LFC Midfield Getting Crowded

The full list, 14 as of this moment:

Raul Meireles
Steven Gerrard
Joe Cole
Milan Jovanovic
Rodriguez Maxi
Dirk Kuyt
Leiva Lucas
Jay Spearing
Christian Poulsen
Jonjo Shelvey
Albert Acquilani
Charlie Adam
Jordan Henderson
Stewart Downing

Jovanovic, Poulsen, Acquilani and Cole are likely to be sold or loaned, Maxi is on the bubble and if I had to guess if any of those five stay Shelvey or Spearing will be loaned. That brings us down to nine or ten.

Which seems like a lot when you consider that when healthy every one except Spearing/Shelvey will expect to start and the Reds play a 4-4-2, not a 0-10-0.

Even if a player or two will always be missing through injury, suspension or the like but discounting that who are the four starters?

Gerrard still has to be the first name.

Lucas I think earned the defensive midfield spot as the team”s most dependable player last season.

Dirk Kuyt is the most important creator of goals the last few years and my favorite Red, starts on the right.

Downing probably offers the best supply from the left. That’s four.

Adams deputizes for Lucas. One intriguing idea floated a week or two back is to play Charlie as a central defender alongside Skrtel; Adams himself said that might be his best position.

Henderson can spell Dirk as he works his way into a starting position, especially if Downing gives consistent width from the left.

Mereilles seems the big loser in the three signings and if a deal can’t be made for Acquilani he might have to go instead.

The transfer window has six weeks left. Let’s see what Kenny, Comolli and John Henry get up to!

Twitters for 2011-07-17

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Twitters for 2011-07-16

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International Mystery on Public Television

For the last few years I’ve watched the International Mystery series on KCSM (a public television station associated run by the San Mateo County Community College District). The series rotates through many Western European crime series including the original (Swedish) Wallander, Detective Montalbano from Sicily and the long-running German Tatort.

Note: This has been running Monday nights at 10 with a repeat around 3 or 4 a.m. but the KCSM website shows them as moving to Sundays at 6 and 9 p.m. and a repeat on Tuesday night.

I really like the differences from typical American series. To a degree these shows are similar to what we get on the cable networks, not including the nudity–which is blurred–and profanity–which is not in the subtitles–in that the ending is not always neat and the protagonists don’t just get or find all the answers.

There’s also much more time spent on the main characters’ personal life. I wonder if this is down to smaller budgets but even so it makes the series’ more engaging.

Fortunately the shows are never dubbed into English, which generally throws me off due to the lack of synchronization of sound and image, and with today’s large flatscreens subtitles aren’t a bother. KCSM always blocks two hours for this but the shows are never more than 96 minutes.

Currently we’re getting Montalbano, a detective from the House school of crankypants; Donna Leon: Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries, which is set in Venice but filmed in German; Van Veeteren, a kindly old retired Swedish cop; Detective Inspector Irene Huss, an attractive middle-aged married mother of two Swedish cop; and the classic French flic Maigret in a French television adaptation, though I think his run is done for now as no episodes are set for July or August.

Twitters for 2011-07-03

  • @Fahrni Ha, we're stopping there today 😉 #
  • @Fahrni Ridiculous but true; some people still think skin tone differences mean race differences but we're all human! #
  • Cobb salad tasty lunch at Alphy's in Arroyo Grande w/TS1 #
  • Followed by delicious but not healthy sundaes at Doc Bernstein's Lab 🙂 #
  • @Fahrni We did 🙂 #
  • Just finished dinner at Big Sky Cafe, can recommend the lamb shanks and Blue Star Wheat Beer #vacationupdate #

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Twitters for 2011-07-02

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