Liverpool 2, Middlesbrough 2: Weed the garden, Rodgers

Honestly, I don't know where to begin with this one.  I fought sleep and death from boredom throughout the match that could have been a 'how not to play football' instruction video and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.  I felt like I was having a flashback from a childhood zoo trip where I had to search aimlessly at an exhibit for 15 minutes hopelessly hoping to catch a glimpse of a rare giant elephant shrew.

Liverpool played beyond poor and it was frankly embarassing.  We needed penalties to defeat a side that had no right to be on the same pitch as we were and once again, the same issues we have been dealing with recently, surfaced again.  Unfortunately, we can now add another as well, 'movement off the ball'.  The endless vertical back-and-forth passing and everyone standing around, waiting their turn to touch the magic football was dreadful.   There was only one decent example of movement off the ball, when Enrique broke forward to start the series of events leading to the second goal.

I'll just come out and say it, Rickie Lambert was a bad buy.  He has either lost a step since last season or the whole damn world has sped up a notch.  It's not just his pace that is lacking, but his quickness as well.  Everytime he gets the ball it's like he's standing in a tar puddle, not to mention the Elephant man's bones could predict where his next pass attempt is going.  It's time to wave the white flag, give Lambert a bunk in the Reserves' house, and let him play out his contract there.  He can title his autobiography, 'I got to play 136 minutes for Liverpool and my beard is better for it.'

Another player I have a big problem with is Lallana.  Man of the match?! Are you kidding me?  Was that halo of Anglo-Saxon Britishness glowing so bright above his head that no one noticed all he did was dance around the pitch like Cristiano Travolta and then throw the ball away?  If 'Out of Bounds' was a player on our side, he completed three amazing, perfect passes to him.  All the rest, save the 'no look' back heel were painfully obvious and lead to nothing.

A look at the statistics further shows Lallana's showmanship.  He turned over the ball 17 times, was 3 of 16 on cross attempts, and had no chances created.  Outstanding!  Markovic was apparently 'terrible' despite the fact his stats are very similar to the 'Chosen One' (14 turnovers, 0 for 1 crosses, also no chances created).  The only thing that baffled me about Markovic was his inability to shoot the ball, he was like a deer in highlights every time he got a chance to thump it.  Sterling shows this at times as well, maybe Rodgers has put the fear of God in them regarding bad shots and the 19-year-old and the 20-year-old are traumatized.  Oh yeah, Sterling gets the excuse of being 19, but Markovic is too old for that, right?

Speaking of youngsters, it was quite clear that Rodgers gave Suso a 'shoot away' speech when he took the pitch and the Spaniard took it to heart, taking 4 shots in 22 minutes.  Despite spending less time on the pitch than any other LFC player, he had the most shots and tied Sterling with the team lead with two shots-on-goal.  It also seemed to really open up the match.  Wonder what would have happened if Lazar and Sterling had done so in the first half.

We're going to improve, right?  I mean this match was a step forward? I don't think so.  We played Middlesbrough at Anfield for Christ's sake and still had trouble marking players, still had trouble communicating on defence, still couldn't create space, and were still more predictable than Augustus Gloop near a chocolate river.  These are issues that have gotten worse in each of the four matches.  Rodgers is the gardener and needs to weed it out or else suffer the consequences of sub-par production.

Middlesbrough at Anfield: Will Suso start? Will Ayala score? Or will Jones get the clean sheet against his former club?

Liverpool has met Middlesbrough six times in League Cup history splitting those meetings 3-0-3.  Four of those matches were at Anfield with the home side winning three, the only loss being their first cup meeting in November 1974, a 4th round 1-0 defeat.  The last date at Anfield in what was then known as the Carling Cup was November 10th, 2004, with LFC winning 2-0 behind a late match brace from Neil Mellor.  They were his first goals in front of the Kop.  Liverpool is 42-17-14 all-time versus Middlesbrough on Merseyside, outscoring the River Tees club 157 to 70.  The last time the Reds lost at home to Boro was March 6th, 1976, a 1st division affair 38 years ago.

Middlesbrough currently sit 5th on the Championship table with 15 points from 8 matches.  They are lead by former Real Madrid and Tottenham defender, Jonathan Woodgate, though he is injured once again and will miss the match tomorrow.  Their leading goal scorer so far this season is former Sunderland midfielder, Grant Leadbitter, who has six, while 24-year-old striker, Kike, signed from Real Murcia during the summer transfer window, is second with four.

They also feature former Liverpool centre back, Danny Ayala, who signed from Norwich City last January after completing an emergency loan spell at the Boro.  Ayala only played five matches for LFC and after spending loan spells at Hull and Derby, was sold to Norwich in the summer of 2011. Middlesbrough are managed by Spaniard Aitor Karanka, who oddly enough was on three Champions League winning sides at Real Madrid, though never a major contributor. The useless fact of the day is no player on the current Middlesbrough roster has ever scored against Liverpool, hopefully that trend continues.

There's a good chance that Brad Jones will get the start over Mignolet, who clearly needs a rest.  We actually signed the Aussie keeper from Middlesbrough in August 2010 for £2.3m.  He has never faced his former club and has a 1-1-1 record for Liverpool in League Cup matches, including a 3-1 loss at Anfield in 2012 to Swansea.  The starting line-up for that match was Jones, Coates, Carragher, Jack Robinson, Joe Cole, Assaidi, Henderson, Downing, Allen, Shelvey, and Samed Yesil.  With Henderson and Allen seemingly unavailable for the match due to injury, Jones is the only player from that side who could be chosen.

As for the potential line-up, I am pretty confident that among available players, Gerrard, Balotelli, Lovren, Moreno, Sterling, and probably Skrtel will be sat.  I wouldn't be surprised to see any of those save Gerrard and Lovren on the bench though.  I'm hoping Rodgers tinkers, especially with the lunch time match versus Everton on Saturday.  Would love to see a line-up of Jones, Enrique, Sakho, Toure, Johnson (Manquillo if not injured), Lucas, Rossiter, Markovic, Suso, Lallana, and Lambert.  Maybe Rodgers will go a little bonkers and include some of the teenagers like Sinclair and Ojo, Stewart is a good possibility for the bench as well.

Does this match really matter?  Though I'd hate to lose to Boro at home, with how thin our squad is at the moment, another fixture is more trouble than it's worth.  If only we could sell the fixture to United since they clearly need more matches.  I just want to see an entertaining match with free flowing football and no thuggery.

Loic Remy for £8m & Borini for £14m. The apocalypse is upon us.

We have apparently sealed the deal to gain a striker with an amazing goals on pitch difference and let go of one who does not.  I've written about what Loic Remy did for Newcastle last season, when he was on the pitch, they were a much better side.  In fact, had he played all 38 matches for the Magpies, they could have possibly finished with 66 points and ahead of Man United.  Instead, they finished 10th with just 49.

How we got him for £6m less than we sold Borini is beyond me.  Borini does not have the pace to be a star in the Prem.  Sunderland may be the perfect fit for him as their 'grind it out' style better suits his game.  I understand he is still 'young' by many standards, but even at 23, he's had his chance to prove he can be of value to a 'big' club like Liverpool.  If he was smart, he'd go back to Italy, where 'technique' is favored over pace.  That's called sarcasm, Serie A is far from technically superior to the Prem and uses that excuse to make up for it's home grown snail's pace.

If the rumours are true and we've added Remy, that makes three solid adds and one which, at best, will go done as 'meh'.  If Lambert will just let the game come to him like he did at Southampton, he'll be a great contribution, but if he tries to force things, he won't see the pitch much and will be gone after this season. He's not the one I'm referring to as 'meh' though, if Loic Remy is worth only £8m, Lallana should have come on a free.  Speaking of additions, Can was apparently injured today in our 2-1 win over Preston North End, I really hope he it's just a niggling and he'll be okay, we need him to compete for minutes pronto.

Speaking of that match, Jordon Ibe was apparently quite impressive.  I didn't get to watch it due to other obligations, but I did get to see some of the highlights.  This first video shows Ibe finding Suso right outside the box, then the Spaniard does his magic with a fine curler.  The second video shows Ibe hooking up Kristoph Peterson for his second goal of the pre-season.  Will Rodgers take the latter on the tour of the US now?  It looks like he'll have an open spot now that Borini is gone.

Suso is admirable, but is he capable?

When Suso came into the first team in 2012, he impressed with his passing and his constant push to go forward with the ball.  He brought a sense of excitement and the feeling that something good was about to happen every time he touched the ball.  In reality though, very little of that 'vivacity' was productive.  In 14 appearances and 601 minutes, he failed to contribute either a goal or assist, and his minutes started to diminish.

Last summer he requested a loan, so he could garner more playing time and ended up at Almeria in La Liga. Here are his stats from that campaign:

npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv	tccv
0.12	0.4	1.31	0.28	21.2	9.2
pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90	tTTI90
72.2	37.4	32.8	4.7	12.4	14.2
crp90	cr%	lbp90	lb%	tbp90	tb%
1.04	20.2	2.31	67.4	0.08	33.3
gap90	gsp90	gop90	tgop	gopd
1.83	1.2	-0.63	-0.74	0.09

His poor passing is very surprising and though he did play for a 17th place, near-relegated club, he was still below the team average of 73.6%.  In 2012-13, his passing success percentage for Liverpool in all campaigns was 84.9%, so I'm not sure what happened there.  Maybe his style of play just doesn't translate well in Spain or maybe he was trying to force play too much, his back pass percentage for LFC that season was 50.5%, significantly higher than his 37.4% in La Liga.  The other negative is his 12.4 TTI90, though it was better than his teammate average of 14.2.

There are positives though.  His chance created value of 21.2% is good in itself, but decidedly better than his club average of 9.2%.  The aforementioned back pass percentage, long balls per 90, long ball success percentage, and goals on pitch difference are all promising.  In fact, for such a poor side, it's good to see that he made some difference even if it's only +3.42 goals a season.

Suso is now back and wants to fight for a spot.  I'm all for it as long as he captures his passing form from the season before.  It would be great to have another option at attacking midfielder without having to spend any of that Suarez war chest. 

The transfer terrorists and their sneaky, little dirty bombs

If you are like me, you are already tired of all the speculations and half-fabrications pertaining to potential transfers involving our beloved club.  The silly season is upon us and since my two pence is worth at least one-fiftieth quid, I figure I'll have a go at deciphering through this radioactive mess.  I don't claim to have an advantage of who we may bring in, but I can at least give my thoughts on who is 'surplus to the cause'.

Lucas Leiva
I'm really on the fence about Lucas.  As much as I think we should keep him, part of me thinks the Lucas of three seasons ago is gone and he shan't return.  His injuries have become too frequent and though his passing and ball-handling skills have improved, he appears slower than ever and that's saying a lot considering pace was never one of his strengths.  At least now, with the addition of Can, we won't have to rely on him as much.

Daniel Agger
Absolutely not, losing Agger would be a greater loss than losing Suarez.  He was our best centre back last year and unless Sakho proves his worth early on next season, Agger should be around for a few more years.

Iago Aspas
Here's an interesting stat concerning Aspas... oh wait, there are no interesting stats concerning him.  Give'em a ticket and say bon voyage.

Fabio Borini
Even without the addition of Rickie Lambert, Borini should be shipped out.  In 2692 Premiership minutes, playing for Sunderland, Liverpool, and Chelsea, he has scored 8 goals, 3 of which are penalties, and assisted on 3 more.  For a comparison, he scored 9 goals in 1680 minutes for Roma in Serie A.  He doesn't have the pace nor the technical ability to make up for the lack of pace to make it in the Prem.  I say sell him to Sunderland or use him as bait to get a versatile defender like Federico Fazio.

Ousama Assaidi
Assaidi had a decent spell at Stoke last season, but not enough to really consider keeping him.  His ccp90 of 1.53, shooting accuracy of 45%, shot % of 20%, and a TTI90 of 8.6 are all respectable numbers, but he'll be 26 in August.  If he was 23, I'd say keep him around for another season, but it's time to cut ties and try to get back at least some of what we paid for him.

Jack Robinson
Robinson's loan spell at Blackpool probably did more for his character development than it did for his skills. Blackpool started the season in decent form, sitting on 31 points 17 matches into the season, than the ship ran aground.  They lost 20 of their remaining 29 matches, even bringing in Barry Ferguson as the manager did little to help their slide.  Was Robinson integral to their fall? Not really.  Despite picking up 3 red cards, 2 of which were in their first 17 matches, Robinson's output was respectable:

npgp90	0	pass%	71.7	gap90	1.44	intp90	2.27
gcp90	0.1	bp%	37.3	gsp90	0.83	clrp90	5.3
ccp90	0.77	sacc%	8.3	gop90	-0.61	bsp90	0.35
ap90	0.1	shot%	0	tgop90	-0.61	adwp90	1.4
ccv	12.5	TTI90	11.7	tp90	1.95	adwon%	57.1
				tack %	51.3

Ferguson even deployed Robinson at left mid for 4 matches with mixed results.  Being only 20, I expect him to be loaned out again and hopefully show more promise than last season.

As for Suso, Wisdom, Kelly, Coady, Yesil, and Ibe, unless they vehemently demand to leave, we should hold on to them.  The first three can contribute now, while the latter three probably need seasoning at a Championship side to improve their game.