Lallana calls for Liverpool show at Arsenal
Having started with hard-fought wins over Stoke City and Bournemouth, Adam Lallana wants Liverpool to turn on the style at Arsenal.
Adam Lallana has been impressed with the fight Liverpool have shown in their start to the season, but urged the team to put on a "show" against Arsenal.
Liverpool endured a disappointing 2014-15, finishing sixth having come runners-up to Manchester City in the previous campaign.
Brendan Rodgers' men have started the new Premier League season in solid, if unspectacular, fashion with 1-0 wins against Stoke City and Bournemouth.
Midfielder Lallana is keen to continue the winning trend in Monday's visit to the Emirates Stadium, but wants the team to put in an improved performance.
"Six points out of six and two clean sheets - that’s massive for us confidence-wise," he told the Liverpool Echo.
"People asked questions about our mentality and our fighting spirit last week at Stoke. We showed that there and we took it into the Bournemouth game. Sometimes you have to win a game 1-0. It was massively important for us.
"We know there's room for improvement and we're working hard in training to achieve that. But I also think it's important to see this side of us.
"There's no doubt we have a lot of ability in the squad and I think you'll see our performances improve over the coming weeks.
"We'll go to Arsenal with a gameplan to keep this run going. We've got a full week to prepare for Arsenal now. Hopefully we can go there and put on a good show.
"They are always difficult games against the top four. They are good teams. Arsenal will be tough but we have a week to prepare for it."
Sergio Romero hopes fellow goalkeeper David De Gea stays at Manchester United beyond this transfer window.
De Gea, 24, has one year remaining on his current deal and has been linked with a move to Real Madrid.
United boss Louis van Gaal has selected Romero ahead of De Gea for the first three fixtures of this season, saying that the latter is lacking "focus".
"I hope that De Gea stays here because he's a good team-mate who always works hard," said Argentine Romero.
"It surely is a difficult situation for him but when one is a great professional like he is and one has a good head like his you keep training to get better day by day because you never know he could play on a weekend.
"It happened to me last year in Sampdoria. I was not playing but I was working as if I was going to play."
The 28-year-old joined United this summer on a free transfer after leaving the Italian club.
He has kept two clean sheets in two Premier League games so far and says he is enjoying working at the club, alongside De Gea and another Spanish goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
"They are two fantastic goalkeepers," he said. "One has won everything and the other has his career ahead of him to continue to win things. For me it's a privilege and it makes me happy to work with those two."
Romero conceded his first competitive goal as a United player in Tuesday night's Champions League play-off first leg against Club Brugge but United emerged 3-1 winners at Old Trafford in part thanks to two goals from Memphis Depay.
"They came here with a clear idea of how they wanted to play. We went behind early on but the team reacted and we now have the advantage for the return leg," added Romero.
"We are not through yet. We have to work hard. We are a team that is in progress, that day by day is trying to improve.
"Next we hope to have a good match at home to Newcastle and another great match against Brugge [in the Champions League return leg next Wednesday]."
Everton star Darron Gibson accused over fail-to-stop crash
Everton and Republic of Ireland star Darron Gibson has been charged in connection with an alleged hit-and-run crash with a cyclist.
The midfielder, 27, was detained on Sunday after police received reports a cyclist had been struck by a car which then hit a pump at a petrol station.
Mr Gibson is accused of driving with excess alcohol, after the crashes in Altrincham, Greater Manchester.
He is due before Trafford Magistrates' Court on 1 September.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said the cyclist was unhurt.
It is alleged he was behind the wheel of his black Nissan Skyline GT-R Nismo car when the crashes happened close to his home.
Greater Manchester Police said Mr Gibson was charged with driving without due care and attention, driving with excess alcohol and failing to stop after a road traffic collision.
"This is in relation to an incident on Sunday August 16 where police were called to reports that a car had collided with a cyclist on Park Road, Trafford, and failed to stop before pulling into a petrol station on nearby Dunham Road and colliding with a pump," a spokesman said.
Londonderry-born Gibson began his career at Manchester United before joining Everton in 2012 for a fee of about £1m. He is currently recovering from a groin injury.
An Everton FC spokesman declined to comment.
Bayern Munich insist Thomas Müller not for sale after reported €85m United bid
Bayern not interested in selling forward to Manchester United
• Matthias Sammer: ‘He is a player we cannot put a price on’
• Matthias Sammer: ‘He is a player we cannot put a price on’
Matthias Sammer has reiterated Bayern Munich’s stance that Thomas Müller is not for sale after a report in Sport-Bild claimed that Manchester United had made an official €85m (£59m) bid for the world champion last week.
United’s interest in Müller is well known, but there has yet to be any confirmation from the club of a firm bid.
Sammer, Bayern’s sporting director, said: “It is not Thomas who is causing the fuss, it is his performances. And we can’t do anything about that. [Chief executive] Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is right, he is a player that we cannot put a price on.”
United are aware of the German club’s stance yet Louis van Gaal is keen to test Bayern’s resolve. Earlier in the summer United made informal contact regarding Müller but were told he was not available. At the time, Rummenigge promised supporters that Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was bought by United in July, would be the only Bayern player sold to the club in this transfer window.
Bayern are aware, though, that Müller is flattered by Van Gaal’s intent to buy him and the United manager’s strategy may be to force Rummenigge into a public acknowledgment that there has been an official offer. United are also aware that by making their interest clear this summer, they may stand a better chance of getting their man in a year’s time.
Rummenigge would find it difficult politically to sell Müller, at least this summer. In last Friday’s Bundesliga opening match the striker scored twice against Hamburg at the Allianz Arena.
Liverpool attack prospers from unfair goal but defence offers real grounds for hope
The focus on Liverpool’s wrongly awarded goal against Bournemouth distracted attention from what appears to be genuine improvement in Brendan Rodgers’ defence
August football, eh? Bloody hell. You are reading the columnist who tipped Chelsea for the title and said Leicester City might go down. It would also have been possible to glean the impression from these pages that José Mourinho is a smart operator, that Dick Advocaat might be good for Sunderland and that Leicester seemed to have turned to Claudio Ranieri too late in the much-travelled coach’s career, all opinions apparently in need of drastic revision after just a few days of the new season.
Still, what would football be like without surprises? Tottenham Hotspur, most probably, though it is good to have a little unpredictability in the Premier League campaign, even if we are still right at the start. Just about the only wholly predictable occurrence in the first couple of weeks of the season was that someone was bound to fall foul of the new interpretation of offside, and it happened to Bournemouth on Monday night at Anfield, cruelly falling behind to what should have been an illegitimate goal shortly after having a valid one of their own ruled out for little more than jostling in the penalty area when a corner came across.
Premier League life can be hard for complete newcomers, but let’s spare the Cherries the patronising remarks about how they will pick up points sooner or later if they continue playing in that manner and concentrate on the offside goal instead. For the past few seasons, players have been allowed to take up offside positions as long as they do not touch the ball. While this was an improvement on the previous situation, the Tony Adams step-up routine satirised in The Full Monty, there was still a grey area. What if a player attempted to reach the ball but narrowly failed? How could defenders and goalkeepers hope to know whether a player in an offside position was going to play the ball or not?
What Philippe Coutinho did against Bournemouth, turn round in the act of walking back from an offside position to try to meet a cross, would have been fine last season because he did not succeed in reaching the ball. Even though he was right in front of goal and inevitably a distraction to Artur Boruc. Over the summer, however, it was decided that this state of affairs was unfair, probably correctly, and the rule was subtly altered so that players attempting to reach the ball or become involved in any other way with an attack – jumping over the ball, for instance – would be considered offside.
That is what the officials at Liverpool got wrong, and that is why Eddie Howe and his players were so upset. Coutinho’s best option would have been to continue walking back towards the halfway line, possibly with his hands on his head to indicate that he had no intention of interfering with play.
That is what the officials at Liverpool got wrong, and that is why Eddie Howe and his players were so upset. Coutinho’s best option would have been to continue walking back towards the halfway line, possibly with his hands on his head to indicate that he had no intention of interfering with play.
Interfering with play, of course, is a concept that goes back decades. It used to be argued back in Bill Shankly’s time that players should not be pulled up for offside unless they were interfering with play. To which the great man, naturally, had a pithy rejoinder. “If a player is not interfering with play,” the Liverpool manager would growl, “what on earth is he doing on the pitch?.”
So considering different referees might have awarded Bournemouth a 1-0 win – a daft assumption admittedly, because had Tommy Elphick’s goal stood the home side would undoubtedly have redoubled their efforts over the next hour – Liverpool can consider themselves slightly fortunate to be up there with the 100 per centers. They have not been imperious like Manchester City or amazed their own supporters like Leicester, although two clean sheets is not to be sniffed at.
Liverpool’s defence, in fact, currently looks the best part of the whole operation. As Brendan Rodgers himself expressed reservations about Simon Mignolet last season it is perhaps a surprise the goalkeeping position has not been strengthened, but Nathaniel Clyne and Joe Gomez both look terrific captures at right- and left-back, and Alberto Moreno is still in reserve. Christian Benteke looks as if he might turn out to be a great buy too, even at the price.
Perhaps we should all wait until Liverpool have played a few more games – Arsenal on Monday should be a better test – but Benteke’s appetite for work, strength, touch and mobility were all of a high order. If he gets the service he deserves he could soon be making Manchester United supporters wonder whether £32m was really too high a price for a 24-year-old goalscoring line-leader with plenty left in the tank.
Whether Benteke does get the service he deserves, and exactly what sort of service that might be, is currently what Liverpool supporters are wondering. Having strengthened his defence and sharpened his attack, midfield looks less settled. When Emre Can came on after almost an hour against Bournemouth it was immediately obvious he should have been on from the start. His performances last season warranted that anyway.
Liverpool do not have anyone more capable for the base of midfield, unless they are going to turn to the forgotten Lucas Leiva, and Can is considerably better at getting forward. Yet if Can plays, and he should, and Liverpool are back to using a back four, does he take up a position between Jordan Henderson and James Milner, or replace one of them? Do Liverpool really need so many players in the engine room? Similarly, further forward, Adam Lallana seems to want to do what Coutinho is already trying to do, and that’s before Rodgers finds a role for Roberto Firmino. Not to mention Lazar Markovic, who cost £20m only a year ago.
John W Henry, Liverpool’s main owner, was in attendance against Bournemouth, ostensibly to check on the progress of the rebuilding of the main stand at Anfield. It is possibly progress on the pitch he is more puzzled about. The new stand looks impressive already, and will doubtless be stunning when it is finished. The team might be too, though the completion date is not as clear, the upward direction not as thrusting and the expense still ongoing.
Plus there is a nagging worry that at the end of the process, whenever that might be, there will all sorts of costly items lying around Anfield unused. But it is still only August, there is plenty of time to sort things out. And before someone makes the same observation below the line, what would I know anyway?
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