A selection of Liverpool Football Club-related stories and titbits you may have missed over the past seven days…
Goalkeeper Loris Karius has agreed with the general consensus that a poor first half defensive performance was at the heart of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. The German shot-stopper told Liverpoolfc.com: “In the second half we did well but the first half of course was not really good so it`s frustrating in the end… It’s not easy to get something here if you only play good for one half so, of course, it’s disappointing. At the end, we could still get a point but the first half wasn’t really good from us. We didn’t defend the counter-attack so good when they had their moments. They didn’t have a lot of moments but when they did they were really dangerous so we could have done better as a team.”
Four goals in three appearances have helped Mohamed Salah to win the Premier League Player of the Month award for February. The pacy wideman beat off competition from Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham), Pascal Gross (Brighton & Hove Albion), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Glenn Murray (Brighton) and Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City) in a public vote.
The Egyptian also collected both official club awards for the month, being named Standard Chartered Player of the Month and scooping the Goal of the Month accolade. The latter was won for his sensational solo effort against Tottenham Hotspur, while further strikes by the summer acquisition – his first goal against Spurs and at FC Porto in the Champions League – also came second and third in the online poll.
Roberto Firmino has been called up to the Brazil squad for their friendlies against Russia in Moscow on Friday March 23 and Germany in Berlin four days later. The forward is among the 25 players selected by Tite as the South Americans continue their preparations for this summer’s World Cup.
Andy Robertson has been named in the Scotland squad for international friendlies with Costa Rica at Hampden Park and Hungary in Budapest (same dates as those of Brazil). The fixtures are the first under new boss Alex McLeish, who has made a 27-man selection.
Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum have been named in Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands squad for two international friendlies later this month. The Liverpool pair are part of a 33-man pre-selection for meetings with England and Portugal on March 23 and March 26 respectively.
Marko Grujic opened his account in competitive senior football in England with a fine goal in Cardiff City’s 2-1 win over Barnsley last Tuesday. The loanee scored via a drop of the shoulder and a powerful finish just a minute after the restart to help the Bluebirds stay on track for automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Like their senior counterparts the following day, Liverpool U23s suffered a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Anfield on Friday night. Neil Critchley’s side took the lead via a brilliant Adam Lewis free-kick but were undone by two goals in the final 10 minutes of an absorbing Premier League 2 contest. LFC U23s: Ward, N. Williams, Lewis, Phillips (Gallacher, 61′), Masterson, Christie-Davies, Camacho, Woodburn (Gomes, 89′), Millar, Jones, Dhanda (Adekanye, 73′).
Niall Brookwell scored the only goal of the game as Liverpool U18s defeated Derby County 1-0 at the Kirkby Academy on Saturday. The strike came from a well-worked set-piece in the opening half as the young Reds recorded a third straight win in all competitions. LFC U18s: Kelleher, Larouci, Boyes (Savage, 80′), Hunter (Walls, 45′), R Williams, Clayton, Sharif (Cain, 70′), Dixon-Bonner, McAuley, Bearne, Brookwell.
Academy attacker Liam Millar has earned his first call-up to the senior Canada national squad. The 18-year-old has been included in a 22-man selection for the friendly with New Zealand on Saturday March 24.
Liverpool Ladies’ SSE Women’s FA Cup Quarter Final clash with Chelsea Ladies will take place on Sunday 18 March at Prescot Cables FC’s Valerie Park. The visit from the current Women’s Super League leaders will be a 2pm kick-off.
Scott Rogers’ side will have to cope against the Blues, and beyond, without defender Amy Turner, who is set to miss the rest of the 2017/18 season after undergoing surgery to remove loose cartilage from her knee.
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