February 19, 2011 - Liverpool 1: Wigan1- Missed opportunity as Suarez's shots hit the post and the crossbar in his 1st start...

LFC Player of the Game: Luiz Suarez!!!

Game Summary: With Gerrard and Agger both out injured, Liverpool was forced to switch from their newly successful formation 3-4-2-1- back to 4-4-2/4-3-1-2 having to deal with Wigan speedy wingers. Key players such as Kuyt, Meireles and Lucas got fatigued for the mid-week international friendlies, Liverpool has to rely on Suarez to produce his magic against Wigan in his first start for the Reds and he didn't disappoint! Suarez has been a headache for the Wigan defense for the whole game. With his quick turn, speed and dribbling skills, Wigan defense can only stop him by fouls that provided the Reds several free-kick opportunities. Unfortunately, Suarez's low shots hit the post in the 1st half while his curving free-kick hit the crossbar in the 2nd half that could have turned the disappointing home draw into a 3 point well-deserved victory. Reds has still been undefeated for six games in a row and stayed at 6th in the league. Keep on going, Reds!

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

Reina
Kelly Carragher Skrtel Johnson
Maxi Lucas Auerlio

Meireles

Kuyt Suarez

Goals: Meireles '24

February 12, 2011 - Gerrard declared his career belongs to LFC Forever!

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard admits Fernando Torres broke his heart quitting for Chelsea.
Gerrard, though, insists he bears his former teammate no grudge.

"I was heartbroken," Gerrard told the Daily Mail. "Absolutely gutted. But I also called him after he left.

"There are no hard feelings. I built up a relationship with Fernando and became his friend. He scored some fantastic goals and I have fantastic memories. I enjoyed playing with him. So you can’t go from one extreme to another and fall out with him, start criticising him.

"But he will also understand how I feel. Fernando is a bright person and he will understand that the Liverpool fans are upset as well."

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says he "trusts" the club's new owners.
Gerrard admits he didn't enjoy the final days of the Tom Hicks-George Gillett era.

"The football club is much happier now," he told the Daily Mail. "It’s in a better place than it has been for a few years. We’ve got new owners, who I’ve spoken to quite a lot, who are passionate about what they want to do.

"I trust them, I trust them even more after what’s happened in the last week or so. And the way they’ve acted, coming towards the end of the transfer window, has impressed me. I was a bit wary at first because I was maybe a bit guilty of trusting the previous owners too much.

"This time I’ve taken a bit more time in judging them. But they’ve been brilliant so far. They have put the club back in a good place already and the last three or four weeks have been really positive. We’ve had some good results. The lads are smiling again. I’ve actually enjoyed going to work again."

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says Kenny Dalglish is proving the ideal manager for the club.
Gerrard believes the veteran Scot is simply the right fit.

"It does feel right him being back," Gerrard told the Daily Mail.

"First and foremost, he’s a good person. He’s helped me throughout my career. The advice he has given me, even before coming back as manager. He’s always had time for me. Cared for me. I know how much he wanted this job and I’m just glad he got what he wanted.

"I feel he can take the club forward. As everyone knows, it’s a results business. But so far, so good, and I’d love him to get the contract extended.

"He’s brought everything together. Growing up, my experience of Liverpool was that you don’t hang out your dirty washing in public. For the last couple of years there’s been a lot of bad press. Non-stop.

"That’s not the way we want the club to be run. But Kenny’s come in and he’s lifted the fans and the players. I think you can see that in the determination they have shown in the last few games. The players are certainly playing for Kenny."

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has declared he expects to play out his career at Anfield.
In choosing to reject Chelsea, the bond has grown stronger and, at 30, he now says he will finish his career at the club.

"Since the speculation about Chelsea emerged I’ve been asked that question a lot," he told the Daily Mail. "And I’ve always held my hand up and said, yes, it did turn my head at the time, mainly because of a lack of success that we had had at Liverpool. And the interest was not just from Chelsea. It was from a number of big clubs, so of course it’s going to turn your head.

"But I’m well past that now. Well over it. I won’t be going anywhere else. I’m 31 this summer and I tell myself every day that I made the right decision. I’m pleased because, when I look back on my career, I have no regrets. I would have regretted leaving Liverpool.

"People on the outside, who don’t have the bond I have with the club, may not understand that. They will make judgments and say I could have won my trophies and earned more money if I had gone elsewhere. But that’s not important to me because I still feel I can win a couple more trophies with Liverpool and, if I do, they will mean an awful lot more to me.

"It’s more important for me to share the success I have enjoyed, and hopefully will in the future, with the people who live around me, the people who care about me and love me. The relationship I have with them is that special."

February 6, 2011 - Chelsea 0: Liverpool 1- Take that Torres!!! 4 in a row as LFC gets back to 6th!!!

LFC Player of the Game: Everyone!!! Purely a team effort, but Carragher has been the stand-out as he came back from a 2-month injury and led his defensive line to perfection today, not to mentioned playing key role in shutting-out the traitor Torres highlighted by his signature shot block that denied Torres' potential game leading goal.

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

Reina

Carragher Skrtel Agger

Kelly Gerrard Lucas Johnson

Meireles Maxi

Kuyt

Goals: Meireles '69

King Kenny's New 3-4-2-1 Formation Analysis & Preview of Gameplan vs Torres & Chelsea

Fantastic game vs Stoke. I think we could be better without Torres now as the team commitment and spirit is finally back without the self-minded striker. King's 3-4-2-1 formation remind me of The 3-4-2-1 or 3-6-1, whatever you like to call, adopted in the Champion Final vs AC Milan in 2005.

Reina
Skrtel Kyriagkos Agger
Kelly Lucas Auerlio Johnson
Meireles Gerrard
Kuyt

reminds me of the formation we used in the 2nd half 3 goal come-back vs AC Milan:

Dudek

Carragher Hyypia Traore

Finnan Hamann Alonso Riise

Garcia Gerrard

Baros

I even think King Kenny may watch back those old videos and take some reference from that. Benitez had done countless things wrong, but he did do something right to be fair. However, Benitez sometimes likes to give up something that's working and try some new stupid ineffective idea.The idea of this 3-4-2-1 is to press the opponent midfield, trying to out-number the opposing midfield and aiming for winning the midfield battle. Playing 3 CB can be effective to stop opposing teams with star strikers with one extra defender to perform double-team marking. The lone striker holds up the ball and drops back to assist the 2 AMF with good scoring ability in Gerrard and Meireles (Gerrard and Garcia in 2005) I actually think KING KENNY will use this formation vs Chelsea, but may be Gerrard will drop back to CMF and let Suarez to play in advanced attacking midfield role.

Reina
Skrtel Kyrgiakos Agger
Kelly Gerrard Lucas Johnson
Meireles Suarez
Kuyt

We will face the triple attack of Drogba and Torres with Anelka playing just behind. It's important we have 3 CBs to defend them. In Drogba, Terry, Invanovic and even Essien, Chelsea can have a few players good in headers and it's important that we keep playing K16 along with Agger+Skrtel+Kelly to defend their aerial attack! Chelsea is not particular great in the wings, especially on their right wing side, so Johnson can really attack more through the left flank. If we only play 4 MF, we probably could lose to Chelsea:Essien-Lampard-Malouda-Anelka (or Mikel).. since our MF cannot be as quality or as physical strong, it's important we out-number their MF by playing 6 MF to out-number their 4 MF. We need to press them early and stop them from create chances to strikers, as they don't have great wingers to trouble us, we need to bascially JAM-PACKING the middle, just like the way we battle AC Milan in 2005 final when they have great CMF but do not have wingers! Anyway, I do suggest Gerrard drop a bit deep to restrict the Chelsea MF as I think Lucas+Auerlio won't be good enough vs the Chelsea MF and they could be press and lose possession under the pressure of Essien/Mikel.

In attack, Kuyt may not trouble Terry and Ivanovic much, but his real function is to take Terry/Ivanovic out from their defensive zone and create space for Suarez and Meireles to attack. I think this may be an effective attacking tactics. For sure, when Carroll comes back, he will provide an extra dimension for us in attack.

I 101% support King's 3-4-2-1 plan. May be this won't be only used vs Stoke City, but rather a future plan especially after Carroll is fit. King's know we don't have natural wingers so he may stick with attacking the wing through wing-backs. Playing 1 extra CB, espcially Agger, to lessen our weakness in DMF as we all know Lucas isn't natural DMF and Poulsen is still average even if his form improving. There is no way to fit our new fantastic 4 in Carroll + Suarez+ Meireles + Gerrard with 4-2-3-1 that could bascially keep Meireles to the right MF that will never be effective as proven in some of the Hodgson's game. Therefore, playing 3-4-2-1 will be a great solution as Meireles and Suarez could play together with Gerrard just behind to direct traffic in the CMF, not to mention that even Joe Cole and Maxi can be more effective in those 2 AMF roles (being substitute for Meireles and Suarez) rather than forcing them to play wide on the wings. I do expect Carroll to start once he came back and Kuyt could take turn to start as CF depends on stamina and form.

The wing-backs will be very important in this formation with Kelly and Johnson being major key players in the game plan. When they need a breather, we may see Auerlio playing some more LB again while Johnson can also play some RB if Kelly needs a rest. In fact, when Carroll comes back and start as CF, may be Kuyt can help out a bit in RWB role.

February 2, 2011 - Liverpool 2 : Stoke City 0 - Who needs Torres? 101% team commitment is back as Suarez made delightful bow!

LFC Player of the Game:

Everyone deserved for their hard work (it has been a long time since witnessing LFC players so commited and diligent!!! may be they all want to prove a point to the selfish Torres) but King Kenny deserved 10/10 for his genuis change of tactics to 3-4-2-1 to lessen the effectiveness of Stoke's long-ball tactics.

Summary:

Suarez took 20 minutes to become new Kops' favorite for his delightful touch (including quick backheal-pass and one-two), hard-work, unselfish play, confidence and most importantly, big smile on his face. What's more impressive than a quick debut goal infront of the Anfield faithful even without any practise with the team? Now, we can see BIG SMILE back in every LFC players' and Kops' face. The King has made the weakening defence solid again. Agger is playing like a confident sweeper. Kelly has made the once-troubled right back spot his own as he established himself as a tough defensive stopper. Glen Johnson had no complaints playing on the left, but even focused so much more on defensive duties. Meireles scored none in first 16 games under Hodgson but has now scored 3 goals in 5 games under the King as he was given more advanced scoring midfield role. Gerrard may now settle, even after the departure of Torres, as his childhood idol King Kenny is now fighting with him for LFC revival together. Gone is the genuis but self-minded striker-Torres, who may be one of the very best strikers in the world when in form. However, as evidenced from today's game, everyone seems to have much more freedom and less restriction as they are now working so hard for each other rather than having to restrict their games by the obvious pattern- passing the ball to Torres every time and watching him to perform human highlight show that has become less and less effective as he lost his speed and ability to get past defenders. Now, when Carroll is back from injury, LFC will have a tower presence not only to add great heading ability to the frontline but also to assist all the great scoring midfielders/supporting strikers in Suarez/Gerrard/Meireles. Next come Chelsea on Sunday, time to BREAK TORRES' LEGS!

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

Goals: Meireles '47 & Suarez '79