Shaqiri: It Just Makes Sense

Liverpool recently confirmed the signing of Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke. The fee is rumoured to be somewhere in the region of thirteen million pounds, a relatively trifling sum in the modern market. Klopp will be hoping that the winger can deliver serious value on the investment, and he certainly has the talent to do so – even if he completely fails to show his best form at Liverpool, however, it is still hard to envisage his stock depreciating in any significant manner. As the manager said, this deal is a “no-brainer”.

Plenty of supporters will remember getting very excited about Shaqiri when he was first linked to the club, back in the summer of 2014. At the time he was a 22-year-old talent who had showcased his potential in Bayern’s historic treble-winning season the previous year; he had struggled for consistent game time in the star-studded squad, but looked capable of being a world-beater in the right side.

Now 26, he has arguably never quite found that side – his spell at Inter lasted just six months, while Stoke lacked the quality to fully unlock his potential. However, Shaqiri was able to progress a lot personally during his time at The Potters. Frequently tasked with winning matches on his own, he delivered with impressive regularity: last season proved a stretch too far even for him, as Stoke found themselves relegated to the Championship, but Shaqiri’s own numbers were the best he has posted since joining the Premier League.

His core attributes look ready-made for a Klopp system. Almost any player in the world would be required to raise their distance covered during a match in order to fit in at Liverpool, but the Swiss winger is by no means a long way off the pace – his eagerness to put in the hard yards is apparent whenever he plays, and there is little doubt about his physical condition. His versatility is also important. Few if any new signings could be guaranteed a starting berth in Liverpool’s attack, and Shaqiri is no exception; it is likely that he will be required in a variety of positions across the course of a long season. This will not be a problem: not only has he played on both wings, his average positions for Stoke reveal a significant amount of time spent in a more central and withdrawn role. He is comfortable creating chances from this pocket – with the likes of Salah and Mane as runners, his assist numbers will only improve.

Add to this package his pace, trickery and unerring ability from long range, and it is easy to see why Klopp moved to sign him. In the modern game, 26 is still young – Shaqiri represents a significant improvement on the current options off the bench even if he doesn’t develop at all in his time at Anfield, but there is no reason to think that he can’t finally unleash the potential that he has shown in flashes for years. It is no coincidence that Shaqiri has been a standout player at each of the last three major international tournaments: when he is given minutes in a side with a bit of quality, we see the best of him. Klopp, a veritable master of bringing the best out of players, will only help in this regard.

The one real question is whether the winger will be afforded the minutes he needs to properly reach his excitingly high peak, but it would be foolish to attack the signing on this basis. For one thing, he is likely to rack up significant playing time across the course of the campaign. Furthermore, squad depth is something fans have been rightly craving for a long time – Shaqiri emphatically addresses this need, and this is a cause for celebration rather than complaint.  Imagine for a moment that Shaqiri was available to call upon in Kyiv when Salah was forced off early; the outcome might not have been any different, but it seems likely that there would have been a fair amount more confidence that the team still had a fighting chance if this level of quality could have been summoned off the bench.  

Finally, on a pragmatic note, what is there to lose? The preceding points are not empty words – Shaqiri really could develop into a player to rival those currently occupying Liverpool’s front three – but even if he does not do so, the club will suffer no great detriment. Even in a worst-case scenario where Shaqiri fails to make any impact whatsoever on the first team, it is easy to imagine that there would still be a host of clubs queuing up to take a ten-million-pound gamble on a man clearly blessed with talent. In other words, the club could likely recoup most of the fee with ease even in the unlikely event that things completely fail to work out. There are still his wages to think about, but with the likes of Bogdan and Markovic still on the books it would seem odd to take specific issue with Shaqiri.

Embrace the return to the summer of 2014. Liverpool are a team on the up, and this time the top talent has not only been linked to the club but has arrived. Shaqiri will not be a guaranteed starter, as he may have been back then, but that is just a sign of the progress the club has made – this progress will only be aided by the addition of this most talented of squad players, who with a bit of luck might yet become one of Klopp’s world-beaters.

@JamesMartin013 

Peter Crouch: The Unlikely Member of the 100-Club

All logic dictates that Peter Crouch should not have had a particularly successful career. That is not to say he lacks talent – as the old and tired maxim goes, “he’s got good feet for a big man” – but he entered football at almost precisely the same time as the traditional target man began to go out of fashion at the top level. This has been borne out by the journeyman nature of his time in football: no team has ever wanted to commit to building around a striker in Crouch’s mould, and he has duly been shunted from club to club. However, he has been successful everywhere he has gone. It is telling that he has enjoyed multiple stints at a lot of his clubs, most notably Portsmouth and Tottenham; the grass is not often greener when Crouch is disposed of. Stoke City is the only club where he has made a century of appearances, and yet he is loved by fans of each team he has graced: his cult status was truly cemented when he entered the exclusive list of players to reach 100 Premier League goals.

Even from his academy days, Peter Crouch had to get used to being moved around. From ages 10-12 he was enrolled in Brentford’s setup, before moving on to QPR and then, at the age of 14, Tottenham. However, the regular moves then were not based on a dislike of his style: he was simply a sought-after talent. The switch to the Tottenham academy took place in 1995 – the role of target man still very much had a place in English football, and to find a player with Crouch’s combination of physical attributes and technical ability was considered hitting the jackpot. It was therefore unsurprising when, after three years in the academy system, Crouch was handed his first professional contract by Spurs. However, at this point Crouch got his first taste of the struggles he would have to fight to overcome throughout his career. By this time he had grown to a staggering 6”7, and to be frank it made him seem like little more than a novelty option: a potential ‘Plan B’, perhaps, but with no real place in a top side. Certainly this was the perception amongst the Tottenham hierarchy: he was unable to get anywhere near the first team between 1998 and 2000, and in 2000/01 was shipped out on loan to Dulwich Hamlet and IFK Hässleholm consecutively. Even at these lowly clubs he was, to an extent, shunned: he made a combined total of 14 appearances for the two sides. Conny Olsen, coach of Hässleholm at the time, recalls an incident from Crouch’s stint at the club – he had been put into the reserves after just one appearance, and the opponents, Häcken, were laughing at the bizarre spectacle of this giant of an Englishman plying his trade in a Swedish reserve fixture. They were not laughing for long. Crouch netted five goals against them, and was soon in and around the first team a little more. He ended his time there with a respectable three goals in eight appearances.

This was not enough for his parent club: following his return from loan he was immediately sold to his former youth team Queen’s Park Rangers, having not made a single appearance for Spurs. QPR were in the equivalent of the Championship at the time, and yet the man who couldn’t get regular minutes at Dulwich Hamlet was immediately catapulted into the first team. Finally, Crouch was at a club which was willing to put faith in him. He duly delivered, with the steady consistency that has seen him notch up 100 Premier League goals without ever being immensely prolific. He reached double figures in the league, scoring ten goals in his 42 appearances, and bagged two in three in the FA Cup. His performances caught the eye of fellow Division One side Portsmouth, whom he moved to for the 2001/02 season following QPR’s relegation and financial troubles. Here he enhanced his reputation still further, improving on his tally of the previous season to score eighteen goals in just thirty-seven matches. This would be quite a tally for anyone, let alone a 21-year-old at a side that went on to finish the season in 17^th. With the world seemingly at his feet just two years after being forced to ply his trade in Sweden’s reserve leagues, Crouch made the step up to the Premier League with Aston Villa.

At this point, things stopped going quite so smoothly. Crouch, having not been afforded any first team opportunities at Tottenham as a teenager, was not used to the top flight – he initially struggled to make the transition. This was severely exacerbated by his lack of regular football: once again he faced a lack of faith to overcome. He was afforded a fair amount of minutes in the immediate aftermath of the four-million-pound deal, making seven appearances and scoring a respectable two goals in the latter half of 2001/02. This included a strike on his home debut. However, in his first full season, Crouch was limited to just fourteen appearances: the lack of consistent game time affected him badly, and he failed to score a single goal. He rightly took some criticism for the poor spell, and has since admitted that he was simply not ready for the Premier League at the time. Nonetheless, Graham Taylor’s Villa could undoubtedly have done more to help. In 2003/04 Crouch was sent to Norwich on loan; he performed well there and managed four goals in his three-month spell, but the writing was on the wall for him at Villa Park. After making just one more appearance for them he was sold to Southampton at a two-million-pound loss for the start of the 2004/05 campaign.

This was the time where Crouch, now twenty-three, truly began to make a name for himself in the Premier League. Prior to his season at the Saints he was relatively well-known because of his height – by the end of the campaign he would be known for his attacking abilities. At first, it didn’t look as though Crouch was going to get such a change in fortunes – up until about Christmas time he continued to struggle for minutes. In the meantime, Southampton dispensed of not one but two managers: so began one of the defining relationships of Crouch’s career, his link-up with Harry Redknapp. Under Redknapp’s tutelage, Crouch thrived. Despite his slow start he ended the Premier League season on double figures, racking up 12 goals. He was also crucial in the Saints’ FA Cup run, scoring four times in five games to help the team to the quarter-finals. This included a 94^th minute winner from the spot in the 4^th round against his old club Portsmouth. This latter-season form prompted yet another move: Crouch’s performances had not been enough to prevent Southampton finishing bottom of the table (although they ended just two points adrift of safety), so he gratefully accepted the offer from newly-crowned European champions Liverpool. This was without a doubt the biggest step in Crouch’s career, and there was some scepticism amongst the Liverpool fans regarding the signing. Yet again Crouch worked to displace the doubts, and his performances over the following three seasons won over the vast majority of fans: to this day he is remembered fondly by the Anfield faithful.

As is the story of Crouch’s career, it was far from an easy start. It took eighteen games before he finally scored – at this point he was understandably regarded as a flop. Particularly with Crouch, any bad patch of form leads to criticisms about his style: many questioned why Liverpool had decided to recruit this kind of old-school target man. Somehow, however, he clawed his way back from the brink – one year on from when he finally broke his duck, not a single fan would have dared question the technical aspect of Crouch’s game. On the 27^th September 2006, he scored a goal that has gone down in Liverpool folklore: a stunning overhead kick against Galatasaray in a 3-2 victory. It was this Champions League campaign that Crouch is remembered most fondly for on Merseyside; he scored a further six goals in a run that saw Liverpool reach the final of the tournament. His league form was never quite what it had been at Southampton, with Crouch repeatedly just missing out on the double-figures target, but he certainly put in some memorable performances. Chief amongst these was a perfect hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Arsenal in 2007. When he parted ways with the club at the end of the 2007/08 campaign he did so with a solid 22 league goals to his name and, more importantly, with the respect of the fans.

Crouch left Anfield for his old haunt, Fratton Park, where he linked up with former boss Harry Redknapp. There was a rumoured eleven-million-pound price tag on his shoulders, but Crouch had learned from his Liverpool experience and showed no indications of pressure. He scored on his third league game, against his old club’s local rivals Everton, and continued to score at the steady rate of around 1 in 3 for the rest of the season. It was at this time when Portsmouth’s financial crisis was coming to a head, so circumstances once again forced Crouch to move on – he was one of many players sold for big money fees in the summer. This opened the door for a return to another former club, Tottenham: 11 years after he signed his first professional contract at White Hart Lane, he finally made his debut. Who else should give it to him but friend and mentor Harry Redknapp: their third partnership was perhaps not quite as successful as the previous two, but Crouch by no means did badly during his spell at Tottenham. Again, it was Europe where he thrived. Having scored the goal against City to confirm Champions League qualification at the end of 2009/10, he then spearheaded a remarkable campaign that saw the London club reach the quarter-finals. He scored a hat-trick to help overcome Young Boys in the qualification round, notched in both games against Werder Bremen, turned home a Bale cross against Inter Milan and then scored versus the other Milan club to take Tottenham into an unlikely quarter-final clash against Real Madrid. Sadly he got sent off in that fixture, which slightly soured the memory of his contribution to the campaign, but Crouch is nonetheless regarded as a cult hero amongst Spurs fans.

Crouch left the club at the start of 2011/12: at the age of 30 he was no longer able to stake a claim for regular football at Spurs, so he made the move to Stoke City. By this time his international career was over – starting around the time he joined Liverpool and ending shortly after the 2010 World Cup, the big striker’s time on the world stage is something of an enigma. His minutes-per-goal for England is, astoundingly, below 100, yet he never cemented himself as a first choice striker: the target-man snobbery was perhaps more pronounced in the international setup than it was anywhere else. That said, Crouch could look back with fondness over his time with England by the time he moved to Stoke. At the Brittania, he made people question exactly why Spurs and England had deemed him surplus to requirements: he reached double figures in a league campaign for the first time since his second spell at Portsmouth. The ten goals were scored over an impressive 32 matches – clearly, the issue was not Crouch’s fitness. Indeed, Crouch’s game time was even higher for the next three seasons: he managed 34 games in 2012/13 and 2013/14, and 33 as recently as 2014/15. Those three campaigns saw a useful combined return of twenty-three goals, taking his personal tally in the top flight to 96 goals. Following 2015/16, however, it looked as though a great career might end agonisingly short of the century landmark: the likes of Mame Biram Diouf, Jonathan Walters and Joselu severely limited the Englishman’s game time, and he failed to add a single goal to the tally.

Thankfully, however, in a career of peaks and troughs Crouch is managing to end on a high. Stoke’s poor start to the season prompted Mark Hughes to look to his big man, and Crouch has shown the world that he’s still got it. Following his reintroduction to the side the goal-counter ticked agonisingly nearer to 100, until finally he got what he was looking for in a 1-1 draw with Everton on the first of February. Fittingly, Crouch dusted down the old ‘robot’ celebration to mark the occasion. Fans of every club he has played for throughout the years no doubt stood up to applaud the achievement: it is no more than he deserves. 48 of the goals came with his head, with the remaining 52 ranging from tap-ins to stunning bicycle kicks. Not bad feet for a big man.

-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013 

Stoke 0-1 Liverpool: Back With A Win

When the Premier League fixture list was announced a few weeks ago, it was met with many a grimace from Liverpool supporters. The very first game of the season saw us return to the Britannia, the scene of our 6-1 humiliation at the end of the last campaign. As it turned out, however, it was a blessing in disguise; Liverpool exorcised the demons of last season by overcoming Stoke 1-0 courtesy of an outrageous strike from Coutinho. Although it was by no means a perfect performance, the result may well prove symbolic – we’ve left 2014/15 behind us, and are capable of big things this time around.

Amongst the positives was a fairly solid defensive performance. Although there were a few nervy moments (for a couple of awful seconds I was convinced Johnson was going to smash it home), on the whole Liverpool’s back line contained Stoke convincingly. Dejan Lovren deserves a special mention here – he looked confident and assured for once, winning headers and clearing the ball with apparent ease. Even his positioning, so often the thing that lets him down, was pretty much spot on most of the time. His central partner Martin Skrtel was also decent; dodgy underweighted backpasses to Mignolet aside, he did well. The much talked-about Joe Gomez also impressed – Stoke appeared to be targeting him due to lack of experience, but on the whole he stood up well to the test. Clyne was a little disappointing at first, wasting possession multiple times with misplaced passes, but soon grew into the game. As well as being solid defensively, he made some very promising runs forward to create space for Ibe: rather than overlapping he showed a desire to cut inside into the box, and this stretched Stoke’s defence. The Potters had scored at least once in their previous 12 Premier League matches, so keeping them out at their own ground is an achievement that should not be underestimated.

This newfound defensive assuredness did, however, come at a price. Presumably anxious to avoid conceding too many after the previous humiliation, Rodgers had clearly instructed his team to play with a degree of caution. Thus, chances were at a premium – the creative spark was very much lacking for a lot of the game, with Benteke looking very isolated for most of the match. Lallana, Ibe and Coutinho were the three carrying the main responsibility for chance creation in the first half, and none of them were at their best; Lallana barely had the ball, Coutinho was ambitious but wasteful and Ibe was regularly too slow to cross. It looked like a 0-0er for much of the match – had it not been for two astute changes from Rodgers, this may well have been the case. Renowned for making bizarre switches last season, this came as a relief to fans. His decision to bring on Can allowed Milner and Henderson to push further forward, thus piling more pressure on a Stoke side who were dropping further and further back. Firmino then entered the fray, immediately showing his talents – he was a real handful, keeping the Stoke defence very busy. This allowed more space for others, and Coutinho capitalised in full from this extra room by scoring a truly unbelievable goal.

There is a case to be made for this being the little Brazilian’s best strike yet in a Liverpool shirt, and considering he was shortlisted for goal of the season last year that’s saying something. A long way from goal, he got over the ball perfectly – the resulting shot flew sublimely into the top corner, the perfect combination of power and precision. Butland was helpless. The timing of the strike was also excellent; Stoke were given precious little time to recover, and Liverpool were able to see out the remaining few minutes without serious incident.

Of course, we cannot rely on Coutinho scoring those sort of goals every week (although they’re getting much more regular!). Moving forwards, Liverpool definitely need to up the intensity of their game and improve upon their chance creation. However, this is early days, and a win to start the season is truly excellent. It was particularly important after the disappointing end to the last campaign – this really shows the turning of a new leaf, a fresh start. It is also worth noting that when Firmino is fit enough to start, chance creation should be less of a problem; even in his 15 minute cameo, the new man showed a glimpse of how much skill he possesses. With other big teams tripping up this weekend, we look like we might be on for my predicted competitive Premier League season: I think that we’ll still have 6 teams in the title race at Christmas, and I believe that we’ll be one of them. Looking at our squad, particularly our attackers, there is no doubt that we have the players to challenge for the title like we did two years ago. The question is, can we put in the performances? To me, the signs are encouraging. Roll on Bournemouth!

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013 

Liverpool 1-0 Stoke: Post-Match Report

After a drab first half littered with defensive mistakes, it looked for all the world like this game would just be more of the same from Liverpool. The famous Kop were being out-sung by the spirited away fans, and the chant of “how do you watch this every week?” was a question that many reds fans were surely putting to themselves. However, a second half where the team looked much more like the title-challenging outfit of last season was enough to ensure a 1-0 victory. The winner came late on in the match courtesy of a brave header from Glen Johnson of all people.

Prior to the game, Brendan Rodgers made comments about how this game would be treated by Liverpool as the start of their season. As such, the dreary opening half an hour was somewhat anticlimactic; the team offered nothing in attack, and whilst the defence was generally solid both Glen Johnson and Kolo Toure looked uncomfortable with the ball at their feet, with the former actually getting robbed of possession in a dangerous area. The only player who did themselves proud in these opening exchanges was Lucas, who put in some strong challenges to break up the play. Things improved a little towards the end of the half – Coutinho, who up to this point had been playing poorly, began to get into the game. This had a big impact; his sublime touch and excellent acceleration was nearly enough to take him through the entire Stoke defence just before the break. As it was, the half ended scoreless: a fair reflection on a largely uninspiring first 45 minutes.

The “game of two halves” cliché is applicable to this match – the encounter changed dramatically during the second period. This was, in part, down to Raheem Sterling’s increased involvement in the game; up to this point we hadn’t really seen much from him, but his bursting runs throughout the second half caused Stoke problems. This increased attacking intensity came at a price, as it opened the game up to the extent where the visitors were able to fashion a few decent chances of their own. Mignolet made a couple of strong saves, and Sterling was required to make an off-the-line clearance from a Stoke corner. However, it was Liverpool who eventually profited from the game becoming more open – having come extremely close through Allen and Sterling, Johnson eventually got the goal in the 86^th minute. Henderson’s initial ball in was met by Lambert, who’s headed effort bounced off the bar. Johnson was quickest to react, and positively threw himself at the ball in order to head it home. He took a boot to the head in doing so, but he got full reward for his bravery. Despite a succession of Stoke corners, Liverpool did manage to hold out for a much-needed victory.  

It was Johnson who was voted man of the match by fans on Twitter due to his winning goal, but for me the outstanding performer was Lucas Leiva. I was hoping that he’d play prior to the game – he has been fielded in a couple of cup matches this season and looked good (or at the very least better at providing cover than Gerrard), and he rewarded Rodgers’ decision to play him today. He was consistently solid at the back, as well as making a couple of good forward runs. He nearly got a goal, but having run into an excellent position in the box he couldn’t steer his shot past Begovic. Other good performers were Sterling – who Liverpool fans are praying is now back to his best – and Lambert, who exhibited some nice technique at times (most notably with a glorious turn in the second half) and generally held the ball up well. Kolo Toure also had a pretty strong game, staking his claim to be first-choice centre-back in the place of disappointing new signing Dejan Lovren.

If Liverpool can build some momentum on the back of this result, we could indeed be looking at the fresh start that Rodgers referenced before the game. Although it’s far too late to mount any sort of title challenge again – even at this early stage Chelsea look to have it all but wrapped up – this performance provided encouragement that the top 4 is still very much within our grasp. The more pressing matter of qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League is also looking more promising than it was; a performance against Basel like the one we put in during the second half against Stoke should be enough to get us the win and consequently the qualification.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Stoke 3-5 Liverpool- SAS Storm the Brittania

Phew. After a thrilling contest yesterday against Stoke, Liverpool finally prevailed as victors. Though the win was certainly significant (a win away at Stoke is a tough result to get at the best of times), the most poignant aspect of the match was perhaps the return of Daniel Sturridge from injury. As the title suggests, he immediately managed to pick up where he left off with strike partner Luis Suarez, scoring one and excellently assisting another.

The game started quite well for Liverpool. Though Stoke looked half-decent going forward, they also looked very shaky defensively. Their problems were compounded after just 5 minutes when Aly Cissokho’s wild shot took a wicked deflection off Ryan Shawcross and into the back of the net. It was a comedy goal, but Liverpool were worthy of their lead. Stoke continued to be uncharacteristically shoddy at the back, a problem which the second goal they conceded summed up perfectly. Pieters failed to deal with a bouncing ball, heading it into the path of Suarez. The Uruguayan was then left with the simple (for him at any rate) task of getting to the ball before the hesitant Shawcross and smashing the ball into the net past Butland.

Unfortunately, the tide began to turn at this point. Our ex-players came back to haunt us- Peter Crouch scored the first goal for Stoke, beating Toure easily to score the Potters’ first headed goal of the season. 6 minutes later Charlie Adam scored a most unlikely equaliser, emphatically shooting the ball through Skrtel’s legs into the corner of the net from outside the area.

I’ll take this opportunity to moan about Gerrard. For this game Rodgers deployed him in a very holding, defensive role- as such it was not unreasonable to expect him to do some actual defending! Admittedly he made a couple of decent tackles, but mostly he was drifting forward in order to play ridiculous, usually inaccurate long balls up the field. Those determined to make excuses for Gerrard are saying that he “took one for the team” by playing out of position- this would all be very well if he had in fact fulfilled the role he was entrusted with. The sad fact is he’s too slow and frankly too much of a blunt instrument to work in the Liverpool that Rodgers has created. Don’t get me wrong, I love Gerrard as much as the next Liverpool fan, but his time has come. Playing him in new positions won’t solve the problem- if he’s playing in a defensive role and we fail to hold a comfortable 2 goal lead against Stoke, it’s clear there’s an issue! For me he was the worst player out there in this game, and that’s saying something considering we had Cissokho and Johnson playing!

Right, back to the match. Sorry about that. Anyway, the second half saw Liverpool come out strongly. There was worry that we might have been deflated by two goals conceded late in the first half, but if anything it seemed to fire us up. Indeed, we re-took the lead just 6 minutes after the restart, Gerrard finally making a positive contribution by scoring extremely coolly from the spot after Sterling was knocked to the ground. Some are accusing him of diving, but it was definitely a foul. Admittedly it was very soft and they aren’t normally given in the area, but by the letter of the law it was indeed a penalty. Nothing much of note happened then until the 66^th minute, which marked the very welcome return of Daniel Sturridge. He came on to replace Philippe Coutinho, who had played decently but sadly once again failed to reproduce the form he first showed on his arrival at Liverpool. He was an injection of life into our attack, and really reminded everyone how much we’ve missed him. Just 5 minutes into his return, he ran past two players then played an absolutely exquisite pass into the path of Suarez, who did what he does best, curling the ball beyond Butland with a first-time shot.

So, 19 minutes to play and 4-2 up against a side who prior to this game had scored just 19 goals all season (less than one per game). Surely this was in the bag? Apparently not! Liverpool decided to give us all a scare by conceding yet again, this time to Jon Walters. Mignolet was at fault for this one- he saw the ball late, but still should have been able to prevent it from rolling tamely past him into the net. Thankfully, Sturridge was on hand to put our minds at rest. Suarez played in a nice ball, and Sturridge saw his effort smartly saved by Butland. He then managed to keep the ball in play superbly, before cutting back in and firing the ball powerfully into the back of the net.

In conclusion, although it was an absolute rollercoaster of a game, I can have no qualms with the result. A win against Stoke is something any team can be pleased with, and the return of our deadly partnership of Suarez and Sturridge is certainly a huge boost. If they both stay fit top 4 is practically a given- they are currently one of the best, if not the best outright, strike partnerships in the world. However, the game did further highlight our need for some squad strengthening- it is clear that we need a new defensive midfielder, as well as (ideally) two new full backs and another centre back. Still, it does not do to dwell on the negatives, especially after a win that fires us into the top 4, and on the whole I am feeling very positive going forward.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool vs Stoke- Pre-Match Analysis

At last. After a long summer of waiting, the time is finally upon us. At 12:45 on Saturday, Liverpool will get the 2013/14 Premier League season underway. They entertain Stoke at Anfield in their opening fixture, and most fans will be expecting a win.

When one takes a good look at Stoke, it is clear why the weight of expectation is with Liverpool. Stoke have appointed a new manager since the end of last season, replacing Tony Pulis with Mark Hughes. Admittedly they have had the whole of pre-season to adapt to his style of play, but it is clear from the poor start Liverpool made last year under the then newly appointed Brendan Rodgers that often, more than just a couple of months and a handful of games is needed. On top of this, their activity in the transfer market has hardly been inspiring. They have brought in two new players on free transfers, signed full-back Eric Pieters from PSV for just over 3million pounds, and bought Maurice Edu from Bursaspor for an undisclosed fee. None of these signings are bad in themselves, though I doubt that any of them will be setting the Premier League alight this season! Man for man, the Liverpool squad is (on paper at least) far superior.

However, Stoke’s pre-season has been relatively successful. They have played 5, winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 1. The key figure, however, is that they kept clean sheets in all of their last four matches. Towards the end of last season they were not as solid at the back as they had been, but it seems that they may have re-found their defensive form. Admittedly the games they have played were against relatively weak opposition, Genoa being the pick of their opponents, but the signs, for them, are promising.

Add to this the fact that Liverpool are renowned for their slow starts to the season (they have failed to win an opening day fixture since the 2008/09 season, which was incidentally the last time they qualified for the Champions League), and the fact that, as we saw against Celtic, we have a tendency to dominate a game and yet still fail to score, and our victory is not as secure as one might think at first glance.

Saying this, I do still think that Liverpool will manage to win the game. The Celtic game was the only match which we failed to score in, and our overall pre-season form in front of goal has been exceptional. Coutinho has continued to shine, scoring and assisting with apparent ease. Raheem Sterling has also proven himself to be ready for another run with the first team, playing some dazzling football in pre-season as well as scoring prolifically. He continued his goal-scoring form on international duty, scoring for the England U21’s against Scotland. New signing Iago Aspas has also looked threatening in front of goal, and Jordan Henderson, Steven Gerrard, Luis Alberto, Joe Allen and Jordan Ibe have also been on target for Liverpool. Daniel Sturridge also scored twice in a behind-closed-doors game against Newcastle. The fact that there are now so many potential goal-scorers in the team gives Brendan Rodgers the option to change things around if we are failing to score, which I think will be the difference from last season.

This is how I think the team will line up:  

                                                       Created using @footy_formation

 Before the transfer window closes I would ideally like to sign another centre-back for the first team, although to be fair Toure has impressed me a lot in pre-season. He will certainly be adequate to deal with Stoke’s mediocre attack. Aspas could play as a right forward in place of Sterling, but I think Stoke will find it very hard to cope with Sterling’s trickery and on-the-ball skill. If we are failing to score, I would expect Rodgers to replace Sturridge, who isn't fully match fit yet anyway, for Aspas. Joe Allen may also come on for either Lucas or Gerrard, as he has done very well in pre-season, and has shown himself to be good going forward as well as dictating the play from a central position.

To sum up, it would be a mistake to underestimate Stoke, who, though they don’t have the most inspiring squad, are solid at the back. However, I think that, unlike last season, we now have enough attacking options to find a way through the Stoke defence, and get our season off to a winning start.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool vs Stoke Post-Match Analysis

Today (Sunday 7th October), Liverpool faced Stoke City at Anfield. Despite the home side creating a decent amount of chances and dominating possession, the game ended as a goalless draw.

I will start with the positives from the game. The first is that they were able to continue the passing prowess that they showed at Norwich. They were moving the ball around very nicely, and had a very large percentage of possession. These weren’t just short passes either. In the first half particularly, Gerrard played some exquisite long balls, which nearly carved open Stoke’s defence on many occasions.

Another positive to take from the game is how much Liverpool seems to have tightened up at the back. To be fair, Stoke didn’t have many meaningful attacks at all, but on the few occasions that they did push forward Liverpool handled it well. There were also a lot less stupid errors. As a result we were able to keep a clean sheet, which is encouraging.

On the other hand, our chance conversion was once again poor. I have had to say this so many times, and I really hoped that we’d turned a corner last week at Norwich when we scored 5. However, they were simply not able to reproduce this scoring form today, despite creating a lot of goal-scoring opportunities. Admittedly we were unlucky, striking the woodwork an incredible 4 times, but it seems to me that we need to put a lot of work into our finishing.

I was also quite disappointed with Raheem Sterling today. He has been a stand-out player for LFC so far this season, but some of his movement and energy seemed to be lacking today. He had his moments (such as when he made a great run past 3 or 4 Stoke players near the end of the game, only to be stopped by a Dean Whitehead foul), but generally he wasn’t able to do much when he got the ball. Without Sterling’s bright runs to vary the play, Liverpool became a little over-reliant on Luis Suarez. However good Suarez is, he can’t do anything without sufficient back-up from the rest of the team, which in my opinion there wasn’t enough of today.

Overall, I think Liverpool deserved to get the three points from the game. They had by far the most possession and created quite a lot of chances. However, a combination of poor finishing and an over-reliance on Suarez meant we were not able to find the net, and thus only came away with a point. Hopefully Liverpool can work on their shooting, and become more efficient in front of goal. If this happens, Liverpool should soon be back to winning ways.