10/11 LFC recap: Liverpool 1 : West Brom 0- An unsatisfactory victory.

What I like:

- Liverpool finally won their 1st league game. It's not a comfortable win as every fans expected , but LFC cannot afford to lose any point after only getting 1 point out of the first two challenging games.

- Torres continued to show improvement in his race for fitness and form. His goal is an encouraging sign and let's all hope Torres can stay injury-free this season and get back to his best gradually.

- Gerrard is playing as AMF behind Torres in this game and he has made some good passes despite failing to open his account in the scoring department in the league.

What I don't like:

- With Gerrard being pused up-front as AMF due to the suspension of Joe Cole and injury of N'Gog, Poulsen and Lucas are the starting pair in the CMF and their combination resembles the last season ineffective Mascherano + Lucas combo, which could never work as both are work-horse without creativity. New signing Merieles will soon play an important part as CMF/DMF in Xabi Alonso's role upon getting ready for action for the Reds. If Gerrard assigned as AMF in the future, Meriles will play as CMF to propvide much needed passing with either Poulsen or Lucas carrying on their work-horse DMF role.

- With Kuyt and Jovanovic not providing serious attacking threat in the wing position and natural CB Agger failing to provide any overlap run from the LB position, LFC has been relying too much on Glen Johnson to provide wing attack from the RB position. LFC may need a CF, but they sure need a natural winger when transfer window re-open in January.

Best moment:

During the 2nd half, GK Reina made a great long-throw to Kuyt who made 1-2 with Torres before making an accurate low cross to Torres to finish his sensation one-timer volley.

Worst moment:

There were certain periods of the game when West Brom looked like the more likley team to score the 1st goal of the game.

LFC Player of the game:

Despite far from fully fit, Torres proved to be the most dangerous attacking threat for LFC.

Starting Line-up: <4-2-3-1>

Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Agger
Lucas Poulsen
Kuyt Gerrard Jovanovic
Torres

Goal: Torres (LFC)

10/11 LFC recap: Manchester City 3 : Liverpool 0- A failing experiment....

What I like:

- Nothing other than Hodgson's willingness to be more adventurous by playing 4-4-2 even in a very tough away game against Man. City. If he attempted 4-2-3-1 defense + counter, Liverpool could still have failed against a very strong Man. City side at home. At least, Hodgson is willing to introduce new idea to the team. Fans should give him time as it's clear the team is still in re-building stage.

What I don't like:

- Plenty.... With Mascherano refusing to play for the team and Poulsen still needs time to settle, Hodgson was forced to start poor Lucas in CMF. With Hodgson seemingly already given up on Aqualini as he was loaned to Juventus, Gerrard needs to drop back to CMF role. Without the suspensed Jole Cole and natural wingers, Torres and Ngog were not supplied with scoring chances.

- Agger struggled as LB and LFC really need to sign a LB quickly. As much as we need a quality forward to partner Torres, we need a natural winger badly. Now Mascherano must go, as he affected the lockroom spirit as well. We need to get $ from his trasnfer to get a CF,LB and WG.

Best moment:

None. Appreciate Hodgson's bravey in playing 2 up-front in away games. We need to play more attacking football in away games in the future. However, we need to get natural wingers and a good CF to partner Torres.

Worst moment:

Another Reina's mistake in the 2nd goal. Hope he will regain his form and confidence. Skrtel's penalty concede is silly!

LFC Player of the game:

Gerrard plays well and he was unlucky not to score as his shot hit the woodwork as LFC tried to come back from a 2 goal deficit.

Line-up: <4-4-2>

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Agger

Kuyt Lucas Gerrard Jovanovic

Ngog Torres

Goals: Tevez 2, Barry (all Man. City)

10/11 LFC Recap: Liverpool 1: Arsenal 1- Stunning red for Joe & Shocking blunder from Reina!

What I like:

- Liverpool has organized their defense very well under Hodgson. Carragher, Skrtel and Agger have shown they can be a reliable defensive trio as Arsenal failed to create many good chances despite winning the possession.

- N'Gog continues to improve as he scored a sensational goal after scoring three important goals in Europa League qualifier during last 2 weeks. He should now be top back-up for Torres ahead of Kuyt and Babel until we get a higher quality striker. N'Gog almost scored a header but was unlucky to be cleared off by Gunners' defender.

- Mascherano still plays hard and keeps great form even if he expressed his desire to leave England for Inter or Barcelona. Until LFC receive geniue offers from those big clubs, here's hoping Mash can keep fighting hard for the team.

- Gerrard may not play many supporting striker/attacking midfield role this season as Joe Cole will take the supporting role for Torres. Gerrard will play in deeper role in midfield as the midfield general, a role that Alonso used to serve two season ago. I like what I see so far.

What I don't like:

- Joe Cole should have got a yellow card as his tackle is not intention. Yet, it's an unnecessary silly tackle. Certainly, this is a debut game to forget for the sorry Joe Cole as he will now serve 3 game suspension beginning from next game vs Manchester City! In fact, Gerrard also made some stupid tackle and was lucky to escape a yellow card in the 1st half. Here is hoping both Gerrard and Cole avoid silly tackles in future games.

- LFC still doesn't have natural winger. Kuyt and Jovanovic have done well, but both are scoring midfield operating in the wing and neither is natural winger who can attack through the flank and use the width effectively. I would prefer to see Maxi start on right and only either Kuyt or Jovanovic start in games together.

- Torres is back but it may take considerable time for him to get back to his best form. LFC must sign a quality scorer to upgrade the fire-power up-front.

- LFC is extremely unlucky. When will "bad luck" disappear from our team? How can Joe Cole and Reina both been so unlucky in the game.

- Agger already hurt? I hope Mash is okay too. Where the hell is Aqualini?

Best moment:

N'Gog great goal in 2nd half to help 10-men Reds take the 1-0 lead.

Worst moment:

Joe Cole's red card or Reina's blunder... you take your pick.

Man of the Match:

Mascherano: if he will leave LFC soon, he is making sure he will leave on a high. Mascherano provided perfect display in defensive role in this game and even made an important assist for N'Gog goal.

Lineup: <4-4-1-1>

Reina

Johnson Carragher Skrtel Agger

Kuyt Mascherano Gerrard Jovanovic

J.Cole

N'Gog

Sub used: Torres, Lucas, Maxi

Goals: N'Gog 47', Reina own goal 90'

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Liverpool Part III

Positional Analysis:

Goalkeeper:

Reina is rated as the league top keeper. I am not sure if he is the league best as he is still too short for catching high crosses in English league, but he is certainly the quickest, most agile keeper as well as world's no.1 penalty stopper. Hodgson seems have no trust in back-up GK Cavalieri and thinks Hungry GK Gulcasi is too young. Middlesbrough Australian GK Brad Jones should soon join LFC as the no.1 back-up keeper.

Central back:

LFC has 4 key central back with different strength and weakness. Vice-captain Carragher has the experience and durability, but is getting slower every year and remains a liability in defending header. Slovakian CB Skrtel is quick and aggressive, but like Carragher, he needs a big presence to partner him for defending header. Danish CB Agger is versatile and possess good ball control with a powerful long-range shot, but is prone to injury and careless mistakes. Greek CB Kyroiakos is big and strong and is a ariel threat at both attacking and defending ends, but is slow on his turn and could face porblem against quick strikers. Therefore, it is crucial for playing the right combo against different teams. Against teams with small and quick strikers, Carragher and Skrtel is the preferred pair. Against teams with two tall and big central forwards, Agger and Kyroiakos can be an effective pair. However, most teams tend to possess a quick forward and a big striker, the most logical combo is either Carragher and Skrtel partner with Agger or Kyroiakos, depending on their forms. Young Scottish CB Danny Wilson and Spanish CB Ayala can also help out in CB when the team is in big injury crisis, but should be featured mostly in less important Cup games to earn experience.

Right back:

Glen Johnson is England no.1 RB due to his attacking ability, but he still has great room for improvment at defending. Although he is one of the top class attacking wing-backs in the league, he could face fierce competition from young local defender Martin Kelly. Kelly is a natural CB but can play as both RB and LB. He is big and strong at 6'3', atheletic and could trun out to be rising younster in the club.

Left back:

At the moment, LFC is still looking for a starting LB. For now, Brazilian Auerlio and Danish CB/LB Agger should compete for the starting LB spot, although Danny Wilson and Martin Kelly could also be in contension. Auerlio had a great 2008/2009 season, but never could stay injury-free throughout his LFC career. He is an intelligent player with good positional sense, passing skills and a better free-kick taker in the team despite his lack of presence and strength. left-footed CB Agger has been used as a LB near end of last season and has done an adequate defending job, especially improving the team ability in defending high crosses and headers.

Defensive midfield:

With Argentina captain DMF Mascherano soon joining either Inter Milan or Barcelona, Danish veteran DMF Poulsen, Hodgson's favorite, is signed as a direct replacement. Poulsen is slower and older, but he is taller than Mascherano and do have better passing abilirty than Mascherano. He is very familiar with Hodgson as he has played for him 10 years ago in Danish league as he started his football career. Brazilian DMF/CMF Lucas will be used as a reserve DMF/CMF this year instead of starting 90% of LFC game least season. Although Lucas is small as a DMF in English league and never earns his trust from majority of LFC's faithful, he has shown steady improvement. Although I believe LFC should try to sell him for transfer funds, but I won't be too unhappy if he stays as a substitute as he is a high energy and hard working player.

Central midfield:

With Joe Cole joining the team and given a more central role, captain Gerrard could drop back as a CMF in a deeper role similar to his early football career instead of playing as a AMF, a role he gets familiar for the past 2-3 seasons. Without Xabi Alonso, LFC needs a midfield general to connect the defense and attack. As a complete footballer, Gerrard has great ability in short pass, long pass, defending and shooting. Although playing a further deep role could reduce his scoring, this scraifice cold actually benefit the team as a whole. The Italian injury-prone CMF/AMF Aqualini had a disappointing debut season at LFC last year, but should play a key role this year. He is creative playmaker with great passing ability, but was wrongly used as Alonso's replacement in a deeper role by Benitez last season. Aqualini could still have trouble in the physical English league, but he should have a much improved 2nd season either as a back-up CMF for Gerrard or back-up AMF for Joe Cole. 18 year-old English CMF Shelvey is an all-around midfield who can play in both defensive and attacking role He has shown maturity beyond his age with good passing ability and he could turn out to be the surprising player of the year for LFC in his young debut season.

Right wing:

Kuyt has been transformed as a RMF under Benitez and now has been playing winger role for club and country. Kuyt is slow as a winger and doesn't have the dribbling ability, but he is one of the most durable and diligent players in the World. He rarely gets injury and tired and is an ultimate warrior and team player. Assigning him to play as 3rd star attacker to support Gerrard and Torres could be a tough task, but he now can play his part in the team with less creative and scoring pressure with Jole Cole and Jovanovic joining the team. Still, Kuyt should play more as a back-up forward or reserve-role to provide energy from the bench. Against most teams sitting deep in their own half, LFC should start Argentina veteran RW Maxi Rodriquez, as he is more of a natural winger. Maxi is not quick but he is very intelligent with great attacking movement. Maxi had a respectful debut season with LFC and should provide Torres more support as the right wing thanks to his understanding with Torres back in the days when they played in Madrid together.

Left wing:

Serbian LW Jovanovic has joined for free as a replacement for Riera. Jovanovic is not a natural winger but he has been a great scoring LMF with great ball control and scoring ability. Jovanovic has won several personal honor in Belgium league, but may take some time adapt to the fast-pace English game. LFC may still need a natural left-footed winger to support Jovanovic. Although Maxi, Kuyt, Babel, Joe Cole can all support LMF role, none are left-footed. Ryan Babel is used as a LW by Benitez, despite described himself as a nautral striker. It's hard to tell what role will Hodgson assign to the disappointing Babel yet. At the moment, the versatile Maxi should be Jovanovic's primary 1st choice back-up.

Supporting striker/Attacking midfield

Joe Cole was used as a winger in Chelsea and England team for majority of his career. However, in an interview with Joe Cole, he revealed that his preferred and natural role is central attacking role, a position he hasn't been playing much since his West Ham days. The key reason why Joe Cole has choosen LFC instead if Arsenal or Tottenham could be due to Hodgson's agreeemnt with him to provide him the freedom to play in the central attacking role. Joe Cole's performance and health will be the decisive factor for LFC's fate this year. Hodgson is a big fan of small creative supporting striker in support for a natural no.9 central forward. Although Jovanovic and the unselfish Kuyt can also play as a 2nd striker, Spanish young sensation ST Pacheco could be given fair amount of playing chance in this role. Pacheco is agile, skillful and talented. He has been the top scorer for Spanish under 19 team in under 19 European Championship this summer. Although many Spanish teams want to take him back home, Hodgson has given a no.12 shirt to Pacheco and it could mean a role promotion for the Spanish youngster. In away game, when LFC wants to play more defensively, either Gerrard or Aquilani could also play as a AMF/ST to support the lone striker.

Central striker:

Every LFC players, coaching staffs, fans is looking for a injury-free season for Torres. When in-from, there is no doubt tha Torres is the no.l striker in the league along with Chelsea's Drogba. Howevere, there has been heavy criticism in the team for relying too much from Torres. Whenever Torres out injury, LFC has lost countless due to lack of fire-power up-front as Keane and Crouch has both been wrongly sold by Benitez while Kuyt, Voronin, Babel and N'Gog have all failed to provide scoring quality for the team due to various reasons. One of the key objectives for Hodgson is to come up with a back-up plan in case of another Torres' injury disaster. With the team still has to wait for funds to get in a quality scoring back-up or scoring partner for Torres either from the sale of Masherano or the investment from new owners, French young CF N'Gog is now playing a key role as a temporary starter for Torres as Torres still needs time to get back to full-fitness or a key back-up scoring threat. While N'Gog still has to learn to hold up the ball and stay on-side, he has shown steady improvement in finishing chances as shown by his 3 goals scored in Europa League qualifier during the summer and his sensational goal vs Arsenal in the season opener.

Starting line-up:

<4-4-1-1>

Reina

Johnson Carragher Agger Aurelio

Kuyt Gerrard Poulsen Jovanovic

Cole

Torres

Other key back-up:

CB Skrtel, CB Kyrgiakos, CB/LB Wilson, CB Ayala

CMF/AMF Aqualini, DMF/CMF Lucas, CMF Shevely,CMF Spearing

WG/AMF Maxi

CF N'Gog, ST Pacheco, FW Babel

Prediction: Top 3!!!!!

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Liverpool Part II

New manager: Roy Hodgson favors 4-4-2 at home but still could play 4-2-3-1 in some away games. Under Benitez, Liverpool plays lone striker formation most of the time even against lower ranked teams in the league, leading to countless draw games due to over-conservative approach. Hodgson is a traditional English manager who understands that height and strength are important elements in players to succeed in English league. This explains why he'd rather got rid of some short South Americans from the team but prefer to acquirie Scandinavians, who can be effective in English games and can be bought at bargain prices. In replacing the soon-to-go Mascherano, he took little time to sign Dannish veteran DMF Poulsen and attempted to bring Finnish LFC legend Hyypia back to Anifield. Hodgson is a fan of 4-4-2, focusing on keeping the team shape and pass-and-move. He likes players helping each other in pairs: 2 central back, 2 central midfield, wing backs making overlap runs to help out wingers, a tall center forward partnering with a quick,little supporting striker. In the defense end, he emphasizes on hard work and man-making rather than zone-defense in defending set pieces. Unlike Benitez, Hodgson is a player-coach with focus on good relationship/communication with his squad and keeping a happy locker room with great spirit and haramony. He respects players and believes no one single player is bigger than the team. He is honest and dislikes to make excuses for mistakes. He doesn't believe big money can buy success. He can work with limited budget and still keep the team competitive. He may not have achieved big success in his management career so far, as most of his past teams are non-title contenders. This season, Liverpool actually has a competitive team with quite a few quality and experienced veterans in the team, as evidenced by having the most number of players playing in the World Cup among all English teams. If he can bring out the best from his players, get in a few useful squad players to improve the bench and keep his key players healthy with the help of the new sports science team, Liverpool should be able to challenge for top 4 with a serious Cup run.

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Liverpool Part I

Liverpool's reign under Rafa Benitez finally came to a close after suffering from an unforgiven 7th place finish last season. Comparing to the season before last season when Liverpool gained 2nd place in a tight title race with Manchester United, last season result is simply too hard to accept as the team also lost out the Champion League spot.

The following is the summary of major Rafa's weaknesses and failure as LFC manager.

1) The Loss of Xabi Alonso: Xabi Alonso is the chief midfield general in the heart of LFC's midfield. Rafa should be blamed for provoking Xabi 2 seasons ago when he tried to sell Alonso in that summer. After his best LFC season in 2008/2009, Alonso decided to leave the team and join Real Madrid. Rafa had spend 20M on Italian CMF Aquilani as replacement for Alonso, but the Italian is simply a different type of player and has also been sidelined for majority of season with long-term injury. Without Alonso, Rafa's favorite formation 4-2-3-1 can not function effectively. Yet, Benitez insisted on using 4-2-3-1 in almost every game. Eventually, Rafa started 2 DMF Mascherano and Lucas together but this arrangement quickly proved to be the major downfall of the team. Lucas and Mascherano are both hard-working players without good passing ability. Opponents can focus on trapping the ball from LFC's own half, as neither Lucas nor Masherano can distribute the ball to up-field to Gerrard and Torres to initial attack.

2) Forcing players to fit his system: 4-2-3-1 was adopted even without Alonso: In truth, Benitez should have switched the formation to 4-4-2 with either Mascherano or Lucas partner Gerrard in the CMF. However, Rafa refused to change and keep forcing players to play out of their natural positions. (e.g. Babel is a wing forward but was forced to play as a natural wing)

3) One dimensional approach: The tactics of Benitez is pushing his whole team to press all-over oppoents for the whole match. Once the team wins the ball, their priority is always to pass the ball quickly to Gerrard and Torres. There isn't any passing-movement and attacking tactics. Opponents can easily block the passing path to G8 &T9 and assign more players tightly mark them out of the game. The simple attacking tactics is too "one-dimensional" and relying too heavily on G8 and T9. No wonder whenever either or both injured, the team simply has no alternatives in attack. There is simply no Plan B in Benitez's mind! All he can do is blaming their injury and complained about no money given by owner to him to buy more stars. Why the hell do people called Rafa's as Tactical Master! It must be a joke!

4) Ignore the flair factor; too much emphasis on hard-work and efficiency: Rafa loves hard-workers even if playing too many of them at a time can reduce the skills-level, flair and creativity of the side. This is why Lucas, Mascherano and Kuyt are always his favorite. Yet, playing together too much also means less attacking flair. During his LFC career, Rafa never spend more than 8M on a natural winger; yet, he was willing to spend 16M on DMF Mascherano.

5) Rafa's tactics is too conservative: 4-2-3-1 is a good formation in Cup games or away games especially against quality opponents. However, at home, LFC should try to get more victories even if it means increasing the risk of goal concede. LFC has lost uncountable points only because Rafa refused to play more forwards to support Torres up-front at home. Too much pressure and responsbility has been assigned to Torres as he was always left alone in lone striker role in way too many games. It's not a surprise Torres has been suffering from horrible injury one after next way too often!

6) Rafa's football philosophy fits Spain/Italy & Cup Competitions, but not England & League Competitions: The clear evidence is he never understands why LFC always concede free-kicks, corners kicks and headers. It's all becuase of his insisting on Zone Defense. Zone Defense is an effective defensive tactics in European football, but never works well in England. Rafa's negative football "lone striker+defensive oriented+counter attack" are perfect for Cup competitions, but it will never work for league competitions. It's seems Rafa still could not understand! Rafa's direction in getting more South American players to compete in Englsih league is also wrong. Players like Mascherano,Lucas,Insua are simply too short for defending headers.

7) Buying too many average players: Although Rafa signed good players like Reina, Agger,Skrtel,Masherano,Kuyt,Torres, most of his signings have been over-priced failure. For so much $ he spend on the youth, there wasn't many obvious rising talents came through the ranks. Although he complained about owners not providing enough transfer funds, he has made too many mistakes in transfer. But he will never admit!

8) How can Rafa sell Crouch and Keane? Yet, Rafa still had Babel, Voronin and N'Gog last season. Torres simply had no help in forward position as Kuyt was gradually transformed as a WG and slowly losing his confidence in finishing.

9) Rafa seems to be a Perfectionist... he never praises his players... Nothing wrong about he demands so much from his player as a way to strive for improvement, but he is a hard person to get along... an opposite of "player's coach"....

10) Final but not least....Don't give full credit to Rafa for 2005 Champion League Victory....only Alonso and Luis Garcia out of the CL champion squad were bought by Rafa with the whole team bought in by Houllier.... yet, after the Champion League glory in 2005, Rafa quickly destruct majority of the team winning heros... In between the 2005 Champion League win up until last season, all Rafa achieved are a FA Cup, Champion League runners-up in 2007 and 2008/2009 Premier League runners-up... Rafa is a "Total" Failure!


Enough is enough... Kick the stubborn, disgusting Rafa out of here! Here comes new manager Roy Hodgson.....a true Players' coach... a new era for Liverpool... and possible new ownership this September... As a die-hard, life-long LFC fan.... there is finally brightness at the end of the tunnel !!!!!!!

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Manchester United

Despite losing C.Ronaldo and Tevez, Manchester United still lost to Champion Chelsea by only one point in a tightly fought title race last season behind a career season from Wayne Rooney as he scored 26 goals in 32 games. The current Manchester United squad is not the most talented pool comparing to most of their past league champion sides over the last 20 years; however, Ferguson is one of the best managers in the world in making average talents "over-achieved"! Such statements is not an understatement of Man.Utd. players' quality, but rather a true compliment and tribute to the experienced "old fox" Alex Ferguson. Player to player, Man.Utd. could be inferior to Chelsea, Arsenal,Liverpool and Manchester City stars. A great evidence is that only Vidic, Evra, Parks, Rooney, Hernandez making the South Africa World Cup this year. (with Ferdinand and Nani out injured) Yet, under Ferguson, Manchestered United can play at incredibly high effectivness and efficiency with great organization, tactical awareness, understanding and passing-movement. With less attacking quality in the side, Ferguson has the ability to trun the team into a rock solid defensive team with effective counter attack. Without the individual brilliance of C.Ronaldo, Ferguson still managed to guide Portugal WG Nani and Ecaudor WG Valencia play to the best of their ability and produce highly effective attack from the wings. Even losing star DMF Roy Keane for retirement with replacement Hargreaves never been able to avoid injury, Ferguson still capable of developing Scottish CMF Fletcher into an efficienct hard-working DMF and switching formation to play 2 DMF to lessen the weakness in DMF position. At the age of 35-36, club veteran heros Giggs and Scholes still manage to provide great leadership, goals and assists for the team at key moment through effective substitution and game time management under Ferguson. As the board facing growing financial problem with less transfer fund making available, Ferguson and his scout team still managed to get in young talents such as Brailizan wing-back brothers Fabio and Rafael, Mexico FW Hernandez,Italian FW Macheda with local talents such as MF Gibson and N.Irish CB Evans coming through the ranks quickly. Whatever problem the team has to face, Ferguson always have the answer in leading the team sustaining at very top level in the league.

Manchester Untied once again is the top favorite to win the league this season. However, without Tevez and C.Ronaldo, the team has been relying too heavily in the scoring ability of Rooney up-front. Last season, the team has kept a tight race with Chelsea until they lost Rooney through injury near end of the season which immediately led to loss of important league points with title chance fating away. Therefore, Ferguson has acquired talented Mexico star FW Hernandez to improve the depth in the striker area and he could well be one of the surprising finds of European football! Still, the performance of disappointing Bulgarian FW Bebertov and FW Michael Owen will be the the decisive factor for the team's title race as Rooney sure needs much more support up-front in a long hard season and ever competitive premier league.

Although the team did not get in more talents to strengthen the squad especially in CB (as Ferdinand gradually injury more often) and CMF (Fletcher,Carrick,Scholes,Anderson CMF combo is not quality enough for Champion League), the Red Devils remains the most balanced , well-coached and consistent team with a great mix of veterans and youngsters among all title challengers. As youth development has always been an intergal part of the team, the new Premiership home grown player rule should favor the team compared to the likes of Chelsea and Man.City. In conclusion, Red Devils has a great chance to re-claim the league title, but should expect to face fierce challenge from Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. Will Ferguson, Giggs and Scholes get league title before their farewell season which should come very soon? (as a LFC fan, I sure hope not!)

Strongest line-up: <4-3-3/4-2-3-1>

Van Der Saar

Brown Ferdinand Vidic Evra

Parks Fletcher Scholes

Valencia Rooney Nani

Prediction: Champion! (warning: my prediciton is always wrong! )

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Chelsea

Chelsea was the Premiership champion last season after edging out rival Manchester United by one point in ex-AC Milan manager Ancelotti's debut season. The key players in the team all reached their peak which includes Drogba, Lampard, Anelka and Ashely Cole as they broke Premiership historical record by scoring over 100 goals in one single premier league season.

However, there are several factors not favoring Chelsea's championship chance for this coming season. As majority of Chelsea top players have reached 30+ (Drogba, Lampard,Anelka), their form will only go downward gradually. Although all three have had excellent 2009/2010 season, they sure need more bench help with the team also focusing so much on Champion League- a competition team owner Abramovic have never won. Yet, Abramovic's wealth is dropping fast with the current economic cricis and he cannot afford to bring in big names like he did in the past. Added the new Premiership home grown player rule, Chelsea is now forced to cut down some of their important foreign players in order to make room for their local young players to fill out the squad. Yet, for the past several seasons, Chelsea had been so desperate for instant glory that they never pay much attention in developing their young players. Under the league new home grown player rule, every Premiership club must possess at least 8 players among their 25 squad with their football career experienced under English or Wales football system before 21 year old regardless of their nationality. This new rule could hurt Chelsea's type of team the most with majority of their squad being foreign players who were well established in other European leagues before they joined Chelsea.

The departing key players include free-agent English AMF Joe Cole, Portugal CB Caravalho, Portugal CMF Deco, Germany CMF Ballack and Brazil RB Belletti. So far, only Brazilian MF Ramires and ex-Liverpool Israeli AMF Benayoun have bought in as replacement. While Brazilian MF Ramires could make positive impact for his tireless run, he does not possess the passing ability of Ballack and Deco. Benayoun is one of the most under-rated playmaker in the league, but Joe Cole is younger and a higher quality attacker. Among all departing players, Caravalho will be a sure miss. Captain CB John Terry has slowly declining every season and his poor form could be more easily exposed without the under-rated and consistent Caravalho cleaning up his mistake at the back. In addition, star LB Ashley Cole is chasing hard by Real Madrid and he could also want to leave Chelsea to join his former boss Mourinho.

Although Chelsea still possess a quality and experienced team with the backbone of Cech-Terry-Essien-Lampard-Drogba, Chelsea has less depth with majority of their aging players soon pasting their peak. With their young players Kalou and Mikel have shown no sign of major improvement, Chelsea could decline faster than most people could imagine. Make no mistake, Chelsea will be challenging for all trophies again this season, but could eventually end up with nothing unless Drogba can stay injury-free and have another super-human season. However, it won't surprise me if Chelsea could drop out from top 3 with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool all having younger and hungrier players. After their glory days, Chelsea could soon step into transition period.

Strongest line-up: <4-3-3>

Cech

Bosingwa Alex Terry A.Cole

Lampard Essien Ramires

Anelka Drogba Malouda

Prediction: 5th !!!!

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Arsenal

There is simply no other team in the Premiership playing such entertaining attacking football like the Gunners under Wenger, the 2nd longest serving manager in the Premiership history only behind Alex Ferguson. After leading the club winning the most trophies in the Premiership history only behind Manchester United, Wenger has not won Arsenal any major trophy in recent years as he refused to spend money to buy big name players for instant success. Wenger never wants to make Arsenal to become the next Chelsea/Manchester City. He loves to acquire unheard youth players at low price, train them and help them to reach their potential. Wenger also refuses to play physical style, but instead he always wants his team to play in the most "beautiful" way- pass-and-move and skill based football. Although Wenger has made Gunners the most fascinating team in the league, his stubborn "perfect" football theory and over-patience on waiting for his young players to improve has made the team "trophy-less" since the departure of their star veterans Henry,Vieria and Pires. Now, the fans and the board starts to lose patience in Wenger.

Last season, the patience of Wenger on his talented young squad almost paid dividend. Arsenal had been in title race of majority part of the season. Eventually, the inexperience of their young players and their lack of quality depth to step in for injured top players once again cost them their title chance. Undoubtedly, Arsenal has the attack quality to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea, as they have always been among the top scoring teams with star attackers such as Spanish AMF Fabregas, Dutch FW Van Persie, Russia ST Arshavin, French AMF Narsi along with super youngsters England WG Walcott, Mexico FW Vela and England AMF Wilshire. At this moment, there is simlpy no other teams in the league with such attacking class. However, there remains 4 key weaknesses in the team. How well can Wenger solve these weakness can determine whether Arsenal is ready to challenge for the league title this season.

1) Van Persie is one of the most injury-proned star in the league. When healthy, Van Persie is one of the highest quality forward in the world. He has flair, skills and finishing. However, whenver he got injured, he could be out for an extended period of time. Wenger previously replaced him with Bendter and Arshavin in CF role without much success. This summer, Wenger has brought in one of the very best free-agent in the market- Morocco young rising in French league FW Chamakh, who could bring power and quality up-front.

2) Defensive midfield is never convinced. Wenger has transformed the team from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 to strengthen defense and free-up Fabegars in attacking midfield role. Although Diaby, Song and Denilson have all shown steady improvment, none have been consistent and reliable. Their performance and growth this season could be a decisive factor.

3) With the departure of Gallas and veteran Sol Campbell, who will partner the impressive Belgium CB Vermaelen at central of defense? Gallas and Campebll have both been declining and Weneger did the right thing to get rid of them; yet, their experience could also be important. Fortunately, Vermaelen had surprising great debut season. Considering to his 5'9' height, he had the ability to win headers at both ends and proved to be one of the stars last season. Relatively unknown French CB Koscielny was bought in as starting partner with Vermaelen. Wenger sure knows French talent, but will he be the answer? Still there is not enough quality depth in the CB position.

4) GK Alumunia is not a champion quality goalkeeper. Van Der Sar (ManUtd), Cech (Chelsea), Reina (Liverpool) and Hart (ManCity) are all superior goalkeeper. Do Arsenal need a better goalkeeper?

Although Gunners have obvious weaknesses, Wenger has again refused to "press the panic button" by getting in instant transfer help. Could this stubborness once again cost their title chance? Liverpool and Manchester City both have no Champion League football and may have an edge over Arsenal this season. However, there is no way either team can develop better team-work and passing-movement than Wenger well-coached side, because Liverpool Hodgson will only make his debut season while Mancini has bought in too many new players and sure need time to develop the understanding among players.

Strongest Starting Line-up: <4-2-3-1/4-3-3>

Alumnia

Sanga Koscielny Vermaelen Clichy

Song Diaby

Nasri Fabregas Arasavin

Van Persie

Prediction: 4th

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Tottenham Hotspur

Harry Redknapp has proved to be one of the English finest managers as he led Tottenham to qualify for Champion League first time in their club history as they finally broke into Premiership top 4. Over the years, Tottenham has been an inconsistent team in that they can be brilliant in certain games especially against some top teams but only fall right down to earth swiftly in the following games when they could easily lose silly points against bottom teams. Throughout their premiership history, Tottenham has been one of the most dangerous attacking teams in the country with the likes of Lineker, Gazza, Klinsmann, Ginola, Sheringham, Bebertov and Keane. Yet, they never have a stable defense and a hardworking defensive midfield. To address these weaknesses, Redknapp has signed Honduras DMF Palacio, the key X-factor in the team's revival. In defense, Tottenham has been relying on Ledley King and Woodgate, two of the highest quality English CB. Unfortunately, both are also the most frequently injured players. To Redknapp's credit, he was able to bring out the best of English CB Michael Dawson, Brazilian GK Gomes and Wales LWB Bale to tiden up the defense, as all have shown steady improvement. With improvment in defense, Tottenham still carry on their tradition with great quality in attack with Croatian AMF Modric and Kranjcar provide creativity to the attack that already includes domestic talents such as WG Lennon, RMB Bentley, CF Crouch, FW Defoe along with Irish FW Robbie Keane and Russia CF Pavlyuchenko. There are different attacking options providing variety of attaking threats: speed (Lennon), skills and flair (Modric), finishing (Defoe) and ariel threat (Crouch). Although the team has not made any squad improvment so far during this summer, Tottenham already has a deep and balanced team with two good players in every position. The only missing piece may be they still don't have a superstar in their team like Torres, Ronney, Drogba and Fabegars to edge out top teams in important encounters. Yet, Tottenham will certainly be challenging for top 4 again. However, with the team invlove in Champion League this season, they may find it harder to focus on the league. With Liverpool and Manchester City both improving without the Champion League distraction, Tottenham could miss out the 4th spot eventually.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-2>

Gomes

Corluka Dawson King Bale

Lennon Palacios Modric Kranjcar

Defoe Pavlyuchenko

Prediction: 6th

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Manchester City

Since the takeover from Dubai Group, Manchester City has quickly become the richest football club in England, even if not the richest in the world. The objective of the owner is clear- to win the league as soon as possible and takover Manchester United as no.1 team in city of Manchester by acquiring the best football talents possible. Two seasons ago, the team has broken the British transfer record by signing Brazilian ST Robinho at 32.5M. Last summer, major acquisition included big names from rivals ex-Arsenal Togo CF Adebayor and Ivory Coast CB Kolo Toure, ex-Man. Utd. FW Tevez, ex- Aston Villa England CMF Barry and ex-Everton CB Lescott. From their player acquisition, it's easy to see that their plan is not only to strengthen their own squad talent pool, but also to weaken rival's squad quality. Yet, do spending big money means instant success? We can look at Real Madrid in recent years and they have yet gained any success in Europe in recent years despite buying all the big names. To display the players' true potential and lead them to play as a collective and effective unit, a top manager is essential. The key reason why Chelsea could achieve sucess so quickly is not because their Russian owner spend big on big-names, but more due to the hiring of Mourinho as their manager. Despite rising to 5th place last season, the Dubai owner is clearly not satisfied. Although Italian manager Robert Mancini's performance has been superior to his precedent Mark Hughes, Mancini will probably be given no more than half season to show the owner that he is the right man to lead City to become the team in England! This could also apply to the squad as the owner's demand is skyhigh. Will this pressure be a motivation or a burden for the team?

Unlimited spending spree is again provided to Mancini this summer. So far, Mancini has been going at the right direction for majority of his transfers. Instead of adding more skillful individual stars, hardworking and team-oriented players have been the focus of transfers as Mancini understands that winning team tends to possess unselfish hard workers fighting for the team. (For example, in the past, French DMF Makelele has been the X-factor for Real Madrid, Chelsea and France. He is someone who doesn't demand the ball and personal glory but perform all the dirty work for his star teammates. Since losing Makelele, Real Madrid can never win major trophies for many years) Despite acquiring at relatively over-price as expected, Barcelona Ivory Cost DMF YaYa Toure, Hertha German DF J.Boateng and Lazio Russia LB Kolarov all seem to be efficient players who can make the team hard to beat. English hard-working WG/MF James Milner should also soon be joining to further improve the team work-rate and efficiency. To improve the team creativity and flair in midfield, Valencia Spain star AMF/WG David Silva has also been acquiried. Combining these new signings with the existing talented squad make Manchester City the deepest team in England. In fact, the team currently has too many players that Mancini need to off-load some of their good players like Wayne Bridge and Wright-Phillips! On paper, they now have the talents and depth to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea. Now it all depends how quickly can new players adapt to English football and how well can the team play under Mancini. Since Manchester City do not invlove in Champion League like Man.Utd., Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, they are the dark-horse to win the league title, but it certainly won't be easy. If their owners unwilling to stay patient and provide time for the team to develop teamwork and understanding, but instead over-demand and blindly spending on more big-names, then City will never reach their dream.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-2>

Hart/Given

Boateng K.Toure Lescott Kolarov

Milner Y.Toure Barry D.Silva

Tevez Adebayor/Robinho

Prediction: Top 3

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Aston Villa

Although Martin O'Neill never led Villa to seize a top 4 spot, he has made Villa a very organized and competitive side. For the past three season, O'Neill has led Villa to finish at 6th spot for three successive seasons. Initially, O'Neill was given fair sum of transfer fee to build up the depleted Villa squad. Instead of spending on star foreigners, O'Neill has shown his old-schooled British manager theory by spending millions on acquiring many domestic rising players, such as WG Ashley Young, DMF Reo-Coker and recently MF Milner and WG Downing. There is nothing wrong to build the squad around domestic talents which is especially logical given the recent premier home grown player rule. However, it also may indicate limited knowledge of O'Neill about foreign players. Villa now has a full squad of up-rising English talents knocking on England national team door; however, most of them are England bench and fringe players. With the current squad of over-priced domestic players, they find it hard to compete with the big six with variety of foreign talents in their team. O'Neill is a competent tactical manager, especially good at designing counter attack and his strategy of attacking through the wing is very effective. Yet, the team remains somewhat lacking in bench depth and also they do not have a reliable scorer as target man Carew and Heskey can hardly combine 15 goals per season.

Now O'Neill has just announced his resignation from the club, Aston Villa could soon sell their last season best performer James Milner to Manchester City and club's biggest assets Ashley Young. Although this could mean the club can obtain money from these player sale for player transfer, the Villa owner has no money to improve the club and more key players could gradually leave the club. Whatsoever, the club must try to strengthen its depth. With no help from the bench, Villa always run out of steam around last 2 months of the season and tend to lose from 4th/5th spot to 7th/8th at the end. Therefore, strengthening the bench is essential for Villa to remain at 7th to 8th position, let alone fighting for the top 6.

Strongest line-up: <4-5-1/4-3-3>

Friedel

Cuellar Davies Dunne Warnock

Agbonlahor Petrov Reo-Coker Sidwell Downing

Carew

Prediction: 8th or lower

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Everton

What can we say about David Moyes? Although he has never been provided with adequate funds by the Toffees board, he has led Everton to stay in the top 5th to 8th place in the ever fiercing premier league for many seasons. Moyes is another great Scottish manager like Ferguson and McLeish, a great motivator and always make Everton very hard to beat. Everton never play fascinating football, but they has been very consistent and never give the league Big 4 any easy game. The team is built from solid defense over the years. The departure of Lescott and the injury of Jagielka has undermine the team defense, but Moyes had been able to replace them with French CB Distin and Dutch CB Heitinga. The midfield has a nice mix of all-around midfielder (Belgium CMF Fellaini and Auiss AMF Tim Cahill) and flair (South Africa winger Pienaar and Spanish AMF Arteta). Yet, the key weakness of the team is they never have a reliable scorer who can give them 10+ goals on consistent basis. Nigeria FW Yakubu has experience but is too injury proned. French veteran FW Saha had a rejuvenated season, but has past his prime. Instead of given millions to spend to improve on their major weakness, Moyes again needs to make his magical bargain purchase on Leeds United Division 2 top scorer, rising Englishman Beckford. His performance will be vital in Everton's fate this season. Compared to the top 6 teams, Everton has a thinner squad, meaning that an injury to any of their key player could have a severe negative impact on the team. If they can stay injury-free, Everton could reach as high as 6th place.

Strongest line-up: (4-2-3-1)

Howard

P.Neville Heitinga Jagielka Banies

Bilyaletdinov Fellaini

Arteta Cahill Pineaar

Beckford

Prediction: 7th over Aston Villa

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown - Birmingham City

If Fulham was the surprising club of Europe last season, Birmingham City was certainly the most amazing team in England last season. Birmingham City did not have a deep team with household star players and most fans even considered them to be a relegation favorite. To everyone surprise, Birmingham was very competitve and hard to beat. Their Scottish manager Alex McLeish may not be the second coming of Alex Ferguson just yet, but he had done a wonderful job in making Birmingham very well-organized and hard to beat. What Birmingham City has been relying on is team defense, resulting in some important 1-0 victories. Considering their whole key squad merely composed of local English and Scottish veterans such as MF Lee Bowyer, FW Kevin Phillips, FW McFadden, CMF Barry Ferguson without any quality foreigners, McLeish has done an unbelievable job to lead the team to 9th place finish. The question is if they can keep up with their outstanding 2009/2010 season. Usually promoting team can surprise in their first promoting season, only to see them slip up quickly down to Championship Divison the following season. In an attempt to improve the team's limited attack, they have signed Serbia 6'7' giant CF Zigic to provide an extra attacking dimension. With great team spirit and coaching, I still expect Birmingham to stay put in premiership but they likley will finish below mid-table as West Ham, Newcastle, Fulham and Sunderland could all improve.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-2>

Taylor

Carr Ridgewell Johnson Murphy

Larsson Bowyer Ferguson McFadden

Zigic Jerome

Prediction: Survival - Mid-table

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown- Blackburn Rovers

Under manager Sam Allardyce, Blackburn Rovers is a hard fought side that not many teams enjoy playing, similar to Stoke City and Wolves. Allardyce is a dirty manager in that his troop will make physical hard fouls at all cost to get result. Allardyce has been one of the most efficient managers in the league in managing limited budget. Since domestic players are relatively more costly and over-priced, Sam loves to get in lessor-known and bargain-priced foreigners. However, with the introduction of new premiership home-grown player requirment, Blackburn may now face some trouble as majority of the key squad being foreigners. The team do possess hard fought players such as Congo CB Samba and Irish DMF Andrews, but they do not have skillful creative players nor a reliable goal scorer. They rely heavily on Allardyce's strength in efficient set-piece tactics and Senegal veteran WG Diouf in drawing foul for creating set-pieces. Their attack is so one-dimensional that sometimes even giant CB Samba needs to go forward to support attack. Althought the team does have some growing young foreigners such as French CMF N'Zonzi and Croatia FW Kalinic, Blackburn will soon be involved in relegation battle without new player acquisition, despite finishing 10th last season.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-1-1>

Robinson

Emerton Samba Nelson Givet

Diouf Andrews N'Zonzi Pedersen

Dunn

Roberts

Prediction: Survival

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Stoke City

It's not exaggrate to say the most difficult side to face in the premiership is Stoke City! Ask the league big 6 teams, there is no one wants to play Stoke especially at Stoke home ground due to their old-school traditional English style- a team with tall and strong players playing long ball and extremely physical style. When teams want to play the ball on the ground, Stoke will ruin your game plan. Once Stoke gets the ball, they will kick the ball up high. Tall strikers will be on the receiving end, using their height and muscle to win the ariel battle. The most disgusting secret weapon for the team is their super-long range powerful throw-in from Irish veteran utility man Delap. His throw-in is as powerful as a free-kick/corner-kick and opposing always needs to stay alert of Delap's long throw-in. This kind of ruby like style is the secret formula for Stoke's steady survival in the league for the past few years. In fact, they have even improved to 11st place with some more experienced and talented players gradually coming in comparing to their deubt premiership season, such as experienced veterans CF Beattie, WG Entherington and Turkish ST Tuncay. Although teams have now get used to coping with their long-ball tactics, Stoke remains a competitive side despite their generally low-skilled players in the squad. Another successful survival season is anticipated.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-2>

Sorensen

Huth Faye Shawcross Higginbotham

Delap Whitehead Whelan Entherington

Fuller Tuncay

Prediction: Survival

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Fulham F.C.

Fulham was the surprising club of Europe last season when they advanced all the way to the Europa League Final, upsetting the likes of Werder Bermen and Juventus. Manager Hodgson was voted manager of the year as he worked his magic to guide the team to unbelievable success, bringing out the best out of under-achieving CF Zamora and helping veterans WG Duff and CMF Murphy to gain back their old fresh form. The club has been focusing their effort in Europe all season, but still achieved a respectful domestic league finish at 12nd. However, manager Hodgson has moved to Liverpool and his replacement is Mark Hughes, a big name in football but never convince me as a quality manager. His track record with Wales and Manchester City never convince me. Yet, the key core of the team established by Hodgson remains in tact, with under-rated talents such as Australia GK Schwarzer, Norway CB Hangeland and USA AMF Dempsey, three of the best players in the league in their respective positions. The team may not experience a similar successful run in Europe like last year; however, they can enjoy an improved domestic league run with less long hard European journeys. Mid-table is a likley finish, competing with the likes of Sunderland, West Ham and Newcastle.

Strongest line-up: <4-2-3-1>

Schwarzer

Pantsil Hughes Hangeland Konchesky

Etuhu Murphy

Dempesy Gera Duff

Zamora

Prediction: Mid-table

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Sunderland F.C.

Considering the amount of money Sunderland has spend for the past few years since their promotion season, Sunderland should be considered as a "failure". Their result never matches their spendings, huge attendence, and home staudium "Staudium of Light", one of the largest in the country. After the Roy Keane's disaster experiment, the highly-respected Steve Bruce was appointed last season but still failed to lead the team reaching first half of the league table with a disappointing 13rd place finish. The key cause of the problem was Roy Keane's wasteful signings during his era when he locked up long-term contracts with some over-priced players, making the team seemingly too deep but in reality lacks of capable quality to fight with the top teams. Steve Bruce has now gradually improved the team. The team mainly built up from English domestic talents such as CB Turner, CB Anton Ferdinand, DMF Cattermole, WG Richardson and FW Darren Bent. Granted that newly signed Argentina RB Angeleri and Paraguay AMF Riveros are both South American full-internationals, the team still needs 2-3 higher calibera star foreigners to bring that extra quality to establish the team to be a consistent top 10 team in the league fighting for the Europa League qualification. A mid-table finish is not out of question with their deeper squad than most rivals but hard to see them get beyond 9th position nevertheless.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-2>

Gordon

Angeleri Bramble Turner Richardson

Malbranque Cattermole Riveros Zenden

Campbell Bent

Prediction: Mid-table

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Bolton Wanderers

Bolton endured another struggling season, but was safe for premierhship stay at the end thanks to the arrival of Burnley highly-rated manager Owen Coyle during January. Before his appointment, the team was generally weak on the creativity area without funds to acquire talents and relied heavily on the height and power of strikes Kevin Davies and Elmander. Upon his appointment, Coyle intelligently loaned in Arsenal, future English sensation AMF Wilshere and Chelsea young winger Weiss. Now, with both youngsters returned to their orginal teams, Bolton could face the same old problem. Fortunately, Bolton has successfully made a key free-agent signing in ex-Man. City Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov, who could turn out to be one of the signings of the season. Although the team has several under-rated domestic talents such as CB Gary Cahill, DMF Muamba, LWB Matthew Taylor as well as Korean future hope RW Le Chung-Yong, they still do not have a graruntee 10+ goal scorer. Unless the team can get in a high quality striker, they will continue to struggle and hardly could reach mid-table.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-2>

Jaaskelainen

Steinsson Cahill Knight Taylor

Lee Chung-Yong Muamba Davis M.Petrov

Davies Elmander

Prediction: Survival

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Wolverhampton Wanderers

Under Irish manager Mick McCarthy, Wolves has been playing like an Irish team. The team does not possess premiership level talent, but there is never any team in the league enjoy playing against the never-say-die Wolves. Under McCarthy, players are very disciplined, work hard for each other, use the width of the pitch effectively and making dangerous crosses from the flanks. Sometimes, this kind of team relying on fighting spirit can survive in their first promoting season, but they tend to struggle and lose the relegation battle swiftingly without talent reinforcement in their 2nd season. Wolves is a young team and players can certainly improve. However, in the ever competitive premier league, Wolves should face a massive struggle this season in my opinion, because eventually the team just does not have enough depth and quality while hard-work alone is never sufficient in premiership.

Strongest line-up: <4-4-2>

Hahnemann

Foley Stearman Craddock Elokobi

Knightly Milijas Henry Hunt

S.Fletcher Doyle

Prediction: Regelation

2010/2011 Premiership Countdown: Wigan Athletic

"Giant Killer" which upsets top teams but is extremely inconsistent and keeps losing points to bottom teams. Under Spanish manager Roberto Martinez, Wigan plays skill-based football with under-rated atheletic and skillful players, unlike most traditional long-ball English teams . Martinez had been great in player recuritment in his debut season last year. Players like French WG N'Zogbia and Colombia CF Rodallega are great bargain buys and now being chased around the league. However, the team lacks the depth and veterans with English top-flight experience to fight for higher position in the preimership. They are the 2nd worst defensive team last season and now even lost key CB Bramble. This summer, Martinez has signed a couple of foreigners, including two Dutch defenders Alcaraz and Ronnie Stam, as well as Argentina CF Boselli, who won 2 caps for national team. How success will the team be this season will very much depends on how fast the new foreigners settle into the team and whether the 2 Dutch defenders can quickly improve the team sorry defense. With so many relatively unheard foreigners in the team, the team could either surprise doubters or keep being inconsistent and disappoint.

Strongest starting line-up: <4-2-3-1>

Kirkland

Stam Alcaraz Caldwell Figueroa

Thomas Watson

N'Zbogia J.Gomez Moses

Rodallega

Prediction: Survival

LFC 2010/2011 season new signing #4: no.33 Jonjo Shevely

18 year old English young star CMF joined LFC from Charlton after LFC won the his signature against several top premiership clubs. Shevely was actually signed by Benitez before his termination for his talent as well as local player status. Shevely is described as a complete CMF who has great vision in passing, energitic and possess great confident in his game even at very young age. In fact, his game style was compared to Gerrard's style during his young career. He has been playing a leader role for Charlton in Championship 1 before his arrival.

In the pre-season friendly so far, Shevely has been one of the best performers for LFC. He certainly fits the CMF role with greater passing ability than Lucas and Spearing. Obviously, Shevely adapts to English game even better than Aquilani. I can see Shevely obtained a key bench role for LFC in his debut season and surpass all expectation as most people may only regard him as a future prospect. Shevely will be future LFC star but even for now, he will also play an important part in LFC for the 2010/2011 season.