Liverpool FC Forum

Because a) he'd be in the shop window of the champions league, and b) could then shaft Arsenal for another move and bigger pay cheque ?

i think if we would have scored a second (which our play deserved) stoke would have thrown the towel in but because the scoreline stayed at 1-0 it understandably got a bit nervy at the end.
last season at home we hardly created a chance of note against this mob so it was good to see us carving out good opportunities especially against a side set up specifically to defend and frustrate the opposition.
we did run out of steam in the last 20 but i think the players were so fired up and so keen to get off to a good start that they went hell for leather from the off and just flagged a bit at the end (though i did think brendan might have went to the bench when we started to drop off them in midfield).
it took us until the end of september to get our first win last season so it`s good to start with 3 points this campaign.

Mignolet my man of the match. First time I saw Toure in action and am impressed and filling the boots of Carra very well. Coutinho continues to hit telling passes. Hope we can add Willian to the side soon.

Away to Villa next week will be rough. They're gonna be flying high now.

Mignolet MOTM....
PMSL.. 
You must be off your bloody rocker.

Outstanding display from the Red Men today with a deserved win and three points on the board. If we can continue in this fashion we will not only be hard to beat, but hard to stop as well. Great performance all round to beat a very physical and determined Stoke. Says something that their goalie was man of the match...

Anyone know somewhere i can download the game? cheers

100% record on match threads this season !!

Good start for the reds. 3 points thats what matters at the opening game.

Benny The Noon » Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:53 pm wrote:100% record on match threads this season !!

You Negative Bas.tard 

The Good Yank » Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:37 pm wrote:

Benny The Noon » Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:53 pm wrote:100% record on match threads this season !!

You Negative Bas.tard 

Are you storming off as well

Good start to the season against a team we always seem to struggle against.

Sturridge goes from strength to strength, it's great to be wrong on a player I criticised as a signing 8 months ago.

Toure I think proved everyone wrong with his performance, if he can maintain that level for the season our much maligned defense may have finally turned a corner!

Best 'gut' feel is that Coutinho is going to have a monster season, his passing and vision is simply amaze-balls.

Mignolet is a going to be a superstar, can't believe he only cost us 8-9m? Is it too early to call him a Liverpool legend yet 

In the end, 3 points that's all that matters.

C'mon FSG, let's finish off this fine week by completing the Cissokho and Willan deals.

The atmosphere was so good in the ground it felt almost alien ,more like a European night than an early kick off .
Lucas was absolutely phenomenal in the middle ,and some of Gerrard's passing and set pieces were close to sublime.

Sturridges goal was a mirror of his goal against City and no goalkeeper will ever get near them such is their accuracy.
I thought Henderson was superb in the second half ,that kid certainly has an engine on him. Aspas showed some
real invention and his awareness and invention will make his procurement from Celta a very shrewd move indeed.

Toure was an absolute beast in the centre and made Agger's job a whole lot more comfortable ,a very intelligent
move from Rodgers to grab this fella .....He looks like he has been at the reds for years ,and for what seemed
like being a difficult transition from replacing the passion of  Carragher, Toure has made it  looks seamless .

3 points ,and our first opening day victory for 12 years ...... Oh and a keeper that saves penalties again.
All this and we had more yellow cards than Stoke ...... I like change.
YNWA 

Smilingly, he flashed football’s most talked-about teeth as the stadium PA ­system boomed out a mini-classic from The Clash.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? It was a choice Luis ­Suarez once thought was his to make. Turns out he was under the wrong impression.

“Luis is back in the group. He is smiling and he is happy,” said Brendan ­Rodgers.

Sometimes, it sounds as though Brendan is running a therapy clinic rather than a football club.

You conjure up an image of Suarez stood before a semi-circle of seated ­Liverpool players, asking for their understanding.

It is the lingo of 21st ­century sport, of course.

Remember when Kevin ­Pietersen had to be ­‘reintegrated’?

Same sort of thing.

KP was only ‘reintegrated’ when he took a ton off the Aussies.

Suarez will be ‘back in the group’ only when he plays, scores and gives his all again.

They are the only things the ‘group’ is ­interested in. If he happens to be happy and smiling... well, that’s a bonus.

Suarez was indeed ­smiling during the Reds' win over Stoke – happy with his family, high up in hospitality. And his sunny demeanour should have been brightened further by what unfolded beneath.

Presumably, over a ­summer in a distant land, Suarez had forgotten what potential this Liverpool team possesses.

As much potential as Arsenal possess? Certainly.

You can snigger at Rodgers’ lapses into psycho-babble and sentimentality.

And we do.

But it is becoming clear that he is a coach of some distinction – with a clarity of thought when it comes to knowing how he wants his teams to play.

Victory here should have been far more emphatic and certainly should have been achieved without the need for Simon Mignolet’s penalty save.

A thumping win would have been a just reward for ­Liverpool’s eye-catching fluidity.

Lucas held, Steven ­Gerrard held in parts.

But the wonderful Philippe Coutinho and the tireless Iago Aspas darted across each other’s paths, smuggled into crannies between hulking defenders and adapted a surgeon’s scalpel to the art of passing.

Creativity is what Suarez is all about. This must have been to his taste.

And it did not come exclusively from the Latin contingent.

This was the ­Daniel Sturridge Manchester City thought he could be.

This was the Daniel ­Sturridge Chelsea thought he could be.

But this was also the sort of outstanding performance on which Sturridge has to build, has to keep striving and working to improve on.

Suarez can help and ­inspire him.

While Stoke were ­comprehensively outplayed, ­Mignolet had to have his reflexes fine-tuned to keep a clean sheet.

But a clean sheet it was – and, presumably, a clean slate awaits Suarez now he is ‘back in the group’.

On this evidence, it’s not a bad ‘group’ to be in.



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Luis Suárez attended this game and received a cheer from Liverpool supporters in the Anfield car park. He witnessed a Liverpool display of some promise, with Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge looking particularly good in a highly mobile front line, though he will also have noticed that had Stoke made more of their chances they could have escaped with a point, not least when they failed to convert a penalty at the end.

While Stoke's lack of firepower is well-documented and an area that Mark Hughes has still to address, they competed well enough to suggest they may not be in for the season-long struggle against relegation many are predicting. That said, had Liverpool been sharper with their own finishing the contest would not have stayed close for so long, although Suárez should be able to make a difference in that department when he returns in five matches.

"Top of the league!" Brendan Rodgers joked, while he still could, and before he began to deadbat all the Suárez questions. Hughes was probably less delighted but left the stadium early to catch a flight, presumably to watch a potential new striker. "It's no secret we are trying to improve our goals tally," his deputy Mark Bowen said. "We knew it would be difficult here but didn't go under, even when we went a goal behind. We are trying to change a few things, and everything Mark asked the lads to do, they did. I can't really fault Jon Walters for the penalty, even if he has missed a few. He struck it well enough but the goalkeeper guessed right."

Stoke could have opened the scoring in the ninth minute, when Robert Huth thumped a volley against the bar after Simon Mignolet had lost out to Peter Crouch when attempting to claim a cross. The new Liverpool goalkeeper would have been anxious to make a positive impression in front of the Kop but the good news is he does not have to play against opponents as tall as Crouch every week.

Liverpool responded by hitting the woodwork themselves, Kolo Touré heading against the bar from a corner after Sturridge thought he had opened the scoring from a Steven Gerrard free- kick, only to be recalled for the narrowest of offsides. When the lively Sturridge threatened again from a narrow angle with Asmir Begovic stranded away from his line, Erik Pieters came to Stoke's rescue with an acrobatic clearance.

Begovic redeemed himself with a save from José Enrique on the half hour, keeping out a close-range shot with his feet after smart passing from Coutinho and Iago Aspas had opened up the Stoke defence. Touré and Coutinho repeated the exercise on the right just before half time, this time presenting Jordan Henderson with a shooting opportunity in the box. Again Begovic saved with his legs, though this time there was more than a suggestion that Henderson should have done better with an inviting opportunity.

When the breakthrough came it was from a less ambitious buildup. Sturridge simply accepted a square pass from Aspas on the edge of the area, looked up and took a pot shot through Huth's legs to find Begovic's bottom corner. It was a classy finish and one that forced Stoke to up their attacking efforts. Mignolet produced a flying save from Walters on the stroke of the interval, though the first half ended with Lucas Leiva clearing off the line from Ryan Shawcross. From a corner, naturally. Stoke might be starting a new era under Hughes, but they are still handy at set pieces.

The impressive Begovic kept the score down with saves from Sturridge and Henderson in the second half, the latter a fingertip deflection on to an upright post after another neat pass from Aspas had given the former Sunderland player the whole goal to aim at.

The goalkeeper was at full stretch again 10 minutes from the end, keeping out a fulminating Gerrard free-kick from 30 yards, while at the other end Mignolet had to look lively to keep out a goalbound effort when Charlie Adam tried his luck from the halfway line. As he does.

Stoke might have been better letting Adam take the penalty two minutes from the end, when Daniel Agger handled. Walters went for power rather than placement and Mignolet dived to beat it away, then recovered in time to stop the follow-up from Kenwyne Jones. The roar was deafening, and Mignolet will not care that it was largely one of relief.

The goalkeeper's Anfield career is up and running. "Simon actually made three terrific saves," Rodgers said. "The double one at the end was the most important, as you could tell from the reaction of the rest of the players. You could see the spirit in the team and that's what we are trying to cultivate here."


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