Hello everyone, welcome back to my Liverpool story, it’s time for another update! After an uneventful pre season I couldn’t wait to get started with a home game against Aston Villa. Before the game I sent Erminio Marra out on loan to Southampton to gain a bit of experience.
So we start the season at home to Aston Villa. I expected to win the game but was worried about Aston Villa’s pace up front, with Agbonlahor and Delfouneso. We started off pretty well, dominating possession and we should have scored but instead wasted a couple of good chances. We were punished right on half time, Reina rashly came out leaving an open goal, Naughton beat him to the ball and headed in. We hit back just 8 minutes into the second half through Andre Pierre Gignac, who smashed in from Gerrard’s pass. We grabbed the win when Fernando Torres turned and fired into the top corner. It was a deserved win, and a good way to start the season.
Torres picked up an injury right at the end of the game, but fortunately it wasn’t at all serious and he was fit for our next game which was away at Bolton. They employed a 4-5-1 formation and aimed to be difficult to break down. That didn’t happen though and we were 2-0 up inside 4 minutes. Steven Gerrard scored a header after just 30 seconds, and Sanchez powered in not long after. Bolton pulled one back but there was no stopping us, Gerrard grabbed his second with a tap in and Sanchez also scored his second, this time with a header. Torres scored when one-on-one and Gignac hammered in a free kick to complete an emphatic victory.
Next up was our final league game of the month, we were back at home to face Wolves. Once again we were superb going forward and got off to another great start through Glen Johnson, who’s run from deep was found by Silva and he finished nicely and Gerrard who scored a header from Gignac’s free kick. Matt Mills pulled one back for Wolves but Torres restored the two goal cushion with a bullet header. The Spain forward completed the scoring with a placed shot to ensure a 10o% start in the league.
So that concludes our league activity for August. Here is the table, where, after our great performances we sit top.
We weren’t finished for the month though, we had a difficult game against Valencia in the European Super Cup Final. I was expecting a tough match, but I was confident as one of Valencia’s current stars, Silva is now playing for us. With there only striker being an ageing Villa, I thought we held an advantage. I was proved right in the 39th minute when Gerrard’s header hit Torres and flew into the top corner. It was a fortuitous way to go ahead but I wasn’t complaining, and besides, we deserved it as we were the better team. The lead was doubled by David Silva, against his old club he slotted in cooly from a tight angle. After that it was one way traffic and we got our third through Gerrard who broke free of the defence and finished the game. Valencia had no reply to this and the ref blew the whistle, the cup was ours! I was very pleased, it means another trophy is added to our trophy cabinet! We have now one everything apart from the League Cup, which I really want to win this season.
After the game the news came out about our Champions League group draw. We have been drawn alongside Olympiakos, Bordeaux and Braga in a straightforward group that I expect us to qualify from with some ease.
We have two international fixtures at the start of September, England are playing San Marino at home, before we travel to group leaders Switzerland in what could be a pivotal game. Apart from that we have three league games to play as well as our first Champions League game.
That’s how August was folks, September beckons and I am looking forward to it. The Arsenal game will be a tough one, it will be interesting to see how the players cope with their passing and movement.
Sears
18 февраля, 2010 at 01:19
Fantastic month! Nice to see the club i love the most do well.Pity the real life team can’t do it! Keep it up and you should win the league convincely.
Lye
18 февраля, 2010 at 06:51
Hi Laxeyman, great set of results there yet again,is there any challenge for your team this season? If your players don’t have any complacency issue, you will rule the premier league once more.
Johnny Karp
18 февраля, 2010 at 11:08
Well done Laxeyman, you will have to ask the club to expand the trophy room! :)
Laxeyman
18 февраля, 2010 at 12:06
Thanks for the comments everyone. Sears, I know it’s a shame how poorly we’ve played this season especially as we were so good last season. Hopefully we can beat Unirea ( I think they’re Romanian, Johnny do you know about them?). Lye and Johnny thanks a lot hopefully we can conquer all this season!
Johnny Karp
18 февраля, 2010 at 13:16
Of course I know about them Laxeyman, everybody in the country is looking forward to tonight’s match and hoping that Unirea can cause an upset :) They won the title in Romania last year, it was a big surprise as they didn’t have any star players and their home town is pretty small, only 15000 inhabitants. They had a great manager though, former Chelsea player Dan Petrescu. They had a pretty good run in the Champions League, finished 3rd in their group behind Sevilla and Stuttgart after beating Glasgow Rangers 4-1 away and Sevilla 1-0 at home. It’s a pretty solid team but I don’t know much about the new manager’s style and approach to the game.
Laxeyman
18 февраля, 2010 at 13:20
Have they got a new manager now then? They must be decent if they beat Rangers and Sevilla so maybe you will get your wish of an upset.
Johnny Karp
18 февраля, 2010 at 14:49
Yes, they have a new manager because Dan Petrescu decided to accept a hefty offer from the Russian League… Their new manager is an Israeli, Ronny Levi, he managed Maccabi Haifa so far if I remember correctly. The team is very hard working, I think they keep on running in the dressing room too :) But apart from that they don’t have any stars other than the good goalkeeper and a talented midfielder called Apostol.
Kevin
18 февраля, 2010 at 14:50
Hi Laxeyman
Excellent start to your new season and banging in loads of goals as usual!
Well done.
Laxeyman
18 февраля, 2010 at 15:06
Kevin, thanks I am pleased with how good we’ve been going forward. Johnny, I can’t wait for the game, are they the best team in Romania?
Johnny Karp
18 февраля, 2010 at 15:16
They certainly were the best team last season, now at the half way point of the season they are still at the top with 34 points from 17 games but tied with other two teams. The Romanian League doesn’t go on through the winter, it stops in December and begins again at the end of February, so I didn’t see them in action for quite some time. The biggest problems are that they had to replace the manager and a couple of key players too, I’m pretty curious to see how they’ll look tonight.
Laxeyman
18 февраля, 2010 at 15:25
Thanks Johnny, have they not played in 2 months? If so surely they will be rusty? Sounds like an exciting title race in Romania this season!
Johnny Karp
18 февраля, 2010 at 16:10
@Laxeyman
They did play lots of friendly games in warmer Turkey, that’s how the season goes in Romania. The first half is played from August till December, then the teams go to sunnier countries like Turkey or Cyprus to prepare the second half. The title race will be quite exciting, the gap between the 1st and the 6th is at only four points right now. Unfortunately my favorite team is down in 14th :(
TheZiggy
18 февраля, 2010 at 15:28
Great set of results there, with plenty of goals flying in. The win over Valencia is very good. Valenica are a good team to play though, because they tend to give you time on the ball. It will be interesting to see what happens when you get to the Club World Chamionship.
Laxeyman
18 февраля, 2010 at 15:35
The Ziggy, thanks. Valencia have a couple of decent players but they don’t really have much defensive steel, so we could play around them. It was still a good victory and I was pleased with the performance.
Bilal Ahmad
18 февраля, 2010 at 15:54
Great month Laxeyman! Torres is scoring a lot of goals for you! The next few games seem easy except for Arsenal so good luck!
Laxeyman
18 февраля, 2010 at 16:42
Bilal, thanks Torres has been on fire! The Arsenal game will be diificult but apart from that we should pick up maximum points.
Johnny, I did wonder if that’s what they did, it makes sense. Sorry to hear that your team is down in 14th but there’s always next season.
TheZiggy
18 февраля, 2010 at 23:10
Johnny, just be glad you don’t support QPR. It’s getting depressing right now, as we’re in danger of sliding right into the relegation zone of the Championship. We still haven’t found a win yet this year, and now only 2 points outside the relegation zone. :(
To think early in the season we were the form team, looking good for a play-off spot.
Johnny Karp
19 февраля, 2010 at 00:00
@TheZiggy
Almost two months without a win sounds depressing indeed. I wonder what happened that turned an in form team into a losing side, injuries?