Liverpool FC - This is our time

An LFC LFC story. Good luck


1000th post.

Liverpool FC have announced the sacking of Welsh assistant manager, Colin Pascoe. Pascoe and Brendan Rodgers' partnership had been in place since the Northern Irishman's spell in charge of Swansea, and he decided to bring his right hand man to Anfield with him when he left The Liberty Stadium. Pascoe played for The Swans during his playing career, and it is widely rumoured that he will return to Wales, and to his former side. Pascoe was thought to be sacked due to a falling out with his boss, and reportedly sought a compensation fee from John W. Henry as a parting gift, which he reluctantly forked out. £575,000 was enough to see Pascoe terminate his contract with the club.


Rodgers and Henry have worked hard together to bring a replacement in quickly. Steve Clarke, recently sacked from West Bromwich Albion as head coach, has been chosen as Pascoe's successor. The Scotsman actually had a stint at Liverpool as a first team coach under fellow countryman Kenny Dalglish, but left the club following the arrival of Brendan Rodgers, and had actually handed his resignation into the club following the termination of Dalglish's contract. He was credited for a turnaround in Liverpool's season, and strong defensive showings were seen during his time as coach. He joined West Bromwich Albion in 2012 as head coach, and led his side to an impressive 8th place finish in his first ever season in charge of a club. He was praised for the loan signing of Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea, another of Clarke's former employers. He was sacked by the board, in shock circumstances, with The Baggies' chairman instead preferring to obtain the services of Spaniard Pepe Mel.

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In other news from the Liverpool staff room this week, the club have also announced the return of former player and Ballon D'or winner, Michael Owen. He is the second ex-Liverpool player to join the youth coaching side this week, with the appointment of Jamie Carragher earlier exciting fans of the club.

Lucas Leiva Departs Anfield

Liverpool FC are saddened to announce the departure of Brazilian midfielder, Lucas Leiva. The 26-year-old left Anfield yesterday, after giving a tearful farewell message to supporters.


Brendan Rodgers was very firm when French side Paris Saint-Germain first came knocking - the Northern Irishman wouldn't settle for anything less than £31 million in an initial enquiry by Laurent Blanc's side, and the club were more than happy to part with this cash, in exchange for a player who Leonardo Araújo, who currently holds the position of Director of Football at Parc des Princes, believes "possesses a great amount of ability, and Leonardo, also from Brazil, made him feel welcome into his new surroundings when Lucas stepped off of the plane when he arrived in Paris.


Before he left Anfield, however, Lucas Leiva called our offices to ask for a final interview before he left the club for good.




Not long after this interview, Lucas shook his manager firmly by the hands, and several Liverpool fans lined Anfield Road when they had heard the news. As Lucas says, he didn't start off his career with Liverpool so brightly. Having joined from Grêmio in 2005 for a fee of £5 million, he came into a lot of criticism from Liverpool supporters, which many sports journalists thought was unwarranted. But as time passed, he began to play more and more games for the club, and eventually won a place in many of the fans' hearts, and it seems that the club have won a place in his.

Not surprising. It's good money for him, but you should get an equally good replacement.

Italian wonderkid Mario Pugliese has finalized a move to English side Liverpool, and will move to the club in time for the first pre-season games.


The 17-year-old central midfielder is the first player to join the club in this transfer window, and Brendan Rodgers is delighted to have snapped up his man.


"It's surprising. Definitely. We thought that Mario would have chosen another club, rather than us, but he hasn't and he is here. I think the fans will be in for a very pleasant surprise in the future when he really begins to develop - and I don't think that there is a better place to develop than right here at Liverpool. Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen will be working with Mario a lot over the next few months, as we feel it is important that he is pushed to his limits in training if he is to become the player he is tipped to be. I think that it is too soon for him to be loaned out, so he will definitely be getting a lot of games for the youth sides, and the reserve team. I also want to give him and João Teixeira a few games in the senior squad over the course of the season - I think that you will definitely see the two feature at some point for us."


Liverpool warded off interest from several top European clubs, including the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United and Atlético Madrid in order to sign the youngster, who joins from Atalanta for a compensation fee of £650,000.


"Being completely honest, we weren't thinking about interest from other clubs initially. When Ian Barrigan [part of the scouting team at Anfield] warned me about rumours of other teams bidding for Mario, I acted instantly to change the contract that we offered him, and I think that that is the reason that he chose us."

Wow, a very good signing there, Pugliese is definitely one for the future.

Rose and Rodrigo make Anfield switch

Liverpool have announced two signings for the club. English fullback Danny Rose signs from Tottenham to fight for a first team place with José Enrique, and Spanish winger Rodrigo, who can also play as a striker.


Rodrigo costs the club £9.5 million, and sealed a five year contract with the team yesterday. He has plenty of experience playing in European competitions, with Benfica reaching the Final of the Europa League last season, only to lose against Chelsea. The 22-year-old, born in Brazil, began his career in Spain, signing with Celta Vigo. His talent was quickly recognized by Real Madrid, and the Spanish giants snapped up Rodrigo on a free transfer. However, after a year playing for Madrid's reserve teams, Rodrigo was sold to Benfica for a fee of €6 million. The player does in fact have Premier League experience, with Benfica deciding to loan him to Bolton Wanderers, where he impressed. The next couple of seasons saw him make a push for first team football at Benfica, and he produced some wonderful displays and scored 16 goals in his debut season in which he played 38 matches.


It is thought that Brendan Rodgers will use him as cover for the suspended Luis Suárez, but the length of the contract that he signed suggests otherwise, with others believing that he will be a key figure at Anfield over the period of his contract. It will not be easy for him, however, with the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Iago Aspas also fighting for a first team place, but Rodrigo will surely be included at several points during the campaign. Liverpool beat French side AS Monaco to his signature.




The other player to join Liverpool is Danny Rose, who joins from Liverpool's league rivals Tottenham Hotspur. He has cost the club slightly less than Rodrigo, at £6.75 million. The player has impressed many at youth level for the England national side, and had a good spell on loan with Sunderland last season. He will now challenge first team regular José Enrique, and local youngster Jon Flanagan for a starting spot. The 23-year-old, born in Doncaster, has also signed a five year contract with the club.

Y u no start Flanagan

Wow, more class signings there! Rodrigo is very promising.

BVB have announced the departure of German winger Jonas Hofmann on a season long loan to English Premier League side Liverpool. As part of this deal, Liverpool can purchase the 20-year-old at any time during his loan spell for a fee of £14 million. Hofmann signed for the club on a free transfer from Hoffenheim, and spent several years in our reserve team. It was not until recently that the coaching staff here really recognized his potential, and he began to get more chaces to prove himself to the manager.


He has made appearances for the German national side at youth level, and was subject to loan offers from fellow Bundesliga sides Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen, as well as Greek champions Olympiakos.


We feel that Jonas will get some important match experience during his loan spell in England, and even if Liverpool do decide to make a bid for him, we will wish him well, and benefit from the profit that will be made on him. However, we hope that Jonas remains with us for the future, and we wish him luck on his loan.

Rumours Emerge of Liverpool bid for Townsend

An inside source at Tottenham Hotspur has revealed to Sky Sports that Liverpool FC had agreed a deal to sign English winger Andros Townsend - only to pull out of the deal later on. Despite terminating the loan of left winger Victor Moses, on loan from Chelsea (and also fullback Aly Cissokho, on loan from Valencia), Brendan Rodgers decided not to go through with the deal, as a loan move for Jonas Hofmann was completed days before. The fee agreed was thought to be around the £8 million mark, and Townsend would have been the second Spurs player to join Liverpool in a matter of weeks, with fullback Danny Rose completing a move to Anfield earlier in the transfer window.


Neither Tim Sherwood or Brendan Rodgers were willing to give a comment on the speculation, and Townsend, 22, also refused to speculate over whether or not this was true. Townsend began his career at White Hart Lane, and really started to show his potential last season, during a loan spell with Queens Park Rangers. Manchester City were also thought to have held an interest in the winger.

"Marquee Signing" announced by Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers has signed what he calls Liverpool's marquee signing, and the Northern Irish manager intends to use the position that his new man plays to alter the formation that the squad will use. Following the departure of Lucas Leiva to Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool have been left short of options to play the defensive midfielder role. They were left with a lot of cash to burn after the sale of the Brazilian, however, and have made a big signing - an attacking midfielder, which Rodgers says will remove the need for a defensive midfielder in his tactic.


Joining from AS Roma for a fee of £17.75 million, Miralem Pjanić becomes Liverpool's most expensive signing of the window. The Bosnian playmaker, 24, was courted by rivals Manchester United, but The Red Devils did not make an official bid. Rodgers claims that Pjanić was a target whom he had had his scouts watching for a long time now, and that he was delighted to finally get his man.


One man not so impressed by the new signing, is Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson, who tells us that on hearing of the arrival of the new signing, went to Rodgers' office to seek assurances about his role in the squad.


"Obviously I'd like to welcome Miralem. Don't get me wrong, it's great to see the club signing such talented players. But I worried that I may be ignored now that we have so many midfielders. However, after a chat with Brendan, he told me not to worry, and that I'd still be one of the first names on the team sheet. I hope that Miralem and I can strike up a strong midfield partnership during our time together. We are around the same age, which is nice, so I will definitely be trying to help him settle, take him around Liverpool, show him the nightlife - that kind of stuff.


Henderson may have been right to worry initially - a total of five first team players can occupy the central midfield role. Henderson, captain Steven Gerrard, Welshman Joe Allen, and the two new boys, Mario Pugliese and Miralem Pjanić will all be fighting it out to play the central role, but Pjanić will mainly operate as an attacking midfielder, so we could see a rotation with Brazilian playmaker Coutinho.

Oooh Pjanic! Great player, and for a decent price too.

Show him that night life...if you know what I mean

In all seriousness, Pjanic is a great signing, he's been brilliant for me on my Roma save. 4-2-3-1 tactic then, since you won't be using a DM and will be using an AM?

Pjanic is is insanee!!! Bloody good job getting him, he'll tear it up for you in the Prem!