Liverpool's Bustling Midfield

Forget 4-4-2, this is the all new '10' formation.

Liverpool have splashed the cash on three midfielders already and speculation is rife that Kenny Dalglish will add yet another to the ranks. James McCarthy is the latest midfielder on the radar and it is reported that the Anfield outfit will move for the young Brit depending on the outcome of his contract talks with Wigan. 

With another midfielder possibly on the way in, Milan Jovanovic is looking likely to move out to Belgian club Anderlecht. Two more midfielders that don't feature on the image above are Christian Poulsen and Alberto Aquilani. Poulsen has failed to impress in a red shirt and will surely be fazed out of the squad, facing younger and stronger competition. Aquilani on the other hand, has impressed during the pre-season, but despite his useful creative flair, might be on his way back to Italy to join Fiorentina. La Viola's are said to be extremely close to sealing a permanent deal for the player who spent all of last season on loan at Juventus. Should Aquilani leave Liverpool, it would be a great shame that he wasn't given more of a chance in the first team. Dalglish has plenty of talented options in midfield, critiques will suggest too many.

With a month left until the transfer window closes, Liverpool could ideally do with recruiting a couple of new defenders to bolster their back line. It is no surprise that the Reds need an out and out left back and one man that they have been chasing for some time now is Newcastle United's Jose Enrique. The speedy Spaniard fits the bill and is just the sort of player Liverpool need to permanently fill a position that saw a number of different players cover last season. 

With a somewhat suspect looking defence in pre-season, the life long Liverpool supporter Scott Dann has been heavily linked with a move to Anfield. Having been relegated with Birmingham last season, the steely centre back is thought to be in favour of a move back into the Premier League and play under his boyhood idol, Kenny Dalglish. With Jamie Carragher not getting any younger, Liverpudlian Dann could eventually provide a solid replacement for the aging Kop favourite.

Another position in need of cover is in attack. Dalglish is said to be searching for a back-up forward for strike duo Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll. Frenchman David N'gog is now surplus to requirements and has been linked with a move away from Anfield. A host of names have been thrown into the rumour mill for the possible opening, including South Korean Park Chu-Young, who has reportedly set his heart on a move to Liverpool over Shalke in the Bundesliga. There are, however, other options available and should Dalglish want to keep to his buy British policy, then Adam Johnson is being pushed out of the Manchester City team by their new acquisitions and could be available. Irish striker Shane Long, Spanish whizz-kid Iker Munian and Turkish sensation Arda Turan, have also been linked. One thing is for certain, Dalglish has renovated his squad and is beginning to put his own stamp on it. Brace yourself for an exciting new season, starting on August 13th against Sunderland.

Texting whilst walking banned

Have you ever tried texting whilst walking along in the street? It's a perilous task, one that often leads to injuries or embarrassment. All it takes is a stray lamppost and for you to be in the middle of an SMS conversation and suddenly you're looking around, checking to see if anyone has seen your clumsy incident.


The likelihood is that they did, just as they did when this girl fell into a shopping mall fountain when she was too involved in her mobile phone. Unfortunately for this girl, her incident was not only seen by onlookers at the time, it was captured on the mall's CCTV and then went viral on YouTube!

In the American state of Pennsylvania, a fine of $120 will now be issued to people who text whilst they walk. The crack down is part of a 'Give Respect - Get Respect' campaign and texting whilst walking along, has been highlighted as a cause for concern. Can you imagine being fined for walking into a lamppost now? The cheek of it!

Chipmunk seen with cigarette

No, not the North London Mobo award winning rapper. Instead, a four legged, bushy tailed, fury critter was spotted on a beach in the Canary Islands enjoying  a cheeky ciggy. 


The small striped squirrel was snapped by an onlooking tourist and appears to have got bored of its usual omnivorous diet of fruit, nuts and insects and instead, turned to tobacco. 


Come winter, if there are buried packs of ten scattered around in random places, you'll know why!


On seeing this bizarre news story, I searched out a couple more animals that have a craving for cancer sticks.

With eco-systems being damaged due to climate change and habitat loss, it seems to have got all too much for this snake who can only just fit the cigarette in its mouth. 


The owner of the snake claimed that the scaly reptile picked up the habit on its own and was not forced into it. Perhaps it was weak and gave into peer pressure, or thought it would look 'cool'. All it needs now is a hoody and a baseball cap!


This chimpanzee was rescued from a Lebanese zoo by animal rights workers. The unfortunate chimp has never climbed a tree or even met another one of its kind. It has however been suckered into smoking cigarettes by zoo keepers who threw it spares every now and again.


Chimps are the closest living relatives to humans and are extremely clever, so are able to pick up a human habit such as smoking. Maybe the animal rights workers can sort it out some nicorette patches.

King Kenny’s British Regime

Kenny Dalglish has been spending big bucks in the 2011 summer transfer market and has so far spent over £50 million on bringing in British players.

It’s about time Liverpool started splashing the cash and renovating a squad full of dead wood accumulated from previous management. Having previously been frustrating watching Liverpool settle for mediocre European players to pad out the squad, frightened to make big investments, it seems the new owners Fenway Sports Group have kept their promise and are pumping money into the transfer fund.

Liverpool’s new management, a combined trio of Kop legend Dalglish at the helm, with the experience of first team coaches Steve Clarke and the newest addition Kevin Keen, have opted to revitalise their squad with the signings of no less than three British players.

It may be a case of out with the old and in with the new as Dalglish has signed three midfielders, in youngster Jordan Henderson, Scotsman Charlie Adam and creative winger Stuart Downing, who were all key players for their clubs last season. With Andy Carroll having joined in January, Liverpool can now field a strong starting eleven with ten good Brits and a Spaniard, in goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

To see more than four British players starting for a Premier League team is somewhat of a rarity these days and Dalglish is certainly putting his stamp on the Liverpool team. Not that Liverpool would start with this team in an important fixture; the option is always there, which is good to see in a big team. What's more is Manchester United striker, Wayne Rooney, has conceded that Liverpool's 'buy British' policy and new management has made them a real threat once again and believes Dalglish's men will be a major contender for the title.

My British Liverpool team (and Reina, in goal) would look something like this:

Johnson, Wilson, Carragher, Kelly

Downing, Henderson, Adam, Cole

         Gerrard

         Carroll

With British subs: Shelvey, Robinson, Flanagan, Spearing, Coady, Wisdom

My Liverpool team with all the current players available would be:

Reina,

Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua (New left back coming)

            Gerrard Lucas, Adam,

                                             Downing, Carroll, Suarez

Subs: Doni, Skrtel, Kelly, Meireles, Henderson, Maxi, Kuyt, (Another striker needed)

Dayscreen Logo Design

I designed a logo for a company in L.A who are launching a new brand of sun-cream, called Dayscreen. The logo will be up once the brand is out! Look out for it...

O'Neill Article

This is an example of a breaking news article I did for the ZOO website. This one was about the imminent departure of Martin O'Neill from Aston Villa back in 2010 and included a poll.

Interview with Louie Spence

When on work experience with the ZOO magazine I was asked to go to the Pineapple Dance studios and interview TV personality and dancer, Louie Spence. It was the Sky Sports 3D launch, so in typical Spence style, he got me and the mascots involved with a dance routine and there was even time to strike some poses.


Matt – First of all, do you support a football team?

Louis – Well it depends on who is in the football team, that’s who I’ll support. I’m all supporting in things like the World Cup, like really big kind of things. I’m not a supporter of such, but it depends who is in the team. Who’s got the best-looking players. I’m sorry, call me shallow!..

Matt – Who is the best looking player in your eyes?

Louis – I think for me its still David Beckham. I mean, Ronaldo’s cute, but you know, he’s bordering on a bit gay for me, what with those shorts being tucked up! Either get in a pair of speedos or wear the short shorts, make your mind up what your doing!

Matt – Regarding England, what do you think their performances were like during the World Cup?

Louis – Oh you know, I was really disappointed. I think that we have got the skilled players, but I think that they didn’t gel together as a team. I just think that they didn’t work together well as a team. When you watched the other games, especially the Spanish in the final, you could really see, as a team, they’d really worked out where they were going, what their strategy was, and I think that we weren’t gelling together. I think there was too much going on outside the football for some of the boys.

Matt – You’ve obviously got football knowledge, so if you the England manager, what would you have told them at half time in the Germany game?

Louis – Just literally focus on the game, not on anything else. Literally focus on the game at hand, don’t let your mind wonder. I mean come on, they were playing for our country, they were playing for England.

Matt – Would you have given them a good old bollocking?

Louis – I would have given them more than a good old bollocking, I would have given them a good old slap!…Or two!

Matt – Obviously you’re a great dance, describe to me your perfect celebration if you were to score a 40-yard screamer!

Louis – Corr, a 40-yard screamer, I mean that would pretty much be a celebration in itself!  I think for me, I would do a row of flips. Literally, I would do about 15 back flips with an open layout somersault landing in the splits, spinning on my head, and then doing a double pirouette with a layout and putting my leg round my neck. I think something simple like that!

Matt – Have you ever hung out with any footballers before?

Louis – I was just with David Beckham the other week, I was at his for dinner, so yeah. And I’ve hung out with Rio Ferdinand a couple of times. But yeh, I’d say, more David than anyone else.

Matt – What’s he like?

Louis – He’s a really, really, really nice guy. Yeah really nice. I mean I know him from when I did Spice Girls and all that stuff. But no, he’s a very, very nice guy. Very charming, very nice. Lovely lovely man.

Matt – Who else would you want to hang out with? Maybe Christiano Ronaldo?

Louis – No, I would say, I quite like Frank Lampard, he’s going out with Christine Bleakly, that one innit. John Terry I quite like, cos he was naughty, cos like in his personal life, so I think that’s always good! I think Ronaldo’s cute, coming from a gay man, but he looks too much like all the other gay men, so what’s the point in fancying him.

On today –

Matt – How is today going?

Louis – We’re having a lot of fun, I mean all the guys are really up for it. We’ve done a little dance routine for them, which is going to be filmed, and we’ve done some single shot photos which some of them got carried away with. One of them fell in the slips, but I’ve just done ten of them back to back. I mean really, in the space of 5 minutes, that’s a hard push and shove for anyone! Arsenal and Chelsea are doing quite well. The wolf’s doing quite well. I mean their all doing well, we’re just having a laugh.

Matt – Which one’s your favourite?

Louis – I think it might be Chelsea. Yeah I’m sorry, well I think it might be between Chelsea and Arsenal.