He played last night with Firmino getting a hat-trick in a closed door friendly at Melwood.

http://knbtt.com/firmino-hattrick-friendly/

Yaya yes

If true - I'm very disapponited in Brendan. I've always suspected he has his little favourites and doesn't give much to some others, when Lucas got back in the team (because of necessity more than because of Brendan) he did very well overall. He's a great squad player who knows about LFC ...and before others compare him to other CDM's , I'm comparing him to Allen. Lucas can still do a job for LFC and if Br cannot see that then more fool him I say

Jeez. The squad have just trekked around the globe and some have hardly played with their team mates to forge those key in-game relationships (Benteke especially). We will get better and I suspect playing our football yesterday was secondary to competing physically with Stoke after May's debacle. Oh, and we won and looked solid enough at the back - Milner's presence helped massively in that regard. Very happy with Clyne and Gomez and Lovren deserves some credit for being far more assertive (which was his problem - he has all the attributes to be a decent defender physically).

Firminho will hopefully take some of the creative burden off Coutinho and we've also got a stronger bench and Sturridge to come back.

At least leave the Rodgers hating until you have better ammunition.

Agree with you, especially the bib, give the guy a chance to get the players to gel as a team, he really hasn't had time to do that yet!

I keep spelling Firmino as Firminho - maybe it makes him sound even more Brazilian...

Lovren had a solid game I thought. Skrtel made a few dodgy backpasses to Mignolet and didn't look quite as composed as Lovren. The stats show that Lovren won 6 aerial duels while Mame Diouf won 0, so it's clear who won that battle. He also made 12 clearances which was more than double anyone else on the pitch.

Clyne had a good game too. Gomez had a tough time up against Walters but I'd say he held his own. Mignolet easily coped with what little Stoke managed to conjure up. Could even say he looked commanding on the couple of occasions he had to come and claim high balls.

So...anyone fancy us appointing a new physio?

Did we ever replace Dr Zaf?

Don't think so. 'bout time we do something about that.

Think we have enough physios...

But we do need a team doctor still.. I guess you're wanting that at doctor from Chelsea?

Been away so will give my take on the game.

I was happy we won but the performance was not great but to get 3 points there after last seasons debacle was nice. I would have to say tho that I like to be entertained by a winning LFC team like I was most games 2 seasons ago and frankly I was bored for much of the match. The plus point was that Stoke rarely looked like scoring, the negative was that neither did we and with 5 minutes left I would happily have settled for the 0-0 it looked like it was going to be. Coutinho had provided most of the very few decent offensive moves by us and so there was always the chance that he would do something special and boy did he do that.

I must say that some key players from whom we expected a lot like Ibe and Lallana were almost completely anonymous and so if we can win when effectively carrying players it is a good sign. Should they now be left out? - probably not as that would be a bit knee jerk but they do need to do more than they did on Sunday. I see places where certain players like Gomez, Clyne and Hendo are getting huge praise which I think is a bit OTT - they were competent that's all in my eyes altho I must stress I was happy with that. Milner's display was interesting - he looked to want to take responsibility which is right as a senior player but a lot did not come off for him but I think he showed he will be an excellent addition. Firmino in his little cameo showed promise too and I am sure we will see some magic from him many times during the season tho he probably should probably be eased into a starting role. Benteke was not that great but in his defence I do not think he was used well and maybe we need to tinker with the system to get the best from him.

It is well known that I am no fan of Lovren but he was pretty good on the whole in that he did not give them any chances by bad play but one thing I think he deserves criticism for is the clear elbow where I think he was lucky to escape with a yellow as it could have been a red. Complete stupidity. I would still prefer Sakho or even Toure or maybe even Illori but obviously given Lovren did well he is likely to stay in at least for the next game or two.

I worry about the LFC future of certain players like Lucas especially and also Markovic and Teixeira all of whom I think are good players but none got into the 18 despite as far as I know all being available. I think if any of them were sold it would weaken the squad but we will have to wait until the end of the window to see what happens as predictably there are all sorts of rumours and it is hard to know what the truth is.

Overall tho I do agree with Sloth that it would be wrong to knock BR at this stage, later in the season it may be justified but given that in the first game of the season we have won a hard away game I do think we need to hold back on any criticism. I hope that we can build on this result and start being exciting and win altho I would always take being boring and winning over being exciting and losing.

I see (according to the news) that Balo is refusing to leave LFC until after the transfer window closes - that way he picks up a loyalty bonus of a six figure sum.

haha the crazy world of Planet Football.

Rumours on BBC that Juventus are after Lucas. If there's any truth to that, I think he'd be off sadly..

Considering he earns a six figure sum every week you wouldn't think whatever the amount is it would be enough to put him off moving.

Borini & Balottelli are winding me up something rotten at the minute!

Borini seems to be just some gold digger, out pricing himself from every possible transfer and now the rumour of a season long lone deal is back on, meaning he'll then leave on a free at the end of it and get the big signing on fee he appears to be hankering after.

Do these footballers have no professional pride? I'd want to play football on 40 grand a week rather sit on my ass on the bench for 70 grand a week.

I'll be gutted if Lucas leaves though I really will, won't blame him for moving on though, as it seems Rodgers isn't keen on keeping him if the rumours are true, great shame that.

I'm not sure gold digger is fair. Players sign contracts that clubs willingly give them. They have every right to see out that contract if they choose.

A player can sign a 5 year contract and 1 year later be told his no longer required and should find a new club. Clubs behave just as the players do when it suits them.

Echo reporting that Roma made an offer for Sakho and it was rejected

Glad to see it was rejected, if the story is true. Sakho is quality, and absolutely vital to the way Rodgers wants to play. We lack a bit of fluidity without him I feel..

I hope Benteke has more support tomorrow night we need to bang a second striker on for him, because the tactics were useless in our 1-0 win.

100% agree. If Roma want some players, we have a couple of excess Italians that they can go for, and get! But Sakho? no way!

Of course I'd want to keep Sakho,he'd be in my starting 11; he's a very good football playing centre back who can also mix it when needed, and we're trying to build a competitive squad with some depth, so we need the back-ups.
The only problem is, how does Sakho feel about it? I know he seems to like life here and is always positive with his comments about the club. But, he's also supposed to be one of France's centre backs and he'll wantand need plenty of games to keep his place for the Euros, so he might be interested.
That said, I wouldn't even think about a loan deal; Roma have plenty of cash, if they really want him, they can offer good money for him.

It could be a nervy game. Need a big performance as well as win with the team not doing as well towards the latter half of last season.

I would like to see some support for Benteke (Ings or Coutinho) I agree with the above post.

Blimey it's quiet in here given we've got a game tonight. Really should be a routine win, if such a thing exists for us anymore.

5 goals without reply takes us top of the league.

Not that it means anything at this stage of the season, but would still be nice.