SO Liverpool fell to their first defeat of pre-season against Celtic in Dublin on Saturday evening in what was dubiously titled the ‘Dublin Decider’. Which would perhaps suggest that the Scottish champions now get to keep the Irish capital.
How the Reds managed to lose this one is beyond me, and I’m sure many of you reading this. Celtic’s ‘go to’ tactic for any side bigger than Aberdeen or Dunfermline appears to be ’10 behind the ball and fluke a goal’ and, sadly, it worked for them.
Liverpool were dominant for large portions of the game however and shouldn’t feel too disheartened by the result. The performance was impressive and when you consider that, while the quality of the Scottish Premier League is pretty turgid in comparison with the English Premier League, this is still the same Celtic side that took points off Barcelona in the Champions League last season.
Sure this wasn’t exactly their strongest side but the Scottish season is already under-way and Liverpool are still looking for form and fitness ahead of the new season starting. With youngsters such as Ibe, Sterling and Wisdom all included and in the absence of some key players, Liverpool weren’t exactly at full-strength themselves.
The defeat will hopefully help the team to regain their focus after a successful and fairly straightforward pre-season so far and while 7 out of 7 would’ve been nice, it could also have been fairly dangerous for the team to go into the first real game since last season ended against what will undoubtedly be a tough, well-drilled Stoke on the opening day of the season.
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From today’s game it is clear that, against sides with packed defences and a bit more about them than your Valarengas and Melbourne Victorys Liverpool still need that extra bit of quality to open up well organised teams.
Thankfully, there is still plenty of the transfer window left to allow that to happen and the early weeks of the season, while the window is still open, should allow the manager to shore up any gaps in his squad.
Also, try not to forget that our two main goal-threats are Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez. One made his first tentative pre-season appearance since injury in the second-half against Celtic and the other is going to be out until the beginning of October. Both will be like brand new signings.
With 6 wins from 7 and 17 goals scored it’s been a successful pre-season for our young, talented squad. There is much promise in this side and should Suarez stay (and regain his positive attitude) and Sturridge regain his form of the second half of last season then the new Premier League season holds a great deal of promise for this club.
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You mean,it was Celtic kids you played againsed.
This was mainly a Development side that Celtic put out, behave yourself and report it in a balanced fashion.
I was at the game and that was celtics second string team. Young Irvine had Stevie G in his pocket. Sorry to say,but you guys are heading for mid table this year unless you buy at least half a dozen quality players…
Celtic may have been lucky to win this one, but to describe this as the same team that beat barca is laughable. There were only 2 established first team players in the starting 11 with nine left in Glasgow. So maybe Liverpool should be worried for the upcoming season if they struggled to break down celtics reserves
I lost count, especially during the Rafa years, when we fekt again like a “european club” .. how many times we joked ” geat trip” ..shame about the match,, but this is much more than just a comment about one match,,typical for a club dominated in its policy by USA’s “media methods” a BIG tour , lots of “commercial opportunites” against mostly weak opposition make the team look better than it is… offloading 14 players so far, selling 3 new kits EVERY summer, and advance cash for tickets…american sponsors, and the dubious ones that exist, anyone who has a global business knowledge know how these people work..
the “accountants disease” …the cutting …of people and departments that “maximises” profit (for THEM) is the aim, anyone who has been through this negative “downsizing ” knows that the victim is often the creativity & alliegence of the body of staff, who then react by protecting themselves instead of the “company” (or Team) as they see colleagues dissected and discarded without feeling..
the hypocrisy surrounding Luis, compared with the way F S G & BR “dumped” Pepe , a GREAT guy, with 8 years at our club, who “dared” to consider an offer from his “home” Barcelona… is just sickening..
“dignity” my a*rse.. the club has had no “dignoty” since many a year, certainly the day Hicks was allowed in was, I thought, a low point, that declined further..
I coach, …and saw the Celts “B” bhoys had fire .. how can we motivate kids, inside or outside of football. when we allow the CLUb that has been in all our lives to be infested by “hedge-funders” who “legally cheat” to get the money, and rip off anyone who gets in their way.
I have never come closer in my life from “walking alone”
Excellent comment. We share your pain
Liverpool will NEVER be a top club under fsg. NEVER !
And certainly not with the inept Rodgers as boss
Great point well made
True . I can’t believe some total thicks think FSG are doing a good job lol. Hmmmp kids !!!
Very honest and insightful comment, The money men are like a cancer they have infected this great club and frankly I can’t see them leaving until they have bled us dry.
Cant see any promise for the coming season. Our squad has not improved at all. The season is already over with these mediocre players
I was at the game on sat and had a great time partying with the celtic fans.
We dominated the game but celtic got a foot to every shot we had. They deserved the win and i think it was a wake up call for us. Why we havent bid for errikson is beyond me, he could be the creative mid that we need as allen is good cover but doesn’t have the final ball. We get balls in the box but never have anyone in there to convert. Only with 10 mins to go did we push forward.
Well done celtic
We need another striker/mf ASAP! The team is short upfront. Suarez is not a certainty, could still leave for real or whatever. Downing is on his way (won’t be missed) and Allen I’m not sure has got what it takes. We need another mf for sure. So far, underwhelmed with business . I’d be happy with another striker.
In one sentence, you got beat by the celtic reserve squad, end of!! Best league in the world, give me peace, maybe now you will stop greetin about pub teams in scotland when you cant even beat a mediocre reserve squad needing their nappies changed after the game, stop embarrasing yourself by writing this drivell!!
Still the same Liverpool.. Here’s to another mid table season.. Sigh
Just hearing that we have sold Downing. Ok so we have sold Jonjo, Spearing, Assaidi will soon be off. I think we are lacking bodies in the middle third, talkless of lacking quality, and with 21 days to go in the window, we need a miracle to improve this team, Suarez or not.
BR is just too sluggish with his transactions. I believe with the right mental attitude, the players can get somwhere even without the stupid Suarez.
We bought 4 players and sold Shelvey, Carrol, Spearing, loaned out Reina now selling downing n maybe Assaidi next so can Fsg or Brendan tell me how we got more dept ib the squad than last season??? We need to buy 3 more Top players before the window closes! I suggest, Sakho-Erriksen-Luis Muriel/Costa and Cissokho on loan.. Then only we can think about Top4. Right now we Mid Table!!! Fsg need to spend and nows the time… Maybe if Suarez saw us buy some top players he wouldn’t have asked to leave!
Bit of info for the trolls on here. Bookies prem sack race. Their experts have rodgers tied 5th safest manager at 25/1. Funny how real football experts rate Rodger unlike the 80% of the posters on here. ( twitter sheep)
Villas boas. 16/1
Laudrop. 7/1
You lot are a disgrace.
Baaaaaa . Little kid who has lost his sheep speaks
Ha ha ha ha . What a dummy !
You really are a sheep without the ability to think for yourself
He actually can’t work out himself how Laudrop is doing a much better job at a much smaller club financially and squad depth-wise, like I said most people just parrott what they read, they are unable to apply critical thinking or analyse a situation.
Guest can you read no?
It clearly states above that football experts have Rodgers as one of the safest managers in the league.
Laudrop is second favourite for the sack only behind pardew who league manager of the year in season 11/12.
They even have avb at 16/1.
But you know better then the experts don’t you. Why don’t you pawn you playstation and get down the bookie.
Ha ha ha ha ha . Football experts ????
Bookies ??? The same bookies who had Southampton and Norwich fav to be relegated last season ?
The same bookies who had AVB fav to be sacked last season
Ha ha ha ha
No sheep you are soooooooooo gullible and stupid
You really are pointless. I won’t reply to any of your trolls(posts) cause by arguing with a clown I will look like one too.
Above was for realist
Little troll with no sheep , you haven’t a clue about football and you make yourself look totally stupid every time you post
You did say ‘suarez isn’t that good ‘ didn’t you ?
Ha ha ha ha
Lol. No sheep – the same moron who said a few weeks ago that Suarez wasn’t that good a player …and we would do better without him. No sheep …no brains .
Why don’t you google my post, then copy and paste it here for everyone to see?
I never said Suarez wasn’t a good player, I pointed out that there are much better players out there for us. Like ones that have a better then average finishing rate. Just cause you need someone to explain it to you is not my fault.
Ok here it is –
For those of you who dont know how childish and stupid no sheep is …READ HIS COMMENT HERE
http://live4liverpool.com/2013/07/view-from-the-kop/lfc-can-no-longer-afford-to-lose-the-transfer-poker-game/comment-page-2#comments
After a load of idiotic hypothetical nonsense he goes on to say , and I quote
“we will genuinely be stronger without Suarez”
“he is a luxury player who simply appeases the fans with the occasional screamer” lol lol
“Suarez is not really that great ” lol
“Suarez takes away from the team more than he gives back”
“Suarez is not good enough and not world class”
LOL LOL LOL
no sheep really is THE dumbest of them all . Go on read it , it will make you laugh
That’s because they understand how Liverpool is operating at the moment, Rodgers will still be here next season if Liverpool finish 8th and crash out of the cups, and do you know why?, its because of fans like yourself, fans who will continue to buy the merchandise etc no matter how bad we get, FSG know this, Brendan knows this and most of the older LFC fans know this. As long as FSG can turn a healthy profit, then success of the club Trophy wise will play second fiddle. And anyone who believes Rodgers is doing a better job than Laudrop are most definitively DELUDED, I mean come on, think about it for a minute. The mere fact that you actually use or read Twitter, says lots about your character.
Rodgers WONT BE SACKED .no matter what !
Rodgers is exactly what FSG want in a manager….cheap and a YES MAN . Someone who will do what he is told……someone who will praise fsg. ….some who will l!e and bullsh it the fans on their behalf
…plus fsg won’t want the cost of compensation and hiring a new manager
Rodgers is the worst manager in the premier league….but will not be sacked
Of course fsg will accept lfc to drop off in to notting cause they are making themselves a profit. How many other owners use this ply?
Also this healthy you speak of?
Why don’t you head into the lfc public accounts that they have to publish every year, and tell us about these profits.
You will find that lfc has been making huge losses every year for a long time.
( back to when rafa was in charge).
Then you might see that fsg has been bank rolling these losses sense they got here and have been trying to turn this club back on its feet.
As for the twitter sheep.
I do not read twitter
But twitter sheep is a group that hear a conspiracy theory and all rally around it cause they can’t form there own opinion.
The opinion usually comes from twitter.
As shown here I post about how experts rate manager job security and the sheep go mad.
You are more and more stupid everytime you post
Ha ga ha ha
No sheep is a 10 year old
Under 7 I would say. Funny though
Your the sheep ! Just doing whatever the club says with no thought of your own
Cant see us getting higher than 6 or 7th. Rodgers has not improved the squad , if anything I would say we are worse than last season
Fenways don’t seem intested in investing , our manager seems clueless and our best player wants out .
Why don’t you check how many of the Celtic side that beat Barca also beat Liverpool? Most were in Glasgow with the feet up whilst the reserves won in Dublin.
1, whether the points showed it or not, after Sturridge & Coutinho were added in January, we were very much in the mix as the 3 – 5th best side from end of Jan to end of season.
2, At this stage, from available players last year, we’ve lost Shelvey, Suso, Reina, Cara as far as players that were semi regular.
3, We have included Aspas, Mignolet and Toure basically is like for like. Not alot lost or gained imo. Have also included Alberto who is a project that i hope not to see alot of this year.
4, Suarez won’t play for us this year and it looks likely that Downing will also leave.
5, We haven’t signed anyone to replace them…
If Suarez and Downing leave and aren’t replaced with 2 x quality players, we are effectively way behind where we finished off last year. This leaves us in a fight for 6th position with Everton.
Hurry up and bring a couple of players or our season will be gone by early October.
We were not 3- 5 from January …we were 6th
from the end of Jan to the end of the season we were comfortably in the top 5 and arguably as good as 3rd best performed side in that period. Why that’s relevant *, is because that was after the additions of Sturridge and Coutinho.
whinging *. Grow up.
Dumb as *as always. Do you ever get.anything right ?
The league table from the end of January to end of season …we were 6th. Get it . No guesses. ..FACT ….WE WERE 6TH
Dumb as *!
Comfortably in the best 5 sides after Coutinho and Sturridge came in. Read back fool, i’m not specifically talking about points which are irrelevant for this year, how we played. Read back tool – “whether points showed it or not”. But you an angry, bitter, tool who is unable to support the club that you follow.
Lol .ozred you are mentally retarded .are you related to no sheep ?
Points are irrelevant ? Lol. What a dumb thing to say
Points are ALL that matters you dope . And we came 6th
If you can’t even understand that points are what matters you are too stupid to converse with
haaaaaaaaaaaaa. you realy are brain dead. Thanks for confirming.
Tell me in what world the points scored last year count for this year you utter flog hole…
What THE F**K ?
Points last year ? This year ?
Are you completely stupid ?
How or where did I say anything like that ?
You being the total idiot you are seem to think points are irrelevant . What a fool
What are you on about ? You are no sheep , yes ?
Ummm oh sorry, your blind… That’s your problem. “I’m not specifically talking about points which are irrelevant for this year”
Is it so hard for your pea brain to understand that last years points r irrelevant come Saturday?
Anything to have a whinge at someone who is looking forward to supporting the team this season.
Stop making false claims just to cover BR’s back.
Br is realy wasting our time he should be more focused on bringing in quality lads like erikson papadopulous a sharp no.9 and a holding no.4 to suport coutinho, instead he is busy worrying about just one playa named luis suarez. Start preparing a life with or without dat *already will ya.
From what I can see so far we are becoming more and more like mid table club. I really hope that our lads will improve a lot more . But then that is wishful thinking.
I am glad and happy B Rodgers has shipped out:
Two dead wood average hardworking players ( Downing and Spearing) out of the 8 dead wood hard working players we had at club that needs to be shipped out this summer: But Rodgers still there are 6 dead wood average players that need to be shipped out by end of transfer window:
1: GK: B Jones
2: RB: J Flanagan
3: CB: Coates
4: AM: Pacheco
5: RWF/ RW: Assaidi
6: FD: F Borini
And then the owners need to Give B Rodgers £50-£80M to spend on players whether we keep or sell L Suarez.
And then these class quality players should be brought to the club this summer for now and Future:
Defensive players: 5 Defensive players: For next 3-6 years
1: GK: A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading for £4-£8M To compete with Mignolet
2: CB: T Alderwierld(23) Of Ajax for £7-£9m To compete with Agger(28) and Toure(32)
3: CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke for £12-£15M to compete with Skrtel
4: A Cissokho(25) Of Valencia for £3-£5M to compete with Enrique
5: Y M’Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan for £10-£14M to compete with Lucas
4 Attacking players: for the next 3-6 years
6: AM: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£14M
7: RW/ RWF: J montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in mexico for £4-£7M
8: LW / LWF: B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle for £10-£14m To compete with Aspas and Ibe
9: FD: L Muriel(23) Of Udinese for £10-£14M to compete with Suarez and Sturridge
Those players would get our club back in the top 4 and in champions league again, theose 9 players would bring class, quality strength and depth in every position at the club,
And with those 9 players brought to club, we could even have an outside chance of challenging for the league, if all the 6 dead wood average players are shipped out and the 9 class quality players are brought to the club. And if Suarez is kept at the club, then with those 9 class quality players brought into club and we can keep hold of suarez, then we would become a force in world football again.
Oh good idea… I haven’t heard that one before
Braindead oz strikes again