when the whole world sees something else, referee included, to charge after the fact. FIFA needs to get it’s act in gear and just allow re-refereeing to take place. Letting blatant calls go to the wayside shouldn’t happen. SWP deserves his charge just as much as Bosingwa should have been. It should be all or nothing, not half way.
Kieran Richardson sticks the knife into Newcastle United after he says he would never sign for the club.
David Moyes v Victor Anichebe. Moyes wins. Sorry Victor, but you just don’t have it.
The linesman who didn’t tell Mike Riley to have Jose Bosingwa sent off has been paired up with Stuart Atwell for a League Two match this weekend. That could be a match made in hell.
This is the last thing West Brom need, injury problems. Jay Simpson, James Morrison and Robert Koren will need fitness tests before West Brom’s clash with Newcastle United.
And finally, here’s what Andrei Arshavin likes to do in his spare time.
The Highbury project not going as planned? It's quite the opposite actually. Good overall summary though.
Of course Arsenal can survive without Champions League. Unlike Man United who have many sponsorship deals dependent on their performance in the CL, Arsenal's revenue isn't, the money from the CL is a bonus rather than a vital lifeline. Arsenal's profitability and funding structure is the envy of the rest of the premiership as it won't disappear at the whim of a funder or sponsor.
Very nicely put Fra.