Preview & Matchday: Liverpool v. Galatasaray S.K.

By: Noel | July 27th, 2011

Kickoff from Turk Telekom Arena at 19:00 GMT/2:00PM EST

Ways to Watch:

Live and online on LFCtv

MyP2P
StopStream
ATDHE
FromSport

Liverpool:

Doni
Flanagan Kelly Kyrgiakos Robinson
Poulsen Shelvey
Degen Cole Insua
Carroll

Bench: Jones, Wisdom, Ayala, Spearing, Coady, Kuyt, Aquilani

Three games down, three left, and with the new Premier League season just over the horizon it wouldn’t be surprising to see many key players get more than a half of action when Liverpool heads to Istanbul to take on Galatasaray later today. While Istanbul is hardly unfamiliar territory for Liverpool, the sold-out Turk Telekom Arena will be new, as the modern, state of the art stadium that took the club out of its old haunts and dropped it next to a freeway on the city’s outskirts only opened in January.

While no news has been released on Liverpool’s traveling squad yet, rumours have Pepe Reina and Steven Gerrard far from match fit and remaining in Liverpool, while Raul Meireles (ankle) and Daniel Agger (unknown) are believed to have stayed behind nursing slight knocks as well. Martin Skrtel, however, is expected to be available to make his first appearance of the preseason after a 2010-11 campaign that saw him regain something of his old form after the arrival of defensive guru Steve Clarke alongside Kenny Dalglish. No matter how many minutes he gets, it’s obvious that signs of a tighter defence will be integral for Liverpool as they build towards the new season.

Elsewhere, despite recent talk that he could be one of the players to head out on loan to free up space in Liverpool’s crowded midfield, Jay Spearing will be with the team, too, after talking about his determination to stay and fight for a place. Meanwhile, after saying that his client was definitely staying with Liverpool this season, over the weekend Alberto Aquilani’s agent changed his mind and started spreading rumours that the player was heading to Fiorentina on a loan similar to the one that sent him to Juventus last season—only this time around it would be even worse for Liverpool, as the agreed end of season fee the Italian club would be free to walk away from would be set at £10M and Liverpool would be picking up 20% of the player’s wages in the meantime. Needless to say, if Liverpool actually were to go through with such a deal it would be right to question the sanity of those involved, but as the days slip by with nothing happening it’s quickly turning into the reverse of the Charlie Adam saga: Nobody’s sure if he’s gone or not yet but most assume it will happen sooner or later. Maybe. Unless his agent changes his story again.

With the preseason friendlies at their half-way point, many will be eagerly awaiting team news to find out if the Italian has made the trip or not. Without any whispers of injury, if he hasn’t headed to Turkey with the club it would add credence to the recent rumbling that his future indeed lies elsewhere. Either way, though, with the bulk of Liverpool’s incomings this summer sorted and most of the squad approaching match fitness, at the very least an improved performance compared to the tired outing on Saturday against Hull will be expected—and as brought up earlier in the week, despite talk of it only being preseason the actual result might offer more insight into Liverpool’s future fortunes than many would guess.

Galatasaray:

Ercetin
Birinci Zhan Ujfalusi Gulselam
Turan Melo Inan Yilmaz
Elmander Baros

Bench: Akman, Kaya, Culio, Kurtulus, Stancu, Sarioglu, Balta, Dilaver, Kazim-Richards, Ceylan

As for Liverpool’s opponents, Galatasaray have started slowly through three preseason matches of their own, having so far registered a 1-1 draw at 2. Bundesliga side SpVgg Greuther Fürth, a 0-0 draw at home to Inter Milan, and a 1-0 loss on the road to FC Twente.

Their manager Fatih Terim, who was named the seventh best manager in the world in 2008 after taking Turkey to the semi-finals of the European Championships, returns for his third spell managing the club he earlier spent a decade playing for. After a tumultuous 2010-11 season that saw them go through Frank Rijkaard, Gheorghe Hagi, and finally Bülent Ünder, the return of a familiar face who once led the club to four Super Lig titles and one UEFA Cup sees Galatasaray back in steady—and popular—hands.

If Terim will be familiar to Galatasaray fans, there are a few names on the playing side who most following Liverpool will themselves be well acquainted with. Johan Elmander, their big signing of the summer so far, will be familiar to many, with the Swede looking to make a fresh start after moving to Galatasaray from Bolton on a free. Elmander only managed 18 goals in 92 appearances across three seasons while in the Premier League, but he and his new club will be hoping that a change of scenery brings back the form that saw him playing an important role for Toulouse and Brondby earlier in his career.

And of course there’s Milan Baros, who was an important part of Liverpool’s squad when they headed to Istanbul in 2005 for the Champions League final. As much as anything, he’ll be remembered by Liverpool fans for dropping the trophy during the celebration, leaving a lasting dent that the club decided not to repair. After he left Liverpool, he bounced from Aston Villa to Lyon to Portsmouth before finding a home in Turkey, but following a strong start for Galatasaray in 2008 he has spent much of the past two seasons injured. He’s fit now, though, and will expect to play against his old club.

Meanwhile Arda Turan will also be looking to impress against the side he’s publicly talked of wanting to move to in the past. He hasn’t been linked as often to Liverpool this summer as in other years, but the young captain was Juan Mata and Ezequiel Lavezzi before Juan Mata and Ezequiel Lavezzi were—a player who thanks to some small scrap ends up becoming a short-term obsession for half the people following Liverpool, even though in the end it seems likely the club was never in for him in the first place. In any case, if earlier preseason performances by Turan and Galatasaray are anything to go by, today’s affair will be a tight and chippy one. Though of course if Liverpool’s earlier preseason performances are anything to go by a sloppy goal-fest could be on the cards.

As a final note, Sergio Aguero is now a Manchester City player after a £38M move. So people can stop hopefully linking him to Liverpool and start panicking about the mighty juggernaut in sky blue. Or shrug their shoulders and carry on as usual since City still has to deal with their Carlos Tevez issues, and even if Aguero is an upgrade on his histrionic countryman it’s still down to Roberto Mancini to make something out of his pile of expensive toys. Which means that Sergio Aguero could well end up playing as defensive midfielder.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Match Previews, Miscellaneous, Team News

« Going Behind the Scenes in Training and Other Wednesday Notes | Home | Galatasaray 3, Liverpool 0: Ugly Turns Slightly Depressing »

prad

I'm convinced. Kenny and Clarke are plotting a shock and awe attack on the premier league.Pre-SeasonAsia tour: raise fitness/thank the fans/sponsor commitments/make some moneyEuropean legs: lull the competition into a false sense of security by playing cole, poulsen and coSunderland: bring in Reina, Johnson, Agger, Lucas, Gerrard, Adam, Downing, Suarez who have been secretly training at melwoodCarroll and Kuyt were the only potential starters playing today. (Kelly, Aquilani and Flanagan are close, but probably aren't first XI)
prad

*repost
I'm convinced. Kenny and Clarke are plotting a shock and awe attack on the premier league.Pre-Season
Asia tour: raise fitness/thank the fans/sponsor commitments/make some money
European legs: lull the competition into a false sense of security by playing cole, poulsen and co
Sunderland: bring in Reina, Johnson, Agger, Lucas, Gerrard, Adam, Downing, Suarez who have been secretly training at melwood

Carroll and Kuyt were the only potential starters playing today. (Kelly, Aquilani and Flanagan are close, but probably aren't first XI)
2sox

That was the most embarrassing 90 minutes I have seen liverpool put together in a while. Here's to hoping that Poulsen and Cole don't negatively effect any of the youngsters. Shelvey looked lazy and uninterested by the way, but I might be as well if I saw the team that KK put out there we me.
Kieran160

If kenny is trying to put these losers in he shop window then he has no chance of selling them! what a load of sh*te. insua,cole,poulsen and the rest
Guest

BREAKING NEWS: Bob Bradley has been sacked. The ability to have an erection that I lost yesterday because of Noel's Thatcher Moutheyes photoshop has been returned.
poorscouserbobby

Quite the goal by Elmander. Liverpool are missing several key figures. Aqualani has changed lots of things, but is not helped by the Poulson or Joe Cole.
ejbauer11

I think Joe Cole may deserve a portrait like the Hicks and Thatcher ones that y'all have posted.
Ryan

When you made all those Napoleon comments about joe Cole, I thought "he's not serious, there's no way that after Joe Cole sprints he looks like that". I have seen 3 Napoleon stances so far!
wallsofsatan

oh god, joe cole. oh god.

joe cole represents everything that was futile about last season. thats why i hate him.
Russell

I find myself celebrating like we scored a goal when we only strung five passes together. Still, progress.
Ed

Okay, taking suggestions for inclusion in the recap post:

One sentence to describe the first half?
Happy Jele

Liverpool's first half can be likened to many things that have indeed happened, but shouldn't have, for example, an unsuccessful abortion.
Justin

Is "Bad" a sentence?
Ryan

Whatever it is, make it a Joe Cole joke, please.
Red2death

FML.
wallsofsatan

also, in a related thought, why in god's name is Joe Cole still in top flight football? this makes my head hurt. He is so out of shape you would think he's play-acting, and his talents have diminished to the point that he is basically a good sunday league player now.
Mike

Kevin Nolan plays for West Ham. Joe Cole Plays for liverpool. Chew on that.
Justin

I think he'll have to be stretchered off at the end here.
ejbauer11

Was poulson purposefully allowing Baros revenge against us? What the hell kind of defense was that? Couldn't even successfully gift the pk, though he tried.
Ryan

Joe Cole hattrick coming soon.
Mike

3 own goals could happen, I can see it...
Mr Clueless

I hear the Sun is gonna set east today
Danny

Poulsens Lymphoma is a terrible, highly contagious disease. Thankfully, Coles Lethargica is not.
wallsofsatan

the only way you could explain this to me would be to say that this is the "last chance" game for all of these players to impress. The likes of Shelvey and Robinson will go down to a level where they aren't out of their depth, and the rest will be sold or moved out on loan (except for Big Andy of course). That's the only way this makes sense. Kenny has eyes on the next friendly as the beginning of his true first XI tuneup, and he just wants to see who is maybe worth including as squad players. But alas, none of these players deserve to play for any team, ever.
Red2death

After today, I'm not sure any of them are going to get sold or loaned.
We'd be hard pressed to find a team that'll take them for free.
Ryan

It'll 0-3 at halftime. Then, we'll make a great comeback, it'll be 3-3, and we will win on penalties 3-2. It's never happened before in this city.
Russell

Why does it look like we're playing Barcelona?
CheekyFellow

The stream I'm watching has commercials every 10-15 minutes. I find it annoying because it keeps waking me up as I doze off.
Red2death

Wow. Who is that team in black anyway?

Any of you losers support them? Damn, sucks to be you... ;>
wallsofsatan

this is absolutely horrible. i actually want to literally sell every person on the field in a black shirt to accrington town. i hate this. this is so stupid. why does kenny do this? I legitimately question the point of doing this
Red2death

Arda Turan must be thanking his lucky stars a move to Anfield never materialized.
Justin

We line up with 5 fullbacks... Did Hodgson get reappointed?
Justin

By my count we should probably be down 6-0.
Justin

Welp, that's two games in a row now we've managed to be both offensively and defensively impotent. Not sure I'm looking forward to the season as much as I used to be.
Justin

I think I discovered a new use for Joe Cole: a final third punching bag. He just stands there and takes fouls for us. That's worth £90,000+ a week right?
Ed

Just wanted to break up this quickly-spiralling psychosis.

Not that any of it's wrong, by the way.
Justin

Haha sorry. I'll pause it for a bit.
Nbusa

I don't know if you've made feel better or worse about not finding a stream that will work on my dodgy internet...
Justin

I'll let you fill in the gaps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
CheekyFellow

Better, trust me.
Justin

No way we're finishing this match without an injury to someone.
Justin

And Galatasaray are playing like it's a cup final. Oh wait, nevermind, we just suck.
Justin

Our midfield looks like swiss cheese.
Justin

This referee is terrible too.
Justin

This is only getting uglier. We've got 9 men behind the ball and still can't defend.
Guest

So is LFCtv a worthwhile investment? Haven't pulled the trigger yet and am kind of regretting it with all these friendlies broadcast on it.
Khaine

For the pressers, u18s and reserves, if you're into that kinda thing.
Ed

Based on the first 15 minutes, no.
CheekyFellow

To me it's not. Check out that chrome extension link I posted. I'm currently watching the LFC stream...If you want post match highlights, 101 goals always has them. If you want to download them, http://liverpoolfcclips.blogsp... has them during the season.
Guest

I did check out the chrome extension thing, thanks.
Ravenilli

I find it very handy especially when you want to watch highlights of the matches from even during the season. Got it along with my All Red Membership this year and think I might keep it. The interviews are very handy also.
Ravenilli

Can't believe the team Liverpool are starting with I thought the closer they were getting to the start of the season the first team would get more playing time hopefully the likes of Kyrgiakos, Poulsen, Degen and slow couch JOE COLE aren't classed as first teamers for the start of the season.
Ed

Apparently Monday is the day for the big boys...but come on, don't try to mask your excitement for a Poulsen-Degen-Cole axis of awful.
Khaine

Yeah, with the exception of Andy, who just needs minutes on a pitch, and Kuyt, who's indestructible, no starters even made the trip. This match and the journey it implies is clearly considered a nuisance more than an opportunity to get match practice, and the players considered starters were left behind at Melwood to work on fitness and formation stuff.

I get that fans get upset about this, but it's definitely a decision made for the best of the club. Hopefully the short trip this way for the game on monday will include a squad full of starters and a great performance.
Signalflash

1-0 already after a few minutes, seems flattering to Liverpool. This lineup is sure going to get pasted.
Ravenilli

About the only thing that could be exciting about Poulson Degen Cole is watching Joe Cole run about 5 yards and then near fall over with exhaustion. Hopefully the medical team have plenty of oxygen on the sideline for him when he goes off or at half time.
Nick

Downing, Adam, and Henderson all stayed at Melwood.
CheekyFellow

Any Google Chrome users? There's an awesome extension that organizes all these match streams within the browser.

https://chrome.google.com/webs...

Plenty of good reviews on it
Ed

Is that the real deal? Or are you a spam robot using a regular commenter's name sent here to destroy us?
CheekyFellow

It works... 0_0. First link is LFCtv
Red2death

Mmm... spam robot...

Makes me hungry
Jake_LFC

Slight correction: It's Ezequiel Lavezzi. Good write up though, looking forward to the match. Anyone know if LFC.tv shows this on delay as well? Not sure I'll be able to watch live.
Ed

Looks like it's replaying on the station about an hour after it ends, not sure on the archives though--there's full 90's from the Guandong and Malaysia matches, but only a 40 minute recap from Hull, so...yeah.
Mr Clueless

Love the quip about City. Would love to see them get to the round of 16, on the back of all the glorious scores of 1-0 s, and then Balotelli does a Balotelli and the rest of the world goes on ROFL ing.

Now that Aguero is gone, I guess next up is Higuain, bcz you know we are in a dire need of a striker and Higuain happens to be a striker and we would love to pay a 3rd choice striker humungous wages. So it is a simple matter of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with ridiculousness, then going on twitter and being an ITK. And of course, this friendly is just a cover for us to scout Turan and the Valencia friendly is a covert operation to get the whole Valenica board drunk and make them agree to a deal on Mata for peanuts, because it is ridiculous to have just 1 winger on a team, we must at least have 2 and so hey that is definitely gonna happen
Mike

City's got money but I kinda like moneyball. And off topic, but the new gallery on the Guardian is actually pretty funny.
Timadog

well written sums it up today