My answer to a question....

The last few weeks have been my hardest since I started writing this blog. Of course there were the time constraints I mentioned due to our new arrival, but mainly the problems are caused by how things are right now. Liverpool won the first trophy available of the season only 4 or 5 weeks ago, but in line with how the season has gone for the most part things took a downward turn after this. The nadir of our downturn became apparent when the players allowed a 2-0 lead versus struggling QPR be turned into a 3-2 loss. People thought that this was as bad as it gets and we would go out in our following game against Wigan and win comfortably to restore some faith. Unfortunately we got the reverse of our expectations when the players put in a particularly poor performance and again suffered defeat to a relegation threatened side. There is no point in sugar coating it, this is simply not good enough. The form guide shows what a low we are on, in the last 6 games we are L,L,L,W,L,L which gives us a total of 3 points from an available 12 with a goal difference of -2. Two of these games (Utd and Arsenal) were always going to be difficult but overall the return is pitiful. Its left us as supporters in a particularly low position. You cant go anywhere without people taking pot shots at you, and in fairness you just have to take it. There is no apparent defence, at least none which might make sense to your average idiot! Liverpool fans are taking the stick, letting it eat at them and ending up coming to all sorts of conclusions of what needs to be done. After a run like this its hard to look at an overall picture, you tend to just focus on what's hurting you. But just because our league form is at a particularly low point right now, it doesn't mean we are not building or picking up experience. Its clear that not everything is bad, we won our first trophy for 6 years a few short weeks ago. If the question is should we sack the manager, my answer is:

There are a lot of things going wrong at the club right now, but you cannot just throw out the baby with the bath water.

 

Is this where we are now? What happens if a new manager comes in and he has a difficult period in his first year? Do we sack him too?........ And the next?....... And the next? We are not Chelsea. We are not Inter Milan. We are Liverpool Football Club. I am not for one minute suggesting that Kenny Dalglish should be exempt from criticism or scrutiny. I don't deny that mistakes have been made. But we have to be realistic too. We are building and that will take time. Even through poor results we've seen that this side can produce some excellent football. We've seen some excellent results too. We've won a cup and we are going to play an absolutely mega FA cup semi final versus the blues in a couple of weeks. Mistakes may have been made in the transfer market, that is true of every manager who has ever lived. I would love for somebody to point my in the direction of any manager for whome every signing has worked out perfectly. In general it seems the best managers get about 50% of their signings spot on, I would argue that Kenny/Commoli's signings are not far of this figure. Some players have struggled but they can improve with this experience. We may need to cut our losses on some and there is no doubt we need to add more, but this can be done. I've said it before, but its still true. W are NOT a million miles from being a good side. It's not time to cut and run. It's time for a bit of faith and patience.

Things can change.... quickly

I should probably start with an apology for the lack of Articles over the last few weeks. Any readers who know me will know that my Wife and I welcomed our 2nd baby into the world last Wednesday, and to be honest the weeks leading up to then have been bedlam. Not that I will have loads of free time for a while but I should be able to work out a routine to get back to producing at least 1 Article a week going forward. I actually had a comprehensive article on the Arsenal defeat fully prepared but I never published it as it was out of date by the time I had a chance to.

With the baby coming home on Saturday, surprisingly in time for the match, I settled down to watch our game against Sunderland with the expectation that there was a script written and that after a few hard weeks, both personally and in terms of Liverpool we would return to normality by gaining victory. Sunderland had been in good form since appointing O’Neill, but so had Liverpool, albeit with the same difficulties in terms of chance conversion, I was confident we would have enough to beat them although I did accept that this would be a difficult game. As has happened so many times this season, my prediction was wrong.

From the minute I heard the team was slightly confused by our starting line-up. There is a persistence with selecting players who seem so clearly out of form and I find very difficult to understand. There was nobody named in our starting line-up who I am prepared to write off as Liverpool players just yet. Arguments on the merits of players that end with comments like “he’ll never be a liverpool player, simple as” baffle me completely. I’ve seen too many supposed failures reach unexpected heights and too many iron clad successes fall flat on their faces to ever base opinions about players on a short term of reference. Particularly when players are still young and learning their trade, or still acclimatising to life at Liverpool. I must admit, I am struggling to reconcile this point of view whilst watching Charlie Adam at the moment but I have no doubt that he is being utilised so often through necessity due to our midfield injury troubles this season. Also I have to accept that what I, or any other fan, see of the players and know about the players probably makes up about 10% of what goes into selecting the team week to week.

I’m not going to go into the game itself too much, sufficed to say I was not happy with our performance. Like a lot of fans, I have no problem expressing my frustrations and asking questions as to why this isn't done and that isn't done, but when it all boils down to it I honestly cannot suggest any quick fix solutions to the problems we face right now. Its not simply a matter of 1 or 2 things that can be solved by instant decisions, but at the same time lets not throw out the baby with the bath water and start demanding huge changes purely because of frustration. One major frustration is when Kenny doesn't criticise the players following a performance like this, but lets be realistic such criticism would do no more than appease fans for a very short period of time but could damage the team on a much larger time frame. I have no doubt there is a major crisis of confidence amongst the players right now (how many spot kicks have we missed again?) and that needs to be managed very carefully.

I don't want to sound like I’m trying to be positive just for the sake of it. I know from talking to some fans that some people have reached a type of point of no return where trying to point out any type of positive is seen as crazy talk. I think that people who cannot acknowledge, or remember that this is not the first time we’ve been down, and it wont be the last either, are crazy. I’m always saying it but the only way to control your emotions and not allow yourself to be eaten up by despair is to maintain some sense of perspective. One of the things I've heard that particularly annoys me is people saying that we are no better off than we were under Roy. I can admit that we are currently going through a run of results that were typical during Hodgson’s time, but the repercussions of those results are nowhere near as drastic as they were becoming at that time. I’ve repeated myself far too much this season to bother pointing out the steps forward that we have taken in the last 12 to 15 months and to be frank I think if anyone still needs these improvements spelled out they are probably too far gone for their minds to be changed.

We are down right now but we will not stay down. We have, at the very least a very strong spine of players who have experience and will fight tooth and nail to see this club succeed. We have a manager who, while still in the early days of this term in charge, has shown he can manage this team to fantastic performances and results. He lives and breaths the club, the city and its supporters. We have already won a trophy and have booked our place in next seasons UEFA cup. We are still in the FA Cup.

Regardless of League position, current form, or even time of the year we have a fixture on Tuesday which is always the first I look to at the start of the season - the home tie against Everton. This one ALWAYS sets the pulses racing no matter what the end result. It offers a perfect opportunity for the players to win the fans over again and gives the whole team a chance to redeem themselves. It is also a perfect opportunity to change mindsets and get back in form. Its important to remember that things can change very quickly, sure only last week it was possible for me to get a full nights sleep. It might seem unlikely but the hardship is what makes it all worthwhile.

YNWA

Carling Cup Winners 2012

Step 1.… complete!


On Sunday Liverpool took another major step in their mission to return to their former standing. It had been a long 6 years since Liverpool last appeared in a final, and an even longer 7 years since we had last lifted a trophy. It is not the most glamorous competition to win and when Europe is on the cards it is rightly deemed to be 4th in the pecking order of possible achievements at the start of the season. Of course due to previous failures Europe wasn’t on the cards this year and so at the beginning of the season the most pragmatic Liverpool fans were saying a season of transition where we improve on the league and hopefully pick up a cup would be successful. The most optimistic of fans were saying that we should win a cup and finish in the top 4. I’m sure there were pessimists too but the less said about them the better. Whether you were in the pragmatist or optimist camps, your pre-season ambitions are still well and truly alive and step one of this mission has been completed. Although some Liverpool fans were blinded to the reality of our perilous situation last year, I don’t think anyone can say that what we have achieved, even at this (relatively) early point of the season, doesn’t show massive improvements. The silverware for one means Kenny has continued a record which is blighted only by one Hamster Scratching individual, this being that every Liverpool manager since Bill Shankly has won at least one Trophy during their managerial tenure. Granted, Hodgson was only in for a short period of time, but he had already ensure we suffered an embarrassing defeat at mighty Northampton Town and were firmly locked in a relegation battle, remember people this is just over a year ago I am talking about here. Pundits have been lining up to criticise our performance in winning this final, conveniently forgetting the epic battles which went into securing our place in the showpiece event. Heroic battles away to Stoke and Chelsea and a 2 leg war versus Man City meant we earned this The game itself was never going to be a formality, well I say never but who knows how we may have kicked on had Johno’s early effort not crashed back off the bar only to be launched into row Z by Stevie. The optimists were out to make life difficult as always proclaiming that we would steam roller the lowly Cardiff City who it would seem from these kind of predictions must have been given a by all the way through to the Final. You would think Liverpool fans would know better after previous recent difficulties against the likes of Alaves, Birmingham City and West Ham. Anyway … I tweeted at half time, and it proved to be the case right through to the final whistle that this game served as some sort of microcosm of our entire season so far we had huge amounts of possession and created some chances, although very few clear cut ones, but failed to make our advantage pay. From the minute the starting 11 was announced (which was very late by the way) it seemed we may be missing something, and with retrospect we can we were. Some big players failed to deliver and some previous under-achievers stepped up to the plate.

Stuart Downing in particular put in his best performance whilst wearing the Liverbird yet, even if I do think his performance has been exagerated by some. Jordan Henderson on the other hand failed to make any impact, in his defence he was played in the position which he has struggled to impress in for much of the season, wide-right and even more wide in this game than in many others. Its not a good sign that he allowed this game to pass by, but on the plus side its good experience for a player of 22 to have, especially because we managed to win the game in the end. Luis Suarez also struggled to make an impact as he has done in each game since his ban. I don’t think he should be dropped but perhaps if Andy keeps his form up to a decent level we could think about introducing him from the bench on the weekend against a tired Arsenal defence. It may take some pressure off and help him impose himself to regain some confidence. Andy Carroll had a decent enough game, he was involved in us getting the equaliser but didn’t really add much in other phases. He is doing simple things well,much better than he was at the start of the season but I still find myself frustrated by his lack of movement in the box. His confidence in general play is improving, to a point where he no longer looks like an elephant on one leg when controlling the ball but his strikers confidence is not yet at 100%. He has done enough to take the pressure off himself for a while but he needs to keep improving. Jose Enrique played, what he admitted afterwards, was the biggest game of his career to date, but unfortunately put in one of the weakest performances of his time in this team. He definitely needs to improve to maintain his place in the side through to next season but again the experience will surely benefit him. The outstanding performer of the tie, and of the season so far has undoubtedly been our Slovakian monster Martin Skrtel, He continued to defend with the strength and consistency Kopites are becoming acclimatised to and he scored our equaliser, succeeding where our more natural scorers had failed by simply putting the ball over the line! Gerrard, Carra, Reina, all had decent but unremarkable games. I was delighted to see Carra coming onto the pitch and being involved in adding another medal to his collection. I think its important to note that we won this final without having to lean on the hero of many previous finals, Steven Gerrard, who played well enough but who’s shooting was way off the mark.

By the end of the season I hope that this wont have been the biggest game we have played in. Its just as important to win on Saturday when we face an Arsenal side which is resurgent after a huge victory in the North London derby last weekend. We have a game in hand on them at the moment, even if this is the tricky derby, but if we lose this one we will be 10 points behind them and even the most optimistic fans would have to acknowledge this would be too big a task. A draw isnt much use either but I am hopeful of getting a victory. We’ll need to be on top form of course but spirits should be high now that the players have a medal in their pockets.

A Look back at the last few weeks

There has been a lot happening since my last blog, going to be hard to comment on everything but i’m nothing if not a tryer....

The run began with an abysmal peformance away to bottom of the table Bolton. There was nothing much good to take from the game, other than the fact that (with hindsight) it seemed to prove a catalyst. The players on the field that day let the shirt down, and where King Kenny had made it a point to defend his players through thick and thin during the season so far, he took this opportunity to publicly state that performances needed to improve. Of course this public statement was, i’m sure, much more cordial than what was said behind closed doors.
The first game following the public criticism was the second led of a Semi-Final versus top of the league Manchester City. The first leg was as close to a smash and grab as you are ever likely to see. Once we got in front we hung on and dug in for dear life eventually going home with a goal advantage.The second leg was a much more confident display. I must say the atmosphere that night was the best I have to experienced in my time going to Anfield. From before the game until well after, the red faithfull shouted and lifted their team over the finish line. We went behind during the game and many may have thought this game was over at that point. But the mighty Kopites have seen some dramatic turn arounds over the years and never let their spirit drop. I honestly believe this transmitted to the field where a heroic effort brought the equalising goal which won the tie. A first cup final since Athens 2007 (a game i also attended by the by) and a first appearance at the new Wembly for the red men. It actually annoyed me in the coverage of this game, people kept making such a big deal of our first appearance at the new wembly, like as if all those appearances at the Millenium Stadium didnt count, even though we appeared there so frequently it was dubbed “Anfield South” by many.

After a strong performance in such a big tie, it can sometimes be hard to keep the intensity up for a lower profile game against a smaller side. There was no chance of this after the city game though. Next up was a 4th round tie against the old enemy, Man Utd. Of course the Reds looked tired at times in this game, there were some mistakes and we were not crisp enough in possession at times, but we had enough to win the game 2-1 to keep our cup momentum going. All the talk prior to this game had been around the Suarez-Evra controversy. Inevitably Evra was booed throughout the game by the Anfield crowd. Its was painted in the press yet again as if this means Liverpool fans condone the alleged racist remarks that Suarez is accused of making. I just want to make it clear, Liverpool fans (on the whole, i’m sure there a lot of A-Holes in the bunch too) are not defending racism, and we are not racist sympathisers. The booing and protestations at the punishment meted out to our number 7 are because we do not believe the accusation and do not believe that the FA panel proved Luis Suarez to be a racist! I know its a bit “broken record” here but i honestly cannot believe how some people (journalists and opposing fans) cannot get this into their heads. A quick analogy, if a member of my family is accused of murder, and I do not believe they did it so I protest their innocence, does this mean I am saying murder is ok? of course it doesnt! There was also some revolting, but not surprising, songs sung from the away end. In fairness i’m sure there were some songs sung back at them and I will never condone it from either end. I wish we could ever just get to a point were death and tragedy is not used as a stick in this immature baiting.

Anyway, rant over, back to the football! These two highly impressive results were followed up by a strong performance, against a poor Wolves performance which resulted in a fairly pedestrian 3-0 victory. Following this run we were confident going into a very important game against one of the league’s strongest sides, Spurs, at Anfield. Unfortunately it was back to service as normal in the league and a return to “Copy, Paste and Repeat” where we dominated the game for large parts, rarely looked in danger but were somehow unable to find the winning goal. Of course, out of context this is a decent result. Spurs are a very stong side and still involved in the title race. But having watched the 90 minutes it was hard not to be disappointed at only achieving the 1 point when it would not have take much more to achieve the 3.

While our League form has continued to frustrate, I don't think anyone would say that things aren't looking rosier than they were this time 3 or 4 weeks ago. As well as what I've written above we've also had a number of other positives. Andy Carroll has bagged a goal, a couple of assists and his performances have improved to a level where many are starting to believe that we might actually have a player on our hands. Bellamy has been a revelation and he has seemed in better shape to start games more frequently which has been a bonus. Dirk is back amongst the goals too and maybe making people who wrote him off think twice. Lets not forget that this run has also coincided with Luis Suarez’s ban, imagine what we can achieve with him back in their side. We are still without Lucas meaning Kenny still wont have a chance to name his strongest 11 until next season at least but on the whole Spearing has looked an able deputy in the hard running defensive mid role. We have another huge game coming up at the weekend. this time an away trip against United. I think all in all were are sitting quite well in the league. There is no doubt we need to improve our chance conversion rate if we want to get into the top 4 but with Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle all looking like they will drop more points there is no reason to stop believing that we can make it. Were already in 1 cup final and who would bet against us making it 2? As transitional seasons go... its not bad is it?

Liverpool FC is NOT Racist

I didn't want to write a blog on the current issues surrounding my football club. The situation deals with some major issues which as an amateur writer, I thought I wasn't qualified to comment on and so decided to refrain from doing so. The accusation, the following report, the decision to not appeal are all issues which need to be commented on but I think they have been discussed at length by people more qualified than me. This changed for me on Friday night though when I was watching the Oldham game. We saw that Oldham player Tom Adeymi was near to the Kop when something offensive was said to him by a member of the crowd. He was clearly hurt by what had been said, he seemed upset and was visibly distraught by what he had heard. While this incident occurred, the Kop faithful were signing the name of their current superstar, one of the most exciting players seen at the club in years, and the man who had just been found guilty by an FA appointed panel of Racially abusing Patrice Evra, Luis Suarez. Whats moved me to post about this is the reaction of people to this second incident, as if the two are related in any way. It seems that anybody now, no matter how unqualified, is allowed to now take this incident pack it together with the Suarez one and deem that all Liverpool fans, and the club itself is inherently racist. This is simply not true and it has changed my decision regarding commenting on this whole thing.

First of all lets look at the case of Luis Suarez, on the face of it, it seems pretty straight-forward. There was an accusation of racist abuse, there was an investigation, Suarez was found guilty by an independent panel and punished accordingly. If you choose not to look any further into the case, and if it suits your agenda, that's pretty much all there is to this whole scenario. This isn't a case of Liverpool fans simply defending their man blindly, its because as the party who feels hard done by in this, we have looked into the case and the 115 page report on the ruling more extensively because we need to understand what has happened. Unfortunately when you do take the time to look into the report closely you see that there are a lot of holes in the case. You discover that as this ruling was made by tribunal the burden of proof was not as high as it would have been for a trial in court. You discover that Luis Suarez was found guilty on the basis that he was “on the balance of probabilities” guilty, whereas if this had been a trial in front of a jury, he would have had to proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The balance of probabilities is where those who defend Suarez base their opinions. Its a fact, from the report which was released, that absolutely no further evidence came to light to prove either party right. The accusation it seems is what was deemed enough to find Luis Suarez guilty and see an 8 Match ban handed down. An accusation which of course could not be proven, it was found to “probably” be right. Lets be clear on this point, either before or after the release of the findings, no man or woman on this earth can be absolutely certain of what was said between Evra and Suarez, in the report it is clear that Nobody else saw or heard Luis Suarez racially abuse Patrice Evra. What is clear, and has been admitted by Suarez, that the word “negro” was used at least once. It is also important to remember that the exchange of words was initiated by Patrice Evra, and when he initiated the exchange he chose to do so in the Spanish language. So the word negro was used, but not the English word negro (nee-gro) but the Spanish word negro (neh-gro), these are two completely different things and without getting into the complicated arguments of intent and the nuances of culture we can accept this, as it has been accepted by both parties ,as fact. The only evidence that this word was used more than once comes from Evra himself, and has zero independent corroboration of any kind. What is not clear from the report is why they have chosen to accept everything Evra says as fact in spite of inaccuracies in his evidence, but chosen to deem Suarez’s evidence untrustworthy as a result of perceived inaccuracies in his. In the report small inaccuracies in Suarez’s evidence are given weight and used to paint him as an untrustworthy witness. The panel seems to take a completely different view with regard to Evra. His offensive behaviour, and frequent changes to his account of things are accepted as nothing more than mistakes. At different stages of the proceedings Evra claims he was called “a black,” “a fucking black”, “a nigger” only to settle eventually in the report on “Negro”. He also initially claimed to have been insulted “10 times” but the report found this number to actually be 7, the panel eventually write this off as a nuance of the french language “10 times” it is said is just a figure of speech in French. Hilariously (or at least it would be hilarious if it were not so serious) the report actually says that testimony from Liverpool’s Director of Football Damien Commoli back up this “figure of speech” claim. However, when you actually look at Comolli’s testimony, it absolutely does not back this up. Comolli is asked if a frenchman may use this phrase in a general term and he answers, well you might use it to a child i.e ive old you ten times already, but if you were dealing with an adult you would certainly apply greater accuracy. This, in absolute contrast to the report’s claim of it backing up Evra’s statement, actually contradicts it.
You also have to wonder why when translating Evra’s comments the panel chooses to accept the lightest translation, changing a comment which can be translated as “your sister’s cunt” to “fucking hell”, whereas when translating Suarez’s words they change what can be translated as “calm down pal” to “Because your black”. Evra and the report itself both state that they do not believe that Luis Suarez is not a racist yet they believe that a man who, according to them, is not racist and has no record of racist offences suddenly decided to abandon this and fly into a racist tirade. The decision to translate the Spanish word “negro” to literally mean “Black” is very strange as well as the words used around it greatly change the meaning of this word.
The main problem with the whole case is that it still boiled down to one mans word against the
other and the panel decided to not only back up one mans claim without it being substantiated, they also handed out the most harsh possible punishment. It is for this reason that Liverpool choose to back their man to the hilt. It is for this reason that Liverpool fans defend a man who has been found guilty of such a charge. The insinuation is that if you dare to defend Suarez, certain people will label you a racist and presume you are condoning it. The reality is if there were evidence to back up the accusation or to increase the probability of Suarez being guilty, then we would have to accept this and revise our opinion of the man, but this evidence has NOT come to light and that is why we choose to defend our man. What should also be highlighted is that the fact that Liverpool chose not to appeal this decision is not an admission of guilt. It is stipulated in this case that Liverpool, or Luis Suarez do not have the right to appeal the ruling in this case. They do have the right to appeal the length of the ban but this seems a bit pointless. Liverpool's intention from the start has been to clear Suarez’s name the ruling effectively means this is no longer possible and so rather than risk increasing the ban it was decided it was best to just get it over and done with.


What happened on Friday night was something completely different and must be viewed as such. Yet again there is an accusation but in this instance there are witnesses to corroborate this. As of right now all we know is that there has been an accusation. The complainant, Tom Adeyemi, said he was racially abused by a member of the crowd. I think there is no doubt that what he heard hurt him in a really bad way, you could clearly see how it cut him and the upset it caused. Liverpool FC released a statement to assure everybody that they would assist with investigations in any way possible. The police have taken statements from witnesses and have arrested a man in connection to this. In this instance the case will go to court and will be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt” If found guilty he will rightly be punished by the courts and will be banned from football ground for the rest of his life. There is no right minded person would defend a man who has been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!

Liverpool FC Official statement on Suarez's ban

All Liverpool fans will be shocked and saddened to hear that the FA have found Luis Suarez guilty of the charges put against him. As of now he has been given an 8 game ban and a £40,000 fine. Liverpool will appeal the decision and I can say with some certainty that we have not heard the last of this story. I am not going to make much comment on this, judging by the comments i've read on Facebok and Twitter I would only be wasting my time as its at time like this that idiots are at their most vocal and whatever I say will be ripped apart. Instead I have just put the Official Liverpool FC Statement about the ruling below. This discloses a lot of facts which were until today unknown about the case, and may show that there may be plenty more to be disclosed over the coming weeks.

STATEMENT:

Liverpool Football Club is very surprised and disappointed with the decision of the Football Association Commission to find Luis Suarez guilty of the charges against him.

We look forward to the publication of the Commission's Judgment. We will study the detailed reasons of the Commission once they become available, but reserve our right to appeal or take any other course of action we feel appropriate with regards to this situation.

We find it extraordinary that Luis can be found guilty on the word of Patrice Evra alone when no-one else on the field of play - including Evra's own Manchester United teammates and all the match officials - heard the alleged conversation between the two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth while a corner kick was about to be taken.

The Club takes extremely seriously the fight against all forms of discrimination and has a long and successful track record in work relating to anti-racist activity and social inclusion. We remain committed to this ideal and equality for all, irrespective of a person's background.

LFC considers racism in any form to be unacceptable - without compromise. It is our strong held belief, having gone over the facts of the case, that Luis Suarez did not commit any racist act. It is also our opinion that the accusation by this particular player was not credible - certainly no more credible than his prior unfounded accusations.

It is key to note that Patrice Evra himself in his written statement in this case said 'I don't think that Luis Suarez is racist'. The FA in their opening remarks accepted that Luis Suarez was not racist.

Luis himself is of a mixed race family background as his grandfather was black. He has been personally involved since the 2010 World Cup in a charitable project which uses sport to encourage solidarity amongst people of different backgrounds with the central theme that the colour of a person's skin does not matter; they can all play together as a team.

He has played with black players and mixed with their families whilst with the Uruguay national side and was Captain at Ajax Amsterdam of a team with a proud multi-cultural profile, many of whom became good friends.

It seems incredible to us that a player of mixed heritage should be accused and found guilty in the way he has based on the evidence presented. We do not recognise the way in which Luis Suarez has been characterised.

It appears to us that the FA were determined to bring charges against Luis Suarez, even before interviewing him at the beginning of November. Nothing we have heard in the course of the hearing has changed our view that Luis Suarez is innocent of the charges brought against him and we will provide Luis with whatever support he now needs to clear his name.

We would also like to know when the FA intend to charge Patrice Evra with making abusive remarks to an opponent after he admitted himself in his evidence to insulting Luis Suarez in Spanish in the most objectionable of terms. Luis, to his credit, actually told the FA he had not heard the insult.

Liverpool 1 - 1 Man City (Talking Points)

Prior to the game I think most Liverpool fans would have been content with a draw in this one. Everyone knew the type of form that City have been in. They were unbeaten and yet to score less than 2 goals in any of their previous games in the Premier League. They had recently recorded an astonishing victory over the reigning Champions and their fierce neighbours and they were playing the kind of attacking football that had journalists and pundits searching for superlatives to describe them. Liverpool’s form had seemed to be improving too. Fresh from a strong victory over Chelsea we were hopeful and believed it might happen rather than full of confidence that it would. The game opened with City looking the stronger of the two teams. The game plan seemed to be to cede possession with confidence that we could repel their attacks. After soaking up some pressure we would hope to hit them on the break. Suarez looked a little isolated at times as the lone front man during this opening spell. Before the half hour mark we had began to gain better possession and looked to try to take control. Unfortunately it was about this time too, when Kompany rose with his shoulder to give City the lead. It never felt like disaster though and the players clearly had belief.  Parity was restored moments later from Charlie Adam, via a massive deflection off Former Everton player the eleph....   Jolean Lescott. The second half was very entertaining. Liverpool clearly felt they could win the game and played without much restraint. City went down to 10 men when Balotelli lived up to his reputation somewhat by being sent off. There were more chances for both teams, with Joe Hart taking off a couple of brilliant saves in the dying minutes to help earn his league chasing side a point. After the game, the pre match acceptance of a point gave way to a sense of frustration that we couldn’t win the game when overall I think our performance could easily have deserved more. Its times like this though that it’s important to look at the bigger picture. A draw against this City side is no poor result. And if we look at the context of the last 2 weeks 4 points from consecutive games against Chelsea and City is a decent return. We go into a decent run of winnable fixtures and in all honesty picking up 3 points in each of our next few games will mean more than this one result. In the last few years we have struggled when expected to win and flourished against the bigger teams. This season so far has been true to form, but we now have a very good chance to correct that. Next up is the quarter final of the Carling Cup away to Chelsea but that’s followed by Fulham, QPR, Villa, Wigan and Blackburn. If we maintain our standards each of these games is winnable, but after 3 high intensity contests it will be difficult to maintain the form. Its times like this when the form might drop off slightly, hopefully Steven Gerrard will be back in during this period, and this alone can help keep the players intensity high.

The Defence

Yet again Carra remained sat on the bench, and yet again it didn’t seem like we missed him too much at all. I think a lot of people are being a bit premature in writing off his Liverpool career but there certainly has been a change in his status as an automatic pick. People have been talking of the Skrtel and Agger combination as the future of Liverpool’s defence for a while now but we’ve never really had an extended chance to witness this due to Agger’s injuries and Skrtel’s form at times. Now though we are starting to see this fledgling partnership start to blossom and I think they look better in tandem that any other possible pairing in this position. There is no doubt that Carra will return to the starting line-up soon. Probably in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night, or if not the next time Dagger breaks down but when he does at least we know that we have promise for the future in this area of the park. Sebastian Coates has looked promising in his few appearances too so there is genuine cause for optimism in this area of the park.

Substitutions

I must admit I find myself getting quite frustrated during games when were pushing to win and Kenny seems to wait an age to make a substitution. Even more so when the substation comes and its not the one I was calling for. Of course the obvious question is why do I think I know better than Kenny on this front. When it comes to these changes it’s a lot more complicated than simply saying “well player a is playing shite so bring player b on and well get the winner”. There are a myriad of things which go into these decisions, form being just one. It depends on what the other team are doing, whether a player is an injury concern, how a players been doing in training etc. In this game again, when the substitution came it was after a sending off and made sense, it also helped us keep control of the game. Carroll even came very close to netting the elusive winner with a header close to the end of the game. I would like to have seen Maxi introduced at some point as Downing seemed to put in another sub –standard performance, but all in all I think the shape helped us keep control so as ever it seems Kenny was proved right.

Zonal Marking

I can’t let the opportunity pass to point out that Liverpool conceded a goal from a corner in this game, and I didn’t hear one commentator or read one journalist talking about our defensive tactic as blame for giving away the chance. Cast your mind back to when Rafa was in charge, everytime we conceded from a corner the “experts” were lining up to point to Zonal Marking as the reason for this. Completely ignoring the fact that we had a superb record in relation to defending corners during this period. I’m not pointing this out to try to explain the virtues of either Zonal or Man to Man marking on corners. I’m saying it more to point out the idiocy of said “experts”. On Saturday, contrary to the lack of criticism, you could see that Man to Man marking may very well have been to blame. Dirk and Glen both make a move in the same Zone because they are following either ball or man, they trip each other up which leaves Kompany unmarked to shoulder home. Neither style of defending corners is faultless and from time to time no matter how you defend you will concede from set pieces due to excellent delivery or fantastic execution, I just thought this was a decent opportunity to point this out.

How are our new signings performing so far?

With the end of the international break on us, and no games to report on this week, I thought this might be a good time to have a look at how our summer signings have been doing so far. The season has been patchy as so many new players try to become part of the team, and our coaching staff try to work our tactics to make best use of them. Its not gone all according to plan really for any of our summer signings but we have seen pieces of brilliance from each one of them with only Enrique and Downing so far failing to find the back of the net. I've included marks out of 10 for each player, because I thought this may be useful if doing follow up articles at the midway point and end of the season. it will be good to see who I feel has improved, or not as the case may be, as the season unfolds. As always this is just my opinion and I welcome any comments from any reader in the section below the article.

Charlie Adam

He has certainly shown signs that he can be a potent attacking threat. We have seen many of the qualities which we hoped we would see, he can play some magnificent long range passes, this has been very useful when trying to switch the play quickly from one wing to the other or when trying to build quick counter attacks. He has been very good in possession and hasn’t shown many signs of stress at making the step up to such a big club from Blackpool. Unfortunately, we have also seen some of the drawbacks to his game of which we were forewarned by supporters of his previous clubs. He doesn’t seem to be the best tackler and when trying not to allow his man to get past him he gives away a lot of needless free kicks. He also seems to drift out of games when it gets to around the 60 minute mark. I actually think this is more of an issue around his fitness and conditioning, he doesn’t look like a natural athlete and his stamina suggests he isn’t one either. Overall I think he has done well , and although giving away free kicks can be very frustrating, his efforts when taking our free kicks have been a joy. Be it a fiercly driven shot, a sublime curling placer or a good delivery into the box Charlie can provide them all perfectly. It will be interesting to see what kind of role Kenny deems him worthy of when Steven Gerrard is fully fit. I see him as understudy to Stevie who can offer an alternative tactically as the 3rd man in a 3 man midfield but right now I don’t think he is a definite member of our strongest 11.

7/10

Jordan Henderson

Hendo is what he is, a youngster still learning his trade, albeit a youngster with a very hefty price tag around his neck. He certainly hasn’t done much wrong, but he hasn’t shown an awful lot to justify his price tag either. He has shown that he is capable of producing brilliance, particularly in the Bolton game when he scored a great goal and played some beautiful passes too. I just don’t think he brings an awful lot to the sideright now, certainly not as much as the more experienced and industrious Kuyt, or the more classy Maxi.  I certainly don’t think it harms us to have him in the team, as long as we appreciate what he is, a young inexperience player. Unfortunately a lot of our fans have fallen into this trap of writing him off already. When the results were briefly going against us he became a bit of a whipping boy to certain sections. Ridiculously, he has even been jeered by sections of the Anfield faithful. When judging Hendo I think everyone just needs to have a little perspective. The price-tag has much more to do with what he will become, than it does to what he is right now. Perhaps Kenny's faith is what is causing people to make harsh judgements, but you need to remember that he needs experience. He is not going to start every game (as evidenced by the game at Goodison) but when he is in the team he needs to be cut a bit of slack and be allowed to grow. As is true for nearly all players at his level of development, inconsistency will just have to be accepted until he matures. I have certainly seen enough to convince me that he can become an important player.  For now I think he should also be an understudy but Kenny can see something in him which has earned his trust

6/10

Stewart Downing

Another player who has shown bits of what he is capable but is yet to truly announce his arrival. He started off very brightly in the first few games, his performances improving simultaneous to the whole teams, but when the team hit a bad patch so did his form. He still looks fit and offers quality which no-one else can right now, genuine natural width and pace on the flanks. He has been useful as an outlet too as he always seems to be available for a pass when needed.I feel he is one where those who welcomed his arrival will be satisfied with what they’ve seen, but the doubters will not have seen much to change their minds as yet. It has been so long since Liverpool have had a natural winger, that by virtue of him being that I think his place in the team has been justified. There certainly arent many wingers i can think of in the premiership who match his level of experience in the league. Its important to remember too that his position on the left, is not being backed up by a veteran of the team, his main support comes from another newbie and as their partnership grows, each of their performances will surely improve.   I certainly think ive seen enough to justify his starting place right now and assure me that he will be a big success through the rest of the season. Andy Carroll too seems to be coming into better form and this can only help Downing.

6/10

Jose Enrique

Probably the most impressive summer signing has been the arrival from Newcastle, Jose Enrique. Different from the others, he has arrived without the burden of a big price. I think this has helped him in settling in so quickly. In his first game he kept his game simple and made defending his priority, rarely carrying the ball past the halfway line or overlapping Downing on the wing. In subsequent games he has shown more of his attacking ability, without ever compromising his defensive stability. Its been refreshing and exciting. Himself and Downing are still getting used to how each other plays and I feel that each of their performances will grow at the same time. Already as a change from last season, and seasons before most of our attacking play seems to come down the left hand side. . I think once Glen Johnson returns to the team this will change and we might begin to use the right flank as frequently as the left but until then, it seems that our left side is more of a potent weapon than it has been for many years. From starting last season with a very poor left back, with  an experienced and very classy but also very fragile substitue. We now have a very classy and exciting left back, with the same experienced and fragile player in reserve along with an impressively improving young player. The form shown by Enrique so far means he is definitely a member of our strongest 11, and in my eyes one of the top 4 left backs in England.

8/10

Craig Bellamy

Its a bit to early to make a major judgement on Beller's return to L4. The fact that he was a free transfer means that it really is a no lose situation for us. If it were not to work out we couldnt really have many complaints, but the early signs are that he is going to give everything to make a success of his second spell in red. He was impressive in his (second) first start, showing the pace, drive and tenacity we have come to expect. And adding a fine finish to get his (second) debut goal out of the way. His introduction at Goodison Park also seemed to give the team some much needed impetus and he was very much involved in the build up to Carroll's opening goal of the game. He can perform in pretty much any of the positions accross the front and so gives us options as well as putting a number of people under pressure for their place in the side simultaniously. He may not necesarily be a member of our strongest 11 on paper, but for different opponents when variable tactics are required he is very much part of the 11.

Too early to give a rating

Arsenal 0 - 2 Liverpool (Talking Points)

On Saturday we achieved our first win of the 2011/12, we also simultaneously won our first away fixture against Arsenal in almost 11 years. Suarez was dropped to the bench for this fixture, along with John Flanagan, who made way for Dirk Kuyt and Martin Kelly respectively. Arsenal were clearly under strength, between injuries and high profile departures, they were not at their strongest. This was still Arsenal though, and through the game they looked pretty strong at times. Liverpool looked strong too and for the first time in as long as can remember we dominated possession against Arsenal. We were a little fortunate in that the first goal was a pretty calamitous own goal from Arsenal, but i don’t think many people would deny that Liverpool were worthy winners on the day. Certainly there were no question marks over the quality of our second goal.

A Lucky Victory

A lot of people have been writing this victory off as nothing more than a “lucky” victory. From fans of other clubs this is no more than we’ve grown to expect, but I have hear it said by a lot of Liverpool fans too, which is surprising. There are a number of things people point to back up this “lucky” theory. Firstly, the early injury to Koscielny, well this is just one of those things really isn’t it? In this very fixture last season we had to start with John Flanagan (still in his first few appearances) at Right Back, he was quickly joined by Jack Robinson on at Left back when Fabio Aurelio succumbed to his usual fate. I don’t remember Liverpool being given extra credit for achieving a draw in that game and so similarly I don’t think Arsenal’s injury issue should take anything away from this victory. Secondly the sending off of Frimpong. The only thing lucky for Liverpool about this sending off was that the tackle which lead to his second yellow card didn’t also lead to Lucas being seriously injured! That tackle on its own could very well have resulted in a straight red card, and I’m sorry but Frimpong had been at it all game. He really does look like an outstanding player and I’m sure it was not malicious, most likely nothing more than youthful naivety, but from the first few minutes he was throwing himself into tackles, having niggles and moans at the referee and opposition players so it seemed it could happen that he receive a second yellow at some point, if his manager chose not to take him off having seen all this then I don’t think that is as much down to our good fortune as it is the player or manager themselves. Finally, we come to the Own Goal and Offside. I wont for one minute try to deny that the OG was good fortune. The offside may have been fortunate too, but it was an incredibly difficult call, the kind of one where if its given against you moan, no matter which team you support. My problem with the own goal being used as fuel for the “lucky” win theory is that this wasn’t the type of OG where a defender tries a hopeful punt back to his keeper only for the keeper to fall and allow it in. This was a crisp passing move where Liverpool forced the ball into a very dangerous position which left a young defender in trouble in a crowded penalty area, he tried to clear through the bodies and it took a wicked deflection over the, here-to unbeatable Szezesny. It was a fortunate outcome but it was forced too.

The Squad

Liverpool started this game with the strongest bench I can remember for a while. Doni, Skrtel, Flanagan, Spearing, Maxi, Meireles, Suarez. The bench had natural cover all over the pitch. It contained some experienced players and it also contained some game changers. Of course Suarez would be everbody’s starting 11 whenever fit, but it showed something new to us that even with these players on the pitch we had a very strong starting 11 on the pitch, a starting 11 which you would back against the majority of premiership teams. Lets not forget that we still have Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Fabio Aurelio, and although it seems nailed on that he will leave soon Alberto Aquilani, in reserve. I would still like us to improve in certain area’s a centre back seems to be lined up by the club and I personally feel we need a back-up striker, but the squad is certainly taking shape and looking stronger than in recent seasons.

The Big Man up Top

Are certain people under some contractual obligation to mention Andy Carroll’s fee every time they mention his name? “Was that worth £35 million?” is the usual refrain, the only way to stop this question being asked is for everyone of Andy Carroll’s touches to be a header into the top corner, or to score a 25 yard screamer with every shot. I understand that Andy Carroll is by no means the finished product and I understand that his price tag seems to reflect that of a player who is very much the finished product, but lets keep things in perspective and not write him off after every poor touch or every goal-less game. I personally think he is doing ok overall. He came into the team last season when clearly not fit and scored a few good goals to get him off the mark. He has done well in getting a full pre-season under his belt, and although he is not at 100% fitness at this early point in the season, neither are most of our players. The team has a set up now which will naturally lead to getting more out of Andy. We can see that our wingers have been told to hit him when in possession out wide. The problem at the moment seems to be too many balls into his head, don’t get me wrong I know the wingers are mostly going to hit his head, and while on the subject I think it’s pretty incredible how many crosses he actually gets his head to, I know these haven’t lead to goals in the first two games but once it all starts clicking it should prove very productive. When I say the problem is too many balls into his head I mean more-so from midfield and defence. When under pressure or when rushing to start a move its an easy option to just lump it, but this ignores the fact that Andy is strong in possession and a lot of the time it would be preferable to see the ball played to him to hold-up, wait for support, lay-off and go. This hasn’t been happening too much so far but I’m sure it will come as the players get more used to playing with him, and of course he with them.

First Game, First Blog

The season is at last upon us and Liverpool kick off the 20011/12 Premier League season at Anfield against Sunderland at the traditional, but rare for us in recent seasons, fixture time of 3:00 on Saturday. The excitement has been building ever since Kenny Dalglish returned as Liverpool manager, and the liberation of the club by John Henry and Fenway Sports Group. The upturn in fortunes last season saved us from our horrible plight, and brought the positivity back to our minds, so much so that defeats in our final two games of the season, and the loss of our League title record didn’t dampen scouse spirits. We have had a very busy summer, a summer in which our new owners have fully backed our manager and director of football and brought in players which every Liverpool fan can get excited about. With a few weeks of the transfer window remaining we have most certainly improved the first team and overall squad. We have brought in Henderson and Adam to strengthen the Midfield, both are versatile and strong players, both are ready to play football but neither will feel they have an automatic right to a first team place and will be prepared to fight for their place in the team. Stuart Downing has come in as a specialist left winger, for me, this is the most exciting of our summer transfers so far. Its the first time we have had a specialist left winger at the club in a long time, I am purposely ignoring loathsome Albert Riera here.

There is still some work to be done. We all know there are players that we would like to see moved on from the club, of the expensive rejects still on the books at the start of the summer only Milan Jovanovic has so far been moved on from the club. It looks like more will be moved on before the close of the transfer window, the likes of Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani are constantly linked with moves. It seems as though there wont be much incoming until some more players have been moved on. Regardless of transfer fees it seems the wage bill will need to be reduced before more can be added.

The question marks now are about how we are going to line up for the first game of the season. Pre-season has been a bit patchy, between players returning to training at different times and other players recovering from injury we have not really had a chance to see what Kenny’s first choice line-up will be. That’s not to say that I think he is some sort of tactical dinosaur who will pick his team based on the famed “best eleven” that Andy Gray and his ilk like to spout shite about, quite the opposite in fact, I think the main thing the summer signings have given us is plenty of options. Two of the most important absentees from pre-season have been two of our most important players. Steven Gerrard has been injured and although we recently received good news with regard to him it still appears it will be September before he makes his campaign debut. Luis Suarez in contrast played football through most of the summer, he won the Copa America with Uruguay, at the same time winning player of the year and top scorer for the competition. Suarez returned to training on Monday, and should be available to play some part on Saturday. Reina, Merieles and Skrtel all had disrupted pre-seasons too. So what we have seen in pre-season cant really be a strong indicator of where we are. Saturday will give us a much better picture of whats to come. Sunderland will be a difficult game but it is definitely a game we should be aiming to win, and, if we do get off to a good start we could hope to go on a nice run at the start of the season which could lead to a strong season overall.

Dont Forget to join The Red Article's Fantasy premier League. You can find the League code on my previous post.

A promising start to Transfer Season

We are only a couple of weeks into transfer season and already it is one of the most exciting I have ever experienced. As was the case during the FSG’s only previous transfer window, they have gone about their business in a manner befitting the clubs history and traditions by keeping their cards close to their chest and acting swiftly to ensure they captured their first priority at a price they deemed agreeable. Their first priority of course was Jordan Henderson, the England U-21 player signed from Sunderland for a fee in the region of €20 million. One transfer attempt which did leak was our bid for Phil Jones from Blackburn Rovers, another star for England U-21’s, this time a Centre Back. At the same time as signing Henderson, it was widely being reported that we were very close to capturing Jones’ signature, as the day wore on though it became apparent that Man Utd had also tabled a bid which had been accepted by Blackburn, and not only that, Jones was actually in Manchester completing a medical and discussing Personal Terms. It seemed we had been pipped at the post and that Jones to Utd was now a formality. It was strange however that such a formality did not seem to be being completed. The reasons for this became clear last night (11/0/2011) when the Guardian reported that a spanner had been thrown in the works by Liverpool attempting to gazump the deal by placing another bid of £22M for the player. This resulted in Rovers’ owners (Venky’s) calling a halt to the deal with Utd as they attempted to start a bidding war between the two neighbouring cities. At the moment there is a bit of a stalemate going on, it has been revealed that there is a clause in Jones’ contract which states that any club which bids more than £16M for the player is allowed to speak directly to him to discuss personal terms, It seems that the Utd hierarchy interpret this as a transfer clause, whereas Rovers’ Chiefs say that they are not obliged to accept the offer and can accept a larger off if available. Liverpool’s second offer, while obviously has a main objective of signing the player, has some further intentions too. It shows that for the first time in a long time, we are credible contenders for the best available players. It also proves that for the first time, maybe since Greame Souness sat in the hot seat, Liverpool can genuinely contend with Man Utd with regard to value in the transfer market. I personally think that after a bit of wrangling Jones will still end up a Man Utd player, he has already made his decision it seems, but isn’t it refreshing to see our great club showing Utd that no longer will they have it their own way. We might even cause them to spend an extra €7 million on a player they thought they had sewn up days ago. This could also be a tactic to ensure they have less cash should we go head to head on another target down the road. Wherever Jones ends up now, the manner in which our club have handled this transfer has given Liverpool supporters further cause for optimism as the window continues.

Damien Comolli spoke during the week about our targets going forward, saying there would definitely be more signings and that they would most likely be from within England stating "If a player is English, or British or has played in the Premier League, we'll look at that over someone abroad” This would be in-line with the players we have been linked with over the past 2 weeks, I’m sure you have heard most of the names by now, Downing, Adam, Wickham, Dann, all players who could add something to our squad. They may not be the exciting continentals that get fans pulses rating but they are all proven quality in England and could settle into the side with the minimum amount of adjustment required. I won’t go in depth with regard to any of the players until they are, if they are, signed but I am pleased with all of these names, in particular Wickham the exciting young goal scorer from Ipswich who fits perfectly with our current policy of signing the best young British talent available. The policy which Comolli has spoken of is easy to understand in that we will be signing players who don’t need as much time to adjust to life in Liverpool and the English culture, but I do hope this doesn’t mean we will forsake exceptional talent from abroad. Players we have been linked to recently, in particular Juan Mata from Valencia are true quality players with the ability to lift any team, and while I certainly will back Comolli and Dalglish’s choices I hope we are still considering every option available.

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On another note, thanks to everyone who voted for The Red Article’s player of the year. I don’t think it will come as much of a surprise that Lucas Leiva has won by a large amount picking up 47% of the votes. As we continue to sign midfielders lets hope Lucas can continue his rate of improvement and cement his place in the side again next season.

The Red Article - Player of the Season Poll

The end of a crazy season has come. I don’t want to keep treading over the same old ground, everybody knows how desperate things became under Hodgson when it became more likely you would hear a Liverpool fan talking of relegation battles instead of Champions League qualification. Of course, that’s not to mention the ownership situation which almost strangled this great football club to death. Both issues were resolved during the season which lead to a strong recovery. That recovery however, ultimately ended fruitlessly when losses in the two decisive, and final, games of the season put paid to our hopes of European football for next season. The impact of failure to qualify for the Europa League has effected Liverpool fans in different ways. Some find it a relief, some a disappointment, but regardless of how you feel the fact is we will not be playing in Europe next season and though it may be a major step backwards Liverpool fans are very optimistic about next season. This optimism is based on a few factors, the afore mentioned change of ownership, the return of King Kenny to the Anfield hotseat, the return to quick and offensive football. But another reason has been the Players. By which I mean the improvement of many previously underrated players, the maturing of some younger players and some high profile new additions.

That is the point of this article, to acknowledge the outstanding performers in the squad throughout the 2010/2011 season. These kind of decisions often split opinions, not everyone will agree on the number one so instead of just putting up my pick for best player of the season, i thought it would be best to pick my top 5 players of the season and then put it up to a vote for all The Red Article readers to vote on. So here are the options in no particular order.

LUCAS LEIVA

Lucas has been Mr. Consitency this season and has already been named the official Liverpool FC player of the year, as well as being revealed as the choice of Steven Gerrard. According to official statistics Lucas completed more tackles than any other premiership player this season. Lucas has been much maligned since coming to Liverpool, ridiculed by most although now of course those who slagged him off will swear blind they always thought he was a great player and never gave him stick. He is the unspectacular but always dependable player every team needs, and boy, didn’t he show everyone this year!

DIRK KUYT

Another player who has split opinions a lot during his time in Liverpool, Dirk also converted a number of non-believers this season. He looked lost at times under Roy, then again who didn’t, but since Kenny has returned, accompanied by a more intense pressing game, Dirk’s form returned to its previous levels too. For a time when Carroll was injured and Suarez was acclimatising Dirk lead the line imperiously. He also forged a formidable partnership with Suarez, which culminated in an unforgettable hat-trick against Man U.

MARTIN KELLY

Young Martin Kelly was one of the very few outstanding performers under Roy Hodgson. I mentioned at one point in the season that every time i did a “positives and negatives” article Martin Kelly was mentioned as a positive. At first this was down to encouraging performances from a youngster but increasingly due to him being a standout performer in a struggling side. Kenny believed in him so much that he moved Glen Johnson to the left back position to accommodate him. Strong defensively and exciting going forward he gave Liverpool fans some great excitement throughout the year. His season was unfortunately cut short by injury but there is no doubt that this youngster will go on to cement a place in the side.

RAUL MEIRELES

The one lasting legacy of Roy Hodgson’s reign has been, and will be Raul. We are still to find his strongest position but he has performed very well in a number of positions. Deep Midfield under Roy, Attacking midfield under Kenny, and a few games at right midfield under both. He plays intelligent football and is very much a Liverpool type of player. Everyone will remember his purple patch in the early Kenny days as when they took full notice of him, but he has done more for the team throughout the season than just his goals. He has been, and to a certain degree, still is acclimatising to football in the premiership. If he’s this good now, he can only improve next year!

LUIS SUAREZ

When FT’s departure from Liverpool was announced, most Liverpool fans just couldn’t imagine when we would have another player of his type. It seemed like dark days were ahead. That was until Suarez made his debut, he wasn’t quite there yet, but even in a short cameo we could see that we had reasons to be optimistic. Although he was only with us for half the season his performances were so exhilarating and exciting that it helped Liverpool fans believe again, and for this alone he deserves to be considered for this award.

So there you have it. 5 choices, as well as the option of “Other” for those who don’t agree with the 5 I have laid out here. The Poll is located in the top right corner of this page.

Please everybody vote as it is the only way we can pick an outright winner.

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All votes will be counted!