Posts Tagged ‘Luis Suarez’

5 Reasons why Liverpool WILL qualify for the Champions League

Posted: August 14, 2012 in LFC Posts
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  1. Rodger’s himself – calm, assertive, tactically and strategically savvy
  2. We’ll win a higher percentage of the games against the none top-four teams
  3. Suarez & Borini partnership will result in a higher number of goals
  4. The defence unit will get stronger & Pepe’s form will improve
  5. Man United, Arsenal & Spurs will have it tougher this season

Ok so there it is. That’s my top five reasons why Liverpool will qualify for the Champions League this season. Blinkered, wearing rose-tinted glasses, unrealistically biased I hear you say. Well I’m probably guilty of all of the above but, as you would expect let’s do a brief assessment of each one and then you have your say.

1. Rodger’s has done nothing but impress since his appointment at Liverpool. He has a clear vision the direction he wants to take the team and the style of play he want to implement . He seems to have a real sense of who in the current squad is able to fulfill this vision and who is not. He’s bringing in quality players such as Allen and Borini and will give them very specific roles plus he’s already worked with them both and knows their strengths and weaknesses. Rodgers has gone about his business in calm yet assertive way and already has the team behind him. We’ve had the best pre-season in years and he understands what an important club Liverpool is and has sworn to do his utmost to get us back to the top. I believe him. (more…)

The Rodgers era begins by emulating the past

Posted: August 9, 2012 in LFC Posts
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Liverpool have now dispatched Gomel in the Europa League qualifying matches and it heralds the true beginning of the Rodgers era at Anfield. In less than ten days sterner tests await with the start of the Premier League and an away game at West Bromwich Albion on 18 August. The Premiership is where it really counts and where we’ll get to see Rodgers Liverpool playing tougher opposition but with a full-strength team executing their new brand of football, the tiki-taka style of zonal play which is so often associated with the likes of Barcelona. (more…)

Carroll answers his critics

Posted: April 19, 2012 in LFC Posts
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Andy Carroll Liverpool FC celebrates scoring the winner against Everton FC

Let’s face it Andy Carroll never asked to be bought for £35m but that price tag has weighed heavily on him and seems to have been a major factor in his poor performances this season according to those close to him. With such a large transfer fee hanging over his head, thanks to Liverpool’s ex-employee Damien Comolli, Carroll was on a hiding-to-nothing when he was signed in January 2011. Kenny’s philosophy of “buy young, buy British” was the order of day and Carroll was seen to fit that bill perfectly, seemingly at any price. Everyone, including Carroll himself, knew we’d paid too much for him and the expectations were too high with only an immediate impact and hatful of goals were going to keep the critics at bay.

Suarez and Carroll form striking partnership

Posted: February 20, 2012 in LFC Posts
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Suarez & Carroll beginning to gel as a strike force

There’s an optimism that we’re now seeing the true beginnings of a front-line striking partnership between Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll. The latest evidence came after Sunday’s 6-1 FA Cup win over Brighton in particular when a deep cross from Downing (he actually had a good game) to the far post was met by Carroll who headed it back across the goal-mouth for Suarez to score from the simplest of headers.

It’s gratifying to see an understanding between the two players paying-off. There’s no question that with Suarez now playing on a regular basis and in fine form and with Carroll becoming increasingly effective with each game, scoring a cracker to make it 3-1, there’s every reason to believe there’s a new  ”Keegan/Toshack” attacking duo in the making. And it’s about time. Carroll’s lack of form since signing from Newcastle a year ago has had us waiting for this to finally happen.

During the January transfer window I was one of those who felt strongly Liverpool needed to buy a new, quality, striker. I still do. It’s the obvious position Liverpool were lacking. Even so, I continued to have hopes Carroll would eventually come good but in the meantime the front-line needed strengthening. Liverpool needed a class player who could put away those endless chances the current forwards were struggling to dispatch, especially at home. However, once the deadline passed without any new signings, I’m not sure what Comolli was doing, Dalglish had no option but to work on improving the performance of the current squad and none more so than Carroll. After endlessly defending his players below-par performances perhaps the turning point was Dalglish’s verbal assault on the team after the embarrassing 3-1 defeat at Bolton where Liverpool were, to say the least, poor.

“If they needed a lesson to be taught to them then today was it. If they thought they could just turn up and get a result and not match the opposition for effort and commitment then they got a lesson today. If they have learned it, then fine”.

“They” of course included Andy Carroll, among others, but since then we’ve seen a player with a different attitude and work rate.

Even Steven Gerrard in a pre-match interview before the return leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City when asked about the current form of the new signings said they knew they weren’t playing at their best. Code for “they aren’t good enough right now”. It was a fair and honest assessment but one that seems to have resonated, and stimulated action, among the newer players. Some of the media criticized Gerrard for saying this but when you star player says you’re not doing well you better listen and it seems they did.

So it’s on to Wembley next Sunday for the Carling Cup final and I’m sure Kenny will have Suarez and Carroll in the starting line-up. Let’s hope it’s a platform for the new striking partnership use to showcase what they are truly capable of.

Loss to United hard to take

Posted: February 11, 2012 in LFC Posts
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It wasn’t so much the fact Liverpool lost to Man United on Saturday, which was bad enough, it was more the manner in which they lost that was hard to take. Seemingly in control at half- time Liverpool lost-the-plot almost immediately after the restart conceding two Wayne Rooney goals in the space of 5 minutes. Poor defending and a schoolboy error cost Liverpool the match and not until the last 10 minutes, when Suarez scored a poachers goal, did Liverpool look like they had any chance of salvaging something from the game.

The reality is too many players continue to disappoint (more…)

London media guilty of band-wagon journalism over Suarez

Posted: January 8, 2012 in LFC Posts
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Over the past weeks I’ve read and heard a lot from the “holier-than-thou” London-centric media about how Liverpool have set a bad example supporting Suarez and for wearing “those t-shirts” during the warm-up prior to the Wigan game. How Dalglish and Liverpool should have simply (read meekly) accepted the decision of the FA’s independent commission (they hadn’t got the guts to make a decision on their own), apologize and move on. That Liverpool should have taught Suarez, and all overseas players, about what and what is not acceptable to say to another player in the heat-of-the moment and so and and so forth.

What utter “let’s print this crap so we can sell more newspapers” journalism this truly is. Are we supposed to respect this kind of preaching from those who a few months ago were happily tapping some innocents mobile? I didn’t think so. (more…)

Frustrating Liverpool would be joint top if they’d won home games.

Posted: December 28, 2011 in LFC Posts
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It’s hard to look at the league table right now knowing that if Liverpool had won all of their home games they’d be joint top right now! Fanciful notion I know, but home wins against Man City & United, both of which they should have won, plus wins against the likes of Sunderland and yesterday’s draw to bottom placed Blackburn, would not have seen Liverpool sitting on the fringes in 6th place. There were away games they should have won too, or at least taken a point, Stoke & Fulham being prime examples. In fact, as you know, it’s the away games that are their current strength.

You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes (the new movie is great by the way) to figure out the reason’s for so many home draws. They lack killer instinct. Liverpool have dominated games but failed to either take their umpteen chances or turn their dominance into goals. The reality is Suarez hasn’t found the back of the net as many times as his play has deserved and Carroll just hasn’t produced the form he showed at Newcastle which is the reason Liverpool snapped him up after Torres scarpered. We need to buy a quality striker and fast.

Will Liverpool buy in January? I hope so. They really aren’t that far away from really challenging  for the top spots and defensively they are as good as anyone having only conceded 14 goals this season. With only a few days away from the transfer window the hope is Damien Comolli has identified several key targets and Mr. Henry is wiling to provide the funds.

Let’s pray we’ll see a quality forward arriving shortly.

Kenny takes the high road while FA show they know sweet FA

Posted: December 25, 2011 in LFC Posts
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I watched Kenny’s press conference a few days ago and was impressed by his responses to the questions about the Suarez situation. His answers put things firmly in perspective with regard to how the club intends to move forward. The simple answers is they can’t do anything until they see the report from the FA which reveals what evidence the independent panel used to base their decision to ban Suarez for eight matches and fine him £40,000. 

Kenny wisely proffered that perhaps this was the way the FA always did things in these kind of situations (completely ineptly in my opinion) and they would have to wait and see before they could properly construct a response and an appeal. 

As you may have already read form my previous post, I think the FA has shown complete lack of professionalism and leadership in this matter. How can it take so long to reveal the evidence that formed the basis of Suarez’s heavy-handed punishment? No one has pointed out that I am aware of that the only reason they went to an independent panel was because they didn’t have the balls to deal with the issue themselves and take the heat for the decision, one way or another. They abdicated their responsibility under the guise of being impartial. 

The FA have now created an amazing precedent for themselves. If a player is actually found guilty of racism, which Suarez was not, what punishment will they now have to hand out? You can only imagine it would be way beyond eight games and lord knows how much in fines. 

It’s clear the FA in accepting the decision of the independent panel have not thought through the repercussions of the Suarez decision and I’m going to be fascinated to see what action they take if John Terry is found guilty of actual racism in February.

 

FA totally to blame for Suarez situation

Posted: December 23, 2011 in LFC Posts
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As a devoted Liverpool supporter I feel strongly the FA are totally responsible for why the Luis Suarez issue is now totally out of hand. The FA’s independent panel wanted to make an example of Suarez to emphasize the need to get racism out of football but have gone totally overboard with the punishment to the point, as John’s Barnes said yesterday, they are crucifying him.

This has led to the understandable outrage by the club and supporters and why we are all behind Suarez in his appeal. The fact he admitted he used a term he thought was none offensive should have been taken into account.

The FA have shown absolutely no leadership in this matter. They have remained silent while the situation escalates. They should have held a press conference immediately after the decision and revealed the evidence the independent panel used to make their decision so there is complete transparency. They should have made it clear that they fully accept Suarez is not a racist, as does Evra, but by not doing so they have caused great harm to Suarez and the club who rightly are standing by him.

I totally support the campaign to remove racism from football but the FA have to do it in a fair, open and transparent way.

Patience and focusing on the positives

Posted: September 25, 2011 in LFC Posts
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With Liverpool’s up and down start to the season it would be just too easy to begin looking for faults. Kenny signed eight new players during the summer transfer window and sold or loaned out 16 players. Of those eight, five have featured in the first six games of the season which makes for radicle changes in the squad. You can even argue that Carroll and Suarez are still relative newcomers, so does it make sense to think that they would all gel quickly and perform at the highest level from the opening game of the season? It’s just not going to happen. Better to judge how Liverpool have performed and where we sit in the table in January or, as Kenny might say, next May. (more…)

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