Hull match thread

[el matador]

im at 35 mins at the minute and weve dominated the game without threating their goal. im still yet to be convinced that ngog can play upfront by himself, and the midfield isnt working at all. we cant seem to get the ball forward into areas that will threaten hull.

second goal by koren, not sure about doni's dive.

[BrooklynRed]

once again Aquiliani showed when given time on the ball in a meaingless friendly he can look a class act.

Unfair... others faced the same competition and looked inferior to him. in the past, he was injured and playing for us. yes he is not Roy Keane or Patrick Viera, but he looks class at this stage of the pre-season.

[red g]

Unfair... others faced the same competition and looked inferior to him. in the past, he was injured and playing for us. yes he is not Roy Keane or Patrick Viera, but he looks class at this stage of the pre-season.

I was just pointing out the fact it was a compliment The guy is a talent without a doubt if he can adjust to the pace fo the premier we have a very very good player on our hands

[Mostar]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/kenny-on-debutants-and-hull

Kenny on debutants and Hull

Kenny Dalglish admitted he was pleased to see a trio of summer signings make their Liverpool debuts against Hull City on Saturday, but could not hide his disappointment following the 3-0 reversal.

Goals from Robbie Brady, Robert Koren and Jay Simpson condemned the Reds to defeat at the KC Stadium on an afternoon in which Alexander Doni, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing made their first appearances for the club.

Afterwards, Dalglish told LFC TV: "Obviously we're disappointed at losing the game. It doesn't matter whether it was a pre-season friendly or not, but the fact it is pre-season gives us a wee bit of solace.

"We trained yesterday as if it was a game. Everybody ran about nine or 10 thousand metres, which is equivalent to what you do in a game, so it's like playing a game and a half in two days.

"We also travelled over this morning and it's not ideal, but I would have expected a wee bit better than that.

"As I say, it is pre-season and it's to get players fit and get rid of their mistakes - but I certainly think we've got a few mistakes to get rid of after today."

After a below-par opening 45 minutes, in which Hull raced into a two-goal lead, Dalglish made wholesale changes at half-time, including the introductions of Downing, Henderson and fellow new boy Charlie Adam.

The changes appeared to have the desired impact in the opening exchanges as the Reds applied pressure to the host's goal.

Dalglish said: "In the second half we made a few more chances. I think in the first half we had one shot at goal, which wasn't too compelling to watch. But for us the second half was better.

"We still lost the second half 1-0, but we had three guys making their first appearances in a Liverpool shirt and they will get benefit from that.

"It was an extension of our training sessions this week and starting from now we've got to get ourselves a wee bit more realistic (in terms of fitness)."

Next up for Liverpool is a return to Istanbul to face Galatasaray on Thursday night before Monday's trip to Norway to take on Valerenga.

And Dalglish admits he intends to use those two fixtures as an opportunity to intensify the Reds' preparations for 2011-12.

"The lads are at various degrees of fitness for the matches," he said. "Someone like Jordan (Henderson) has only trained for a week, so it's a bit too much to ask him to start the game.

"But we've got a couple of matches in the space of a few days at the end of next week and we'll make sure as many people get minutes as we can than they did today.

"If they're going to stake a claim for a first-team place, they've got to earn it. We've given them every opportunity to get themselves fit and try and earn that right to play in the first team, but they'll need to do better than that if they want it."

He added: "On Wednesday we go to Galatasaray, so we'll see what we've got, see if we picked up any injuries or not and take it from there. As I said, we are planning to extend the number of minutes they're playing."

Meanwhile, Dalglish believes the likes of Downing, Henderson, Adam and Doni are settling in well to life on Merseyside - but feels no-one will be travelling back with any satisfaction tonight.

He said: "They're very comfortable. It's an easy place to come and settle, it's very welcoming, but they'll not be too satisfied getting back on the bus after that."

[el matador]

defensively we dont look strong enough but we are missing skrtel and is agger injured again.

theres no johnson, aurelio either and thats a full back 4 out, and weve gone in with a few kids who will benefit from this match.

what the ****s up with andy carrolls taliban tash / beard.

[Mostar]

Unfair... others faced the same competition and looked inferior to him. in the past, he was injured and playing for us. yes he is not Roy Keane or Patrick Viera, but he looks class at this stage of the pre-season.

I was just pointing out the fact it was a compliment The guy is a talent without a doubt if he can adjust to the pace fo the premier we have a very very good player on our hands

Clearly the best player so far in the pre-season and even today he was more than decent surrounded with no body to link up with properly.

He's one player imo we should try to play as much as we can in pre-season and with the players that will be the first choice next season, if we have any intention of getting the best out of him and giving him a chance to prove himself.

[BobTheCharmer]

what the ****s up with andy carrolls taliban tash / beard.

It suits him. Adds to the mystic. He'll frighten the **** out of defenders this year.

[el matador]

amy winehouse found dead.

ps we need to work on carrolls movement in the box. but hendo, downing and adam all looking very good.

[Bender]

ahh pre-season nothing but achieving fitness levels ......results been nothing

[little dave hedgehog]

i feel much more positive about it now that i know they had a rough ass training session yesterday. my biggest gripe was that they looked tired and disinterested, but makes sense now.

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

Someone came in and asked me if i watched the rangers game
He started talking the match and i seriously wanted to just die.
I lose the will to live when someone talks about scottish football.
I'd rather come on here and read all your posts about a pre-season friendly.

[el matador]

some nice signs here despite the scoreline.

in the days when rafa was in charge we used to have training sessions on match days. then we wonder why the hell the players looked crap.

adam, downing and carroll all look good. hendo has come into it nicely.

[Muddled]

Aqualani looks better and better with each pre-season game; I'd quite like to see a midfield five of:

Downing -- Aqualani -- Suarez

----- Adam ------- Lucas -----

On the opening game of the season, especially if Gerrard is struggling for match fitness.

Wash looks lethargic in all he does and just seems a yard off of *everything*.
Flanagan is aces; desire, commitment, confidence - he oozes it all.
Carroll was unlucky not to get on the score sheet, it's only a matter of time.
Henderson looks quality. One touch control and out of his feet, the next a pass. He also has great vision.

[McDermotX]

Some positives in the second half as some have mentioned, defending from our reserves is still muck but hopefully we'll never play with them all together when it counts............first half was exceptionally poor, even for a pre-season, not even sweating it some of them.
Don't care about the scoreline, but there are some in that first half who should ask themselves did they even get a good runaround for 45mins (apart from the one the Hull lads handed to 'em)

[JohnDoe]

Aqualani looks better and better with each pre-season game; I'd quite like to see a midfield five of:

Downing -- Aqualani -- Suarez

----- Adam ------- Lucas -----

I agree, we need to move our best player and one of the best strikers in the world, out wide, to accommodate Aquilani.