Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Pennant : I'm Staying At Anfield


Jermaine Pennant has spoken for the first time about his debut season at Anfield and insisted that while speculation may be rife about possible comings and goings at Liverpool this summer, he has no intention of leaving the club he supported as a kid.

The former Arsenal winger struggled to make an instant impact at Anfield following his move from Birmingham last summer but got better and better as the season wore on and was Liverpool's Man of the Match in Athens at the Champions League final.

And despite losing to AC Milan, Pennant's strong finish to the season has only made him even more determined to make a success of his move to Liverpool.

Leaving this summer is not even an option, he insists.

"I was happy with my season," reveals the former England U-21 star. "To come from a relegation battle to play in the Champions League and come third in the Premiership, if somebody had offered me that two years ago I would have taken it all day long.

"But, for a team like Liverpool it's a disappointing season to end up with no silverware."

Asked about the possibility of wholesale changes at Anfield this summer, Pennant is not convinced it'll actually happen.

"I don't think there will be a complete change of squad," he says. "There may be a few players coming and going, but that happens at every club.

"I'm an easy target, but no-one has said anything to me about leaving. I'm sure I'm staying. I've got a contract for another two years and I hope I can stay for as long as possible."

International Round-Up : Agger And Riise Both Score


The season may be over for Liverpool but a number of our players were on international duty at the weekend. Here's a quick round-up of who played and how they got on…

Daniel Agger was involved in the most controversial match of the weekend after Denmark's game against Sweden was abandoned after 89 minutes. With Sweden racing into a 3-nil lead within 30-minutes, Agger kick-started an amazing comeback for the Danes by scoring in the 34th minute. Two further goals for Denmark in the second-half levelled the scores before the referee, Herbert Fandel – who took charge of the Champions League final last month - walked off the pitch after a fan tried to attack him in the 89th minute following his decision to send off a Danish midfielder. The game was abandoned and now UEFA will launch an investigation to decide whether the result should stand.

John Arne Riise scored in injury time for Norway to seal a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing of Malta in the Euro2008 qualifier in Oslo.

Craig Bellamy played all 90 minutes at the Millennium Stadium as Wals drew 0-0 with the Czech Republic in their Euro2008 qualifier.

Xabi Alonso
was a second-half substitute for Spain in their 2-0 away win over Latvia. Pepe Reina had to be content with a place on the bench as Spain moved back into contention for qualification to next summer's European Championships.

Sami Hyypia played all 90 minutes as Finland were beaten 2-0 at home by Serbia. Hyypia was booked in the 70th minute while former Anfield favourite Jari Litmanen came on with 20 minutes remaining.

Djibril Cisse replaced former Liverpool striker Nicolas Anelka after the current Bolton forward had given France a 2-0 lead over the Ukraine. The Reds striker – currently on loan at Marseille - came on in the 77th minute. The game finished 2-0.

Dirk Kuyt was a second-half substitute for Holland as they beat South Korea 2-0 in Seoul. Rafael van der Vaart scored both goals for Holland.

Javier Mascherano featured for Argentina as they drew 1-1 with Switzerland at St Jakob Park. The Reds midfielder came on in the 67th minute while former West Ham team-mate Carlos Tevez scored Argentina's goal.

Harry Kewell was one of seven European-based players missing for Australia as they were beaten 2-1 by Uruguay.
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