A Career Resurgence For Mario Balotelli?
Mario Balotelli is well known for his attitude problems and lack of effort during football matches. When Liverpool signed the Italian in the summer transfer window, everyone knew it was going to be a gamble, would Mario play well for Liverpool or would he refuse to provide a pressing style of play? Throughout the season LFC fans have been wondering whether Mario Balotelli would ever begin to chase the ball and put any effort in whatsoever, and I think it is …
Bogey Teams | The Epitome of Liverpool's Frustration
For the centuries that this magnificent sport has been played, there is always that ‘one team’. The team that gets you so spontaneously dazzled as to why you can’t seem to break them down. From Tenerife to Real Madrid or Dundee Utd to FC Barcelona, everybody’s had one. Liverpool of course, being the wonderfully brilliant yet brain fart of a team that they are, have had many “bogey teams” over the last number of years.
Looking back over maybe the …
(Raheem Can't Get No) Satisfaction | Sterling Contract Saga
As the seemingly annual Raheem Sterling contract saga drags on into another week, it’s worth taking in the following quote from one of the best man-managers the game has seen:
"You can't be satisfied just because you've achieved something. Satisfaction is the biggest enemy of an athlete." Ottmar HitzfeldBrendan Rodgers’ approach to these situations aligns well with Hitzfeld’s words, as the Liverpool manager always reinforces the dangers of rewarding a young player too early. In his recent comments on …
Improving Liverpool's First Team With Minimum Expense: Part One
Liverpool, and the rest of the English footballing community, have just endured one of the most boring transfer windows ever. Nothing really happened, nobody was even slightly interested in the usual tabloid talk involving player rumours and silly price tags and Liverpool signed nobody - discounting the recalling of Jordon Ibe from his loan with Derby County. Despite this lack of activity, it was obvious for most supporters that there were issues with the squad. A new goalkeeper could have …
Liverpool FC | Go Fourth and Qualify!
The Monday after another three point display at for Brendan Rodgers's Liverpool, and this week fans of the Mersey Reds have got more than a Premier League victory to celebrate. Seemingly, at times, built from crystal, Daniel Sturridge's goalscoring return made it abundantly clear to the home crowd, and millions of football fans worldwide, exactly the kind of potency in front of goal that the Reds had been missing since August.
Sturridge had to wait until past the 70 minute …
Liverpool 2 West Ham 0 - Talking Points: Return of the Dancing Man
The win at Anfield was as far away as you could have got from the disappointment at Upton Park in the reverse fixture in September.
Liverpool dominated and took their chances, while West Ham struggled to impose their own unique brand of physicality on the game and create openings.
In September, Liverpool were effectively bulldozed by a strong and decisive West Ham team on its way to putting together its best ever season. This time round the Reds stood up …
Liverpool v West Ham | Premier League Preview
After an abysmal showing at Boleyn Park, the Reds face West Ham at Anfield Saturday evening. We’ve got a different story to tell this time out concerning form; back in the “wish we could forget it” month of September, Liverpool registered no Premier League wins. In fact, the only 3 points taken from that month came from the 2-1 Ludogorets win that’s scarcely memorable. The Hammers, on the other hand, were just hitting their stride that led to a Champions …
Cup-Tied or Hamstrung? | Liverpool FC
The Magic of the (FA) Cup. We all love a good cup tie, don't we? Every fan, surely, must want to see their team go on a great cup run, musn't they? I mean, winning breeds winning; it's a great way to gather momentum; the players just want to get out there and play; When you're winning you want to win again, and if you're losing, you just want to go out there and put things right. After all, that's …
Wide Box to Box Midfielder | Crucial To Liverpool
The term box to box is used to describe a midfielder who has no specialist role, they're primarily an engine tasked with helping both sides of the teams' game. They're also more commonly found in the centre of the pitch, but could the change of formation to the 3421 formation mean Liverpool could deploy wide box to box midfielders? Midfielders to arrive late but instead of overlapping they'd 'underlap' and take up a position inside of the box that Pablo …
Chelsea v Liverpool | Capital One Cup Semi-Final Second Leg
“Final ball, finish it off. Final ball, finish it off.” I found myself repeating this phrase over and over again during the last two cup clashes of the past week. To be fair, we’ve all been saying it pretty consistently over the course of the season, but never more so than against Chelsea and Bolton.
Last Tuesday, there was a sort of excitement to my voice that I hadn’t really heard since last season. Liverpool attacked and countered hard and …