*** Pre-season Friendlies Thread ***

BaZ87 said:
True. Downing could have never picked the same guy out in the crowd 10 times in a row :p
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You certainly can't knock his consistency. :D

Tom84 said:
I just want to point out right now that when someone in a few months says the United fans were speaking of Bebe and potential in the same sentence I had nothing to do with it ;)
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Oh get out with your pessimism. :p
 
just watched the highlights of the LA galaxy game

our defence looked dodgy at times (still)
defoe didn't look sharp
bale was playing in the number 9 shirt? is this permanent and i wonder if he will be pushed more inside and upfront? great header from him and he certainly seemed more attacker than winger at times.
 
The Running Man said:
Bebe could be good but he is still a bit raw and needs time. He has power pace etc great assets he just needs to work on his finesse.
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I genuinely don't think I would have the power to cross the ball from the right wing and have it go off for a throw on the left without it touching the ground first. He did it when he was trying to cross it about 20 yards as well!

I'm sure Fergie will give him a few chances, lets just hope he takes them. Could be a nice freebie for the season as we pretty much ignored him after a few shockers last year.
 
Don't know whether to stay up for the MLS all stars V Chelsea match.

Beckham, Donovan and the master himself, Henry are confirmed to play.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
Liverpool 0-0 Roma HT

Not playing bad, created a few chances and could be 2-0 had our two stand out players Cole and Shelvey been a bit luckier.
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I was really impressed with Ryan McLaughlin in the first half. Like most young fullbacks, he can improve his positional play but he looks a real footballer; gets up and down the pitch well and looks incredibly comfortable on the ball. He looks a much brighter prospect than Flanagan imo.
 
Typical Liverpool, play much better than opposition and continue to not win.


Wonder did Morgan say something about 4-0 to wind baked beans up
 
Liverpool 1-2 Roma FT

An entertaining game for a preseason, with Roma running out deserved winners.

Brendan's take-home issue: how to offload all the unremarkable/system-uncomfortable central midfielders. Though to be fair, Shelvey put a shift in.

Pacheco continues to impress.
 
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Decent run out for the youngsters in the second half but a well deserved victory for Roma.

Hard to know what Rodgers will do but we could end up with Adams, Allen, Aquilani, Cole, Gerrad, Henderson, Lucas, Shelvey and Spearing all vying for 3 spots in the team assuming we sign Allen. My guess would be the players in bold will stay, Aquilani will go back to Italy so that leaves Adams, Cole and Spearing.

Spearing isn't great on the ball but works his ass off and can provide limited cover for Lucas, Cole is a lazy **** but is capable of producing something out of nothing as well as having the passing and technical ability to fit in to Rodgers system and Adams offers a goal threat but doesn't have the touch or work rate. He's also a massive liability if played in a two man midfield due to headless chicken syndrome.
 
Considering where we are in our pre-season compared to Roma (iirc Rodgers said this was their 6th game) and the players we had available to us, we done pretty well imo. 1st half I thought we played pretty well and even in the 2nd half, with more or less a team of kids, we still held our own.

simisker said:
Pacheco continues to impress.
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He's a technically gifted player but his end product lets him down all too often.
 
Player I've not been impressed with so far is Eccleston. Doesn't look even remotely good enough for Liverpool and at 21 his days must be numbered.

Enrique needs a kick up the backside as well!
 
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BaZ87 said:
[...] [Pacheco]'s a technically gifted player but his end product lets him down all too often.
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Ah, I've only seen him play in these two preseason matches, but he strikes me as someone who would take well to Rodgers' system - very pacy, good dribbling and ball-control. Surely his end product can't be any worse than Scott Sinclair's? :D

Pigeon_Killer said:
Player I've not been impressed with so far is Eccleston. Doesn't look even remotely good enough for Liverpool and at 21 his days must be numbered.
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Yup, I agree with that, from what I've seen of him. Doesn't fit BR's system at all, and would be better served in a more direct-playing team.
 
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Pigeon_Killer said:
Hard to know what Rodgers will do but we could end up with Adams, Allen, Aquilani, Cole, Gerrad, Henderson, Lucas, Shelvey and Spearing all vying for 3 spots in the team assuming we sign Allen. My guess would be the players in bold will stay, Aquilani will go back to Italy so that leaves Adams, Cole and Spearing.

Spearing isn't great on the ball but works his ass off and can provide limited cover for Lucas, Cole is a lazy **** but is capable of producing something out of nothing as well as having the passing and technical ability to fit in to Rodgers system and Adams offers a goal threat but doesn't have the touch or work rate. He's also a massive liability if played in a two man midfield due to headless chicken syndrome.
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Assuming we sign Allen then him, Lucas, Gerrard and Henderson are the only certainties imo.

The club will happily see Aquilani and Cole leave (and Cole wouldn't be considered as a CM anyway), Shelvey's reportedly been offered on loan to Swansea so can't feature that highly in Rodgers plans and I struggle to see how Adam fits into a Rodgers team.

Given that we're going to be playing with 3 CM's then we can probably get away with having 6 CM's, especially if 2 of those are happy being bit part players and with the versatility of Gerrard & Henderson.

With that in mind, I'd probably be tempted to ditch Spearing and keep Shelvey and Adam (unless we can bring somebody better in). In a 3 man midfield an out and out defensive midfielder is less important as in a 2 man midfield and Allen's more than capable defensively (I think Henderson could do a job there too). The main reason for keeping Shelvey and Adam (in particular) though is the lack of goals from midfield. I can't see many goals (other than from Gerrard) in our other CM's.
 
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