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Liverpool - You'll Never Walk Alone

Started on 17 June 2015 by Aaron
Latest Reply on 28 July 2015 by Addicted2FM
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Aaron's avatar Group Aaron
10 yearsEdited

October Update


LIVERPOOL 1-0 AST. TRIPOLIS (ADAM LALLANA)
LIVERPOOL 3-1 WEST BROM (MARKOVIC X2, SAKHO)
SOUTHAMPTON 0-2 LIVERPOOL (SAKHO, LALLANA)
LIVERPOOL 3-1 DINAMO MOSCOW (STURRIDGE X2, STERLING)
LIVERPOOL 2-0 STOKE CITY (GUNDOGAN, BALOTELLI)
BRISTOL CITY 0-1 LIVERPOOL (COUTINHO)

Europa League Group I consisted of Ast. Tripolis, Athletic Bilbao and Dinamo Moscow. After beating Athletic 1-0 at the San Jose in the opening game, Liverpool made it certain to put themselves on top of the group, they had a chance in October to extend their lead at the top if they were to overcome Ast. Tripolis.

They would welcome to Greek club to Merseyside where they would contest in a game that anticipated a dominant Liverpool victory but that wasn't quite the case. Tripolis came to spoil the party and were very good for a long period of time in defense.

Liverpool did dominate and ended up with nearly 40 shots by the end of the game. Tripolis were limited to 3, but could not use those three chances to their advantage. The Reds had a scare in the first half when it was thought Martin Skrtel brought down Lassad in the box, but no penalty was given. The ball rolled out to Cristian Loboto who skied it over the bar.

The boys left it late and in the end it was Adam Lallana who came to the rescue. In the 85th minute Gundogan found himself on the edge of the box and he set up Milner for a shot who drove the ball at the right side but was denied a worldie. The keeper could only parry it out to his side and Ibe was there to collect it, looking for options he cut it back to Lallana who accurately curled it past the keeper at the near post.

West Brom have always been a tricky fixture to predict when they came up against Liverpool, you could consider them a bogey team. The past is no object for this new and improving squad though, who forgot all about their qualms against The Baggies in previous years.

Lazar Markovic was handed his first goal of the season on a plate by Coutinho who's free kick was parried out to the Serb. Markovic still had to keep a cool head and he did that while placing the ball into the empty net. He gave his side the lead in five minutes.

Eight minutes later he pooped up with another goal which would see him end up with the man of the match award. This one would easily be contender for goal of the month as he used his flair to take on two players at the half way line, push on to take another and then play a simple but effective one-two with Flanagan. The English right back helped him unlock the defense, he was 1-on-1 and made no mistake lifting it into the far top corner.

The game was all but sealed when Mamadou Sakho got himself back in amongst the goals for his side. Henderson corner to the near post found the Frenchman who directed it down into the net with his head. Claudio Yacob got hsi side a consolation from a 75th minute free kick, but there was nothing to play for from here, and Liverpool saw the rest of the game out with ease.

Rodgers would undoubtedly have to field a weakened team against Southampton if he was to go out and finish Dinamo Moscow off just days later but surprisingly the Northern Irishman fielded a squad that would more than likely be looking to blow the Saints out of the water, and that it did.

Yet again Mamadou Sakho was back and marked the occasion with another goal. He hadn't scored a Liverpool goal in two year and now they were coming all at once. This one was another headed goal from a Coutinho cross.

Henderson was sadly injured for this one and wouldn't be able to lead the team out so it was Sakho to take the armband and he showed he was more than willing to lead the side out against Southampton.

For the second game in a row, Adam Lallana scored again but this time one minute after the goal he scored against Tripolis. It was a fantastic goal and playing his former side clearly had no effect on his performance. On the left flank he laid it off to Milner who was in the box and back to goal. Milner then played it back and Lallana curled it from outside the box into the right top corner.

Remaining unbeaten all season, the Reds kept their 100% record for the month in what seemed like it was going to be a tightly contested match.

A win over Dinamo Moscow would have Liverpool on nine points and one point away from qualification to the Europa League round of 16 so it must have been a relief for Rodgers when he saw his star striker Daniel Strurridge net in only the 15th minute of the game.

Ten minutes on, Flanagan took a less than threatening throw in and found Daniel Sturridge on the the right wing. The striker whipped the ball in and teammate was there to lash it into the top left of the net from close range for his second goal of the season.

Ings came on later in the match only to assist striker partner Sturridge for his second. Danny Ings' long shot was mistakenly dropped by the Dinamo Moscow keeper and Sturridge sprinted on past with the ball placing it into the empty net, canceling out Kokorin's 50th minute goal and giving Liverpool a definite three points.

One for the headlines lately though, Sakho just couldn't miss out. No...he didn't score. He actually got himself sent off for a second yellow card for a needless foul in the last minute of the game.

The last Premier League game to come to a conclusion in the month of October would be Stoke. Liverpool took Stoke on in the Capital One Cup only last month at the Britannia where they beat them 1-0 through Divock Origi's wonder goal.

This time it was at Anfield where it was evident the team was much more comfortable at home. Stoke hardly got a sniff of the ball and the Reds were dominant through out most of the game.

They left it a while for the first goal of the game though but it was all smiles when they did as Ilkay Gundogan engraved his name on the score sheet after firing a long shot into the back of the net following a goal mouth scramble.

Balotelli even got his chance to show his manager he was worthy, and he did very well leaving it late in the 87th minute to do so. He put the Potters to the sword with a glorious scissor kick after receiving a good cross from Jordan Ibe.

Bristol city had been a challenge awaiting Rodgers' side for just over a month now and after beating Stoke in the last round as well as the last game, the lads were high on confidence. Not much would need to be said here, except obviously don't underestimate them.

They got the job done out there but it was by no means pretty. Bristol City drew blood sweat and tears from the Red's as they began their pursuit for a goal.

The Robins defended valiantly but like many before them were still no match, and Philippe Coutinho scored the winner late on when Ibe headed down Henderson's high corner for the Brazilian magician who wheeled away in celebration as he lashed it into the bottom left.

City ended the game with a red card for Chris Taylor, Gundogan left the pitch a little early through injury, and Jordan Ibe secured man of the match for his top efforts in the final third, and his assist.

Player of the Month - Mamadou Sakho


Sakho is the outright winner of October's Player of the Month award. He was incredible throughout the entire month defending with all his might. He kept some good strikers out this month and it was hard fought to do so.

He even converted into a striker at the start of the month picking himself up two goals for himself.

Thoughts on the Report

Rodgers: This month was much better. 100% win rate all the way through, we were ruthless and paid no mercy to anyone. This is what I'm looking for from the team and we've put ourselves in a commanding position in the Europa League with two wins from two, needing only a point to qualify for the next round.

The league table is also looking very good. Second to only United. I'm sure we can change that though.

Nice update, a full house of wins. Invincible season?

LIVERPOOL SET FOR DOUBLE SWOOP


A scintillating start to the season by Liverpool has undoubtedly been down to the quality of Raheem Sterling, and Jordan Henderson who have both been in fantastic form since the Premier League started on the 17th of August. The Likes of Jordan Ibe, Markovic, and Philipe Coutinho have followed in their footsteps by providing many a goal for their strikers as well joining in with the fun themselves. Especially Jordan Ibe.

As far as Rodgers is concerned though, the players at his fingertips currently is not enough to choose from and it has come to light that the Northern Irishman and the rest of his transfer committee are looking at two young promising Turks from Besiktas.

Both of them at 22 years of age show a lot of potential and have been an integral part of the Besiktas starting eleven whenever they've been available for them. The first of the two Kartallar players is often deployed on the right side of the pitch and goes by the name of Gokhan Tore. A player you're likely to have familiarized yourselves with in the past.

Gokhan Tore, who started his career at Bayer Leverkusen when he was just 14 years old is no stranger to English football. A very physical player, despite standing at just 5'9' he is strong, fast and very powerful. Obviously his time with Chelsea 2008/2011 aided him in that aspect of his game. Although he never actually featured for Chelsea, hamburg saw promise and brought him to the club for £4.75M.

He made 22 appearances scoring no goals before he was signed for a further £7.75M by Rubin Kazan. He made a minimal 5 appearances, and was brought in on loan to Besiktas. After 30 appearances he was signed up by the Turks for another £5.5M. So far this season he's made 12 apps for the club.

Where he fit in though? Most of his game time at previous clubs has come on the right wing and this is the position he would likely fill, but would one does beg the question - With Ibe, Coutinho, Sterling and Markovic all available, will he really be able to fill any position in the attacking four?

He's not the only Besiktas player to have his name on Liverpool's shortlist though. Oguzhan Ozyakup - Yes, you definitely pronounced that incorrectly - Is a promising central midfielder who often specializes in the art of creating chances further up the field for his fellow wingers, attacking midfielders, and strikers.

He's a very advanced player that possesses a deft first touch, similar to that of Dimitar Berbatov...No, really. An accurate passer, good technique, composed, and agile. He has all the qualities to become a star at Liverpool as a central midfielder.

He would come in at a time where Gundogan, Henderson, Coutinho, Can, and Milner all prowl around looking for that starting spot in the only 2 central midfield positions available to them, and with Henderson a definite start as captain it could be even harder to find his breakthrough.

He would have competition, and quality competition at that but he's young and talented and if given his chance could be a top player in the Premier League for the Reds. Who knows what the future holds for this one. Definitely more talented than Tore, but will he get a deserved move? Once again, no stranger to English football. Starting his career at Arsenal, he knows how the physicality of this league is not to be underestimated.
I'm really glad you're back writing another great story. Keep it up Aaron!
Aaron's avatar Group Aaron
10 yearsEdited

NOVEMBER UPDATE


LEICESTER CITY 0-0 LIVERPOOL
DINAMO MOSCOW 0-6 LIVERPOOL(BALOTELLI, STERLING, COUTINHO X2, MARKOVIC X2)
LIVERPOOL 4-1 AFC BOURNEMOUTH (MARKOVIC, IBE, BALOTELLI X2)
MANCHESTER CITY 3-4 LIVERPOOL(LOVREN, LALLANA, MARKOVIC, KOMPANY OG)
ATHLETIC BILBAO 2-2 LIVERPOOL (INGS, COUTINHO)

Leicester had been poor all season up until this point and it was sure to be a royal battering for them when they welcomed Liverpool to the King Power Stadium. Seven points from nine games is all they've been able to muster which in Pearson's eyes was not good enough.

The party was there to be spoiled by Leicester and as far as Liverpool were concerned, they wanted all three points from a relatively simple game. Although this was not the case. The foxes had set out in a fairly balanced but rigid style remaining solid defensively but still keeping their duties in attack with a midfield packed 4-5-1 formation.

Liverpool were ruthless with the amount of chances they were creating. Sterling and Coutinho both orchestrating the front line and Gundgoan dictating the tempo of the entire game. Opportunities arose only a few moments before half time when Henderson was tripped up by King as he steamed on through the middle. advantage was played and the ball just fell conveniently for Gundogan who leathered onto the underside of the cross bar. Sturridge was there to pounce but his efforts were thwarted by Mark Schwarzer who reached out to his right side and pulled off a remarkable save.

From here on either side had their fair share of chances but none of them were as cruelly denied as the one from Raheem Sterling in the 80th minute. With the game somehow still goalless the Reds were looking for a way through and found it when Gundogan held up the ball on the centre circle and sliced open the Foxes' backline with one spectacular killer ball to Sterling. There wasn't much to do now, everyone else was left for dead and it was just him and the keeper.

The winger sped on turning from the left wing further and further into the middle of the pitch to line up a shot, all he had to do now was just shoot but instead he skillfully tricked the keeper and rounded him. He got the ball muddled between his feet but still managed to get a shot off on goal, it was a weak short that rolled onto the inside of the post, deflecting off that and rolling along the goal-line. Sterling had fallen after taken the shot and therefore there was enough time for Schwarzer to retrieve the ball. The game ended 0-0.

Now if Liverpool had any sort of trouble scoring in the last game, those troubles had now disappeared as they took on Dinamo Moscow in Russia. A long way to travel but this had no effect on the team as they went out firing with all cylinders.

They were off to the perfect start when out of sorts striker Mario Balotelli found himself a much needed goal, heading in a cross from Manquillo that zipped in from deep on the right side of the pitch.

Coutinho then made it two ten minutes later. With the ball in the final third Balotelli spotted Coutinho cutting inside on the left he placed a perfect lobbed ball to the Brazilian. He had one opponent in front of him and used his trickery to nutmeg him following up with an acute finish at the near post inside the 18 yard box.

Only seconds after the kick-off and it was three. More majestic football from the Reds saw Balotelli somehow go through on goal for a second but the pressure from the defenders chasing him down was too much and his short was parried away to the keepers left but only as far as Sterling who netted the third of the first half. Qualification was looking a certainty now.

Coutinho marked the fourth of the first half somehow leaping up to reach Henderson's corner, clambering higher than anyone to thump it down past Gabulov.

Lazar Markovic was introduced at the break for Sterling and it didn't take long for him to make an impact. The Dinamo box was packed again with Red and Coutinho had the ball in a tight area of the box. Somehow he managed a powerful shot which was saved by Gabulov, Markovic came up for the rebound but that again was spectacularly saved again. The follow up was met with cheers from the Liverpool fans as he coolly slotted it home.

Markovic then ended a six goal thriller with a long range strike from outside the box that dipped up, down and all over the place before nestling into the right bottom corner! 6-0 Liverpool, and into the round of 32!

Bournemouth who had just recently been promoted to the Premier League were even worse off than Leicester having won only two games against Norwich and Aston Villa...And things were only about to get worse as they came to Anfield on Super Sunday.

The Cherries took on an absolute beating from Rodgers' side beginning with Markovic picking up where he left off in the second minute of the game tucking away a blinder from the right wing leaving the corws in complete awe.

Balotelli was also taking confidence from his goal in the Europa League and using it to his advantage in the league. Assisted by Markovic he finished off a brilliant move by belting the ball right into the back of the net. Ten minutes later he did exactly the same although this time the chance came about by a huge scramble in the box.

Sam Vokes was able to get one back for Bournemouth tidily putting the ball past Mignolet into the bottom right, but even if Ibe hadn't scored a minute later by blasting straight at the keeper it just wouldn't have mattered.

The match we'd all been eagerly awaiting was now upon us and the Etihad was - for once - creating a lot of noise. 47,000 Liverpool and Manchester City fans had come to witness a potential game of the season unfold right in front of them.

Of course with Liverpool in such good form and City possessing such a great attack there were bound to be goals and goals there were. It only took two minutes for the first of them but ironically it was an own goal by central defender Vincent Kompany. A harsh way to concede but by deflecting Markovic's long strike would only end with one outcome.

17 minutes had passed and Liverpool had a corner. It was a low driven cross from Henderson that was directed for Lovren at the front post who directed the ball from short range into the back of the net. Liverpool had done well to quickly set themselves two goals apart.

The celebrations were two much from Liverpool, and City took advantage straight from kick off scoring a wonderful goal through the brilliance of David Silva. Negredo flicked on a pass from Ntcham and saw Silva through on goal who placed it into the far top corner.

Now only three minutes later, Liverpool had lost their balance and completely crumbled under the pressure. Negredo somehow heading in a good cross from Nasri to equalize for the citizens. The excitement was all too much and the ground just about lost it's cool when Adam Lallana put the Reds back in front in the 25th minute from a Balotelli free kick!

The goalscoring had slightly slowed down but the first half was not finished. Of all people to equalize, Bacary Sagna on the last minute of the half was just able to nick a touch to the ball which directed Nasri's free kick past Mignolet. 3-3 at half time. Could this get any better?

For some, yes it could and those that it got better for were Liverpool fans. Nothing happened for much of the second half but 15 minutes from the end it was the on form Markovic who smashed it so far into the back of the net it nearly never came out. 4-3 was the final score as Liverpool held on.

The boys were jaded for this last match in November and so considering they'd qualified from their Europa League group, Rodgers decided a different approach was in order as he looked to some of his youth players for this game against Bilbao.

The weakened side actually took the lead at Anfield 13 minutes into the game but it didn't take more than 2 minutes for Kike Sola to hit back with the equalizer.

Just before half time he did it again, this time scoring with a sort of scuffed shot from outside the box which nestled in the bottom right corner; Just out of the reach of Adam Bogdan's fingers.

It took a Danny Ings goal to save Liverpool's bacon. Remaining unbeaten in this one was the least they deserved after pretty much having the game all to themselves.

Player of the Month - Lazar Markovic


Lazar has been brilliant all month. He was fantastic against Dinamo popping up with two goals from off the bench. Then scoring a superb goal against Bournemouth and then my word...The Performance against Manchester City was everything I could have hoped for. He scored the winner and just ran them ragged for 90 minutes. He's been fantastic this month. Well Deserved.

Thoughts on the Report

Rodgers: I've not got much to add from last month. Although we didn't win all our games we still did very well and qualified from our Europa League Group early which is what I was hoping to do.

Man City were a real test for us and I'm glad we did well by ending the match as victors.

Great result against City and an exiting squad looking forward to reading more
Okay so I've decided to bring this back! Don't expect much though because although I won't be stopping updating this until FM16 comes up I shall only be updating it as and when I feel so I could update 5 times in one night, or I could up date once within two weeks, it just depends how I feel. So yeah, just a heads up :)
Good little story this so looking forward to the return! :)
The return of BROGERS :P
Going for the invincibles ???

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