AS Roma vs Liverpool

"After taking over the club in October 2010, chairman Tom Werner and principal owner John Henry made no secret of their desire to bring the team to Boston and on July 25, that wish will finally become a reality when the Reds of Liverpool face Italian giants AS Roma at the home of the Red Sox. The game, part of the historic ballpark’s 100th anniversary celebrations, is not the first ‘soccer’ game to be played at Fenway - 18 games have been played there since 80,000 fans turned up to see the New York Yankees of the American Soccer League beat Celtic 4-3 in 1931 - and while there may not be as much riding on this game as when the two teams met in the final of the 1984 European Cup, fans will still be desperate to see their team emerge victorious". www.LFCtour.com, 2012

Liverpool's First Half Team


Gulasci
Enrique
Carragher (c)
Skrtel
McLaughlin
Spearing
Shelvey
Aquilani
Sterling
Eccleston
Cole

Once again Brendan Rogers has mixed up all the players looking as though to see the abilities of the players in adapting to the players around them but also to see the fruits of their training in the first few weeks.


The First half saw the defence work hard as the ball was given away a few too many times allowing the opposition to attack. Gulasci did very well to make some one-on-one saves.


Shelvey - A Good few attacks from Shelvey with his footwork to get through the defence, he's really shown some quality in this game. Time and time again, Shelvey see's himself weave the ball in and out the feet of the defence and had a few shots but not yet successful on finish.
Spearing - seem to be making too many mistakes as he's not looking up, not playing the right ball, forcing the ball forward instead of playing it safe back to the defenders and generally not had a good game, he is better than this and I think he knows it too.


Raheem Sterling - racked up a yellow card for a silly mistake of running too early into a free kick however his game play was impressive though not quite the same as the game against Toronto however he has shown consistency.


Cole - had a beautiful chance as he tried looping the ball over the keeper from a well placed ball from Aquilani however it just hit the crossbar, making the plays and being inventive with his crosses but overall he has shown he is worthy of playing in the starting XI.


Overall the first team showed some brilliant chances and brilliant team work with a little trouble in midfield where Spearing and Shelvey were struggling to control the middle however Shelvey showed some real strength in attacking; and what seems to be something he learned from Gerrard's books. Aquilani showed his worth with picking out Eccleston and Sterling who were both moving very well. Eccleston lost out on a few chances but he is showing huge leaps of improvement. They kept a clean sheet in the first half and it was upto the second team to do better and score some goals.



Liverpool Second Half Team

Jones - Gulasci
Wilson - Enrique(59)
Agger - Carragher (c)
Sama - Skrtel (59)
Flanagan - McLaughlin
Lucas - Spearing(59)
Adjordan - Shelvey (59)
Pacheco - Aquilani
Suso - Sterling
Morgan - Eccleston
Adam - Cole




Second half - Rogers decided to change a few players around leaving a few players on, maybe to check out different tactics however, the experiment also left them wide open in some areas which Roma exploited. A brilliant shot from a tight angle off Michael Bradley gave Roma a goal ahead, while a second goal from Florenzi made it even more difficult for Liverpool to get back. With ten minutes left to go, Adam first touch from a collected loose ball from Pacheco, curls the ball low into the far right corner to bring Liverpool's hopes back up. Goal wise that's all there was.


Just as the first half, Shelvey played a well in the 15mins he played, having taken a free kick that was well taken just a little off the target; the distance would require the ball to be kept low and he did so very well.




Pacheco - well set-up play a few minutes into the second half, lack of control but good thinking. A second set-up saw Pacheco make his way down the left hand side with a beautiful cross but Suso unable to finish. With his acceleration and ball control, he will be a brilliant back up or a link up with Enrique. His set-up for Adam's goal cannot be overlooked, in the right place at the right time to give Liverpool a chance to get back into the game. The last few minutes of extra time saw the youngsters a little to anxious to try and score making few tackling errors.


Flanagan - made some interesting runs up forward on the right hand side and provided some good crosses, defensively needs to keep his head up and check the players around a bit more but otherwise a decent game. Worth sending him off to get some experience maybe at a championship team as I feel that's probably what he is lacking.


Morgan - got caught a few too many times offside, maybe too ambitious with a goal after the last game but the attacking prowess was good to see.


Adam - seemed to be doing well moving forward while his ability to pick out players on the run, he also played very well alongside Shelvey, both worked well, knew each others game and their partnership paid off. And then his goal to get Liverpool back in the game was one you would expect from him and nothing else.
Lucas - took quite the tackle from Bradley but seemed to take it well, glad to see he's looking fit, and his tackles are as strong as ever. It was good to see him holding down the midfield as he once did and supporting the youngsters was a major necessity.


The End score Finished Roma 2-1 Liverpool. Disappointing result but with Roma sporting much more of their starting eleven with Liverpool changing the team around so much, not too much was expected of them. They made some good chances, particularly Shelvey and Pacheco played well. For overall performance, I would place Shelvey as my Man Of The Match.
This game was always going to be a tough match and with Rogers wanting to see the youngsters abilities, this was a great opportunity to use as Roma was never a weak team to begin with and there are a lot of positives to take away from this.