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Excellent Reds Pre-Season Taking Place In Poland & Ukraine

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IT may be a bit unpatriotic of me to treat my country’s gallant efforts to win the championship of our continent as simply a bit of intensive mid-season practice for Liverpool players, but that is indeed one way of looking at it. Compared with the Houllier era it still seems rather an embarras de richesse to have six players in the national squad; I remember week after week after week when Stevie and Carra were the only English players on show.

But it’s going to be necessary to hit the ground running when the season starts in August, and all this top-level competitive practice will do our chances the world of good. Have you seen the new fixture list? First three games at Anfield are last year’s top three; champions Citeh, the Arsenal, and the Toxic Sludge. Now, what’s our points target from those three games? Do I hear seven? Six? Five at least, surely. Essentially, we’ll have a clear read-out on the success or failure of Project Fortress Anfield by early September (and don’t forget Brendan’s home record with Swansea; it knocked spots off ours). Just as well that our guys are getting a proper run-out during the summer.

And it’s looking good. At the end of last season we were beginning to see what Andy Carroll can do when he gets his pony-tailed turnip on the end of a cross; it could just be that he’s starting to make a habit of it. And Glen Johnson has certainly justified his selection at right-back; he’s been thoroughly reliable in both aspects of an attacking full-back’s role, and more than one commentator described him as the best player on the pitch in the Sweden match. And Stevie continues to exert his quiet dominance as always – who the **** is Frank Lampard anyway?

And it’s not just the England contingent who’ve shown the way forward. Daniel Agger’s tournament may be prematurely over, but he was awesome in the Danish defence, even in defeat (and it’s no shame to lose 2-1 to this stupendous German side).

We may be theoretically only the eighth best side in England, but we’ve got players who can cut it at the very highest level. If Brendan Rodgers can really get the best out of them, and get them playing compatibly within a clearly understood concept of style, I don’t see why we shouldn’t make top four. (Although I’m prepared to accept that it may take more than one season to get the machine working really smoothly.)
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However the Euro’s turn out, I think they’ll have been a good thing for Liverpool. I recognise the dangers of players having to give of their best virtually all the year round – especially as we’ve got a very early start to next season, due to having to wade through Europa League qualifying rounds. And one thing we really need is a bit more luck with injuries than we had last season.

So I hope the lads get a really good rest in July, and recharge the batteries. And let’s hope too that our South Americans are working towards peak fitness too, and that Lucas’ knee is back to its original pristine indefatigability. (It’s only Liverpool fans who spend time on their knees praying about someone else’s.)

So let’s enjoy the Euro’s, in the hope that club and country do equally well out of them.

(Shame Torres is doing rather well though. And Meireles. And there’s always be a tug at the heart-strings when I see Xabi Alonso being his excellent self….)

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2 comments

  • kagu says:

    I think we could expect much more than 5 points in those games, 7 or 9.
    Even last season (which the porrest since …) we won a lot of top games.

  • Cipriano says:

    But as far as I remember we only got 2 out of the corresponding games last season….

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