Hodgson reveals squad selection

Liverpool player Christian Poulsen  has claimed that a hectic September calendar  is  exactly what the  new-look Liverpool team  need to show their  best form.
The midfielder who is currently with international teammate  Daniel  Agger in Copenhagen  preparing for next  Tuesday European Championship qualifier against Iceland.
Poulsen  has one eye on what  lies in store for Liverpool during September  and cannot wait  to get started.
Aside from Premier League games against  Birmingham,  Manchester United & Sunderland,  Liverpool have a  Carling Cup tie against Northampton and also two Europa League dates with Steaua Bucharest  and FC Utrecht to contend.

For the squad that made the 21-man squad  Roy Hodgson  submitted to the  Premier League will get a  chance to shine and Poulsen feels the more they play, the better  they will become.
Poulsen said “We have a lot of  games so with (Javier)  Mascherano and  (Alberto) Aquilani  leaving we need  quality players for the  team because for the  next six months we  will have a game every  four days,”

“It is important for  a club who wants to  play at the top of the  Premier League and  fighting for the Europa  League to have strong  players. I hope after  the international  break we can come  strong again and pick  up a lot of points up in  the coming months.
“When I came here  I had not played since  the World Cup so I  feel I need some time  to get into the rhythm  but last Thursday (in  the second leg against  Trabzonspor) I did  better than in the first  game.

Carling Cup Draw Announced

Liverpool FC have been drawn with Northampton Town at home in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup. A team Liverpool have not played against in a competitive fixture since 1966.
Going from the past few seasons, the LFC side fielded on the day by Roy will more then likely be a mixture youngsters and fringe players and one or two senior players.
Liverpool FC last won the League Cup  in the 2002-03 season when Gérard Houllier was in charge.
Back then it was known as the Worthington Cup. Steven Gerrard opened the scoring on that day against North West rivals Manchester United, his shot from 27yards  flew past  United keeper Fabien Barthez, catching a deflection off David Beckham along the way. Striker Michael Owen went on to finish the game 2-0 for Liverpool.

Raul Meireles deal close

Reports arising from a Portuguese radio station Renascença, that Liverpool FC will move to bring in  27 year old Portugese international Raul Meireles in a deal worth around £10.6million.

Raul Meireles has spent his whole footballing career in Portugal, starting out at club Aves, before a stint at Boavista, then on to his current club FC Porto in 2004.

Raul Meirelese has 4  title medals to his name and is an important part of Porto’s midfield. Liverpool are hoping to tie up a deal as soon as possible now Mascherano is heading to Barcelona. A move that is upsetting alot of fans due to the way he has conducted himself off the pitch.

Joe Cole avoids immediate ban

Liverpool FC's Joe Cole has dodged an immediate driving ban for speeding at 105mph after his solicitor launched an appeal recently.
Joe Cole who already has 6 points on his licence denied the charge, was disqualified for 50 days and also fined £750 at Staines Magistrates' Court. England player Joe Cole was also caught speeding on a 70mph piece of road in Claygate, Surrey, in November 2009.
The appeal centres around a claim that his wife is scared to drive because she was once a victim of carjacking.

Joe Cole was not in court on Friday, was ordered to pay £600 costs as well.

Chairman of the Bench John Neary agreed to suspend the sentence while the appeal is heard.

Joe Cole's lawyer Nick Freeman said his wife Carly Zucker, had recently been left so traumatised by a carjacking outside their Chelsea home that she had been unable to get behind the wheel of a car.

Freeman said: "His wife was outside their house in London when she was carjacked by eight thugs who were on motorbikes. She was physically removed from the car.

"The car was stolen and it has not yet been recovered. She is 26 and has been severely traumatised by this incident to the extent that she has not driven a car since."

Nick Freeman also said Carly Zucker and her 5 month old baby would not be able to use public transport if Cole was banned because of their high profile in football.

Police are still searching for the black Audi A4 which was stolen nearly two weeks ago.

Mascherano Heads to Barcalona

Argentine Javier Mascherano's very long awaited move to spanish club Barcelona is set to be completed over the weekend after Liverpool Football Club accepted a bid from the Catalan giants.

The midfielder nearly joined the Barcalona a year ago only for ex Liverpool manager Benitez to price him out of a move. Mascherano has been keen to move away from England for family/personal reasons and has constantly complained that his family had not settled at all in England.

Liverpool had come to an agreement with Mascherano that if they received an acceptable offer from a club they would be willing to let him go.

Liverpool rejected a £16m bid from Barcelona just last weekend and an offer has now been made which comes closer to their valuation of £25m for Mascherano.

Liverpool 1 - 0 Trabzonspor

In last night's Europa League qualifier, Liverpool's Joe Cole missed a penalty, failing to bring his side to 2-up as the team maintained a small lead over Trabzonspor.

Earlier, the Reds went ahead when Cole's assist to Ryan Babel ended with a suberb goal.

The home side won a penalty for a foul against Lucas, however Cole proved his efforts to be fruitless in his first penalty take for the Reds.

Reds keeper Pepe Reina obviously had put Sunday's blunder against Arsenal behind him as he saved a strike from Umut Bulut.

Christian Poulsen was denied his first Reds goal for a suspicious foul on keeper Onur Kivrak.

Roy Hodgson, whose former club Fulham were taken all the way to the finals in last season's Europa League, said that his first priority this season was the Premier League and had shown this to be true by sending out a team that was not Liverpool's full potential strength, as Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Dirk Kuyt were not even named in the squad.

Trabzonspor coach Senol Gunes would have wanted the pleasure of beating Liverpool at Anfield because of his history.

Gunes was the Turkish club's keeper when they were beaten by Liverpool in the second round of the 1976/77 European Cup.

Gunes is also a known Manchester United fan.

The Turkish side definitely went into the game in good form though, after recently winning away in their league and the Turkish Super Cup.

They had many close calls, but misdirection and good defending from the Reds' proved hard to overcome.

Cole bolted from midfield and produced a lovely pass into the line of Babel, who put it into the far corner of the net.

Babel was in his preferred striker role as opposed to his normal position on the wing, so he was keen on taking full advantage of the opportunity.

Unfortunately for Babel, that was his last play on the pitch that night as he was replaced by Fernando Torres at the beginning of the second half, who immediately sprung into action.

His quick shot on target forced Kivrak to block, but the taken corner should have produced another goal, but Lucas headed it too wide.

The continuing pressure on the Turkish side earned Liverpool a penalty.

Cole took the shot, rather than Torres, but the shot was too tame and easily saved by the Trabzonspor keeper.

Milan Jovanovic was also denied his first goal for Liverpool by Kivrak.

Liverpool were close to succumbing to the lead but keeper Reina had put a stop to just that.

Liverpool were also denied what appeared to be a legitimate goal after Poulsen forced a loose ball in. The goal was disallowed for a foul on the keeper, making Trabzonspor hold on to only a narrow defeat.

Liverpool v Trabzonspor preview

Liverpool is preparing for the Europa playoffs against Trabzonspor after spending many years in the Champions League instead.

Thankfully, new manager Roy Hodgson is no stranger to the Europa League after taking Fulham to the finals last season.

Although the team and fans seem happy with him already, having already beaten Macedonian side Rabotnicki and having a draw with Arsenal in the Premier League opener, a win will be expected on Thursday night, and even though the Reds are no longer in the Champions League, Liverpool will aim to go all the way in Europe.


Trabzonspor will just enter the competition at this stage, but the Turkish Cup champions have spent their summer signing defender Arkadiusz Glowacki, midfielder Baris Atas and Brazilian striker Jaja. They also won the Turkish Super Cup with a 3-0 win over Buraspor.

Coach Senol Gunes has some history with Liverpool as the former goalkeeper for Trabzonspor himself played and lost to the Reds 3-1 aggregate in the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1976.

Trabzonspor lost 3-0 loss at Anfield then and the Turkish side will be doing all they can to avoid a repeat of that on Thursday.

Team News: Liverpool

It is likely that Ngog will start again, with Torres on the bench. Javier Mascherano will also probably feature despite his growing transfer possibility, depending on a muscle strain that was complained about on Sunday's match against Arsenal.

Trabzonspor

All new summer singings, including Jaja, have all been included in the squad to travel to Merseyside. Gunes is looking to ring out his strongest side possible, probably the same side that saw a win last week in the league.

Inter may still take Mascherano

Although his Barcelona dreams may be put on hold for now, midfielder Javier Mascherano could still sign for Inter.

The Argentinian has been linked with a move to the champion Italian side ever since Rafael Benitez was appointed as new manager at the San Siro, but it recently seemed more favourable that Barcelona were to sign the 26-year-old.

However, Blaugrana sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta came out to deny the widespread reports that the club had come to an agreement and was close to signing Masch.

Although the Reds star seems increasingly unlikely to leave for the Spanish giants, his former boss Benitez could still swoop in with an offer for the player.

Mascherano has proven himself greatly at Liverpool since his arrival in 2007. He was also featured in Argentina's squad at both the 2006 and 2010 World Cup.