Liverpool Story — January 2013

Hello everyone, welcome back to my Liverpool story. After a poor December in which we won only 3 games, we had to rack up some points in January to ensure we stayed top of the Premier League.

The first game of the new year was away at Hull on New Year’s Day. I felt we needed to win this game, and I expected us to win. I had to rest a lot of players, though, most of them were still really tired after the busy December schedule. Glen Johnson picked up an injury against Arsenal and will be out for 2-3 weeks. Darijo Srna, Emilano Insua, Steven Gerrard, David Silva and Fernando Torres were all rested. Despite this it didn’t matter, as the players played very well and seemed to be playing with confidence again. Alberto Aquilani gave us the lead with a beautiful strike from 25 yards. After that it was one way traffic and we doubled the advantage when Gignac dribbled past a defender and fired in. After that we relaxed a little, and the game was rounded off by Anthony Anderson, who tucked away a penalty after Sanchez had been tripped in the box.

It was a good win, and we deserved it, as we restriced Hull to just 3 efforts on goal.

Next up was an FA Cup Third Round tie against Notts Co, currently struggling in 17th in League One. We completely dominated the game, our youngsters doing the job very well. It took us 39 minutes to go ahead, although we deserved it earlier, 16 year old Giovani La Rosa tucking away after Roman Vavilov’s run and cross. With this goal he became our youngest ever scorer, and it was a goal on his debut. We had to wait until the 71st minute to double the lead, a brilliant dinked cross from Benayoun set up Vavilov, who nodded in. Benayoun finished the scoring with a placed shot after Galvan’s pass. It was to be his last goal for Liverpool, a week later he was sold to Espanyol, who paid $5.5m for him. I decided to let him go because he has played poorly this season and will soon be 33, so his best days are behind him.

I was pleased with how we played and it seemed our form was returning, we were able to restrict Notts Co to absolutely no shots whatsoever.

Next up was a Premier League game at home to Aston Villa. We started the game well, and we looked lively in the final third. In the 14th minute we went ahead, Torres slotted in when one-on-one. We continued to dominate and got a two goal advantage when Gignac finished after Otamendi’s deflected shot fell into his path. Another very good performance then, and some gloss was put on the scoreline when Sanchez finished of a good move.

I was pleased with the victory, and our form was definitely returning, and it was our third 3-0 win in a row.

The next game was against West Ham, at Anfield. Before the game I agreed the sale of Luis Fabiano to Barcelona for $4.8m, meaning I was on the look out for a new striker. Anyway, back to the West Ham game and we went ahead through Gerrard, who powered in from the edge of the area after 20 minutes. The second goal came on the counter attack. Reina caught a West Ham corner, threw it to Johnson who made a defence splitting pass to Torres, who finished cooly. Gignac scored the third with a calm finish and Johnson grabbed a deserved goal with a brilliant strike from 30 yards.

Next up we faced travelled to Stamford Bridge for a difficult game against Chelsea. Our form had well and truly returned by now, and we started the game well. We we rewarded with a breakaway goal, Torres ran down the left and crossed for Gerrard, who was playing just behind Torres in a 4-2-3-1 formation, who burst into the box and opened the scoring. Torres doubled the lead soon after when he hammered into the top corner when one-on-one with Cech. We looked quite comfortable until Dzeko scored in the 62nd minute, which made the match more interesting. Fortunately we held on for a very good win, especially considering it was away from home.

Due to our victory in the FA Cup against Notts Co we played Charlton in the next round. Again I rested players and sent out a young team, who once again performed very well. Jack Wilshere gave us the lead with a volley from Anderson’s cross, for his 1st goal of the season. Niklas Danielsson then scored twice on his debut, one a header, one a cool finish to seal the victory. There will be more about him in a minute.

The final game of the month was at home to Man City, a side currently sitting in 4th place. It was going to be a tough game, but I was confident we could get the victory. I was pleased, therefore, when we went ahead through Gignac, who scored a thumping header after Sanchez had beaten two players and crossed. Dirk Kuyt, our former player levelled for City with an amazing strike into the top corner from the edge of the area. We went ahead again, though before half time when Torres twisted away from Richards in the box, his shot (which was going in anyway) hit Mascherano, who was standing on the line for the corner, and went in. I was pleased and hoped we could hold on, but it wasn’t to be as Kuyt scored again, tapping in after Modric’s shot had been saved.

A pretty good month there and one which sees us strecth our lead to 4 points at the top of the table.

Earlier in the post I mentioned Niklas Danielsson. After selling Fabiano, we needed another striker and in the end I plumped for this Finnish Regen striker. He was signed for $20m from Paris Saint Germain and has the ability to challenge Gignac right away. I like the fact that he is an all round striker who is strong in every area, and also has youth on his side. Hopefully he can come in and do a job now and also be our star striker in the future.

In the last post I also mentioned we had signed 17 year old Manuel Pereda. Well here are his attributes.

He has pretty good attributes don’t you think? My Assistant Manager says he has the potential to be as good as Javier Mascherano, I certainly hope so.

 Also signed was young right back or centre back Jimmy Martindale from Man City. He has good potential, hopefully he can develop well.

Well, that’s all for now, I am very glad our form had picked up in time for the important matches that are coming up in the next few months.