Match Report: Liverpool 5-1 Oldham Athletic

Liverpool started their quest for a return to the new Wembley in the FA Cup with a home draw against Oldham Athletic. The fixture was shifted to the Friday night because Everton were also playing at home on the Saturday this weekend. A minute’s applause was held before the match in memory for former Liverpool player Gary Ablett who sadly passed away on New Year’s night after a long illness.

THE TEAM

As expected Dalglish made a few changes to the side that lost to Manchester City last Tuesday. The major team news was that Gerrard was making his first start since October. Martin Kelly, Coates, Carragher and Aurelio were the defence in front of Reina, with Gerrard partnering Spearing in the middle of midfield, Maxi, Spearing, Bellamy and Kuyt made up the rest of a strong looking side.

THE MATCH

Oldham started the match brightly but it was Liverpool who almost took the lead in the 5^th minute when Kuyt headed a Bellamy cross wide. But Oldham reacted to this scare with Shefki Kuqi shooting into the side netting after powering past Coates and Carragher.

With Oldham causing Liverpool a few problems, Adeyemi headed a Simpson corner over as Liverpool struggled to find their rhythm. Then Simpson stabbed an effort wide after a good move. But Oldham deservedly took the lead when Simpson turned and lashed an effort from 25 yards into the top corner of Reina’s net with the Spaniard well beat.

With a shock looking on the cards, Liverpool responded within two minutes when Shelvey’s shot was deflected by Bellamy into the Oldham net making the score level. Liverpool were aroused by their goal and Cisak made a good save from close range from Maxi. But Liverpool took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Maxi was bundled by Adeyemi , resulting in a penalty. Gerrard made no mistake from the spot, giving Liverpool a 2-1 lead at the half.

The second half continued in the same theme with end to end action and chances at both ends. But as the game wore on Liverpool started to dominate more and they got the killer third goal in the 68^th minute, when Bellamy’s cross was hooked home from close range by Shelvey. With the game won Dalglish brought on Carroll and Downing for the last few minutes and both players capped a fine night for the home side with Carroll scoring first, before Downing netted his first goal for Liverpool in stoppage time.

SUMMARY

A much changed side for Liverpool with many players short of first team action and it showed in the first half with Oldham causing us a few problems. But after we got the quick equaliser we looked a better side although we took a while to end the game as a contest. Great to see Gerrard start and he grew into the game. Great to see us score a few goals at home and see Carroll and Downing score, this will do wonders for their confidence. Overall a great win and now we can look forward to a home draw against Manchester United, bring it on.

Man Of The Match - Bellamy- dangerous all night, caused so many problems with his pace and industry. Superb performance.

Written by Jamie McLaughlin, who writes for Anfield News

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Rumour Mill: Liverpool to sign £10M-rated Senegal forward

Amid the Luis Suarez saga, Liverpool has been shortage of fire-power upfront for the next six matches. Report of Darren Bent has been signed for Liverpool still dominating the internet rumour mills.

But there is a new twist and Liverpool has been monitoring the progress of Newcastle’s striker, Demba Ba after it was claimed the Senegal striker has a £10million release clause in his contract.

A £10million bid is needed to allow the Premier League’s in-form striker to speak to other clubs.

Newcastle chiefs were hoping the contract detail would not become public and they now expect top clubs to consider making offers.

However, any transfer will have to wait until the end of the season, as he will be away on Africa Cup of Nations duty.

Newcastle sources insist the player is happy on Tyneside and Pardew has refused to discuss the possibility of him leaving.

This story has been reproduced from the media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club or Red's Fury™ blog.

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Loan Watch: Joe Cole hat-trick for Lille

Joe Cole fired a hat-trick as Lille beat Chantilly 6-0 to reach the last 32 of the French Cup on Saturday night.

The on-loan Liverpool midfielder has had a fine season with the French outfit and scored in the 22nd, 59th and 65th minute.

Source: FootyTube

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The Verdict on Stewart Downing

When you sign a proven premier league player worth twenty million pounds, you are expecting him to run riot from the beginning.That is just a natural footballing instinct.Firstly, the market for British players is inflated and a joke to say the least. And secondly,I put ‘overall contribution to the football team’ over goals when it comes to a midfielder. Patrick Viera, Roy Keane, if you get my drift.

The jury has been out on Stewart Downing and will continue to do so for as long as he plays for Liverpool Football Club. The Liverpool fans need to understand that Downing will not get you 10-15 goals a season.That is the empirical truth.He is not a prolific scorer.This is a flaw in his game and from what I have observed,he is not going to get any better.Here are the statistics- Middlesbrough 181 appearances 17 goals, Aston Villa 63 appearances 9 goals. So,on an average he will fetch you a goal every 9 games. He is not the greatest English winger to have graced a football field but he is definitely not as bad as he is brandished to be.

Stewart Downing is a good footballer. He has a great work-ethic. He has the ability to drift past defenders.His positional sense on the pitch is immaculate. He has a lethal left-foot and a decent right foot too. He defends his wing-backs well. How often do you see Glen Johnson getting caught out? Liverpool fans have failed to recognize the defensive aspect of Downing’s game. Downing has moulded himself into the Liverpool set-up very well. Downing is a primarily a winger that will provide you goals. Apart from Luis Suarez there is nobody to finish off those chances. You need a Raul Gonzalez, Robbie Fowler, Henrik Larsson or Ruud Van Nistelrooy to derive the best out of Stewart Downing. Until Liverpool buy that quality striker all of Downing’s good work will go unsung.

I rate Stewart Downing highly and still believe that he will be a brilliant signing.

Final Verdict – Is Juan Mata better than Stewart Downing ? – Yes but Mata is poor defensively if you observe a Chelsea game closely. So apples and oranges.

Written by Mayank Adhye, who blogs at The Musical Escapade and also a Reds supporter.

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FA Cup: Liverpool 5-1 Oldham Athletic

Whoever were unable to watch the match live on TV can watch this goal highlights by sportnetworld at Videa.

The Latics made a plucky start to the contest and having gone close on several occasions, they opened the scoring in the 28^th minute courtesy of Robbie Simpson's dipping volley from distance.

Liverpool comeback from behind to win this tie, goals from Bellamy and Gerrard’s penalty before half-time making sure the Reds are in the driving seat at half-time. In the second half, Liverpool pressed on with goals from Shelvey, Carroll and Downing to capped off a magnificent performance of the night.

* By pressing play on the video, you’ve agreed with the English FA rules and regulations on its broadcasting. This video is googled and for personal viewing only. Red's Fury™ does not host or upload this material and is not responsible for the content.

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FA Cup 3rd Round Preview: Liverpool v Oldham Athletic

Team news for tonight's FA Cup third-round clash between Liverpool and Oldham Athletic at Anfield (kick-off 8pm).

The visit of the League One outfit affords Dalglish the opportunity to tinker with the side that lost 3-0 to Manchester City midweek and he is likely to recall defenders Jamie Carragher and Sebastian Coates.

Striker Luis Suarez serves the second game of an eight-match ban, but captain Steven Gerrard will probably be given another chance to continue building up his sharpness having made three substitute appearances following his comeback from an ankle infection.

Oldham, though, will sense an occasion to cause an upset and manager Paul Dickov hopes his club, who are currently contesting their 15th consecutive season in the third division, do not suffer from stage fright.

Oldham, meanwhile, are likely to have on-loan trio Luca Scapuzzi, Tom Adeyemi and Nathan Clarke available.

Although their loan deals have expired, manager Paul Dickov is confident he will have wrapped up new deals before the game, while midfielder James Wesolowski could return to the starting line-up after recovering from a dislocated shoulder.

Top scorer Shefki Kuqi could be given the nod ahead of Matt Smith.

Fifty-two places separate Liverpool and Oldham in the Football League and they have not met since 1994 during the latter's last season in the Premier League, which would suggest a comfortable win for the Reds.

But Dalglish's side have struggled at home this season and, despite remaining unbeaten, have drawn six games at Anfield, with a running trend being wasted chances and the inability to kill-off supposedly lesser opposition.

There is then some feeling Oldham could call on the old-fashioned FA Cup magic, but Dalglish is still expected to rotate his squad and the strength in depth at his disposal is an example of the gulf between the two clubs.

Red's Fury™ Prediction: Liverpool 2-0 Oldham

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Liverpool sign England international forward

The news on Liverpool FC transfer deal has been spreading like wildfire on the internet. Coupled with SkyBet have suspended betting on Aston Villa and England international forward, Darren Bent to Liverpool.

The England international, 27, emerged as a surprise target for Liverpool and it appears that a move has already been finalised.

From an unreliable source on Twitter, an user claimed to be Darren Anderson, a columnist for Mirror has tweeted, “An Anfield source says Darren Bent's move to Liverpool is done.”

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish had previously ruled out a potential switch for Bent in the January window with the forward only joining the club 12-months ago from Sunderland for £18million.

This story has been reproduced from the media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club or Red's Fury™ blog.

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LFC: Striker Needed

By guest writer: Jamie McLaughlin

I watched the Liverpool match the other night against Manchester City and although I think they played well enough, they were seriously lacking as an attacking force. The ban on Suarez is going to be a real problem, and you could see that there was a lack of movement or options with Carroll playing a lone striking role.

I am not having a go at Andy Carroll, but if Liverpool want to play the big man up front I believe he needs a playing partner alongside him. Carroll doesn’t have the pace or movement to terrify defenders, so he needs some support, because he is good at holding the ball up and winning headers.

Liverpool have very few options in attack, they have Carroll who has struggled to score so far, Dirk Kuyt is another option, or Bellamy who has a lot of pace which could be their best option. The fit again Gerrard could play just behind a lone striker or Shelvey, who played this role against Aston Villa.

But the options are very few with or without Suarez and Liverpool should be looking to bring another striker in this January, because it is imperative that they finish in the top four this season or they could drift away from being a top four club as the gap could widen.

Liverpool are in a decent position in the League at the moment, within striking distance of the top four, but with a lack of firepower, this could be a serious problem for the rest of the season. To be fair, scoring goals has been a problem all season, with so many chances spurned from the Anfield side, but the problem will be greater, especially with the absence of the influential Suarez.

Out of the attackers Liverpool have at their disposal, Craig Bellamy has looked the most likely to score. Kuyt has been struggling to get a game and hasn’t scored all season after finishing top scorer last season and Andy Carroll has struggled to fit in to the Liverpool style of play. The team can’t depend on the superb defence to limit the opposition all the time as the attackers struggle to score.

January is historically a difficult month to bring new players in, but Liverpool should be scouring the planet for another striker, or this season could drift away after so much promise. We will just have to watch this space for the next month and hope Liverpool can bring a much needed striker in to bring success this season.

Written by Jamie McLaughlin, who writes for Anfield News

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