Rodgers' Reds: Class is Permanent

Shame about the Community Shield result but a brilliant response in the league, with three wins out of three. Particularly nice to see you trounce Southampton and of course the City result was excellent too! I'm sure you'll have no problems in winning the title again

Aaron: Thanks! Can wasn't doing much so he's leaving on loan for now, will see if he can come back into the team based off his performances away from us

Pompey: Hahaha, hopefully

Very nice start to the league, bet the fans are jubilant with the empty stadium boys City result. Unlucky on the CS though!

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Brendan Rodgers has finished his last piece of business in the summer transfer window, wrapping up a £10.75 million deal for talented wonder kid Richairo Zivkovic just hours before the deadline.

The 19-year-old moves to Liverpool from AFC Ajax after just one year at the Amsterdam Arena.

Zivkovic, who is eligible to play for both Holland and Serbia, is a highly-rated youngster in his homeland and has already racked up 8 goals in 9 Under-21 appearances for the Netherlands.

He broke into the first team at his boyhood club FC Groningen in 2013 aged just 17, finding the net a total of 11 times in 37 appearances, before making the move to Ajax in 2014.

Despite making less of an impression, he still turned heads with his 8 goals in 22 appearances and is tipped to be a potential world beater by his coaches at both Groningen and Ajax.


With Liverpool short of quality up front, Rodgers is understandably delighted to have gotten his man, as he expressed to journalists at the unveiling of Liverpool's newest player.

"Richairo is going to be a very big part of my vision for Liverpool's future," said Rodgers. "He's got so much talent and it's going to be up to us to nurture and develop that." The Liverpool boss also emphasized on Zivkovic's ability to speak English. "He'll have very little problems settling in, and I'm pleased about that."

And Zivkovic, meanwhile, is ready to prove that he is ready for first team action.

"I'm still only 19 but the senior squad is what I'm aiming for," he proclaimed to watching reporters. "I want to start helping the team as soon as possible and score goals in the Premier League. That's what I'm going to work towards."


Liverpool also confirmed that Zivkovic will take up the number 19 at the club, vacated by Javi Manquillo.

The 21-year-old made only 2 appearances under Rodgers last season and the Anfield club have come to an agreement to terminate his loan early.

Manquillo was supposed to stay on at Liverpool until the end of the 2015/16 season, but has found opportunities limited due to the signing of Nathaniel Clyne last summer as well as the emergence of Jon Flanagan, who has been preferred over him in the lineup.

Liverpool experienced a busy summer as they spent £58 million on players, while at the same time allowing £69 million of players worth to leave the club. The message from Brendan Rodgers is quality over quantity, with 6 players being added to boost the squad in contrast to 14 being shown the door permanently.

Liverpool have farmed out plenty of their youngsters on loan, sending out no less than 14 of their reserve team members to different clubs for playing experience.


The most notable name on the list is Emre Can, who makes a temporary move to join Turkish champions Galatasaray.

The 21-year-old joined Liverpool last summer from Bayer Leverkusen in a £10.25 million deal, but has been one of the more average players in the Reds' title-winning lineup. Can made only 15 appearances in the Premier League and 21 in all competitions, most of them as a substitute from the bench.

The brilliant form of Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard kept him out of the team regularly last season, and the recent signing of James Ward-Prowse has not done much to help his first-team chances.


Galatasaray will now take up Can for the rest of the season in their defence of the Süper Lig title.

Divock Origi is another player leaving the club for the season.

Origi has not played for Liverpool since joining the club for £11 million in 2014 because of a deal that saw him remain at Lille for the season. However, he has not impressed since the confirmation of his move and scored only 8 goals in 34 appearances for the Ligue 1 club.

And with the signing of Richairo Zivkovic, there is still no place in the squad for Origi, and Newcastle have agreed to loan the promising forward.

It will be a good experience for the Belgian international to get a first-hand taste of Premier League football, in a Toon side that desperately needs improvement after their disappointing 16th-placed finish in 2014/15.


There is also activity involving the lower leagues. Jordan Ibe is one of a few Under-21 players being loaned to League One sides.

The 20-year-old plays on the right wing and is an exciting prospect, regularly giving solid performances while on loan at Derby last season, and will now ply his trade, albeit temporarily, at recently-relegated Millwall, who are aiming for promotion back to the Championship on their first try.

Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that he sees Ibe in his future plans for Liverpool, and the former Wycombe teenager will hope he can make an impression at The Den.

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Liverpool's Raheem Sterling has switched from number 31 to the club's iconic number 7 jersey.

Sterling was a key player in the Reds' title glory last season, and formed an excellent partnership with Philippe Coutinho to create one of the most devastating attacking forces in the Premier League. In 56 appearances, he bagged 16 goals and created 18 more.

At the age of 21, he has already notched up 108 Premier League games for Liverpool and won 18 caps for England.

He was also the recipient of the European Golden Boy in 2014.


And Sterling will now don the number 7 shirt, considered to be a famous shirt number at Liverpool having been worn by the likes of Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, and Steve McManaman.

The winger has some big boots to fill, especially with the last number 7 at the club being the prolific Luis Suarez.

Suarez scored 69 goals in 110 appearances for Liverpool, during his time at Anfield between 2011 and 2014, and eventually earned himself a £75 million move to Barcelona. He has continued his goalscoring form at the Camp Nou, currently having 46 goals to his name in 72 games for the Catalans.


Miraculously, Sterling is still on his old contract of £35k per week, despite starring for Liverpool throughout the entirety of last season, which expires in 2018.

It appears that both parties are relaxed about the situation - Sterling being happy at the club and Liverpool prepared to wait until the next summer to offer the player a big money contract.

"Yes," said manager Brendan Rodgers last month, when asked if his star player would be getting wages that reflected his first-team status. "But we're in no hurry. Raheem has clarified that he is very happy to be here and he does not see himself playing for anyone else in the near future.

"His current contract expires in 2018. We will definitely be offering him an extension before that.

"He's a very big part of Liverpool, everyone knows that and I have no doubt that he will be staying on beyond 2018."

Interesting, hopefully he can live up to the hype surrounding the jersey

Tallery: Hopefully it'll make him even better, although he's already pretty good

Over the summer, Brendan Rodgers added a total of six new players to his current title-winning squad, and it'll be up to their performances to see if they can top the Premier League a second consecutive time.

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Liverpool have been placed into Group H of the Champions League for this season. The Reds made it all the way to the Quarter Finals last season, before being beaten by Italian powerhouse Juventus, and will hope to go a few steps further this time. They have a relatively tough group to get through, with Real Madrid and Napoli both standing in the way.


Everyone knows about Real Madrid's history in European football. In 2014, they became the first team to win 10 European Cups, accomplishing the feat known as La Décima, and are the most successful club statistically in Champions League history. Like Liverpool, however, Real were knocked out at the Quarter Final last season and are looking to bounce back quickly under new manager André Villas-Boas.


Who else? Ronaldo has proven his brilliance time and time again. The 30-year-old may be a little past his peak but still had an impressive season, scoring 30 goals in 48 games for Real in 2014/15. He is the standout player in Real's team of superstars, and if anyone is going to lead Los Blancos to an eleventh European Cup, it's going to be him.


Every group has to have that club - the one with the weakest, all-odds-against-them squad, and in Group H, it's F.C. København. As a relatively new club founded in 1992, the Danes do not have much experience in European football as compared to the rest of the clubs in the group. However, they have managed to cause some upsets in their history, most notably drawing 1-1 against Barcelona in 2010, and beating Manchester United 1-0 in 2006. There are no certainties in football and København will be looking to prove just that.


Delaney is the man to look out for. A talented player who plays in central midfield, the København captain has been a vital part of his team's success every year in the Danish Superliga. The 24-year-old, who joined the club as a youth in 1993, is a clear favorite with the fans and it's easy to see why.


The seeding of Napoli in Group H will mean the return of Rafa Benitez, who masterminded Liverpool's Champions League glory in 2005. The reunion is certainly going to be interesting, with Napoli being tipped as the team that will contest Liverpool for 2nd place in the group. They have a bit of history themselves, most notably winning the UEFA Cup with Diego Maradona in 1989, but are yet to taste success in the Champions League.


It's going to be a reunion for Higuain as well, with the Argentine returning to face Real Madrid, a club he played for from 2007 to 2013. He has been a key player for Napoli since his arrival and they will be looking towards him for the goals they need to qualify from the group.

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High-flying Liverpool have been dragged back down to the ground, as they suffered their first Premier League loss in almost a year against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

Tottenham put 6 goals past their opponents and kept a clean sheet to make the result the biggest loss of the Brendan Rodgers era.

It is a debut to forget for Richairo Zivkovic. The 19-year-old made his first appearance for Liverpool and partnered Mario Balotelli in attack, but was ineffective throughout and could not get a single shot on target.

The title holders were put to the sword by goals from Vincent Aboubakar, Federico Fazio, Bernard, Jose Manuel Jurado, and Roberto Soldado.


Liverpool were behind at the first minute with Aboubakar scoring his first ever goal in a Spurs jersey early on. Center-back Fazio made it 2-0 three minutes later and Liverpool were powerless to resist as they conceded goal after goal, in an uncharacteristically terrible display.

Alberto Moreno and Jon Flanagan especially underperformed as they made various mistakes, allowing Spurs players to easily skip past them and attack relentlessly.

Despite enjoying more possession than the home side, Liverpool were unable to get any clear shots at goal and began to look unmotivated the moment they went behind.


Rodgers was clearly shocked by the result and expressed as much in the post-match press conference, where he admitted it was deserved fully based on his players' poor performance.

"Of course no one would expect such a scoreline, but the game is over and I want to move on from that now," said the Liverpool manager. "I was taken aback, yes. But we were poor and deserved the result. Now we have to improve before the next match.

"All credits go to Tottenham. They played well, very well, as compared to us. Their shots were perfectly placed and that's something we have to work on. We dominate possession, but we are unable to score too many goals because of that."

Liverpool started the month poorly with their first Premier League loss since away to Arsenal on the 27th of September 2014. Despite beating Chelsea and Real Madrid in the Champions League, they also drew 1-1 to recently-promoted Nottingham Forest, a result Brendan Rodgers won't be particularly happy about.

Liverpool September Player of the Month

Richairo Zivkovic has bounced back from his rocky debut against Tottenham to score 2 goals in 5 appearances this month. He was the standout player in an average Liverpool side against Nottingham Forest, scoring the only goal for his team to rescue a point. The Dutchman also scored on his Champions League debut for the Reds in the 77th minute, a late-game equaliser. The future at Anfield is going to be bright for him if he can keep up his performances.

Manager's Thoughts

Not a good month for us but wins against teams like Chelsea and Real Madrid are always impressive and the lads worked very hard in those games. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the other fixtures, like the 6-0 loss to Tottenham as well as the 1-1 draw against Forest. We're 3rd in the league now and behind Manchester United who are off to a flyer, and we're going to have to work very hard if we want to get back up there.

Liverpool have responded perfectly from last month, ending October with a clean win streak, taking 12 points from 4 league games to rise back to the top of the Premier League table, while at the same time progressing into the Capital One Cup Quarter Final at the expense of Wigan.

Liverpool October Player of the Month

Samuel Umtiti was given more minutes on the pitch this month and has made full use of the opportunities handed down to him. The youngster was a rock in defence and delivered every time he was called upon. Fantastic showing and Liverpool will be hoping he can keep up his form.

Manager's Thoughts

A perfect month. No draws, no losses, wins everywhere, nothing more I could really ask for. We're now top of the pile in both the Premier League & Europe, and we intend to keep it that way. Some brilliant displays from the team, but we have to maintain a level of consistency going forward if we want to continue being in this position by the end of the season.

Injury Report

Alberto Moreno - 3 months (torn hamstring)
Mamadou Sakho - 3 weeks (pulled hamstring)

Both Moreno and Sakho suffered hamstring problems during October, but Moreno carries the more serious one, as his torn hamstring will rule him out of the game for at least three long months, and Liverpool have to make do with Jon Flanagan and Eder Alvarez Balanta until January, the only other two players at the club that can play at left-back.

A huge loss in Moreno but I'm sure you can last without!