Let the games begin

This weekend marks the start of the 2014/15 Barclays Premier League season, like every year everyone, many fans go into the season with high hopes for their team but like always, we want to win the race before it has even begun. The first two months of the season are important but in no way decides how the season will go on. We've seen it many a year where teams who peak too early fall hard towards the end, last season saw Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal fail at the final hurdle and Manchester City walking away as champions. 

This years season will be an interesting one, apart from the top four from the last campaign wanting to prove a point, the Premier Leagues most successful club Manchester United will have something to say. After a dismal season which I'm sure most fans of theirs wanting to forget, they come this season with a new manager, some new players and a fresh outlook. As far as whether they will challenge for the league title, it remains to be seen but they wont be pushovers like they were last season. 

Manchester City have made some smart buys during during the transfer window, the most surprising signing from them has to be ex Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. With City already having such a commanding midfield it will be interesting to see what Pellegrini has lined up for the England midfielder. Their squad is a pretty strong one and they have plenty of depth to see them through till may next year. With captain Toure leading them, they will be a force to reckon with, just as long as the club remember to wish Kolo a happy birthday. 

Chelsea, always the dark horses and with the Special One at the helm you know its going to be hard to get a result against them. Unless the premier league ban parking the bus, sides are going to find it tough to break down the double decker that Jose has employed last season. It's been an interesting preseason for them, they let go of two long serving players in Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard , then sold striker Lukaku and opted to keep two left feet Torres, I suppose they realised their error, hence they then re-signed ex striker Drogba. We know he knows where to find the net. Another note worthy buy for them was Cesc Fabragas, that won't go down well with half London but see if he cares. 

Liverpool, or should I call my team Liverhampton/ Southpool? Yes we've been the butt of many jokes seeing that Brendan Rodgers practically raided Southampton for our first 3 signings in Lallana, Lambert and Lovren. Like always Brendan has a plan though, the money from the Suarez deal is being used wisely to strengthen our squad and also provide depth. With Champions League now on the offering the team doesn't have the luxury like last season to just focus on one competition. Other signings of Can, Markovic,Manquillo and Moreno are exciting as they bring fresh new qualities that our side lacked, especially in defence. 

Our preseason tour to the USA provided a mixed bunch of results but we rounded off the last of our friendlies quite nicely on the weekend with an empathic win over German side Dortmund at Anfield. The player that's stood out by far the entire preseason was Coutinho, the kid just keeps on getting better. maybe being left out of the Brazilian world cup squad was a blessing for Liverpool. Rahim Sterling was also running circles around defenders and it was good to see Sturridge get a goal. With Suarez gone, we need all the goals we can get from all areas of the field. My aspirations for Liverpool? Many already writing off their top 4 chance but I reckon we'll be in the mix for the title again, we may not have signed big name players but Rodgers instills the right mentality in the players to make them winners.

There are many other clubs with points to prove this season and it could be very open for a long time which makes for a very tantalizing prospect. We all can't wait for kick off on Saturday as the banter has already begun between the supporters and its good to have that back. May the best team win!

Make us dream

I've been adamant from the get go, this season (2013/14) all I want is for Liverpool FC to finish in the top four. But ever since that first game against Stoke, when goal keeper Simon Mignolet made his first league début for us, with many of the fans questioning his ability seeing that we all were pretty happy with outgoing keeper Reina, even with his selection shrouded with uncertainty, he stepped up and saved a penalty in the dying seconds of the game. It ultimately gave Liverpool the win and their first 3 points of the season along with full faith given to the new boy. Ever since that moment you couldn't help but wonder, maybe this is it?

It wasn't going to be easy for this side under the guidance of Brendan Rogers, the previous season we finished strong but we were no where near close to match the top four. With our key striker, Luis Suarez serving the rest of his ban carried over from last season, the team knew they had to dig deep and others needed to stand up, so did Daniel Sturridge. He fitted into the line up like a snug fit glove, his continuous scoring game after game didn't even make us miss Luis the slightest but we all knew that El Pistolero was itching to come back into the team. 

After he served the 6 game ban, he and Daniel forged a partnership that the Premier League hasn't seen in a long time. Dubbed SAS, which ironically is also the abbreviation of the British Special Air Service, they went rampant on teams they faced. The link up between the two was even better than Gerrard and Torres. Forget about mind reading, its like they both know each others movements before it can happen. We all knew at the time that what Liverpool have is something special but as we move into the business end of the season, we really are seeing how ruthless and commanding this strike duo are. 

Luis, even after serving a 6 game ban at the beginning of the season is the leagues highest scorer with 28 goals, Sturridge isn't that far behind the Uruguayan with 19. Combined the two have netted 47 goals in the league, that's more than the total managed by 15 other clubs! The current league partnership goal record is held by Beardsley and Cole, who managed 55 in the 1993/94 season. That's just 8 off SAS, with 8 games still left for Liverpool, many tipping the duo to break that record. Luis is also on course to break Alan Shearer and Andy Cole's joint record of 34 goals in one season, again with 8 games left I wouldn't put it past him. He's been in fine form with a short dry spell not to long ago saw him go 3 games without scoring but that fear was quickly put to bed after scoring in both of the last fixtures, including a hat trick on the weekend. 

The run in till the end isn't an easy one with Liverpool having to face both teams that are above them, Chelsea and Manchester City, along with top four challengers Spurs. They have also got to rely on the top two dropping points to take advantage and given the form they have been in, it isn't looking likely. Like I've said from the beginning, give me a top four finish and I would be happy, Brendan Rodgers also admitted that the team we have now is still short from a title winning team with some improvements and players needed to get us there. I tend to agree with the manager seeing that our defence isn't the most solid one in the league and our midfield is sometimes lacking but the work rate from most of the individuals is nothing short of brilliant. Guys like Henderson, Allen and Flanagan that don't often make the headlines put in the hard graft required of them week in and week out. They have got to be commended for getting the team where it is currently. 

If you look at statistics, everything points at Chelsea or Manchester City lifting the trophy in May and if they do it would be well deserved but there's something I heard during the course of this season, to win the league, the team has to have some luck on the way and I won't lie, there have been some times where we did get lucky. Also if Brendan Rodgers was planning on leading this team just to finish in the top four, I'm guessing Luis and Daniel didn't get the memo because they're making us believe we can achieve something greater!

You'll Never Walk Alone