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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Brendan Rodgers”

Liverpool keeping pressure on Chelsea, but Man City looms

suarez sturridge goalsLiverpool took care of business on Saturday, beating Cardiff City 6-3 in a match that ended up being very entertaining.

The win keeps the pressure on Chelsea, who still sit at the top of the Premier League table after they beat Arsenal 6-0. (Good job, good effort by the Gunners in Arsene Wenger’s 1,000th game in charge).

This weekend’s results leave Liverpool in second place, just four points back of Chelsea and with a game in hand. Liverpool will make that game up on Wednesday night and, if they can pull of their seventh consecutive win, Liverpool will head into the season’s final seven games just one point back of Chelsea.

Despite all that, Liverpool’s title hopes are still a bit dodgy, especially when you do the math and factor in Manchester City.

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From the editor’s notebook …

cavs dan gilbertWith revenue down at the Horseshoe Casino in January, casino owner Dan Gilbert had some free time on his hands and that helped him remember that he also owns a basketball team in town.

Without the casino distracting him for a few minutes, Gilbert discovered that the Cleveland Cavaliers are currently in the midst of their fourth consecutive dismal season and realized that he need to make some kind of move to show that he still cares about what happens inside Quicken Loans Arena.

Once Gilbert decided to do the ever popular “something” to show the fans that he still cares, the question became what to do.

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Rodgers sees Red after Boxing Day loss to Manchester City

rodgers referee madFollowing Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City on Boxing Day, Reds manager Brendan Rodgers left no doubt as to how he felt about the officiating at the Etihad Stadium.

Rodgers let loose on the officials after they failed to call a possible penalty on a Luis Suárez take down and when they waved off a Raheem Sterling goal after ruling Sterling offsides – when it was clear that Sterling was in an on-side position.

“They had no help whatsoever from the officials. I never go on about officials but I thought today they were horrendous, in terms of performance.” he said. “We had nothing that went our way at all. I thought that the linesman on the offside one – they weren’t even on the same cut of grass, and if you’re working at this level, you have to get that right. It’s not even a difficult one, that. These are the things we work on and talk about, we are asking a young player to try and break their line. It was a perfect timed run and he’s given offside when he’s through one-on-one on goal.

“Listen, the officials make mistakes. I just felt that the mistakes made tonight shouldn’t have happened at this level.”

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Liverpool rejects Arsenal’s latest bid for Luis Suárez

suarez divingArsenal reportedly submitted a club-record bid of £40 million plus £1 for Liverpool striker Luis Suárez on Tuesday, but the Reds quickly rejected the bid.

Wait, what?

Rather than being grateful that someone is willing to take Suárez off his hands for a fair price, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers got shirty over the request.

“Obviously (Arsenal’s first bid of £35 million) was an offer we didn’t deem worthy of the talent and even if they came back with that kind of amount (£55 million) there’s no guarantee he would be sold even for that because we are trying to build something here,” Rodgers told The Guardian.

Even if the club is bent out of shape over the offer, it still represents a 76 percent increase on the price that Liverpool originally paid for Suárez (£22.7 million). That’s not a bad return on investment.

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Where does Liverpool go from here?

jamiecarragheracknowledgescrowd_640x360Liverpool ended the Premier League season on Sunday with a 1-0 win over relegated Queens Park Rangers.

The Reds close out Brendan Rodgers’ first season in charge in seventh place in the league table with 61 points. That represents a nine-point improvement over last year’s finish and the club’s highest point total in three years.

With the season now in the books, the fourth consecutive year without a spot in the Champions League, the question becomes what will the squad look like when they return in August for the new campaign.

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Time for Liverpool to start thinking about next season

article-2294328-18B6FD7B000005DC-397_634x463Well, that didn’t last very long.

A week ago, Liverpool pulled of its fourth consecutive win, an exciting victory against Tottenham Hotspur, to give fans hope that, somehow, someway, the Reds would find a way to grab a surprise fourth-place spot in the Premier League table.

On Saturday, Southampton – a team that is battling to stay out of the relegation zone – pretty much shut the door on that hope, posting a 3-1 win before a record Premier League crowd at St Mary’s of 32,070.

The loss drops the Reds seven points behind fourth-place Chelsea, which has two games in hand. Even if Liverpool were to win out, the most points they can finish with are 69, meaning Chelsea just has to win six of its final 10 games to keep Liverpool out of a Champions League spot.

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Liverpool finally gets it done; now it gets interesting

article-2291041-188D8D06000005DC-362_634x385Liverpool finally earned a win over a top-four team under Brendan Rodgers, beating Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday at Anfield.

And in the process, the Reds made sure the final nine games of the season are going to be interesting.

Steven Gerrard’s goal on a penalty kick at the 81-minute mark helped Liverpool rally back for their third league win in a row and move within two points of Arsenal for fifth and within seven points of fourth-place Chelsea (although both the Gunners and the Blues have a game in hand).

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Liverpool apologizes for trying to improve their team

Clint DempseyIn one of those odd, British-only type stories, Liverpool officials have issued a formal apology for trying to improve the team over the summer by expressing interest in Clint Dempsey.

According to The Daily Mail, Liverpool co-owner Tom Werner visited Craven Cottage to apologize to Fulham chairman Mohadem Al Fayed for wanting to bring the American international to Anfield.

The visit was followed by a letter from Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre that said the club’s actions were “wrong” and should “never have occurred.”

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College football seriously needs a legitimate playoff system

Is everyone ready for a national championship game between Notre Dame and an SEC team to be named later? Because barring some major upsets that’s what we are all going to be watching on Jan. 7.

And for the second year in a row the title game match up will underscore how badly college football needs a real playoff system.

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If Manchester City wants Suárez, Liverpool should let go

Defending champions Manchester City have turned their focus to Liverpool’s Luis Suárez, reportedly planning to offer anywhere from £40 million to £50 million during the January transfer window.

If that is the case, Liverpool really needs to make that deal – even if manager Brendan Rodgers is against it.

“It’s something I will always fight to protect the club and its assets,” Rodgers told The Daily Mail. “The modern game is very much about player movement – that’s part of football these days. But I will always fight to keep our best assets here. This is an incredible club to be involved with. Hopefully over the coming years we can return to that level, where players were here to win things and want to come here.

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