KopTalkin'

Match Review: Liverpool 1-1 Man U

2011-10-16T18:44:00.000+01:00

With the final score 1-1 LFC fans must feel a tad disappointed that we didn't get the win, especially after Steven Gerrard opened the scoring from a fee-kick with around 25 minutes to go.

United equalized on 82 minutes, but apart from that, Reina had little to do. The Reds' chances in injury-time alone should have won them the game, with Skrtel missing from 6 yards and then Henderson heading over when unmarked.

My main complaint from this game is the lack of a second yellow, followed by a red card for Ferdinand for his foul on Charlie Adam just outside the United penalty area. It was a clear yellow card offence but, as usual, the referee bottled it. If Ferdinand hadn't already been carded, he would definitely have been for that challenge.

Gerrard scored from the subsequent free-kick and it would have been a totally different game with 11 vs 10. Again a referee has cost us, in my opinion, through a lack of consistency and a lack of strength.

Ferguson came out after the game glossing over the fact Ferdinand should have been sent off and claiming there was not enough contact to bring Adam down and then had the cheek to claim the "Luis Suarez was diving all over the place". He conveniently forgets the Berbatov's dive that resulted in a penalty that put us out of the FA Cup last season!! OK for his team, but no-one else aye? Typical load of rubbish from him.

On the plus side, we performed well against an in-form team and showed quality. especially in the second half. We must continue this on and ensure we beat the lesser teams coming up if we are to beat Spurs and Arsenal to 4th. YNWA.

Match Review: Everton 0-2 LFC

2011-10-02T18:52:00.000+01:00

It was a usual Merseyside Derby. Fast and furious, with Everton overstepping the mark on occasions. In the end, second-half goals from Andy Carroll & the fantastic Luis Suarez stole the points for the Reds, but that was just part of the story.

The game was even until Jack Rodwell was sent off for a sliding challenge on Suarez, mid-way through the first half. There's no doubt that Rodwell shouldn't even had a yellow card for the tackle on Suarez, but referee Martin Atkinson deemed it dangerous enough for a red.

Everton have cause for complaint, just as the Reds did against Spurs two weeks ago. I suppose things do even themselves out over a season. That said, Tony Hibbert should have seen Red later in the half for a terrible challenge on Adam. Hibbert had already been booked when he dived into a tackle, missing the ball and taking out the man. Referee Atkinson didn't even wave play-on, so bottled it completely having probably realised his mistake in sending off Rodwell. So again, these things even themselves out. Either way, the Toffees should have been down to 10 men.

They will argue that the game would have been different 11 vs 11. Maybe so. But if Rodwell hadn't gone then I'm sure Hibbert would have.

It was only a matter of time when it was 10 vs 11, but Liverpool made a little hard work of things as Everton hung on.

Kuyt has a first half penalty saved by Tim Howard and Adam hit the underside of the cross-bar late in the first half as the Reds cranked up the pressure.

It wasn't until the introduction of Gerrard for the fading Adam and Bellamy for Downing that Liverpool took the lead.

Bellamy fed Luis Enrique down the left and his cross was turned-in by the much maligned Carroll for his first league goal of the season.

Suarez then capitalised on a mistake by Distin to seal a deserved win in the last 10 minutes as he, once again, picked up the man of the match award.

So Gerrard is back and looking good and Carroll and Suarez seem to be working better together. Charlie Adam again faded in the second half which is a concern going forward, however, but all in all this was a good day at the office.

There is now another international break, which always seems to happen when we get a bit of momentum going.

Next up........... the mancs. Come on you Reds! YNWA.

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

2011-09-24T19:33:00.000+01:00

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.

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

2011-09-18T15:34:00.000+01:00

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.

Liverpool FC Wallpapers: Steven Gerrard (Collection 1)

2011-09-11T19:02:00.000+01:00

Liverpool Wallpapers: Legends (Collection 1)

2011-09-11T19:00:00.000+01:00

Liverpool Wallpapers: Luis Suarez (Collection 1)

2011-09-11T18:51:00.000+01:00

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

2011-09-11T10:33:00.001+01:00

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.

Best Transfer Window EVER!!

2011-09-03T12:54:00.001+01:00

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.

Thank You Chelski!

2011-09-03T12:19:00.001+01:00

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?

Video: Liverpool 2-0 Valencia

2011-08-07T13:10:00.002+01:00

Video: Valerenga 3-3 Liverpool

2011-08-03T10:41:00.001+01:00

Video: Galatasaray 3-0 Liverpool (28/07/2011)

2011-07-29T04:32:00.000+01:00

Liverpool's latest Pre-Season Friendly ended in another bad defeat as Galatasaray won comfortably.

The Reds played mostly fringe and youth players, with Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt, who came on in the second half, the only recognised first-choice players, but this was still a poor performance.

More worrying is Liverpool have conceded 3 goals in each of their 4 friendlies so far. This has got to stop before the opening game against Sunderland or we'll be playing catch-up from the start again.

Former Red Milan Baros (2) and Johan Elmander scored the goals that won the game. Watch highlights below.

Video: Suarez Scores in Copa America Final & is MVP!!

2011-07-25T16:52:00.000+01:00

Luis Suarez kept up his fantastic form in the Copa America as he scored the opener in the final as Uruguay beat Paraguay 3-0 to lift the cup. Watch the goals below.

Video: Hull City 3-0 Liverpool

2011-07-23T19:58:00.000+01:00

Doni, Henderson & Downing make their debuts, but the Reds lose in a very disappointing game.

What can you say? A poor performance all-round, especially in the first half. Let hope this is a blip and that we start to pick things up against Galatasaray on Thursday evening.

Remembering back to last couple of years and the poor pre-seasons we had and the way we carried our form into the season, we need to put this result behind us immediately and start playing a stronger sides in the remaining fixtures, so players get used to each other and the team starts to gel before the start of the season.

Not much else to add.

Watch the goals below, if you dare!

"The next Chicharito" to be offered LFC trial

2011-07-20T13:25:00.001+01:00

Liverpool are in the process of handing a 10-day-trial to 17-year-old Mexican wonder kid Marco Bueno.

The player was spotted at the Under 17 World Cup where Mexico triumphed earlier in the month and talks are already ongoing regarding a 5-year deal.

Pachuca vice-president Andres Fassi released this statement: "We are conducting negotiations with Liverpool and possibly, on August 1st, Marco Bueno will pay a visit to Liverpool.

"We have already practically closed negotiations with them. They want to buy 100% of the rights."

The possible acquisition of a player dubbed the next Javier Hernandez further demonstrates Liverpool's aggression in purchasing youth for the future

Aquilani Out?

2011-07-20T13:07:00.002+01:00

Fiorentina have approached Liverpool about signing midfielder Alberto Aquilani.

The 27-year-old has struggled to make an impact since arriving in 2009 and with the arrival of Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson the Italian will find himself even further down the pecking order.

The main stumbling block is his £70,000 wages. The Italian Club cannot afford that to pay what Liverpool are paying, so it's up to the player to take a pay-cut and move on to further his career.

He had a successful spell with Juventus last season and forced himself back into international reckoning and would only see his progress halted by staying at Anfield.

In other news goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi has moved to Hull City on a season-long loan and Chris Mavinga has completed his £1million transfer to French club Rennes.

Video: Suarez Scores - LFC's striker fires Uruguay ino the Copa America Final

2011-07-20T12:57:00.000+01:00

Luis Suarez showed his class once again with these two goals in the Copa America Semi-Final against Peru.

Video: Malaysia XI 3-6 Liverpool (16/07/2011)

2011-07-16T16:34:00.001+01:00

Here are all the goals from LFC's second thrilling pre-season game.

Match Report: Malaysia XI 3-6 Liverpool

2011-07-16T12:46:00.001+01:00

Liverpool's second pre-season game ended up being another goal-feast. Watch all the goals here.

Chances were few and far between in a disappointing first half, although Joe Cole and Charlie Adam showed some promising touches.

It was Adam who put the Reds ahead from the penalty spot on 27 minutes, after Andy Carroll was tripped in the box. Adam actually had to convert two penalties when the first effort had to be retaken as the referee adjudged that players had encroached. The new signing dispatched both kicks with extreme confidence.

Raul Meireles had a header saved in Liverpool's only other real opportunity in a first half where they dominated possession.

The Malaysia XI drew level when Safio Rahim fired in a 20 yard free-kick 5 minutes from half-time. Questions had to asked of the wall however. The Malaysian's then missed a good chance soon after as Liverpool faded.

The Reds, as in the first game, made whole-sale changes for the second half, but the pace of the game didn't quicken.

A dull game was lit-up when David Ngog scored his 2nd and 3rd goals of pre-seaon within the space of 2 minutes. His first was a tap-in on 68 minutes. Insua swung a low cross in from the left which was missed by two defenders and Ngog stretched his right leg out to turn the ball in.

The striker smashed in his second after being slid in by Alberto Aquilani on 70 minutes and the score-line started to look at lot better for LFC fans.

Maxi made it 4-1 when he converted another cross from Insua after 76 minutes as Liverpool continued to dominate.

It was deja vu when the Malaysia XI scored 2 quick goals just as Guangdong did in the first game. Poor defending let Mohd Safee make it 4-2. A right-wing cross was palmed out by goalkeeper Martin Hansen straight into the path of Safee for an easy tap-in.

Safee then ran through from an offside position to score again and the Malaysian's were on-top. The striker was clearly offside, but somehow the assistant referee didn't flag.

Maxi scored his 2nd of the game, heading in from close-range following Dirk Kuyt's right-wing cross on 90 minutes and Aquilani put Kuyt in make it 6-3 in injury-time.

This was a very entertaining game overall, with the much-maligned Aquilani and Insua showing they may have a future at the club after all, with solid performances.

I'm Down(ing) With That!

2011-07-16T09:02:00.002+01:00

Stewart Downing has finalised his transfer from Aston Villa to Liverpool.

The winger has signed a long-term deal after passing a medical.

Downing is the fourth major signing of the summer following Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Alexander Doni.

The Reds are still in the market for a left-back, a centre-back and a striker. If Kenny Dalglish can sign quality in these areas, LFC will be able mount a realistic challenge not only for the top 4, but for the Premier League Championship as well.

Video: An Idiot Abroad

2011-07-15T18:14:00.003+01:00

Here is the moment a clueless manc turned up at Liverpool's training session in Malaysia wearing a Rooney shirt.

The moron was soon spotted and made to remove the offending item. He swiftly left the stadium as he was turned on by thousands of Reds fans.

This, once again, highlights the lack of intelligence and lack of respect manc fans have all around the world.

Watch and enjoy!

It's a Doni Deal

2011-07-15T17:58:00.001+01:00

Liverpool have completed the signing of goalkeeper Alexander Doni from AS Roma.

He has signed on the dotted line after agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

Doni will act as back-up to first-choice 'keeper Pepe Reina and provide much-needed experience in reserve.

This signing looks like spelling the end of the line for Brad Jones, who the Reds will now look to offload following just one season at Anfield.

Video: Downing - What are Liverpool getting?

2011-07-15T06:40:00.000+01:00

With Stewart Downing's arrival in a summer of change at Anfield we'd though we'd show you what LFC are getting for their money.

Dead Wood = Big Problems

2011-07-14T15:37:00.000+01:00

Christian Poulsen's proposed move to FC Copenhagen has hit a snag with the player's agent, Jorn Bonnesen, claiming that he will stay at Anfield.

This is the problem Liverpool face, where players on big wages will sit it out and collect their wage packet every month.

Even though the 31-year-old clearly has no future at the club, he, as with Milan Jovanovic, will only move if his contract is paid up in full.

With the rumoured move by Sunderland for Alberto Aquilani dead in the water as well, it's clear Liverpool are not going to get rid of the dead wood on the cheap.