Wednesday morning brings mixed news for Steven Gerrard while Carroll hails his strike partnership with Luis Suarez. Down at Kirkby, Michael Sweeting reviews Liverpool Reserve’s 3-1 victory over Bolton’s Reserve team while former Liverpool manager Roy Evans explains what would make a Successful Season on Merseyside…
Gerrard – The Bad News and the Good news…
The Bad News – Tuesday saw mixed news for Steven Gerrard as it was finally confirmed yesterday afternoon that he has undergone treatment to clear out all infection from his right ankle meaning he will miss Saturday’s visit of Swansea. Gerrard will also miss England’s two friendlies against Spain and Sweden. The infection was initially caused by an apparently innocuous cut during training last week, however, the club have not specified when they hope Gerrard will be back in training…
A club statement said: “Steven will now continue his rehabilitation under the guidance of the club’s medical staff.”
This means Gerrard could face a race against time to be fit for Liverpool’s vital Premier League games against Chelsea on November 20 while Premier League leaders Manchester City visit Anfield on November 27.
The Good News – Meanwhile, last night Steven Gerrard and his wife Alex announced the birth of their third daughter, Lourdes. The little girl was born at 4pm on Tuesday!
Carroll : “I couldn’t name a better player in the Premier League than Luis”
October has seen both Suarez and Andy Carroll in great form with Suarez registering 3 goals while Carroll scored his first goal of the season at Goodison Park which was quickly followed with another goal at West Brom last weekend… Yesterday, speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Carroll spoke of his developing partnership with Suárez….
“Luis is a great player who works so hard for the team and it’s nice to have him up top with me. Luis drops off, gets the ball into his feet, can dribble with it and slip people in. I couldn’t name a better player in the Premier League than Luis.
He’s fantastic to have in the squad. He makes chances and scores goals himself, so he’s a great all-round player and he showed that again. Luis makes it easy playing alongside him. I think we played well together and hopefully that will carry on.”
Liverpool Reserves 3 – 1 Bolton Reserves
On what was a sunny mild afternoon in Kirkby yesterday (Tuesday), Rodolfo Borrell Reserve team secured a second consecutive win beating Bolton’s Reserves 3-1.
ThisIsAnfield’s Forum Member Michael Sweeting wrote a quick match review over on the forums yesterday evening following the game…
Hard fought, but eventually a comfortable win for Liverpool. A lively first half should have produced a goal on three minutes when Adam Morgan slipped Raheem Sterling in to tap home but for the second time in a week the linesman wrongly flagged for offside. Even so there were plenty of chances in an open game though Bolton possibly edged the half as the Reds looked a bit lethargic.
Second half however, Liverpool were a lot more fluid and got the early breakthrough as Suso’s freekick deflected off the Bolton wall and into the far corner. Twelve minutes later Michael Ngoo found Morgan’s brilliant run and the prolific striker had lots of time to show the ‘keeper the wrong corner and slip Liverpool into a two goal lead.
Liverpool’s scoring was rounded off as Morgan dropped deep into midfield and played a sublime through ball for Sterling who took two attempts to finally stab the ball past the Bolton goalkeeper. The Reds then dropped their level a bit and allowed Michael O’Halloran a free run into the penalty area to pull a consolation goal back for the visitors.
Late on, Sterling went through on goal and had his legs taken out from underneath him but the referee – who had a bad day – decided not to give the foul. A good win for Rodolfo Borell’s young side.
Man of the Match: Adam Morgan (Fantastic movement all day, a constant pain and a brilliant pass for the Sterling goal.)..
Liverpool Reserves : Hansen, Flanagan, Smith, Wisdom, Wilson, Coady, Ngoo, Roberts, Morgan, Suso (Roddan 85), Sterling. Unused subs: Belford, Mendy, McGiveron, Dunn.
Sterling and Flanagan to Bolton on Loan?
Today see’s the transfer rumour mill back in action again… This time it’s Bolton’s boss Owen Coyle who is reportedly showing interest in making a double loan swoop for 18 year Jon Flanagan and also 16 year year old winger Raheem Sterling when the January transfer window reopens in January.
Coyle is reportedly looking to strengthen his squad having just recorded 2 victories so far this season which has seen them just one point off the bottom of the Premier League
Evans : What would make a Successful Season
Former Liverpool boss, Roy Evans, speaking to Talksport, believes securing a top four spot would represent a successful season on Merseyside…
“I don’t think Liverpool can win the [Premier League] title this year. The first criteria over the last couple of years has become getting a Champions League place, that’s the same for all the clubs. If they can get in the top four then that would be a great achievement, they’ve got a lot of competition for those places though.”
Victor Valdes sets new Barcelona Club Record
Meanwhile in other footballing news, Barcelona’s goalkeeper Victor Valdes set a new Barcelona club record last night for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal when he managed 787 minutes without conceding. An interesting fact is the record had been previously held by Miguel Reina, Pepe Reina’s father, but after Barca’s Champions League win against Viktoria Plzen last night, Valdes overtook the former Spain international.
Melwood Today – Your quick round up of some of Liverpool’s essential and not-so-essential news every morning on ThisIsAnfield.com …
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