This is how it looked the last time Liverpool made it to Wembley

The last time Liverpool played a game at Wembley it was May 1996. John Barnes, Jamie Redknapp, Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler were in the lineup and those cream suits were the butt of jokes for a generation. That was the F.A. Cup Final against Manchester United and although the club have been back to Cup Final’s since then, those finals were at the Mellenium Stadium in Cardiff while the new Wembley was being built. Indeed, since the new Wembley opened it’s doors in 2007, an amazing 60 different teams have played there without Liverpool having made an appearance. Last night’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City resulting in a 3-2 aggregate victory ensured that they would finally make their new Wembley debut’s.

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Adidas have long been associated with Liverpool. They were there at the tail end of the glory days in the mid-late 80′s and baring a short hiatus when the club went with Reebok, they have been with them through the last several years. But now it would seem their loss of support for, and faith in the club is Liverpool’s gain after it was announced the club had signed a £25-million kit deal with Warrior Sports.

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Dirk Kuyt was never likely to be goal threat as a loan striker despite work-rate

It’s becoming all to common this season. A draw at home against a team we really ought to be beating if we hold any aspirations of finishing in the top four. Today’s nil-nil snooze fest against Stoke City made it seven home draws — yes, seven — from just 11 home games. Yes we’re undefeated at Anfield but that is still a lot of dropped points and when you consider the side is just five points out of that forth place you can’t help but wonder what might be if they had been a little more clinical. That lack of finishing has been the story of Liverpool’s season with just 24 in 21 games.

It’s all well and good talking about how many times the woodwork has intervened and how often they have dominated their opposition, and while it is all true, history shows that good teams find a way to get results and there’s only so long you can bang the “what if” drum of bad luck. Liverpool’s lineup today looked far to negative to me for a team playing at home. It wasn’t the three at the back that bothered me though — with the pace of Johnson and Enrique as wing-backs that kind of defensive formation has the potential to be quite positive — but rather going with just one man up front: Dirk Kuyt.

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When Andy Carroll joined Liverpool for £35 million many felt that the next thing to arrive at the club would be a hatful of goals courtesy of the big mans head. Sadly things haven’t worked out quite as many might have hoped, and as the games go on the groans in the stands begin to get louder, but having turned 23 just last week, a little perspective is required and certainly a large dose of patience.

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This past weekend was an F.A. Cup weekend in the English football calendar and the third round of the cup at that. Which generally means big teams playing small teams and the opportunity for an historic giant killing or two. Unfortunately the main attention was on the battle between the two Manchester sides, two giants going head to head for a chance to get one over on the other and dump the other of the cup at such an early stage. Even more unfortunately however was the biggest headlines of all, which once again had nothing to do with the play on the pitch but rather the fact that after beating their noisy neighbours, Man Utd were drawn out of the hat to play Liverpool in what’s sure to be a game stoked in bitterness, anamosity and controversay.

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