Things Should Start Happening Now and Other Tuesday Notes

By: Ed | May 31st, 2011

gerrard I guess it’s not surprising that the influx of opposition supporters have stopped coming by to tell us how great their club is and how shit Liverpool is—it was a futile effort anyway, and I don’t know that it ever really got off the ground, but the results of the weekend did more than enough to remind everyone that a) Barcelona are just that good, and b) Liverpool still stand alone as the most successful English club in European football.

Steven Gerrard also took it upon himself to help everyone remember over the weekend, and Paul McGrattan snapped the picture to the left as they celebrated the captain’s 31st birthday. Gerrard and company had a nice night out on the town for the occasion, and better still that he appeared to come through relatively unscathed and no worse for the wear, and still had the wherewithal to raise five fingers in tribute to the day’s events in London.

But by all means, please feel free to stop by and remind us that Liverpool aren’t in Europe next season, or that everyone else that’s cool is, because you’re the first one to come up with that.

Tuesday’s news and notes:

* There’s actually some football on the immediate horizon today, with the Elite Round of matches getting underway at the UEFA U19 Championships. John Flanagan was ruled out through injury last week, but there are spots in the England squad for Jack Robinson, Andre Wisdom, Conor Coady, Thomas Ince, and Michael Ngoo.

Qualifying today started with Germany and Hungary, and England will face off with Montenegro later in the day. Before the round is over they’ll play Spain and Switzerland in hopes of moving onto the finals in Romania, which will run from July 20th to August 1st. As of right now there’s no listing for streams or ways to watch, but I’ll try to update this space if there’s anything watchable. Ahead of Friday’s fresh round of senior Euro qualifiers, this is going to be as good as it gets, so wouldn’t do any harm to try to catch Liverpool’s youngsters playing in international competition. Just as long as it doesn’t result in ridiculously high expectations created by a golden boot performance only to have a season of relative anonymity.

* For a few of the senior squad members the summer will hopefully involve less football and more rehab, and Daniel Agger is clearly one of those players. He struggled through another injury-riddled season, showing flashes of brilliance and composure interspersed with spells on the trainer’s table. There’s still plenty of goodwill remaining for the Danish defender; it’s hard to have a discussion about him without gushing over the positive impact he can have on the squad when fit and pointing to your favorite picture from the win in early February at Stamford Bridge. Great to watch, but frustrating in that the act of watching him only takes place every so often.

That frustration isn’t lost on Agger, though, and he spoke to the official site about his hopes for next season:

“The injury is coming along okay. It’s been really hard the last few weeks, especially when I was on crutches, in a brace and couldn’t move.

“I am definitely confident I can come back stronger. I know I say this every time, but I have really done everything this time to make every single muscle in my body stronger and I have done everything in the right way. If I could do something to make sure I wouldn’t get injured again, I would do it no matter what it was.

“Of course, it’s always frustrating to be injured, no matter if the team is playing well or poorly. There is nobody who is more frustrated than me, but I just have to focus and stay positive.”

It’s easy for us to talk about how maddening it is that he can’t stay fit, but I’d guess it’s entirely another thing when you’re the one who’s actually injured. The conversation about Agger gets more complex when we talk about summer plans, unfortunately, as the club can’t build around him at the back as we once thought they could. If they’re carrying his wages into the future, it’s built around the hope that he’s still got a few full seasons to play, but there’s got to be other, more reliable plans made as well.

* And just because there’s been “news” about each of them in the past few days, probably need to mention that Ashley Young, Gervinho, and Sylvain Marveaux have all had some sort of Liverpool-related discussion taking place.

For Young it’s that his destination has shifted from Liverpool to United back to Liverpool again; for Gervinho it’s that he’s planning to make an announcement about his new club in the next week; for Marveaux it’s that he’s expecting to play in the Premier League next season but that doesn’t mean it’s Liverpool.

I hope we all learned nothing from that last paragraph other than that it’s going to be a long, long summer, and I’m going to gnaw someone’s arm off if we have to keep reading the same shit over and over again. Especially if I’m the one writing it.

Thanks again to all who chimed in on yesterday’s season recap type post—it’s genuinely flattering to have such positive things written about the work that we’re doing, and we’re obviously hopeful things continue this way on both ends. During such a trying time on the administrative end of things, it’s been the great insight, humor, and discussion from all of you that’s made this so fun to do.

Time for moving on into the summer, though, and Noel will be back tomorrow to lead us into the abyss. In the meantime, enjoy yourself as you lie in bed, smoking a cigarette and playing the violin:

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

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

« “Many, Many Things Need Changing at Liverpool” | Home | Rumour Mongering: Downing and Perotti, Jovanovic and Aquilani »

Ryan

So, with all this awesome attackingness we have now, is N'Gog getting a helicopter like Babel did? I haven't heard the name mentioned in a while...he's still alive right?
Khaine

Apparently he's worth 8 mill to us now. Which probably means he's staying.
dsm9412

Agger is obviously injury-prone, but I think he is far from the most puzzling defensive conundrum for Liverpool next year. Assuming we keep four in the back.

RB: With Kelly returning from injury, it sets up a bit of a decision for Dalglish between him and Johnson. He resolved this initially by playing Glenn on the left for much of the season, but it appears we are looking to buy a replacement at LB. For me, it's Johnson with an eye towards moving Kelly to the center.

2CB: It seems likely that Agger and Carragher will at least start the season in these two spots, but that's hardly the end of the discussion. Skrtel has been solid, but his best years seem behind him and it would behoove us to keep him on the bench. Robinson and Flanagan (especially) were impressive in the latter half of the year are waiting in the wings when the inevitable injuries come. Krygiakos will likely leave on a free. The more important point, though, is what Carragher's role is moving forward. He had his moments. He had some great moments this season, both wins against Chelsea come to mind, but the regressive hoofing is a real problem. Even putting that aside, he is aging just like everyone else. Not sure we are there yet, but approaching is a point where they need to transition him into a substitute role. If anyone can get him on board it's Dalglish.

LB: Luckily Paul Konchesky is returning from loan and ideally is the long-term solution. Kidding. Anway, Coentrão at Benfica and Enrique at Newcastle have been heavily linked with Liverpool. It would be a surprise if we didn't buy someone in the summer to play this position. Aurelio is probably on his way out with the constant injuries and a contract that ends after next season.
Guest

Gerrard has really big hands. I mean, look at that thing in proportion to his forearm!

Anyway, for another possible tangent, is anyone else disconcerted by the news of the new impact engine in FIFA 12 next year? Injuries are supposed to be more realistic in the game because of this. If that means Agger and Gerrard limp off the pitch in agony every other match, then I'm going to be pissed off a lot next fall.
lfc80uk

And you know what they say about a man with big hands............... Big gloves!

On another less awkward note, the English Transfer Window opens today, so cue Sky to break out the favourite toy the 'Transfer Ticker' alongside all the so called experts on Twitter who will inundate us with stories they have heard from their mate who just so happens to be the butler to Damian Comolli's dog. Trying to convince us that they saw Aguero at Melwood or Young having dinner with Liverpool's tea lady! You are right Ed it will indeed be a long, long summer.......
Zach

and what id Liverpool bring back aquilani? then your midfield is screwed too!
Guest

Well I didn't complain about him or Aurelio getting hurt because I don't anticipate either being on the club next season. Though I would very much like Aquilani to come back.
Danny

As wrong as it felt i watched some of the Gary Neville testimonial match shenanigans, got to see a bit of aquilani, albeit playing deep in the midfield in a half-assed friendly match kinda way, (which Juve still won 2-1 with a lovely free kick) he looks as though he still could be handy. Though exactly how he fits alongside Lucas and Meireles will be an interesting one.
Guest

Yes, one figures that if Aquilani comes back, we'll have six guys competing for 3 central midfield spots in a 433/4231: Gerrard, Lucas, Meireles, Aquilani, Spearing, and Shelvey. The temptation would be to loan out either Spearing or Shelvey to get them playing time somewhere else, but I personally think that having such depth is a good problem to have.
Tropics Red

You'd suspect that Shelvey would be the one heading out on loan as he's tehj youngest and as a creator/passer, he'd have Gerrard, Aqua and Meireles to compete with. Spearing as a more defensive destroyer would provide adequate cover for Lucas.
4-3-3 with

    Meireles-Aqua/Gerrard

       Lucas/Spearing

4-2-3-1

         Gerrard/Aqua

Lucas/Spearing - Meireles

Either of these line ups feel very positive.
Guest

That looks good. My only concern with loaning out Shelvey (or Spearing) is that if you do that and one of the other guys gets hurt, then things could start to get thin. Then again, with no European competition, perhaps having only five players to rotate in these three sports is more than sufficient.

Also re: your 4231 alignment, I think Kenny will have Gerrard in a holding role with Aqua/Meireles in the CAM role, though I wouldn't mind Gerrard further up the pitch myself.
Ed

For those interested, Coady, Ince, Wisdom, and Robinson started, and Ngoo just came on in the 60th minute. England lead 1-0 through Harry Kane, a Spurs youngster who spent the season on loan at Leyton Orient.
Russell

I think it's more than possible in a couple of years we have an all-English back four in Flanagan-Kelly-Wisdom-Robinson.
Noddy

Been here for most of the season and enjoyed the high standard of writing and humour, will be here next season, if you are.

So onto unsubstantiated transfer rumours, speculative nonsense about players we wont be buying and all the other close season wonders we have come to know and love.

Cry havoc and let loose etc
Ismael Jawad

First and foremost, your taste in music clearly doesn't match your writing skills, Ed. Unless you're purposely trying to wind us up.

As for Agger, the lad has had an injury history guys like Kewell could only dream of. We all seem to agree that he's an excellent defender when fit but he has only managed to average approximately 23 games per season since his arrival in January 2006. Hardly what you can call a consistent input. I think with the physical condition he is constantly in, it would be better to sign another central defender or simply bring in one of the youngsters as a replacement (Ayala, Wilson, Kelly).
Danny

How heretical. Django is the guitar equivalent of Zidane. Absolute master. or "tekkers" if you like.
cheekyfellow

Did you not read Signalflash's wiki info?
Ismael Jawad

Only after I made the comment, which made me feel a bit guilty to be honest. What he has accomplished is very impressive to say the least but that kind of music simply doesn't cut it for me. Blame MTV.
Ed

Oh come on, you gotta at least give it a chance. He's one of the best!

As for Agger, like I mentioned, I'm sadly in agreement. Would love to see him with the fitness of Kuyt or Lucas, but it's just not to be. Blooding Kelly in the middle might be on the cards anyhow, but it's almost a necessity if Agger's lack of fitness continues.
Signalflash

Because Liverpool news brings only the sound of one hand clapping, for those who may be interested who watched the hip video, the main guitarist is worth noting. Django Reinhardt, from an excerpt from Wikipedia:

His right leg was paralysed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were badly burned. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again and intended to amputate one of his legs.[7] Reinhardt refused to have the surgery and left the hospital after a short time; he was able to walk within a year with the aid of a cane.
With rehabilitation and practice he relearned his craft in a completely new way, even as his third and fourth fingers remained partially paralysed.

Never give up.
Ed

At risk of straying too far from the point of things, I had no idea about that until earlier this year. Had been listening to him for awhile now, but that was news to me, and makes him all the more impressive.
Russell

I do miss the people that kept saying they can't wait until Liverpool gets relegated with King Kenny. Where'd they go?
cheekyfellow

Because we could always use a video reminder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
sam

WHAT A POOR BORING ALREADY KNEW, NO FACTS BADLY PIECE OF WORK.

TELL US THINGS WE DO NOT KNOW.
Yann

You had it coming, you rabid twat. You're a cuntrarian and the furthest thing from a Reds supporter. Long run, short pier, get the picture?
paul

Well, for starters, we know that you cannot grasp capslock usage, and lack elementary grammar skills, which tells us you're a complete retard. Do everyone a favour and fuck off elsewhere. Try going to skool and getting an edumacation.
Danny

WHAT A RUBBISH WORDS MAKE NO SENSE COMMENT HAVE NO POINT LOSE FAIL
Ismael Jawad

I'd say constructive criticism is always welcome. Not that it has anything to do with your comment but still.
Ed

Okay, your first sentence makes no sense. Does that count?
Red2death

It's a classy condemnation of your creativity, Ed. All you did was rehash rumours that other people made up, without making up any of your own like any respectable Daily Mail or Sun would do. That's just lazy plagiarism.

And you failed to use the words 'shock', 'coup', or 'stunning' in the entire article. How's anyone supposed to know that this is breaking news worth reading? Shocking.
Baldrick

Think he means you're still full of shit Ed!