Cole – Anfield Road

Barclays Premier League – January 1st 2011

Liverpool 2 Bolton 1

Liverpool played host to Bolton for the first game of the New Year and the 2-1 win – thanks largely to a moment of brilliance from Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres – gave Liverpool supporters something to smile about. As long as they didn’t look too closely at the league table that is.

Gerrard was only on the field because of an injury to Meireles. The captain was on the bench at kick-off after – in manager Roy Hodgson’s words – he’d been left “extremely tired” from playing the full 90 minutes of his first game back from injury on Wednesday.

That tiredness meant Liverpool started with Dirk Kuyt on the right instead of out of position on the left, with Meireles starting in his natural role in the middle of the park. Gerrard was a straight swap for Meireles so nobody had to move out of position when the change was made.

Two other changes gave Liverpool a different look to Wednesday; Konchesky was replaced by Aurelio and Daniel Agger was back in the side in place of Kyrgiakos. Continue reading Liverpool win, Hodgson happy and proud

Roy Hodgson spoke to the media this afternoon as part of a press conference at Anfield staged to unveil the three signings to arrive so far in what Tom Hicks promised would be a “big” summer. What Hicks didn’t specify was whether it was “big” for transfers in or transfers out, and that was the kind of question most fans wanted to hear answered, in particular relating to the futures of Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano.

The total outlay so far this “big” summer is £2m, the fee paid for young defender Danny Wilson (with more to pay should certain targets be met). The other two signings unveiled were Joe Cole and Milan Jovanovich, both signed on free transfers. One signing made just before the end of last season was Jonjo Shelvey, not part of today’s show, he cost £1.7m.

What’s far more worrying for Liverpool fans is where all the money from sales has gone to. Obviously there’s still some work to be done in the transfer market, because if the Emiliano Insua transfer to Fiorentina goes through there won’t be a recognised left-back at the club. Christian Purslow and Martin Broughton have both insisted that any proceeds from player sales can’t and won’t be used to “pay down debt”, but have yet to explain where all the money has gone.

The club’s current financial year ends next week, and in that 12-month period the club have spent far less than they have brought back in on transfer fees. Assuming Insua’s sale goes through at the reported £5m fee, Liverpool will have made a profit on transfer fees of £32.1m since August 1st. Continue reading Hodgson: Torres looking forward to return