Posts Tagged ‘Balotelli’
Liverpool would have to battle fellow Premier League club Arsenal and Spanish giant Barcelona for the signature of Marco Reus.
The 27-year old has suffered a spate of injuries over recent seasons. His employers Borussia Dortmund are willing to listen to offers from £67 million, according to reports.
Spanish source MundoDeportivo claims Barca want the talented playmaker to join them this summer. They would have to fend off interests from three English clubs for him though. Transfer Market Web says Manchester City are also in the mix for the German.
Borussia Dortmund have reportedly removed the previous £21 million release clause in the player’s contract in 2015 so they would earn big if clubs want to sign him now.
Liverpool’s manager Jurgen Klopp worked with the player while he was at Borussia. Read More
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says that the club have not thrown away a top four place after the loss against Crystal Palace.
The club came into the game on the back of a good run of form in recent weeks. However, Crystal Palace managed to secure a 2-1 win at Anfield. Even though Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring after just 24 minutes, Crystal Palace managed to pull back level in the 42nd minute through former Red Christian Benteke. The Belgian once again haunted the club with a second goal in the 74th minute, and Liverpool were unable to recover from these two setbacks.
This was the first defeat for the club since the end of February when they lost to Leicester City. They have been able to go on a run of five wins and two draws in the last seven games. Yet, this defeat is much more damaging to the club’s hopes of finishing in the top four, as it has allowed Manchester United with a real opportunity to plug the gap with their two games in hand. United are only three points behind. Read More
Manchester United were heavily criticised for their tactics in the recent goalless draw at Anfield.
Jose Mourinho set up his team in a defensive manner and it saw them make only one shot on target in the entire 90 minutes. Liverpool struggled to deal with the opposition being so intent on breaking up their game. David de Gea ended up making some crucial saves to keep United in the match. Even as the next game approaches, Liverpool manager is incensed by the tactics of Jose Mourinho. He says that it would be difficult to play such tactics as the Liverpool manager due to the history of the club.
Liverpool have a great reputation of playing beautiful and attractive football. United also have this heritage – especially under Sir Alex Ferguson – but Mourinho seems to be attracted more towards the results. The Portuguese is in a difficult situation just a few months into his reign at United. The club have not been getting results as they should have been and they sit in a lowly seventh place. United were aware that Liverpool would be extremely strong at Anfield. Mourinho was not too displeased with the solitary point, although it meant that United have taken only one win in the last five games.
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Jurgen Klopp acknowledges that he should not have got as excited as he did after the Reds shook the net as many as 4 times back to back in a goal fest at the Emirates Stadium.
As per Klopp, that kind of celebration should be avoided when the final whistle is a long way away as it can take a lot of emotional energy out of you while you still have to keep competing.
However, Klopp reckons achieving the advantage of three goals playing as a visiting team and that too at an incredibly tough place, nobody, not even he, could control himself and it led to an absolutely wild celebration.
The German, at the end of the evening, was amused that his team worked beautifully as a defensive unit as the game was closing in and did not let in the leveller after the advantage was lessened down to one goal by the hosts. Read More
Upon taking his chair in the Anfield office, Jurgen Klopp had found himself with a squad which did not have the standard of fitness he would have liked to see.
It took the German, by his own admission, about 15 weeks to first work on that and then, only from February onwards, he reckoned the players were sufficiently fit to operate in the style he wanted.
Because all that work had been done while the season was running, the inconsistency in the results was hardly a surprise. And, it’s that inconsistency initially in Klopp’s tenure which limited Liverpool to 60 points making them end 8th.
If the winning percentage of the Reds post February is put into comparison with their winning percentage in the period between October and February, a considerable rise would be found which means once the coach had the footballers with better fitness, he was productive.
That upsurge still could not materialize the continental qualification, but, it was a proof that Klopp, with a team fit enough to cope with his style, could pay dividends in England.
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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp believes that the best chance for the club to reach the Champions League group stages next season is by winning the Europa League.
The club are against German outfit Augsburg in the last 32 of the competition. Since Klopp knows the German outfit very well after having played against them for several seasons while as the manager of Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool are expected to have a minor edge. This can be negated by the home advantage for Augsburg.
An away goal will certainly put Liverpool as favourites and the club just boosted the confidence by scoring six without reply against Aston Villa during the weekend. Since the club are struggling to have any sort of consistency in the Premier League, Klopp says that qualify for the Champions League will be difficult based only on league position. In recent times, winners of the Europa League have been given a straight road to the Champions League group stages in a bid to boost the profile of the competition. This could come to the aid of Liverpool, although teams like Tottenham and Manchester United will also be targeting the same. Read More
It’s been a strange one. A very strange one in fact. It’s safe to say that all Liverpool fans have been left scratching their heads following the most peculiar of starts to this season.
Read MoreAnybody trying to defend Mario Balotelli right now is rightly derided as crazy. No goals in nine matches for a international striker is simply indefensible. And yet...
Read MoreThey seemed like a good idea at the time... But how have our summer transfer signings worked out…?
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