That's A Big Big Win

That's a big win, that was my thought on the final whistle and still is now for so many reasons.

We finished last season in chaos and had to face the humiliation of that final day result and when the fixtures computer sent us back there for the very first fixture of the new season, I was concerned.  Stoke is a hard enough place to get anything from, our record there is terrible and they well, really well at their ground against everybody, add to this the extra pressure from that result last year, the worries, the concerns that the players must of had and you can see why I think we were all concerned.

Stoke are simply a horrible team to play.  I hear people tell me how they have changed styles, "that's not them anymore", "they like to get the ball down and play", " under Hughes they are different" but I saw different very physical all over the pitch, dirty even, huge long balls to the head of Walters throughout the game who played on Gomez trying to intimidate him throughout the match.  A big reliance on set plays that were again pumped into the box and so on for me not much has changed.  Not a criticism, all legitimate tactics to win a Premier League game, but horrible to play against and not the new Stoke we have been fed by the media.  Liverpool had to stand up to the physicality, win individual battles, stay organised and strong at the back and hope the extra class would tell, they achieved all this and that is a credit to all the players.

Our manager, and players were under huge pressure to get a result following last seasons result at Stoke, the general failure to perform last year in particular in the run in, the pressure on the manager due to this failure last season and many fans belief that he should have been replaced, I'm certain that the manager has been put under extra pressure from the owners  they have spent money they have given him the support in every way and I believe that they will expect a better level of performance for everybody.

The fixtures computer has given us a tough start to the season with a string of very difficult away games, to pick up points and stay in the race is going to be very difficult, extra pressure on everybody, again I'm not sure the manager will survive a poor start to the season with the expectations the owners must now have.

All the above combined made this fixture in my eyes before the game almost impossible, probably the worst possible opening day fixture we could have had and I think if before the game we were offered a draw we would have taken it, beyond any doubt. But we did better far better than that.

if we are honest it was a dog of a game it had to be we had to dog it out it's Stoke and they are horrible, we had to try and be strong, solid, compact we couldn't take another defeat like last year and we had to get something from the game to keep fans and owners happy or jobs may be at stake even this early,mother pressure would certainly been added to my media and the support, but we dodged it out well defenders did ok when last year they would have crumbled new full backs did very well under pressure midfield players covered huge amounts of ground and forwards battled and tried to find space with little quality service and then our quality told one moment of pure magic and we had the three points.  We have players who can do that.

            

      

  

  

Because of the reasons listed above this game was hugely difficult and Liverpool overcame them all and won they got the three points and that could be huge, we will gain confidence, we will get belief the support will remain optimistic and positive, at least for one more week, a little of the pressure on the manager has been lifted, new players get more time to settle, to show us what they can do and perhaps most importantly we have a start, just a hint of momentum.  

      

 

It meant a lot to everybody players, supporters, management and I sure owners you could tell by the players passion on scoring the goal and the away end went off, but let's keep our feet on the ground Bournmouth next and  three more points badly needed.

@lfclumo   

Liverpool FC. A Good Summer ?

Obviously, as last season finished and we moved into the summer, I, like just about every other Liverpool supporter was down, a poor season had ended in a disastrous run of results culminating in in the humiliating, slaughtering we received at the hands of Stoke City.  I found myself wanting a scapegoat and it was the manager that I was looking at, especially as it looked like Klopp may have been available to us.  But as the summer has worn on I have come back round to supporting the manager and thinking that the owners have done the correct thing in putting their faith in him.  We got our scapegoats when Marsh and Pascoe didn't have contracts renewed and we settled down to a few weeks of nothing from the club everything went quiet, not a dicky bird. Perhaps another good decision, no controversy,moving the supporters a chance to breath, calm down and everybody get their heads in a better place.  It worked for me by now I was ready to give our manager another chance.

New coaches were eventually announced over the summer with Sean O'Driscoll appointed as Assistant Manager, Pepijn Lijnders promoted to First Team Development Coach and Gary McAllister appointed as First Team Coach, not the big name appointments or ex players many wanted but for me decent enough and the people that the manager wanted so if we are backing him we may as well fully back him so we will see but at have every confidence that they will at least move us forward.

As the new signings started to come through early on in the window initially I was a little underwhelmed Ings, Bogdan and Milner were not the exciting signings I had been dreaming about but on thinking about they all appear to be an improvement and made our squad stronger not exciting but functional.  Joe Gomez was signed shortly afterwards from Charlton again at the time I didn't really know who he was so great a young player that we thought was good but ho hum another run of the mill signing.  Then the news. broke we were getting Firmino, now this was the signing I wanted, a marquee signing at least and I player I had watched and like very exciting and on top of that it appeared to be winding up other clubs supporters that we had got him, Twitter was full of happy reds for a change.  Clyne followed shortly afterwards another big name signing who other clubs reportedly wanted and a player who I believe is absolute quality, it finally looks like Liverpool have got their act together in the transfer market, business don early and getting our targets rather than loosing out to our rivals.  The Benteke deal had been rumbling on all summer with rumours about just about every striker in Europe going on but I think we all knew it was always going to be Benteke.  Many argue that we have paid to much, some that he won't fit our style, some that he simply isn't good enough. I disagree, I think he is a quality player who will fit our style of play and who will score goals he did cost a lot but to be honest I don't care, I don't look at the price I only care that we have another quality player.  Liverpool have also signed to or three quality youngsters who I know nothing about other than what I have read but I am pleased that we are looking worldwide to develop our academy teams I think it can only help, the more quality at the club, regardless of age, the better.

Our tour, not sure what to think, we travelled to far to be good for the players, we made millions of pounds and that can only be good, we played weaker teams don't know if that's good or bad, not much of a challenge but do we really want to be challenged pre-season and wins bring confidence no matter who you are playing.  Anyway I'm not going to go through game by game but I will go through the things that have stuck in my mind or that I will take away from the tour. Firstly, our fans worldwide are superb I love watching  full grounds belting out You'll Never Walk Alone thousands of miles from Liverpool and the players must love it as well.  Playing wise Milner is going to be a huge player this year, far from the run of the mill signing i though he was earlier in the summer, Gomez has looked like a star very time I have seen him early I know but he could be a player.  Our manager seems to still prefer Lovren to Sakho and if this is the case I believe it will be a huge mistake we will have to wait and see. Ings runs lots, hope he can score lots to.  Been a little disappointed in Clyne but I am still certain he will do very well for us and just recently Firmino looked good, I think we all knew he would and Benteke started well a few more like that and everybody will be happy.  We have some very talented youngsters Chirivella, Rossiter, aren't and Ojo joining Gomez in impressing hugely.

My thoughts are that we have had a very good summer, lots of change but all positive, you are never sure until the season starts and we certainly have a tough start but there couldn't be a better way of putting last year behind us than a win at Stoke.

What Changes?

What changes are needed at Liverpool Football Club?  First and foremost we must look at the playing staff, some of what we have is simply not good enough and some are leaving the club anyway.  Wholesale changes are probably not a good thing as evidenced by this season but we have let our club deteriorate so far that we probably do need to do it again.  Personally I agree with arguments I have heard about buying strikers with our money as the most important problem area that needs solving but it could also be argued that we will need, starting at the back a reserve keeper cover at left back, two right backs, a central defender, a defensive midfield or two plus a box to box type and possibly three strikers.  Current rumours suggest that we are looking at a goalkeeper with Timo Horn of Cologne reportedly a target, Montoya a possibility at right back several midfielders have been linked with James Milner looking likely, and with Ings and Origi likely to arrive up front we already have 5 people coming in and I suggest this is still not enough we are looking for the marquee signing up front probably a further player in midfield and a centre half, to many changes but necessary especially as we need to get rid of so many players Enrique, Johnson, Aspas,Coates, Alberto, Lambert, Borini, Balotelli and Brad Jones make it eight in and nine out but we also have Gerrard leaving, probably Toure, possibly Lucas and huge doubts over Sterling all this amounts to huge changes in the playing staff and problems ahead for the manager.

Or possibly not for the manager as I think it's time for changes in the structure of the club with a Director of Football or similar to. E appointed to work with the manager, I don't know who as I don't know enough about the people who fill these roles but there is so much to do at Liverpool that I believe it is far to much for the manager alone to deal with, this summer we must get the majority of transfers right as well as bringing on the players from last year in my opinion broadly speaking our current manager is very good at developing players not so good at identifying targets and when we do identify targets the club is terrible at bringing them in.

Do we need a new manager? Has he simply made to many mistakes? To stubborn? Probably to all of the above but I also can't forget what we achieved under Rodgers last year so to be honest I'm on the fence I wouldn't be to upset either way but I do believe we should be looking at options, I would be disappointed in our owners if we weren't at least sounding out Klopp, a top manager who is available and on the face of it seems perfect for us.  If an improvement on what we have becomes available and wants to come then surely we should go for it, we can never turn down an improvement.

Whoever is in charge next season they need more help, more better coaches.  I do believe that Rodgers is a good coach but nobody can do it alone I would like to see a far bigger team of experienced coaches along with former players etc working under the manager.  I simply believe that more people are better, with more people you can do more its that simple and we have plenty to do.

So for me new players, new director of football, new coaches and possibly a new manager not much left to change but I honestly believe we need it we are in danger of falling even further away from the top table and need to reverse this fall now bringing in a couple of free transfers and hoping for the best will simply not do, big changes needed at Liverpool now.

@lfclumo 

I hate Chelsea !

I hate Chelsea, the manager, the fans, the plastic flags, the people payed to wave flags, the team, the players, everything, but I have to admit they are good at winning football matches, I hate the horrible, snide way they go about winning them, but they do win.  When the draw was made for the semi final there was no doubt that I was worried Chelsea are a very tough nut to crack and I doubted that we had enough to progress.  But then came the first leg and we out played them our new system worked and we had the better of the game, of course Chelsea got a snide, half dive penalty and the game finished 1-1 but we were the better team, despite what Mourinho claimed.  That result, however, left us needing a win at Stamford Bridge to go through, very difficult but this time I felt we were in with a chance, we could produce the same performance again.

We did produce the performance, especially in the first half but some exceptional goalkeeping kept us out with Moreno, Coutinho and Sterling all forcing excellent saves, in the second half we seemed to run out of steam, every one of our players left nothing on the pitch and worked themselves to a stand still, we had to to keep Chelsea out, they are an exceptional team with great individuals.  The injury to Sakho really cost us and was the beginning of the end, he had been imperious at the back for Liverpool.  Before the game, during the warm up he had been holding his back and it looked to me like he had played with an injury that had simply got to much Johnson replaced him and we immediately struggled and with Balotelli taking to the pitch shortly afterwards and producing nothing we were in trouble.  We did manage to hold on until the end of normal time with most of the credit going to Mignolet for a couple of really good stops.

In extra time Liverpool looked exhausted Lucas especially looked out on his feet and it was Lucas who gave away the free kick, admittedly following a terrible ball from Balotelli, that led to the goal, poor marking, again, allowed a free header and the goal.  Lambert took to the field at half time in the extra period and produced nothing with Liverpool unable to create anything in this period of the game Chelsea we simply to strong.  We did have one glorious chance to take the game to penalties when some excellent wing play from Sterling found Henderson in the box but he put his header wide when it seemed a goal was certain.

For me today we played very well up to the point where we became tired, and Sakho became injured.  The subs let us down Johnson, Balotelli and Lambert gave us nothing as has been the case from these three all season,  The manager had little choice as to what to do, I know Lallana was on the bench but when you need a goal you turn to your strikers and ours aren't good enough, I think we all know where any money needs to be spent and I could name three players who for me are not earning their wages and I would have absolutely no problems if they left the club.   

Now this may sound like sour grapes but i don't really care.  The tactics employed by Chelsea as a team and by individual players are a disgrace and i don't know how they get away with it.  We saw Costa clearly and purposefully stamp on players not once but twice.  He also had a run in with Gerrard where he pushed is head into the Liverpool captains face, three times was accused of diving by the referee and as normal spent most of his time with his hands in the faces of Liverpool defenders enough to be sent off three times if you include a yellow for diving four times in one game and unbelievably Mourinho defends this so I assume that this behaviour is encouraged by his manager this is how he is told to play by Chelsea.  If Suarez, whilst he was at Liverpool had acted in the same manner he would have been all over the front pages of the papers, had questions asked in parliament and would have been banned for most of the season, Costa picked up a yellow card eventually.

Further we see Mourinho at half time challenging the referee, putting pressure on for the decisions to be made in favour of his team, blatant cheating, this is not allowed, when he is caught by the fourth official what happens?  No action, he is simply warned that the cameras are on him and he skulks away behind a crowd of players, cheating but no action taken by the officials, again.

We watch Hazard, a wonderful footballer, or could be if he stands on his feet diving time and time again, any action taken by the referee? of course not, Mourinho has already put the pressure on in the press and as we have seen in person so nothing gets done, again

We see John Terry smash through the back of Sterling in an obvious attempt to slow him down, a reducer, any action taken, nope, again, in fact later in the game when Ivanovic hacks down the same player we actually do see a yellow card for the Chelsea player followed by a warm handshake between player and ref.

Despite this when Liverpool foul, which they did, almost the whole Chelsea team would surround the referee requesting a booking, i'm certain this is an instruction, they do this to put pressure on the referee.  Mourinho is the same, in the ear of the officials on the side lines continuously, in fact he missed his teams goal still moaning for a card to be given to Lucas several minutes after the foul.

Chelsea won this semi final because they had the stronger squad, we were not able to replace tired players with equal quality when we needed to at the end of the game and Chelsea could, on this occasion they were to strong, but i am proud of the Liverpool team we did well pushed them to the very limit, you can see by the tactics they had to employ to beat us.  We have shown that we are good enough to compete with the best teams in the country so for that well done.

@lfclumo