The Fields Of Anfield Road

Basel Basel

That group is difficult obviously, but fairly easy compared to what you could have been drawn alongside. A good start in the league, the only real negative being that draw with Bournemouth but an unbeaten start is an unbeaten start.

Justice: Basel Basel Basel

ScottT: Very tough group indeed but like you say, one of the more easier ones of course. I back us to surpass it with relative ease actually. Yeah, couldn't agree more it has overall been a good start with some good performances. What matters now is turning those draws into wins and sure-ing up that defense.

---

LIVERPOOL 3-2 MANCHESTER CITY | WOODBURN X2, SALAH
LIVERPOOL 4-0 BENFICA | FIRMINO X2, OXLADE CHAMBERLAIN, DIAS (OG)
HUDDERSFIELD 0-1 LIVERPOOL | SALAH
LIVERPOOL 4-1 BOURNEMOUTH | SALAH X2, HENDERSON, STEVE COOK (OG)
LIVERPOOL 3-0 WEST BROM | MILNER X3
RBL 5-1 LIVERPOOL | FIRMINO
LIVERPOOL 6-0 CRYSTAL PALACE | MANE X2, SOLANKE X2, CAN, SOUARE (OG)

We are absolutely cruising so far this season. We're already in our second month and I just want to keep going and going. As you can probably tell September has been a month to remember going by that absolutely sublime result against Manchester City.

Woodburn provided the goods in this crunch match coming in for Mane who is currently suffering from injury. I decided to call upon the young welshman instead of the Ox, you don't get experience from sitting on the bench after all.

2 goals from our boy and the Egyptian king struck a few minutes after Woodburn's second to make it a whopping 3-0 on the day. It took only a few minutes for the ball to drop in at the other end off Can, but even a Raheem Sterling wonder strike couldn't bring enough fight back from the Citizens as we stole the 3 points here.

Our first Champions League match ended in celebration with a 4-0 win over SL Benfica who are probably one of the contenders for qualification here. A fantastic ending led to an even better night for the Red men.

Firmino in recent games has been very poor hence my dropping of him for Cutrone last month but today he cropped up with two! Ox scored once in between, and Benfica scored an own goal. Arnold's performance left a sour taste after he fouled for his second yellow. Unhappy...But these things do happen in football. He'll be unavailable for RBL.

Huddersfield was a very routine away win. Salah scored yet again this season proving the doubters wrong about his finishing once more. Another 3 points in the league...Still unbeaten. Good effort lads!

Then we would welcome Bournemouth to Anfield again already this season but this time in our first venture to the Carabao cup. I'm sure you've already seen that Bournemouth were no issue for us second time round and the boys did fantastically to get a massive result.

Even more own goals coming up in this one, Salah struck twice early on and our skipper Jordan Henderson bagged his second of the season. He's played brilliantly lately. I'm ecstatic over progressing so easily. You know the cups are my priority this season and this has given us all a lot of promise.

West Brom were on the receiving end now at Anfield and yes...You're not reading that wrong. James Milner has bagged himself a hattrick. James. Milner.

The two penalties of course made things a lot easier for the former Premier League winner but his in play qualities still shone through playing a quick 1-2 with Mane netting 1 on 1 after splitting open the back four.

I'm just gunna come out and say it now. No, I do not have the faintest idea how this happened. Looking at the stats board without knowing the score you'd probably have said this was the other way round. A whopping 16 shots from us to their 10.

Unbelievable that we could only net one in all honesty. I can't tell whether we were just poor in defense or if they were better in attack on the day. In fact, I think it's obvious they were. If I recall, Firmino had 2 sitters from 3 yards out both SAVED. Mane had another and somehow squandered it wide, and Chamberlain hit the post from a clear cut chance.

Again, I don't know. Extremely disappointing but we're not disheartened. We move on from a poor game and get better from it.

And didn't we just do that? 6-0 against Crystal Palace. FIVE goals in front of the Kop. This was an unreal match. I decided to switch up the tactics to our 4-2-3-1 for the first time in a hope that it would counter their preparations and my did it work a treat.

Solanke scored twice in the first 20 minutes of his debut. Two emphatic headers from the 19 year old. That is certainly how you prove your worth. Mane scored twice in between would you believe, and Papa Souare also...AGAIN...Scored an own goal.

That makes it four own goals this month. But who's complaining? We only scored one of them. Emre Can finished off the route with a thunder strike from 30 yards in the 77th minute. A truly incredible response to our last match.

---

Another tough call this month. We had some brilliant performances. But I think this ones a shared prize.

Salah has been on top of his game with many goals scored this month. The fans vote would be him. From a managers point of view though it's going to Woodburn and Solanke.

Now Solanke played one game this month while Woodburn chipped in with a few starts. The Winger scored twice against City and was brilliant. He then sustained great performances in place of Mane.

We've been having teething problems with Firmino up top lately, he's on an AVG rating of 6.3. So for our young Englishman to come in and net two in a time of uncertainty in the strikers position has really made us feel a lot better. He's already staking a claim for first team football.

---

---

A heavily important 100% record in the league to make our push for consistent Champions League football. Especially coming up against city and some other tricky away games. As you can see we are second in the league only too Arsenal. I think after our performances we're unlucky to be there, we should be top. Though we did have a rough beginning in August.

The Champions League was mix and match, but I'm still massively confident. I couldn't be happier about our cup progression. A fantastic effort from all the lads.

Class month there, beside the Leipzig result. That one came out of nowhere. The City result will be one to look back on at the end of the season definitely. You're in a good position in all competitions, so hopefully you can continue to build on them!

Scott: Yeah don't even go there, it was a complete shock. Oh well, we'll work even harder for the possible Basel 6 pointer next! The City one was unexpected as well we played brilliantly and yes we're looking good on 3 fronts right now. Hopefully that still shows at the end of the season

---

ARSENAL 2-2 LIVERPOOL | MANE, CHAMBERLAIN
BASEL 0-1 LIVERPOOL | MANE
LIVERPOOL 2-0 SWANSEA | SALAH X2
LIVERPOOL 2-0 STOKE CITY | SALAH, MORENO
EVERTON 0-1 LIVERPOOL | LOVREN
LIVERPOOL 5-0 BASEL | CUTRONE X2, LOVREN, MANE, FIRMINO,

We're already in October and you can see how brilliant we've been starting out here in these first few months at the club. Before the season start my hopes were to go all out on both domestic cups and whilst so far we've done well in both, the likely hood of a title push is evermore increasing.

We followed up our good Bournemouth win with another solid performance against Stoke in the 4th round and I'm happy to say we will be going up against Norwich in the Qtr Finals. A relatively easy run so far so lets make sure we capitalize on such advantages.

Arsenal like us have been a surprise package this far in but I am more than happy to say we've pipped them to top spot going into November. They've been utterly ruthless and as you can see we held them to a draw at the start of the month coming from 2 goals behind to earn the point that would ultimately see us top of the table.

Our Champions League campaign as taken off beautifully after bringing home 6 points from a double against Basel home and away. Mane saved the first 3 points with a 90th minute goal and back at our place we demolished them 5 goals to 0.

We also had our first Derby at Goodison coming out 1-0 winners thanks to a Lovren header and that was just one result that ensure we would go SIX games without conceding a goal which I believe is quite a positive outcome.

Swansea were rather easy pushovers and once again we end unbeaten in the league for this update.

We've had an incredible start to the season losing only once in the Champions League. I'm running out of words to describe this side. We've only dropped a total of 6 points from a total of 30.

I'm looking forward to seeing what November brings. All we need now is a point from one match in the Champions League and we're into the next round, but I'd prefer to qualify from 1st position in what was a relatively easy group to begin with.

We've got Benfica in a few weeks followed by the big one...Man United. Surrounded by a few easier games in the Premier League.

Onto the next one! Let's find that title push shall we...?

---

He probably thought it was a long time coming, but this month Salah picks up the award for outstanding performances against Stoke and Swansea.

Mane was another front runner, and Cutrone did very well coming up with two goal in our 5-0 romping of Basel.

---

---

Another sublime cluster of efforts here. Literally can't ask for anything more, top of the league, Carabao Quarters, all but in the CL Last 16. This has been quality so far!

Rounding off the month though, I'd like to end with how we picked up manager of the month for the results in the month prior to this one.

---

LIVERPOOL 1-0 SOUTHAMPTON | CUTRONE
WEST HAM 1-3 LIVERPOOL | HENDERSON, SALAH, FIRMINO
SL BENFICA 1-4 LIVERPOOL | SOLANKE, MILNER, MATIP, FIRMINO
LIVERPOOL 1-0 MANCHESTER UNITED | SALAH
NEWCASTLE 2-3 LIVERPOOL | CUTRONE, VAN DIJK, MANE

Looking at the games for October you'd probably think that on paper we'd start to drop back into around 4th at this stage of the season. With RBL and Benfica to play we were looking for qualification. Not only that, but top spot in the league.

We would also have the always tough challenge of welcoming Man United to Anfield. Like I say, always a tough game, tightly contested, and we would be hard pressed for a result here. Any kind of 3 points would do us the world of good going into future Premier League games with the confidence to push on.

The North West Derby ended in delight for us though as we waded through United defense early on. Van Dijk and Joel Matip acting has solid leaders at the back for us ensured we would win this firm tie 1-0. I couldn't be happier about bringing home the bragging rights!

Benfica were still looking for qualification themselves in the CL group and if they could beat us they'd probably have it in their hands with their next game being against Basel but just as we did before...We smashed them and they were left behind with the other clubs we've demolished in our wake.

We were stacked mostly with Premier League matches in what was a nice ease off of fixtures. We've had a heavy fixture list so far and it was nice to have more time in between games to prepare which is what I believe is the reason for us doing so well.

West Ham fell to their knees in a 3-1 win where Salah, Firmino, and captain fantastic Henderson all scored!

Patrick Cutrone scored the only goal of the game in a rough match up between ourselves and Southampton.

Finally, we got a very important but scrappy win at Newastle. We looked far superior against the Toon. Van Dijk hammered home a header into the top corner which was the follow up to our ever improving Patrick Cutrone's 4th minute belter.

Benitez' men somehow mustered a fantastic come back with goals in the 68th minute and 87th. Christian Atsu broke free of Lovren to nick onto a cheeky flick from Andre Andre, slotting home.

You'd think we were in for our fourth 2-2 off the season here but you'd be wrong. 95 minutes!!! 95!! Step up Sadio Mane with a scissor kick from just outside the box into the bottom right of the net. Another three points...We stay top!!

---

Once again this one goes to Salah for his outstanding contributions to all 5 games this month including the out of this world winner against Manchester United.

He's been an absolute thorn in everyone's side this year and I can't wait to see more from the Egyptian. Keep doing what you're doing Mo!

---

---

Once again I'm giving absolutely no reason to feel any kind of negative thoughts and I'm starting to forget what losing/drawing even feels like. These boys have been mental.

Honorable mention to our new man up top Patrick Cutrone chipping in with 2 goals all together, and once again Solanke with 1.

It's finally the year lads! Looking good at the minute.

---

LIVERPOOL 0-0 LEICESTER | PREMIER LEAGUE | N/A
LIVERPOOL 2-0 RBL | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | WIJNALDUM, MANE
CHELSEA 3-2 LIVERPOOL | PREMIER LEAGUE | SALAH X2
LIVERPOOL 6-2 BURNLEY | PREMIER LEAGUE | FIRMINO X2, SALAH, MANE, MATIP, CHAMBERLAIN
LIVERPOOL 1-0 BRIGHTON | PREMIER LEAGUE | MILNER
LIVERPOOL 3-0 NORWICH | CARABAO CUP QTR FNL | SALAH X2, MILNER,
LIVERPOOL 3-1 WATFORD | PREMIER LEAGUE | MANE, SALAH, FIRMINO
LIVERPOOL 0-1 TOTTENHAM | PREMIER LEAGUE | N/A
BOURNEMOUTH 1-4 LIVERPOOL | PREMIER LEAGUE | SALAH X3, MANE

Leading the pack at the top of the table it was everyone's goal to come and find us and unfortunately after some fantastic months they did just that straight off the bat.

With Leicester to start with at Anfield you'd think this was routine stuff but our 20 shots found no way through at all and we were left with only the one point in this game.

Onto RBL we'd already qualified last month by beating Benfica so I decided it was probably best to rest some of our main players in time for Chelsea in the next game.

The gamble paid off and we had a completely different game in compared to last time where we lost 5-1 at Anfield.

Wijnaldum and Mane both scored the goals in a 2-0 win to put us top of the group and a late penalty gave me the chance to see Solanke bury one also so to boost his confidence I decided to give it to him for his first ever CL goal. The keeper made a fantastic save, and it was not to be.

Chelsea would prove to be our toughest ask of the season. Even both Manchester clubs couldnt best us but struggling chelsea were 3-0 up at half time with goals coming from Hazard, Barkley and Pedro.

There were stern words at half time and Salah upped his game scoring two. He took a penalty in the 85th minute and threw fault of my own I asked him to take like I did Solanke, and he missed. Big James Milner for the next I think. We were the better side here, unfortunately no three points.

We responded elegantly against Burnley who we saw off with no issues beating them 6-2. Our entire front 3 bagged goals for themselves, Matip contributed and our Ox from midfield struck home an effort from 18 yards.

We fell of the treadmill slightly only mustering a 1-0 against Brighton threw Milner and his penalty that he scored but a win is a win and 3 points are 3 points.

Carabao Quarters next and yes you will see us play in the semi finals against Leicester who in January we will now have to play 3 times from 7 matches. A huge win here at Carrow Road to continue a a nice long cup run.

A front three of Firmino, Salah and Mane were once again ruthless as you'd expect helping themselves to three points as if we were taking candy from a baby.

Our momentum was once again cut short by a second London club. 19 games into the season at the half way mark we fell short only 1-0. It was a pretty terrible performance from both sides.

Last but not least, Bournemouth. Probably one of the better wins of the month as Salah stole the hattrick he was loking for against Chelsea and Sadio Mane finished of the perfect win after Bournemouths Callum Wilson smashed home his 8th in the Premier League this season.

---

Another absolutely crazy month for our main man again, Mo Salah is absolutely on fire this season with 21 goals at the end of December. He'e been provided with such quality passing from his team mates behind him and in fact in front with him and firmino combing for 9 of those goals.

Firmino and Mane were also on it the Egyptian King once again overshadows them. Quality from everyone really.

---

---

Another fantastic month. The groups are over and with the Win at RBL we come out in 1st place ready for our RO16 draw.

We got o a first loss of the season to Chelsea which really does wrankle, as we by far the better team and a missed penalty from Salah in the 85th minute really would have changed the outcome.

A draw to Leicester, but out of the rest we won them all and we worked really hard to respond to those results.

---

It's been a good year for us I think in the Champions League. There has been one or two bumps in the road for sure but nothing too major and nothing really to worry about.

Having made a solid showing in the Groups, we came top and this would mean we were more probable to nab ourselves an easy draw and make way to the Quarter Finals as well.

So we do have the last 16 draw to show you now. Here's the whole thing in full, lets see who we get.

Champions League Round Of 16:
CHELSEA FC VS REAL MADRID
CELTIC VS MANCHESTER CITY
AJAX VS LIVERPOOL FC
MANCHESTER UNITED VS BAYERN MUNICH
RB LEIPZIG VS ATLETICO MADRID
SPARTAK MOSCOW VS JUVENTUS
ANDERLECHT VS FC BARCELONA
FC PORTO VS PARIS SAINT GERMAIN

A tough draw, but in my opinion the easiest we could've gotten bar none other than Anderlecht who will play Barcelona.

There are some tough draws here such as Man United vs Bayern, and Chelsea vs Real but we're not worried about them.

Fully focused on the team in front of us, we want to be in the next round and I think now that we're here we need to make it one of our priorities.

Bring on the Ajax!

Good luck against Ajax, definitely one I can see you winning with relative ease.

We'll see mate! Anything can happen in the Champions League!

ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ

---

We've had a season to remember so far and honestly I never expected to be doing so well at the midway point of the season, but there is one problem that has arisen behind close doors.

Joel Matip, ever present for us this year making a solid partnership at the back a long with Virgil Van Dijk. I honestly thought he could himself and Van Dijk would make a long lasting partnership for years to come but apparently that just wasn't meant to happen.

Barcelona having showed an interest in our Centre back, it was apparent what his intentions would be at this point. If Barcelona come calling it's supposedly too good to turn down. Looking at you Coutinho & Suarez.

£38 Million we agreed on, myself and matip. He made the issue aware to me roughly two months prior to the opening of the transfer window which was rather refreshing to see a footballer actually do their current club a favor in the midst of transfer speculation.

£38 Million was what we agreed on, and £38 million was what myself and Barcelona agreed on also, so he will be leaving the club for such a fee.

But now there's a whole at the back? So what do we do? Well, no panic buys of course but instantly I knew what I wanted.

Someone English, someone young, someone firm and to the point in his style of play. Someone commanding just like our big man Virgil. Someone to create a lasting legacy with the Dutchman at the back.

So, £42 Million pounds, plus another £10 million on top for different clauses I give to you our new main man John Stones Harry Maguire

I know, a huge fee, but this man is an absolute rock. Everything Phil Jones was supposed to be. He will take us far, and I fully believe he's much better than Matip. This could be the making of us.

Here you go then. Everyone's favorite mong Harry Kane Harry Maguire!

---

---