The Kids Are Alright...

...and the old dudes too! It was good to see Jovanović getting on the scoresheet as well as his badge-kissing-I'm-staying-put celebration in front of the fans. If anything else, it would be nothing else but a reminder to Hodgson that he too could be considered as strike partner in Roy's preferred 4-4-2.


Fabio Aurelio also had a good game an escaped unscathed. If he could stay injury-free for a good run of games, we'd be instantly stronger at the leftback position. Kyrgiakos was his usual, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin self whereas Poulsen, presumably included to add some experience to the young midfield, did just that i.e. increased the average age of the First XI and pretty much nothing else.


Joe Cole's substitution didn't actually come as a surprise but, what was strange was who greeted him at the touchline. Instead of either Sammy Lee or Hodgson which would be the norm, it was Peter Brukner (Liverpool's Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science) who offered Cole a pat on the back...


Anyway, back to the kids. Danny Wilson had a decent first start considering Liverpool weren't threatened that much for most parts of the match. No silly mistakes (can't say the same about Reina unfortunately) and a show of decent defending skills is all a fan could ask for from a centre half at this stage of their career so, in that sense, Wilson looked good. The experience would certainly come in useful with Liverpool's current shortage in his position.


One young man that doesn't lack experience is Martin Kelly. He's increasingly being viewed as a dependable and solid option at rightback. Certainly not a bad reputation to be earning. He wouldn't actually set the world alight at that position but the skills learned there would do him good when he moves back to his preferred position in the centre. Again, here's hoping that he can stay injury-free as long as possible.


Jonjo Shelvey on the other hand, clearly looked like a work-in-progress but that's not a complaint considering that he's only 18 and had Poulsen as partner in the centre of midfield. It would be interesting to see how he does with some quality players partnering him in the very near future. One potentially quality player is Dani Pacheco. Admittedly, he had a slightly subdued game which wasn't surprising given that he was played off-position. At this stage though, being played off-position shouldn't worry Pacheco too much as what he needs is games and if playing at right wing gets him games, he should keep his head down and do as much as he can to impress manager.


Closer to home and it was interesting to see Why We Won't Copy Barca as a news headline on Liverpool's official site. A fitting headline considering Barcelona only recently trounced Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid 5-0 a few days earlier but at the same time peculiar. I mean, which football club in their right mind would not want to emulate Barcelona's amazing football? I suppose, Radolfo Borrell's reply was the one and only answer...

Liverpool is too big to copy other sides. We can have our own vision.

Now, that's one person who understands Liverpool Football Club. If only that message could get across to the one person in charge of managing Liverpool these days, we wouldn't have to hear ludicrous comments about managing supporters' "unreasonably high expectations".