Kenny Dalglish is set to be given a boost ahead of the Barclays Premier League season with star striker Luis Suarez close to a return to first-team action.
Suarez had initially been expected to miss the start of the Reds' campaign after his cup-winning exploits for Uruguay at the recently-concluded Copa America.
The 24-year-old, who was named player of the tournament after scoring four goals at the Copa, started pre-season training late and is still not expected to play any part in Liverpool's opening league fixture against Sunderland next weekend.
However, Dalglish revealed Suarez will be back in training over the next seven days, and praised the former Ajax man for his excellent performances for Uruguay over the summer.
"Luis will be back next week," Dalglish said to The Guardian. "We'll start thinking about him then."
"Lucas [who played in the Copa America for Brazil] is back and has been training since Monday.
"We'll just see with Luis when he comes in.
"He's had a fantastic summer. He's done fantastically well in the Copa America both as an individual and as a team player.
"He should be pretty happy with himself and pretty confident looking forward to the start of the season."
Many believe that Suarez's partnership with Andy Carroll will be key to Liverpool's fortunes this season, after both of them showed positive signs since their arrivals in the January transfer window for a combined fee in excess of £50million.
While Carroll has looked slightly off the pace in recent pre-season friendlies, Dalglish has no worries over his towering striker's fitness, asserting that the England international is well over his injury woes of last season.
"Andy is fit and well - better than he was last season when he was getting over his injury.
"Every single one of them has trained really well. I don't have any problem with any of them.
"If they're not fit they cannot be considered but they have all looked well in training."
One concern that Dalglish will have to address is his side's woeful defending, having conceded fifteen goals in five pre-season friendlies, some against signficantly lesser opponents.
Nonetheless, the 60-year-old Scot has put their defensive frailities down to a lack of full match-sharpness, and is confident it will soon be a thing of the past.
"They have just got to eradicate some of the mistakes they have made in the pre-season matches and improve their fitness, which is what they're doing."
An exciting season lies ahead of Liverpool fans, with the summer arrivals of Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson looking likely to provide a regular supply of chances for the likes of Suarez and Carroll to feast on.es
0 comments:
Post a Comment