Devil

Disaster all around, poor defending, non existent attack.

Couldn't have put it better Dev.

I reckon the change in the backroom staff is looking to be a good move by Brendan.

I'm all for him getting all the help he needs to bring us success.

Big part of those clean sheets that.

Also the change in playing staff stebes;

Joey Gomez is an absolute revelation, 18 years and 3.5M

Clyne is such a massive upgrade from Glen "I don't see where they've improved" Johnson.

Benteke has been fantastic, looking forward to seeing him with Sturridge

I think Can should be starting every week.

You could see the team has started to click last night. That was the test and it is a relief to see we have come out of last season heading the right way.

Yeah Gomez, has done unbelievably well just seems unfazed by it all !

Was it Sean O'Driscoll who pushed to get him in the team? Obviously Rodgers has the faith in him also and he's not let anyone down. The only concern is at some point being so young he will have some dip in form as the season wears on. So we still need Moreno to step up for that extra competition and maybe rotation, not forgetting get that Flanno will be back as cover for RB and LB.

What a difference it is to have two good full backs.

Another 3 points we have had to grind out, really rode our luck to be honest against a team we should be rolling over - maybe its just too early to pass judgement yet.

Arsenal away is not going to fun though, we don't have enough cohesion in our passing and movement going forward.

Positives - Coutinho again showing he's on another level at times and he's still finding his match sharpness. The new signings such as Clyne, Benteke and Milner have impressed again though.

Great start to the season, thats a tough one out the way. Impressed with the likes of Milner giving it all out there and showing what is expected when players put on the LFC Shirt.

We looked solid and obviously a couple of the young players will learn from that. I thought Stoke were decent and they will do well this season.

Master class moment from the Little Magician ! As others said credit to Lovren big game for him and the manager. Lets hope it continues.

Slow game, bad pitch, players looking more like they want to get back on the plane home than be in Malaysia.

Cracker from Ibe !

What do you lads think to this signing?

i really like him and think he's absolutely the best forward signing we could have made this summer. he scores loads of goals of all types, isn't just a big lump or target man, has lots more to his game than that. our biggest problem last season was no strikers and just a massive lack of goals. hopefully between firmino and benteke we've addressed that this summer - plus reasonable bench options in ings and origi, both of whom already look like upgrades on lambert, borini and balotelli.

we've had to pay top whack for him but we need a top quality striker and regular goalscorer 'cos sadly we can't count on sturridge's fitness. benteke - assuming we've got it done and he is coming to us - will do for me. think he'll flat track bully the hell out of most teams in the division.

Yeah I'm relieved that we have a proven EPL goal scorer more than anything. Sturridge, Benteke, Orgi and Ings will do for me.

I would have been more concerned if we didn't pay the money and then bring in someone like Llorente or Rondon.

I wouldn't mind seeing a cheeky deal on a decent left back just to round it off now.

agree, seen loads of lads saying we should go for lacazette from lyon and while he's good there's no guarantee he'd settle in english football at all - there's so many have come from france and not adjusted. same goes for rondon or llorente or anyone else from abroad. benteke's already premier league proven so that makes him worth another 6 or 7 million quid for me. hopefully he'll just hit the ground running.

i quite like the look of that young swedish left-back, ludwig whatshisname. and since we seem to be finally bombing enrique out we do need another one there.

This Benteke buy for me is yet again a sign that we got all our main targets and learnt from the absolute mess of last seasons summer window. We paid what was needed to get him - end off.

As Stevie mentioned Benteke will "flat track bully" a lot of opposition, I absolutely agree with this!

And if the manager and backroom team can get the best out of him and he hits the ground running we may just see even more to come from the big guy as I think he will surprise a few doubters. One thing is for sure It now gives us bloody good options upfront against various opposition - Benteke can play as the lone striker, in a two or even as an attacking front three.

tony barrett says we've met villa's release clause for benteke. good.

Not messing about this window - good stuff.

tony barrett says we've met villa's release clause for benteke. good.

Not messing about this window - good stuff.

We must have a net spend of '0' after the Sterling sale ?

Sterling showed in spells he's a genuine talent I won't deny that and if he can get back to the levels he was showing and also keep developing he will be something special... However you just have to wonder if they pressure of that price tag will have an impact on his progress?

Anyway he's not our problem now ...and bloody hell 49 M is madness!

Who we buying

We must have a net spend of '0' after the Sterling sale ?

I meant for this transfer window btw

Yep, there must be a couple buys lined up now.

Exactly heres hoping !

Im off to the match tomorrow evening at Rajamangala, can't wait for the non competitive football and the 30 subs that will be used ha !

We must have a net spend of '0' after the Sterling sale ?

Sterling showed in spells he's a genuine talent I won't deny that and if he can get back to the levels he was showing and also keep developing he will be something special... However you just have to wonder if they pressure of that price tag will have an impact on his progress?

Anyway he's not our problem now ...and bloody hell 49 M is madness!

Who we buying

We must have a net spend of '0' after the Sterling sale ?

I meant for this transfer window btw

We must have a net spend of '0' after the Sterling sale ?

Sterling showed in spells he's a genuine talent I won't deny that and if he can get back to the levels he was showing and also keep developing he will be something special... However you just have to wonder if they pressure of that price tag will have an impact on his progress?

Anyway he's not our problem now ...and bloody hell 49 M is madness!

Who we buying

Interesting article from The Guardian about the lad.

Link http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/jun/24/roberto-firmino-liverpool-thiever-of-balls?CMP=share_btn_tw

Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino: a thiever of balls who never stops running

Afterwards, Tanner was not much the wiser. “It was strange because during some exercises he would just, without any apparent reason, just fold … but instead of making a big meal out of it and getting angry, he listened carefully to his coach and learned from what he had done wrong. That impressed me.”

It is perhaps not the most glowing reference ever heard from a scouting mission but Tanner convinced Hoffenheim that the 19-year-old, whose move to Liverpool was announced on Wednesday, was worth a gamble. In January 2011 the Bundesliga club signed the player for €4m without much fanfare. At the low-key unveiling Tanner explained the club’s plans for the unknown Brazilian.

“We are delighted to have been able to strengthen our squad with a top talent from Brazil, in which several international clubs were interested,” he said. “We will give him enough time to settle in here at our club. He has already shown his qualities with eight goals in 36 games and was recently voted the best player in the Brazilian second division.”

In hindsight, Firmino could hardly have chosen a better club to start his European adventure. Hoffenheim is a tiny town south of Frankfurt with only around 3,000 inhabitants. The young Brazilian was allowed to settle without the pressure of being at a big club, or even in a big city.

Hoffenheim are only in the Bundesliga because of Dietmar Hopp’s huge financial support but they have also been extremely successful with their South American imports. In the month Firmino arrived at Hoffenheim, the club sold Luiz Gustavo to Bayern Munich for €17m. He had arrived from Corinthians Alagoano in 2008 for an even smaller fee than Firmino did three years later.

Firmino, in fact, was looking forward to moving to Europe so much that he got himself a tattoo in German before he boarded the flight. There was only one slight problem: he had used an internet translation tool, which did not use the umlaut on the ö in the phrase: “Familie unaufhorlich Liebe”, which roughly translates as “unremitting love for the family”.

Undeterred, the Brazilian made his Bundesliga debut a month after arriving in Germany and played in 11 league games that season, mainly as a substitute, scoring three goals; and this is the thing about Firmino, he is not an out-and-out goalscorer. He is a forward who averages roughly a goal every three games, and he has done that throughout his career.

What he does provide though, is an unrelenting work ethic. In that respect, he is similar to Luis Suárez and Alexis Sánchez. He will harry and press the opponents until he drops. In one match report in Germany he was described as the “clever, first stealer of balls in Hoffenheim’s pressing system”.

Holger Stanislawski, his first manager at Hoffenheim, immediately described him as being “unbelievably good tactically”, which will be music to Brendan Rodgers’ ears after a season of having to teach Mario Balotelli, among other things, how to defend at corners.

In fact he has been showered with praise for most of his time in Germany, the papers describing him as one of few players “who stay focused for the entire 90 minutes” and a “master of moving around without anyone noticing him, to provide goals or score them himself”.

There have been some disciplinary issues and he was once suspended briefly by Hoffenheim for turning up late for training but that was early on in his career and he has not done it since.

The 23-year-old was born in Maceió – as was Pepe and Mario Zagallo – which is one of Brazil’s most dangerous cities. His father sold water bottles to commuters waiting in the queues in and out of the city and he had to move to Figueirense on his own when he was 16. “It was not an easy time,” he has said, “I was completely on my own”. But that experience will have prepared him for moving to Germany, and now to England.

The 2013-14 season was arguably Firmino’s best to date with the manager Markus Gisdol getting the best out of him. Gisdol not only made him a better attacking player but also instilled the workrate ethic that was surely a big reason for Liverpool paying as much as £29m for him.

That season he scored 16 goals in 33 Bundesliga games, finishing third behind Marco Reus (30) and Robert Lewandowski (31) in the goalscoring charts. He also provided 12 assists that season and is, in fact, the player who has created most chances in the Bundesliga (138) over the past two seasons. Firmino also had the joint-third most assists last season (10) with Thomas Müller. Not bad for someone playing for a mid-table club.

Currently with Brazil at the Copa América, Firmino has coped well with the pressure of leading the line now that Neymar is suspended and he has already scored four goals in nine appearances for the national team. Carlos Dunga’s side play Paraguay in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Behind the scenes, he is a bubbly, fun character but in front of the cameras he comes across as incredibly shy. On Tuesday, at a Copa press conference before his moved was confirmed, he managed to answer 18 questions without saying anything of note. It got to a point where the Brazilian journalists could only smile.

Most importantly for Liverpool, though, is that they seem to have learned from last summer’s travails in the transfer market. Then a deal for Loïc Rémy collapsed in late July and the club were forced into what can only be described as a panic buy with Balotelli in August. This time they have already signed James Milner, Adam Bogdan, Danny Ings and now Firmino.

The fee is eye-watering considering it is almost as much as Chelsea paid for Diego Costa and more (with add-ons) than Arsenal paid for Sánchez. But there is no doubt that he is an extremely talented young player who is still improving. There will be few defences in the Premier League looking forward to an afternoon battling Philippe Coutinho, Firmino and Daniel Sturridge – if fit.

And while £29m does seem a lot, if Raheem Sterling joins Manchester City for a fee of around £45-50m then Liverpool will have got a more consistent performer and made a hefty profit in the process. They’ll settle for that, and if Sterling stays, then opposing defences will be in even more trouble next season.

Be honest Liverpool fans, how many of you had actually heard of him or seen him play, I had no idea who he is or anything about him before there was press talk united was in for him.

Well I watched some of them Youtube videos on him, a couple were made by certain fans that said Welcome To Man Utd

Liverpool Football Club are delighted to announce the signing of Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim, subject to a medical which will take place immediately following the player's participation in Copa America 2015 for Brazil.

The 23-year-old has agreed a long-term contract with the club.

Firmino will arrive at Anfield following four-and-a-half seasons in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim.

The forward made 151 appearances in league and cup for the German club, netting 47 goals, after joining them from Figueirense in December 2010.

To date, Firmino has nine caps and four goals for Brazil - including what proved to be the winner in his country's 2-1 victory over Venezuela in the Copa America on Sunday.

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/187533-liverpool-complete-firmino-signing

Author: James Carroll

@James_Carroll84

Liverpool Football Club are delighted to announce the signing of Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim, subject to a medical which will take place immediately following the player's participation in Copa America 2015 for Brazil.

The 23-year-old has agreed a long-term contract with the club.

Firmino will arrive at Anfield following four-and-a-half seasons in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim.

The forward made 151 appearances in league and cup for the German club, netting 47 goals, after joining them from Figueirense in December 2010.

To date, Firmino has nine caps and four goals for Brazil - including what proved to be the winner in his country's 2-1 victory over Venezuela in the Copa America on Sunday.

Liverpool's first 7 away games - Stoke, Arsenal, Man Utd, Everton, Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester City

Farkinell, that's fierce.

Still, gets them out of the way I suppose.

April/May run in looks good tho'

haha. if brendan is still in a job at the end of november we're going to win the league.

Is Pascoe on his way out too?

Few rumours flying around.

Yes Pascoe's departure seems to of been confirmed.

Normally the manager would dig his heels in when it comes to his own backroom staff 'we stay together or we walk out together' after all Pascoe was his mate, right hand man since Swansea. So I am really surprised that they are let go but the manager stays... because surley Rodgers has had to agree to that !

Did FSG want to force his hand so he walks and not pay the 10 mil compensation or is this a compromise in that Rodgers gets his way on something such as transfers and no DOF? Which leaves FSG to have the final say who comes in as the new backroom staff ?

No idea whats going on now and what conditions have been agreed, but Rodgers looks like a dead man walking at this point and god forbid a bad start to the season ! Why not just sack him and get in a new manager who brings his new backrooms staff?

Its not that I am concerned with Marsh and Pascoe going and as I am sure there are more qualified people available, its just the whole decision process, lack of strategy and leaderships.

Subject to medical Milner sign on July 1st.....that looks like the best bit of business we have done in 3 years.

Surprising signing from our owners and they seemed to of done the deal quickly, also goes against their longterm policy i.e young potential talent. I guess common sense had to prevail on one buy at least. Although never thought the likes of James Milner would be one of top earners and a guaranteed starter...

Anyway I could see Milner and Henderson working well either sides of a diamond with Coutinho at the tip and possibly Can holding? We still need more quality in that midfield to come in though and yes we need goals !

Bloody depressing!

As Stevie and other have said, there are no top quality managers availble who will want to work with the set up in place unless something gives very soon i.e go out and buy some quality and show a statement of intent.

Henry, Werner and whoever are based in Boston have not even issued any kind of statement after the last game of the season given the disgraceful defeat. Now is the time to say something and give the fans a glimpse they either care, that they have a plan, there will be changes.

Im still fuming about the Stoke game, never ever seen anything like that in my time watching us!!! And i'm pissed off how the players and the manager have all been out of sorts the past weeks - no fight, no quality, just looked lost.

However if Rodgers is staying then the owners need to say something already? Then just back the manager (in the market) and let the fans know whats going on, so we know were we stand on this. Look Rodgers is not a bad manager (he's not perfect to and still learning) when the pain of the last few weeks are all put into perspective he can get us playing good football but the transfers have killed us this year.

Buy a couple of top draw players we must have a striker , whatever the fee, the wages and give the whole club, fans base a massive boost and lift and get us back on track, we were looking a completely different side only last season its not impossible to think with the right transfers we can get back to being a decent team even with Rodgers at the helm, its not ideal but do we really think a new manager coming in depending who we could actually get and the current transfer model will be any improvement?

Anyway let me know when we have bought both Lacazette and Vidal !

awful that was, weird formation and team selection, can't recall ever seeing anything like that from a Liverpool team.

Clearly players have stopped playing for the manager since a few games now. And when that happens there is only one decision to be made.

Ibe looks like he's going to be some player !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32789389

Bye bye young Sterling.

Not surprised really.

Sky sources say it is because he feels the club have tried to bully him into signing a new contract - and that he does not think they have protected him from negative headlines.

Sterling as taken poor advice from his agent and behaved poorly throughout this saga.

He should stay where he is for a couple of seasons to develop more as a player. Greedy agent, easily led 17yo.

Thats the sum of it all, young player badly advised by the agent and family. Its embarrassing from the kid to honest, given everything the club has done for him.

Not sure how this is going to be handled now i.e club sells asap for what they can get or will they hold on to him as no replacements incoming.

Reports saying that the relationship is at its worst now between player and manager. A lot could depend on if the owners keep or part with the manager this summer!

How has it gone drastically wrong form the long unbeaten run we had?

The performances have been shocking.

I know... we were looking fairly good to be getting into one of the Cup finals and at least challenging for 4th - its been a dreadful season!, jeez we may not even finish 5th !

There better be some proper decent recruitment this summer.

give over you knobheads.

result didn't go our way, we were absolutely bloody awful but today was about a club legend and nothing else. taking his three daughters out on the pitch at the start, touching the sign, the guard of honour? i was in bits. 17 years of my life watching this incredible footballer who played his entire career for his boyhood club having come from a huyton council estate and signed for the club aged 9. enjoy it now because you're not going to see the like of that again in english football. old school. tradition. history. loyalty. passion. thanks stevie lad. it's been amazing.

Bang on mate... we knew he was going for a bit now but jeez that was bloody emotional !

Kenny is my hero as he was one of the first Liverpool player I ever saw as a kid at the games, then he managed us, but most of my adult life has been watching Stevie G and I have to say he surpasses the rest now as a legend for the club imo.