You'll Never Walk Alone- A Liverpool Career

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Brendan Rodgers had his first press conference since being unveiled as the new Liverpool manager today.

"The key is to hit the ground running" Rodgers began; "we have to establish consistency in our performances and the style we play. The group of lads we have is a very elite bunch of players and I look forward to working with them closely over the next few months."

Brendan was upbeat about his side's chances of success this season.

"I think we can surprise a lot of people. All the boys are confident and I feel we have real chemistry and a togetherness that will take us far. When all is said and done, as long as my players are enjoying their football I can't ask for much more, but me and the players and the club as a whole are confident and ready for the coming season."

The boss also feels the upcoming preseason matches will provide useful experience for his squad.

"It will be a very useful series of games and a good chance for me to have a look at my players and what they are capable of under pressure situations. Also, it's a good chance for the youth players to be a part of the senior setup and see what they can do."


A reminder that LFC-TV subscription is available for a fortnight long special price of £24.99 for the year (base subscription.)

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Europa League group drawn

Today the draw was made for the group stages of the Europa League, with Liverpool having a group of mixed opponents.

Liverpool were drawn in Group D alongside German powerhouses Bayer Leverkusen, Scottish surprise package Dundee United and Swedish giants AIK.

Brendan having seen the draw feels his side have every chance of progressing through to the knockout stages.

"It is a really fantastic draw for us with lots of mixture in terms of our opponents and the places we can visit. We've got a trip to a wonderful facility in Bayer Leverkusen and a place that not many teams get to play in Sweden. Then there's the local game of sorts against Dundee United which will be fun for all involved. I think that we have a really good chance of progressing in this tournament."

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Liverpool sign Kolo Toure

Liverpool have today completed the capture of highly rated Manchester City centre-back Kolo Toure for £3.5million.

The signing is Brendan Rodgers' first at the club and he has nothing but praise for his new acquisition.

"Kolo is a brilliant individual to bring in. He has a great work-ethic, fantastic defense and superb composure which is exactly what we are looking for. I know he is thrilled to be here and we are thrilled to have him."

Kolo was clearly happy to be here.

"I'm absoloutely ecstatic to be here. Liverpool is without doubt one of the biggest clubs in the world with a fantastic setup and I can't wait to get going."

In other news, Liverpool have loaned out Stephen Sama to Stevenage on a year long loan as well as Samed Yesil to Ipswich Town also for a year. Danny Ward has joined MK Dons on a season long loan and Krisztian Adorjan will join Barnet for a year loan.

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Liverpool unveil squad for 2012-13 season

Below is the official first-team squad for the 2012-13 season. Notable additions include recently acquired Kolo Toure and Daniel Sturridge from Manchester City and Chelsea respectively.

Liverpool FC Depth Chart - 2012-13
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
G	Jose Reina	Brad Jones	Peter Gulacsi	Danny Ward
RFB	Geln Johnson	Martin Kelly	Andre Wisdom
MLB	Martin Skrtel	Daniel Agger	Kolo Toure	Sebastian Coates
LFB	Jose Enrique	Ryan Flanagan
ROMF	Coutinho
RDMF	Lucas Leiva
LDMF	Joe Allen	Jordan Henderson
LOMF	Steven Gerrard
RF	Stewart Downing	Suso
CF	Luis Suarez	Daniel Sturridge	Fabio Borini
LF	Raheem Sterling	Assaidi

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Redmen look ahead to first friendly

Liverpool host Hannover 96 at Anfield tomorrow in the team's first preseason game under new manager Brendan Rodgers.

"We are looking forward to it," Rodgers said, before outling the potential squad he will play. "The first team lads are eager to get back to competitive football but the young lads are also competing for a spot which means its an exciting opportunity all round. Hannover insisted on playing it here at Anfield so a good crowd is what we are hoping for and a good runout for the lads."

Pre-match build-up on LFC-TV will begin at 14:00GMT and the match kicks off at 15:00.

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Liverpool 5-2 Hannover 96

Liverpool got off to a winning start under new manager Brendan Rodgers by brushing aside German opponents Hannover at Anfield. Over 27,000 people were on hand at Liverpool's opening preseason game to see the Redmen pile in the goals en route to a comfortable victory.

The scoring began in the 6th minute, when Luis Suarez recieved the ball around 10 yards outside the 18 yard box before playing it in to Sturridge, who did a 180degrees flick before slotting comfortably past Hannover 'keeper Zieter.

Liverpool doubled theird advantage in the 25th minute when Steven Gerrard took control of a free-kick 20 yards which he magnificently swept over the wall and past the despairing Zieter for 2-0.

However, Hannover were given a lifeline when Martin Skrtel was caught playing the offside trap and Ya Konan raced through and smashed the ball past Jose Reina to make it 2-1 in the 43rd minute.

Martin Skrtel made up for his defensive error by providing a bullet header to match Downing's corner right on the stroke of half time to give Liverpool a 3-1 cushion for the new players being introduced.

Sure enough the youth got their promised opportunity in the second half when Coates came on for goal scorer Skrtel, Jordan Henderson came on for Steven Gerrard who also had a goal and Suarez made way for Jonjo Shelvey.

Liverpool gave themselves a further cushion when Sturridge turned provider when he crossed from the byline for Shelvey to power a header in for his first of the new season and Liverpool fourth of the game in the 73rd minute.

Hannover weren't going down without a fight however and pulled it back to 4-2 in the 83rd minute when Schlaudraff scored an impressive header at the back post past Reina.

Sturridge scored his second of the game when he tapped in from Coutinho's rebounded shot to make it 5-2 Liverpool and a victory for Rodgers in his first game in charge.

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Liverpool sign Mignolet, sell Reina

Liverpool have today confirmed the signing of highly rated young Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet for a fee of £6.5million. The 24-year oldBelgian will become Brendan Rodgers second acquisition of the season, and the manager says he is looking forward to working with Simon.

"This, for us, is a magnificent capture. Simon is exactly the sort of player we are trying to bring in to the club. He is young, extremely talented and he always want to give more to the team. In addition to his fantastic footballing abilities he is a great person to have around the dressing room and I think will become a really big part of Liverpool Football Club."

Simon said it is a dream come true for him.

"It really is just a blur at the moment. I woke up in the morning and next minute I am told that Liverpool have signed me. I am so happy to be here at a club with great history, great players and a great manager."

In other news, Liverpool have sold goalkeeper Jose Reina to AC Milan for a fee of £10million. This marks Rodgers' first permanent departure from the club.

"It made sense." Brendan explained, citing his reasons behind the decision. "We are trying to move the club forward by bringing in young talent and we knew that Simon [Mignolet] would be signing for us today so I gladly accepted Milan's offer and send Jose [Reina] off with the best of our wishes. He has been great at the club and I wish him well for the future."

In other news, Liverpool have loaned out striker Adam Morgan to Real Madrid for the season, where he will work closely with the academy setup and gain good experience.

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Redmen travel to Dusseldorf for next friendly

Liverpool play Fortuna Dusseldorf tomorrow evening in Germany to mark Brendan Rodgers second friendly with his new side.

"This game particularly is one we have been looking forward to. It is a great opportunity for the lads to get some experience playing in a different country on a different pitch against some good physical players. It is important we get a lot out of this game."

The manager also hinted at what sort of a squad we would see.

"It is also a big chance for some of the fringe players to go out and not only impress but open themselves to the possibility of being selected for the first competitive game, so it should be an all-round useful experience."

Coverage of the game on LFC-TV begins at 19:00GMT with the match beginning at 19:45.