Guangdong v LFC

[Glenn Hysen]

Deep lying central defensive playmaking attacking midfield general.

[SB]

Football, Liverpool

We have now kicked off our pre-season campaign with a 4-3 victory over Guangdong Sunray Cave. It was an exciting game with chances at both ends and goals through-out the game.

It was a good start to the game with Liverpool attacking early and Poulsen putting a ball into the box which flew over the bar. 5 minutes in and we had the first clear cut chance of the game. Dani Pacheco put in the corner and Danny Wilson got his head on the ball but it flew just inches past the post. That set the tone for the game. Despite Liverpool having the early chances, Guangdong had a couple of chances. A corner came in and Steer saw his effort parried away by Gulacsi. Some neat interchange play between Joe Cole and N'gog saw a shot by N'Gog well saved by the Guangdong keeper. N'Gog kept going and had a goal ruled out for offside.

Liverpool kept going and got their rewards in the 19th minute when the ball was played out to Joe Cole and he played a lovely ball into the path of Christina Poulsen who side-footed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal. It got better for Liverpool two minutes later when some neat play between N'Gog and Jonjo Shelvey resulted in N'Gog going through one on one with the goalkeeper which he then finished neatly. It was looking good for a new-look Liverpool side and there was some lovely play in the 33rd minute. Flanagan played a short pass into the feet of N'Gog who then backflicked it into the path of Dani Pacheco who played a ball into Spearing who was on the edge of the box. Spearing played a defence-splitting pass into the path of Pacheco who shot just wide.

Despite all of Liverpool's good play, they were punished late in the first-half. Shelvey gave away the ball in Guangdong's half and they pushed forward. The ball was played in and Ricardo Steer got the ball ahead of Gulacsi and it flew into the back of the net. The half-time whistle went and despite Liverpool's good play, the scoreline was close at 2-1.

The second half brought wholesale changes with the whole team being replaced by a mix of the 'bigger names' and some of our promising youngsters. The start of the second half was pretty quiet with Liverpool playing possession football. There were a couple of chances with Adam playing some decent passes and Maxi shooting into the side neeting and some nice play resulted in Maxi shooting straight into the goalkeeper's hands.

Liverpool kept pushing and they got their reward in the 72th minute. Carroll picked up the ball and pushed forward. He was running out of space until he noticed the run of Connor Coady. He played the ball into feet and Connor collected the ball on the edge of the box and finished perfectly. Liverpool continued to press our Chinese opposition and our £35M man got our 4th goal in the 85th minute. Maxi collected the ball and came inside to play the ball into Carroll who side-footed the ball home.

Everything was looking good until the 90th minute. Late goals from Lu Lin and Yin Hongbo made the scoreline look a lot more close than the game was.

Final score: Guangdong Sunray Cave 3-4 Liverpool FC.

In conclusion, it was a good work-out for the lads. King Kenny will want to address the late goals conceded in the first-half and the second-half but we have all of pre-season to sort that out.

[Lee]

Christina Poulsen

[SB]

Christina Poulsen

Probably go OK at the women's WC

[Lee]

Probably go OK at the women's WC

He'd probably be a wonderful ballboy there.

It did make me chuckle today when he twice went to head the ball - unchallenged both times - and it hit him on the back of the neck.

Then I remembered that he played for us.

[Cormack74]

Just watched this on the repeat. Thought we did ok.

Aqua looked somehow much bigger?

Adam showed some potential with some decent vision.

Overall not too shabby.

[SB]

He'd probably be a wonderful ballboy there.

It did make me chuckle today when he twice went to head the ball - unchallenged both times - and it hit him on the back of the neck.

Then I remembered that he played for us.

That nightmare must be coming to an end soon

[Lee]

No doubt about it fella.

He's off.

[Darkon]

It was started rather earlier than the normal pre match build ups..

yeah that's most likely it, but still

[tsb]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjwfow_charlie-adam-makes-debut-as-liverpool-win-friendly_sport#from=embed&start=108

[RedReet]

Just watched this on the repeat. Thought we did ok.

Aqua looked somehow much bigger?

Adam showed some potential with some decent vision.

Overall not too shabby.

I said that after looking at the training pics, didn't realise he was 6''1. Because of the early Xabi comparisons and his injuries, I'd forgotten how mobile he is too, until recent youtube clips and today’s match.

He impressed me for the first 20 mins or so in the second half, looked a class above.

[Redspin]

Apologies to all beard wearers

People don't wear beards, they grow them as naturally as growing fingernails. It's unnatural to scrape it off. One "wears" things like hats, not beards

[Darkon]

People don't wear beards, they grow them as naturally as growing fingernails. It's unnatural to scrape it off. One "wears" things like hats, not beards