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2019/2020 Season

An unbeaten start so far in the opening 9 competitive games of the season. The draw with Huddersfield was rather concerning, and shows we can have flat performances. Another draw against Manchester City had me concerned but after that it's been pretty good. Some good, but expected wins in the league against Southampton, Swansea and Newcastle. Progress as well in the Carabao Cup after knocking out Fleetwood, which sets us up to face Huddersfield in the next round. A decent start to the Champions League Group in fairness, with a resounding win over Brugge and a decent victory over Lazio.

In general, I'm quite satisfied with the way things are going. I do fear we are still going to struggle against the bigger teams in the league, and I may have to attempt to play a more conservative style when we face them. In terms of player performances, both strikers are putting up a fight for the sole striker position. Both Cutrone and Druissi have 6 goals to their name. Arana and Mane have really impressed with their contributions down the left hand side, with both contributing 4 assists each. Injuries are going to be crucial for us going into a busy period. We have quite a few key players out injured, who will make their way back into the first team when fully fit, but we can't afford too many further injuries. As such, it's likely that I will bring in a few reinforcements in January. Ideally a young centre back to act as backup and probably a young left winger.

Still unbeaten so far this season. Mixed bag of results over the last four games. The wins against Brighton and Watford were pleasing, as we continue to assert some authority in the league. I wasn't too sure what to expect going into the PSG game, but we let a 2 goal lead slip, which makes the draw harder to take. Although, I would have taken a draw at the start. A boring game against Chelsea finished 0-0, should have really taken some of our chances but Chelsea are a good team.





Sitting top of the league, albeit likely to go down to 2nd when Spurs win their game in hand. A total turn around from our league form last year which is pleasing. Champions League is still going strong, it will come down to the away fixture against PSG as to who finishes top of the group, barring any slip ups against Brugge or Lazio. Only bad news is that Trent is out for three weeks, which means Gomez comes in at right back. Not ideal, and will look to find a genuine young right back during January or in the summer.

2019/2020 Season

Inconsistency creeping back in. And our unbeaten run comes to an end, although I never expected it to last. A pretty routine win over Huddersfield in the Carabao Cup sees us drawn against Leicester City in the quarter final. A decent point against United, but it was a drab game. Disappointing to lose to PSG by such a scoreline, but after the first half I couldn't get a grip of the game. Something I need to work on against bigger teams. It's probably cost us our top spot finish in the group, which will make the first knockout round harder. A decent bounce back performance against Arsenal, with Neres showing his worth whilst Salah is out. An unacceptable defeat to West Ham, we were caught far too much in the wide areas and paid the price every time. This is the sort of thing which shows we aren't anywhere close to being the complete outfit. Ensured a place in the first knockout round of the Champions League with a very good win over Brugge.

Overall, I'm content with how things are going so far. 12 games into the league season and a point off top spot. The biggest issue for me is playing against the stronger sides in the league. I play a direct and attacking style of play and against the big teams giving them 60% possession is not helpful. Progress in the Carabao Cup is welcomed and hopefully we can get some silverware from it. Champions League is wide open with one game left to play, we face Lazio and PSG face Brugge. If PSG slip up then the door is open for us to take top spot!

Some impressive performances of late by David Neres in particular who is making that right inside forward position his own. At this point Salah struggles to get back in. Druissi has reclaimed his spot as the sole striker after some disappointing performances from Cutrone, but both side top of the scoring charts on 11 goals. My midfield duo has probably been the must frustrating thing to get right this season. Goretzka has put in some poor performances along with Ozcan and Keita. I can't seem to find the right combination between them, and will likely move Henderson back into the BBM role until I can figure out what I want to do. It might be that someone like Can is moved on in the summer and a new BBM is brought in.

Not sure how I sit on this one. He wants out and Barcelona are sniffing around. I've agreed with him that if a £73 million bid comes in for him then I will accept it. On the one hand, I don't want to lose such a good player. However, on the other hand, David Neres is in sensational form and is only 22 so is improving still. So, if that bid does come in, then I'll have to accept it and invest it in other areas of the team.

Conducted some scouting throughout the first half of the season with the aim of bringing in a few English youngsters with some decent potential...ended up spending nearly £40 million! Here are the three newest recruits. Castro looks to be the best of the bunch. Will probably send him out on loan for 6 months and then have him in as a replacement for Matip who will leave on a free in the summer. The plan with Ellis and Higgins is to send them out on loan as well.

It's not been the most convincing period over the past 2 months or so. You'll see there have been some unacceptable losses to Bournemouth, Middlesbrough and Stoke in the league. Really finding it tricky to find my best eleven this season and it's showing in the league. Naby Keita is really failing to impress and has been replaced in the most part by Ozcan in a box-to-box role. Leon Goretzka on the other hand has been in fine form since the last update. Cutrone has cemented himself as the striker in this system, sitting at 19 league goals and 24 in all competitions. Disappointing to lose to Leicester in the quarter final of the Carabao Cup as it would have been nice to go for some silverware. The FA Cup has got off to a good start with routine victories against lower league sides Burton and Northampton. In the Champions League we progressed through in 2nd place, where we will face Bayer Leverkusen in the first knockout round.

Not a bad first leg that. Home advantage obviously favoured us, but a very pleasing performance. Only half time in the tie however.

Historically I've really struggled against United, but this time we absolutely blew them away. Salah with a hat-trick showing his worth, and has now gone back in as first choice over David Neres on the right hand side. A nervy finale against Arsenal but we get the three points in the end. A very good 6 points picked up against two tough teams which is exactly what we needed. Leverkusen away was always going to be tough, but we made it hard work. We go through in the end, but a disappointing performance.

Into the quarter finals of the Champions League we go for the second time in a row, and great....Barcelona.

Not an ideal situation. The centre back position is not great at the moment. Matip is set to leave on a free at the end of the season, and Gomez has hardly played at centre back in the past three years. Was hoping I'd get away with the lack of depth until I could address it at the end of the season but I guess not!

Absolutely gutted. Let's be honest, there is only one result we're interested in here. A very solid home performance, saw us level it up through Salah after Messi's initial penalty. Biggest game this team has faced comes around and we are 2-0 up after 48 minutes through Cutrone and Salah. It was all going so well, but then it was snatched away from us. Messi made it 2-1 in the 54th minute and Rakatic levelled things up on 59 minutes. Then in the 88th minute, former Liverpool youngster Suso pops up at the back post to slot home the winner. Gutting. I've got to say I'm disappointed, we controlled both legs so well until that last 35 minutes. Again, it's another season where we fall in the quarter finals and fail to reach that elusive final.

Putting the Champions League aside, we progressed to the FA Cup semi-final after beating Tottenham on penalties, where we will face Derby County. In the Premier League, we are still in with a shout of the league title, but an unacceptable defeat to Bournemouth may have scuppered that. We will see...

The final part of this season felt a bit flat after we were knocked out of the Champions League. We finished in a respectable 3rd place, but way off the pace of Chelsea who won the title. It turned out to be another frustrating season with no silverware. We can't afford to lose 10 games over the course of a league season. We had the chance to take home the FA Cup but Jordan Henderson got himself sent off in the first half which wiped out any chance we had. Looking ahead to next season, we need to win a form of silverware. Ideally, the league and then have a solid run in the Champions League, but it's not quite gone to plan so far. I expect a busy summer in the transfer market as I continue my search for a new central midfielder and centre back.

In terms of the individual performances this year, Sadio Mane tops the average ratings with an average of 7.35 in which he produced 20 assists and 16 goals from 41 appearances. Mohamed Salah finished with a 7.32 and clocked 10 assists and 23 goals in 29 appearances. Patrick Cutrone came in as top scorer for us with 31 goals in 32 appearances.

So it has been a busy summer period on the transfer side of things. You'll notice that we made £175 million from sales which included some big name departures. The first of those was Naby Keita who joined Real Madrid for a record fee of £75 million. I didn't want to sell Naby, however he wanted to force a move through and £75 million could not be turned down. Roberto Firmino joined Manchester City for a hefty fee of £63 million after failing to claim a place in my first team in recent times. I had no room to play Bobby, with Fekir and D'Amico being favoured in the CAM role, so selling him made sense. Emre Can and Cesc Fabregas both leave to make space in the squad and to keep them happy. Ojo, Awoniyi, Dorsch and Soro were never going to make it at the club, so when a transfer offer came in, it made sense to sell up. The rest of the departures are loans, and I will be keeping an eye on Castro, Ellis and Endres who are likely to be recalled if injuries hit the squad.



In terms of the incoming players it was a fairly quiet window with just two signings. The big signing comes in the form of Mateo Kovacic who comes in as the replacement for Naby Keita and will hopefully revitalise the midfield alongside Goretzka and Higgins. Pepe Reina retired at the end of the season and with no youth prospects coming through, I needed a backup keeper and that comes in the form of Kasper Schmeichel, who is happy to sit on the bench and play when called upon.



A clean sweep for us in pre-season which is pleasing. Nothing of real note to talk about, but it's nice to see the tactic come together and the players get some minutes under their belts.



This is the tactic I plan to utilise this season, with the big change being the move to deploy a ball winning midfielder instead of having an advanced playmaker in the CAM role. The biggest challenge this year will be how Tommy Higgins adapts to such a high level of football. The 17 year old is being trusted to develop in the role, instead of me going out and signing an established DM. If all things fail with Higgins then Henderson and Goretzka can both play that position fairly comfortably. Other than that there are no real changes to last year, except that Driussi is going to lead the line but Cutrone will be waiting in the wings. I'm also training a tactic with a CAM which will see D'Amico get the chance to shine.

An unbeaten start to the season, although not the ideal start in all honesty. We started off with a home fixture against Watford, who took a 2-0 lead at Anfield, before Patrick Cutrone struck a hat-trick to save the day for us. We then travelled to Newcastle and this time it was Mohamed Salah who saved us and salvaged a point in the 88th minute. Newcastle was a disappointing result considering our superiority and our ambitions, but it could have been worse. The final game of the month saw us welcome reigning champions Chelsea to Anfield. We had an early set back as Mateo Kovacic went off injured and will miss 4 weeks. We took the lead through Mohamed Salah, before a brace from Eden Hazard gave Chelsea the lead. Thankfully we were gifted a last minute penalty which Ozcan slotted home to give us a point.

All in all, a pleasing start, but with plenty of room for improvement. We seem to be very slow off the mark and the bigger teams will make us pay for any early mistakes. The Driussi and Cutrone conundrum continues with both getting their opportunities.

We started off September with an outstanding 8-1 over Everton which pleased the fans. Salah continuing his lethal start to the season and it's nice to see youngster D'Amico on the score sheet. We then welcomed Bayern Munich to Anfield in the Champions League and we took them apart. Admittedly, we went 1-0 down in the first half to a Dybala deflection but a brace from Salah and one each for D'Amico and Cutrone completed a thumping victory. Bournemouth were next to visit Anfield and they put up an impressive performance. It took a Driussi strike in the 66th minute for us to break them down and at one point it looked like we just wouldn't score. Not the easiest of 3rd round draws but I still expected us to get past Manchester United, but a 91st minute winner from Alexis Sanchez knocked us out. Putting the cup disappointment aside we then travelled to Arsenal and somehow threw away a 2-0 lead after Woodburn and Salah had put us ahead. A disappointing second half performance left us with just a point, and we must do better to see out games like that. The final game of September fell in the Champions League group stage and we made the short trip to face Celtic. The scoreline flatters us as we struggled to break them down and a penalty from TAA in the 85th minute gave us a 2-1 lead and then Driussi scored late on.



So far, so good in terms of the Premier League. No losses so far, but three draws already is slightly concerning and is common for this Liverpool team. I feel confident that we can keep on the heels of Manchester City and we need to ensure they don't create a substantial point gap at the top. However, a few bad results would really change the complexion of the table as it is quite tight in the top half.



We were given a tough group with Bayern Munich being the 'big boys'. Shakktar will be a tough couple of fixtures and Celtic have proven that they can dig in when needed. So far however we have done our job and are sitting top of the group. It would take a major drop in form for us not to qualify from here, but anything can happen in football.



The injury situation is not ideal right now. Both my first choice inside forwards are injured for a substantial period of time. Hopefull Salah can be back to full fitness within three weeks and can carry on his goal scoring form. Mane is going to be a big miss for us and it looks like it will be at least two months before we get him back. This leaves me with a big dilemma on the left hand side, which is currently being filled by Ben Woodburn who is a more than capable replacement. Nothing major to worry about with Driussi which is positive.

Well, what a month it has been. We remain unbeaten in the league and the Champions League. We started with a home game to Manchester City and after an underwhelming first half, we brought it back to take a 2-1 win thanks to a very late goal from Patrick Cutrone. Next up was an away trip to Stoke City and it was another convincing win, with Cutrone picking up a brace and Driussi getting one. We were then back in Champions League action with our home fixture against Shakhtar and it was a resounding 5-2 win with an excellent team performance. We then welcomed West Brom to Anfield in the league and goals from Cutrone and Woodburn brought home the points. The final game of the month saw us travel to Swansea and it was another excellent performance. Salah's first start after injury brought him two goals and Ben Woodburn got on the score sheet once again.



Things are still looking good. We are top of the league by one point but it is still very tight in the top 6 and a few bad results could easily change the table. Chelsea and Manchester City seem to be the candidates that will be challenging us this season as I can't see Everton maintaining their good form. Overall, I'm happy with the progress, but we need to remain consistent.



Still looking good for us in the Champions League and the top spot is likely to be decided by our game against Bayern. Apologies for spoiling the result of my next Champions League fixture, I completely lost track of the date!



Mohamed Salah is back from injury which is great news. Sadio Mane remains on the sidelines and is expected back within three weeks which is promising news. Jordan Henderson is the newest absentee and his hip injury is set to keep him out for at least two months. This isn't a massive loss, considering he is a rotation option at the moment, but it limits my options off the bench which isn't ideal.

November proved to be a rather inconsistent month for us, although we are still unbeaten in the league. We started off with a trick Champions League tie against Shakhtar and it proved to be just that. Ben Woodburn got our only goal in a very difficult game, and a point wasn't the end of the world. Up next was Crystal Palace at home and we dispatched them comfortably with a 3-0 win, with Cutrone and Neres scoring the goals. We then travelled to London to face West Ham and a poor performance saw us come away with just a point, and a lucky one at that. Yes, you read that right, 6-0. After dismantling Bayern at Anfield we got hammered away from home in one of the most embarrassing performances of my time at Liverpool. I went into the game attacking with the 4-2-3-1 and I really should have brought Higgins in and played a ball winning midfielder. I've learnt my lesson and that almost confirms we will finish 2nd in Group C. The final game of the month saw us face Brighton, and after a poor first half we turned on the style to bring home the win. Sadio Mane also made his return from injury against Brighton and got on the score sheet.



We are still sitting top after November which is pleasing for me. Chelsea are likely to be hot on our heels with their game in hand but other teams around us are faltering and losing a few games. As long as we can keep up our league form then we may be able to go into Christmas with a decent point tally and gap. I don't want to set an aim at this point, but we just need to keep winning.



Following that defeat at the hands of Bayern it looks like we will be finishing 2nd in the group. Things are still not confirmed either, with Shakhtar able to move above us into second if we lose to Celtic. It's all to play for going into the final round of group stage fixtures. This year has to be our year in the Champions League following the disappointment of the past three seasons, but I still have no confidence.



As you will see, a big injury to Driussi will keep him out for at least 5 months. This is a massive blow, as we have lost a key striker, who is ideal for rotation and keeping Cutrone on top of his game. With Woodburn still out this means Solanke makes a return to the senior squad and will deputise for Cutrone. Henderson is still some way off returning, which means I cannot afford another central midfield injury. Hopefully Woodburn isn't that far away from returning and it will be nice to have him back.

Doesn't seem to have any real impact on us right now, although it's sad to see John Henry leave.

It's safe to say December was a busy month for us with the small matter of 8 games. We kicked things off against a struggling Tottenham and after taking an early lead through Cutrone, we struggled and could only take home a point. Up next was the final group stage game of the Champions League and we saw off Celtic in a professional manner, with goals from Mane, Cutrone and Goretzka. Moving back to the league we travelled to bottom side Reading and we almost game away from the game with nothing. We were 2-1 down before Fekir struck in the 86th minute and Salah in the 88th to give us all three points. Southampton were then the visitors to Anfield and we saw them off with ease as Cutrone continued his goal scoring form. We then travelled to Watford and in a game of very few chances we took our chances late on with Sadio Mane bagging a brace and giving us a 2-0 win. I anticipated a tricky fixture against Wolves but they really didn't show up and we tore them apart, with an excellent team performance and another two goals for Cutrone. We then took on Leicester and another brace from Cutrone saw us come away with the three points yet again. The final game of the month has to be the most disappointing of all, considering we were unbeaten in the league going into it. I've always struggled against Manchester United and I decided to use a DM instead of a CAM and it backfired. It was possibly our worst league performance of the campaign, but the crammed fixture period clearly had some effect.



So we go into 2021 at the top of the table, although if Chelsea win their game in hand then we will fall down to 2nd place and be three points off the pace. The good point for us is that we seem to have created a nice 7 point gap between the top 2 and the rest of the pack. The aim from here has to be to win the league, but that's going to be tough with Chelsea seemingly unstoppable at the moment.



It all got interesting on the final day of the season and after Bayern lost to Shakhtar, our win over Celtic took us to the top of the group, giving us a significantly better chance of progressing out of the round of 16 fixtures. On that note, the Champions League last 16 draw was conducted and the result is that we face Zenit. It's by no means an easy tie, but we could have done a lot worse.





Driussi's broken leg is a big miss for us and it looks like he might not take any further part in the season, with the potential for him to miss the next 4 months. It's a real shame because Driussi has been a solid striking option over the past three seasons. I'm hoping he doesn't decline that much during his injury period as he is only 24 and other than Cutrone, we don't really have another striker of his quality. However, he is valued at £50 million, so if he does decline significantly then I should be able to get a good fee for him. Jordan Henderson should be back soon, which is excellent news as he is my first choice off the bench to replace Kovacic or Goretzka and we've missed that quality off the bench recently. Nothing too serious with Van Dijk as he is set to return from a two week injury with a twisted knee.