The transfer window has been open for 2 and a half weeks now (since the Premiership season ended). Liverpool fans all over the web are getting nervous and even Benitez has been angered by the slow pace of things [thanks to Bif for this article]. I must say I’m not worried though.

The club have already moved to sign a few young players, signed Andre Voronin and have added more potential first teamers.

By all accounts Lyon’s Florent Malouda will sign within a week for a fee of between £8m and £10m, and is in Liverpool as I type, to complete a medical. Malouda was voted player of the year in France and looks a decent player. I don’t know that much about him but with Zenden and Gonzalez leaving we could do with another left-winger. This guy seems to score goals too which Liverpool need from all parts of the pitch. I would imagine that we’ll sign another left-winger though to compete with him and probably start as first choice. Simao has been strongly linked but that one’s not fitting for me.

On the other side of the pitch it looks like the attention has been focused on Roma’s Alessandro Faiolhe Amantino Mancini. While Malouda doesn’t seem like someone who’ll set the World alight, Mancini looks a very gifted prospect indeed. In my opinion Liverpool are lacking the kind of arrogance (not too much mind, we are LFC) and flair that a player like this can bring. There are no figures being quoted at this point but you can be sure it would be £15M up. From the looks of things he’d be well worth the risk.

These two would do very nicely. For starters…

As Frank mentioned I had an eventful trip to Athens last week. There had been many a set back before I left Ireland and, since I had already planned to go to Barcelona to meet my brother’s beautiful new baby boys, I spent the last few days before the Final in Spain. By the time departure day arrived I was VERY sick and so couldn’t travel on my early flight from Barcelona to Liverpool. It seemed that after overcoming so many set backs I had to finally admit defeat.

As anyone who has been following my Liverpool posts this season will know, giving up is not the Liverpool way and it was killing me that I wasn’t going to be there. Something that not many people can understand is that it was the fact that there would be two empty seats at the Champions League Final that was bothering me more than the money I had spent on the trip that would now all go to waste.

I contacted a few friends to see if there was any way to get the tickets to someone else and a few more for some consolation in my lowest moments. It wasn’t possible to get a taker for the tickets. Frank was one of those I contacted and despite not being a football fan himself he told me to continue my journey and get to the Final. Yes I had missed the flight I was booked to travel on, but there was a later flight from Barcelona to Liverpool that would get me to John Lennon Airport in time for my flight to Athens.

Despite my health worries - which by the way still hadn’t improved - I realised that I had come to far. I had overcome to many obstacles to give up now. I had to go to Athens and do my best to help Liverpool bring home number 6.

And so I went, I suffered, and we lost.

Yes, yes, laugh it up! The thing is though that had this final turned out to be anything like the last Champions League Final I attended it would have been a story that I could have dined out on for years to come. It didn’t but I’m still proud to have been there and proud of the team I support for their performances in every Champions League game other than the Final.

Having been so convinced that Liverpool would once again triumph, where did it all go wrong? Well I lay the blame solely at the feet of manager Rafael Benitez.

The starting 11 was a mistake. It was clear long before the Final that Zenden wasn’t up to the job. Riise left-wing with Arbeloa at left-back or starting Kewell and then switching to Riise, or maybe even bringing on Zenden depending on the situation, would have been a much better option. Playing Kuyt up front on his own was also stupid. It has been tried before playing for both Holland and Liverpool. It has never worked! And then there was the idea to switch from the 4-4-2 formation that got us to the final and play 4-5-1. Of course our 4-4-2 is almost a 4-5-1 at times with the way Kuyt plays so deep, but then that’s my point about him playing the lone striker isn’t it?

I could go on but it won’t change anything. I don’t understand why Rafa made so many mistakes with his team sheet or why his substitutions were so poor but I still believe that he is the right man for the job. The funny thing is that when I went to Istanbul I went with very little faith in Benitez but hope in my heart. In Athens I went full of faith in Benitez’s ability to out wit Milan tactically and certain of victory. It’s a funny old game!

There are positives to come out of the game and the season however. Benitez performed excellently in Europe, the home form in the Premiership was fantastic and players like Pennant have started to find their feet. Benitez is continuing his ruthless ways by axing Gonzalez after just one season and looking to offload Bellamy also. Kewell gave a few decent displays in the final weeks of the season but his days still seem numbered unless he can do something to convince Benitez to keep him on as a squad player. Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the future though can be seen in the faces of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher after the final whistle in Athens. These two men are the backbone of the club and to have them hurting so badly can only be good for the many more years they will spend playing for Liverpool. I can say with 100% certainty it is not a feeling they will want to repeat.

Auditions are being held in the Triskel Arts Centre, Cork tomorrow, Thursday the 31st of May, from 10am to 12pm.

The audition is for a pilot for a drama-comedy being filmed this summer and directed by myself, Eoin Ó hAnnracháin.

We are looking to cast four characters, two males and two females, in their mid to late twenties. Actors with playing range of 24-30.

Once the pilot is filmed we will be looking at making further episodes and will also have one eye on parts in those episodes.

Please email fade2blackfilms@gmail.com for an audition slot.

Those auditioning should also be available for a call back workshop from 14:00 to 16:00.