Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffrey wonders how long Alberto Aquilani can be protected. As the newspapers and message-board sages have been quick to point out, Rafa Benitez has a lot of questions to answer. Liverpool’s season has already veered from the bad to the ugly (it hasn’t reached the heights of “good” yet),…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffrey hopes Sunday’s win will prove the kick-start that Liverpool need. What a difference a win makes. The last few weeks have been among the worst I can remember, football-wise. Of course there is an argument to say I shouldn’t care so much, but that’s a debate for…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffery feels it is vital that Liverpool learn from their mistakes.  It's rather odd to be sat here writing about my hopes that a Saudi billionaire will soon own at least part of Liverpool FC. Ten years ago this would have been unthinkable. But ten years is a long time, not just in football but in life as…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffery reflects on George Gillett's latest outburst over Rafa Benitez. Call me naïve, but I honestly thought we'd seen the last of this rubbish last year. No, not the bad performances; rather the incessant and immutable sniping coming from our delightful American owners. On the field matters are perhaps not as bad as first thought -…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffery feels the out of sorts pairing of Skrtel and Carragher, has cost Liverpool dear this season. Here's a question for you - which player have Liverpool missed most this season? If you write about football for a living, or you happen to be quite lazy and ignorant (not that the two are mutually exclusive), your answer will be Xabi Alonso.…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffery reflects on Sunday's opening day defeat. As usual, I was full of excitement on Sunday ready for the beginning of Liverpool's league season. And as usual, it took all of half an hour for that excitement to rapidly dissipate. Liverpool haven't put in a convincing opening day performance for several years now, so the loss…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffery cannot understand why Liverpool are blowing a large proportion of their transfer budget on Glen Johnson. Thankfully we always knew this summer was likely to be a long, hard slog. Even before Rafa Benitez came out and said as much, it was blindingly obvious that this close-season was never going to herald an explosion of…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffrey assesses the impact and role that ‘King Kenny' will have, should he return to Anfield. In the politics-ridden world of European football clubs, the "Director of Football" has long been a key part of club structure. The phenomenon is a relatively recent…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffery feels that Liverpool cashing in on Xabi Alonso would rank as Rafa's biggest mistake to date. Liverpool FC's capacity to shoot themselves in the foot sometimes knows no bounds - whether it's conceding a sloppy goal from a soft free kick in…

Football FanCast columnist Ed Jeffery, in the second part of his Liverpool review for 2008/09, compliles his own end-of-season awards. League-wise, it's been Liverpool's most successful season for years. Finishing four points off the leaders may not sound much, but to us fans who've been desperately waiting…