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Liverpool FC - Walk On, With Hope in Your Heart.

Started on 17 August 2014 by Raheeminho
Latest Reply on 20 August 2014 by Raheeminho
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10 yearsEdited



After two tricky ties in the first two games of the season, things didn’t look any easier in the third either. A trip to north London to face a revamped Arsenal side with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Matheiu Debuchy joining over summer. Things got slightly easier for the Merseyside club as they faced West Brom at home and then got their Champions League run kickstarted away in the Czech Republic with an away tie against League Champions Sparta Prague.

It was a clear but surprisingly bitter day at The Emirates as the teams lined up before what was sure to be a thrilling encounter. In the opening 15 minutes Liverpool seemed to be dropping deep and soaking up pressure well, with the London club resorting to tossing balls into the box for Frenchman Olivier Giroud to no avail. An incisive counter put Liverpool 1-0 ahead as Lavezzi’s cross span off of Gibbs’ foot into the path of new signing Emre Can. The German u21 made no mistakes and blasted the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box with a sweetly struck first time hit. Liverpool’s advantage was doubled as starlet Raheem Sterling pounced upon a loose ball after an epic goal mouth scramble which should have seen ex-Southampton man Rickie Lambert score at least two times.

After the break Wenger’s boys came out with a vengeance and made it 2-1 with a great header from captain Thomas Vermaelen who showed the hunger to get to the ball first and rose above left back Alberto Moreno to nod the ball home. Liverpool sat deeper and deeper inviting pressure upon themselves, Arsenal seemingly couldn’t break the wall of players they were faced with. Liverpool’s set piece woes continued as Vermaelen again scored from a corner in the 71st minute to bring the scores back level. Some good keeping from Simon Mignolet was enough to keep Liverpool in the match who went home with a third successive draw.

“It was a shame to lose another 2 goal lead and we need to work on our game management. It’s matches like these which are the difference between titles and second place.” said the Liverpool boss after the match.

Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
Can (17), Sterling (30)


After a poor start by Liverpool only picking up 3 points in their opening 3 games, albeit in tough fixture, they looked to start picking up more points here against West Brom back at Anfield. With a trip in Europe in the week the Liverpool first team was changed to rest some key players and a comfortable win was on the cards.

Things didn’t go to plan as West Brom looked a tough side to break down and were exposing Liverpools full backs playing high up the pitch with some quick counters. Both sides went into the break with very different mindsets. One intent on holding on to a draw, the other desperate to win the first match of Carraghers reign. Liverpool prayers were answered as Argentinian Lavezzi was pulled to ground in the penalty box. In Gerrard’s absence vice-captain Daniel Agger stepped up to put Liverpool 1-0 ahead with a confident penalty. Agger takes penalties for Denmark is an accomplished taker of spot kicks, incase any of you thought it was an odd decision. The rest of the second half went very much like the first. Very few chances went either teams way and the result was no further goals.

Liverpool fans may not be happy with the performance from the side but 3 points is 3 points at the end of the day and it propels Liverpool further up the league table.

Liverpool
1-0 West Brom
Agger (48)

http://puu.sh/aXBqM/9ec461a568.jpg


Champions League nights are back. Liverpool have an affinity with the competition and the club hasn’t felt the same way since it was ousted from the top 4 a couple of years back. Brendan Rodgers did an excellent job in taking the club to title challengers last season and new man Carragher will be hoping to go one better. Carragher has been there and done it, he won the Champions League as a player back in 2005 in the most famous final of all in Istanbul. But every champion starts somewhere and somewhere in this case is Prague.

As expected the English club dominated the game with around 60% possession up until half time. Nothing came of the possession however with very few shots on goal. Whatever the newly appointed manager said at halftime must have spurred on the players as 8 minutes into the second half Ezequiel Lavezzi pounced upon a comical error as a long ball by Lovren was missed by the Prague keeper and Lavezzi, like all good strikers do, anticipated the mistake and tapped home into an empty net. The goal reinvigorated the 5 time winners as Lavezzi doubled his tally with a goal Messi would have been proud of in the 71st minute. The 28 year old picked up the ball 30 yards from goal, he attacked the center back and nutmegged him on the edge of the box before bending the ball into the far corner. The crowd knew it was a special goal and even the Prague fans applauded such a brilliant piece of skill.

Sparta Prague 0-2 Liverpool
Lavezzi (53, 71)

A 2-0 win on their return to the biggest stage of them all was a relief for Liverpool fans. Matches like these are important to get 3 points on the board and assert your authority back in Europe.
Brilliant story so far, i'll keep reading it!
2014-08-18 14:30#190452 SkillfulScouser7 : Brilliant story so far, i'll keep reading it!

Thanks man!
Looking better, any chance we can get a league table in the next update? :)
Great detail so far, keep this up :D

The rest of September started with a home game to relegation escapees of last season Sunderland. Liverpool fans were hoping that the team would put in a better performance than the 1-0 victory over West Brom. A Capital One tie against West Ham followed which gave Carragher a chance to rest some key players with a big match against City at the Etihad coming up.

The fans in red were confident coming into this one. After a good win in the week against Sparta Prague the team were expected to continue their unbeaten run with a win here. Lining up as a 433 with Coutinho still injured Allen started in the playmaker role. After an early period of dominance it was only a matter of time until Liverpool broke the deadlock. Steven Fletcher was deemed to handle the ball in the penalty area. Once again Daniel Agger stepped up and put away his second penalty in 3 matches. Only 7 minutes later the Reds lead was doubled as Lavezzi held the ball up and played Sterling in behind his full back. The 18 year old made no mistake tucking the ball away first time with a wonderful finish. Liverpools dominance continue through to half time. After the restart a huge error from Alberto Moreno gifted Adam Johnson a goal. As the young Spaniard reached for a header to block off a long range pass, the ball bounced kindly for Johnson to volley home.

After losing two 2-0 leads in consecutive matches earlier in the season heads dropped around Anfield. Sure enough there was another goal, but it went Liverpools way. After Lallana’s free kick Lovren picked up the ball 35 yards out and played a pass to an unmark Lavezzi on the edge of the box. The Argentine striker turned and made no mistake with the finish, exquisitely finding the top corner. An own goal from Lee Cattermole condemned Sunderland to a 4-1 loss as Johnson’s cross deflected off the midfielder and beyond a rooted Sunderland keeper.

Liverpool 4-1 Sunderland
Agger (27), Sterling (34), Lavezzi (69), Cattermole OG (82)

http://puu.sh/aXNRf/4039fb01b6.jpg


Liverpool’s team for this one was inexperienced with several debuts being made, notably young Welsh winger Harry Wilson. West Ham lined up with a 433 with mostly first team players which was a surprise to most, as soon as the West Ham team was announced they became favourites against a weak Liverpool team with only Sturridge and Coutinho having major first team experience.

Liverpool took the lead midway into the first half as Coutinho, in his first match back after injury, drifted past 2 midfielders and slid Sturridge in who has no problems finding the back of the net. Things were scrappy for the rest of the match with Liverpool’s youngsters struggling to take the game to West Ham. Ex-Liverpool man Downing scored in the 47th minute with a header at the back post to make it 1-1. West Ham saw that the Liverpool kids were tiring and in the 87th minute a counter down the right hand side by Matt Jarvis saw him stand a ball up to the back post for Carlton Cole to head home to put West Ham through.

“I was never too bothered about this competition in all honesty. We have a tough fixture against City coming up and the Champions League to cope with too. It was good experience for the lads out there today. We have West Ham next month and I’m confident with a strong team we’ll go there and shut their supporters up after this one.” Carragher said after it was implied that Liverpool were underperforming this year.

Liverpool
1-2 West Ham
Sturridge (30)



A crunch match against City at the Etihad was up next for Liverpool. After being robbed of a goal last season after Raheem Sterling was deemed offside yet was at least 3 yards on the right side of the defender Liverpool were looking to avenge their loss.

The teams lined up, a clash between the Champions and second place. And surprisingly the first half was terribly quiet. Neither team could get a grip of the game with some wayward passing and no notable efforts on goal. When the teams came back out nothing had changed, Carragher tried to go more attacking but still could not take control of the ball. In the 64th a minute a wide free kick was Liverpool’s undoing as the ball ricocheted to Fernando on the edge of the box who hit a low drive through a crowd of players. Some suggested that Mignolet could have stopped it but there was no way he saw it until it was too late. After the goal nothing had changed with half chances being made but no more. Liverpool’s fate was sealed when and 84th minute free kick by James Milner hit the back of the net. It was a stunning strike from a player no one suspected such technical brilliance from.

“It’s tough to take as I don’t feel we were the worse side” said Vice-Captain Daniel Agger after the game. “It was 2 set pieces which we conceded from again which is a concern but then it shows that we are defending well in open play which is encouraging. Nonetheless we would have loved to have nicked a point or even three here today but it wasn’t to be.”

Manchester City 2-0 Liverpool

After 2 losses on the bounce in late September, early October could be make or break for Liverpool. The second group match in Europe was the opener against Ukrainian Champions at Anfield. Getting points from Shakhtar is vital to The Reds’ assault on Europe with German Champions Bayern favourites to take top spot. Next was a trip to West Ham, who recently knocked the merseyside club out of the Capital One Cup followed by a straightforward home tie against Hull.

Champions League nights are back to Anfield. It’s famous atmosphere was at it’s best as the Kop held scarves aloft and bellowed the famous anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Nothing is quite like European nights in Liverpool. It’s enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck and spur an average player on to become a world beater. No less did it spur on the side tonight, with Coutinho getting the side off to a flyer with a 4th minute goal as Lavezzi pulled the ball back from the goal line the little Brazilian was left with a simple job and duly delivered hitting the roof of the net. Things simmered down after a buzzing start. To the surprise of all Shakhtar netted an equalizer through Luiz Adriano with a simple one on one finish. Again the Kop started up again, but to no avail as the keeper in the Shakhtar net did well to deny Liverpool.

Things continued in this manner until the 75th minute, one last push from Liverpool. Orchestrated by the fans. Attacking the Kop the team drove forward, the fans could sense something coming. The Kop was almost sucking the ball into the goal. A good ball to Moreno from Sterling across the pitch gave the Spanish full back the opportunity to play through Lavezzi first time. He duly did so and the Argentine made no mistake finishing across goal sending Anfield into raptures. The players looked to press home their advantage and did so as in the dying stages Markovic played through Daniel Sturridge. His first touch was mesmerising as he took it past the defender, his second was a pinpoint finish we are becoming so used to seeing from this Liverpool side.

“It was incredible, nothing like it was for me at Chelsea and the crowd play a big role in that. I’d like to dedicate my goal to them, they were amazing all night and they deserve to have Champions League football here again.” Replied Sturridge after being asked what it was like to score for Liverpool in Europe’s biggest competition.

Liverpool 3-1 Shakhtar Donetsk
Coutinho (4), Lavezzi (77), Sturridge (89)


http://puu.sh/aYj57/35f17f80db.jpg


After the midweek victory Liverpool were on a high and looked to really kickstart their league campaign away to West Ham.

Liverpool once again got off to a brilliant start, a feature we’ve seen often this season, with Adam Lallana intricately playing Daniel Sturridge through on goal who never looked like missing. The striker easily found the corner and did his celebratory dance he’s becoming famous for. Just before the break Lallana turned scorer as Sterling picked the ball up out wide as Liverpool countered. He ghosted past his opposite number and picked out Lallana who made a late burst into the box, the new arrival from Southampton swept the ball into the near post and wheeled away towards the away fans.

http://puu.sh/aYkGl/29c1c8f19d.jpg

After the break Liverpool again broke well on the counter as a long ball was half reached by O’Brien but the ball skidded off his head and unfortunately put Raheem Sterling in a one on one situation. The youngster’s finishing has been brilliant so far this season and nothing changed as his fired a left footed shot past the keeper and into the far corner. Liverpool seemed content with a 3 goals to Nil lead and sat back looking to keep a clean sheet.

West Ham 0-3 Liverpool
Sturridge (4), Lallana (44), Sterling (48)



Liverpool have been in scintillating form the past few matches and looked to really assert some dominance with a big win over Hull back at Anfield.

With the Kop in full voice again for the first time since the win over Shakhtar, Liverpool scored within the first 10 minutes for the third consecutive game. Lallana pulled the ball back after beating his man for Sturridge to finish. The shot looked destined for the far corner until it took a wicked deflection off of the right back Chris Solly and found its way into the near post past a helpless McGregor. With the shot on target the goal was given to Sturridge. In the 34th minute Hull won a corner, Brady drilled a ball to the front post and was bundled across the line off of Shane Long’s knee.

10 minutes on Emre Can played a perfectly weighted ball over Hull’s backline, Sterling cushioned the ball for Ezequiel Lavezzi to finish first time and so giving back Liverpool their one goal lead. After the break Coutinho replaced Lallana who picked up a knock, which was nothing serious. The quick footed Brazilian received the ball from Javi Manquillo who pulled away the Hull left back leaving space for Coutinho to operate. He duly picked out Lavezzi who fired a powerful shot into the roof of the net to double Liverpool’s lead 4 minutes after the break. Neither side scored again giving Liverpool all 3 points, finding themselves in 4th place but with Spurs having a game in hand they could fall into 5th.

Liverpool 3-1 Hull
Sturridge (8), Lavezzi (44,49)
Great update lad, not the best of starts but it can only get better
Getting back into some sort of form here, keep it going!
@toonman Thanks man, yeah it was a tough start to the season but hopefully I'll be able to claw it back.

@joe Cheers bud, it was a releif to put these 3 games to bed which I was struggling with earlier in the season.
Great stuff mate. Tough start to the season but things are slowly coming together.
2014-08-19 02:19#190590 MCox93 : Great stuff mate. Tough start to the season but things are slowly coming together.

Yeah it was a tricky start but we seem to have gelled in defence recently and are starting to look much more solid. Thanks for the encouragement man!
Bounced back brilliantly this time round, I bet you were enthralled :) Hopefully that'll boost the squads confidence!
Slowly but surely your improving , you can be top for every week but the last week of the league and have nothing to show for it , keep the belief and you'll do well
@Aaron Yeah it was great to bounce back scoring 9 and concededing only 2. Tough test next as Bayern are in town though.

@TJ Exactly man, no team has really asserted it's dominance on the league so far so I've been lucky in that respect. There's a league table update coming up soon.

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