Liverpool FC Forum

[Forever_Red]

sell the strikers. agger and riise upfront this season. 

was thinking the same thing!

[GRAHAM01]

anything else happened yet ?

[112-1077774096]

martin on for carson

[account deleted by request]

sell the strikers. agger and riise upfront this season.

Sorry StMike I missed seeing your post. Yours was better anyway.

[112-1077774096]

kuyt and pennant forced saves from the keeper

[112-1077774096]

    they just brought a thiery henry lookalikey on

[lakes10]

Its not been a bad game, in fact it was a hard work out for our team....and how did that just not go in.

[stmichael]

Pennant has looked lively since he came on, he could be a good player for us this season

agree 100%

[lakes10]

oh well 1-3, good game.
Alot of our good and new players did not play in this game so things will only get beeter and that makes me feel very good for the new football year.

[Emerald Red]

If the chances and misses that Pennant and Kuyt had are an indication of our forward play this season, then it's going to be frustrating, because those chances all should really have been converted. Really not good enough atm. Maybe I'm being hypercritcal, though.

Oh, and Voronin should have scored there, but Kuyt missed an open net from half a yard out. Lovely.

[mikopool]

That could have been classified as a bad miss by Kuyt & Voronin, one of them should of buried that cross, of what I saw of the game (second half) we looked good, only one moment of threat from South China that I can recall and it was offside, I am sure with a bit more riding on our matches and all of our class players available, we are going to look good this season.

[Emerald Red]

One thing that is encouraging is the fact that we're looking comfortable when not playing very well, but still managing to win by a few goals. It's early days still, but compare our form pre-season to last year, and there is already a massive difference. Isn't it a sign of a good team to not play at your best without key players, yet still manage to win?

[GRAHAM01]

will be a good test against portsmouth now, cast are skills against a prem team and show them what is to come for them

come on you reds

[account deleted by request]

South China 1, Liverpool 3
Jul 24 2007 By Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo with the Reds in Hong Kong

LIVERPOOL maintained their one hundred per cent pre-season record with a hard-working 3-1 victory over South China in Hong Kong today.

Goals from John Arne Riise, Xabi Alonso and Daniel Agger secured Rafa Benitez’s side a place in Friday’s Asia Trophy final against Portsmouth.

However, there was disappointment for the legions of Hong Kong fans who were denied a chance to see the club’s multi-million pound new signings due to red tape.

Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel were forced to sit out the game because they’re still awaiting international clearance to play in a Premier League endorsed tournament.

Liverpool were also without skipper Steven Gerrard, who’s nursing a stomach injury.

There was a surprise recall, however, for Harry Kewell who’d joined the squad straight from the Asia Cup in Vietnam.

Riise maintained his impressive summer form with a trademark free-kick on eight minutes.

The Norwegian blasted into the roof of the net from 20 yards, giving keeper Zhang Chunhai no hope.

When Alonso coolly converted a penalty after the tireless Andriy Voronin was dragged down in the box on 27 minutes, a rout looked possible.

But the plucky Hong Kong champions stunned Liverpool with a 40-yard free-kick from skipper Li Haiqiang, embarrassing Scott Carson with a goal reminiscent of Ronaldinho’s against David Seaman in the 2002 World Cup.

The hosts enjoyed much of the possession for an hour as the humid conditions clearly took their toll on Benitez’s side.

The Liverpool boss tried to freshen his team up ten minutes into the second half when Dirk Kuyt and Jermaine Pennant replaced Crouch and Kewell. The changes worked.

Kuyt should have made an instant impact but shot wastefully over the bar after being found by Alvaro Arbeloa’s right wing cross.

Then the Dutchman nearly created a deserved strike for Voronin who headed over Kuyt’s cross from close range on 70 minutes.

Although 95 per cent of the enthusiastic crowd was supporting Liverpool, they displayed signs of fickleness as the game progressed.

Poor Sissoko was given an especially hard time after squandering possession on several occasions, and was eventually subbed for Sami Hyypia, playing an unfamiliar central midfield role.

Liverpool managed to put the game safe with the move of the match on 74 minutes. It was started and finished by Agger, who sent Riise clear on the left after dribbling the ball from defence.

Riise’s cross was neatly teed up for the Dane by Kuyt, and Agger hit an unstoppable left footer to secure Liverpool’s victory.

Kuyt, Voronin and Pennant nearly added goals in the closing stages as the gulf in class grew towards the final whistle.

Liverpool: Carson (Martin 83); Arbeloa, Agger, Carragher, Riise; Benayoun (Finnan 65), Alonso (Threlfall 74), Sissoko (Hyypia 72), Kewell (Pennant 55); Voronin, Crouch (Kuyt 55)

Attendance: 36,801

[god_bless_john_houlding]

Best centre half in the world getting on the score sheet. Good performance all round. 1st time I've seen Voronin live as a Liverpool player, looks more than a bit part player which is what I had him down as. Funny to see our central midfielders at the end of the match--Arbeloa and Hyypia   Solid performance in the heat, few players didn't perform as well as they can but overall a good professional match by the lads. 1st piece of silverwear of the season is on it's way on Friday--hopefully it won't be the last