Anfield’s Opening Game: New Season, New Signings, New Expectations?

Former Kop Magazine editor Chris McLoughlin looks ahead to Monday night’s first home game of the season against newly promoted AFC Bournemouth.

Every year when the first Anfield game of a new season comes around I feel exactly the same. It doesn’t matter how old I am. It matters not that I’ve been there more times than I can count. It doesn’t even matter if the opponents are TNS in the first preliminary qualification round of a big cup competition we’ve just won.

The buzz I get from stepping inside Anfield for the first time of a new campaign never dissipates. It’s an expensive legal high these days, but when watching Liverpool FC is your choice of adrenaline shot you’ll always have a price to pay. Financially and emotionally.

It’s the first glimpse of that luscious green grass – grass that looks greener in August than it does in May – that I’ll be dreaming of on Sunday night. That glimmer of the pitch when you’re in the concourse before kick-off is Anfield’s cleavage. A seductive, enticing prospect that sends a surge through red-blooded veins. It’s good to be home after three months away.

But this season, things are different. There’s a huge element of not knowing what to expect on Monday night. And not just on the pitch.

A 1-0 win at Stoke won’t have the ‘In Rodgers We Truss’ banners hanging from the frame of the new Main Stand, but it isn’t half going to feel weird sat inside Anfield with the giant new structure looming over us having walked past a new hospitality marquee that is being erected outside while work is ongoing.

I sit in the Paddock so I’m half expecting to be issued with a high-vis jacket and hardhat when I go through the turnstiles, but I’m reliably assured that the This Is Anfield matchday programme will still be on sale from the kiosks rather than copies of the Wickes catalogue.

Of course, another summer of new signings means there will be plenty of changes on the pitch too, but while it promises to be a big night for Christian Benteke, Roberto Firmino and co it will also be an important evening for Jordan Henderson.

He’s skippered the Reds at Anfield before in Steven Gerrard‘s absence, but against Bournemouth he’ll lead the side out for the first time in a home game knowing that the job – and the responsibilities that come with it – belong to him on a full-time basis.

The manner in which he leads the team will inevitably be subject to plenty of analysis in the coming months, particularly if, sorry, when games are lost, but the biggest task for Henderson is ensuring his form doesn’t suffer.

Some players, Gerrard for example, thrive with the armband on. Others don’t. The changing nature of who was playing alongside him was a significant factor, but I never felt Sami Hyypia was quite at his consistent best in 2002/03 – and the start of 2003/04 – when he became club captain.

Henderson’s form will, naturally, now be compared to how it was before he replaced Gerrard as top dog in the dressing room and that is something he will have to deal with.

Is he up to the task? Only time will tell, but when you read Henderson’s programme notes for Monday’s game you’ll be encouraged by what he has to say as he is taking nothing – including his place in the side – for granted. Which is something that should also apply when considering the outcome of Liverpool v Bournemouth.

Should the Redmen beat newly promoted opponents having strengthened the squad this summer with several new signings and having kicked things of with an optimism lifting away win?

Well yes. But then I was thinking exactly the same thing when I walked into Anfield on August 14, 1999 after we’d won 2-1 at Sheffield Wednesday on the opening weekend only to see Liverpool beaten 1-0 by Watford.

Getting stung by the Hornets made that first home game buzz wear off very quickly and I’m all for early season optimism lasting as long as it can so three points is a must against the Cherries. Because things will start to get a lot harder a week on Monday…

Chris McLoughlin
@TheKopMagazine

• The new-look This Is Anfield matchday programme is available at the ground on matchdays, from official Liverpool FC club shops or to order from http://ift.tt/1ErA0iV.

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Mario Balotelli to get Liverpool loyalty bonus

Mario Balotelli: Set for six-figure windfall

Unwanted striker Mario Balotelli is reportedly due to collect a six-figure loyalty bonus for staying at Liverpool.

Balotelli has been forced to train with the Liverpool youth players, away from the first-team squad, as Brendan Rodgers desperately looks to move him on.

One option is to loan out Balotelli on a season-long deal, making a contribution to the player's wages. That's a similar agreement to the one Manchester City did with Emmanuel Adebayor.

However, Rodgers has another reason for trying to move Balotelli out of the club during this summer. The Daily Mirror reveal that the Italian will be due a substantial loyalty bonus should he remain at Anfield after the end of the current transfer window. 

That would smart considerably, given the manner in which Balotelli's relationship with his manager has soured.

The Mirror also write that 'Sources close to the controversial player insist that no matter how far into the wilderness he is thrust, he is prepared to stick it out at Anfield and pick up his pay-cheques'. That seems like something a source close to Liverpool would say, not Balotelli.

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Juventus join the chase for Lucas Leiva

Lucas Leiva’s Liverpool future has been thrown into further doubt, with Juventus now reported to be interested in signing the midfielder.

According to Paul Joyce of the Express, one of the most reliable Liverpool-based journalists, Juventus have joined Serie A rivals Inter Milan in expressing interest in taking Lucas to Italy.

Inter tried to sign the Brazilian in January but a deal didn’t materialise as Liverpool needed him at a time when he had just found his way back in the side.

It’s reported that the 28-year-old is seen as a potential alternative to Schalke’s highly-rated youngster Julian Draxler, as the Old Lady look to fill the void left in midfield by the departed duo of Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal.

Lucas’ future at Anfield has been up in the air for a couple of years now, with the defensive midfielder close to leaving the Reds on several occasions.

This time it really does feel like his eight-year stay on Merseyside is coming to an end though, with a reported bust-up with Brendan Rodgers the main reason behind it.

Lucas is currently Liverpool’s longest serving player, ahead of Martin Skrtel, and has made 275 appearances for the club since joining from Gremio in 2007.

OPINION: Why the time is right for Lucas to leave LFC

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Pedro Chirivella: The lowdown on Liverpool’s Spanish academy star

One of the stars of Liverpool’s impressive academy setup, Pedro Chirivella seems destined for success. Jack Lusby profiles the Spaniard.

Jordan Rossiter may be the first name to spring to mind as the next potential star to rise from the Liverpool youth-team ranks, but Spanish midfielder Chirivella may just eclipse the young Scouser.

With Reds manager Brendan Rodgers a strong advocate of youth development and supplementing his first team with players from the academy, Chirivella stands a strong chance of success at Anfield.

But just who is Chirivella, and could he make the step up at Liverpool?

Pedro Chirivella

Chirivella joined Liverpool from La Liga outfit Valencia in the summer of 2013.

The then-16-year-old signed a long-term deal, setting him up for progress through the youth ranks and into Rodgers’ first team.

The club moved to aid the Spaniard’s transition in Liverpool by accommodating his family, as well as providing them with work.

Having enhanced his reputation as a burgeoning talent with Valencia, Chrivella reportedly turned down a move to Barcelona in 2011—such is his talent and high-end potential, the midfielder was coveted as a crucial member of the Catalan club’s La Masia setup.

Growing up a Real Madrid supporter, Chirivella lists former Los Merengues midfielder Zinedine Zidane as his footballing idol.

Barcelona duo Xavi and Andres Iniesta are also clear inspirations for the 18-year-old, who has acclimatised well at the Liverpool academy’s Kirkby facility—saying all the right things, he also cited former Reds midfielder Xabi Alonso as a key influence in 2014.

He swiftly established himself within Liverpool’s youth sides, captaining the Reds in 2013’s Milk Cup.

In 2014/15, Chirivella made seven appearances for the Under-21s in the Premier League and a further five as the young Reds battled in the UEFA Youth League. However, his campaign was curtailed by several injuries.

Chirivella will be hoping to put these issues behind him as he builds towards a first-team role on Merseyside.

Playing Style, Strengths and Weaknesses

Though Zidane, Iniesta and Xavi are his idols, Chirivella much more closely resembles another La Liga star: Barcelona defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets.

An archetypal No.6, Chirivella regularly plays at the base of the midfield for Liverpool’s U21s, breaking up play with intelligent movement and maintaining possession with a composure beyond his years.

He will rarely score or assist, but that is beyond his remit as a deep-lying playmaker; though it must be stressed, he is not a tackle-happy midfielder like Lucas Leiva.

Instead, like Busquets, he is the U21s’ safety blanket: a player that links the rest of the team together.

“I’m a player who can pass the ball really [well], and can read the game,” Chirivella said in 2014, outlining his attributes to The Redmen TV’s Paul Machin.

“I think I’m very good tactically.

“The thing I have to improve is [my physicality].”

As the player himself alludes, he is relatively slight. At 5’10” and with a lean frame, Chirivella will need to bulk up before he can truly break out into the Liverpool first team.

Furthermore, as his time with the Reds so far has been peppered with injury problems, this will also require monitoring.

Nevertheless, Chirivella’s quality—in understanding space both on and off the ball, maintaining possession with short passes and prompting attacks with long balls—has pushed him into Rodgers’ thinking.

“Every time I go [to Melwood] and train, he is always very good with me,” Chirivella continued to tell Machin on his relationship with the manager.

“He always asks how I am here in England, how I am doing.

“It’s very good for the young players to come to Melwood and feel at home.”

Not content with calling Chirivella up for regular training sessions at Melwood, however, Rodgers saw fit to include the Spaniard—along with a clutch of other bright academy talents such as Rossiter and left-back Joe Maguire—in his squad for the Reds’ pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia.

His first taste of senior action with Liverpool, Chirivella’s second-half substitute’s appearance against HJK Helsinki on the Reds’ return from tour saw him impress further.

In a short, 10-minute display, Chirivella looked comfortable alongside his more experienced team-mates, offering a consistent outlet off the ball and recycling possession assuredly.

This performance saw him pair his raw qualities with a comfortability on a more demanding stage.

But, given this was a mere pre-season encounter, can Chirivella translate this ability and make an impact on the Liverpool first team in the future?

Can Chirivella Make an Impact at Liverpool?

“In very little time we will see Pedro Chirivella, Sergi Canos or Madger in the first team, and some of them playing regularly,” said Liverpool’s chief Spanish scout, David Vizcaino, earlier in 2015.

“Just talking about Pedro Chirivella gives me goosebumps. In England there would have to be 100 Pedro Chirivellas in order to revolutionise English football.

“Chirivella is football, he is intelligence, control, technique, personality. I expect great things from him.”

Vizcaino’s gushing praise should underline one thing: if Chirivella follows the trajectory that his potential has set out, he will be a key player for Liverpool in the future.

That Rodgers included the midfielder in his squad for Liverpool’s pre-season tour suggests he also sees a future for Chirivella at the club.

“It’s something I will never forget,” Chirivella declared on his return.

“I went with the first team and made my first-team debut with all of the players. It was really nice and I won’t forget it.”

Opportunities may be scant in the 2015/16 season, with the likes of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Emre Can firm fixtures in Rodgers’ starting lineup, while Rossiter and Joe Allen will serve as backup.

But there may well be a route into Rodgers’ first-team thinking by impressing in domestic cup competitions and, as ever, for the U21s.

Whether he will develop into the next Alonso remains to be seen, but Chirivella certainly has the talent to do so.

• More from the academy: 5 Liverpool under-21 players to watch out for in 2015/16

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Philippe Coutinho dropped from Brazil squad

He was Liverpool’s matchwinner on Sunday but Philippe Coutinho has bizarrely been dropped by Brazil coach Dunga for their internationals next month.

In fact, days after Brazilian legend Kaka said that Coutinho can be a “very important player for Liverpool and Brazil”, it’s Kaka who has taken his place in the squad for the games against Costa Rica and USA in September.

Attempting to justify the decision, Dunga said: “We gave him a chance at the Copa America.

“You can’t just build with just youngsters, you need experience to help.”

Coutinho’s new club teammate, Roberto Firmino, is named in the squad for the games in early September (yes, there’s an international break to disrupt the season after three games).

Coutinho started three of Brazil’s Copa America games, missing one only due to injury.

SEE ALSO: “You can build a team around one great player” – Kaka on Coutinho as LFC’s new main man

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Moreno and Lallana discuss different starts to their second season at Liverpool

Liverpool defender Alberto Moreno has pleged to get through his difficult start to the season after falling out of favour with manager Brendan Rodgers.

Since being hauled off at half-time of the 6-1 defeat at Stoke on the final day of last season the Spaniard, a £12million signing from Sevilla just over 12 months ago, has made just two starts – one of which he was substituted in – and one appearance off the bench in five pre-season friendlies.

He has been overtaken in the pecking order at left-back by Joe Gomez, a new arrival from Charlton, despite the 18-year-old favouring the centre or right of the defence.

Moreno admits he found his first year difficult to adapt but hopes to be able to win back his place in the side. “I realised what a great club this is right away,” he told Marca.

“The first year was difficult because of the language issue and moving away from home but I made 41 appearances, which is pretty good for my age and a club of Liverpool’s stature.

“I’d like to be a regular in the starting line up, to play as many games as possible.”

While Moreno is out of favour with Rodgers that is nothing compared to Mario Balotelli, who has not even featured in any squad since the defeat to relegated Hull at the end of April and was left behind for the club’s tour of Asia and Australia.

The Italy international has been criticised for his attitude and his performances since his £16million move from AC Milan almost a year ago but Moreno has some sympathy for the striker, who turned 25 on Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: Journalist lifts the lid on Balotelli’s training ground behaviour

“I think he’s unfairly maligned,” the defender added. “He’s a very relaxed guy. He never bothers anyone. He could be a great striker. He’s got the tools.

“Things haven’t gone well for him here. He’s really struggled to score goals. ‘This had never happened to me before,’ he told me.”

A year could not have made more of a difference for Adam Lallana, however, as he looks to make the most of a full pre-season.

The England international sustained a knee injury shortly after his move from Southampton last summer and that delayed his debut until mid-September but he continued to struggle with niggling injuries, partly due to him missing some of pre-season.

But the 27-year-old feels totally different this year. “I am in great shape at the minute. I have not missed a training session or a game to date and I feel I’ve massively benefited for that,” he told LFCTV GO.

“Any professional will tell you being on the treatment bed is not any good for you as when you are away from the group it is not easy to integrate.

“I want to have a good season and do well and add more goals to my game and I feel if I stay fit and out on the pitch then that is what I’ll get.

“I’ve set myself personal targets and I will just be looking to contribute as much as I can towards the team.

“It could be a 60-game season and I feel we have a great squad. The competition for places keeps everyone on their toes and no-one should be guaranteed a place in the team.”

OPINION: Lallana faces fight for first-team spot at Liverpool

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Lucas leaving Liverpool: Why it’s the right time for player and club

Lucas Leiva has been strongly linked with a move away from Liverpool this summer, and Jack Lusby advocates the long-serving midfielder’s departure.

The likely departure of Lucas this summer will come as a blow to sections of the Liverpool support, but after eight years on Merseyside, now is the right time for the Brazilian to head for pastures new.

Lucas has been linked with a move as Brendan Rodgers‘ side enters the 2015/16 campaign, following his omission from the manager’s match-day squad for the season opener away to Stoke City.

Whether suggestions of a “fall-out” are accurate or not, Lucas’ marginalisation at Anfield indicates that this juncture is the perfect time for a clean break.

Lucas leaving Liverpool will suit both parties this summer.

The 28-year-old has slowly become a fans’ favourite during his time with Liverpool.

Moving from Brazilian side Gremio in 2007, in a deal worth £5 million, Lucas joined as a precocious 20-year-old, eager to make his name in one of Europe’s most competitive leagues.

“It was very hard,” he recalled in 2012. “Everyone knows that my beginning here wasn’t easy.

“I didn’t feel ready for the Premier League, even physically. But I was persistent and now I feel I have more than adapted, like a player made for the Premier League.

“I try to play with lots of intensity and strength, but without forgetting the technique I learnt in Brazil.”

That technique saw him grow up as a box-to-box midfielder, more likely to trouble the opposition’s defence than support his own.

But it was in defensive midfield that Lucas made his name on Merseyside—”a way for me to feel more comfortable,” he attests.

This didn’t stop him from becoming the first Brazilian to score for Liverpool when his 25-yard strike soared beyond Kevin Scriven and into the Havant & Waterlooville to help the Reds to a 5-2 win in the 2007/08 FA Cup fourth round.

In 275 appearances for Liverpool, however, Lucas has scored just five more goals—he is very much a defensive midfielder, and that has perhaps held him back under the likes of Rodgers and Rafa Benitez.

Lucas is a limited player: a tough tackler and a diligent defensive shield, but lacking dynamism in the deep-lying role.

He plays with passion and that, along with his infectious personality and dressing-room influence, has made him a popular character for supporters and players alike.

But in modern, top-level football this must be paired with technique.

He is no Javier Mascherano, and he is no Emre Can.

As Rodgers enters his fourth campaign as Liverpool manager, it is clear that this is the calibre of midfielder he wants to shield his back four.

“Can is viewed as being very capable of playing that holding role,” the Liverpool Echo‘s James Pearce declared at the beginning of August.

He later added: “Rodgers in his time at Liverpool has never really gone in for the archetypal defensive midfielder.”

Can, signed for £10 million last summer, is a different entity to Lucas.

At just 21 years old, he possesses the raw potential to develop into one of the world’s best midfielders, but also the immediate ability to perform both as a box-to-box midfielder or—as Rodgers believes—a holding option.

The German is a comfortable amalgamation of a 20-year-old Lucas and that of today—except he isn’t plagued with injury.

Lucas’ downfall will largely be attributed to his many injury issues, and that has seen him fall from one of the Premier League’s finest defensive midfielders, under Benitez, to an expendable option.

As Rodgers assessed his strongest midfield options this summer, Lucas will have been towards the bottom of the list: Can, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho and Joe Allen point towards a more progressive future for the Reds in the middle of the park.

There is a convincing argument to suggest that Lucas—as Liverpool’s only specialist defensive midfielder—should remain within Rodgers’ ranks.

But, as Pearce attests, a destroyer-type has never been in the manager’s tactical remit.

The player that was awarded Liverpool’s Player of the Year award for the 2010/11 season is no more.

Detached from romance and sentimentality, now is the right time for Lucas to leave—but where could he go this summer?

Last season, Lucas was blocked from joining both Napoli (season-long loan) and Inter Milan (January transfer), and a new home in Serie A may be the most sensible option for the midfielder.

The Italian league is renowned for its slower pace, with more emphasis on a tactical, defensive game.

Last season, for example, AC Milan found a regular home for both Nigel de Jong and Michael Essien, while Inter’s midfield featured the prowling Gary Medel.

Napoli’s regular defensive midfielder is ageing Swiss star Gokhan Inler, and Lucas would provide the Naples club with a useful, competitive option.

The Brazilian would likely thrive in Serie A, but what about elsewhere?

West Ham United are one of the clubs to have reportedly expressed interest in signing Lucas this summer, with a proposed deal to sign free agent Joey Barton falling through.

This raises the question of whether the Liverpool man could excel elsewhere in the Premier League.

When he was utilised by Rodgers in 2014/15, Lucas still performed to a high standard—he was a key feature as the manager looked to stabilise his side towards the end of 2014.

His physicality and composure does suit the intensity of the league, and Lucas would significantly bolster the starting lineups of West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City, Sunderland, Watford and the Hammers.

It would not be remiss, either, to suggest he could play a key role at the top end of Ligue 1, or at any La Liga club beyond their top three of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

He should not be short of options this summer.

Lucas is far from over the hill, but with Liverpool moving in a different, more dynamic direction this season, he would be right to leave in search of first-team football.

• Read more: Exploring how Liverpool could replace Lucas Leiva this season

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