Melwood Today: Kelly scores for England U21’s, Carragher & Sterling

Friday morning’s ‘Melwood Today’ brings us news of…

  • James Murdoch’s Hillsborough apology
  • Martin Kelly’s Goal for the England U21s
  • Four Liverpool youngsters star in England U19s 1-0 win over Denmark U19s
  • Jamie Carragher is poised for Chelsea game return

James Murdoch makes Hillsborough apology

Thursday afternoon saw James Murdoch, News International chairman, offer a ‘full apology’ for the Sun’s coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy. Murdoch, son of Rupert, was responding to a question by Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotherham during evidence to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

Read the full report over on The Liverpool Daily Post here.


Martin Kelly scores for the England U21’s

Thursday evening saw Martin Kelly and Jordan Henderson help England U21’s maintain their 100% start to their European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Iceland in Colchester.

Henderson captained the U21s and was involved in England’s opening goal in the 39th minute when Watford‘s Marvin Sordell was on the end of the Reds midfielder’s cross, stabbing his volley back from the direction it came into the corner of the net.

Just before the hour mark, Martin Kelly struck to make it two with another excellent finish. Although playing in the heart of the England defence, Kelly caught Iceland’s former Liverpool Reserve team player Victor Pálsson napping in midfield before bundling through two challenges and charging into the box to hit a fine finish beyond Petursson..

It remained 2-0 until the closing stages before West Brom’s centre-back Craig Dawson and a late brace from Aston Villa’s Gary Gardner sealed the win. England’s U21s have now opened up a five-point lead over nearest rivals Norway in their quest to qualify for the 2013 European Championship.

Martin Kelly’s Goal on Youtube…

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 England U19’s 1 – 0 Denmark U19’s – Flanagan, Coady, Wisdom and Morgan

Meanwhile Jon Flanagan, Conor Coady, Andre Wisdom and Adam Morgan were in action for England U19s last night helping the U19’s register a hard fought 1-0 victory over Denmark at Brighton’s new Amex Stadium on Thursday evening. West Ham’s Rob Hall scored a late winner to send Englands U19 into next year’s European U19 Championship Elite Qualifying Round in high confidence, the draw for which takes place later this month.


Carragher Poised for Chelsea Return

reinaMeanwhile, the good news coming from Melwood is that Jamie Carragher expects to return to full training next week as he steps up his recovery from a calf injury which saw him miss Liverpool’s last two matches after picking up a knock in the Carling Cup victory at Stoke City a fortnight ago..

Carragher now hopes to be fit for Liverpool’s next game, the trip to Stamford Bridge on November 20th.

Provided Carragher is fit to play against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Skrtel and Agger make it through the International break without any injury concerns, who would be your preferred center back partnership for our upcoming game against Chelsea? Vote in our online poll below…

[poll id=”113″]


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Starlet of the season so far…

Last Monday in our Online Poll we asked you to cast your vote for which Reserve Team player has stood out for you so far this season in our Barclays Premier Reserve League Northern Group games and our NextGen games…

Here’s the results… Raheem Sterling scopped the accolade after tallying a massive 43% of the votes. Adam Morgan was runner up with 23% of the votes, while Suso was third with 14%. Fourth place came Conor Coady with 9% of the votes while Krisztian Adorjan was next with 2% of the votes.

On Thursday evening, we interviewed ThisIsAnfield Forum Members Michael Sweeting and Nikola13 to get their views on Raheem Sterling, Adam Morgan and also Krisztian Adorjan…

Nikola, Raheem Sterling has just been voted our best Reserve Team Player so far this season  in our Barclays Premier Reserve League Northern Group games and our NextGen games, do you agree with our ‘Melwood Today’ online readers?

“Absolutely, Raheem Sterling is without any doubt the brightest talent Liverpool have in their Reserve team. He is their star performer and quite rightly so – countless goals and assists for U18’s and Reserves since he made his switch from QPR are a testament to that. He’s got everything in his locker – blistering pace that can take him behind his fullback, exquisite first touch, balance that helps him stays on his feet in crucial moments of his slaloms through defences, a repertoire of tricks and fantastic shooting technique (his goal against Rwanda at U17 World Cup serves as a good example of that).

Moreover, it seems that his early rise to fame still hasn’t got to his head – after all, he is the youngest member of Liverpool’s already young Reserve team – prompting him to work even harder to achieve his dream of becoming a proper football legend. It’s too early to tell if his career will be described by the word that is his surname but eyes of virtually every Liverpool and England fan will be firmly directed towards him in the next few years.”

Nikola, you have also been a big fan of Kriztian Adorjan…

Krizstian Adorjan is one player who went under everyone’s radar since he moved from Hungarian club MTK. “Quiet” is the right word to describe him but not because he goes missing on the pitch – it’s because he’s a character who doesn’t get plaudits for what he does, yet he does it game in, game out.

He was impressive last season for Liverpool’s U18’s – notching up fantastic 19 assists and 8 goals in the process, becoming touted as Alberto Aquilani’s heir apparent because of his constant movement, forward thinking and beautiful talent that enabled him to execute perfectly timed through balls and occasional outstanding pieces of skill to instill fear into defenders facing him.

This season saw him participate in NextGen competition mostly as substitute but with almost instant effect whenever he came off the bench. He’s now a prominent member of Hungary’s U19 team, becoming their key performer (he scored two goals and set up one in their last three games at UEFA U19 Championship) and slowly building his way towards the senior categories.

Michael, you have been following the Reserves very closely this season also, who has been your stand out player for the Reserves so far this season?

Well I’ve voted for Adam Morgan… Coming from the under 18s to the Reserve team set up is step too far for some players. Lauri Dalla Valle, a prolific striker at youth level, looked well out of his depth when he made the move for example. However, Adam has simply continued his progress seamlessly.

He has a way of playing which he is comfortable with and operates excellently within. He isn’t the most talented player in the squad – they are titles more often associated with Sterling/Suso/Adorjan but Morgan’s movement and off the ball runs are a constant threat which has seen the 17 year old not only cope but succeed at reserve level. If he keeps this form up for the full year and perhaps goes on loan and succeeds then perhaps Morgan has a chance.

 


Friday’s International Fixtures

reinaSo the dreaded internationals are here again… Well all eye’s will be on Saturdays England and Spain encounter at Wembley, a match that will be particularly “special” for the Premier League‘s Spanish contingent according to Pepe Reina…

But before tomorrow’s encounter, the 1st leg of the European Championship Qualifying Play off’s will be played later today… Here’s a full list of International fixtures to keep an eye out for later today…

Friday’s European Championship Qualifying
Bosnia-Hercegovina v Portugal, Qual, L1, 19:00
Turkey v Croatia, Qual, L1, 19:05
Czech Republic v Montenegro, Qual, L1, 19:15
Estonia v Rep of Ireland, Qual, L1, 19:45

Friday’s International Friendly Fixtures
Georgia v Moldova, 14:00
Albania v Azerbaijan, 17:00
Greece v Russia, 17:00
Hungary v Liechtenstein, 17:00
Cyprus v Scotland, 18:00
Denmark v Sweden, 19:15
Netherlands v Switzerland, 19:30
Belgium v Romania, 19:45
Poland v Italy, 19:45
Ukraine v Germany, 19:45
France v USA, 20:00


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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