International Break Purgatory

Sometimes you get excited for international breaks. But with England pretty much through unless they get really goofy against Montenegro (and most of England's better performances under Capello has been as a road team), the US only playing a couple friendlies against decidedly uninteresting opponents, and that Liverpool are at a pretty crucial point in their season where they're winning but not necessarily playing well, I'd prefer to just watch more Pool. But alas, that's not the way. And there's hardly anything going on as far as news, so let's see what there is.

-Liverpool have scheduled a friendly at Ibrox against Rangers on the 18th, for reasons that only their accountant will love. I know neither team has European football to worry about, and maybe there aren't enough games. But aren't Rangers supporters going to see right through this? Neither team will bring anything other than reserves and it appears such a shoehorned fixture that comes in the middle of some league fixtures, notably right after United at home and before Norwich away. There's a midweek game the week after, the Cup trip to Stoke. This just doesn't make a lot of sense.

-Jonjo Shelvey has already scored for Blackburn. After the sale of Meireles and loan of Aquilani, I thought Shelvey would get some time with the first team. After Gerrard and Adam there just isn't much as far as attacking midfielders. But it's probably better for him to start every game, which he will at Blackpool. Speaking of which, Dalglish today made some reference to keeping an eye on Aquilani, as if to suggest there's the slightest possibility that he might come back. This infuriates me. If he was appreciated that much by the club and manager, why was he punted in the first place? Whatever, this is probably and early step to drive up the price when those negotiations start.

i'll have an international preview up tomorrow.