Liverpool v Fulham - (Preview & Prediction)

We've had a really good start to the season.  So good in fact that a defeat away from home against the league leaders had been greeted with huge disappointment because it seems to signal that we are not the title challengers we had convinced ourselves we were. Personally, I'm not so worried about the result but I must be honest and say the performance did leave me a little bit cold.

Our target at the beginning of the season was Champions League qualification, this is still the case. If at any stage during the season we seem to be on course to achieve more than that it can only be a bonus but our base target is top four and the result against Arsenal did not unduly damage our progress on that front.

In order to achieve top four it is essential that we win the games against the teams we are expected to beat and the game this weekend against Fulham is a prime example of this. A lot of people are taking it as a given that we will win comfortably and of course that's understandable because of the poor showing from Fulham so far this season, but I always fear teams a little bit more when they are at a particularly low ebb. This is mainly because results tend to improve eventually with the downward trajectory halted, it's our job to make sure any improvement doesn't come against us.

Having said that.... Fulham are a week side and on paper seem the ideal game for us following last week’s defeat. Individually they have some real talent in their squad.  They have some pretty decent game changers in their side even if they are yet to turn them into a team who can consistently perform.  In their last game against Utd they were truly awful in the first half and any improvement they showed in the second half was caveat-ed by the fact that Utd’s intensity dropped off a little with the game more a less won, they began keeping one eye on their big European game to come.

As for us, the only truly poor results we have had so far have come against teams with real quality who were bang in form. That's not a phrase that can be used to describe The Cottagers. We have some question marks around our line up.  Controversial as it may seem I would be happy to see Stevie rested for this one with Joe Allen finally getting a chance to show what he can offer. I’m not fond of Stevie playing as defensive midfielder in the first place, but he has also looked tired recently and a particularly poor showing from him last weekend should trigger a period of rest for our captain. I dont believe this will happen, but I would be happier if it did. Obviously if Johnno is fit again it may influence the set up drastically.  I think our 3-5-2 last week looked tepid in his absence even though Flanno's individual performance was decent.  Johnno is tailor made for the attacking requirements of the formation however we don't have any other player who can match his levels. If Johnno is still out we may consider going back to basics formation wise. Coutinho is in line to come back into the first 11 and a game against Fulham would seem ideal for him to get some good game time under his belt.  It will take him time to get back to top gear but the only way to do it is with minutes on the pitch. With the Goodison Derby coming up and a rough run of fixtures following on it’s tail, we really need to get him back firing on all cylinders ASAP. Even though Cissokho's performance last week was very poor I think he will continue on the left hand side of defense regardless of formation mainly due to Enrique’s continued absence.

All things considered, we have no reason to doubt our quality at the moment. Our strikers may have drawn a blank last week but they will truly relish this match up. We’ll need to be switched on to ensure there are no scares from their danger-men but overall I think we will prove to be to strong for Fulham in all areas of the park.  If we can get a goal early enough to settle the nerves of players and fans we could really push on and win by a decent margin. 

I’m going to predict a scoreline of 3-0 to the Red men for this one.

Swansea 2 - 2 Liverpool (Talking Points)

The Fourth game of the season saw Liverpool lose their 100% start to the season as we drew away from home against a dangerous Swansea side. But we did hang on to our unbeaten run. The result saw the reds return to the top of the table, a position few would have expected us to occupy as the season moves into the end of September. The result wasn't as impressive as some we have achieved this season but it is most certainty a respectable result and it was also a point which may prove valuable when you consider end of the game and the real possibility of walking away empty handed.

Sturridge

There's not much left to say about him, we have all seen he is an excellent striker by this stage, and more. We've seen him score every league game so far this season with different types of goal in the set so I won't go on about the finish but I can't not mention his anticipation for this goal. He recognised that Shelvey was in trouble before the man himself did and it was this that got him in the position to score because the failed back pass itself wasn't so dangerous without the movement and anticipation from Sturridge.

Sakho

Bit of a shaky start from of marquee summer signing. It didn't strike me as anything to concerning though and just looked like a man playing his first game for a while on a new league. He certainly did well in his aerial duels which was encouraging. He definitely grew into the game second half and his passing was confident and of excellent quality. It could also be that due to Aggers injury and Kolo's recovery he was thrown in a little earlier than planned. Swansea seems like a particularly difficult game for a central defender to their surroundings. Their passing and attacking game will make life difficulty for many defenders throughout the season. It may have been more straight forward for him to spend his debut dealing with long aerial balls but this game will at least have given him good experience

Phil

The little Brazilian got kicked off the park for most of the game and finally succumbed to a rotten challenge from Ashley Williams. It seemed that as he left the pitch our ability to control the ball for any length of time went with him. It was one of them games where he didn't do much you would consider exceptional but everything he did was good and helped us keep possession. It's a pity that his injury seems to require surgery. We're certainly a stronger team when he is on the pitch.

The Pessimism

Already after the game you’ve probably already heard a few whoppers giving the same old crap they always do after a performance which dips anyway below stelar. In fairness you would have to be completely blinkered to not have noticed some of our deficiencies in this game, but the simple fact is we took it on the chin and managed to pull out the draw, the draw which we needed to get back on top of the league. In fairness, there have been too many occasions in the past few years where it has been hard to find positives anywhere, so lets all make a pact to just enjoy this period eh. In kicking off a new campaign.... “Say No to Pessimism”

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Liverpool 1 - 0 Man Utd (Talking Points)

Following the 120 minute victory over Notts County in the week, and the injuries incurred in securing it, there were real concerns for Liverpool going into the big one against Utd. Liverpool had been in some strong form of course but this was a different test. The old enemy who had a new old enemy in charge. The fact that they are defending champions and other platitudes/insults (Delete as appropriate) combined to make this the biggest test we had faced so far this season. With an acknowledging nod to symmetry Daniel Sturridge scored again to record Liverpool's third 1-0 victory of the season out of three and send Reds all across the world bouncing. It may be early days but heaven knows its been a while since we felt we might actually be getting somewhere so let's just enjoy this on. We've got the light entertainment that is  international football now before the real football starts again so there is plenty of time to simply bask in this victory before the next challenge

Sturridge

He just keeps scoring. A proper poachers goal this time as he got he deftest glance to guide Daggers on target effort past the defender on the line. I still dont think he is 100 % fit,  he seems to tire at the end of games and footage of him feeling his groin during the warm up had all telly watching reds to panicking but for certain while he is in this form he will be very hard to rest.

Hendo

He just seems to keep improving and he is a offering a fight and aggression which seems essential to how we are playing at the moment, for me he is now one of the first names on team sheet particularly for these big games. Its not just his battling quality though he is showing week on week that his fight is aligned with no little quality on the ball. Lung bursting runs and never giving up on a ball are not all that is required of a footballer but Wayne Rooney seems to be getting on fine even though thats all he has offered for a couple of years now. I really feel this is going to be a landmark year for Jordan as he improves his ball retention skills. He seems less panicked when going in on goal too and although he has missed some chances already this season I can see him getting 8-10 league goals if he retains his place in the side.

Skrtel

Included in the line-up through necessity rather than choice he did everything he could to convince the manager he still has a part to play in this revival. He was awarded man of the match and kept the increasingly frustrated figure of Van Persie quiet for best part of the afternoon only allowing him one half chance at the death.  He would have felt the eyes of two newly recruited centre halves on him from the stands but he kept his mind on the job at hand and performed excellently.  He has shown he can offer defensive qualities which seem to escape Daniel Agger and although it may not be enough to salvage his Liverpool career it wouldn't be the first time BR had done a turn about on a player. If not and if he were to leave before Monday's deadline well he couldn't have left a better parting gift, and he can take solace from the fact that most players don't ever get the opportunity to say goodbye.

The future

We have shown some really good qualities so far and this is of course encouraging but I honestly don't think we have hit 100% iust yet and that to me is the most encouraging thing of all. With the new additions to come in before Monday to improve the squad it has to be said things are looking up, Sakho and Moses are both players who have lost their places in their respective sides’ first teams due to expensive purchases rather than form. Ilori is a young centre half who has good experience in a tough European league. Obviously we must bare in mind that not all players can settle immediately, and also acknowledge that even the best managers generally have about a 50% success rate in the transfer market, but with the team in good form they may be allowed room to breath before being thrown in and this may help them acclimatise.

We have hit the heights at times but it still feels like there is more to come and that is very exciting. Its way too early to be re-considering our pre-season ambition of a top-four challenge but there is no denying, as Rafa might say, “We are in a good moment”

Long may it Coutinho…..

Should Agger and Toure start the Season as 1st choice Centre Halves?

Recently I've been asked to submit a weekly post to www.tomkinstimes.com weekly symposium. The format is that a question is sent out once a week to symposium members who each submit their response to be published on the website created and run by renowned author, blogger and liverpoolfc.tv columnist Paul Tomkins. I will post my symposium posts on The Red Article one day after they appear on The Tomkins Times, this is because TTT is a subscription only website so I need to ensure they have exclusivity on what I provide in the first place.

If you enjoy this you should check out www.tomkinstimes.com it is a fantastic website which boasts an excellent selection of members who participate in some excellent well rounded discussions on all things LFC. Plenty of the content on there is available for free so you can see if you like it before considering getting a subscription.

Anyway, this week's question was:

Should Agger and Toure start the season as 1st choice Centre Halves?

Although Kolo has been signed as a direct replacement for the retiring Jamie Carragher, I don’t think this should mean that he automatically fills the starting position Carragher held for the second half of last season.

In my eyes he has been bought as an option and should therefore need to earn a starting berth in the same way any of our defenders should. It seems that there is little doubt Agger will start the season as the first choice so the real question is who will partner him. As things stand we have three experienced options for centre-back. Skrtel undoubtedly had a poor season last time out but it seems statistically he matched up to both Agger and Toure for the most part, outperforming them both in relation to Aerial Duel win % but obviously trailing behind them both by some margin with regard to defensive errors.

While I’m afraid it would be futile to make the case for Skrtel’s inclusion given that he is very likely to be sold this summer I can’t help but express my frustration that we may be giving up on him a little bit prematurely. If there is one out, there will surely be one in, and given Toure’s already joined I am interested to see what type of defender will be sought.

One thing it seems we may be missing in a Toure – Agger partnership is a dominating aerial presence – according to EPL index Agger won 61% of aerial 50-50s last season while Toure falls behind by some margin with only a 40% success rate, I think this is an attribute which is important to have in our first choice partnership. We already have a few young players who may vie to become the back-up option at centre-back in Martin Kelly and Andre Wisdom. Both have gained some experience at full-back but it seems both will be aiming to move to the centre and although they may have to wait for the opportunity they can be considered as cover at least for the season ahead.

It remains to be seen who we will add to the squad before the season begins and I think that we need to consider the quality of any new addition before we decide on what our strongest pairing is. I think Agger and Toure are definitely a capable partnership but that doesn’t mean they should be automatic first choice and I still think we can improve in this area.

Link to original Piece: HERE

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS BELOW GIVING YOUR OWN ANSWER:

Who should be Liverpool's next vice captain?

Its been a bit quiet on The Red Article lately, with the arrival of a brand new baby only 7 weeks ago to join her 15 month old sister and 8 year old brother! its simply been a bit hard to dedicate much time to the blog. I'm hoping to get back to posting regularly once the season kicks off but in the meantime I'm going to be posting a number of short articles at least once a week to keep things ticking over.

Recently I've been asked to submit a weekly post to www.tomkinstimes.com weekly symposium. The format is that a question is sent out once a week to symposium members who each submit their response to be published on the website created and run by renowned author, blogger and liverpoolfc.tv columnist Paul Tomkins. I will post my symposium posts on The Red Article one day after they appear on The Tomkins Times, this is because TTT is a subscription only website so I need to ensure they have exclusivity on what I provide in the first place.

If you enjoy this you should check out www.tomkinstimes.com it is a fantastic website which boasts an excellent selection of members who participate in some excellent well rounded discussions on all things LFC. Plenty of the content on there is available for free so you can see if you like it before considering getting a subscription.

Anyway, this week's question was:

Who would you make Liverpool FC's next Vice Captain?

Funnily enough, the role of Vice Captain might have even more meaning than it did for Jamie in that over the next while (although probably not immediately) Steven Gerrard’s playing  time is bound to be reduced somewhat meaning there may be a more frequent need to fill the actual captaincy. There have been plenty of times in the history of the club when we had an ample amount of standout candidates at any given time. Even three years ago there would have been plenty of names springing to the fore, but right now things aren’t so straightforward. As the playing squad stands there are question marks over almost every one of the players you might think of. Pepe Reina has been most people’s stand out candidate for a long time but there are obvious issues in that he may not be first choice goalkeeper this season, and he may not even be at the club. Daniel Agger was the subject of a number of strong bids last summer and after his dip in form last season you would have to think that if a big bid was received the club may consider sanctioning the sale. That said though, he played a lot of games last year and he wasn’t our only defender to have a dip in form. He certainly loves and understands the club and supporters so he is certainly one to consider. Lucas Leiva at his peak would seem to fit the role perfectly. He plays in a position which allows him to have good communications throughout the game with pretty much every other player. He may not be the most vocal player in the squad but he does seem well liked and when on form he truly leads by example, sacrificing himself for the good of the team. Also, it has been clear from a lot of the young players at the squad, particularly South-Americans and Spaniards, that they really see Lucas’ career progression at the club as something to look up to. The adversities he has had to succeed through show a strength of character which is there to be envied and it is something we should utilise to the full. The main issue with Lucas is that since his two injuries he is yet to re-attain his full performance levels, and many people believe that because of the injuries he may never do. I don’t subscribe to this theory and I think after a full pre-season he will become one of the players we like to describe as the “spine” of our team again. Having looked at what I consider to be the main options,  I think Lucas is man to fill the position of Vice Captain for the coming season.

Link to original article on TTT: HERE

Please leave comments below letting me know who would be your choice for our next Vice Captain.