NOISES from Liverpool appear to suggest that the club’s US Tour has been a resounding success, both on and off the pitch.
In terms of non-footballing matters overall attendances have been impressive and the interaction with a completely different area of the fan base has – on the face of it – been of benefit to the club and their American fans.
Of course, measuring the level of this benefit is difficult for the typical fan and the club’s official website isn’t exactly the most impartial source to form a judgement, but the likes of this trip will hopefully bear fruit in the forthcoming years. Cascading the club brand worldwide may be crucial in what is likely to be an oncoming new era of Financial Fair Play, where the generation of revenue from merchandise sales are meant to play a big part.
The positives from footballing matters have again been accentuated by Brendan Rodgers in the aftermath of Liverpool’s final tour fixture against Premier League rivals Spurs, which ended in an uninspiring goalless draw in Baltimore. He appeared pleased with what he sees as the team’s adaptation to his footballing philosophy and tactical shape. However, after three games without a win, he will undoubtedly be itching to secure a maiden victory in Liverpool’s first competitive fixture of the campaign on Thursday.
Liverpool’s overall performance against Spurs followed a similar pattern to their two preceding tour games – some neat and tidy football in midfield and limited penetration in the final third. The difference yesterday was that Liverpool kept their first clean sheet of pre-season, which is undoubtedly an important tick in the box.
Unfortunately, Charlie Adam’s challenge on Gareth Bale has grabbed all the headlines in today’s newspapers, but a limited amount of chances and goalmouth action did little to save the Scotsman from an uncomfortable amount of column inches. If he hadn’t already clattered Bale twice in previous games then maybe he would have been spared, but his bizarre obsession with Spurs’ star man continues unabated. It’s hard to assess whether his history with Bale is a genuine beef or a strange coincidence. If the latter is true then it may be caused by Bale’s pace – something Adam would admit is not one of his own attributes, who does tend to get caught behind play and commit clumsy fouls.
Ironically, Adam nearly provided Bale with a gift straight from kick off when he gave the ball away to the flying winger in a very dangerous position. His blushes were spared by Martin Skrtel who blocked the resulting shot from just outside the area.
Liverpool’s first attempt came from Jonjo Shelvey on 12 minutes who attempted to bend the ball around Brad Friedel from roughly 25 yards, but he failed to generate the necessary power allowing an easy save. Spurs responded quickly with a shot from youngster Harry Kane which flashed wide of Jones’ goal. An effervescent Adam Morgan then snatched at a shot on 22 minutes after the ball ricocheted to him just inside the area.
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The best Liverpool chance of the half fell to the same player five minutes later, when he sprang the offside trap leaving him clean through – albeit in a slightly wide area. He seemed tentative upon receiving the ball from Skrtel’s long pass and after approaching goal he fired a decent shot towards Friedel’s near post who comfortably palmed it wide. The likes of these moments are clearly good experience for the youngster, who may feel more comfortable when finding himself in a similar situation in future.
By far the best chance of the match fell to Spurs three minutes before half time. Bale found space on the left wing and curled in a teasing right footed cross over Liverpool’s rearguard – one of those crosses that nobody wants to deal with – which bounced past a diving Brad Jones and fell straight to Aaron Lennon three yards out. He was probably surprised to be clean through on goal and side footed his shot against the post.
After a few substitutions, Liverpool began the second half brightly and quickly fashioned half chances for Joe Cole and Nathan Eccleston, the first after bright play from Raheem Sterling leading to a mishit from Cole, and the second after Eccleston skilfully dragged the ball past Younes Kaboul, who could then only aim a tame shot straight at Friedel. On 53 minutes, Martin Skrtel then embarked on a marauding run from a deep position. He found himself just outside the area and managed to aim a curled shot at Friedel who had to stretch in order to make a safe catch.
The loudest cheer of the game came on the hour mark after the introduction of Steven Gerrard and new signing Fabio Borini. Despite an impressive cameo from the captain in particular, neither player could prevent a fairly quiet close to the game. Borini didn’t see much of the play – through no fault of his own it must be said – but did manage to fire a volley wide on 73 minutes. First impressions are that he looks to be an industrious presser of the ball, his level of quality meanwhile will come to bear in the coming months.
Overall it was a dour game where neither side were helped by 35 degree heat and a poor pitch, which isn’t very conducive to good football from two clubs that aren’t used to those conditions and are often spoilt by bowling-green-style playing surfaces. It’s hard at the best of times to pinpoint any outstanding positives in pre-season games, in this match it was probably the accumulation of further minutes for the club’s younger players and it was also pleasing to see Liverpool compete comfortably with a team who finished fourth last season.
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In ordere to move forward, what we have to do is simple. We need to move on spearing (will never be LFC quality), cole (offers little and earns so much, plus he won’t start in d middle and offers very little as a winger), skrtel (he wants to leave), carragher (can’t cope with the pace), doni (not meet for LFC), jones (better he leaves), enrique (overhyped), eccleston, wilson, pacheco. Their sale will generate about £38m in funds and free up about £750k per wk in wages. John W Henry adds another £45m and we sign; butland 6m + gulacsi (35k per wk), amorebieta 7m (45k per wk), vlaar 4m (30k per wk), willems 6m (25k per wk), sissoko 8m (50k per wk), allen 11m (50k per wk), ramirez 16m (55k per wk). Our team will look like this;
GK reina, butland
SB johnson, kelly, willems, robinson, flannagan
CB agger, coates, amorebieta, vlaar
MF gerrard, lucas, allen, sissoko, shelvey, henderson, coady, adorjan
W/WF ramirez, suarez, downing, sterling, suso
FW borini, carroll, bellamy, morgan
No lover of Liverpool but I do respect the club and the Kop but rid yrself of that used condom, Adam: he is now in the Keane, Bremner Fashanu class for deliberately trying to hurt a player. Tough and hard NP Dirty with intent= criminal.
It would be a little less of a problem if Rodgers actually said soimethiung but by noit doing so he is aligning himself with Dalgleish in Henry’s eye. Although TBH IMHO the suarez affair was a load of PC rubbish amplified by the PC media morons.
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After a bad tackle I tend to look at the proximity of the tackler’s foot, at the point of contact, to the ball. Tractor adam’s foot is about half a yard from the ball when he allegedly attempts to connect with it. He also, it’s worth noting, is planting his foot behind the trajectory of the ball as well as half a yard’s distant from it.
One of the reasons why Premiership footballers are able to play at the level they do is that their feet to eye coordination is extremely proficient and their timing generally excellent. It is beyond my comprehension that a professional footballer able to consistently handle the most frenetic league in world football can, at the point of tackling, suffer a sudden and totally inexplicable loss of the faculties which enable him to be on the field in the first place.
I was never a particularly good player. Never got into the school team but I did play over the park quite a lot. I don’t ever remember injuring anyone through mistiming a tackle and my timing can’t be anywhere near as good as a professionals.
How can this be? Either the physiological abilities of top level professionals go through inexplicable peaks & troughs or someones lying.
My money’s on a safe bet; I’ll go with the evidence.