News, Roundup, Preview

Well finally we are at the end of the International break and our league campaign continues this Saturday at 3pm when we take on West Brom away from home. If there is one welcome aspect of being out of Europe it is the return to the traditional league fixture time of Saturday 3pm which is not possible when you have played a game on the Thursday previous. While we have had recent disappointments like the afore mentioned European exit, we went into the international break in decent league form where only a defeat against the much improved West Ham punctuates our improving record. Our form over the last 7 games reads as follows W W W D L W W, our last 2 league wins were delivered with style and left us with a promise of more to come. It was said by many that the international break could only halt our progress but hopefully with some players returning to fitness, while others were in need of a rest it could serve to help us as we hit the run in. Andy Carroll has shown in recent games that he is short on match fitness so his run out, and goal, for England should help him as he acclimatises to life at Anfield while Dirk Kuyt has continued his impressive goal scoring form or recent weeks by bagging 3 for Holland over 2 games. Gerrard and Suarez were not available for International duty due to injuries of varying severity but the break means they haven’t missed any extra games for the reds. Lucas was quite impressive for Brazil in their friendly against Scotland where it seemed that a lot of their play goes through him. He even received one or two compliments from the match commentators which was a surprise! Danny Wilson also got some minutes in this game. Skrtel, Agger, Johnson, Poulson and Meireles also appeared for their national sides and each of them came through their encounters unscathed.

There has also been some news over the week, such as Ian Ayre being given the Managing Directors job at the club. Ian has been nothing but a success since being installed as Commercial Director and he was the one trust worthy voice at the club under the previous regime. He is a true red and is a local lad, Liverpool fans should be happy to have someone trusted in such an important position in the club, it brings a stability and is the final piece of the backroom picture. Once Kenny’s contract is agreed and official we will be 100% stable it seems that everything is now in place to make this summer one of heavy action! One player who won’t be involved in any summer transfer activity is Lucas Leiva who today agreed a new contract. Lucas took a while to convince most of his merits but he has finally been getting deserved recognition. Many are still to be convinced by him, I think this is mostly due to a prejudicial view of how Brazilians should play, but to me this is great news. At 24 his best years are ahead of him and i am glad to say his best days will be played in red! The only other news really is that it seems Juventus will not be able to afford the pre-agreed transfer fee to make Alberto Aquilani’s loan deal permanent. I would love to see Aqua return as i am sure he can be a success in the premiership if he is injury free and given a decent chance. His time at Juve has been a big success so i am keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

So back to Saturday and the game against West Brom at the Hawthorns. This game is of course also significant as it is Roy Hodgson’s first return to Liverpool since he was sacked in January. I don’t think i need to mark out my feelings about Roy another time, suffice to say I wish him well at his new club. In fact i will go so far as to say that i am sure he will do a decent job at West Brom, a club which is at a perfect level to match Roy’s skill set. Steven Gerrard has confirmed he is back in contention for this game, so that leaves us with a pretty strong panel to select from with only Martin Kelly and Jonjo Shelvey unavailable.

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Is this the next generation of Liverpool Heroes?

With the news that Kenny Dalglish has called 5 youth players into the squad for the trip to play Sparta Prague in the Europa League I thought i would do an article on the players in question. Just a little background info on each of them, and a picture so you will recognise them if they end up getting a run on Thursday. Not every prospect makes it but the Europa League can be a good place to get experience and make a name for yourself in the first team..... Just ask Martin Kelly!

First Name - Conor

Surname - Coady

Squad Number - 35

Position - Central Defender

D.O.B. - 25 Feb 1993

Town of Birth - Liverpool

Nationality - English

Conor Coady: Coady played a key role and was captain of England’s Under 17 side that were victorious at the European Championships in 2010. This was England’s first ever triumph at the Championships. He is equally adept at playing either Centre Back or in Holding Midfield, starting mostly for Liverpool U18’s at Centre Back and in Holding Midfield when wearing white. His reputation for England is that of a midfield enforcer who breaks up attacks and starts his own team’s movements. This year he has moved into the senior set-up at Anfield and made his mark in the reserves when helping the second string to a senior cup double in the summer. A composed figure in possession, Coady is also regarded as a player with great leadership skills. I have heard him described as being similar to Carra in tenacity while similar to Stevie G in touch.

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First Name - John

Surname - Flanagan

Squad Number - 38

Position - Right Back

D.O.B. - 1 Jan 1993

Town of Birth - Liverpool

Nationality - English

John Flanagan: Flanagan starred for the U18’s last year and made the step up to the reserve team this season. He is a tough tackling full-back who doesn’t just like to tackle he loves it. He is a fully committed player with a never say die attitude but he also has a good touch and great attacking instincts, getting forward to deliver good crosses into the box whenever an opportunity arises. He is a strong reader of the game which enables him to take up great defensive positions, he also shows an impressive maturity rarely giving away silly free-kicks. If comparing his style of play to a current star, he would be most closely linked with Carra, a player who it’s said that he models his game on.

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First Name - Jack

Surname - Robinson

Squad Number - 49

Position - Defender

Height - 1.68m

D.O.B. - 1 Sep 1993

Country of Birth - England

Jack Robinson: Robinson became the youngest player to ever feature for Liverpool’s first team when he made a substitute appearance against Hull City in what proved to be Rafa Benitez’s last game as Liverpool manager, he was aged 16 years and 250 days and broke a record previously held by Max Thompson since 1974. Jack is an attacking full back who is said to be quite fond of producing thunderous challenges. Jamie Carragher recently said this of Robinson “"I've heard a lot of positive things about him. I wasn't even in the youth team when I first went full-time and he was a regular at 15 so it shows you he has something about him."

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First Name - Raheem

Surname - Sterling

Squad Number - 31

D.O.B. - 8 Dec 1994

Country of Birth - Kingston, Jamaica

Nationality - English

Raheem Sterling: Sterling is the most intriguing of all the call up’s for this European game. Aged 16 years and 71 days, if he were to make an appearance he would break Jack Robinsons record. As recently as Monday Sterling scored 5 goals in a 9-0 rout of Southend, a scoring record more noteable for the fact that he is not a striker and scored all 5 from the wing. He is a talented winger in the traditional mould with a reputation for pace and flair. It sounds a bit too early to be making such comparisons and this could have something to do with his Jamaican roots but his play is said to be reminiscent of John Barnes. If that statement turns out to be half true we are going to have some player on our hands!

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First Name - Thomas

Surname - Ince

Squad Number - 45

Position - Left Midfield

D.O.B. - 30 Jan 1992

Town of Birth - Stockport

Country of Birth - England

Nationality - English

Thomas Ince: Son of famous Liverpool captain Paul, Tom has been tipped for stardom for a long time even though he is still only 19. Ince can play left wing but he has also looked excellent playing just behind the striker in the Gerrard / Meireles role. In november he went on loan to his fathers Notts County team on a short term loan and scored 2 goals in his 6 appearances.

Preview: Birmingham City V Liverpool FC

Birmingham City F.C V Liverpool F.C

St. Andrews

Sunday 12th September 2010

Following a succesful International break for Ireland the Premer League action resumes this weekend. Liverpool travel to St. Andrews to play Birmingham City. In our last game we ran out 1-0 winners against West Brom thanks to a typically brilliant Fernando Torres strike. This should give the lads confidence going into what could be a tricky tie.

Last season Birmingham frustrated the Red Men on both occasions were we met them, holding us to a 2-2 draw at Anfield, and a 1-1 draw at St. Andrews. Birmingham went on to finish in 9th place in the table at the end of the season in what was a very good season for Alex McLeish's men.

For this season Birmingham have added a few players the pick of which being Alexandr Hleb, Matt Derbyshire and Ben Foster and this promises to be a difficult tie for Liverpool.

Following the international break Liverpool have been struck by a few injuries to key players as usual. This time its Dirk Kuyt and David Ngog. Kuyt will be out for the next 4 weeks at least although Ngog has a chance of being fit for this game. Aurelio is also injured (seriously, can he not stay fit for more than 2 weeks at a time) and Joe Cole is still serving his suspension. On the plus side Meireles is in line to make his debut which should excite all reds fans and players alike.

If we are being realistic we would have to look at this game and think that a draw would be a decent result, however following a difficult start to the season and considering we are travelling to Old Trafford next week a win would be very beneficial, to build confidence and momentum. I think its not too much to hope for a win but bare in mind that a draw would not be disaster. I am also hoping for an improved performance now that we have gotten our first win of the season under our belts, Meireles inclusion should help us with regard to attacking impetus and getting the ball from defence to attack more quickly. I am also interested to see whether Roy chooses to go with Lucas or Poulson in this game as both players are rested and in decent form it should be a good indication of which player he prefers right now.

BETS: This week for my bets I am going to go for a 2-0 nil win and Torres to score first.