I only saw the second half and the shoot out. Some observations:
Firstly, we should be playing Premiership teams in our pre-season more often. The tempo of that game was akin to what you'd see on a weekend in England during the football season and thus was an excellent work out for the lads. It was entertaining too which saw plenty of opportunities.
For all the waxing lyrical about how strong Citeh were and how much Citeh shaded it, I think as usual the commentators wrote Liverpool down at their peril. Yes, Citeh did look very organised when they were behind the ball and broke with speed and exploited both flanks on occasions but our lads kept going with the probing and passing and it paid off with two wonderful goals.
I agree with the consensus that full back, both left and right is a concern and we could improve there, I thought Robinson did okay, got skinned once or twice by Navas but early on the second half he got forward and was denied a goal by a good onrushing save from Hart - who made a good few of those saves. Unfortunately for Robinson he's only going to be a run of the meal player and although he was fairly solid but it's still one we could improve on. I hope Enrique can get up to speed because as a defender I do rate him and he is quite pacey too.
Coates, I know a few rate him and like Robinson I don't think he's going to get much better than he already is and therefore isn't an improvement on what we already have. He got turned, or was caught for Citeh's second goal too easily for me. He also got beaten a couple of times by the skill and pace of their wide attacks. Incidentally, this is the kind of opposition where ball playing CB's like Agger and Lovren? do well, when opponents mostly attack on the deck - they read and time things better do the likes of Agger and Lovren and Skertel to a lesser effect. Coates is good in the air and is good against the long ball merchants of football IMO, the Prem still has a fair few teams playing that 'English' way. But on the deck defensively he looks just a little cumbersome to me - he could be rusty and I could too critical here.
I should pop into the 'Starting Eleven' thread by WAHS and revise my eleven by popping Henderson back into my line-up at the expense of Markovic because while he isn't the most flamboyant player he has fitness levels Dirk Kuyt would drool over. The energy, work rate and the positions he finds himself in are nothing short of excellent. He scored a peach of a goal by getting forward and clearly has the license and energy to do this. I think the lad still lacks a little confidence (oh, he scored a beaut penalty too) and composure in the final third because he could/should be hitting 15 goals a season at least with the positions he finds himself in. I think he was my man of the match.
Sterling, well I was a bit worried about him not being under the wing of Suarez anymore because he's now been left a little more open to the added pressure of helping out the attack. But if he continues in this kind of vein he'll have no problems, his finish for that goal was cool and it was a lovely move of the... one-touch-probing-passing that we're capable of, and it was the tidy Lucas (nice pen btw!!) who laid him off to finish another excellent goal. It will be very interesting watching Sterling develop this year with a little more responsibility but already he looks as though it won't bother him and he'll just continue to flourish.
Coutinho - has an air of Luis Garcia about him, in one moment he can do the brilliant then in the next fails to do the basic. He is a very good player mind, who like Sterling will have a big season but he needs to be as consistent as Sterling and for me at the moment he isn't quite there. As for his shooting, well, he'd be the ideal guerrilla warfare soldier - planting explosives because he wouldn't kill anyone with his shooting would he. Still, he's good to have in the team because he does seem to have the vision that not many other players have and has the ability to play those balls that unlock defenses.
It was good to see Sahko get some minutes, I'd like to see him paired with Lovren for a bit so a partnership can form I think the two
from the little I have seen of Lovren may be able to compliment each other.
Gerrard: Was okay. He tried to cover the the cross from the left but the timing was out to clear it and I think it went through his legs. Other than that he put in a steady performance in the middle of midfield.
Can: He looked okay too, nicely taken pen as well. Put a couple of players on their @rses a couple of times, had an effort on goal. Not sure what his natural game is, he looks at the moment to me like a box to box type midfielder rather than a holding one but given that he's got a bit of a name for being versatile he maybe asked to hold more to enable Henderson or Lallana the attacking license.
Sturridge: Had a brief conversation with S@int about him in another thread, and while Trevor Francis was was waxing lyrical about him playing the lone striker role I'm not so sure - even though I had him in that role too. Suarez was the perfect support and foil for him although the pair of them often looked in competition with each other as they did team mates. He tends to drop deep quite a bit to collect he ball and often looks up and realises he's not upfront to pass it to
. I think it will be up to the likes of Sterling, Coutinho, Lallana, Henderson and Markovic to fill those positions in that phase of play. I know Sterling has the shooting boots to take it on but generally these lads are going to have to be more clinical in front of goal. It wouldn't surprise me either in this system where Sturridge is the lone striker, to see him struggle to get 20 goals this season as I don't think it's suited to getting the best goals return out of him - whereas it requires and is suited to getting more out of the players around him.
One other thing, Mignolet's save against, Navas was it? What a fvcking save that was from the spot got down super quick with a solid arm to save that pen.
