Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘europa-league’

• French striker had been linked with a move away from Anfield
• ‘I was pleased that he crowned his performance with two goals’

Roy Hodgson was delighted with the performance of David Ngog after the Frenchman’s double got the new Liverpool manager’s reign off to a winning start last night and said that he plans to keep the striker at Anfield.

Ngog, playing alone up front, struck in each half as an under-strength Liverpool emerged from a potentially tricky Europa League third qualifying round first leg tie against FK Rabotnicki in Macedonia with a 2-0 win.

Ngog’s future has been uncertain since Hodgson took charge a month ago with reports linking the 21-year-old with a move to West Brom. The player, however, has expressed a desire to remain at Anfield. “I can’t stop players being linked with other clubs. I certainly have never discussed him leaving,” said Hodgson. “I think Ngog has done well in the pre-season matches so far and he has worked very hard in the training sessions. I was pleased that he crowned his performance with two goals.

“I thought his target play, his general movement and his ability to keep the ball for us was also very good. But front players need goals and that will be a very big weight off his mind. It will mean he doesn’t have to worry too much about the coming matches.”

With their Premier League opener against Arsenal still 17 days away, Liverpool were without 10 of their World Cup players in Macedonia. The likes of Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson were left to train on Merseyside while Fernando Torres, José Reina and Dirk Kuyt are still on holiday.

Ngog was one of only a handful of recognised senior players in the starting line-up with Lucas, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and Alberto Aquilani.

Youngsters David Amoo, Jay Spearing and Martin Kelly all took the chance to impress against a limited Rabotnicki side and Hodgson’s selection was fully vindicated.

“I am very satisfied,” Hodgson said. “It was a game that could have been very difficult for us. It was a big crowd and some of our players that played are not used to big crowds.

“I was really pleased with the way everyone went about their business and we can go back to Anfield with a margin of victory which will enable us to feel a little more comfortable.”

Some Rabotnicki fans appeared to direct monkey taunts at Liverpool’s black players, David Ngog and David Amoo, during the match. Macedonian football has had problems with racism before and their governing body was fined after England players Emile Heskey, Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell were subjected to abuse during an international in 2003.

LiverpoolEuropa Leagueguardian.co.uk

As an avid reader of some pretty heavyweight fiction, Roy Hodgson knows opening chapters are extremely important. Just like novelists, football managers benefit from good starts and he will be suitably satisfied with tonight’s assured formal opening to his Liverpool reign.

Two polished finishes – one dinked, one volleyed – from David Ngog on a balmy Balkan evening ensures that the first leg of this Europa League third-round qualifier was anything but the ordeal Hodgson had privately feared.

He asked a young, makeshift side to “swim” and, perhaps to his surprise, they generally did – none better than Ngog and David Amoo, a winger Liverpool fans are unlikely to have heard the last of.

Granted Rabotnicki were unexpectedly obliging hosts, but with his albeit at times understandably ring-rusty visitors playing with real width and intelligence, Hodgson’s Liverpool story could be worth sticking with.

On Tuesday locals here marked the anniversary of the earthquake which flattened large areas of Skopje in 1963, killing 1,066 people. Forty seven years on, the clock at the city’s former train station still has its hands frozen at 5.17am, the moment the quake struck in one of Europe’s seismically most unstable regions.

Two days after a series of services of remembrance, residents were ready for diversion and duly received some. Liverpool’s visit marked the biggest game in the 73-year history of FK Rabotnicki, last season’s Macedonian league runners-up, with the occasion only spiced up by the fact Hodgson had made it clear this was a debut he could definitely have done without.

The need for post-World Cup holidays dictated Liverpool’s new manager was without 10 senior players for his first competitive game in charge of the club he took over only a month ago, but it soon appeared he might just have been exaggerating the Macedonian threat.

Lucas, Hodgson’s captain for the night, is not every Liverpool fan’s favourite but the Brazilian was soon cutting an assured figure in the heart of a five-man midfield, winning some key interceptions. He also took the 17th-minute free-kick which was completely misread by two Rabotnicki defenders, thereby permitting the unattended Ngog to lift the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Martin Bogatinov. Goals rarely come softer.

Although young Jay Spearing was sometimes too easily dispossessed and novice right-back Martin Kelly found himself turned by Rabotnicki’s Brazilian forward Wandeir, the Macedonians found Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos an obdurate defensive barrier.

Much as the 20,000 who had crammed into a stadium undergoing radical refurbishment and currently boasting just two stands delighted in booing the latter’s every touch – Macedonians are not generally over-fond of their Greek neighbours – Diego Cavalieri could have been forgiven for dozing off in the first half. The Liverpool goalkeeper’s most taxing moment was dealing with an extremely straightforward 30th-minute long-range, gently bouncing strike from Ze Carlos, Rabotnicki’s first shot on target.

Not that Bogatinov was exactly overworked. Despite the odd adroit touch from Milan Jovanovic, the Serbia winger newly signed from Standard Liège, and with Alberto Aquilani along with Amoo’s raw energy down the flanks, it is unlikely Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Fernando Torres will be sweating on their places.

On this evidence there could be some interesting cameos from Amoo this season, though. The former Millwall youth winger enthused the 100-odd Merseysiders who made the trek to a Balkan outpost twinned with Bradford courtesy of some exciting pace and fierce crossing ability. If Jovanovic and Aquilani were big on economy of effort, Amoo’s high-intensity exertions suggested he saw this as an important audition.

Ngog, too, is clearly anxious to please his new manager and Hodgson must have been delighted to see the young French striker arrive in the right place at the right time to claim his second goal.

Overlapping down the right, Kelly drove in a splendid cross weighted perfectly for Ngog to connect with. All that remained was for the forward to volley it right-footed into the top corner from around six yards. It was the sort of instinctive, first-time, poacher’s finish which indicated he may yet confound his many doubters.

Shortly afterwards the recently installed floodlights dimmed alarmingly. Fortunately for Hodgson’s peace of mind, power was at least partially restored, leaving Liverpool set fair for the return.

LiverpoolEuropa LeagueLouise Taylorguardian.co.uk

• Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson also to miss qualifier
• New signings Milan Jovanovic and Danny Wilson will make trip

Roy Hodgson travelled to Macedonia this morning with a makeshift squad for his first competitive match as Liverpool manager.

England World Cup quartet Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson were among the high-profile absentees for tomorrow’s Europa League third qualifying round first leg clash against FK Rabotnicki in Skopje.

The four only returned for pre-season training last week while the likes of Jose Reina, Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel are still enjoying an extended summer break.

Lucas, Alberto Aquilani, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos added some experience to a youthful squad, while new signings Milan Jovanovic and Danny Wilson did make the trip and could be in line to make their debuts at the Philip II Stadium.

Team: (from)

Cavalieri, Gulacsi, Kelly, Ince, Skrtel, Agger, Wilson, Kyrgiakos, Ayala, Darby, Shelvey, Eccleston, Amoo, Dalle Valle, Aquilani, Lucas, Spearing, Ngog, Jovanovic.

Roy HodgsonLiverpoolEuropa Leagueguardian.co.uk