It has been 83 days since Liverpool played their last competitive match. But after an incredibly eventful summer, Liverpool’s season eventually kicks off today. The imagination of the fans has certainly been captured during pre-season and it has been busy at Anfield, with many comings and goings.
Fenway Sports Group have picked up where they left off in January. After bringing in Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll in January, King Kenny was handed a huge transfer budget to revamp the squad. He certainly hasn’t disappointed: Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Alexander Doni and Jose Enrique have all joined the club for a sum easily exceeding £50m.
The signings all seem incredibly shrewd. Some query Dalglish’s decision to spend such vast amounts of money on the players, but all – with the exception of Doni – have experience of playing Premier League football. This is crucial if Liverpool are to begin the season well, especially as Steven Gerrard is injured and Suarez and Lucas will be jaded following their Copa America excursions.
In the acquisition of Stewart Downing, it seems as though the issue of genuine width of the left wing – a problem which has plagued Liverpool for many a year – has finally been solved. Charlie Adam will provide guile and creativity to the team not seen since Xabi Alonso’s departure and Jordan Henderson will be a more than capable understudy to Steven Gerrard.
The sheer number of options at Dalglish’s disposal is exciting. Not just in terms of numbers, but also quality. The midfield is full of seasoned internationals including Gerrard, Lucas, Adam, Merieles and Aquilani. The fact that the departures of Merieles and Aquilani are even being mentioned shows the depth of quality in the squad.
A minor worry is that the club haven’t offloaded as many players as they would have liked to. It is no secret that Joe Cole and David Ngog have been offered to other clubs, but as things stand, they will not be following Milan Jovanovic and Paul Konchesky out of the club.
Another small concern has been the form in pre-season. Before the Valencia match, the Reds had shipped three goals a game against some incredibly mediocre opposition, although most of these matches were played with a severely under strength Liverpool side. In the final pre-season friendly, Los Che faced Liverpool’s strongest team of the summer, and a comfortable 2-0 victory was recorded.
All in all, the 2011-2012 season promises much for Liverpool. Dalglish has many decisions to make, both in terms of formation and personnel, but I’m sure he is relishing the prospect of launching a renewed assault on the top four.
I, for one, cannot wait.
Lucas is pure shit! No quality! I do not know why people come on here praising him. After a summer of him being talked up I actually forgot how terrible he is. His passing and offensive skills are nonexistent and gives the ball away any chance he gets. I know he is a defensive mid but his tackles are rash and gives the ball away in our half. I’d rather start Agger for his defensive skills or improve our offense with Aqui or Meireles. His fouls and giveaways resulted directly in countless goals last season. He is shit and does not deserve the praise he recieves.
Craig loves the taste of Arse end Wegners balls & hates LFC , look at his horrible post about Lucas if ya dont believe me !!!
No I genuinely love lfc. Just not Lucas. And after watching him again today I just don’t get why people show him so much love.
Craig is a liar .
He played good today?
He had a great first half & done nothing wrong in the second half .
I dont know what you expect from a team ?
Perhaps 11 of Suarez ?
Lucas like all our players are asked to play a role within the team , its called tactics & Lucas is rock solid tactically .
Carra is rock Solid tactically & not just holds the back 4 together he commands them throughout a season not because they are told to listen to him but because he is so good tactically the other players recognize it & follow his leadership .
That wasnt the case when Carra was 24 like Lucas is .
If Lucas wasnt in that side today , Adam wouldn’t have had as much creative input , Downing wouldn’t have been able to successfully switch wings & Suarez of Carroll wouldn’t have been fed .
All our midfield today were excellent off the ball , they all worked really hard in packs & pairs to hunt down breaking balls & to pressurize their players in possession .
We gave away very few free kicks & made a hell of a lot of challenges .
Lucas was our Main man in Midfield doing that & on top of that his distribution was spot on too , he even got up with the attack .
If ya didnt like us today then you dont like LFC & ya ont like football , stick to watching clips on Youtube or highlights shows like MOTD because real football is played over 90 + minutes & its not always super duper obviously spectacularly fantastic , theres more to it than running , jumping & kicking .
We were robbed by biased officiating to the point I genuinely question the integrity of the game in England .
Phill Dowd today in the 2’nd half was clearly on a mission to referee the result not referee the game , h done everything he could to break up our passing rhythm , he never gave us one 50-50 decision , he booked Kuyt for absolutely nothing , he allowed their defenders to go straight through the back of our attackers without giving as much a 1 free kick let alone a booking & yet & all here you are cursing one of ou most disciplined best team players this past 3 seasons in a row & you still have the brass neck to call yerself a Liverpool FC supporter ?
Fuck OFF you Cunt !
We were fucking Robbed & you fucking know it too !
lol we were robbed? I agree that that Dowd was not letting the game flow in the second half but it was sloppy. Countless silly fouls and giveaways. If you were happy with their performance in the second half than your a clown. Maybe you should become a Sunderland fan if your pleased with such play. This is lfc and I have higher standards. I thought at times we looked good, esp early, and showed signs of things to come. We were not robbed though, it was great finish and poor marking by flanagan. We played sloppy late especially Suarez so 11 Suarez’ would of not been ideal. So anything our mids did today including passing would not of been possible without Lucas? He’s a CDM obviously that is his role, to play D to let others go forward. Is he a decent cdm, sure, player of the season? no way. And solid for three years? Fans were calling for head at the beginning of last year. Shut your mouth and go watch the game again you fucking loser
Fuck off you Faggot .
You were in here mouthing off about Lucas like yer his ex wife until I started talking sense about he game & now all of a sudden you have noticed how fuckin corrupt & Biased Down appeared ?
Fuck you !
As for Larsons strike ?
What a fuckin Strike !
Yer gonna see that kinda thing in a league where some players are paid upwards of £250,000 per week to practice their skills then play you fucking Woman !
One strike they got on target all fuckin day & you call us sloppy ?
Wat about the beautiful goal Carroll Scored ?
He took it down outa the air on his chest , took a touch & buried it in 3 touches !!!
If Drogba or Rooney done it you would be throwin yer soggy panties at Them !
Why was it disallowed ?
Why was Kuyt Booked ?
Why wasnt Richardson sent off ?
Why werent any of their defenders booked in the second half for going though the back of our attackers to win the ball ?
Why werent we given the benefit of the doubt in one single 50-50 ?
Fuckin standards !
Your fuckin standards are obviously about how pretty whatever player ya fancy as yer dream husband looks in the most recent edition of gayboy weekly !
You have never even seen a Title winning Liverpool side play so dont talk to me about yer fuckin pathetic 10 men behind the ball kick it & rush top 4 & a cup run standards !
Attacking our players there & not even asking one fucking question about the officiating ….. FUCCCKKK YOUUUU !!!!
We had 6 players only at the club since Jan at the longest on the pitch playin alongside Agger & Flanagan who havent been regular first teamers & you are talking shit about us ?
If you call that being SUPPORTIVE then I’d hate to see what you would type if ya admited you hated us !!!
Get the fuck outa here you dirty scumbag cunt .
lol
LoL Fuck All !
The likes of you are a fucking disgrace to our clubs reputation !
Anyone & everyone connected to another club or paid by trash media can say any kinda old dishonest negative shit about us they like & you openly agree with them !!!
You are supposed to be the 12’th man in the team , you are supposed to stand up for them against other supporters & biased media you are supposed to curse referees & officials so much they are terrified to give any kinda decision against us at Anfield , just like they are terrified to give a decision against Utd at Old Trafford , but all you do is show them yer limp wrist , agree with them & let them dictate our season !
Wheres the fucking sport in that you fucking Lemming !!!??
You are a fucking disgrace .
Follow my lead , acknowledge a good pass when a team mate gives ya one & put the club before your own personal identity because you arent on dry land any more you are in a sea of Red now .
Walk On & pull yer socks up along the way coz yer letting us down badly .