Pre-Season without Reason

Well bang goes my optimism!

Hull hammered us, Gala gutted us and Valerenga did the Viking Voodoo on us!

The Hull game I barely watched it was so poor. I know some of the guys who went to the Far East may have ben jetlagged but surely there was a plan for that after all we chose these fixtures. Doni proved himself clueless for the 1st two goals. The 2nd one he exibited something akin to what Superman does when he is about to fly.He was still in the air, woefully making his way across the goal when the ball hit the net.

So you think fine, we will take a decent team to Gala as that is a step up and with just 3 more pre-season games we need to start getting up to Premiership pace. NO-NO-NO-NO! We send the 3rd and 4th string out. Clowns like Insua and Degen were allowed to wear Liverpool shirts again! If that is the contempt with which we were going to treat the fixture why did we take it at all? No suprise another 3-0 cuffing.


So Valerenga on Monday night. Minutes silence for the victims of the massacre, ceremonial laying of roses behind the goal by Liverpool players and down to business.
So we go 4-4-2. Fine, but we have Downing on the right and Henderson on the left with Dirk and Carroll up front. We have the better of opening exchanges and looked OK for the 1st 10 minutes or so. Then 5 minutes of mayhem. Valerenga got the ball and did something bizarre, they passed to each other and moved the ball quickly out to the left wing and BANG 1 cross one goal. 3 minutes later BANG 2nd cross pitifully fought for 2nd ball, 3rd cross, pen 2-0.

Excellent 2-0 down on 13 minutes. Fine Valerenga are 23 games into their domestic campaign and like Fulham are in the midst of their 3rd Europa League tie to qualify for the qualifier to get into the group stage or something........

The point being they are sharper than us. Please explain why poor Glenn Johnson just back from injury, was subjected to this? He was to blame for both goals getting blown away like he just wasn't there. On this showing he is going to need half the season to get up to speed. Kelly for right back against Sunderland please!

We got a bit more into the game towards the end of the 1st half and managed to nick an equaliser through Carroll at the far post with a bit of a hand thrown in. Clearly Kenny threw some teacups, used a hair dryer or 3 and generally gave everyone a kick up the arse at halftime. We reverted to 4-2-3-1 with Downing coming out to the left, Dirk going over to the right and Henderson playing centrally. The tempo was better and magically we realised that if you have a 6"11ty3' striker then crosses are quite a good weapon.

We huffed and we puffed but weren't really getting anywhere. Some changes made Aquilani and Shelvey again being the key ones. Aquilani looks 2-3 yards sharper physically and about 8 yards quicker mentally than anyone else at the moment.

Is he just putting in a big effort to get a move away? If you believe his agent (a man quoted more often than Berlisconi at the moment in Italy - daily imminent transfers) then his future is away from Anfield. Or are his performances a genuine attempt to show Kenny and all of us what he can actually do and why Rafa paid 20 mill for him? I hope its the latter. He has controlled every game he has been involved in, everything positive goes through him and he is always looking for that defence splitter. He has comfortably been our best player in pre-season.

Kenny has today confirmed that he would be happy for Aquilani to stay. I think that is shroud. If we are going to offload Cole (loan to QPR) and sell Meireles, then that makes sense to me. Especially with Steivie G being man down for another couple of months.

Back to Valerenga. If it wasnt for their keeper in the last 25 minutes we would have got 5 or 6. Tellingly we scored 2 in quick succession from corners taken by Aquilani and scored by Agger. One a magestic header the other an intelligent far post run to slide home a Dirk flick on at the near post.

Also great to see Raheem Sterling get a 10 minue cameo. He does like to have a go. Hopefully we will see more of him in the League Cup etc. Their 3rd was right at the death and we had changed 3 of our back 4 and the ball moved viciously. I think a draw was probably fair, they gave a good account of themselves and we got a really good workout.

I am never really sure what to make of Pre-seasons. ManUre do these long protracted trips as part of their marketing juggernaut. So they can continue to sell their wares to masses of braindead glory hunters. Does it work? They are generally slow starters and don't really get going until November. We have never really put much stock in them and Kenny is from a generation where they really didn't bother too much with them.

I think Kenny has had chance to look at every player in the squad at least twice and hopefully the Valencia game on Saturday will see us put up a Premiership performance. If we are in the top 3 after 6 or 7 game will anyone remember or care about our pre-season form, I doubt it. If we are languishing then it will be a lightening rod for critisism.

That brings me to our signings. Mr Henry has coughed a lot of dough in just under a year in charge. Expenditure on players around 100 mill. He has today said if we dont make the Champions League he will be disappointed. Think that means Kenny gets the sack unless we have top 4 finish. That is pressure. So do our signings give us a crack at the top 4?

Charlie Adam- undoubtedly adds quality to the team and has an excellent range of passing and engine. Being 5-6 years younger than Stevie G, he will be the obvious successor. That day may be sooner than we expect.Stevie G has been injured for 3 seasons and has been playing through the pain. At 31 with dodgy groins can he really continue with his all action style? Ideally I see him dropping a bit deeper in midfield to play the quarterback role.

Stewart Downing - A winger with a good cross on him, can play either side and has an eye for goal, so yes he does add quality to our squad. Have we paid too much, absolutely. Ashley Young has more pace, a better delivery and is more of goal threat, yet he only cost £16 mill. I reckon we have paid about 8mill too much.

Doni - Brazilian donkey keeper. Whatever we paid it was too much. Give Brad Jones a chance as the 2nd choice.

Jordan Henderson - Sorry I don't see a £20 million youngster there at all. Look at his peers - Jack Rodwell,Jack Wiltshire,Aaron Ramsey,Tom Cleverly,James McArthur. Is he performing at a higher level than any of them and would any of them go for £20mill at moment? I say no on both counts -maybe the 2 Jack's would get you £20mill. Again we have probably paid 8-10 mill too much. You would expect something exceptional for a 20 year-old too go for that money, a Messi,Fabregas,Walcott, not an average player. Hopefully I am wrong.

So, yes our squad is stronger.Is it a top 4 squad? For that we need to look at the competition. Both sides of Manchester have strengthened and I think the title will be between the 2 of them. So that leaves 2 spots.

Chelski haven't added anyone, although Benayoun back from long term injuy is bonus however they have already lost Essien again and that is huge blow. How do they incorporate Drogba and he whose name we cannot speak. I think they will finish 4th.

Arsenal look worse than us in pre-season and still look shellshocked from their League Cup Final defeat.Gervinho is a good addition however the protracted Fabregas and Nasri situations isn't helping. If either or both go through will Wenger have enough time to bring in replacements? Once again he ignoring the weaknesses in defence and midfield enforcement. My prediction 5th.

Spurs - no additions at this stage,Sandro injured.Defoe and Keane likely to be offloaded. Modric forced to stay. I see them going backwards 6th or 7th for me.

So by my reckoning 3rd is ours for the taking. We need Suarez and Carroll to click, good supply from Downing,Kuyt,Adam and CO and a solid back 4. We still need a left back. One wonders if we hadn't wasted the extra dosh on Henderson whether we could have got Clichy. Enrique at Newcastle looks the most likely option.

I would play my best team against Valencia.
Pepe
Kelly-Carra-Agger-Flanno
Spearing-Adam
Kuyt-Aquilani-Downing
Carroll

Bloody hell only 4 non-Brits! Not something we would have ever seen under Rafa!

Obviously we still have Lucas and Suarez to come back into the mix their break from the rigours of the Copa America.

YNWA