Liverpool FC Thread #159:- Unity Is Strength!

[NI KI]

[NI KI]

Happy 26th birthday to Alisson!

[NI KI]

Happy 27th birthday to Roberto Firmino.

He's been directly involved in 87 goals in 155 games across all competitions for Liverpool:

53 goals
34 assists

Sometimes, he doesn't even need to look.

[NI KI]

Liverpool are in Italy for Wednesday night's Champions League match against Napoli seeking to continue their winning start in Europe.

Jürgen Klopp's men beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in their Group C opener at Anfield, while Carlo Ancelotti's Partenopei were held 0-0 at Red Star Belgrade.

Here are three key battles that could help determine the outcome of the clash in Naples...

Lorenzo Insigne vs Virgil van Dijk

Italy forward Lorenzo Insigne has emerged as Napoli's star man under new boss Ancelotti.

Shifted from the left to become a central striker - an echo of what Klopp did with Roberto Firmino at Liverpool - the 27-year-old has scored five goals in seven league matches for his hometown club this season.

Four of those have come in his new position as a second striker, a role which allows him to get more involved in the build-up and then time his runs into the box. He arrived at pace to take score in his stride against Fiorentina and then notched three poacher's goals in the following two matches against Torino and Parma.

At 5ft3in, the diminutive Insigne is unlikely to pose an aerial threat to Liverpool's defensive colossus Virgil van Dijk, but his quick feet, trickery and penchant for a clever lay-off could certainly test the Dutchman on the deck.

However, Van Dijk is far from just a physically imposing centre-back. He is more than comfortable on the ball - leading the team with an average of 79 passes per match - and is an excellent reader of the game.

He has plenty of speed to call upon too, should he need it. The Netherlands international notably outpaced both PSG starlet Kylian Mbappe and Chelsea wide-man Willian to make recovery tackles recently.

Victory in this battle would go a long way to nullifying Napoli's attacking threat.

Allan vs Jordan Henderson

Only centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly has played more minutes for Ancelotti's Napoli than Allan.

Now in his fourth season at Stadio San Paolo, the 27-year-old defensive midfielder has become the lynchpin of the Partenopei’s pressing game and technical build-up play following Jorginho's departure for Chelsea this summer.

Allan leads Serie A with an incredible average of 4.6 tackles per game but is also more than adept at bringing the ball up the pitch when in possession. This season, he averages a team-high 2.3 dribbles per game, has a pass completion rate of 91.7 per cent and has chipped in with two assists.

His impact on this Napoli side is clear and the man tasked with counteracting that influence is likely to be Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson.

Eased back into action this season following his run to the World Cup semi-finals with England during the summer, the Reds central midfielder was outstanding in the 3-2 win over PSG.

Playing at the base of Klopp's central-midfield trio, Henderson dictates play with a wide range of passing and his completion rate of 91.8 per cent more than matches his opposite number.

Whoever wins the battle of the metronomes could dictate the tempo of the tie.

Elseid Hysaj vs Sadio Mane

Right-back Elseid Hysaj is likely to face a test on the counter-attack when he comes up against Sadio Mane.

The Senegal international has been clocked as Liverpool's fastest forward this season at 34.5 kmph and his movement and speed are a key feature of the Reds' fast-paced breaks.

Mane, who has netted four times already this season, tends to come alive in the Champions League and has scored six strikes in his last five European away games for the Reds - including a goal in Rome on his last trip to Italy.

With the LFC No.10 ably assisted on the flank by overlapping full-back Andy Robertson, Hysaj is sure to have his hands full.

[NI KI]

Sunday's Premier League clash with Manchester City will not influence Jürgen Klopp's team selection for the Champions League tie against Napoli – but Liverpool may make changes in Italy.

The Reds flew out on Tuesday afternoon ahead of their second fixture in Group C, at the Serie A side’s Stadio San Paolo home on Wednesday night.

A 23-man squad made the journey from Merseyside and Klopp has no fresh injury concerns to contend with following the weekend draw at Chelsea.

The manager therefore has the option to alter his starting XI should he wish to, though any decisions will be based solely on achieving a positive result in Naples.

“It’s no problem. It’s really difficult to think about anything other than the next game – we only think about the next game, but not the next game after the next game! It is always like this,” Klopp explained to Liverpoolfc.com during the team flight.

“In the moment it is all fine and we have to use it. We will see, maybe we will make one or two changes or whatever – maybe more – but it’s all about this game. It’s the only way I understand it.

“We are in good shape, we have good rhythm and that’s something we have to use so let’s try our best. It’s not that you can say, ‘OK, Champions League in Naples, I will make five or six changes’ and then for City you make six changes again, then who are the other six because the six that played already, they cannot play on Sunday… it’s difficult really.

“We will think about this game and then we will see who we can use for City.”

[NI KI]

Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti admits the referee for his team's Champions League clash with Liverpool brings back “bad memories” as he expressed surprise at the appointment.

Hungarian official Viktor Kassai will take charge of the Group C meeting between the teams at the San Paolo on Wednesday night.

Kassai has previous with Ancelotti having been the referee when the Italian's Bayern Munich were controversially beaten by Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final in 2017.

Bayern has Arturo Vidal harshly sent off in the second leg and then in extra time saw Cristiano Ronaldo score a decisive goal for Real despite being in a clear offside position, leaving Ancelotti to lament “the referee probably wasn't up to the task”.

And of Kassai's appointment for the visit of the Reds, the Napoli boss said: “The referee reminds me of bad memories relating to my last team.

“I’m surprised by the referee designation, time heals all wounds but too little time has passed.”

While Liverpool opened Group C with a 3-2 win over top seeds Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli scrapped out a contentious goalless draw at Red Star Belgrade.

Ancelotti admits Jurgen Klopp's side will prove a greater threat, and is wary of Mohamed Salah despite the Egyptian's struggle to find top form so far this season.

“I don’t know if he’s at 70 or 80%, but that doesn’t change that he’s a top quality footballer and he’ll be very dangerous,” he said.

“As for Jurgen Klopp, he’s an opponent and a difficult adversary. He’s teams have a clear identity: very dynamic, aggressive and direct when they attack.

“Liverpool have a very dangerous attack, especially on the break, so if we want to win we need to manage counter-attacks.



“They’re one of the best teams around, they reached the Champions League final last year and this year they’ve started really well, with great organisation. We’re also in top physical condition so I expect a very intense match.

“It’s an important game but not a decisive one, we need to try and bring home the three points because we dropped two at Red Star."

Ancelotti, though, believes Napoli's 5-0 thrashing against Liverpool in August's pre-season friendly in Dublin will have no bearing on Wednesday's match.

“It’s an experience we had,” he said. “It taught us a lot of things and we won’t be using the same strategy, we were a bit stretched.

“It was a friendly, and we didn’t want to focus too much on the opponent and neglect what we were trying to do.”

[NI KI]

Alisson labelled the 'most important goalkeeper in the world' and Liverpool's long-awaited successor to Pepe Reina



Liverpool may have finally found the replacement for Pepe Reina they have been searching for with the signing of Alisson Becker, ‘the most important goalkeeper in the world’.

But the Reds’ opponents in the Champions League tonight are struggling big time between the posts following Reina’s departure.

The Spaniard made 394 appearances for Liverpool before joining up with Rafael Benitez at Napoli initially on loan in 2013.

Reina then spent a season with Bayern Munich before making the move to Naples on a permanent deal in the following summer.

He spent three years with Napoli, helping them to finish second in Serie A last season, before moving to league rivals AC Milan on a free transfer.

The highly rated Alex Meret was signed as Reina’s long-term replacement at the Stadio San Paolo.

But the Italy Under-21 international broke his arm just six days after making a €22million move from Udinese and it means that new Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti has had to rotate between on-loan Arsenal keeper David Ospina and Orestis Karnezis, who spent last season on loan at Watford.

Neither have impressed and the guests of our Preview podcast, which also features James Pearce and can be listened to in full below, believe it could cost Ancelotti’s side this evening.

Marco Giordano, an Italian journalist for CalcioNapoli24.it, said: “Alisson Becker is probably the most important goalkeeper in the world.

“He has an explosivity, he is fantastic, and Roma have not found the same goalkeeper in Robin Olsen.

“Napoli’s goalkeeper at the moment is Ospina and Napoli doesn’t want him at all because their goalkeeper is Alex Meret, who is one of the most important prospects in Italian football.

“But he is injured at the moment and it is not an easy one to resolve. So Napoli took Ospina from Arsenal but neither he nor Karnezis, who played for Watford, are giving Ancelotti the security that he wants.”

John Solano is an Italian football expert and editor of the romapress.us website.

He gave us the lowdown on Alisson before his move to Liverpool from Napoli’s Serie A rivals in the summer and he has been impressed – but not surprised – by how the Brazilian has took to the Premier League.

And, like Giordano, he believes the match could be decided between the posts tonight.

Solano said: “I’ve been thoroughly impressed with Alisson. I thought he might need some time to adjust to the Premier League, which is obviously much quicker than Serie A, but he doesn’t seem to have missed a beat.

“Obviously he had that mistake (at Leicester City) but the good thing is – and it was the case for him at Roma as well – that when he makes a mistake, he doesn’t alter his style, and he remains confident.

“Napoli are a very, very strong side despite Maurizio Sarri no longer being there, especially in midfield, but the questions for me are at the back, especially Mario Rui.

“Napoli are missing a strong player in Faouzi Ghoulam, who is out with a knee injury, and Rui is the one for me who Liverpool should target. He’s a very good attacking left-back but defensively he has a lot of question marks surrounding him.

“There is also the goalkeeper position. A lot of your listeners will be familiar with Ospina from Arsenal, and Karnezis, who played at Watford, but they have been switching back and forth.

“Ancelotti purchased a very, very highly rated goalkeeper in the summer, Alex Meret, who has been dubbed ‘the next Buffon’, as we tend to do in Italy, but he’s been injured since the start of the season, and neither Ospina or Karnezis have performed brilliantly.

“They have been switched from match to match and it’s a little confusing and quite a worry to be in October and not to have found that cohesiveness at the back, and I think Liverpool can definitely exploit that fragility.”

[NI KI]

[elimmel]

Wow, that off day was bound to happen.
Hope Keita is fine.
The team needs to bounce back quick like how we did when we lost to Spurs.
Starting with Man City this weekend pls! YNWA

[bedoklist]

Move on as there are more important matches ahead.