Xavi mengulas mengenai Raheem Sterling.... Raheem Sterling memang seorang pemain...

Xavi mengulas mengenai Raheem Sterling....

Raheem Sterling memang seorang pemain yang berkualiti,Cara permainan beliau amat sesuai utk bermain di club kami(Barcelona)...

Saya berharap pihak pengurusan kami akan dapatkan beliau ke club ini...



Jgn Sterling oiii,jangan jadi macam suarez



legend91

kplm





Xavi says Raheem Sterling and Ross Barkley good enough to play for Barcelona

http://ift.tt/1atw4nO

“In Spain, we prioritise players who are technically gifted but both things are very important in football”



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Tahniah utk Emre Can [BTsports] Emre Can tersenarai dalam kesebelasan europe tea...

Tahniah utk Emre Can

[BTsports]

Emre Can tersenarai dalam kesebelasan europe team of the week...

Harap permainan beliau akan bertambah baik...



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Transfer Rumours January 2015 Liverpool FC di laporkan sedang menyiapkan dana s...

Transfer Rumours January 2015



Liverpool FC di laporkan sedang menyiapkan dana sebanyak €15 Juta untuk membida penyerang CSKA Moskov Seydou Doumbia

[ Sumber Metro ]



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Joe Allen setakat ini di Premier League bersama Liverpool FC 1 Goal 21 Shots 0...

Joe Allen setakat ini di Premier League bersama Liverpool FC

1 Goal

21 Shots

0 Assits

21 Crosses

9 Blocks

40 Clearances



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Jurulatih Itali, Antonio Conte : "Saya beri peluang kepada Mario Balotelli" "Sa...

Jurulatih Itali, Antonio Conte : "Saya beri peluang kepada Mario Balotelli"



"Saya berasa kasihan kepadanya kerana setiap perkara yang dia buat akan diperbesarkan. Saya risau dia dilayan berbeza berbanding pemain lain. Dia ada bersama kami hari ini dan saya akan nilai dia untuk 7 hingga 9 hari yang akan datang. Dia ada pengalaman, tapi itu sahaja tidak cukup. Dia perlu menarik perhatian saya dan lihat sama ada dia boleh menyesuaikan diri dengan cara permainan kami atau tidak. Kita akan lihat sama ada dia mengambil peluang ini atau tidak."









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NonLiverpool El Hadji Diouf bekas pemain Liverpool akan beraksi bersama pasuk...

NonLiverpool



El Hadji Diouf bekas pemain Liverpool akan beraksi bersama pasukan di Liga Malaysia??Dengar cite pasukan sabah?? Betul kew Bohong nie?? hehehehe..Bertambah meriahlah Liga di Malaysia nanti..Teruskan beri sokongan kepada Negeri yang Anda sokong..Dan jangan Lupa Kalah,Seri atau Menang teruskan juga sokongan Anda kepada Liverpool...hehehehe..



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WWE LIVE IN LIVERPOOL UNITED KINGDOM NOW ! Channel : 816/834HD -suso- KPLM

WWE LIVE IN LIVERPOOL UNITED KINGDOM NOW !



Channel : 816/834HD



-suso- KPLM









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Brendan Rodgers baru memasuki tahun ke 3 menjadi Jurulatih di Liverpool.Pada tah...

Brendan Rodgers baru memasuki tahun ke 3 menjadi Jurulatih di Liverpool.Pada tahun 2013/2014 namanye menjadi sebutan di kalangan pengkritik dan peminat Liverpool seluruh dunia,Dengan membawa Liverpool meraih tempat ke dua musim lalu,sekaligus berjaya membawa Liverpool ke pentas UCL yang peminat dahagakan,setelah beberapa tahun tidak tampil beraksi di pentas tertinggi kelab Eropah.

Hanya pujian setinggi melangit yang biasa didengar pada masa itu.Tetapi cukup berbeza dengan musim ini,Setelah Liverpool menghadapi prestasi merosot ketika ini hanya kata-kata yang kurang enak yang di lemparkan peminat Liverpool bukan sahaja di Malaysia bahkan peminat Liverpool seluruh dunia turut memberi kata-kata kurang enak kepada beliau..Kenapa kita tidak terus memberi sokongan kepada Beliau??Mana perginye Tagline keramat kita??You&039;ll Never Walk Alone..

Perlukah dia bersendirian merasai kepahitan yang dia sendiri tidak sangka??Perlukah dia dipecat??Bagi Wa kita perlu beri dia masa untuk menstabilkan kedudukan Liverpool ketika ini..Walaupun Wa ada gak marah kat dia,tetapi marah itu cuma sekejap sahaja..

Tentang di UCL pula kita memang hendak dia meraih kejayaan,Tetapi kita kena ingat Brendan Rodgers baru pertama kali merasai nikmat membawa kelab beraksi di UCL.Banyak perkara dia perlu belajar dan mencari pengalaman sebanyak mungkin kerana di UCL hanya kelab yang berada di kedudukkan teratas dan terbaik sahaja di negara masing-masing yang beraksi di pentas kelab tertinggi Eropah.Itulah kita kena terima realiti ini Brendan Rodgers perlukan masa untuk membawa Liverpool tampil lebih garang lagi di pentas eropah selepas ini..



Akhirkata Wa nak tanya kepada Anda..Berapa ramai yang akan terus memberi kepercayaan dan sokongan kepada Brendan Rodgers??Dan Berapa ramai pula nak Brendan Rodgers di pecat..Sebab apa anda terus beri sokongan kepada beliau dan kenapa tidak beri dia peluang dan ingin pecat beliau ..Sila tinggalkan komen Anda.Wa tengok isi hati keluhan dari fans Liverpool...



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Baru 11 game ! Duduk ka atas Liverpool! a what a moment it is! kplm axello

Baru 11 game ! Duduk ka atas Liverpool! a

what a moment it is!



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Bekas pemain Liverpool, El Hadji Diouf bakal mewarnai saingan Liga Malaysia musi...

Bekas pemain Liverpool, El Hadji Diouf bakal mewarnai saingan Liga Malaysia musim depan selepas dia hampir pasti untuk menyertai pasukan Liga Perdana, Sabah FA.



Gambar di bawah menunjukkan dia tiba di Kota Kinabalu International Airport petang tadi.



kredit : Sabah Football Association









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RyanBabel Bekas pemain Liverpool yang masih mengikuti perkembangan Liverpool h...

RyanBabel



Bekas pemain Liverpool yang masih mengikuti perkembangan Liverpool hingga ke hari ini..

YNWA

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Players’ disengagement only adds to fans’ disillusionment with franchise football

Increasingly disillusioned with the state of top flight football, This Is Anfield co-editor and Liverpool season ticket holder, Max Munton, bemoans the imbalance of the fan-player relationship.

On 18th January 1961, under pressure from the PFA, the Football League abolished the players’ wage cap on the basis that they were professionals and should be earning more than the factory workers coming to watch them.

“Although this was great for the players, and much deserved,” writes Jim Keoghan, author of the excellent ‘Punk Football: The Rise of Fan Ownership in English Football’ (Pitch Publishing, 2014), “the immediate effect of the abolition was ballooning wage inflation.”

Although this enabled English football to both keep and attract the best talent, attendances dropped in the 1970s and 1980s as other weekend activities became affordable and hooliganism damaged the game’s reputation.

Clubs began to look for non-matchday revenue streams to supplement the rising cost of the previously manageable player wages and running costs, and so the commercialism that many claim plagues the modern game today gathered pace—including Liverpool becoming the first team to secure an FA-authorised shirt sponsorship deal with Hitachi in 1979.

As widely documented, that commercialism has since escalated, and so has the cost of top-flight football, with Paul Tomkins of The Tomkins Times responding to The Guardian’s David Conn in August 2014 taking interest in that “ticket prices have risen by over 1,000% since 1988, given that transfer prices have also risen by over 1,000% in that time… The rise in TV money, and the rise in ticket prices, simply pays for the rise in transfer fees and wages.”

Whether it’s a Sky Sports subscription, or £40 for a “severely restricted view” ticket for Liverpool v Swansea City on a cold Monday night in December, football consumerism is funding the astronomical financial divide between fans and players—with the latter doing very little to give anything back.

According to The Guardian , in May 2014 Liverpool’s wage bill was the fifth highest in the Premier League at £206 million — up £169 million from 2012. It makes up 64% of the club’s overall turnover and whilst the players’ pockets were well and truly lined, the club made a £50 million loss before tax.

A disgusted Karen Gill, granddaughter of Bill Shankly, told Liverpool Confidential in an interview in August 2014, “He’d be appalled by the obscene wages, he’d be absolutely devastated that the simple folk, who are the backbone of the ‘glorious game’ are being priced out of the whole match experience.

“Such was my granddad’s enthusiasm and passion; he would have played football and managed his team for absolutely no money whatsoever.

“That’s how much football meant to him and that is the devotion that is missing today.”

In August 2014, a joint attempt between Liverpool supporters’ union Spirit Of Shankly and their Everton counterparts The Blue Union to convince the two clubs to enter a reciprocal ticket price reduction deal for the forthcoming Anfield and Goodison Merseyside derby games was rejected.

In his response, Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre made the rejection of the proposal black and white: “Like any business, we set budgets ahead of our year/season and provide for all income and expenditure. As part of this we invest in player transfers and salaries for the season as well as continuing to invest in making improvements to our stadium and other general expenditure you would expect of a large football club.”

Recent reports have suggested 19-year-old Raheem Sterling is set to be offered a £125,000 per week deal to extend his contract at Liverpool, whilst Daniel Sturridge agreed a lucrative new deal in return for his long-term commitment in October.

Responses of “sign him up whatever it takes” and “give him anything he wants” amongst fans on social media are blind to the personal repercussions and expense that will follow.

Likewise, Daniel Agger was showered with praise upon his departure after eight years at Anfield this summer. A “loyal servant” maybe, a “club legend” debatably, but a contributor to the crippling cost of football nonetheless.

This isn’t “against modern football” — a term lazily thrown about without realising the progress in racial and gender equality in the game, particularly in fandom. Furthermore “modern football” encompasses fan ownership success stories such as AFC Wimbledon and FC United of Manchester and organised supporter activism in groups and unions.

There seem few solutions, if any, without collective action en masse or political interference. Reintroducing a player wage cap to curb the problem remains a pipe dream with leagues already competing for the best players and football associations’ objectives rooted in commercial gain all but flattening fan-focussed initiatives.

Despite many players’ roots being in working class communities, it would be naïve to expect the game’s “heroes” to give back a portion of their salaries to supplement the expense of the devotees that watch them every week. After all, would you say no if someone offered you more money to do your job? The agents and club officials are to blame too—but there’s yet to be a song sung for Ayre and co.

We go to the game on a Saturday (or Sunday, or Monday…), the passionate songs come out and the handmade banners and flags are flown in a sea of red and white, but this outpouring of undivided and enduring love is very much a one-way street.

The club’s attempts to conceal this imbalance in the fan-player relationship is through positive PR and spin. Recent years has seen classics such as ‘Luis Suarez gets interviewed by a 10-year-old fan’, ‘Jose Enrique smashes TV when trying to win prize for Kopite in #PaddyPower promotion’ and a personal favourite, ‘Jonjo Shelvey bakes a cake for Comic Relief’.

At the end of Liverpool’s 2-1 much needed victory over West Brom at Anfield last month, as the rest of the team trudged down the tunnel towards an international break, Jordan Henderson and Simon Mignolet completed their post-match handshakes and took two or three steps over the halfway line towards the Kop, briefly applauding the day’s support. Thanks lads; £50 ticket, travel expenses, the songs, the chants, the cheers, and we get a little shuffle of appreciation. Superficial gesture or not, at least you tried.

Almost simultaneously, 600 miles away at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, Jürgen Klopp’s side joined hands in solidarity, walked towards the “yellow wall” of the Südtribüne and showed complete gratitude to fans who paid less than €20 for their ticket. Dortmund had just lost 1-0 to relegation candidates Hamburg.

This article was first published in the October 2014 edition of the We Are Liverpool fanzine.

.

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Kelab gergasi Jerman, Bayern Munich bersedia menawarkan kontrak 1 tahun kepada S...

Kelab gergasi Jerman, Bayern Munich bersedia menawarkan kontrak 1 tahun kepada Steven Gerrard tetapi Liverpool FC yakin dia akan menandatangani kontrak baru bersama kelab tersebut dalam masa yang terdekat.



Dia setakat ini telah melakukan 684 penampilan bersama The Reds dan menjaringkan 176 gol serta lebih daripada 40 kejayaan individu yang telah diterimanya semasa bersama kelab tersebut.



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TEAMtalk's top 50 wonderkids: The full list

After TEAMtalk's top wonderkid was revealed last week, Matt Stead presents the list of the top 50 in full, as well as a few stats on the stars.

Last month, TEAMtalk embarked on a mission to find the 50 best youngsters in world football today: the TEAMtalk wonderkids.

There was just one criteria; players had to be born in or after 1996 to be considered for inclusion. Of course, they had to be incredibly talented, too.

Blood, sweat, tears, YouTube videos and poorly translated Eastern European scouting reports have been poured into the research, so without any further ado, here are a few stats - as well as the full list - of TEAMtalk's top 50 wonderkids...

TEAMtalk's top 50 wonderkids: The full list

1. Martin Odegaard, 15 (Stromsgodset)

2. Alen Halilovic, 18 (Barcelona)

3. Gabriel Barbosa, 18 (Santos)

4. Hachim Mastour, 16 (AC Milan)

5. Riechedly Bazoer, 18 (Ajax)

6. Mosquito, 18 (Atletico Paranaense)

7. Youri Tielemans, 17 (Anderlecht)

8. Neal Maupay, 18 (Nice)

9. Ruben Neves, 17 (Porto)

10. Seung-Woo Lee, 16 (Barcelona)

11. Albian Ajeti, 17 (FC Basel)

12. Cristian Manea, 17 (Viitorul Constanta)

13. Kelechi Iheanacho, 17 (Manchester City)

14. Nathan, 18 (Atletico Paranaense)

15. Valmir Berisha, 18 (Roma)

16. Patrick Roberts, 17 (Fulham)

17. Jeremie Boga, 17 (Chelsea)

18. Timo Werner, 18 (Stuttgart)

19. Gedion Zelalem, 17 (Arsenal)

20. Fabrice Olinga, 18 (Malaga)

21. Jonathan Tah, 18 (Hamburg)

22. Rodrigo Tarin, 18 (Barcelona)

23. Steven Bergwijn, 16 (PSV)

24. Gabriel Boschilia, 18 (Sao Paulo)

25. Dele Alli, 18 (MK Dons)

26. Richairo Zivkovic, 18 (Ajax)

27. Inaki Pena, 15 (Barcelona)

28. Timothy Fosu-Mensah, 16 (Manchester United)

29. Taylor Moore, 17 (Lens)

30. Zakaria Bakkali, 18 (PSV)

31. Georgios Spanoudakis, 15 (Stuttgart)

32. Lewis Cook, 17 (Leeds)

33. Daniel De Silva, 17 (Roma)

34. Emanuel Mammana, 18 (River Plate)

35. Simone Scuffet, 18 (Udinese)

36. Dzenis Burnic, 16 (Borussia Dortmund)

37. Filippo Romagna, 17 (Juventus)

38. Allan Saint-Maximin, 17 (Saint-Etienne)

39. Erik Palmer-Brown, 17 (Sporting Kansas)

40. Benjamin Henrichs, 17 (Leverkusen)

41. Jack Harper, 18 (Real Madrid)

42. Harry Wilson, 17 (Liverpool)

43. Ante Coric, 17 (Dinamo Zagreb)

44. Franck Kessie, 17 (Stella Club)

45. Pedro Paulo Kasanzi, 12 (Real Madrid)

46. Vaclav Cerny, 16 (Ajax)

47. Joaquin Ibanez, 18 (Lanus)

48. Ertugrul Ersoy, 17 (Bursaspor)

49. Anton Mitryushkin, 18 (Spartak Moscow)

50. Adrian Marin, 17 (Villarreal)

Wonderkids who never made it

Numbers 50-41

Numbers 40-31

Numbers 30-21

Numbers 20-11

Numbers 10-1

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Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre says winning has become a habit for Liverpool Ladies

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SHEAMUS IS HERE : ON ANFIELD GROUND Ini baru betol fans sejati, tak banyak caka...

SHEAMUS IS HERE : ON ANFIELD GROUND



Ini baru betol fans sejati, tak banyak cakap, keep cool and support team. Sebab dia tahu, apa pun dia cakap, kalau setakat dia dan kawan2 je yang dengar, takkan ada pape yang berubah, melainkan ada kawan-kawan yang jadi staff di Liverpool FC, barulah ada kemungkinan sampai kat Henry or Rodger.



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Brendan Rodgers dikatakan berminat untuk mendapatkan penyerang CSKA Moscow, Seyd...

Brendan Rodgers dikatakan berminat untuk mendapatkan penyerang CSKA Moscow, Seydou Doumbia yang mempunyai klausa perpindahan sebanyak £15 juta.Liverpool dilaporkan berminat untuk menambah penyerang untuk barisan mereka pada bulan Januari ini memandangkan ketumpulan serangan sejak Daniel Sturridge mengalami kecederaan. Doumbia menjadi sasaran pertama selepas menjaringkan 9 gol dalam 15 perlawanan musim ini termasuk gol menentang Manchester City.



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Selfie ! Beliau kembali berlatih kplm -zs-

Selfie ! Beliau kembali berlatih kplm -zs-









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Assalammualaikum dan selamat pagi warga KPLM . Admin telah mendapat berita yan...

Assalammualaikum dan selamat pagi warga KPLM .



Admin telah mendapat berita yang gembira di laman tiwtter yang melaporkan Daniel sturridge dan Sakho bakal kembali semula berlatih bersama skuad LIVERPOOL dan bakal beraksi semlua menentang Crystal Palace . DS15 mengatakan beliau telah pulih sepenuhnya dan tidak sabar untuk kembali bermain bersama LIVERPOOL kplm -zs-









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Happy Birthday Berger..sebut nama dia ni buat admin lapar..

Happy Birthday Berger..sebut nama dia ni buat admin lapar..





Happy birthday, Berger!



Former LFC forward and 2001 treble winner Patrik Berger celebrates his 41st birthday today - here are some memorable images from his time with the Reds.



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KOPBLOG: Six Games Post-International Break to Save Liverpool’s Season

The league table doesn’t make good reading heading into the international break. Joseph Cousins fears The Reds being cut further adrift if things don’t go well in the six games after the break.

The Great Pit Of Carkoon

There is a scene in Return of the Jedi where the rebels attemptted rescue of Han Solo from Jabba the Hut goes a bit wrong. Luke Skywalker gets caught and he and Han are consequently sentenced to death via a trip to the great pit of Carkoon. Waiting at the bottom of the pit is the Sarlacc.

There’s a bit where Lando Calrissien almost falls into the pit and as Han and Chewbacca try to pull him to safety the Sarlacc extends a tentacle and wraps it around Lando’s leg to pull him in.

Think of that great pit of Carkoon and the Sarlacc as the mediocrity of the Premier League. The 10 clubs that usually finish between fifth and 14th. These clubs rarely get involved in a relegation scrap but don’t have a prayer of winning the title. Neutrals or casual observers couldn’t give a shit about these teams. Basically they are there to make up the numbers.

Think of LFC as Lando and our next six games as the tentacle of mediocrity trying to pull us into the abyss.

You see, the next six games are fucking huge. Two Champions League games where we need 6 points to ensure qualification to the last 16. I hear people saying four points will be enough but I’m not sure. It’s possible Basle get something at home to Real Madrid. If they do then we need six points as our goal difference is shocking.

Are you confident that we’ll beat Ludogorets away and Basle at home? Me neither. Not even with the return of Pele Sturridge. However, with the Europa League ready to embrace us should we slip up, anything less than 6 points is unthinkable.

Thursday evening football on ITV4 against Dinamo Minsk. No thank you.

We also have 4 premier league games coming up that need winning.

Palace (A), Stoke (H), Leicester (A), Sunderland (H)

Six wins on the trot (if Newcastle can win four on the trot, we can manage six!) would take us into the United and Arsenal games with much higher confidence and then positive results in those games totally transform our feelings about the season. We’d be in the last 16 of the Champions League and probably in the top four, if not close to it.

Do badly in those games however and instead of Han Solo shooting the Sarlacc’s tentacle and pulling us to safety like Lando. We end up like Everton Boba Fett, fall into the pit and get eaten by the Sarlacc where in its belly we are slowly digested over a thousand years.

Ok, maybe a thousand years is a bit of an exaggeration but we are getting to the stage where if our results don’t improve we will start to get cut adrift from the top four. We are already 11 points Southampton in second place, four points behind West Ham in fourth. We are below teams like Manchester United and Newcastle who everyone has said have had awful starts to the new season.

Only twice have we had a poorer 11-game start to a Premier League season. In 1992-93 we had 12 points after 11 games and in 2012-13, Rodgers’ first season, we also got 12 points. We went on to finish sixth and seventh in those seasons respectively.

Some have been going on about the team not firing on all cylinders in the first half of last season and referring to the infamous game against Hull etc. but there is no comparison the first part of last season to this season. See stats below. We are far worse in every category.

The most disappointing part for me is the lack of goals. We are not even creating chances. Especially at Anfield. Attacking play, creating chances and scoring goals is supposed to Brendan’s forte. It was supposed to be our new identity. Now for whatever reason – and we all have our ideas what those reasons might be – we couldn’t break down a fucking sandcastle let alone a stubborn Premier League defence.

The international break has come at a good time with our next game being two weeks away. Sturridge should be fit enough to take part at Crystal Palace. Whether or not he starts I don’t know but just having him back will be a positive and should help get the best out of the likes of Balotelli, Coutinho and Sterling.

There has got to be a turning point at some stage. Hopefully a two-week break for the club followed by the return of our best goal scorer will be the catalyst.

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Highlights: Emre Can’s Performance vs Chelsea

Emre Can‘s performance, prior to his substitution, was one of the few bright spots for Liverpool in the defeat to Chelsea at the weekend. Watch his display below:

Can, of course, opened the scoring in the ninth minute when his shot was deflected past Thibaut Courtois.

The 20-year-old German offered a physical presence often lacking in Liverpool’s midfield this season and was arguably their best performer before looking tired and being withdrawn in the second half.

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Analysis: Glen Johnson England Omission Should Seal Liverpool Fate

With Glen Johnson left out of the latest England squad, Jack Lusby believes Brendan Rodgers should follow suit and should drop the right-back.

The upcoming international break may be a spell unusually welcomed by Liverpool fans, after Saturday’s loss at home to Chelsea saw confidence sink even lower. Loyal Reds could do with a breather.

Roy Hodgson’s England squad take on Slovenia in their next Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley, before travelling to Scotland for a tasty tie with Gordon Strachan’s side.

Four Liverpool players made the grade this time around, with Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Rickie Lambert set to represent the Three Lions.

One notable absentee, however, was Reds right-back Glen Johnson.

Hodgson was surprisingly rational in his explanation when posed the question as to why the 54-cap 30-year-old was axed from his latest squad, pointing to Johnson’s on-off place in Rodgers’ first team.

At Liverpool, Johnson has been challenged by an impressive young buck in Javier Manquillo, and in the England camp the defender is replaced by the energetic Calum Chambers and Nathaniel Clyne.

For once, Hodgson’s pragmatism in selection outweighs that of Rodgers—despite an impressive performance from Manquillo in the recent 1-0 Champions League loss away to Real Madrid, the 20-year-old was replaced once more by the far-from-faultless Johnson against Chelsea.

If Hodgson is prepared to face Johnson’s alarming drop in quality, so should Rodgers.

This England snub should prompt Rodgers to evaluate the position of the right-back at Liverpool, and Johnson should be dropped in favour of Manquillo from now on.

Glen Johnson

As much as Steven Gerrard’s downfall in a Reds shirt this season is the elephant in the room for many Liverpool fans, the sheer depreciation in performance and 90-minute consistency in Johnson is seemingly the equivalent for Rodgers.

Writing for The Telegraph , Henry Winter suggests that Johnson may be considering his international future as a result of his omission from the squad.

In doing so excellently summarises the right-back’s style of play.

Winter claims “Johnson was respected for his attacking talents from full-back, a quality that helped set up England’s goal against Uruguay at the World Cup, but his defensive abilities have often been questioned.

Whether the errant ‘was’ is referring to Johnson as a former England player or whether Winter recognises that Johnson’s “attacking talents” are a thing of the past remain to be seen.

But continually selecting a defender of questionable defensive capabilities seems a fallacy which Rodgers should assess.

The perfect crystallisation of Johnson’s disappointing in a Liverpool shirt can be found with Ayoze Perez’s goal in Liverpool’s recent 0-1 loss to Newcastle United.

A vapid run forward, followed by a blocked shot, followed by a failure to track Moussa Sissoko—these mistakes are becoming a hallmark of Johnson’s game.

Furthermore, and perhaps even deservedly above his on-field talents on the list of why Johnson should be dropped by Liverpool: The right-back is currently at loggerheads with the club regarding a new contract.

Whether this is due to wage demands or the board’s reluctance to reward a rapidly diminishing talent, there shouldn’t even be any political reason why Rodgers is favouring the right-back.

This is particularly pertinent given the club have an exceptional young full-back talent waiting in the wings.

Javier Manquillo and Tactical Stability

With Alberto Moreno the nailed-on choice at left-back, given the summer signing’s impressive start on Merseyside, the decision to drop Johnson in favour of Manquillo should be a no-brainer for Rodgers.

Winter’s appraisal of Johnson highlights the main factor in the defender’s game as a questionable defensive approach, and Manquillo is the antithesis of this.

According to WhoScored, while Johnson has averaged 1.5 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 1.7 clearances and 0.5 blocks per game in the Premier League, while Manquillo has averaged 3.4 tackles, two interceptions, two clearances and 0.3 blocks per game.

A beast in Europe, it seems, Manquillo has so far averaged a phenomenal six tackles per game in the Champions League.

Manquillo is a fairly reserved full-back, prioritising his defensive duties before looking to bomb forward and join the attack—the one salient quality that separates Manquillo and Johnson is the Spaniard’s willingness to track back and cover his mark.

Utilising Manquillo on that right-hand side of defence would allow Moreno the freedom to attack, with the former dropping in to a back three during attacking phases.

This is a commonly utilised tactic: Take Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea for instance.

Cesar Azpilicueta, a natural right-back operating as a left-back, generally serves as the Blues’ defensive full-back; this allows Branislav Ivanovic to push forward.

On a recent edition of Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football , pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher selected Azpilicueta as the best pure defender in the Premier League.

Neville underlined his decision by claiming “For technical defending, not making a mistake, not being in the wrong position, not getting caught out…I don’t see him making a mistake… he’s as near to perfect as possible when it comes to defending.”

In agreement, Carragher continued that “Azpilicueta is an out-and-out defender. You very rarely see anybody get the better of him.”

While it is clear that, at this juncture, 20-year-old Manquillo is far from as established a talent as 25-year-old Azpilicueta, the loanee should operate in this role for Liverpool, and provide the Reds with a much-needed, and consistent, stability.

Brendan Rodgers needs to follow Roy Hodgson’s lead, and recognise that Glen Johnson is not as indispensable as he seems to think, and Javier Manquillo, and Liverpool, should benefit.

Should Javier Manquillo start over Glen Johnson for Liverpool? Let us know in the comments below.

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European Qualifiers: Mario Balotelli just a normal footballer, says Italy coach Antonio Conte

Mario Balotelli and Antonio Conte during Italy's training session

Italy coach Antonio Conte insists Mario Balotelli should not receive any special treatment.

Conte was speaking after calling up the Liverpool striker for the first time since he replaced Cesare Prandelli as boss in August.

Balotelli has struggled to settle in at Anfield since his summer move from Milan and has yet to score a Premier League goal for the Reds.

However, Conte says he will treat the 24-year-old just like any other player and judge him by his performances with Italy, not Liverpool.

"I'm worried that people see Balotelli differently to the others," said Conte at Italy's training camp near Florence.

Normal

“Balotelli is a normal footballer, just like the others, who can also stay on the bench, or in the stands. We don't need to differentiate Balotelli from the others. He's just one of the 23 players.

"Personally, I'm not going to pay attention to talk about the club. People try to exaggerate each situation and I feel sorry for him.

"Today he is here and he has to answer to me. I will judge him by what he does in the next seven to nine days."

Balotelli was heavily criticised for his performances at the World Cup, when Italy went out in the group stage.

"Balotelli has significant experience with the national team, he has played at a World Cup and a European Championship, but that's not enough," said Conte.

"He needs to catch my eye and I have to see if he can adapt to our type of football. If he can, he can play in the starting line-up, but he can also be on the bench or in the stands.

"My duty is to see how I can use them in this national team."

Italy, who have won all four games since Conte took over, host Croatia in a European Qualifier on Sunday.

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