Melwood Today: Shelvey’s Hat-trick and The NextGen Series

November 3, 2011
Mark Broomy

Well it’s all action round Liverpool way on this freezing cold Thursday morning as we bring you news of Jonjo Shelvey’s hat-trick for Blackpool yesterday evening, its great news in our NextGen Series, 3 Liverpool youngsters make the England U21 Squad for the upcoming friendlies, we take a look at the latest Tottenham player to be linked with a move to Liverpool and we reveal our ThisIsAnfield.com October Player of the Month!

A Hat-Trick for Jonjo Shelvey

Jonjo Shelvey continued his impressive form yesterday evening when he scored a spectacular hat-trick as Blackpool thrashed Leeds United 5-0 to close in on the Championship playoff places. The midfielder, on loan from Liverpool has now scored five goals and has one assist in six League games for Blackpool.

You can view the goals and the action HERE

The NextGen Series

Meanwhile, it’s good news for Rodolfo Borrell’s youngsters in their NextGen Series. Yesterday evening Wolfsburg were held to a 3-3 draw by Molde at the Stadion am Elserweg.. Molde made a dramatic comeback to score in the 88th minute and the 93rd minute to return from 3-1 down against Wolfsburg.

Ultimately, this means that Wolfsburg have now finished the Group 2 table with 6 points, one point behind Liverpool who currently occupy the second qualification spot.

Liverpool’s final game in the group takes them to Portugal to take on leaders Sporting knowing a draw or a victory would guarantee their place in the knockout stage. Molde also have to play Sporting Lisbon on November 12 knowing they must win to have any chance of making it through to the knockout stages

Swans Agustien, Caulker and Dobbie out for Saturday

Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed Kemy Agustien, Steven Caulker and Stephen Dobbie will miss Saturday’s trip to Anfield. Caulker is still recovering from knee surgery while Agustien is still out after suffering a hamstring tear back in September. Stephen Dobbie is also still recovering from an ankle injury sustained during their loss at Norwich.

Flanagan, Henderson and Kelly make England U21 Squad

Meanwhile, Stuart Pearce announced his 25-man squad yesterday afternoon for England under-21s upcoming double header against Iceland on November 10 and Belgium on November 14. Liverpool trio Jon Flanagan, Jordan Henderson and Martin Kelly have all been included in the 25 man squad, however, Jonjo Shelvey’s impressive form for Blackpool has only seen him named on a standby list….

England Squad

Goalkeepers : Ben Amos (Manchester United), Jack Butland (Cheltenham Town – loan from Birmingham City), Jason Steele (Middlesbrough)

Defenders : Nathan Baker (Aston Villa), Ryan Bennett (Peterborough United), Matthew Briggs (Fulham), Nathaniel Clyne (Crystal Palace), Craig Dawson (West Bromwich Albion), Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), Martin Kelly (Liverpool), Adam Smith (MK Dons – loan from Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders : Ross Barkley (Everton), Jacob Butterfield (Barnsley), Tom Carroll (Tottenham Hotspur), Gary Gardner (Aston Villa), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jason Lowe (Blackburn Rovers), Josh McEachran (Chelsea), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Jack Rodwell (Everton)

Forwards : Nathan Delfouneso (Aston Villa), Alex Nimely (Middlesbrough – loan from Manchester City), Marvin Sordell (Watford), Connor Wickham (Sunderland)

Standby List : Joe Bennett (Middlesbrough), Declan Rudd (Norwich City), Jonjo Shelvey (Blackpool – loan from Liverpool), Andros Townsend (Tottenham Hotspur), Dan Gosling (Newcastle United)

Tom Huddlestone Linked to Liverpool!

In Today’s Merseyside Rumour Mill, the Mirror have reported Liverpool are keeping tabs on Tottenham’s midfielder Tom Huddlestone. Huddlestone joined Tottenham from Derby back in 2005 when Liverpool’s director of football Damien Comolli was at Tottenham. The 24-year-old has been out of action since August after an operation on his ankle and is expected to be out until December.

Luis Suarez – October Player of the Month

We began the poll in Monday’s Melwood-Today article and after 1,747 votes we can now reveal that Luis Suarez has been voted the ThisIsAnfield.com player of the Month for October.

The Uruguayan convincingly scopped the accoloade after tallying a massive 68%(1,191) of readers votes. Jose Enrique was runner up with 17% while Lucas narrowly just beat Andy Carroll to third spot with 3% of the votes.

Luis Suarez has had a scintillating October with his flicks, tricks, touch, assists, his 3 goals, passion and man of the match performances during the month, scoring in the Merseyside derby and then a brace at the Brittania to guarantee our place in the quarter final of the League Cup.

You can view our Top 5 October Performers in the table below as chosen by you…

Top 5 Performers – October 2011

In other Premier League News….

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp underwent a successful minor heart surgery yesterday to unblock coronary arteries.
Manchester City’s boss Roberto Mancini confirmed that Carlos Tevez can return to the team if he apologises for the actions that led the club to suspend him.
Sunderland’s goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has fractured an eye socket and faces a longer spell on the sidelines than first expected.
Man City and Man United both recorded back-to-back victories last night in the Champions League with wins over Villarreal and Otelul Galati.
Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is facing up to six weeks on the sidelines after breaking his collarbone during last night’s UEFA Champions League win over Napoli.