NEW ERA, PROMISING SIGNS.

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Last night I watched Liverpool v Roma from Fenway Park. What I saw in the first half was a very good, considering that the team was mainly what we would recognise as a reserve/junior team. Even more impressive was the fact that they held and was for the majority of the half, a better side than the mainly 1st team Roma. In the second half Rodgers introduced more youth and it showed, it was until the Adam goal that looked to be finding their feet. All in I would say it was good performance, bit messy at times as players found their feet, and at the end of the day, it was the men v boys.
Some notable observations I made during the game, mainly involved the midfield set up.
I noticed that a lot of the time, that when the ball was played back to our defenders, the midfield would move to eagerly up the pitch and leave the defenders isolated. With us having 3 up front there is no need to get forward in such a rash way; it forced the long ball and lost possession.
The central pairing, this time Jonjo and Aqua, were at time a little too wide, too far apart from each other and therefore leaving huge space in the middle where we could pass into. I would like to see them operate as a unit in the middle, moving left and right together, e.g. Liverpool attack down the right, they move across to the left (if you don’t get it, ask and I will draw you a diagram).
For the first game I have managed to watch live this season, I’m generally happy, but feel that game could have been one easily won, with fewer changes and more experience brought on in the second half. Yes you may say, “We need youngsters being brought through”, but I say “losing does not breed a confidence”, a better balance of first team and reserves is needed. I would like to see 5 changes max carried out over the full 90, not just the second 45.

YNWA

9 Comments

  1. I watched it to,and thought the game was played with a lot of energy by the Liverpool side of youngsters,I think Brendan’s ethics look good football to feet and passing and moving..the Liverpool of old would see that in last nights game..I know even in a small part but it’s still very early..myself I’ve always like Brendan rogers football style..offensive unlike the past few years where we looked like the old arsenal,get a goal sit on it..but difference being arsenal could win that game we struggled to and rarely did..so back to basics..football is an easy game to play and can sometimes be over complicated..make the ball do the work it doesn’t get tired..then work off the ball as a unit..fingers crossed we strive forward step by step..YNWA forever

  2. Aqua and shelvey were supposed to have the freedom to roam with spearing being the holding player. However, I think spearing was attempting to impress too much and gave the ball away too easily, leaving aqua and shelvey a lot more work to do. Pacheco looked bright as did mcgauchlin. Was looking forward to seeing Suso but unfortunately he didn’t get the chance to impress. Looking forward to seeing borini at some point!

  3. James great post.

    In my view this is what id like to see happen.

    1. why talk of Sterling going on loan, think thats a very bad move, he is the only player we have bar Suarez and gerrard that can beat a man, this kids touch is class, he has pace abd he works hard unlike Eccleston, although he is very young and at times goes with the wrong option, time with brenden and the 1st team would be a much better choice and we need him to, why send him away when he is the best younest player with have with that bit of pace and talent, Suso, and Pacheco come well behind him at the moment.

    2. Id like to see even more resources put to better use, so these players would be gone yesterday, having watched much of the reserve side and watched much of danny wilson while he was at rangers these can all go.

    SELL – Adorjan,Wilson, Eccleston,

    3. Goal keeping is a huge worry, while people are having goes at Reina,(huge mistake, Pepe is world class end of story), we are lacking in a good understudy for Pepe, lots of talk of the club selling. – Brad Jones, & Doni, i hope so, we all love Brad, but he is not young enough nor good enough to be fair, even Gulacsi is not good at all, he seems to have gone backwards in his development! id sell all Jones, Doni & Gulacsi to be fair.

    4, Sqaud players that are needed in a long season, i want players like Flagagan,Robinson, Spearing, Suso, Pacheco, Sterling, Morgan, Ibe & McLaughlin to stay and play games also in the europa cup and carling cup and use these players to stay with the club, learn here rather then else where, we will need them with the squad well lacking in the depth of quality as it is!.

    5, Wage problem, much talk of FSMG wanting to reduce the wage bill, people getting the wrong idea, they dont want your Aquilanis who never play and are not helping the team buy being in and out of the team on stupid wages of reported 95 k a week, they need players at the club who are giving value to the club through the lenght of contract and the age of the player and what he is giving the team.

    I just think they are trying to give the better wages to the players who deserve it, i mean Aquilani on anything over 65 – 70 grand a week is bad for any business.

    Outs – to be sold and gone would be;

    Downing – Gaston Ramirez
    Aquilani – Shelvey(why loan a good player we already have)
    Adam – Allen

    6. Shelvey, talk of him going out on loan is stupid, another player that looks like he is getting better all the time and for me he will be a great asset for the midfield this year, we need players like this with a bit of movement in them, do not loan him at all, he has better energy levels then Adam and Aquilani altogther.

    7. Left back for the bigger games, while Enrique was great for the 1st 6 months, he has been poor at best! we need another senior class left back, for the price with his height and running power and aggressive nature id buy Aly Cissokho, who for around 9.5 million would be a snip in these days and times.

    8. Up front we are very veryt light, and we know it, most top teams have at least 4 options up front, we need options not just bodies too.
    Selling Carroll only makes sense of we are bringing in 1 class striker who is more suited to quick sharpe inter change play in and around the box, we knwo we have not got the money so looks like they are making us sell and the buy!! (same old story).

    While brenden likes his wingers and that is another area im worried about, Bellamy may be off? so again leaving us weak with pace down any of the flanks, so why would even think of sterling going out on loan is shocking, we need a striker who can play football in all areas of the last 3rd, so a player like – Adrián López Álvarez or Matías Ezequiel Suárez would suit the way the boss wants to have quick movement from back to front, id go for Lopez in my view!.

    9.
    REINA
    JOHNSON SKRTEL AGGER CISSOKHO
    RAMIREZ LUCUS ALLEN
    GERRARD
    SUAREZ LOPEZ

    10. New contracts ( must try and keep Suarez, Agger & Skrtel and out them on great new deals) and if so be it, huge buy out clause’s so if we dont get into the top 4, and if Reina, Suarez, Skrtel, Agger want to walk then clubs have to pay top top money for our players for a change, make them stay if not out clause in all there contracts as above.

    Suarez, Agger & Skrtel along with Reina, Gerrard are our most important assets and we all know this,

    having the above and shifting out the above gives us balance, if we cant do something like above then we really are in for a long long hard season?

  4. oh sorry Tony Silva has also gone to, along with Kuyt, Maxi, even more wages have been knocked of the wage bill which is goon only if you replace the players we need with good ones?

  5. 60 minutes in nil nil , then we introduce our ” midfield enforcer ” our
    ” back four protector ” our ” DM ” into the game 69 minutes in losing 2 nil cannot believe the hype this guy gets , is it just me or what ? I do realise he must be a really nice guy and he loves the club and his attitude is great , but there’ s lots of really nice guys who love the club and have great attitudes but thats not enough , not by a long chalk , and all this about him being missed last season we were 6th when he got injured and finished 8th , also made it to two cup finals without him , never made it to any when he has been in the team

  6. Its only a pre-season game,a friendly and more about being seen by American fans,old and new and putting ourselves out there for investment. The game itself is about gaining match fitness with the result a secondary concern. Most of the players involved will not feature for the first team,will they?
    Most being moved back down to the reserves and in some cases being moved on all together. No need to panic..

  7. no need to panic, but liverpool clearly need to get going in a huge way in the market, to be fair, its been a huge let down for the fans and the manager under fsg in the transfer market so far.

    please remember we have only spent just over 41 mill plus the borini deal in over nearly 3 windows uncluding this one, that is not enough at all, and yet we think skrtel and suarez and agger should stay!!!! where is any type of investment please, its getting a bad piss poor?

  8. All things considered, not bad. 1st half positives were 1) Shelvey and 2) Cole… On the down side 1) Spearing was in mid-season form with his poor passing and 2) Enrique needs to get fit asap.

    2nd half on the up side 1) it was great to see Lucas 2) Pacheco looked good 2) Adam looked good, or should i say he finished well on his goal.

    As for the first Roma goal, it came seconds after 4 players were subbed on, and those things will happen.

    All in all, it was great to watch the Reds play, and really has me looking forward to the start of the season. No doubt much work still needs to be done, but i feel we are moving in the right direction.

    I cant wait to see who comes and goes in the next few weeks.

    YNWA…

  9. We are still a work in progress and I know Brendan Rogers put out so much of the players from reserves to access the whole team in terms of strength,weakness etc..I m disappointed abit wiv Spearing he hasn’t improved his game he gives away ball cheaply he’s always afraid to make forward passes instead he wiLl make backward passes to the defenders I think the Manager Should loan him out..I was a bit impressed with Carragher he looked sharp and he wasn’t making the hoofing and puffing of long balls he looks assured on the ball despite his age,I m impressed wiv Shelvey he played very well he made forward runs into the box dribbles past players and got in some nice positions where he had shots at the goalkeeper he could have scored,I think Aquilani played well too he showed his quality on the ball making short passes and long passes only if we had him last season maybe we would have helped the team as a playmaker and creating chances for others,I am impressed with Joe Cole too he looked sharp and dribbles past opponents with ease one can imagine Joe on right flank and Suarez on left we would be deadly on counter especially with them two that dribbles past opponents easily,I don’t want Raheem being sent out on loan I think with the tutelage of Brendan that knows how to get the best out of youthful players Raheem would benefit a lot from him,I liked the way Pacheco played too my only worry about him is his defensive duties if he’s got to track back his marker perharps might struggle to intercept opponents especially with his short leg but he can still make a huge impact its too early to rush Suso into first team action I m happy for Lucas he played well and we really missed him I feel for Adam as he struggles for pace and I sense he might be moved on..I still think Andy Caroll deserves his place though might not be automatic anymore except he starts banging in goals on regular basis..The problem with our team last season was Kenny bought too many under performers e.g Downing..I don’t know what Brendan make of him but it might not look good for him but time will tell I still think Henderson would be useful with his energy in the middle of the park unlike when Kenny played him out of position on continious basis

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