Well, what difference 7 days makes. After a lifeless fortunate away win the 1st leg, we were treated to an exhibition performance in thw 2nd Leg at Anfield against FC Gomel. There was some personnel changes and most of the recognised 1st teamers back, that certainly made a difference built they still have to produce.
Luis Suarez was in one of his mercurial moods and was unplayable, yes it was modest opposition but I think any defence would have struggled with him. Great home debut for Borini capping it with an excellent volley and 1st half performance that showed he is on the same wavelength as Gerrard and Suarez. He had a quiter 2nd half but that was more down to a tactical change which pushed him inside.
Shelvey looks better and better everytime he plays regardless of where or what role he is asked to play by Brendan Rodgers. He is certainly knocking on the door for a regular start, unlike some of his alleged betters (Henderson & Adam) who seem to knocking on the exit door. Alas I fear that Shelvey wont get the chance with the arrival of Joe Allen which I will discuss later.
A consumate team performance on Thursday which also saw Dan Agger back sporting his new YNWA knuckle tattoo.He has also said he doesn't want to play for another Premiership club. Loyalty like that is to be admired. Lets hope the owners hold their nerve and dont bite on whatever sum Man City may offer. Lets hope they give him a nice new contract as centrehalfs of Agger's quality do not grow on trees.
I think we can all see the influence of Rodgers' philosophy already. We are more patient with the ball. Any longer ball in generally aimed directly at a player or where someone is making run to. Which is ten times better than the headless chicken stuff we showed throughout last season in the final 3rd of the pitch. Sure we arent creating 20 or chances but we are starting to score the ones we do create.
Today saw a the welcome return of Sami Hyypia to Anfield a place that was his castle for the best part of a decade. Fortunately his defenders are ot quite of teh same ilk as Raheem Sterling's first 4 touches bamboozled 4 of them and curled into the far corner. 1-0 and barely 3 minutes on the clock! He played the whole 90 minutes and form has done enough to be on the bench for the West Brom game.
We were even treated to a bit of freekick invention which turned into a farce but somehow the ball made its way to the completely unmarked Lucas for the easiest 5 yard pass into an empty net you could ever hope to see.
Halftime brought 5 changes brought Carroll, Spearing,Adam,Henderson and Robinson into the fray. As often happens we lost some of our momentum and pace of the game dropped.Shelvey again asked to play out wide now and did a great job. Carroll was excellent whether holding up the ball, closing downor tackling players by his own corner flag. He was rightfully rewarded with a left footer from outside the box that the keeper made a mess of.
On the whole I think we can look forward to some very entertaining football under Rodgers and hopefully a lot more home points that we saw last season. One person who has gone missing is Danny Pacheco which I dont undersstand he had 2 decent gamesin the States lets hope we arent letting him go.
On the negative side Adam really looks like he knows his days are numbered. Yet again his corners and freekicks were woeful, so much so that the crowd were groanng when he continually gave the ball away or gave poor delivery.The rumour is he will be a make weight for Dempsey at Fulham. Thats probably a deal that would suit both club,s they get a replacement for Danny Murphy and we get our wide left player who can also play up front on his own if required.
So to the one thing that is realy annoying me. Joe Allen £15mill................
Have we not learned anything from Carroll,Downing and Henderson transfers?????
British 'talent' is over priced and almost always never delivers. (Walcott, Bentley, Jenas, Dyer, Barry) The list goes on.
Sure we need more 'home grown players' and sure we obviously want buy younger ones that will someday have resale value (something the Academy has failed to do over the last 20 years) or will be a longterm servant of the club. I get that, totally. I just dont think I would include Joe Allen in top 30 British midfielders in the UK under the age of 23. So why the persistance. Sure Rodgers trusts him.
If we were prepared to spend that kind of money why sell Aquilani?
Is he really £7mill better than Adam and £14 mill better than Shelvey? Never mind that Santi Carzola cost Arsenal only £12mill.
We always seem to pay over the odds for mediocre players and seem relentless inour pursuit once we identify our target. I dont get this approach. ManUre make an offer, if the club refuses, they find another target and take their money elsewhere. We just seem to have tunnel vision.
I hope I am proven wrong like with Lucas, but Team GB's best midfielder at the Olympics was Ryan Giggs.........
Bring on West Brom next weekend and lets hope we get another 2 or 3 players in and get rid of the Joe Cole's in the squad.
YNWA
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