Liverpool F.C - A Liverbird From The Ashes

Liverpool announce new boss

Liverpool have officially announced their new boss - former striker Michael Owen. The move has come as a shock to many, as Rafa Benitez was the bookies' favourite to return to Anfield.


Owen started his career at Liverpool, and made his first team debut in the 1996-97 season.

His talent did not go unnoticed. Steve Heighway stated that: "[Owen] is ready for whatever you throw at him; nothing fazes Michael Owen. He's ready. If the manager wants a recommendation from me, Michael gets it." Karl-Heinz Riedle, who prior to joining Liverpool in the summer of 1997 had never heard of Owen, declared: "It's unbelievable when you see him play to realise that he's only 17," he said. "He's such a good player, so very quick and for his age he has excellent vision and awareness. He's a great player already and in one or two years he will become a very great player." Owen was rated as "the best attacker of his age in the country" in January 1997. Ted Powell, championship winning coach of the England u-18 side, declared Owen to be the best of a generation of young players that included Paul Scholes, David Beckham, and Robbie Fowler.

By the end of the next season, he had scored 23 goals and established himself as first choice striker. Not only that, he won the Premier League Golden Boot, PFA Young Player of the Year, finished third in the PFA Player of the Year and was runner up to Zinedine Zidane for World Player of the Year, and fourth in the FIFA Player of the Year and European Player of the Year, all at the age of 19. In Liverpool's treble winning season of 2001, he won the European Player of the Year, becoming the first Englishman to do so since Kevin Keegan in 1979 and also the World Player of the Year, which till date, no other Englishman has ever won. By the time he left Liverpool for Real Madrid in 2004, he had become the top goalscorer for the club for every season from 1998 having played 216 games for the club, scoring a massive 118 goals.

Very good start to your story I can't wait for the rest!

Great start to your story mate!

The first day of training - it was here. I'd rebuilt the coaching team, and promoted the reserve manager Rodolfo Borrell to assistant manager. He's a great coach, he can pick a talent, and he's been at the club for a while so he knows what has been going on these past few years.

I left the players with the fitness coaches to get a full workout while I was sorting out my desk in the office.

A while later I stepped back out into the training field, where the players were taking a breather after Paul and Elio put them through their paces.

"Alright lads, since its the first day of training, we'll be doing a bit of a brush up - a basic skills test."

We started off with passing. The coaches placed training cones at varying lengths and the boys had to try to hit the cones with the ball. Everyone was given 10 cones, and 1 try to hit each cone.

Top Scorers:
Nuri Sahin - 9/10
Steven Gerrard 9/10
Joe Allen - 8/10

Not much of a surprise there. We have a very good passing team, with our defenders able to pass well, and Luis upfront able to bring everyone into play with his passes as well.

Then, we moved on to finishing. The players played solo against a defender from the reserves, and had 10 different scenarios(different positions) where they had to put it past the goalkeeper.

Top Scorers:
Luis Suarez - 7/10
Steven Gerrard - 7/10
Fabio Borini - 5/10

This is a bit of a worry. Last season we dropped so many points - especially at home - because we couldn't put it in the back of the net even though we created chances.

Next up was defending/tackling. Each defender in the senior squad was paired up with a forward from the reserves and they had to win the ball back without fouling before the forward scored.

Top Scorers:
Jamie Carragher - 9/10
Martin Skrtel - 8/10
Daniel Agger - 8/10

Jamie was absolutely superb. He knew exactly when to dive into a tackle and when to stand off. Martin and Daniel were not far off. If we work on our marking a bit, we'd have a great defensive unit this season.

Crossing was next on the list. The players had to beat their man and put in a pinpoint cross for the striker in the box.

Top Scorers:
Glen Johnson - 8/10
Oussama Assaidi - 6/10
Steven Gerrard - 6/10

We have a bit of a problem in this area with our wingers not crossing well enough. We might need to do some buying/replacing in this area.


Penalties. The lads seemed excited. Who would score the most?

Top Scorers:
Steven Gerrard - 5/5
Luis Suarez - 3/5
Daniel Agger - 3/5

Last on the skills test was free kicks. The boys had to shoot it past a wall of players and put it into the net. We gave the goalies a break, so all they needed to do was get it on target.

Top Scorers:
Steven Gerrard - 4/5
Nuri Sahin - 3/5
Luis Suarez - 3/5

This skills test gave me an idea of how good our players are, and along with our training ground matches and friendlies, it will help me decide who to keep and who to sell.

Absolutely brilliant.

Did you read Akash's first Manchester United story by any chance?

2013-02-08 07:57#80299 Glenn T : Absolutely brilliant.

Did you read Akash's first Manchester United story by any chance?

I was actually trying to do something similar to the "skills test" they do on some of those cooking shows at the beginning.

Kop flops out

Liverpool have confirmed that QPR have snapped up midfielders Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing for a combined £8m fee.


Fellow Kop-Flop Joe Cole has also been offloaded to Sunderland for £1m.

Yay!

New Beginnings?

Michael Owen has completed the first three signings of his managerial career.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Side note: I will not be posting screenshots of players that everyone usually signs(like Nem). However, if you do want a screenshot, I will post it for you.

Dat unoriginality

Some great signings here. Nem is always quality and Lucas Marrone looks to be pretty good too. I think that the defense this year will be really quality and I thnk you might just make top-4.

That makes me feel guilty

Great updates mate.
Awesome story

Rodolfo burst into the room once again.

*panting*"Michael"

"Geez Rodolfo..could you try entering once without almost breaking down the door?"

"We've got a bid."

"For whom?"

"Pepe. Arsenal want him again."

"Fat chance. We're not gonna accept it unless they match their £20m bid from a few years ago, and everybody knows that Pepe has declined since..."

"They bid £29m."

"What the fuck?!"

"Yeah, that was kinda my reaction too. Who'd pay so much for a goalkeeper? Even Iker Casillas would struggle to get a near £30m bid."

"Oh the irony. Wenger shelling out £29m for a GOALKEEPER. Tell them yes. We can find a younger keeper who doesn't make so many stupid mistakes."

"Alright, I'll get on the phone."