Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher: We can give other clubs a run for their money

Reds' defender lavishes praise on the club's owners, manager and staff for bringing in new players and turning the team into a competitive one with a positive mental attitude.

 

Jamie Carragher has hailed the way Liverpool have transformed themselves under the ownership of Fenway Sports Group, insisting that they can now give any club a run for their money.

The Reds finished in seventh place in the Premier League two seasons ago, missing out on Champions League football. But last season their early slump meant that they missed out on Europe altogether.

Signings have since been made to bolster the squad, as Charlie Adam, Craig Bellamy, Sebastian Coates, Stewart Downing, Jose Enrique and Jordan Henderson arrived during the summer, following the January acquisitions of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll.

Now the defender feels that the arrivals coupled with the improvements under the staff have given the team a positive new mentality.

"Normally when a new manager comes in you're building," Carragher told the club's official website.

"You take it one step at a time. Under Gerard Houllier and Rafa [Benitez], even though we won the Champions League with Rafa, in terms of competing it seemed to take a couple of years before you felt like you were not far behind the top teams.

"Now, the way we've started, the way we finished last season and the players we've brought in, I'm not saying we're going to win the league but you feel as if we can give people a run for their money. It's only been six months.

"That's what makes it exciting for me. The quicker the better for me because I'm getting on!

"It's a great credit to the manager and staff, to the owners and [director of football] Damien Comolli for changing things around and bringing in players. We've got rid of a few players now, I'm not sure how many, but there has been a lot of turnover of players and at the moment it looks like it is working.

"During some of the tough times it can feel like a million miles from where you want to be but at this moment we seem to be there and we want to stay there."

 

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard targets September 18 comeback against Tottenham

Captain to return to first train training next week and claims he is raring to go after a lengthy injury lay-off insisting he is 'fitter, stronger and hungrier than ever'

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard says he hopes to return for the Reds' Sept. 18 clash against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

The England international has not featured since March due to a groin injury. After surgery in April, his recovery was further delayed by an infection which put him back in hospital in July and ruled him out of Liverpool's first matches of the new campaign.

Now fully recovered from his long layoff, Gerrard says he can't wait to return to first team action.

"I feel really good and I'm back kicking balls again - it's all positive," Gerrard told the club's official website. "I should be back in full training with the team on Thursday or Friday of next week."

"I won't be involved against Stoke next Saturday but my plan is to hopefully be involved in the game against Tottenham [the following weekend on Sept. 18]. It will be Kenny [Dalglish]'s decision when I come back in." Gerrard admitted such a long spell on the sidelines had taken its toll on him at times but insisted he felt better than ever and is ready to play a big part in Liverpool's season.
"It's been a tough five months for me since I had the surgery," he said. "It's been up and down emotionally and I've missed playing so much.
"I've had a good rest, I'm fired up and I'm raring to go again. I know I'm going to come back fitter, stronger and hungrier than ever."
The 31-year old was also confident that he could avoid any recurrence of the groin problem and revealed that tests run on the problem area showed his rehabilitation had made him stronger than ever.
"Since coming out of hospital my rehab has gone really well. I'm really happy and positive again. My groin is as strong as it's ever been," he said.

Ngog happy to swap Liverpool for Bolton

Former Liverpool striker David Ngog is delighted with his move to Bolton Wanderers.

Owen Coyle's successes with Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge over the last two seasons have not gone unnoticed by the France Under-21 international, who too hopes to develop his game.
"The club is ambitious and has been constantly improving over the last few years, and I am happy to be part of that," Ngog told the club's official website.
"There is some good quality in the squad and I will try my best to add something extra to the team, and bring my experiences with Liverpool to the team.
"The gaffer makes decisions on who plays and I respect that. I'm ambitious and want to be on the pitch every week and show what I'm capable of."

Hazard clause not part of Cole loan - Lille

French champions Lille have denied reports that Liverpool received first option on highly-rated forward Eden Hazard as part of Joe Cole's loan move to the French club.

Reports in some quarters had suggested that Cole's season-long switch, completed on Wednesday, included a clause with the Anfield club that gave them first refusal on Hazard - the 20-year-old Belgian international who has attracted strong interest from Arsenal in recent times, and previously been linked with the likes of Real Madrid.
Liverpool are familiar with Hazard's ability, having seen him score against them during a Europa League clash in 2010, but Lille's general manager Frederic Paquet has rubbished any suggestion that negotiations for Cole's move involved a discussion of Hazard.
"There is absolutely nothing in that," Pacquet told The Independent. "There is no link between Joe Cole and Eden. There has been no discussion.
"We know Eden Hazard is interesting some of the best clubs in Europe, but he is here and part of the project."
Hazard's current contract at Stade Lille-Metropole runs until 2015.

Agger: We're loving this

Liverpool supporters are not the only ones loving the style of football being played under Kenny Dalglish.

Danish defender Daniel Agger claims the players are also relishing the pass and move philosophy which their latest boss lives by.
The Reds have begun 2011-12 with three wins and a draw, results gained with a brand of attacking football reminiscent of Dalglish's first managerial stint in the 1980s.
"My philosophy of how I want to play fits in with how the team is playing at the moment," Agger said. "That's the way we all want to play.
"We have some quality passers in the team and we're playing it on the ground - that's what people like to see.
"Results are the most important thing but if you can play like that it's a bonus.
"You play good football. Things are going the right way and everyone is enjoying themselves."
Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam scored their first goals for the Reds against Bolton, with fellow new signings Jose Enrique and Stewart Downing also impressing.
"For a team like Liverpool who want to go forward all the time, it's been so good this year that so many quality players have come in," Agger added.
"To make the team stronger we need players like that. It's been really good and it's a joy to go into Melwood every day to train.

Carragher : 'We know where we want to be'

Jamie Carragher admits results will ultimately dictate Liverpool's objectives this season but acknowledges a top four finish will always be the priority.

The Reds have taken seven points from their first three league matches after securing a superb 3-1 win over Bolton on Saturday evening.
The vice-captain insists it is too early to have a clear idea of realistic targets this term but concedes that a return to Champions League football is high on the agenda.
Carragher said: "The target the manager has set is number one and rightly so. At the start of the season you have to have that target but that can change as the season progresses. If you aren't up there competing it will change.
"If we are up there challenging in November-December then we will be heading in the right direction. But I think everyone at the club will pleased if we get in the top four this season because that's certainly where the club needs to be."
Liverpool's business in the summer transfer market means that competition for places is proving to be as stiff as ever in L4.
Carragher has been delighted with the new recruits but points to a man who arrived back in January as the catalyst for our upturn in fortunes.
He said: "When you look at some of the players that we have brought in - Downing looks like he's going to be a great player for us and he's started really well.
"But Suarez is as good as anything in the league. He's what Rooney is at Man United and what Tevez is at City.
"Stevie is the player we look to in tough times but he's out, so now we have Luis who can be the one who can maybe get us out of a bit of trouble.
"We've got more competition for places. People are actually saying 'I wonder what the team will be.' If we don't know then the opposition don't either."

LIVERPOOL 3 - BOLTON 1: LIFE'S SMILES BETTER UNDER KENNY

WHAT a difference a year makes.

The frowns that were developing into a regular feature among Liverpool players 12 months ago have now been replaced by smiles.

Even by this stage of last season – although they wouldn’t openly admit it –  Liverpool’s players had already realised
that Roy Hodgson was not the manager to bring back the glory days.

His overly-cautious brand of play, where securing a draw seemed all-important, was doomed to failure and the inevitable happened with his New Year departure.

Now, in the first full season of the second coming of King Kenny, the feel-good factor is back at Anfield.

Central defender Daniel Agger, who did not prosper under Hodgson’s direct style, is one of many players relishing life under Dalglish.

Agger was outstanding as Liverpool overpowered Bolton.

The Dane clearly revels in feeling wanted – something that he never experienced under Hodgson – and said: “It is now a joy to go in every day and train. The way he wants to play our game is pass and move and to do it with a high tempo.

“Ever since I joined Liverpool, that is how we have wanted to play – but it just hasn’t always worked out like that.

“It is enjoyable. When you play good football and things are going the right way everyone is enjoying things a bit
more.”

However, Agger wants everyone to keep his feet fi rmly on the ground.

He said: “This season we have to be consistent with performances, like the one against Bolton. That is the only way we can move forward. It is a bit early to be saying we have done that now.

“In any team there is always something you can do better. I think, in this team, there are a lot of things we can do better.”

But beneath that cautionary approach, there is no doubt that Agger and company are increasingly confident of making a real impression this season.

And £24m striker Luis Suarez is contributing more than most to the sense of optimism.

Mind you, referring to him simply as a striker is somewhat misleading, because this terrier of a player seems to cover every blade of grass.

His non-stop running, incisive passing and efforts on goal were a joy to watch as Liverpool made it two wins from three league games.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle said of the former Ajax forward: “He’s an outstanding player.

“He has a great touch and is very easy on the eye.

“He has been a great signing and against us he formed a terrific partnership with Dirk Kuyt.”

The fact that he played alongside Kuyt, rather than £35m record signing Andy Carroll, said it all about
Dalglish’s approach to the game.

No-one, no matter how big their price tag, has a guaranteed place in the teams he fields – and that can
only add to the intensity of competition.

Dalglish was in charge when with Liverpool last won the league crown way back in 1990.

Now, after such an encouraging start to the campaign, hopes are high they can finally muscle in on the title
race this time around.

And one of the key players in that mission may well be 20-year-old Jordan Henderson, who scored his first goal since his £16m move from Sunderland.

He is now settling down well in midfield, where he was in fine, adventurous form in a team where the other goals came from Martin Skrtel and Charlie Adam.

Bolton scored an injury-time consolation goal from Ivan Klasnic, but the Trotters were never really at the races.

Coyle added: “We had to be at our best at Anfield and the galling thing is that we weren’t.

“I had stressed that we needed to come out firing on all cylinders because when you play a team like Liverpool, you have to be on your top game.

“My disappointment is that we never acquitted ourselves in the manner that we can against a very good Liverpool side. Offensively they look like they can scoregoals. Having said that, if you gave me £110m to spend, I am sure I would have a team that look dangerous every time they walk on to the park!”