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Now It's Time: Valarenga v. Liverpool Preview and Thread

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I think we all would like to see some encouraging signs today in Oslo. Though how encouraging they can be is up for debate, as Valarenga are already in the middle of their season and will be playing a reserve and youth side. So even if Liverpool do roll out the actual first team and not the traveling garage sale we've seen the past two fixtures, we probably won't be able to make too much of it. But an honest thrashing of the containers from the back of the Norwegian fridge will feel a lot better than the ones we've gotten from Hull and Galatasaray.

And chances are we will see the top tier of Liverpool. Though we know it won't be Steven Gerrard, who's now out until September with an infection in his groin, and the less we think about that the better. Now we all have to wonder if his age combining with this recurring problem how much we're actually going to count on our captain this season. If this infection is bad and he's not training, and it doesn't sound like he is, he's going to have to play catch-up, and that tends to make things worse.

As far as who will be on the field though, we can expect to see Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, and Daniel Agger are traveling as well. Most of those who played in Turkey aren't even making the trip, but Aquilani and Flanagan are, the former raising an eyebrow. If continues to shine while playing with actual non-corpses, things get interesting indeed.

It's just preseason, but this is when you'd like the volume to start to get turned up. It's on FSC at 1ET.