The Liver Bird  

Liverpool faced Stoke at Anfield on Saturday and eventually after a diving header from Glen Johnson managed to collect their first win in the Premier League in five matches. After a dismal first half display the Reds came to life in the second however their lack of a prolific strike force was becoming evident. It took a defender to net the winner in a scrappy game for Brendan Rodgers' side.

The first half to be honest could barely be described as a football match. You know you've had a dodgy first half when match of the day have to show a shot deflecting off a defender as a "highlight". And so, without much to discuss we may as well go on to the second half.

The first real chance of this half saw Henderson send an effort wide. Liverpool after looking lacking in ideas in the first half were suddenly creating a lot more movement. A second half substitution for Stoke saw Charlie Adam enter play replacing Glenn Whelan. This change appeared to aid Liverpool nicely as the…

The Reds make the very long trip down South on Saturday where they will face Championship side Bournemouth in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The Reds have had some time to recover from their difficult score draw with Villa last weekend and Brendan Rodgers will be hoping he can steer his side into the next round of this historic competition.

Injuries for Liverpool leave us lacking in an already rather shaky defence. Glen Johnson joins Enrique, Agger and Sakho (knock) on the list and so it is likely we may see Jon Flanagan or Martin Kelly on Saturday. Also out for Liverpool is Lucas Leiva but thankfully his injury is not as bad as once thought. Bournemouth are in a relatively strong position injury wise and they will also be allowed to start Lee Camp in goal who could not feature in their last FA Cup game against Burton Albion.

Bournemouth's last three fixtures in the league have seen them record two draws and a loss at the hands of Wigan. Their goal difference also doesn't ma…

Well, that's another international break out of the way and England's progress to Rio was of course sealed by none other than Steven Gerrard but our captain has more important things to worry about now as he looks to net his 100th league goal in Liverpool's trip to Newcastle this weekend.
The one advantage of the international break for Brendan Rodgers has been that enough time has passed for three of his injured players to make a possible return. Glen Johnson, Aly Cissokho and Joe Allen are all fit according to the boss and Lucas Leiva is also back from a ban. Still out for Liverpool though are Coutinho and Coates, Iago Aspas is also suspected to be unavailable after picking up a knock.

For Newcastle they are without their captain Fabricio Coloccini who is out with a muscle problem. They are also missing Steven Taylor and Gutierrez, the latter of whom will miss the game due to a personal situation.

The last time the two sides met was near the end of last season. The game …

It was a match Liverpool fans will want to forget on Saturday afternoon as the Reds fell to a Southampton side that very much deserved their 1-0 win. Brendan Rodgers bizarrely made the decision to start four centre backs but despite this Liverpool still managed to concede from a set piece. It was a poor performance all round from Liverpool and many disagreed with the starting line up.

Interestingly the last team to beat Liverpool before they went on their run was the Saints and Pochettino certainly set his side up to apply real pressure on the Reds. Southampton worked very well as a unit and on too many occasions were allowed through in to dangerous positions by Liverpool.

Liverpool looked very uninspired from the off and had a very disappointing first half performance. Without the likes of Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique it was clear the Reds had drastically decreased their supply line. There's often many a fan on line who will criticise the likes of Johnson and Enrique to the hilt…

Liverpool collected all three points at Upton Park on Sunday but it was close to being a different story for the Reds when they lost their lead in the first half. On the score sheet for Liverpool were Glen Johnson and Joe Cole, Shelvey almost got the last touch for the third goal too, making it a very Southern affair.

With no Luis Suarez, Brendan Rodgers did make the decision to start Jonjo Shelvey up front with Sterling and Downing supporting him. It's obviously not a natural role for Jonjo but he played in the number 9 position in the Europa League and actually did quite well.

The game started encouragingly for Liverpool who burst out the blocks intent on attack. West Ham had picked up some good results of late and we certainly couldn't afford to take them lightly. The first real chance of the game fell to Diame but it was a comfortable stop for Reina.

Glen Johnson was very lively to start with and he was beating winger Matt Jarvis with ease enabling him to either head for …

Liverpool are in London on Sunday to face Di Matteo's Chelsea and if the Reds want to walk away with all three points then they are going to have to hope Suarez is on form or somebody else fancies a pop at goal. Liverpool too many times this season have taken control of a game but then failed to score.

Injury wise Liverpool are actually in a pretty strong position, discounting the long term ones there aren't any real absences and it looks like Glen Johnson and Pepe Reina will be fit to start for Sunday's clash. Chelsea on the other hand are missing Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, John Terry will likely feature though after serving his 4 match ban.

Chelsea have had a brilliant start to their league season and look as though they could be challenging for the title come May but they have taken some knocks especially recently after a draw with Swansea and a loss at the hands of Manchester United.

Liverpool's last two league games have resulted in draws and the Reds hit a s…

It was of complete contrast to the game out in Belarus as Liverpool easily put 3 goals past Gomel and sealed their place in a play off against Hearts. It's a nice draw for the Reds and will also provide a good atmosphere as fans make the short hop to Scotland. The second leg at Anfield is always a nice addition too.

Rodgers started a very strong side considering that he could have easily fielded a below par one. Pepe Reina was back in goal which was great to see and Lucas started in the centre. Borini and Suarez both started and Gerrard was freed up immensely due to Lucas and Shelvey in the middle of the park.

Liverpool got off to a very lively start as they looked to impress a near capacity Anfield crowd. Also in that crowd was Swansea's Joe Allen, it certainly looks like he'll be the next man revealed in a Liverpool shirt.

The first goal for the Reds came just after the 20 minute mark and who was the scorer? The man himself Fabio Borini. I know I wasn't the only one…

With the Euros starting on Friday, kicking off with host nation Poland facing Greece I thought it would be nice to do a round up of the Liverpool players at the England camp in Poland. Injuries to some of the England players meant that the original 4 Liverpool squad members was increased to 6 by Roy Hodgson.

Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard is England's captain for Euro 2012 as chosen by Roy Hodgson. As Liverpool's long standing captain we all know he has a real presence over 90 minutes and can encourage or spark a performance out of most players.

More so than ever though Steven Gerrard is left in a tough position because Hodgson's side this year is one of change and of youth. There's some experience next to Gerrard in Scott Parker but many of the midfielders and forwards are lacking in England caps.

Gerrard is of course more effective in a more attacking role but in this particular England set up and in Roy's plans he will have to settle for a more defensive one. The…

Wembley was a sea of dancing red shirts on Sunday night as Liverpool lifted their 8th League Cup after extra time and penalties with Cardiff City. The Welsh side were a formidable opposition but it was Liverpool who remained the most composed during penalties despite misses from Steven Gerrard and Charlie Adam.

Kenny Dalglish made sure he put his signings on show in an eleven including Suarez, Carroll and Downing. Cardiff saw the return of their first goalkeeper and fielded their big man Gestede up front.

After a day and a half of desperately trying to convince my mate to take us up to Liverpool to watch the match he eventually agreed and I'm so glad he did! We tried to get in to Cafe Sports England but it was fully booked, the doorman recommended a bar called "Rubber Soul" in Mathew Street, we went in but weren't too convinced. It seemed lively but was pretty small and so we went on the hunt for Walkabout.

Eventually we found it and the big screen was massive! So i…

This match was always going to be focused on the saga between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra and unfortunately things didn't get off to a very good start in a game which saw Liverpool lose 2-1.

Luis Suarez decided not to shake Patrice Evra's hand to which Evra reacted physically to by attempting to pull Suarez's hand away from De Gea's. For me, it wasn't a surprise but i did hope Suarez would at least offer his hand however he didn't and if you don't get on with somebody, shaking hands isn't always the most ideal thing to do, especially when you think the person is a liar.

Suarez though does not make things easy for himself and i feel if he'd of just shaken Evra's hand then the dust may have settled. I see both sides of the fence and the possibility that Suarez may have felt he was showing guilt if he did shake Evra's hand but i still think he should have went for it. The fans who have read that 115 page FA report, (the one which so many have…

Liverpool took all three points away with them from Stamford Bridge on Sunday as the Reds put two past the home side. A brilliant work up to Maxi Rodriguez's first was followed by a Glen Johnson winner in the 86th minute. Despite Chelsea beating Reina at the hands of Daniel Sturridge, they couldn't quite keep their heads for the whole 90 minutes.
Dalglish changed the line up and it saw a first start given to Maxi Rodriguez. Suarez started with Craig Bellamy as his partner, there was no Stewart Downing and still no Jamie Carragher. Chelsea decided not to start ex Reds Torres and Meireles and Villas Boas chose Drogba to lead his attack.
The first half was easily the better half for Liverpool, they had control of the game and although Chelsea had their chances it was the away side that looked the more likely to change the scoreline.
Maxi Rodriguez was causing problems all over the pitch for a slow starting Chelsea side. The Argentinian hasn't started for Liverpool in the lea…

Liverpool travel to Stoke tomorrow for their first match after the annoying international break. Before the internationals got in the way Liverpool were playing some good football and will be looking to continue their form after that successful 3-1 victory over Bolton.

Stoke are also making a great start to their Premier League campaign, yet to lose a game this season so far.

The Britannia is a difficult place to go for any club and by no means is this any different for Liverpool. The last time we won there was in 2000. Ok, we put 8 goals past them... but they've come a long way to building up their fortress since then.

Record signing for Stoke Peter Crouch will be catching the attention of many Liverpool players and fans tomorrow as he looks to get his Stoke career up and running. The strikers presence in the box is often a hard threat to deal with but hopefully the likes of Jamie Carragher and Co will be familiar with what's to come.

For Liverpool, new signing Coates may ge…

After the somewhat disappointing draw with Sunderland last week, Liverpool tomorrow will be looking to change their fortunes in this surely exciting clash with Arsenal.

The last three matches at the Emirates for Liverpool haven't been excellent. A draw and two loses only fuel the fire for Dalglish and the boys looking for all three points. Games against Arsenal tend to bring out the best in the Reds though it's just some times we appear to start with too much punch and are then unable to see out the result.

For Saturday's clash Liverpool will be without captain Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson is still a doubt. Arsenal are without new signing Gervinho who starts his three match ban along with Alex Song. Gibbs is also unavailable for manager Arsene Wenger and doubtful are Rosicky, Djourou and Traore.

Tensions in the Arsenal fan base appear to be rising of late, after Cesc Fabregas finally made his lucrative move to Barcelona, there seems to be a system in the Arsenal ranks o…

Maxi! Maxi Rodriguez runs down the wing for me...
The 3-0 victory over Newcastle United at Anfield was completed in sleek, calm and effortless style. The unity Dalglish has brought to the club is highly visible on the pitch and with three separate goalscorers, it's no wonder people are starting to look at Liverpool in a different light.

Carroll started from the bench after all the "will he, won't he?" before kick off and so it was down to the rest of the lads to upset the Magpies. Johnson was called back into defence and Argentinian Maxi Rodriguez was once again chosen to start after a superb display against Birmingham.

It took the Reds just ten minutes to start the scoring and it was none other than Maxi himself. A great cross into the box from Flanagan caused problems immediately for Newcastle's defence, a failed clearance saw the ball splay out to an awaiting Maxi who in great style took it first time and sent the volley into the back of the net.

For Newcastle …

Gutting to see Kelly pull up, wish him a speedy recovery...
An inspired performance from West Ham saw Liverpool fall to a rather embarrassing defeat yesterday as the Hammers put three past Pepe Reina whilst the Reds could only muster one return goal. No arguments i feel, we just have to own up to the fact that West Ham were the better team.

A side consisting of Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Martin Kelly and Danny Wilson (two of which were injury doubts) meant that Liverpool had some fresh legs and a strong eleven on display.

An early effort for Liverpool got us off on the right foot after Raul Meireles got himself into a decent position heading into the Hammers area. A headed attempt which needed a lot of effort just to reach in the first place was sent just wide.

This early positive wasn't going to set the theme for Liverpool though as West Ham quickly began to gain a hold.

I mentioned in my match preview that in order for West Ham to be successful their star man Parker would need …

Kyrgiakos finally gets on the field after Carragher with a dislocated shoulder still manages to yell some instructions to his defensive partner...
It wasn't just the wind that was bitter at White Hart Lane yesterday evening, it was the feelings of the travelling Liverpool fans too after a gutting end to an otherwise entertaining hour and a half of football.
Realistically before kick off not many fans or neutrals thought Liverpool were in with a chance here. A few thought the Reds would manage to get themselves a draw but nobody saw a win on the cards.
Annoyingly for Liverpool it appeared on a few occasions that we were going to prove everybody wrong, but luck hasn't necessarily been a partner in our league campaign and Tottenham eventually rose towards the end with a kick in the teeth for a hard working Liverpool side.
Spurs had early problems when Van Der Vaart who was believed to have been "50/50" pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury. Perhaps the risk fr…