Liverpool 2, Dortmund 0: Thoughts at the break, panic on the streets of Merseyside

Victor Moses, Abel Xavier, Gabby Paletta, and Mark Gonalez, what do all these Liverpool legends have in common?  They scored on their LFC debut and their goals actually counted.  Iago Aspas scored in his first pre-season match and we all know where it went from there.  It was nice for Lovren to be gifted a set-piece goal on his debut, but at the end of the day, meaningless.  He has been impressive though.

When it's your first match for your new club, regardless if it's preseason or not, and you are shouting 'orders' at your new teammates, that's impressive.  Lovren brings a much-needed presence to the club, someone who is not afraid to take command and responsibility for his side's result.  Carragher had that fire as did Reina in his first few years at the club, last season it was only Gerrard and even he wavered from even a few seasons ago.

Coutinho has been our best player so far, that assist was class and Gerrard-esque.  It's good to see the Brazilian is paying attention to his captain's endless talents.  I can't really say the same for Sterling who has been wasteful to say the least.  He has to do better when he's one-on-one on the box.  Studge is being Studge, as long as he's healthy, he's a threat to score every match.

This is about as close to European football that a friendly can get.  I'm relatively confident this isn't Dortmund's best eleven, but they have been 'spritely'.  Their pace, quickness, and passing has been trying, but our defence, save Glen Johnson on two legs and not his ass, has shut down their every opportunity.  I'm hoping Kelly or me Uncle Joe comes on in the second half for our challenged fullback.

The rest of the side has been 'adequate' but going up 2-0 in the first fifteen minutes seemed to take a little off from both sides.  Since then, Dortmund seems less driven to score and Liverpool more content to take the result.  Hopefully it'll open up in the second half and we'll see another goal or two from Liverpool.  It would be especially nice to see Lambert find the back of the net.

Victor Moses: worse than Aspas?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Victor Moses' loan stay last season was a disaster.  In fact, ever since Moses joined Chelsea from Wigan, his career has down-spiraled, but was he really worth all the hype to begin with?

club	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
year	Wigan	Wigan	Wigan	Wig/Che	Liverpool
age	19	20	21	22	23
app(subs)	2(12)	8(13)	36(2)	13(11)	6(13)
mins	443	815	3212	1215	651
p90	4.9	9.1	35.7	13.5	7.2
goals	1	1	6	1	1
assist	3	3	1	1	0
chances	11	16	41	22	10
npgp90	0.20	0.11	0.17	0.07	0.14
gcp90	0.82	0.44	0.20	0.15	0.14
ccp90	2.24	1.76	1.15	1.63	1.39
ap90	0.61	0.33	0.03	0.07	0
ccv	27.2	18.8	2.6	4.3	0
pass%	79.3	73.2	81.2	82.5	86.6
bp%	-	-	-	52.6	50.5
sacc%	21.4	29.2	29.1	21.4	36.4
shot%	7.1	4.2	5.8	3.6	9.1
TTI90	16.7	14.5	11.1	10.3	10
gap90	1.63	1.43	0.76	0.82	1.38
gsp90	2.04	1.76	1.51	1.7	1.66
gop90	0.41	0.33	0.75	0.88	0.28

Though he has improved over the years, especially passing and ball-handling, he has yet to develop into the player for which Chelsea paid £10.12m and at 23, he probably never will.  His goals on pitch last season, and basically throughout his career, was dreadful. 0.28? For a club that averaged 1.32? A full goal! That is mind-bottling.  Just for perspective, Aspas had a 0.94 gopd last season.  In fact, let's compare their output from 2013-14:

	Aspas	Moses
npgp90	0	0.14
gcp90	0.23	0.14
ccp90	1.86	1.39
ap90	0.23	0
ccv	12.4	0
pass%	75.4	86.6
bp%	58.1	50.5
sacc%	50	36.4
shot%	0	9.1
TTI90	14.4	10
gap90	0.47	1.38
gsp90	1.41	1.66
gop90	0.94	0.28

Moses is the better passer, though his 50.5% back pass rate is only comparable to Aspas.  If Moses hadn't scored his lone goal of the season against Swansea, his stats would be unbelievably bad.  Arguing who had the better year between the two would be like comparing dog feces with cat dung, who cares? They both smell like shit.

I don't see what Rodgers sees in him, he doesn't seem to have amazing athletic ability to make up for lack of skill. Honestly he should beg Mourinho to sell him on the cheap to a mid-table club like Stoke or Sunderland, so he can at least have a chance to become a 'cult hero'.  Something tells me Martinez would probably take him back under his wing at Everton as well.

How much will United pay for Dirk Kuyt?

After dishing out ridiculous sums for turnover prone 25-year-old, Ander Herrera, and the nemesis of Victor Moses, Luke Shaw, they are now linked to splash the cash for soon-to-be 34-year-old former 'Liverpool Legend', Dirk Kuyt. I use 'legend' in the loosest sense there, but Kuyt is much more deserving than say, Roy Hodgson.

Dirk Kuyt's evolution as a footballer is interesting to say the least.  At FC Utrecht and especially Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, he was a poacher, a goal-scoring machine.  Unfortunately, he didn't have the pace to translate his finishing skills in the Prem and had to change his approach if he wanted to survive.  So he became a more complete player, a blue collar one mind you, but good enough to earn a starting place as a supporting striker.  His determination to stay and fight for a place at Liverpool after a disappointing first season instead of returning to the Eridivise where he could have easily reverted back to his prolific poaching ways was a testament to his character.

In his first season at Liverpool, he had one assist in 34 appearances, in his second he had 8 in 32.  In his final three seasons he had a chance created per 90 of 1.79, but it was not just his ability to make important passes that improved, he became a defensive forward, if one ever existed.  From 2009-2012, he averaged 1.91 tackles per 90 and 1.56 int per 90, for perspective, during that same period, Rooney contributed 0.63 tp90 and 0.42 intp90, a massive difference.

His latest rebirth as a left wing back for the Netherlands in the World Cup apparently has spurned Van Gaal into thinking about taking him to United when the Dutch coach starts his term there.  If I can say so sans punishment, playing the heavy-footed Kuyt at that position actually is a genius move, it takes advantage of his strengths and less exposes his weaknesses.  His contributions have been solid on both ends of the pitch and the coverage he provides for Daley Blind is pricelesss, but will it translate in the Prem?

The potential big winner here is Fenerbache.  With United willing to pay double and triple a player's valuation, the Turkish club could possibly get £10m for a player they bought for £880,000.