9.24.2011 Liverpool vs Wolverhampton 2:1 - Important victory to rediscover confidence as Captain Gerrard made long-awaited come-back.

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

Reina
Kelly Carragher Skrtel Enrique
Henderson Lucas Adam Downing
Kuyt Suarez

LFC scorers: Adam '11, Suarez '38

LFC Player of the game:

Suarez – Luis was tired after the midweek Carling Cup tie vs Brighton. He has missed some passes and scoring chances during the game. Yet, he still played very hard and chased around to close down opposing defenders. As usual, even if he didn’t have a good game, he can still produce at least one moment of magic to win the game. The 2nd goal of the game is a sensational goal that showed Luis is a pure genius. He was furious when he was substituted out with around 15 minutes to go, but I think King had made a correct decision as we really can’t afford Suarez to get fatigue and injury. LFC is nothing in attack without “El Pistolero”.

Insights:

As usual, King Kenny used 4-4-2 again even after the poor performance of MF in the 4-0 loss to Tottenham in the previous game. Wolves played 5 midfielders but LFC’s weakness in CMF was not exposed as Wolves do not have high quality CMFs. Henderson was handed another start on the right and as expected, he produced another anonymous performance. With Bellamy and Kuyt combined superbly with Suarez during the mid-week game, maybe it’s time for King to think about giving more playing time for Bellamy, Kuyt and Maxi on the wing over Henderson. The encouraging sign is Carroll has shown improved fitness and great enthusiasm in the game. He played really hard and all he needs is a goal to boost his confidence. I still feel Downing and Henderson have failed to produce scoring chances and decent crossing for Carroll so far. We have simply relied on the flair of Suarez way too often. Highlight of the game was obviously the long -awaited comeback of captain Gerrard after missing action for half year. Gerrard played around 10 minutes but his movement and passing was simply from another planet compared to Adam, Lucas, Downing and Henderson. We really need our captain to get back to full strength soon and by then, we will see a different LFC side with Gerrard produce great passes and crosses for Luis and Andy.

9.18.2011 Tottenham vs Liverpool 4:0 - Humiliation proves LFC can only be 5th in league at best?

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

Reina
Skrtel Carragher Agger Enrique
Henderson Lucas Adam Downing
Suarez Carroll

LFC Player of the game: None deserved!

Insights:

This was the worst loss under King Kenny as a LFC manager ever! LFC has not beaten Tottenham for the past two seasons and not even most optimistic LFC fans predicted LFC can get a victory at White Hart Lane. Losing is acceptable but losing 4-0 really is a humiliation. Had LFC used the right tactics and starting the right players, LFC sure should not have suffered from such a poor start, allowing Tottenham to score early to gain the momentum. LFC team grew frustrated for Tottenham’s domination right from the kick-off and thereby made silly fouls which resulted in the send-off of both Adam and Skrtel. This season, King Kenny seems to be so determined to adopt 4-4-2 to build the team around striker duo Suarez and Carroll that he simply ignored whether 4-4-2 can be effective against big teams in away games. King was also so desperate to prove his cult in the transfer market by giving majority of playing time to new players like Downing, Adam and Henderson instead of the more experienced and established Maxi and Kuyt, hoping that they can adapt and improve quickly to prove their value. Although Downing, Adam and Henderson are decent players, the likes of proven internationals like Kuyt, Maxi and the departed Meireles and Aqualini are considered by many with superior quality. The decisive factor of this game was the difference in class between Tottenham’s MF and LFC’s MF. In the middle, Parker and Modric easily dominated Lucas and Adam. I believe we can never match up with their CMF with only 2 CMF especially without Gerrard being 100% and starting. We should have played 3 CMF and with Henderson or Spearing starting alongside Adam and Lucas to help neutralize Parker and Modric and force them to play with only 1 FW up-front. Tottenham clearly has an edge in the wing as well. Bale toying with CB Skrtel (who is really a CB) on the left wing as Kelly and Johnson were both nursing with injury. King should have played Flanagan instead, but may be King feels more pressure this season for playing this teenager. It’s disappointing to see our only natural winger Downing having trouble facing the high flying Tottenham RB Walker too. The situation got even worse with King’s stubborn on starting Henderson on the right wing even if Henderson clearly struggles in this role. If King was willing to play 4-5-1 and start more experienced Kuyt, Maxi and Bellamy, LFC could have a better result. Spur’s MF Modric, Parker, Van Der Vaart, Bale and Lennon have the creativity, speed and skills that we are lacking of. Sometimes I wonder if King kept Meireles and Aqualini in the side and started both of them along with Lucas, Gerrard and Kuyt, we may have better chance to match-up with Tottenham. It’s hardly a secret King prefers local English players, may be due to his success with English based players in his glory days with Liverpool in 80’s and Blackburn in the 90’s.

Although LFC could have provided a more competitive contest to the rejuvenated Tottenham after their impressive signings during the summer, Tottenham has clearly shown they are superior in quality at the moment. The arrivals of GK Friedel, DMF Parker and CF Adebayor have all improved their weakness areas, even if they all may only be considered to be short-term solutions. Other than Suarez, Reina and may be Gerrard , LFC do not have one area having a cutting edge over this strongest ever Tottenham side for the past 20+ years! If defensive leader Ledley King can stay healthy, it’s hard to see LFC winning over the 4th spot in the end!

9.10.2011 Stoke City vs Liverpool 1:0 - Early season set-back as LFC only has themselves to blame despite questionable referee decisions

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

Reina
Skrtel Carragher Agger Enrique
Henderson Lucas Adam Downing
Kuyt Suarez

LFC Man of the match:

Luis Suarez - the only LFC attacker causing consistent pressure to the rock-solid Stoke's defensive line. Unfortunately, Suarez could not finish off some socring chances despite once again displayed his brilliance in attack in different occasions.

Insight:
There had been obvious questionable calls from referee throughout the game. Stoke may not deserve to win the penalty, but Carragher also needs to look into the mirror as he should have never made similar school-boy error to let Stoke's Walters to take advantage to flop for that slight push. It's not the first time our vice-captain made stupid mistake, remember his error to allow Bolton got a goal back last game? LFC may deserve to win their own PK for some half-handball claims, but LFC has failed miserably in their finishing and final passes. Suarez has been as brilliant as ever, but he has never been provided with enough support. Bellamy has done very well since coming on and King should seriously consider dropping the inconsistent and immature Henderson to the bench. Both Bellamy and Maxi deserve to be starting over Henderson at the moment. Despite the loss, LFC still possess strength in depth to have a good season ahead. We have dynamic and versatile forwards serving different functions. However, what worries me is we still don't have a top-finisher like Ian Rush and old Torres. As sensational as Suarez, he is more of a supporting striker rather than a classic no.9 finisher. We need to be more clinical in front of goal to accomplish our goal- finishing at top 4 and getting back to Champion League!

8.27.2011 LFC vs Bolton 3:1 - Henderson & Adam opened their goal tally as new-look LFC impressed the home crowd!

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

Reina
Kelly Carragher Agger Enrique
Henderson Lucas Adam Downing
Kuyt Suarez

LFC Goal Scorers:

Henderson, Skrtel & Adam

LFC Man of the match:

Henderson - Henderson has been criticized for his performance during first 3 games <2 league games and 1 Carling Cup games> He has been over cautious and afraid of making mistakes, so he has passed the ball to the nearest teammates way too much without trying to create chances. Although Suarez, Adam and Lucas have all been brilliant in this game, Henderson deserved to be Man of the Match. Not only did he score a great goal, but also created scoring chances for Downing and Suarez. Henderson was still young but people have been expected too much from him too soon due to his 20M transfer fee. Henderson should have a good future, but he needs to keep improving.

Insight:
It seems King Kenny will prefer 4-4-2 at home and 4-5-1 in away game. This game has shown that Kuyt is a better complement for Suarez than Carroll. Suarez did not score in this game, but his movement and passing are top-class the whole game. Some of his splendid passes reminds me of passes from Gerrard in his glory days! Liverpool was just a different team with Luiz. He and Kuyt have created so much room and spaces for midfielders to attack. I am delighted both Henderson and Adam opened their scoring account for LFC. Adam and Lucas are sensational in MF and even Henderson was brilliant in RMF role. However, Bolton was playing without Holden and both Muamba and Reo-Coker are work-horse without ball control and playmaking ability. Therefore,I remain skeptical whether Lucas+Adam are sufficient defensively in CMF in 4-4-2. Could 4-4-2 work well without a natural right winger? Henderson played well on RMF in this game, but he is still young and can be inconsistent. I still hope LFC can get a natural right wing before the Aug.31 transfer deadline. Also, I would hope for a striker with speed and finishing. As brilliant as Luiz, as intelligent as Kuyt, as powerful and high-potential as Carroll, LFC still lack of a great finisher. However, defense could be strong now with the arrival of Coates. A new defensive line comprise Kelly, Johnson,Skrtel,Carragher,Coates,Agger,Enrique,Wilson,Auerlio are great in strength in depth! We can be top 2 defensive team in the league this season!

8.20.2011 Arsenal vs LFC 0:2 - Chaotic Gunners commit suicide as LFC won in Highbury first time in a decade!

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

Reina
Kelly Carragher Agger Enrique
Lucas Adam
Kuyt Henderson Downing

Carroll

LFC Goals:

Ramsey (ARS) OG '78, Suarez ‘90

LFC Man of the match:

Suarez - Once Luis and Meireles sub into the game in 71 minute, Liverpool has been a different team. His skills and movement completely frustrated the sorry Gunners defense and ultimately scored the winning goal. King had done right to rest Luis as sub to keep him fresh in this game as he had a tired summer with the Copa America runs. However, it has shown LFC still relied on the magic of Suarez too much.

Insight:

In this away game, King played with 5 MFs with Andy Carroll as the lone striker supported by Kuyt and Downing at the wings. Although Liverpool has shown promises and improvement throughout the game, especially in defense with Kelly and Enrique produced impressive performance in defending Arshavin and Walcott, their attacking plays surrounding Carroll limited to one-dimensional direct long-ball. Had Gunners played without defensive leader Vermaelen, this simple strategy could have still worked more effectively. The game could have been gone 0-0 until the appearance of Suarez and Meireles. Since their arrival, LFC completely changed their plays to pass-and-move. Gunners had no answer and their young gun Frimpong made a silly fouls on Lucas to get send-off. Right after, Gunners handed LFC a free-gift for a careless own goal. With a more balanced squad and greater fighting spirit, it's clear LFC has a decisive edge over Gunners in the race for 4th place this season.

8.13.2011 LFC vs Sunderland 1:1 - Promising 1st half following by a disappointing 2nd half as 4 new players making their debut in new-look LFC

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

Reina
Flanagan Carragher Agger Enrique
Henderson Lucas Adam Downing
Suarez Carroll

LFC Goals:

Suarez ‘12

LFC Man of the match:

Agger – Agger is fit again and he is a quality and complete defender when he is fit. He has good read of the game, decent ball control and great shooting ability. The question is he is very injury prone! With Skrtel currently injured and Kyrgiakos not up to LFC standard, LFC will hopefully get a new CB before the transfer deadline.

Top 5 Insights:

1.It was a pity Suarez missed the penalty to open the score after sensationally earning a penalty for LFC in the opening minutes. (Suarez did make up for his mistake by opening the account with a tricky header.) However, Sunderland’s Richardson should have been send-off when he tripped down Suarez in the penalty claim. On the hindsight, had Richardson been send off in the early going, LFC could have dominated the game.

2. King Kenny started all 4 new players: Adam, Downing, Henderson and Enrique. Although Adam, Downing and Enrique have all shown their quality in the game, it’s clear they need more playing time and training to gel together. People have criticized King Kenny for starting all 4 of them together, but King is clearly concerning more about long-term. He’d rather lost points in the early season by starting all of them at once than taking more time for the new players to develop their understandings by restricting their playing time. Had King care more about instant success, he could have started Kuyt, Meireles and Maxi alongside Suarez. On the other hand, although Sunderland had bought about 7-8 new players, they have only started 2 new players so it’s obvious they have the edge in terms of understandings and teamwork.

3. 4-4-2 was used in the game for the objective of developing the striker partnership of Andy Carroll + Luiz Suarez instead of the more successful 4-2-3-1 adopted in their winning runs in the 2nd half of last season. However, Henderson as the right winger doesn’t seem working so far as he doesn’t have the skills and speed to operate in the wing effectively and he looks for passes too often when he received the ball. Clearly, he is more effective in the CMF role. Also, the partnership of Adam and Lucas in the 2 CMF has shown clear weakness. Adam has shown decent passing and shooting ability, but his defending ability is poor. Thus, Lucas has to take on too much responsibility in defensive duty in the CMF. I think 4-4-2 may not work for LFC and 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1 may still work better with one more CMF such as Meireles and Henderson to help out Lucas and Adam. Suarez may need to play in the wing forward role but I still think a 3 CMF formation suits LFC more.

4. I always like to have a target man like Crouch and Carroll in the squad. It gives the team another dimension in attack as they can attack opponents through the ground or up in the air. However, the single most disappointing area of LFC display in this game is there were simply too much mindless long-balls to Carroll in the 2nd half. LFC should have tried to pass the ball around more to have a better mix of pass-and-move to complement with decent crossing for Carroll like they did in the 1st half. With players like Suarez, Adam, Downing and Meireles, LFC is much more quality than having to rely on 40-50 yard long crossing to Carroll. King Kenny really needs to correct this big tactical mistake from now on!

5. There are concerns that Aquilani didn’t even make the bench and it could be a signal King may sell him before the transfer deadline. I still hope King will give Aquilani serious chances in the coming few games to prove his worth as he is a skillful playmaker with scoring and playmaking ability. I believe Aquilani and Suarez can play well together with their passing skills and ball control. As King said he will give fair chances to everyone in the squad and I hope he will keep his promise!

2011/2012 Premiership Prediction

1 Manchester United
2 Chelsea
3 Liverpool
4 Manchester City
5 Tottenham
6 Arsenal
7 Everton
8 Sunderland
9 Fulham
10 Aston Villa
11 West Brom
12 Stoke City
13 QPR
14 Newcastle United
15 Bolton
16 Wolverhampton
17 Blackburn
18 Norwich
19 Wigan
20 Swansea