Aquilani showed just how well he can play. No idea why he 'flopped', I think he could be the surprise this season.

Kyrgiakos showed just how hopeless he is against sides who play the ball along the deck.

Carroll is lacking polish, but he's got a few games to get up to scratch yet.

Attendance was really good and enough to say I think we'll be back next year.

Still don't know who's going to play on the wings. Downing and????

Lucas got an absolutely bullshit red card for Brazil this morning. The guardian put it best:


Alcaraz completely lost his head and threw a punch at Lucas Leiva, earning him a red card. Lucas seems to have been sent off for being punched. It's not immediately clear what he did wrong, although he was stupid to get involved.

Coming across injured, not having a full pre-season, having to be Alonso's replacement, etc

If he can stay injury free he will be a beast this year.

i think it will be a combination of Meireles, Maxi, Kuyt and Henderson..... maybe even Johnson for away games, and Kelly might slot in at left back

The way Kelly played before he got injured last season, I'd rather have him than Johnson.

If Johnson wasn't english he wouldn't have a long-term future at Liverpool.

Utter rubbish. Got nothing to do with it.

If he was any other nationality we wouldn't have signed him and he wouldn't be in our plans. He's a decent player, but I don't think he's as good as Kelly and I don't think we should be making sacrifices to keep him in the team. That said, given that he's just signed a contract extension, he's obviously in our plans.

Makes that friendly make sense.

I'm with you re Johnson, imo defense isn't his natural play and I mentioned this before his reaction to turn and chase is slow. Yes given he resigned KK must see the value but I and probably many others don't see it.
If he proves us doubters wrong great !

A game of two midfields

July 23, 2011
By Richard Jolly

The phrase wasn't coined with football in mind, but sometimes it is the numbers game. Where Liverpool are concerned, eye-catching figures abound. The nine goals conceded in three pre-season games against supposedly inferior opposition, for instance, or the £43 million spent on Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson. Not to mention, now the trio have arrived at Anfield, the probability that as many as 15 midfielders are competing for four or five berths in the team. It scarcely requires a degree in mathematics to determine that 15 into four won't go.


Or, to put it another way, the unwanted won't go away. A 3-0 defeat at Hull was a game of two teams for Liverpool and, in particular, of two midfields. The first half was afforded to the imperilled: the youngster Conor Coady was accompanied by Christian Poulsen, Joe Cole, Alberto Aquilani and Maxi Rodriguez. If fitness exercise doubled up as shop window, it wasn't an outing to entice any would-be buyers. Cole, in particular, struggled, lacking pace when he moved and precision when he passed.

Liverpool's past - even if they remain part of the present - made way for the future, the trio of costly additions among the 11 half-time changes. Each gave glimpses of his ability. Adam, on his first outing on English soil for Liverpool, was a creator who added a sense of urgency and the best of the potential playmakers on show. Henderson, positioned directly behind Andy Carroll in the 4-2-3-1 system Kenny Dalglish has used throughout pre-season, had a goal disallowed and took up some promising positions. Downing hinted at incision on the left flank.

"It's been a long time coming and it felt great to get out there and kick a ball for Liverpool," he said. "It will take time for us to gel. I felt good and managed to get some crosses in. I know Andy [Carroll] from England and think we can get a good partnership going. I know I might be asked to play a bit differently from how I did at other clubs and as a group it's natural we're learning how each other play."

The learning process has its difficulties. For varying reasons, Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva and Raul Meireles ranked among the nine absentees. How captain, anchorman and PFA Fans' Player of the Year, not to mention Dirk Kuyt, can be accommodated in the same section of the side is a dilemma many a manager would welcome, but awkward nonetheless. Squad rotation tends to provide an answer but, if strength in depth is invariably deemed essential, just how much depth is required in a season without European football is a moot point.

A silent manager is giving few clues. Pre-season friendlies are notoriously imprecise indicators of a team's prospects, even without the interference of Dalglish, who appears intent on keeping his metaphorical cards close to his chest. Of his initial 11, perhaps only Jamie Carragher will start the season in the team.

Hull's side was likelier to bear closer resemblance to the line-up that will commence the campaign. The presence of five men with Manchester United connections in the Hull side ensured a competitiveness to the occasion, with James Chester and Paul McShane defiant in defence. Robert Brady, on loan from Old Trafford, opened the scoring with a fierce drive. After neat work from the United alumnus Corry Evans, Robert Koren rifled in a second goal from 20 yards. The third was taken from close range by Jay Simpson.

So, for the third successive game, Liverpool were breached three times, Hull joining Guangdong and the Malaysia Select XI in proving prolific. With Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio absent altogether, the defence was rather cheaper than the midfield, but their frailties hinted at the shortcomings.

Because the rebuilding job is only half done with the midfield being remodelled as the defence remains untouched; the upstairs may have a new look, but the foundations are looking shaky.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Robbie Brady - The on-loan United winger was sharp, quick and took his goal well. One of the more influential signings in Hull's recent history was Fraizer Campbell, borrowed from Old Trafford: if Brady can have a similar impact, he will be a coup.

HULL VERDICT: Nigel Pearson's teams tend to be solid, and this side looked no exception. But they also seem to possess a cutting edge, with Brady's pace giving them an extra dimension on the flanks, and look capable of a play-off push. Jimmy Bullard remains suspended with Pearson unwilling to discuss the midfielder.

LIVERPOOL VERDICT: Dalglish's choice of shape - 4-2-3-1 - is instructive. It begs the question of whether Luis Suarez, currently kept busy by the Copa America, will line up on the flanks on his return and if Adam and Gerrard are seen as the alliance in front of the back four. Doni perhaps should have done better with the opening goal and, as Jose Reina has had some unconvincing deputies in recent years, that may not bode well.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/936834/hull-3-0-liverpool:-a-game-of-two-midfields?cc=3436