Kuyt and Suarez Score, News on the Asian Tour, and Other Thursday Notes

By: Ed | June 9th, 2011

Liverpool-related action slows down remarkably today, as the round of internationals grinds to a halt and transfer murmurings, at least for the time being, fade to white noise. There is some CONCACAF Gold Cup action to watch, as well as a friendly between Poland and France later in the day, but otherwise we’re left to the few bits and pieces of news that we can scrounge up.

* The one friendly that we had been somewhat looking forward to was the matchup between Dirk Kuyt’s Holland and Luis Suarez’ Uruguay, and the two Liverpool men obliged the interest by netting the only goals for their respective sides. Uruguay took the lead in the 82nd minute, with Edison Cavani’s cross threading through a number of bodies in the penalty area to Suarez, whose goalbound effort got under Abel Hernandez and past Tim Krul.

It was a familiar sight for Liverpool supporters eight minutes later when Kuyt leveled, as he posted up next to Nestor Muslera in goal prior to the corner only to nudge off just in time to meet the delivery and nod into the open net. The match ended up going to penalties, which the hosts won 4-3. In the end it was a good showing for both Kuyt and Suarez, and a nice way for both sides to bridge the gap to their next set of competitive matches—for Uruguay its the Copa America later in the summer, and for the Netherlands it’s their next round of Euro qualifiers after a friendly date with England in early August.

* The Copa America will mean that Suarez misses out on Liverpool’s tour of Asia, which the official site has started to promote as July inches nearer. They’ve launched a special site for the occasion, which will be marked by matches with Guandong and a Malaysia XI taking place on July 13th and 16th respectively. As Gavin Law reminded us earlier in the year, Liverpool and Standard Chartered have an excellent marketing opportunity in Asia, and regardless of whether or not they come back with a gaggle of, in his words, “Korean, Indian, Chinese player,” it’ll be nice for supporters to see a healthy amount of squad members in action. And, on the corporate side of things, we’ll probably get a chance to see Gavin Laws dive into a vat of gold, Scrooge McDuck style.

* Lastly, there’s a steady stream of reports coming out in the past couple of hours that Alberto Aquilani has been turned away by Juventus and will be returning to Anfield, but there’s not any actual confirmation that this has occurred or will be any time soon. Most recently we’ve heard his agent deny that Milan made an approach, which doesn’t exactly tell us anything useful other than we don’t know anything more than we knew before. For now it’s just an endless loop of wondering about what will happen, talk about where he would fit if he did return, hear something that may or may not be true about his future, and then wonder what will happen. So yeah, there’s that to talk about.

One other note to include on the day regarding guest submissions—thanks to all those who have gotten in touch, and if you haven’t heard anything back from me, it doesn’t mean we’re not interested. I’ve been waiting for our servers to be fixed in order to get the posts going. This is mostly related to the fact that a few of you have included pictures to run with the post, which is great. What’s not so great, though, is that with our servers, it takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes to upload a picture. Between wanting to do the completed submissions justice and trying to figure out a way to shoot Word Press in the face, getting things up and running is taking some time.

That wraps up Thursday, aside from some Twitter action that Liverpool have signed a West Brom teenager named Jerome Sinclair. So that makes it all worth it. Anyhow, back tomorrow with whatever’s useful. Assuming that’s going to happen.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Euro 2012, International Duty, Miscellaneous, Team News, Transfer News

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lfc80uk

Check out everybody's favourite Man Utd player fluffing his lines whilst attempting baseball!

http://www.talksport.co.uk/mag...
AdamSonOfIstanbul

My perceived pecking order for LFC CMs,
1. Gerrard (Our famous #8 was always gonna top this list)
2. Lucas (1st name most of look for on the teamsheet and would be tops if SG were not SG)
3. Meireles (Our friends here at LFCoffsides have done much to highlight the effects of his absence)
4. Aqua (Who knows, but I still believe in his quality)
5. Henderson (Amazing prospect and his fee demands opportunity)
6. Spearing (Great end to the season in SGs absence)
7. Shelvey (Ambition, great attitude and loads of promise)
8. Lazy overpriced balding guy from lowly Blackpool (Need I say more?)

So assuming we go to 4-3-3 a formation that we had some success with at first under KK, and can manage to squeeze 3 CMs and KK heeds Noel's advice and crowds out/overloads the midfield to win the battle in the middle of the park, that is 7 CMs for a maximum of 3 spots in midfield. Having seen KKs preference for formation change, seeing 3 CMs utilized every game seems unlikely.

Charlie Adam might get his break and become our 8th CM, perhaps by the virtue of a little Scottish nepotism, but this would certainly be folly, as I could imagine several of our youngsters who got a crack at the 1st team this season (and performed well) would feel rather snubbed. I know I would.

Would also be interested to see how the rest of our community ranked our CM options........
paul

Gerrard will probably be a crock again, but then don't we have the Euros in 2012? That could translated to "I'm not getting injured" and him holding back like he did leading up to the WC. I don't think we'll get Adam, not if he really is a manc fan. KK has said he only wants players that want to play for us.
Ryan

I would rank them pretty much the same, besides Aquilani. Not because of his ability, but it seems rather rude to give the position to a guy who kinda sorta maybe wants to play for Liverpool only if he has to, over a couple of guys who would lose limbs to score in a big game. But I'm just an observer on the couch, with a big big heart.
Guest

Pretty much agree with the order above, ASOI, though as far as I interpreted it, the signing of Henderson made it fait accompli that Aquilani is staying in Italy for Juve/some other club, and that Adam isn't on his way in. The former makes me somewhat sad, while the latter is perfectly fine and dandy as far as I am concerned. So by my count, we got six guys competing for three spots, which could even become five if Jonjo was loaned out to get some regular action in the Championship or elsewhere.
Tropics Red

Remember the team of '87? McMahon and Whelen in the centre; Houghton on the right - who tucked inside more than hugged the touchline; Beardsley dropped deep from a forward position. Barnes high up on the left.
Not exactly a 4-4-2, a 4-3-3 or even a 4-5-1.

2011 - Lucas and Meireles; Gerrard; Suarez dropping deep from a forward position. What's missing? If a left winger/forward is not bought this transfer window then I'll eat my hat!!

On top of that with the FSG/Comolli influence each of these players already has a youthful understudy - Spearing, Shelvey; Henderson; Pacheco; Sterling.

The Liverpool way? Players comfortable on the ball and in a fluid system? Am I reading too much into this?! Comparisons to La Masia? Tika Taka? Pass and Move?

Brain fart over.
redtrev73

Said something very similar in one of my own gaseous brain-emissions Tropics. Kenny also had Molby and Mc Donald for the centre and the likes of Johnston as back-up on the flanks. Strength in depth is a must, as is a barnesy-type to supply Andy if we,re to get the best out of our big geordie. So, is it mata or downing? I know who i'd wish for, but let's trust Kenny's judgment ahead of our own fevered longings....
Guest

Well since Word Press sucks, Ed, thought I'd attach a picture of Standard Chartered's own Gavin Laws looking an awful lot like Scrooge McDuck.

Try not to act impressed.
Ed

This post wouldn't have deserved a picture of that quality anyway. Breathtaking.
Ismael Jawad

Don't try to convince me you accomplished that masterpiece all by yourself. Lovin' it.
wustl red

I really hope aquaman xomes back and we don't waste 10 mil on Charlie Adam.
Ismael Jawad

Now that's what I call a fitting end to "Aqua in Calcioland".