Monday, November 07, 2011

Kenny: We'll Find The Solution

Kenny Dalglish is convinced Liverpool are close to rediscovering the ruthless streak that will kick-start their season.

The Reds were held to a stalemate by Swansea City on Saturday afternoon despite creating countless openings.

However, Dalglish remains confident his players will find the cutting edge to improve on their chance-conversion ratio and end their run of draws in L4.

"You are better drawing one, losing one and winning one because you get more points than three draws," said Dalglish.

"But my perspective has never changed. We look forward to the next game, take each one as it comes and eventually add up the points and see where we are.

"There is no difference."

"The most important thing is to create the chances and the next thing is to put them away," he added.

"We go through this nearly after every game. We must be getting closer if the goalkeeper was tested because we have been missing the target.

"We just need to keep working on it and keep getting in there but we never got in there as much as we have done.

"It is more noticeable when you have chances and you walk off with just a point. It punishes you more.

"But it doesn't matter what your reward is, you have to find a better level than we did.

"If you don't do what you are good at you make it more difficult for yourself.

"But the problems that are there are problems that we can solve ourselves."

Agger Slams Liverpool's 'Headless Chickens'

Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has warned Liverpool must raise their game if they are to avoid yet another season without Champions League football.

Liverpool were held to a goalless draw in Saturday's home meeting with Swansea at the weekend, meaning the club have now won just two of their six Premier League matches at Anfield this season.

"Sometimes we looked like headless chickens running around after the ball,'' Agger said in quotes reported by the Daily Express.”It is far from good enough. Everyone was angry and disappointed - some more than others - but that is the way it is.''

Despite their indifferent form, Kenny Dalglish's men are just three points off the Champions League berths in sixth place - but with games against Chelsea and leaders Manchester City looming, Agger admits now is the time to raise the standard.

"If we play like this, we won't do it [qualify for the Champions League],'' he said. We have got to move up a level or two. I won't say it is not possible, because it is, but it is up to the players. We are the only ones who can make a difference. We definitely have to do a lot better.''

Carroll Costs ‘Headless’ Liverpool More Than £35m

If Andy Carroll is not good enough for England, should he continue to be at the heart of Liverpool’s plans.

England coach Fabio Capello picked Daniel Sturridge and Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor, but left out Liverpool striker Andy Carroll for friendly matches against Spain and Sweden at Wembley.

That might be a message to Liverpool’s coach Kenny Dalglish, who despite a string of poor performances by the £35million record signing.

Carroll hit the bar from six yards on another frustrating day for Dalglish's strikers at Anfield as they were held to a draw on the weekend by newly-promoted Swansea.

Dalglish's men have now won just two of their six league matches at Anfield this season.

And Andy Carroll amazingly is still being protected by King Kenny.

He said: "If we had scored early on it might have changed the way the game went but we never scored so it is hypothetical. No-one has ever in the history of football deliberately missed a chance.

Comolli Interested In Serie-A Striker

Sources in Italy have claimed that Argentine striker Ezequiel Lavezzi may be tempted to an Anfield switch during the summer if Liverpool can book a place in next seasons Champions League.

Liverpool would require to finish this season in at least fourth place to stand a chance of Champions League qualification, a position that many believe the Anfield side can accomplish this season despite competition from Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United.

The striker currently plys his trade in the Serie A for Napoli and will turn 27 by May next year. Since joining the Italian side in 2007 the Argentina international has scored 39 league goals in close to 150 league matches. Although his scoring record does not compete with that of former Liverpool strikers, there is room for another striker at the club.

With Kenny Dalglish having to rely on Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez as his main striker force he is well aware that the forward area is lacking in depth and a player of Lavezzi’s quality would not be as expensive as one might fear with a price of around £15m likely to be the maximum most teams would pay for his services.

Inter Milan Set To Swoop On Liverpool In Audacious £15 Million Raid

Inter Milan have set their sights on Liverpool’s Daniel Agger and could make a move for the Danish International as soon as January.

Agger started his senior career at Danish club Brøndby in July 2004, with whom he won the 2005 Danish Superliga championship, Agger then joined Liverpool in January 2006 and fast became a favourite at Anfield whose fans have coined a song about Agger to the tune of Agadoo.

Agger has suffered from injuries and there was concern at Liverpool at the amount of games Agger could manage in a season, this concern prompted a lot of speculation towards the end of last season with talk of moving him on but this talk has since cooled and it appeared that Agger would remain a Liverpool player for some time.

Inter are in a transition period and they are looking for an experienced defender to add to their defensive line up and they have identified Agger as an ideal candidate if the reports are to be believed.

A fee in the region of £15 Million was mentioned and it is thought that the Liverpool board would seriously consider such an offer.

Liverpool Set To Go Up Against Juventus In Race To Sign Portuguese Defender

Liverpool is set to go up against Juventus in the battle to sign Portuguese international centre-back Bruno Alves, playing with with Zenit Saint-Petersbourg.

It has been reported that the 29 year old was Juventus bound, however it now appears, according to reports in Italy, that Juventus face strong opposition from Liverpool who are looking to add Alves experience to their defence.

Alves is noted for his strength, tough tackling and aerial ability. He spent most of his professional career at F.C. Porto, winning a total of nine titles, seven as first-choice.

On 3 August 2010, aged 28, Alves signed with Russian Premier League’s FC Zenit for €22 million, joining compatriots Danny and Fernando Meira in the squad. Upon his arrival, head coach Luciano Spalletti described him as a very important player for the team, noting his experience, ability in the air and strong character.

No fee has been mentioned but it is thought that at least £20 Million will be required to even tempt Zenit in to opening up negotiations.

Dalglish To Resurrect Interest In Real Madrid Striker

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is ready to resurrect his interest in Real Madrid's prolific goal scorer Gonzalo Higuain after watching his side once again dominate possession but fail to find the back of the net.

The Reds had plenty of chances against Swansea on Saturday but failed to tale their chances as they ended up drawing their third consecutive game at Anfield in a 0-0 draw with the newly promoted Welsh side.

Liverpool were linked with the Argentina international during the summer but instead decided to bring a number of midfielders to the club and eventually completed a deal for Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy.

Dalglish already has Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez at the club but it seems he may once again try to bring another goal scorer to Anfield in the New Year as he plots to finish in the top four and achieve Champions League football.

Higuain has started the season in superb fashion as he today scored his eleventh league goal of the season as Real Madrid strolled past Osasuna with a 7-1 win.

The 23-year-old has scored 80 league goals for the Spanish giants and also has an equally impressive record for Argentina where he has scored 12 goals in 20 games.

Higuain was signed from River Plate back in 2007 for €13million and should Liverpool try to prise the striker away from the Bernanbeu then they would almost certainly have to make a substantial offer.

Real Madrid have a number of attacking options and despite the superb form of Higuain he often has to start on the bench because of the competition at the club with the likes of Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria all battling for a place in the front three.

Liverpool proved they have big ambitions over the summer as they paid £20million for Jordan Henderson, while in January they spent £35m on Carroll. Should they want to land Higuain then they would need to make a similar offer to Real Madrid.

Lucas Our Most Accurate Passer

Lucas Leiva was the most accurate passer on the pitch during Liverpool's goalless draw with Swansea at the weekend.

Liverpool had 25 shots, five of which were on target. Swansea directed three of their 12 efforts between the sticks.

Ten of Liverpool's hits were from outside of the 18-yard box - Swansea tried from distance nine times.

The hosts had 52.3% of possession but lost 52.4% of their 'duels'.

They dominated in the air, however, winning 68.8% of their aerial battles.

The story of the goalkeepers was that Pepe Reina made three saves to Michel Vorm's five. Our man between the posts had an 80% passing accuracy to Vorm's 43.8%.

Charlie Adam had the most touches of anyone in red with 100. Glen Johnson had 82 to leave him second.

Lucas Leiva recorded the best stats in possession of the 22 who started the game. He passed the ball 66 times with an accuracy of 95.5%, though just 3% of his passes were long.

For the second game in succession, Martin Skrtel pipped every defender on the pitch when it came to passing. An impressive 91.9 % of his 37 passes reached their destination.

The Slovakia international also attempted a higher percentage of long balls than any of his LFC teammates with 18.9%.

Of all the strikers who started, Luis Suarez completed the most passes (39) and had the highest accuracy (71.8%).

Daniel Agger executed more shots than any defender on the pitch - four. None were on target. Stewart Downing took this honour in midfield, hitting the target twice from four attempts.

Suarez was by far the busiest striker on the field of play with seven shots, three of which were on target.

Adam set up more shots for teammates than anyone else. In fact his tally of seven shot assists was more than double anyone on the pitch.

Lucas, Adam and Agger conceded the most fouls on the day, earning a whistle three times each.

The corner count was Liverpool 11-4 Swansea.

Liverpool played 512 passes and had an 83% accuracy rate - up 1.5% from the victory over West Brom.

Swansea played 471 passes, 86% of which found their target.

Phil Dowd awarded 15 free-kicks against Kenny's men but penalized Swansea just five times.