Match View: Brighton 1-2 LFC & LFC 2-1 Wolves

So two wins on the bounce have left Reds fans feeling far better than we did last Sunday. 

This was what we needed, an immediate response to the disaster at White Hart Lane.  Suarez and Bellamy looked really good together and Andy Carroll showed flashes of class against Wolves.  The two wins have been hard-fought and while deserved, have raised question marks over a couple of signings. 

While there's no doubt Charlie Adam has added quality we were missing last season, is he strong enough and dominant enough to boss the midfield?  He seems to start games well then go missing.  He picks up needless bookings and is not quick enough over the ground to be our main man in the middle. 

We need Gerrard to play, that's obvious, but where does Adam fit in when he does?  He can't replace Lucas, unless Gerrard sits deeper, which is not what we need at this stage, he needs to be further forward and make those famous driving runs into the box that not many can match.

He can't play wide as he isn't quick enough.  It'll be very interesting to see what happens.

The main one concerning me is Henderson.  He hasn't done anything since arriving.  What has he offered?  The threat against Wolves was always down the left, it seemed like no one wanted to pass to him as they didn't trust him.  Plus he wasn't making himself available often enough.  Surely Kuyt is better there at the moment.

Henderson doesn't deserve a place in the side, Kuyt and Bellamy should be ahead of him all day.  Maybe he will improve with time, but at £18 million he should be offering far more than he is.  Bad signing?  He needs to improve, let just say that.

On a more positive note, congrats to the players for bouncing back and good luck for the Derby next week.  YNWA.

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Match review: Spurs 4-0 Liverpool - What are we going to blame this week?

Last week's review of the loss to Stoke questioned why we, as fans, were accepting a defeat by saying, "Well at least we played well".  Rubbish. 

I asked the question what would happen when we played poorly and suggested that we'd get nothing, and that's what has happened this week.

Poor from the start, outplayed by the opposition, no real efforts on target, ripped apart by our challengers from 4th spot.

What's the excuse this week?  Referee again?  Bad pitch?  Early kick-off?  European game in mid-week?... don't think so.

The bottom line is, while we should always support the team, quite a few people are getting carried away by beating Bolton, who can't beat anyone and Arsenal, who have only beaten Swansea, and that was lucky.

We have to accept we are still well off a quality side and need to (a) gell as a team and (b) Add to the squad.

Is Carroll good enough?  Why did we buy Henderson?

Poor, poor, poor!  Unacceptable.

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Liverpool FC Wallpapers: Steven Gerrard (Collection 1)



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Liverpool Wallpapers: Legends (Collection 1)



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Liverpool Wallpapers: Luis Suarez (Collection 1)



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Stoke 1-0 Liverpool: We can't hide behind the unlucky tag!

There's no doubt The Reds were extremely unlucky to not get anything out of the game at Stoke, over 20 shots, 2 penalty appeals turned down, 75% possession, Henderson missing a one-on-one and Suarez missing a sitter and Stoke win with their only shot on target from a penalty that should never have been given.  The referee got it wrong, no doubt.

However, while fans must stay positive, we must not accept that we were simply unlucky.  Champions always find a way to win, and we didn't even draw.  How many times do we come back from a goal down?  Not very often at all.

While the new signings are settling in, we can't be too harsh, but we still seem to lack at killer instinct.  Hopefully that will come as the team settles and Gerrard returns.  Yes, Stoke are hard to beat at home, but when you play as well as we did you must pick-up points as when we don't play well we won't be picking up points.

The defeat hurts even more when we see that all our rivals won and we notice that after 4 games, we are already 5 points off top spot and well behind in goal difference.  OK, we have had far harder games than both Manc clubs and are still above Spurs and Arsenal, but we must not either get carried away by the new signings or make excuses when we don't pick-up points.

It's still better than a year ago and we are heading in the right direction, but lets not accept defeats just because we played well!  Defeat is failure, full stop.

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Best Transfer Window EVER!!

 

So the transfer window has closed and I think the majority of LFC fans will be extremely pleased with the outcome, as much for the outgoings as incomings.  It's hard not to be amazed by all the ins and outs.

It has to be the club's most effective transfer window in memory where all the Deadwood, as listed in the previous post, Got (Dead) Wood? (apart from Maxi who has proven his worth and Brad Jones) was cleared efficiently and we strengthened in all the areas we needed with quality additions, most of which should be first team regulars.

If you cast your minds back to January's transfer window and the deep depression fans felt when we were stabbed in the back by the so-called striker who went to London and no one would have believed the transformation of the club, team and management in such a short space of time.

We now have a new, younger, fresher-looking team and squad who are hopefully going places.  This is an exciting new chapter which all the fans can look forward to.

Much credit must to to FSG who have invested heavily and stuck by their word (so far), we hope this continues.

The addition of creativity in the form of Adam, Downing and Henderson have added an extra dimension to the midfield and attack and taken the pressure off Gerrard.  If he can come back firing, we really will be a force.

At the back Doni is a good back-up keeper and Coates is what we've we been crying out for since Hyypia left.  Enrique will provide a good defensive and attacking option down the left and has filled a problem position.

Even though Meireles left, he was never going to command a first-team spot and the addition of Craig Bellamy will more than compensate for this loss.  His free transfer may well prove to be a master-stroke as he can play up-front or on the wing, he is fast and will get you goals.  Basically everything Meireles isn't.

If you add the January signings of Suarez and Carroll (and the money we got for Babel), the last 2 windows have to be the best windows LFC fans can remember.  The belief and optimism is finally back and we can look forward to the rest of the season.

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Thank You Chelski!

All Reds fans, in fact the whole club, owe Roman Abramovich and the plastic flag waving Chelski fans a massive debt of gratitude for consistently buying LFC bench-warmers and has-beens for massively over-inflated fees, which we then use to buy the best young talent. 

Take their first major signing, they thought they had a great deal and taunted us for months when they paid £50 million, yes £50 million for an injury prone, pouting, prima donna who has scored exactly 1 goal in 21 appearances for them, that's 0.0476 goals per game.  Money well spent.

He not only has an awful record with them, but caused disruption to their side.  Any fool could have seen that he could not play with Drogba or Anelka.  They were then forced to drop Drogba, who is a far better leader of the line and overall better player.  I can't see him ever fitting in there and he will obviously be sold for a huge loss.

Another player was Yossi Benayoun, who they paid £5 million for to warm their bench instead of ours.  He got injured and has been loaned to Arsenal.  Again, fantastic bit of business Chelski!  Add to that the fact that we got Joe Cole from them for free and you can see who got the better deal.  Even though Cole hasn't worked out, he could still come back next season and should still be sold for a fee.

Now they've paid £12 million (1/2 million more than we did last year) for the bird flipping Raul Meireles.  The midfielder, while having a good run of games under Dalglish last season, was never going to command a first team spot following the summer's improvements and was clearly upset at this.  Instead of getting his head down and proving his worth he pouted and when he put his middle finger up to the bench following our 2nd goal against Arsenal, the writing was on the wall.  Disgraceful.  If he didn't want to fight for his place, goodbye.  We can't afford to have players who will cause disruption in the dressing room.  Again more money wasted by Chelski.  Where will Meireles fit in?  Not strong enough for central midfield, not quick enough for the wing and not creative enough to play "in the hole".  Another expensive mistake me thinks.

So that's £67 million for LFC's Deadwood.  Thank you very much.

P.S. Someone tell them they can have Aquilani for £30 million!  Sound good Roman?

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