Player Ratings vs. West Brom

After a pretty dismal display at the Hawthorns there can't be too many good things to say about the players but nonetheless here are the ratings for players in my opinion.

Reina - 7

Despite conceding 3 goals I actually felt that Pepe had a decent game and without some really good saves from the Spaniard Liverpool could easily have gone down to a 5 or 6 nil loss.


Kelly - 5

For me Kelly was not enough of a threat in attack given the system that Rodgers likes to play with. In the 4-3-3 the full backs need to offer attacking width and I just felt that this was not shown by Kelly. I also saw Kelly caught out of position a few times which allowed West Brom to hit LFC on the counter attack.


Skrtel - 5

Not a great match for Skrtel, he didn't look particularly solid and despite the fact that the penalty he gave away was hardly stone wall, there should never have been any danger in the first place if the Slovak had have shown a little bit more urgency on the ball


Agger - 4

Despite the fact that I didn't feel Agger had a particularly bad game up until the sending off and he was the only player back covering, the sending off was the key moment in the game and I'd rather he had not taken the risk of giving Long a nudge. I'd rather Agger just put a little bit of pressure on and let Long try his luck at finishing because as the penalty showed he's hardly clinical.


Johnson - 6

An occasional good dribble forward and a fairly competent display despite being out of position earn Johnson a higher rating than the rest of the defence. However I feel that had José Enriqué been playing the team would have been considerably stronger.


Lucas - 6

Lucas wasn't quite his usual superb self despite trying to put himself about a bit. A yellow card shackled him slightly and hindered his breaking up of the play. His substitution was necessary in order to make the team more attacking although personally I would have taken Johnson off and gone with 3 at the back given that Martin Kelly is naturally a centre back.


Allen - 8

The new signing looked really good in the centre of the park, he kept possession well, got stuck in and even played a couple of Charlie Adam-esque cross field balls. All in all a great debut for the little Welshman... apart from the score.


Gerrard - 6

Gerrard never really got into the game, his movement in behind the frontman was nothing like as good as we saw against Gomel and the usual link up with Luis Suárez seemed to be gone. Possibly a slightly mediocre performance from Lucas forced Gerrard to drop back and help the defence thus limiting his attacking influence.


Downing - 4

Quite a few useless crosses typified a poor display. It seems to me that Rodgers would have told Downing to cut in and either shoot or play through balls on his stronger left foot and instead he decided to take on the full back and put in crosses with his weaker foot when there was no real aerial presence in the box. I would say that despite this performance I believe Downing will be considerably better than last season and we should finally see some Premier League goals from him.


Suárez - 7

I felt that in the first half Suárez looked sharp and his turns and nutmegs were really causing problems for the West Brom defence. Of course his influence diminished in the second half as Liverpool struggled to attack and the referee did him no favours either by not giving free kicks or refusing to book the Baggies players for pretty bad fouls on the Uruguayan. I feel that the cross for the header he missed was just a tad too high and he should not be blamed just because he could not quite get up to meet it.


Borini - 6

Not nearly as sharp as we saw against Gomel and the link up play we saw with Suárez in this match seemed to be lacking a tad but not too bad for a Liverpool Premier League debut and I think there is much more to come this season from the Italian.


Subs
Carragher - 5

Carragher lacks a little bit of pace these days and in a team a man short pace is often what is needed. I felt Carragher was a little poor and got rolled far too easily by Lukaku when the Belgian set up a superb chance for the Baggies.


Cole - 4

Injured. Again. Not much more needs to be said, as good as he could be the fact that he is in a near permanent state of injury makes him a bit of a liability and his high wages mean that the club can't really afford to have him sitting on the physios table every week. I sense that a move away from the club may be coming up fast for Cole


Carroll - 6

Not much time to make an impact but the big Geordie did work hard for the team and even when the team are losing badly that is something the fans love to see.


Man Of The Match - Phil Dowd (West Brom)

Sorry to be so cynical but his decisions really ruined the game and as good as West Brom were, the result could have been so different without his influence.

New Signings, West Brom and Season Prediction

At 15:00 tomorrow Liverpool will kick off a potentially exciting new era in the league under Brendan Rodgers. A trip to the Hawthorns to face Kenny Dalglish's former right hand man Steve Clarke is what faces the Reds in the first game of the season. As I will be writing an entire article on it tomorrow I don't want to spend too much time on the West Brom match however I will put forward my predictions that Liverpool will win 3-1 and Suarez will score first (got a bet on Suarez scoring first). I would also like to put forward what I think the squad will look like, I'd like to stress that this is not what I believe to be the strongest squad but what I feel BR will go for.

Reina (GK)
Johnson (RB)
Skrtel (CB)
Agger (CB)
Enriqué (LB)
Lucas (CDM)
Gerrard (CM)
Allen (CM)
Downing (RW)
Suárez (ST)
Borini (LW)

Subs: Jones, Kelly, Carragher, Spearing, Shelvey, Assaidi, Carroll


Now on to what I think Liverpool will do this season. I do tend to be optimistic and therefore I can see Liverpool just sneaking into a Champions League slot, I would say it will come down to a last day of the season result. I don't foresee any silverware this season, I believe that the Europa League and the League Cup will be used as an opportunity to give youth players experience and therefore no serious attempt to win the competitions will be mounted. As for the FA cup I believe that LFC will come up against quality opposition around about the quarter finals and fail to make it through. Despite no silverware I would regard this as a successful season but would be happy to hear your opinions as to what might happen and what constitutes a successful season on my Twitter account @LFCviews.

As for the new signings I see Borini being used mainly as a winger but also as a backup striker for whenever Suárez is unavailable if Andy Carroll is sold. I see Borini as a first team choice and a player that will be involved in the majority of games, my guess at a goal tally is 11 in the league.

Joe Allen will be a key player for Rodgers in my opinion, he is a player that knows the system well and can keep possession of the ball even under intense pressure. Despite a lot of competition for the central midfield roles I believe that Allen will only miss league games in order to be rested for a bigger game. I firmly believe that Rodgers sees him as one of the first names on the team sheet and the price he was willing to pay for the little Welshman shows this.

Finally the big news of yesterday and today, Oussama Assaidi. Now I see this signing as that of a rotational squad player. With a price tag of around £3million and competition for a place from Cole, Sterling, Borini, Downing and possibly even Jonjo Shelvey I can see Assaidi being used for around half of LFCs matches as a starting player. I also think that this will help him to settle in at the club as the pressure of playing for, in my opinion, the World's greatest club will be lessened by not being a regular starter. I estimate a goal tally in the league of 5.

I am always happy to hear your opinions on the club on my Twitter account @LFCviews and I'm willing to retweet any good ones.

Transfer Turbulence

With the start of the season less than a week away it seems that the majority of Liverpools' transfer activity is yet to be done. There seem to be many possibilities and there are outs as well as ins.

We'll start with possible outgoings and LFCs record transfer man, the Andy Carroll saga has been dragging on for weeks now with an offer from West Ham being accepted by the club but not by the player and Newcastle unwilling to meet LFCs valuation. Before I say what I would like to see happen I'd like to express my anger at Newcastle FC, 18 months ago they rejected a £25million bid from Tottenham for the big man saying that he was worth more than that, now apparently he isn't worth £20million. Now Rodgers may be looking to sell but he isn't a fool and I'm sure he won't let Carroll leave for less than his valuation. Personally though I would like to see the big Geordie stay and prove himself, I believe he has the ability on the deck to contribute to Rodgers system as long as when the wingers get to the byline they're willing to put a cross in. All that said I do think he's on his way out at least on loan.

The other possible outgoing is Daniel Agger. Although the Danish centre back has said he is keen to stay and even had YNWA tatooed on his hand (pictured below) the decision may not be his or even Rodgers to make. The owners of the club may see a financially beneficial deal and force BR to accept even if it is detrimental to the on-pitch performance. As for a possible replacement the name being touted is Ashley Williams and this is a deal that would truly infuriate me, the Swansea centre back has not proved himself to any extent in my opinion and is actually a few months older than Agger. Why would you sell one of the best defenders in the World for an unproven older player? It makes no sense. I am glad to say that I think Agger will stay, I think the owners will find it hard to force him to leave despite recent contract talks stalling.

Now on to more exciting news, obviously I can't talk about all the players LFC have been linked with as it would take me at least until the end of the transfer window. However I can talk about the most likely signings and the most exciting.

There were various reports on Twitter that a deal had been agreed to sign Uruguayan playmaker Gaston Ramirez from Bologna for £18million, these reports were proved to be false but speculation that Anfield is his destination this summer is still widespread. Ramirez has reportedly turned down an offer from Spurs due to issues with personal terms and Inter Milan are reportedly interested in capturing his signature. However I do believe he will be a Liverpool player sooner rather than later, 2 of his international team mates are at LFC and are clearly very happy, he is the type of player that Rodgers would be after and I feel that BR would be prepared to meet his demands. Based on what I have seen of Ramirez this signing would excite me a lot, he is a left footed winger and I would love to see him cutting inside from the right hand side of a Borini, Suarez, Ramirez strikeforce. He is a young and intelligent player and I feel he would be an excellent addition to the squad.

Next we move on to Nuri Sahin. After a less than successful season at Real Madrid a loan move seems the most likely option. While Sahin is a quality playmaker I feel that the central midfield slots in the squad have already been filled, even the substitute slots. For Sahin to come into the squad I feel that the sales of other midfielders would be necessary, this may happen as rumours of Charlie Adam's departure are rife but I still feel that Allen, Gerrard, Shelvey, Lucas, Spearing, Henderson and even Suso are easily enough to cover the central midfield position. I do not believe that this deal will go through although if Rodgers is really serious about it I believe he would be Jose Mourinho's first choice given their work together at Chelsea.

The final possible transfer I want to discuss is Theo Walcott, many people would say it is more logical to discuss Dempsey because he is probably more likely but I am really not a fan of Dempsey and I have already said that. Walcott on the other hand is a fast, unpredictable player who can really cause a full back problems. While he may not be the most technically gifted player his pace makes him a handful and I would love to see him in a Liverpool shirt. My only issue with this potential deal is that Walcott is not the type of player to cut in and create chances for himself in my opinion. I think he would need an option at all times and would rely heavily on the capabilities of Luis Suarez in the middle. I also do not believe this deal to be likely to happen, Arsenal will not want to sell to a rival and since Chelsea are also reportedly interested it would surely be easier for the winger to stay in London.