(A) Sunderland - Pre Match Thoughts

                                           Premier League

                                        Saturday 15th September 2012
                                       The Stadium of Light

                                   Sunderland VS Liverpool

Momentum is a strange thing.  Some people debate over whether it has any real effect on anything.  In the world of sport nothing - good or bad - is sustainable.  When things appear to be on the downward trend, bouncing back becomes ever harder as things go on.  Collectively we need to get to our feet as quickly as possible, in order to get back onto the road we were meant to be on at the start of the season.  However, the task we face today is far from straightforward.  A win here would do as much for confidence as it would for the points tally.  At the end of the season however, only one of those will count.

The Stadium of Light is the ground where it all started to go wrong.  Beachball-gate and the horrendous dip in form that followed make the trip we're embarking on today an unhappy one, despite the fact that our record up there isn't as bad as it first appears.  Two years ago Luis Suarez had happy memories of scoring a wonder goal from the edge of the penalty area and prior to the incident with the inanimate object, we'd won three in a row here.  Last year however was a particular low point with Nicolas Bentnder scoring one of those incredible goals that only we could have conceded last year with it going off the post and onto Reina's back along the way.  If nothing else, our performance has to be infinitely better than it was that day or we will ultimately suffer a similar fate.

Martin O'Neill is one of my least favourite - direct rivals aside - managers of recent times.  His hummingbird like movement along the touchline coupled with a style of play that at times makes Roy Hodgson look expansive mean that he's not exactly at the top of my Christmas card list.   What he is capable of however, in spite of the aesthetic style of the play, is making teams very efficient and hard to break down.  Fortunately the horrible team that Steve Bruce put in place of mostly former Manchester United reserves is slowly dissipating.

One player they did manage to acquire over the summer was Steven Fletcher.  The argument over whether Sunderland overpaid or not withstanding - and far be it a Liverpool fan to suggest a team may have paid over the odds for a player - there was a long portion of the season where he was one of the best finishers around.  In a better organised team that will almost certainly have much more confidence than the seemingly forever damned Wolvers players that he played with last year will mean that he's going to be as big a threat as any to our gaining something out of this fixture.  Agger and Skrtel will have to be at their best but it's possible that with everything surrounding Pepe Reina recently that they adopt a shoot on sight policy.  If we keep our composure then there's every chance of both nullifying their threat as well as applying our own.

As far as we're concerned, the form of Steven Gerrard - having been sent off in addition to an under par performance on Wednesday - could go either way.  He'll be as determined as ever to prove a point but maybe it's for the best that he keeps things ticking in midfield the way Rodgers wants.  Other than that Raheem Sterling will be full of confidence and keen to be unleashed on the Sunderland defence, buoyed from having been called up into the England team.  All around the park there will be players looking to improve on what was a bad performance all around against Arsenal.  The one bright spark from that game in Jonjo Shelvey would certainly have earned a starting place, having played so well last time out but unless Gerrard gets moved forward it's unlikely he'll come into the midfield unless Sahin still isn't quite up to match fitness.

Whatever team plays, it feels a little strange getting back to football.  The international break not withstanding, the events of the last few days and the results of the Hillsborough panel have still yet to sink in properly.  It's been an emotionally draining week and whatever happens I hope nobody gets too carried away.  We've seen a prime example over the last seven days of where exactly football is placed in the grand scheme of things.  It may be the beautiful game, but it is still just a game.

Brendan Rodgers: Long Road Ahead

Without conflict, there is no story.  For there to be triumph there has to be something that needs to be overcome.  The greater glories come from the biggest obstacles, for the greater rewards are there for those who are prepared to risk failure.  Men become heroes and the stuff of legend beyond that because of the frequency with which they are prepared to take those risks.  Champions are held up for all to see while challengers lick their wounds and plot for the day when it is their turn to be crowned.  In the end, losing doesn't matter anywhere near as much as is made out.   It's how you react to those setbacks that determine whether or not you can eventually become a winner.

Brendan Rodgers was given a baptism of fire, of that there was never any doubt once the fixture list had been released on June 18th.  Consecutive home fixtures against last years top three represented as hard an opening as any Liverpool manager has had to negotiate for some time, let alone someone who had only just accepted the job.  Two seasons ago, a similar task fell to another man who was still getting his feet under the table. Defeat to both Manchester clubs compounded an exasperating last minute equaliser by Arsenal on the opening day of the season and a miserable draw with Birmingham City.  Though on the face of it things may seem eerily similar, the approach of both men - on and off the pitch - could not be different.

Comparing Brendan Rodgers to the current England manager is not something that covers Roy in glory.  In virtually every way they are polar opposites of each other, right down to splendidly superficial point where Rodgers comes on on top by virtue of looking somewhat shark-like as opposed to Hodgson's antiquated owl appearance.  Whereas one of them had to sit by and wait for a transfer window to slam shut ahead of players he had been promised the other got exactly what he wanted; and that was Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky.  Regardless of whatever the results may bear out in the next six months, Brendan Rodgers and what this team are trying to do is as far away from the fear and lurid football that Liverpool supporters once had to endure.

Before a ball was even kicked, optimism was high.  A man had come in that was like a breath of fresh air over supporters and the club as a whole.  Things have happened since to dampen that enthusiasm but the fact still remains that even though things may not have gone the way everyone would have liked, there was a real foundation underneath all that idealism.  This will be the first proper test of whether the talk of implementing a new structure into the club was just that.  There will be some quarters of both the media and Internet - 606 and the like - that will be the first to run, screaming from the battlefield, should anything go wrong in the immediate future.  An ignorable minority they may be, but if that is the case it is the job of the rest of us to be even more resolute.

The next eight days represent as difficult a challenge as we could hope to face so early on in the season.  Progression through to the group stages of the Europa League has given an additional dimension to Rodgers' already demanding schedule.  Shoehorning a troublesome trip to Switzerland to take on Young Boys in between an away game at the Stadium of Light and an encounter with Manchester United at Anfield and it's hard to imagine any side who could emerge completely unscathed.  What's important is that even though the potential for taking a hit or two in the next week appears to be great, that faith in what the manager is building suddenly disappears.

It's already happened once, on a very minor scale.  Little over an hour into the season and thoughts of missed opportunities and bad luck dominated the minds of supporters everywhere.  The game that took place at the Hawthorns almost exactly a month ago now would not have looked out of place in the seemingly weekly torment of last season.  What it should have done is made everyone realise that the problems that Brendan Rodgers inherited would not go away overnight, regardless of how technically sound a coach he is.  Now that the dust has settled on the transfer window fiasco, it's time to give full support to those that remain.  Especially the manager.

Of all the corresponding fixtures played last season, the only game to have a negative point disparity is West Brom.  A victory on Saturday against Sunderland would actually put Rodgers level with the points picked up against those same teams.  Over the course of the pre season, it was pointed out at painstaking length that for the club to do better this year it would have to pick up better results against the lower tier of the league.  The last thing Rodgers needs is for there to be even the smallest murmurs of discontent.

This is not meant to sound like imperious defeatism.  The fact that everything had gotten Liverpool fans - up until very recently - incredibly excited is not a bad thing but right now there stands a crossroads to which there needs to be a certain realism.  Five games in the next fourteen days even at this point of the season mean that this is a period in which things will get tough.  The squad will be stretched as far as the manager believes it can be and some may be thrown in at the deep end just as Rodgers has been.  Some may not be ready to take the opportunity while others will fail the test altogether, what's important is that the process that was initiated over the summer is allowed to bear fruit.

It's easy - and almost certainly factually accurate - to point out that our priorities this season lay elsewhere and that the game against West Brom in particular isn't one that will matter.  The game next Thursday against Young Boys would have a similar significance were it not for the fact that even if the unthinkable happens and whatever team gets sent out there is shell shocked, there are still five games left to make up for it.  The cup games last year weren't so much a pleasant distraction as something of a wet dream as the season went on by and we certainly soiled our sheets in the league as a consequence.  That cannot be allowed to happen this time around.

At this point it's about getting through games and building a platform from which we can push on from later on in the season.  Tottenham started last season with not only back to back defeats by United and City but demoralising, heavy ones at that.  Once those fixtures were put behind them they went on a run that would see them in control of their own fate right up until the final stages of the season.  Nothing will be settled until May, all that has to be done until then is hold steady.  It may appear daunting but Brendan Rodgers is the man who has been charged with the task of guiding the club through this.  The next few weeks will be exhausting for the football club and as such support for both the team and manager will need to as loud as ever.  Win or lose, they will learn.

We Need To Talk About Pepe

For years, they train.  Day after day spending a countless amount of hours at the gym.  A professional footballer these days will need to have his body in as close to peak condition as is possible.  But all that effort only matters at the most basic of levels.  Even in a game where it appears to be everything physicality will only get you so far.   It can even - under certain circumstances - count for nothing.  The adage that knowledge is power still rings true in the arena of sport.  An intelligent footballer is worth far more than someone who relies on his strength or speed alone, because even though the dimensions of a football pitch are where the results are filtered out the game itself is played within the mind.  Those that are mentally in tune are the ones who will get their body in the right place at the right time.

Standing in between the posts is a lonely existence.  A goalkeeper is an integral part of a greater cause but no fan actually wants to see them in action, for it means that their team is not on the front foot.  The balance between heroism and castigation is heavily weighted in favour of the negative and so above everyone else, it is important that he is the most sure of himself.  Being agile and having the kind of frame that takes up a goal is useless unless they have this unwavering belief in themselves.  A goalkeeper - especially the great ones - are not allowed to shuffle quietly out of the limelight.  Their fall must be sudden, dramatic and unequivocal.  This is the fate that awaits Jose Manuel Reina, should things continue in the way that they are.

It is not very often that the story of a Liverpool player starts off with everyone happy at his defeat but that's what happened to an eighteen year old Reina when he came to Anfield in 2001 with Barcelona.  He would be directly involved in the key moment of the match, unable to save Gary McAllister's penalty as the reds went on to eventually win the tie by a solitary goal to nil.  After a year in which he battled it out with Vitor Valdes as to whom would be the long term first choice goalkeeper for Barcelona  - a contest which still goes on today, on a much wider scale -  he was loaned out to Villarreal in an attempt to develop and get some first team football under his belt.  Pepe began to flourish at El Madrigal, to the point where just as one keeper was making history in Istanbul his replacement was already being lined up.

The decline of Jerzy Dudek is a peculiar one.  There was a time when he was one of the best shot stoppers in the league and then Diego Forlan - of all people - ruined him.  Saying that Dudek was a terrible goalkeeper - even after his well publicised mistakes - would be harsh but even as the 2004-5 season wore on there was that feeling that Rafael Benitez never quite rated him.  From one player who will always be famous for his penalty heroics to another who had himself a growing reputation for saving spot kicks.  Pepe Reina arrived on Merseyside officially a Liverpool player in July 2005 for six million pounds.  In relative terms to today's market, you would have to pay nearly three times that to end up with David De Gea.

Despite his early years, Pepe had already notched up a total of a hundred and seventy odd appearances as well as an international cap for Spain.  With the help of an organised defence - including Jamie Carragher's stint as one of the best defender in Europe - records tumbled.  Having been at the club for barely six months he set the record for clean sheets with eleven games without conceding, as well as becoming the fastest ever player in Liverpool history to reach the figure of a hundred games where he had shut out the opposition (at a ratio of less than one every two games).  Reina was also the recipient of the Golden Gloves award for the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets for three seasons running.  So what happened?

As with many of the declining factors surrounding the club in the last decade, it begins with the departure of Rafa Benitez.  The club had already began to rely too much on the form of their goalkeeper to get them out of trouble the season prior where he all but single handedly kept the team together, winning player of the year in the process.  Roy Hodgson came in and with it a new style of football - if you could call it that - and like many of his compatriots, Reina suffered.  With a team that dropped so deep that at times they were practically behind him in the stands, it was a massive fall from grace from having been in a team that was used to controlling games to now surrendering possession and allowing multiple chances.  Before lasting damage could be done however - both to Pepe and Liverpool Football Club as a whole - Hodgson went out and Kenny came in.  Fourteen clean sheets over the course of a season represented a good return for an average season but the cracks had started to set in.

Last season and the problems that were rife throughout has been analyzed over and over.  The departure of Lucas Leiva and affect it had on the defence, leaving Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing to take over defensive duties contributed to a dip in form as the season ended.  There was more to it than that however, as by now his concentration and reactions had at the very least gone down a level from that which he had been at prior to Rafa's departure.  Right through the side there seemed to be this acceptance that once things were going wrong we almost expected to concede and the added pressure from our misfiring forward line meant that any goal given away would be twice as painful.  Still the finger of blame did not point directly toward Reina, until now.

The problem for a goalkeeper is that because his position is such a specialist one, it's easy to over complicate.  At the moment something needs to change but that might not necessarily mean bringing someone in.  There has been such a turnaround of people behind the scenes at Liverpool over the last few years it may be easier to get back to basics.  A lot has been spoken of the lack of a true goalkeeping coach, with Xavi Valero's name being brought up often as he was around when Reina made his name.  If Rodgers believes he needs a coach then so be it, same goes for Pepe himself who at this point will know more than anyone what exactly he needs.

He's not used to making mistakes.  There's a difference between having a drop in form - especially when the form he was trying to get back to was the kind that saw him being put into a bracket alongside Grobellar and Clemence - and outright goalkeeping errors.  There's a certain ambivalence around Reina at the moment, primarily because of the alternatives.  Nobody really knows how to address the situation but one thing for sure is that it will not be ignored.  Given the potential financial restraints on the club however and the fact that there are higher priority areas that are in desperate need of improvement mean that for the forseable future, unless he wants to leave then Reina will remain number one.

Giving up on Reina at this moment in time is very premature.  Even to take him as he is now - low on confidence and in need of some work - he still fits the system perfectly.  The added scrutiny he comes under may also be as a result of the fact that on paper there isn't much wrong with the squad.  However big a problem Reina's form is, it will be blown up out of proportion because there aren't that many drastic problems.  This idea that he's become very nonchalent about things and believes he is undroppable however is both insulting to Rodgers' judgement and the professionalism of the man himself.  He is one of the four remaining players who started for Liverpool when they last contested the European Cup Final.  Both he and the club have been through a lot since then.  There is only one way there are going to get back there however.  Together.

Unacepptable In The Eighties

Our story starts in America.  It's a world and a time far removed from that which we know now.  January of 1986 to be precise.  The Boston Red Sox would still have another eighteen years to wait before they would emerge victorious in the World Series, while Liverpool were well on their way to championship number sixteen of eighteen.  John W Henry had founded a stock trading company and was yet to reach the height of success that would see him as a major shareholder in two of the worlds most famous sports teams.  Just a year later Micheal Douglas and the film Wall Street would introduce the phrase "greed is good" into common usage, summing up a decade in which money meant everything.  In the charts at the time was a song that perfectly summed up how Liverpool fans the world over these past few days.  John W Henry; what have you done for me lately?

Not so long ago Brendan Rodgers - instead of getting down to work with the biggest rebuilding job in the club's history - was forced to take his squad to America.  Pre-season tours aren't the biggest evil in the world of modern football as it's the only way some fans will ever be able to connect with the club but there's no doubting it added to what was already - with Euro 2012 and the Olympics, as well as Europa League qualifiers to prepare for - a hectic schedule. Nevertheless we were flown half way across the world for what FSG were dubbing as a homecoming of sorts.  Liverpool against Roma in Fenway Park was a spectacle no doubt, but it did come off a little as if we were being shown off.  Paraded by our owners like a trophy wife.  Then again that's not entirely right, they usually get bought expensive things.

It's at this point Andy Carroll springs to mind.  Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing aren't far behind him.  If it's worth pointing out that Kenny Dalglish, Damien Comolli or whomever spent too much money last year then the first person who should have been notified was Brendan Rodgers.  It's unfair to punish a man for the mistakes made by a previous regime, especially given everything else he has been charged with.  That applies to both what has transpired under Hicks & Gillette as well as last summer.  Perhaps we should be less concerned with making up for the mistakes in the past and more concerned with not making any more.

It's a sign of the times that fans of teams have to become familiar with the ins and outs of the balance sheet rather than simply turning up to the games and registering their support vocally.  For others - read Arsenal - it appears to be the basis of their entire philosophy.  In terms of spending power we are so far behind teams like Manchester City and Chelsea it's impossible to hear their expensively remodelled cars.  Trying to use money cleverly in the absence of having a real financial might sounds like a good idea but there are going to be exceptions.  Failing to add a striker to a squad that has shown it has trouble scoring doesn't sound particularly clever, does it?

Would it be fair to say that Liverpool fans don't entirely trust FSG?  If that were indeed the case neither party would be completely at fault.  The militant nature of any football fan that exists in an era where under certain ownership a team can go from the Premier League and FA Cup winners to League one and the brink of non existence in four years, coupled with the fact that the club has already been stung once mean that it's difficult for John W Henry and company to maintain a healthy relationship with all those who have Liverpool close to their heart.  There will be those who want the club to be open and clear with everything that they do, while others would prefer we do our business the way Liverpool did it for years behind closed doors.  Brendan Rodgers said himself that you can't please everyone.

So much of the recent history of this great football club has been used up as headlines for tabloids and the appointment of Brendan Rodgers was supposed to put a halt to all that.  It's slowed down, but it certainly hasn't stopped - even before the events of the last few days.  They employed a new PR man, while at the same time Ian Ayre was doing the unthinkable in giving Dave Whelan the moral high ground.  Nearly eleven months have passed and still there is no direct replacement for Christian Purslow, which begs the question as to who exactly is in charge behind the scenes at Anfield.  Nobody is asking John W. Henry or Tom Werner to give up their lives and move to Merseyside, but they need someone who can deal with everything on a daily basis (Ian Ayre proved he was that man when Kenny Dalglish was being hung out to dry last winter).  Had there been someone like that here last week, perhaps the lack of communication that led to Carroll leaving without a replacement could have been avoided.

Over twenty months has passed since the purchase of Liverpool Football Club by Fenway Sports Group and an issue that was as pertinent then as it is now has not been properly spoken about.  The new stadium - which had something to the tune of fifty plus million sunken into it before they even took over - shows no signs of progression, nor even addressing.  This was something they must have had some information about prior to buying the club, were they grossly misinformed?  Almost two years on and nothing definitive has been said, while it's understandable their need to carefully consider the options certainly something should have been at least ruled out by now?  It took just over a thousand days between Liverpool beating Madrid and losing to Northampon.  Things happen fast in football.  While you wait, the risk of going backward looms large.

When the window closed on Brendan Rodgers and LFC, it also cut off whatever patience that lingered between supporters and FSG.  Nobody is asking for Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to be delivered on a plate - people would find a way to complain about their fee or wages even if they did -  but they should know now that the clock is ticking.  January will be the true test of their custodianship, to borrow a platitude from a previous administration.  There should be no scrambling around in the final hours of deadline day this time, they have four months to line up certain targets and make sure that we get them.  After all, it's not going to be hard task in trying to work out which areas will need reinforcing.

It's worth pointing out however, where all this anger and unrest come from.  Players were missed out on, people who could have potentially made the team better and that's frustrating indeed.  However the disappointment on missing out on players is a world away from the fear of having to lose some.  Andy Carroll and the circumstances surrounding both his arrival and departure aside, there remains a strong core of a football team together there - one that other teams would looked to have picked apart were things different.  Trying to escape a bid from Manchester City for Agger or Skrtel under Hicks & Gillette would have been like the scene in Jurassic Park where they try to evade the Tyrannosaurus by staying as still as possible and hoping it goes away.  It's easy to forget that for almost every transfer window we went into for the last couple of years, not only would we fail to get stronger but another one of our assets would go out.

Undoubtedly, FSG and John W Henry have done some good for the club.  The question of whether they are good for the club, remains to be seen.  Their honeymoon period is well and truly over but there is still time to make this relationship a success.  Brendan Rodgers is no Roy Hodgson.  Whatever depths the club was plummeting to has been halted.  If they can get back up to the same heights they were before - and beyond - is uncertain.  Rodgers' himself said that one day he'd like to take Liverpool there and win that elusive nineteenth league championship.  It's a romantic idea.  There's no romance without finance.

(H) Arsenal - Post Match Thoughts

Final Score: Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal
Arsenal Goals: Lukas Podolski (31), Santi Cazorla (68)

Of all the things that there is to say about this game, one thing is more obvious than anything else.  Brendan Rodgers has one hell of a job on his hands.  Is it possible to bring ourselves back from this position, to a place where we can realistically challenge for Champions League football?  Or should we just write off the entire season now and build for next year.  On the evidence of this game, it's likely to get a little worse before it gets any better.

The team was as we expected, there was nothing to read into any of Rodgers' selections in the way that there was last week.  It was very much a predictable opening to the game itself as well, Arsenal a little more direct in the first couple of minutes but after the first five had settled enough to start passing it around.  That being said it was Borini with the first chance of the game, being given room to run at the back four and firing wide instead of maybe going with the better option in Gerrard out wide.  Moments later Suarez turned Per Mertesacker and with a little more pace would have gotten away from him only to be brought down.  It was good that we'd worked these early openings but disappointing not to have worked Mannone in goal at least once.

In any Premier League game, the midfield battle is key.  Against Arsenal that might be even more so, given their style of football and the movement of their players in and around the penalty area.  It was worrying to see then as Abou Diaby got a grip on the middle of the park very early on, a grip he would not relinquish for ninety minutes.  There were pockets of space between the midfield and back four that Cazorla or Diaby would wait for the ball and even though they had yet to get through our defences, wasn't the most encouraging of sights.  That brings me neatly onto Steven Gerrard.

I could write an entire article - and other, more qualified people than me have - about Gerrard's role, both in a wider sense and today's game in general.  It wouldn't make for pleasant reading either at the moment, for this was one of Stevie's most troubling performances in a Liverpool shirt.  There are two issues that present themselves as early as the first twenty minutes.  Firstly, his passing range - which has seemed rather extravagant for a few games now - disturbs the flow of our play and more often than not results in the opposition ending up with the ball.  The second is his nonchalance in regard to that scenario, a casual stroll back into the midfield area isn't exactly what the manager requires.

It's possible that he may be being given special dispensation - because after all we all know Gerrard has the ability to make those passes - but it does seem counter productive when you have a side whose entire identity revolves around keeping the ball and arguably it's best player constantly relinquishing it.  Suarez was guilty of this also, unable to find a Liverpool shirt on a number of occasions but the kind of passes he was actually trying to play were short, simple balls that were being cut out.  Every team has a player who won't exactly be up to par - win or lose - on any given match day.  Against a team like Arsenal with two of our best not up to scratch however, it was always going to be difficult.

One other thing that will frustrate in equal measure as it will please is the wide play of Fabio Borini.  He's shown on a few instances in a couple of games now that he has the intelligence and forethought to catch out a misplaced pass along the back line but whenever he capitalizes on that the final ball is lacking.  With just a little more composure - something which appears to be pandemic along the whole squad at the minute - Borini could definitely be a valid threat to any team.  By the mid point of the first half, Arsenal had gone up a gear with their pressing.  This - along with our static movement - made it incredibly difficult for us to play any kind of passing football along the back line.  The pressure was mounting but still neither goalkeeper had a save of note to make.

With Arsenal probing and hassling, the best we could do was muster a few counter attacks and to seize on any mistakes.  Sterling did just that and was brought down on the edge of the box, only for the free kick to be wasted.  There were a few moments afterward where we actually had the ball in their half of the field but didn't seem to know what to do with it and were unable to work anything of note.  Even worse, we set about  what would lead to our downfall.  Gerrard with another loose ball led to Lucas Podolski picking it up just inside his own half.  He then played it forward to Santi Cazorla and set about a lung busting run inside Glen Johnson.  It was a strange sight indeed to see Johnson stripped for pace but when Cazorla played the ball back to the German, he needed no second invitation to smash the ball into the far corner beyond Pepe Reina to give the Gunners their first goal of the season.

Following the goal, there was an instant withdrawal from Arsenal.  This allowed us to actually breathe and settle on the ball for the first time in a long time and we settled relatively quickly for a side that had been second best for large portions of the half.  If a response was to come from anywhere - either directly or indirectly - it was probably going to come from Raheem Sterling.  He menaced Arsenal for a period following their goal, linking up with Joe Allen at first and then Luis Suarez which led to what looked like a stonewall penalty appeal only for Howard Webb to turn it down.  Replays did show it would have been harsh on Arsenal, but how we could have done with that kind of decision going into half time.

From nearly getting back on level terms, to almost instantly being two behind.  Abou Diaby picked up the ball and ran with it virtually the full length of the pitch before putting Giroud through on goal.  Fortunately for us, his finish did not match the expert placement of his team-mate earlier on in the game and it went harmlessly wide of the post.  To win this game from here we would have to contend with such dangerous counters, as well as the flagging form of some of our more senior players.  Half time came at a good time for Rodgers to get his men in and settle them down but it was the first time in the game Arsenal were having to cope with any real pressure.

A goal down to start the second half, you could have been forgiven for thinking Liverpool were the team with the lead.  We visibly backed off to begin with and let Arsenal play right on the edge of our box and when we had possession were very calm and composed without wanting to rush into anything.  That's not a criticism by the way, we were far too impatient to get back into the game away at West Brom the other week and it cost us another goal so the idea that we still had a lot of time to get back into the game was a valid one.  It took a full five minutes for us to get into the Arsenal penalty area and when we did it was time for Howard Webb to make another decision.  This time Mertesacker and Suarez came together inside the box but the referee again ruled against the award of a Liverpool penalty.

Coming into this game Arsenal had drawn twice and were yet to score.  However they looked like a side brimming with confidence and were simply brighter, quicker and stronger than the men in red.  A particular mention goes to Carl Jenkinson at left back who not only handled Sterling far better than anyone before him and who also supported the Arsenal attack well and provided them with good width whenever it was required of him.  At the other end we were getting the ball into good areas but there was a reluctance to take the responsibility of shooting and as such continued to pass up half chances, in the hope of finding better ones that never came.  Of all the Liverpool players who came out for the second half, Fabio Borini looked a lot livelier and can consider himself a little unlucky to be taken off for Stewart Downing but the time was definitely right for changes.

Though the game went through minor patches of being broken up by the referees whistle, it was no means a dirty game.  Howard Webb had very little to do save for the odd penalty shout and was called into action again when Vermaelen appeared to handle the ball.  It would have been incredibly harsh as he was falling over but certainly the crowd were into the game now and at least we appeared to be spurred on.  Arsenal took the game to us on the break and had a couple of chances of their own, Skrtel having to challenge Oxlade-Chamberlain on the edge of the box before Jenkinson forced Reina into a save.

The game was a lot more open than it had been for most of the first half and not only we were pressing them a lot better but were far more composed in possession ourselves.  A lot of this was to do with the fact that Joe Allen was starting to find space and this in turn allowed Gerrard to push on.  The pressure was mounting as Stewart Downing got in behind their defence for the first time in the game and forced Mannone into a save. Arsenal were looking flustered but remained resolute in trying to preserve their lead, still maintaining a threat of their own.  Our midfield which had been poor in the first half was now pressing very high up the pitch with Gerrard, Allen and Sahin all roaming in and around the final third.  Anyone willing to judge Nuri Sahin on this game would be a fool, the midfielder having played very little football over the last year.  He was fairly quiet in the first half but grew into it somewhat in the second but was visibly tiring.  His passing was fairly simple as he looked not to extend himself and try to ease himself into life at Anfield and that's understandable.  Definitely more to come from the Turkish international, who was taken off for Shelvey with just over twenty to go.

Whether it was the reshuffle or the fact that we'd been relatively on top for a while I don't know.  We seemed to switch off for just a moment however and that was all Arsenal needed.  Cazorla and Podolski switched roles for the opener and the Spaniard thumped the ball toward Pepe Reina, whom it agonisingly squirmed under.  It'll go down as a goalkeeping mistake for someone who sets such high standards for himself, but one that we've seen far too many of in the last twelve to eighteen months.  Arsenal had doubled their lead and unless we could recoup two goals, would condemn Liverpool to our second defeat in three games.

If there is to be one positive, it's that there was still a threat there.  It's important that regardless of opposition and scoreline that the team keeps trying because anything can happen in football.  Downing and Johnson in particular linked up and provided Arsenal with some problems down the right hand side but were unable to find that final ball which could potentially get us back into the game.  Another bright spark was the growing confidence of Jonjo Shelvey, who with fifteen minutes to go appeared to take the game by the scruff of the neck almost single handedly.  He won a bouncing ball in between a handful of Arsenal defenders and then forced a great save out of the goalkeeper before moments later putting Gerrard through on goal, only to have   Vermaelen cut it out.

Having been pushed further forward in the second period, Steven Gerrard wasn't as effective as he might have been in other games - although you can put that down to Arsenal's grip on the midfield as much as anything else - but when he did get into good areas, was far more impressive than in the first half.  I'm a big believer in moving him forward into one of those front three slots and although the injury to Lucas may curtail that for now it's still something that should be looked at.

Into the last ten, Wenger's men were now using the counter to try and kill off the game and could have with Jose Enrique misjudging a bouncing ball but reacting well enough to stop Giroud from being through on goal. It was up to ourselves to make what time remained as difficult for them as possible and to our credit there were enough chances.  Jonjo Shelvey had a rocket of a shot fumbled which we were unable to put away and Suarez was trying to be overly clever when he could have poked the ball past Mannone, instead trying to lift it over him.  Once more before the end it was Shelvey who again forced another save, having done more in his twenty minute cameo than the majority of the side who had played the full ninety.  The final whistle was something of a relief and as Brendan Rodgers walked back down the tunnel he will know full well - if he didn't already - the task he has on his hands.  What's important now however is that he also realizes - regardless what anyone thinks about the ownership - that we are all right behind him.

(H) Arsenal - Pre Match Thoughts

Premier League

                                        Sunday 2nd September 2012
                                                  Anfield

                                      Liverpool VS Arsenal

Barely a month into the new season and already Liverpool Football Club stands at a crossroads.  The events that transpired over the closing of the transfer window and not being able to bring in a replacement for Andy Carroll as well as our all around lack of depth in forward areas has left a sour taste in the mouths of many.  This has certainly dented the optimism of how far Brendan Rodgers can take the team long term - because of financial restraints -  will at least temporarily put a smile back on everyone's face.

In what was a rather unusual move from the manager, both Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez played all ninety minutes against Hearts and as such you can't help but wonder if it will affect his selection for the game today. I would imagine, unless anybody is showing signs of tiredness following Thursday's Europa League game we'll see the majority of the side that started against City last week, only with Agger coming instead of Coates.  This will also be the first opportunity for Nuri Sahin to show Anfield what he's capable of, and to make it an even more dramatic, he'll be making his debut against the other team that was challenging us for his signature.

If Liverpool are a team in transition, then Arsenal are awaiting a revolution.  Arsene Wenger enjoyed a multitude of success early on as the man in charge of the Gunners but it's now been a well documented long wait for a trophy.  Robin Van Persie's departure to Manchester United only appears to further the idea that Arsenal are going backward as a club but having said that they remain an ever present in the Champions League and on their are a threat to any team in the Premier League and in Santi Cazorla they have a player who would grace the wishlist pretty much every manager in Europe.

Everybody knew when the fixture list came out that we were going to be up against it at the beginning of the season and defeat against West Brom only compounded that.  Of the three difficult fixtures we face home, this one was the one you would have said was most winnable and what with our opponents own stuttering start to the season I would hope we are able to take advantage of that.  Certainly if we set at a tempo and have as much of the play as we did at times against Man City, Arsenal will do very well indeed to only escape with a point.  If that is to happen however, the the individual errors we've seen in both league games so far will simply have to disappear.

Brendan Rodgers will know that the eyes of the wider world are upon him right now.  Defeat today will only compound the idea that the club is stuttered and that things - both on and off the pitch - might not be as rosy as they once seemed.  From top to bottom, this football team is crying out for stability and the easiest way to placate everyone is with a decent start.  This isn't to say that Rodgers isn't capable of coming from behind - Spurs did something similar last year and still had time to collapse into fourth - but that he already has a monumental task on his hands that doesn't need to get any harder.  

Lucas Leiva: The Fall Guy Who Won't Stay Down

Time is not kind to footballers.  Save for a few special exceptions, their moments in the spotlight are few and far between.  Years of dedication to a sport can be forgotten with one bad performance.  Fans are always too quick to forget a player at his best and yet the lows are always held onto, used as a point of reference from which they must always be reminded.  No-one ever goes through life without making a mistake.  The measure of a man is not how - or even whether - he gets to the top.  It's what he does when everything goes wrong.

Lucas Leiva's journey from scapegoat to cult hero is one of perserverance.  Arriving in England at the tender age of twenty years old and competing for a place in a team that at the time contained Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.  He started life as something of an understudy to Momo Sissoko and his task was to displace a man whose name was sung aloud as part of a chant proclaiming to have the best midfield in the world.  Simply by doing that and proving to the manager as well as those around the club, wasn't good enough however.  The fans would not be won over easily.

Expectations didn't help.  This was a player who had been the youngest ever recipiant of the Brazilian golden ball, a competition that had in the two years prior had been won by Carlos Tevez & Robinho.  He was dynamic and athletic, drawing comparisons from Steven Gerrard and Claude Makelele - which was impressive given that he'd barely played just over a season in Brazil.  Even with that award, he was still incredibly raw and was by no means the finished article.  Rafa Benitez saw then what pretty much everybody sees now.

At a time in his career when he needed nurturing, Lucas was being thrown in at the deep end and for one reason or another, nothing seemed to go his way.  This was illustrated by the fact that even after providing what would be the winning penalty in a Merseyside derby all anybody could talk about was that Benitez would have the nerve to take off Gerrard.  That was to be his only highlight in a season which saw him go from enouraging prospect to outright lilability.  Right from the word go however, he had helped establish what would continue to be a running theme.  Whether people liked him or not, he never hid away from doing what is needed to be done.

After enjoying a less that smooth transition into the English top flight, the following season only confirmed his status as the one to blame.  As Liverpool went toe to toe with Manchester United for the league title, Lucas was forced into conceeding a late penalty away to Wigan - a challenge he wouldn't have had to make were it not for the fact that a few defenders had been caught out of position.  Two points dropped in what would ultimatley turn out to be a failed bid for the championship, coupled with getting sent off at Goodison Park meant that public opinion of the midfielder was at an all time low.  The shoots of recovery would be seen in the form of a performance at Old Trafford that saw the reds win 4-1.  He would not look back.

Of all the multiple criticisms leveled at Lucas, one that was irrefutable was that in his early years he was far too lightweight for the Premiership.  Starting from the 2009/10 season however and as he has grown up so to has his strength seen a massive improvement.  With that improvement came an increase in his form, just as a lot of those around him suffered a loss in theirs.  A dissapointing seventh place finish in the league saw the man that brought Lucas to Anfield depart.  His replacement would find it even harder at Liverpool than Lucas did to begin with, but the man himself was starting to make everyone pay attention.

With Mascherano and Alonso now having moved on and Steven Gerrard unable to play through injury, Lucas had by default become the senior midfielder.  Covering for the disasterous Christian Poulsen as well as trying to nurse Jay Spearing into Premier League football, things weren't going particularly well for either he or the team until Kenny Dalglish came in to replace Roy Hodgson.  The months that followed saw Liverpool play some engaging football as well as Lucas earning the plaudits he so richely deserved.  The future looked bright.

It was two performances in the space of forty eight hours that encapsualtes everything you need to know about Lucas Leiva.  He personally shadowed David Silva at Anfield and made the Man City midfielder completely inneffective.  This earned him a glowing review from Sky Sports' Gary Neville and even the media were forced to eat a slice of humble pie.  Two days later and he was doing the same in a league cup tie at Stamford Bridge - this time to the entire Chelsea midfield - when it happened.  He and Juan Mata went for the ball, Lucas pulled up and instantly you knew something was terribly wrong.  It would be the last time he would appear in a Liverpool shirt that season.  Many people believe that the challenge for Champions League football ended with that injury.

And so to the present day.  Two years of not being able to play at the level of those around him followed by a couple in which he has been arguably Liverpool's best player.  He returned to the team in a preseason friendly against Toronto and was welcomed like a returning hero.  The scapegoat had finally won most of his doubters over.  Joe Allen came in from Swansea and gives Lucas the kind of player that he was used to playing alongside in Xabi Alonso.  A stuttering start to the season wasn't ideal but it was no time to panic.  Getting injured minutes into the game against City - ironically enough the last team he managed a full ninety against - was a huge blow.  But it also showcases the club on a wider scale as it stands right now.

The encounter with Man City last season gave supporters everywhere a great deal of optimism and that was later crushed by his injury in the following game against Chelsea.  That we were able to overcome the setback there is that positivity in spite of it.  He has become an important part of the squad - as evidenced with Suarez's message after his goal on Thursday - but the club is much better placed now to deal with that loss than it was.  Last year that role was to be covered by the likes of Charlie Adam and Jay Spearing, this we have Joe Allen or Nuri Sahin to take his place in the midfield.  In the meantime Lucas will get a chance to give that knee some more rest.  The hope is that he will come back stronger than ever.  If anyone deserves a bit of luck and for something to go his way, it's Lucas Leiva.