Liverpool Hoping To Kick On This Season

By Liverpool supporter Jay Smith: https://twitter.com/jaysmith93

Being a Liverpool fan in the modern day is a hard, heartbreaking experience. Being a Stoke fan, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Since returning to top flight football in 2008, Stoke have been a team that are unpredictable. 

Liverpool have struggled against Stoke in the league in recent years, losing one and drawing one last year. Despite knocking Stoke out of both the FA and League cup, their league form against them is outrageous.

After Thursday’s performance there are a few positives despite the loss to a team that Liverpool, at home, should be beating. The younger players in the team such as Jack Robinson, Jonjo Shelvey and Raheem Sterling, who was subbed on late in the game, showed much more fighting spirit. 

Once again Liverpool fans were left questioning the heart and desire of the once great, Pepe Reina. Since the beginning of last season, Reina’s form has been more than questionable. At times it seems as though he can’t even be bothered to play in a Liverpool shirt anymore and he’s just doing it for the money.

Hopefully we will see Suso again tomorrow against Stoke. The young Spaniard has been on the lips of Liverpool fans since around Christmas time and Brendan has come in and brought him into the first team picture along with Jonjo and Raheem. 

I believe Liverpool will take the 3 points tomorrow, if Suarez can find his shooting boots again, Sterling and Sahin start and we cut down the defensive mistakes that have cost us so dearly this season. 

Today Daniel Agger penned a new deal with the club. This is delightful news for all Liverpool fans that feared we were going to lose our best centre back. In such little time Brendan Rodgers already knows who his best players are. 

He stated his delight today: “He's one of the best centre-backs in world football. His balance, his reading of the game, his defensive qualities and his ability to bring it out from the back is outstanding.”

Another one of Liverpool’s young players Jordan Henderson has shared his desire to stay at the club for the remainder of his career: “When I put the shirt on it is a real honour to go out and play for Liverpool so I want to do that for the rest of my career. I will keep fighting and I have belief in my own ability that I can be a success here."

Captain Steven Gerrard believes he can still improve under Brendan Rodgers. “There are certainly things I can still improve on by working with him.” He said. “I'm enjoying working with him on a daily basis, and I think my form recently has been really good.

"I'm enjoying my football, and I'm really looking forward to the next two years I'm contracted for and hopefully more, to add some chapters to a career I'm really proud of."

Rodgers Let Down By Owners But Liverpool Should Not Be Written Off

There was plenty of optimism surrounding Anfield yesterday morning as manager Brendan Rodgers spoke of hopefully adding two new faces to his Liverpool squad. Eleven pm came and the Reds had loaned striker Andy Carroll to West Ham, 18 months after his predecessor Kenny Dalglish bought him for £35 million, and signed no one. Their clear weakness is their inability to consistently find the back of the net and it is clear that they need a proven goalscorer to boost their ranks. 

Rodgers was clearly confident of bringing in forward Clint Dempsey from Fulham but Fenway Sports Group failed to produce the £7 million needed to bring him to Merseyside. A figure like that is relatively measly in this day and age and Tottenham snapped him up with glee. Reds fans must be bewildered as to how FSG could spend a combined £57.7 million on Carroll and Luis Suarez in January 2011 but not fork out a figure over £50 million less to bring in Dempsey, a player who the manager obviously wanted. 

A new era has started at Anfield, people should not doubt that, but it is starting to dawn on the fans that it is going to take at least a few years before Liverpool can even dream of going to Champions League finals again. There is still plenty of world class talent at Rodgers's disposal in the form of Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Daniel Agger. 

Suarez is a special talent that needs to be enhanced into a special, prolific goalscoring talent. The amount of chances he creates is second to none, but his chance conversion rate is nothing short of dismal. One of the Northern Irish manager's biggest tasks over the coming months is to find the deadly finisher inside the Uruguayan that scored 50 goals in one season for Ajax and three goals in South Africa in the 2010 World Cup. 

Rodgers also needs to get the best out of talismanic skipper Steven Gerrard, even if it is only for two or three more seasons. If he can score 10 to 15 goals this year it will make a huge difference to whether or not Liverpool can push for a top four spot. 

The five-time European champions can still push for a Champions League spot but injuries must be few and far between as they have a squad that now features only 17 senior players. For a good campaign in all four competitions to come to fruition the Reds will need to have a good start to the season, and then boost the side in January. Rodgers kept his side of the bargain by offloading players and slashing wage bills, but FSG failed to keep theirs. 

Berbatov Linked With Fulham After Dembele Joins Spurs

A busy day in the  the capital city saw Mousa Dembele complete his move from Fulham to Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee while Theo Walcott looks set to stay at The Emirates, but will not sign a new contract. Walcott refused to sign a five-year contract at £75,000 a week and it looks as though Arsene Wenger will take the chance that he might have to let him go for free. Dembele will strengthen Spurs's midfield after an impressive two seasons with Fulham. He did not score as many goals as he would have liked, however he did create plenty of chances and is a very talented player, showed by his tally of 40 caps and five goals for Belgium.

Fulham are rumoured to be in negotiations with Manchester United over a deal to bring striker Dimitar Berbatov to Craven Cottage. This would be a great signing for Martin Jol in a move that could open the door for Clint Dempsey to join Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool. Also in West London Queen's Park Rangers brought in Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar from Inter Milan in a shock move that was a real statement of intent by manager Mark Hughes. This could prove to be a great signing after Robert Green has faltered in the Rs' opening two league matches. Hughes was understandably delighted with the signing: "When you get an opportunity to possibly bring a player of Julio Cesar's quality, with his playing record and his mentality then I think you have to pursue it."

Walcott has been linked with moves to Liverpool and Manchester City over the last couple of days but Wenger appears reluctant to let him go. Walcott has had a decent couple of years with 24 goals and 22 assists in 84 games in all competitions. However he has the tendency to drift in and out of games and only created one clear-cut chance every 91 minutes last year. After already losing talismanic striker Robin Van Persie and midfielder Alexandre Song, Arsenal are desperate to hold onto the winger. They do have other options on the flanks in the form of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho and Lukas Podolski, but Walcott's pace is important to their style of play. Manchester City are reported to still be interested but it appears unlikely that the England man will be leaving the Emirates in this transfer window.

Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas will be very happy to add Dembele to his ranks at White Hart Lane after the recent £30 million departure of Luka Modric to Real Madrid. He will be looking towards the Belgian and fellow summer signing Gylfi Sigurdsson to produce the midfield magic needed to propel Tottenham into the top four. A Fulham statement said: "Following two full seasons at Craven Cottage, the club would like to thank Mousa for his contribution and wish him well throughout the rest of his career." Dembele tweeted that he was 'happy to confirm [he] signed a new contract with Tottenham FC.'

The Community Shield Gives Little Away About Oncoming Season

In the aftermath of the Olympic Games heads turned to Birmingham where the traditional starter for the footballing season was taking place. Football fans from across the country were hoping to be given some clues and insights into what might happen over the coming months in the Premier League. There were high hopes for the new campaign after Manchester City won the title in May with a dramatic come-back against QPR in stoppage-time, finishing ahead of neighbours Manchester United on goal-difference. 

Chelsea, their opponents today, ended up well off the pace last season in sixth position. However they did have an up-turn in fortunes towards the end of the campaign as new manager Roberto Di Matteo transformed the side and led them to their first ever Champions League victory thanks to a penalty shoot-out win over Bayern Munich. The Blues also defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley in the FA Cup final to complete a cup double. 

Since then both sides have made changes, especially Chelsea. The West-London outfit have seen top goalscorer over the last ten years Didier Drogba leave for China shortly after scoring in both cup finals. The mantle of main striker has finally been passed onto Spanish forward Fernando Torres; over 18 months since his British record-breaking £50 million move from Liverpool. In that time he has flattered to deceive and has scored just seven goals in 46 league games compared to the 65 in 102 that he bagged at Anfield. He found some sort of form with Spain at Euro 2012 as he scored twice against the Republic of Ireland and then netted again in the final 4-0 drubbing of Italy. 

On the back of that many have tipped him to re-discover his old form and take the Premier League by storm, assisted by new arrival Eden Hazard. Today the 28-year-old started as he means to go on with the opening goal, taken expertly with a delicate left-footed dink over City goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon. El Nino looked in good form for the majority of the game as he ran the channels well. He sent out a firm message to football fans around the world that he is back and ready to be Chelsea's main man, just like he was for Liverpool. 

With the European champions seemingly in control the match was turned upside down when Branislav Ivanovic was sent off for a lunge on Aleksander Kolarov. Referee Kevin Friend lost plenty of admirers in the Chelsea camp when he produced the red card but after extensive replays it was clear why. Referees no longer tolerate studs-up tackles and the Serb's challenge was exactly that. What happened in the 30 minutes after that was predictable as the English champions took control.

Shortly after half-time Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure showed his attacking prowess with an excellent finish from the edge of the area. Goalkeeper Petr Cech will be disappointed with his efforts though as he failed to even get a touch on the ball as it flew inside his near post. It did not take long for the 11 men to take the lead for the first time and it was much-maligned striker Carlos Tevez who gave it to them. Like Torres, Tevez has been out of the Premier League picture for a while because of a row with manager Roberto Mancini. However, like his Spanish counter-part, he sent out a message today that he means business this year. 

Samir Nasri sealed the win with a cool volley as the three-time Premier League champions ran out of steam. Youngster Ryan Bertrand pulled one back late on courtesy of a Pantilimon error but Chelsea's late rally proved in vain. A good win for City will not quash doubts over their hopes of successfully defending their title as Ivanovic's dismissal played a vital part in their victory. Chelsea on the other hand showed signs of strength in the first half with good link-up play and strong team-work. Eden Hazard looked a danger going forward and with Marko Marin to come back from injury they will have plenty of fire-power with which to threaten teams. 

City have not made many significant signings although today did sign young midfielder Jack Rodwell from Everton. It is unlikely that he will make an immediate impact and it looks as though they will have a similar starting eleven to last season. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Eastlands over Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger who would greatly strengthen their back-line, especially after a typically unconvincing display by Serb Stefan Savic.

After watching the first game of the new season it is clear that City will be the team to beat, but everyone already knew that. What is also obvious is that Chelsea will be mounting a much bigger title challenge than last time around. There are plenty of positives for both managers to take into next week-ends opening Premiership fixtures from this feisty clash at Villa Park.

Is Fernando Torres Spain's Key Man Once More?

When 'El Nino' ended Spain's 2010 World Cup campaign without a goal he was well below top scorer David Villa in the pecking order and was shot of confidence. What followed was just as bad for Torres as he  left Liverpool that January for Chelsea in a £50m move in search for trophies. Nothing much good happened for him however, as he scored just once in his first 18 appearances. At Liverpool and Atletico Madrid before he had always been the focal point of his side's attack and as a result struggled to fit into Chelsea's preferred 4-3-3 formation. 

As the 2011-12 season progressed it started to seem as though there was no way back for Torres as he went on a 24-game goal drought and was dropped from the Spain squad for the first time since 2005. Chelsea were also performing badly as a team and there seemed no hope of winning the trophies that he joined the club for. When manager Andre Villas-Boas was sacked with Chelsea 3-1 down in their Last 16 Champions League tie with Napoli there looked to be no way back. 

However Torres has been gradually improving game in, game out and new Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo must receive credit for helping rejuvenate him. Two goals against Leicester City in an FA Cup tie ended his goalless run and his late game-sealing goal against Barcelona vastly improved his self-belief. A first Chelsea hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers showed that he was starting to hit top form again. After the high of winning the FA Cup and Champions League double with Chelsea Torres was named in Vincent Del Bosque's 23-man squad for the 2012 European Championships. 

Today Spain's number nine showed what he is made of with an excellent man-of-the-match display against the Republic of Ireland. His runs behind the Irish defence were like the player of old and added to his two clinical finishes this was arguably his best performance since 2010. With David Villa injured and Del Bosque opting to leave Cesc Fabregas on the bench this was the 28-year-old's time to shine; and he took the opportunity with both hands. 

Torres will now be expected to start Spain's final group game against Croatia on Monday and if he continues where he left off this evening he will be hard to stop. The Irish team he faced are no mugs and on a 14-match unbeaten run going into these finals but he made their defence look like a non-league outfit. If Torres carries on playing like this for the rest of the tournament then it will be an even harder task than it already was for anyone to stop Spain lifting a third consecutive major title.