Rodgers' Reds: Class is Permanent

2015-08-20 01:45#218859 TayBAFC : Doesn't look like you really needed to invest in new players so wise decision!

Yeah don't really need anyone for now. Thanks!

2015-08-20 20:41#218899 Tallery : Good move, he is still a good player!

He is!

2015-08-22 05:32#218992 Jer : Fantastic to see the little Magician staying at the club!

Always happy to please.

2015-08-22 05:33#218993 InfraRed : awwww! Coutinho is bae! i'm glad he's worked his way back into your plans

Bae is right lol, was seriously considering moving him away (he even asked for it himself) but he played extremely well in the cups that I had to give him more game time again.

glenn i like your style of writing. can you show me a screenshot of the the trophies you won now?

2015-08-24 17:14#219104 SooruSooru : glenn i like your style of writing. can you show me a screenshot of the the trophies you won now?

Thank you! Here:

With each passing year, many things change, but one that doesn't is Liverpool's continued presence in the Capital One Cup Final. The Reds are contesting their eighth Final in as many years, and have only lost once in said period, namely against Merseyside rivals Everton in 2016.

Their opponents this time around will be Stoke City, in their second Capital One Cup Final in three seasons. The Potters will be attempting to avenge their previous defeat from 2020, when Richairo Zivkovic, Raheem Sterling, and David Alaba struck to crush the Stoke-on-Trent side's dreams of cup glory.

Since then, Stoke as a team has undergone a multitude of changes. Gino Peruzzi and Ryan Bertrand, two players possessing winning mentalities from their times with Napoli and Chelsea respectively, have arrived to beef up the defensive line.

Wilfried Zaha joined the club last season from Blackburn and proved to be an uninspiring buy, that is, until he hit the ground running this year, and is currently Stoke's top scorer this season. Another noteworthy purchase has been ex-Arsenal youth team player Dan Crowley on a free transfer, perhaps one of the biggest bargains of all time considering his performances for Stoke has propelled him into the England squad.

Liverpool, on the other hand, have maintained stability with only one bank-breaking transfer since their last Capital One Cup run-in with Stoke, that being Israel's £35 million move from Atalanta, but Rodgers' assembled champions are not to be trifled with and their opponents will still require a miracle if they are to pull off an upset of any sort.


Stoke entered the competition with comfortable wins against Cardiff and Blackburn, but faced stiff opposition in the Fourth Round, where fellow Premier League high flyers Watford held them to nothing more than a 1-0 victory. Ryan Bertrand's 86th minute penalty in the Quarter Finals versus Leicester City sent the Foxes packing by a narrow 2-1 scoreline. A fairly evenly-contested Semi Finals against Newcastle was to follow as the two teams could only be separated by penalty shootouts. Henri Saviet's missed penalty eventually knocked the Toon out and sealed Stoke's return to Wembley.


Starting 11: Begovic; Peruzzi, Ekstrand, Fryers, Bertrand; Zaha, Crowley, McGinn, Ivkovic, Rush; Wilson
Subs: Smith, Coleman, Mahoney, Cleverley, Ubovic, Ngoy, Waris


Stoke fans will be dismayed to see that club skipper Ryan Shawcross is not in the starting lineup today. In fact, the Potters captain of more than ten years does not even make the bench as Pearson makes the extraordinary decision to exclude him entirely. His replacement at center-half, Zeki Fryers, has made less than 10 appearances in the Premier League this season, whereas Shawcross has started every game. That is not the only peculiar sight though, as in-form striker Majeed Waris has also been benched in favor of James Wilson. Aside from the aforementioned two, Pearson has not held back in starting his best players in other areas, and all eyes will be on Stoke's talent-packed midfield, containing the likes of Dan Crowley, Wilfried Zaha, and Slobodan Ivkovic.


Liverpool did not enjoy the most ideal of starts to their campaign, an unimpressive 3-2 win over League One club Southend United. In the Fourth Round, Tottenham fought well to frustrate the Reds but a penalty from Pavel Savitskiy knocked the Londoners out of the competition. A surprising challenger in the Quarter Finals came in the form of Preston North End, but they were quickly disposed of, as were Hull City in a massive 12-0 crushing over two legs.


Starting 11: Costantini; Joseph, Jang, Umtiti, Alaba; Romero, Ward-Prowse, Savitskiy; Balotelli, Coutinho; Zivkovic
Subs: Rulli, Clyne, Turan, Aubry, Henderson, Moreyra, Sterling


Rodgers has decided to keep faith with Pierre-Francois Costantini, who has yet to miss a Capital One Cup fixture this season. Meanwhile, an injury to Eder Alvarez Balanta will see South Korean defender Jang Young-Hun partnering Samuel Umtiti at the back, no doubt an unusual selection since Kyriakos Papadopoulos is available. Israel, still yet to recover from a twisted knee, also misses the game. The forward's dangerous presence up front will be not be missed too much though, with Mario Balotelli, Philippe Coutinho, and Richairo Zivkovic leading the charge on Stoke's goal.

0' - Dan Crowley and James Wilson kick off the afternoon, as Stoke and Liverpool go head to head in the 2022 Capital One Cup Final!

11' - And Liverpool are already on the offensive. Richairo Zivkovic's header finds the looming Pavel Savitskiy, and Asmir Begovic just manages to keep the Belarusian's effort off the line, and the ball is quickly cleared by Joel Ekstrand.

26' - A fierce shot from Mario Balotelli looks destined for the net but Begovic's lightning fast reflexes allows him to parry it.

28' - Wilson receives a great ball from Crowley, and the former Manchester United man displays a show of skill in darting past the helpless Samuel Umtiti to fire away at Pierre-Francois Costantini. However, the French goalkeeper pulls off an athletic save to deny him.

45' - HT Stoke 0-0 Liverpool: Liverpool are dominating possession, but a resilient Stoke City are simply not allowing them to find the opening that they need. Will things change in the second half?

45' - The two teams are back out for the next 45 minutes, and Liverpool kick off.

51' - Another excellent save coming from Begovic as Stoke's captain for the day keeps out a cracking effort from Lucas Romero.


56' - Balotelli's curling free kick almost gives Liverpool the breakthrough that they need but it is Begovic who comes to Stoke's rescue once again.

57' - And in less than another minute, Begovic has another save to make, as Umtiti dispossesses Wilson to knock the ball up for his teammates. Superb passing play results in Philippe Coutinho going for glory, but Stoke's big Bosnian makes a giant leap into the air to catch the ball.

62' - GOAL!.... or not! James Ward-Prowse's accurate free kick beats Begovic but rattles the crossbar. Zivkovic immediately latches onto it to smash the ball into the open net, but the linesman says it's offside! Liverpool's players are not happy!


90' - FT Stoke 0-0 Liverpool: Stoke are standing strong! With Liverpool still unable to find the goal that they need after 90 minutes, could an upset be possible after all?

90' - We kick off the first half of extra time!

91' - GOAL! Finally! There it is! An exchange of passes between Alejandro Moreyra and Jordan Henderson results in Moreyra finding Savitskiy in the area with a low pass, and Begovic is finally beaten by the left winger's long-range strike. Liverpool are 1-0 up!

104' - For the second time today, a Liverpool player's free kick hits the post. Moreyra almost extends his side's lead but it is not to be as Zeki Fryers puts the ball into row Z.


105' - HT in ET Stoke 0-1 Liverpool. After 91 long minutes, the first goal of the match is finally here. Can Stoke mount a fightback or is this game Liverpool's to claim?

120' - GOAL! No way back for Stoke now! Connor Mahoney's mistake ends in disaster after the winger loses possession, giving way to a build-up that sees Savitskiy and Moreyra exchanging the ball between one another. The latter is swiftly played through into Begovic's sights, and try as he might, the Stoke goalie is unable to replicate his heroics from earlier. That should be it!

120' - FT in ET Stoke 0-2 Liverpool. It took awhile and Stoke definitely went down fighting, but Liverpool will be lifting their 15th League Cup trophy thanks to late goals from the amazing Savitskiy and super sub Moreyra. What a game!

Talk about leaving it late, congrats on another (yawn) trophy

Take the goals late into the game and move on

Well done on the cup win, can't complain another trophy to add to the cabinet!

Well done Glenn, ANOTHER cup victory!!!!!!. But the Potters fought until the final whistle. Congratulations.

2015-08-24 21:21#219113 Justice : Talk about leaving it late, congrats on another (yawn) trophy

I'm getting pretty bored myself over here tbh

2015-08-25 09:57#219149 Jer : Take the goals late into the game and move on

Ay!

2015-08-25 10:03#219150 TayBAFC : Well done on the cup win, can't complain another trophy to add to the cabinet!

Trophies are always good!

2015-08-25 13:33#219155 SooruSooru : Well done Glenn, ANOTHER cup victory!!!!!!. But the Potters fought until the final whistle. Congratulations.

Thank you!

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Pierre-Francois Costantini will be celebrating today after winning his first cap for France under national team manager Patrice Garande.

The 21-year-old was called up to the squad for a friendly against Australia barely a month after he helped Liverpool beat Stoke City to win the Capital One Cup. Costantini looked assured throughout the important fixture, making several saves and keeping a clean sheet as his side won 2-0 after extra time.

His first appearance for France looked solid and he conceded a solitary goal, scored by Australia's Rafail Panagiotou, in a 1-1 draw.

It has been a long journey from the Pole Espoirs Chateauroux football training center for Costantini, who signed a contract with Bastia in 2016 after impressing scouts from the Ligue 1 club.

He got his big break four years later with European giants Liverpool taking notice when he broke into the Bastia first team, and Brendan Rodgers seized the opportunity to land the youngster on a free transfer, a move that could very well turn out to be an absolute steal.

Costantini has gone on from strength to strength in England, first turning out for the Liverpool Under-21s before moving to the first team as Jeronimo Rulli's understudy following the departure of Jason Steele. A league appearance is yet to come, but strong performances in cup games has already led French media to dub the starlet as the national team's next Hugo Lloris, who is currently still the established first-choice goalkeeper for Tottenham Hotspur and France at the age of 35.

The recently-appointed France Under-21s vice-captain will now be aiming to keep himself in Garande's thoughts, with the 2022 World Cup due to commence in about three months.

Lloris is close to being past his best - the Spurs captain has let in a fairly disappointing total of 60 goals this season - and may have to relinquish his gloves soon.

Alphonse Areola, the only other goalkeeper within the France setup at the moment, has only 1 cap at the age of 29 and can hardly be considered as a long term replacement, meaning that now would be the best time for Costantini to step up.

The goalkeeper is the third France international at Anfield, alongside the defensive pair of Samuel Umtiti and Yannis Aubry.

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Jordan Henderson won his 100th cap for England today after appearing in the national team's friendly against Slovakia.

Albert Rusnak opened the scoring for the Slovaks but the spoils were shared when Newcastle striker Cauley Woodrow netted an equalizer in the 74th minute.

It was a fairly poor performance from England, ranked 1st in the world by FIFA, with Steven Caulker and Raheem Sterling in particular failing to impress. However, all eyes were on Three Lions skipper Henderson, who, following the match, joins a prestigious list of household names who have reached the 100-cap milestone for England.

The only other current international with more than 100 caps is Joe Hart, with 124. The Manchester City goalkeeper has held the number one gloves for over a decade and is on course to beat the record of 125 caps, shared by Wayne Rooney and Peter Shilton.

Henderson's first appearance for England came in 2010 against France, more than ten years ago. The central midfielder has come a very long way since then, leaving boyhood club Sunderland for Liverpool, where he has seen out the majority of his professional career.

He has played in over 300 Premier League games for the Reds, while also serving as vice-captain since 2014, first to Steven Gerrard, and then to present in-charge James Ward-Prowse. Earlier this year, the retirement of former skipper Gary Cahill led to Paco Ayestaran appointing Henderson as his successor.

The national legend was honored on the Wembley Stadium pitch before his 100th England game, with FA chiefs presenting a 'Henderson 100' jersey.

"I never would have dreamed of this day and it's something I'm very happy to finally achieve," said Henderson. "I love playing for England and this is something very huge for me. I can't express my feelings in simple words."

His international future was also intimately discussed. "There's the World Cup this summer, but a lot of people have been asking what happens after that. I would like to confirm that I am fully committed to England and I want to continue playing in many more tournaments after the World Cup.

"Of course, that may be a bit of a stretch. I will be 33 at the Euros, and 35 at the World Cup after this one. But I am feeling very fresh at the moment and if the gaffer allows me to, then I will play."

England will be targeting nothing less than success at the 2022 World Cup, due to happen in three months.

Nice to see experienced players in your squad, and those that will be in a couple years time!

I agree with Jer

hey glenn. exams over?

2015-09-07 18:04#219739 SooruSooru : hey glenn. exams over?

They start next week mate