The Season So Far – A Review Of How We Fared In August

The month of August saw the completion of our pre-season friendlies when we took on Olympiacos, Valerenga and Celtic. All three games resulted in victories thereby completing a very successful pre-season campaign where we played seven and won all seven.

The early signs were that our new signings, Simon Mignolet, Iago Aspas, Luis Alberto, Kolo Toure had settled in well, especially Aspas who managed to find the net on a regular basis.

The league season started in earnest on 17th August when we took on Stoke City in our season curtain raiser at Anfield. In previous seasons, Stoke have proved to be difficult opponents. This season was no exception. Liverpool managed to secure a narrow 1-0 win courtesy of a Daniel Sturridge strike in the first half at the Anfield Road end, and a last minute penalty save by new signing Simon Mignolet in the same goal. The penalty save was greeted by euphoric celebrations normally reserved for goal winning exploits.

Onto Villa Park next on the 24th August, where again a Daniel Sturridge virtuoso strike and more Simon Mignolet heroics ensured another 1-0 win. So far, so good with six out of six points. The purists were not overly excited however as the football so far was not the free flowing, exciting brand that has become a Brendan Rodgers template.

But no-one was complaining though as one of the criticisms levelled at Liverpool in recent years was their inability to “win ugly”. How many times have Man Utd and other successful teams not played well but still managed to grind out a 1-0 win.

Early days, but the first impressions are encouraging without getting too carried away.

Next up was a Capital One Cup encounter with lower league opposition Notts County from Division One. On paper this should have been a formality, but how many times have we felt that only to come unstuck. Again it was a case of “will the real Liverpool please stand up!!”

We coasted to a 2-0 lead with some great football to boot but then, the not so unexpected, when again we seemed to implode against a lower league club and to their great credit, Notts County pulled it back to 2-2. However, two extra-time goals by Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge saw us make a safely (ish) passage into round three.

Although the season was still in its infancy it is already clear that Daniel Sturridge looks as though he will carry on where he left off last season…scoring goals!!

As many have said, all he ever wanted was to be at a club where he was appreciated and given a fair crack of the whip. He has certainly been given a chance at Anfield and he is most definitely appreciated and hasn’t he repaid that faith shown in him with some quite stunning performances and goals. There is clearly a lot to come from young Daniel and it is fair to say that our gain is most definitely Chelsea’s loss.

Onto September where two fixtures stood out from the others. Two games against our old foes from down the East Lancs Road….Man Utd. What will September bring us??

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