So we seem to be starting to put the rubbish to bed.2 3-0 wins certainly improves things. But I wont be getting carried away. If you watch both games our goals have come from playing the ball early into channels.Something I have been saying we should be doing more of.
Can't just stick to one tactic of tippy-tappy all the time. Not if you want to maximise the return from Suarez and Sterling's pace, as well as Gerrard's range of passing.The tippy-tappy stuff certainly wears the opposition down and lulls them into pushing up their back line and thus gives us the space in behind.
Glad to see the addition of Sturridge £12mill is gain a little steep but we are victim of circumstances of our creating. We have wasted so much money i the last 2 seasons on transfers it beggars belief. The fact we have had to pay for Sturridge at all is galling. As you know he was offered as part of the of the Torres deal. So technically he has cost us the £35 mill we wasted on Carroll plus the £15 left that we wasted on Henderson or Downing (take your pick). and now another £12 million. So he is a £60mill striker!
Joe Cole has moved back to his spiritual home and to be honest the Club he should never have left. He was never as good anywhere else and by all accounts he had a great game against the Scum yesterday. Good luck to him. He never really got a chance but I don't think he was ever going to do anything. Its £90k a week off the wage bill and it looks like we are trying to shift Sahin off the wage bill too. Slightly worrying bearing in mid we wiped £500k off the wage bill a week over the summer. I suppose the 6-monthly review of Suarez's contract and the re-signing of some of the existing players on longer term deals has probably eaten into what ceiling space there is in the wage bill.
Hopefully nothing comes of the Tom Ince rumours. Not because I don't think he or good enough, he is. I saw him at the Cottage yesterday and he could easily have scored a hat-trick and put Fulham out the Cup if it wasn't for some excellent saves from Stockdale in goal. The reason I don't want us buying him is simple. Some idiot got rid of Ince and Ecclestone over the summer.Much like the the Sturridge deal it smacks of trying to recover what has been lost. We need to look forward and find new talent. As clearly we are not good at appreciating what we have. New Year fixtures saw Kakaniclic, Ince,Della-Valli all score for their teams. Enough said.
Still think we could do with a winger of some sort it Rodgers isn't going to use Assaidi. I appreciate that the focus is bringing younger talent on long-term deals to give a core of talent for the next 10 years. A laudable idea however I like most Liverpool fans don't want to wait another decade for a title challenge. We need to focus on quality not quantity and get a couple of experienced player who can deliver.
Today we go to the Stag's for a tricky away tie.Looks like Sturridge may get his debut. Not sure if that will be a start or off the bench. Cant imagine he has had much time to integrate properly but if he can produce anything like his early Man City form he will be a legend for us. He knows where the goal is and isn't shy to shoot. Can he a Suarez play together, absolutely.Might means Suarez playing wider like he does for Uruguay.Suarez,Sturridge,Sterling. That looks dangerous
The real litmus test for us will be our next 4 League games. We are currently 21 pts behind the Scum and 7 points off 4th. That gap would have been smaller but for the disaster against Villa. A team who have let in 8,4 and 2 in their 3 league games since. So we are a long way from where we want to be. We only took 4 points off the ext 4 games in the league first time round. Away at the Scum, home to Norwich, Gunners and City away. We need 7 to 10 points out of these fixtures just to keep up with Spurs Chelski et al. I hope we get something at OT, lose miserably at City beat Norwich and the Gunners. The latter 2 are fragile at the back and with the way Suarez is playing he will kill them.
If we only get 3 or 4 points them clearly we are not moving forward. let hope we have an easy game today and a good draw in the 4th round.
YNWA
Sunday, 6 January 2013
Sunday, 23 December 2012
Half Term Report
I haven't blogged for a while partly because I do get weary of moaning all the time and secondly to allow Brendan Rodgers to bed in and give the players time to adapt.
Unfortunately that hasn't really happened to much. Liverpool have always passed the ball so Rodgers is hardly bringing a completely new philosophy here. He hasn't turned up at Wimbeldon and told them that football is played on the ground and got funny looks. I think modern teams are over coached and Manager try to control almost everything that happens on the field. Sometimes you have just got to let the players do what feels right any a particular time or in a particular situation.
I think a lot of our performanceshave been like a bunch of 15 year olds trying to master a new way of pressing or changing to 3 at the back or something. Unfortunately the Premier League is not a place to try this out.The players dont look comfortable. All the foibles of last season are still evident.
We still cant make the correct decision in the final 3rd.We have over 300 shots at goal in the League this season but have scored a paltry 27 goals.Once again we are at a 1/10 conversion ratio. Not good enough.To say we are profligate in front of goal would be same as saying the Titanic had a small leak.......
Our recent performances have illustrated that especially the debacle at home to Villa. Over 20-odd shots and 3 clear cut chances to be 3-0 after 20 minutes.1st one Suarez passes it behind Gerrard. 2nd one Shelvey waits to long to pull the trigger and the 3rd one Suarez shoots instead of cutting it back. What happens Pepe again doesnt cover himself in glory.Sure Benteke's opener was a decent strike but no pressure after a another Allen powder puff challenge.
We just seem to always be getting caught out on the break.Spurs tore us to pieces. No idea why Downing was at left back against Lennon.Glen Johnson still cant defend for toffee.He never truly squares up to someone running at him or in a position to cross. As a right footed player I don't understand why he leads when his left foot when he does bother to try and stop a cross. even that he hang out like a wet rag.
Tactically I think Rodgers is too rigid and sometime naive. there is no deviation from the same tactic. Pass the ball ad nausem. Over commit your fullbacks at all times.have none of your central midfielders show any positional discipline. That is roughly what happens. We seem to be most vulnerable when either have corner or are in possession just outside the opposition box.
Due to this over commitment of resources when we lose the ball all the other team has to do is pass it out wide into the acres where fullbacks normally live and have any of their quick players tear Agger and Skrtel to pieces. weseem to have no defensive shape.Its reckless pressing all over the place when we dont have the ball. No pressing when we should. We are letting in almost 2 goals a game. its rubbish.
This has bee compounded by his total devotion to Joe Allen (90-odd% pass completion but its always sideways or backwards and in his own half) and refusal to play Enrique even when he was fit.Why? probably because he doesnt bomb forward aimlessly ad if there isn't a cute pass on he goes long into the channels IE proper defending.thankfully Rodgers has relented on the latter and Enrique is showing his worth.
Yes we are playing well but it just isnt working consistently. I think the reasons are obvious. Rigid tactics, over-reliance on youngsters and lack of leadership from senior players on the pitch. Lets be honest Gerrard has been coasting this season. Yes he has scored in his last couple of games. Same goes for Downing, suddenly he looks like a winger.
So where are we, sitting 8th (flattering) ahead of Stoke and Norwich on goal difference. 5 points behind the race for 4th,with an inconsistent bunch of players badly in need of reinforcements. Some might see that as positive but we haven't beaten a single team above us in the League this season and have struggled against most of the team below us. Other than Norwich, Wigan and Fulham yesterday we don't put the rubbish to bed.That has to change. we also need to stop being 'unlucky' against the better teams. City,the Scum, Everton and Newcastle were all games we should have taken more from.
Personally I give Rodgers a D- as a mark so far..
On the plus side youngsters like Suso (lately), Sterling(briefly) Jon-Jo (more regularly) have stepped up to the plate. Suarez is scoring more regularly although he still misses loads and doesn't always look at other options.
thankfully it looks like Sturridge's arrival is imminent. That at least gives us the option of resting Suarez. I wont go into the madness that 2 years after we were offered him as part of Torres deal we are now paying for him! Dalglish and Comolli have a lot to answer for on that front. A £100 million mess.
We probaly need a another 1 or to in. We appear to be looking at buying Tom Ince back, begs the question why did we sell him in the 1st place???? Surely another season on loan would have been a better option.The lack of joined up thinking amazes me. They talk about investing in youngsters and themn sell all the best ones...
Being Liverpool - A brave and bold decision by the powers that be to let us have a look at the club from the inside. Not sure what the target audience was. But 2 things struck me. We looked unprofessional (the chef talking about player diet - straight out of 1991!) and Rodgers came across poorly and a bit of an idiot. Especially the piece with the names in the envelope nonsense. Thats psychology 101 from 1984......
W are short of players points and consistency.January is never a very good time to fix these things and with a tough Europa draw with Zenit. Think it will be down the FA Cup to provide us with any joy.
Other than Sturridge who can we get in. Firstly I would say recall Carroll. Yes he is injured (again) but surely he is better off with us. Could do worse than Snodgrass and Sessingnon. But those clubs wont sell in a. Maybe 2 for the summer. Not sure what Rodgers is doing with Assaidi.In the Cup games he looks good but doesnt even crack a nod for the bench. Worriyingly Henderson has been told he has a future at the club. I hope its on the shop selling bobble hats! Joe Cole will surely go in Jan. even if its just for the £90k off the wage bill.
Not a lot of value and talent out there for us to exploit this window.
One a separate note great news the verdicts in the Hillsborough disaster have finally been overturned. Those families have been steadfast in their belief. The shocking thing for me is that most people werent really aware of the scale of the cover up until the independent tribunal made their public pressconference. Most of the facts have been know to Liverpool fans for years.....
Justice for the 96 may become a reality.
YNWA
Oh Yes and BAH HUMBUG!
Unfortunately that hasn't really happened to much. Liverpool have always passed the ball so Rodgers is hardly bringing a completely new philosophy here. He hasn't turned up at Wimbeldon and told them that football is played on the ground and got funny looks. I think modern teams are over coached and Manager try to control almost everything that happens on the field. Sometimes you have just got to let the players do what feels right any a particular time or in a particular situation.
I think a lot of our performanceshave been like a bunch of 15 year olds trying to master a new way of pressing or changing to 3 at the back or something. Unfortunately the Premier League is not a place to try this out.The players dont look comfortable. All the foibles of last season are still evident.
We still cant make the correct decision in the final 3rd.We have over 300 shots at goal in the League this season but have scored a paltry 27 goals.Once again we are at a 1/10 conversion ratio. Not good enough.To say we are profligate in front of goal would be same as saying the Titanic had a small leak.......
Our recent performances have illustrated that especially the debacle at home to Villa. Over 20-odd shots and 3 clear cut chances to be 3-0 after 20 minutes.1st one Suarez passes it behind Gerrard. 2nd one Shelvey waits to long to pull the trigger and the 3rd one Suarez shoots instead of cutting it back. What happens Pepe again doesnt cover himself in glory.Sure Benteke's opener was a decent strike but no pressure after a another Allen powder puff challenge.
We just seem to always be getting caught out on the break.Spurs tore us to pieces. No idea why Downing was at left back against Lennon.Glen Johnson still cant defend for toffee.He never truly squares up to someone running at him or in a position to cross. As a right footed player I don't understand why he leads when his left foot when he does bother to try and stop a cross. even that he hang out like a wet rag.
Tactically I think Rodgers is too rigid and sometime naive. there is no deviation from the same tactic. Pass the ball ad nausem. Over commit your fullbacks at all times.have none of your central midfielders show any positional discipline. That is roughly what happens. We seem to be most vulnerable when either have corner or are in possession just outside the opposition box.
Due to this over commitment of resources when we lose the ball all the other team has to do is pass it out wide into the acres where fullbacks normally live and have any of their quick players tear Agger and Skrtel to pieces. weseem to have no defensive shape.Its reckless pressing all over the place when we dont have the ball. No pressing when we should. We are letting in almost 2 goals a game. its rubbish.
This has bee compounded by his total devotion to Joe Allen (90-odd% pass completion but its always sideways or backwards and in his own half) and refusal to play Enrique even when he was fit.Why? probably because he doesnt bomb forward aimlessly ad if there isn't a cute pass on he goes long into the channels IE proper defending.thankfully Rodgers has relented on the latter and Enrique is showing his worth.
Yes we are playing well but it just isnt working consistently. I think the reasons are obvious. Rigid tactics, over-reliance on youngsters and lack of leadership from senior players on the pitch. Lets be honest Gerrard has been coasting this season. Yes he has scored in his last couple of games. Same goes for Downing, suddenly he looks like a winger.
So where are we, sitting 8th (flattering) ahead of Stoke and Norwich on goal difference. 5 points behind the race for 4th,with an inconsistent bunch of players badly in need of reinforcements. Some might see that as positive but we haven't beaten a single team above us in the League this season and have struggled against most of the team below us. Other than Norwich, Wigan and Fulham yesterday we don't put the rubbish to bed.That has to change. we also need to stop being 'unlucky' against the better teams. City,the Scum, Everton and Newcastle were all games we should have taken more from.
Personally I give Rodgers a D- as a mark so far..
On the plus side youngsters like Suso (lately), Sterling(briefly) Jon-Jo (more regularly) have stepped up to the plate. Suarez is scoring more regularly although he still misses loads and doesn't always look at other options.
thankfully it looks like Sturridge's arrival is imminent. That at least gives us the option of resting Suarez. I wont go into the madness that 2 years after we were offered him as part of Torres deal we are now paying for him! Dalglish and Comolli have a lot to answer for on that front. A £100 million mess.
We probaly need a another 1 or to in. We appear to be looking at buying Tom Ince back, begs the question why did we sell him in the 1st place???? Surely another season on loan would have been a better option.The lack of joined up thinking amazes me. They talk about investing in youngsters and themn sell all the best ones...
Being Liverpool - A brave and bold decision by the powers that be to let us have a look at the club from the inside. Not sure what the target audience was. But 2 things struck me. We looked unprofessional (the chef talking about player diet - straight out of 1991!) and Rodgers came across poorly and a bit of an idiot. Especially the piece with the names in the envelope nonsense. Thats psychology 101 from 1984......
W are short of players points and consistency.January is never a very good time to fix these things and with a tough Europa draw with Zenit. Think it will be down the FA Cup to provide us with any joy.
Other than Sturridge who can we get in. Firstly I would say recall Carroll. Yes he is injured (again) but surely he is better off with us. Could do worse than Snodgrass and Sessingnon. But those clubs wont sell in a. Maybe 2 for the summer. Not sure what Rodgers is doing with Assaidi.In the Cup games he looks good but doesnt even crack a nod for the bench. Worriyingly Henderson has been told he has a future at the club. I hope its on the shop selling bobble hats! Joe Cole will surely go in Jan. even if its just for the £90k off the wage bill.
Not a lot of value and talent out there for us to exploit this window.
One a separate note great news the verdicts in the Hillsborough disaster have finally been overturned. Those families have been steadfast in their belief. The shocking thing for me is that most people werent really aware of the scale of the cover up until the independent tribunal made their public pressconference. Most of the facts have been know to Liverpool fans for years.....
Justice for the 96 may become a reality.
YNWA
Oh Yes and BAH HUMBUG!
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Gunned Down Again
I found it quite ironic last Sunday when a team that sold its crown jewel (RVP) had been widely criticised for letting him go and the quality of the replacements. Clearly the media had nothing to write about so as usual its either Liverpool or Arsenal bashing.
If you had watched any of Arsenal 1st few league game you would have seen, like us, they are creating chances and just needed a bit more composure to take them. With Podolski,Carzola and Giroud anyone with a brain would agree it was just a matter of time. Unfortunately that time arrived early on Sunday afternoon.
We were hopelessly outfought in every department. I haven't criticised Brendan Rodgers' tactic so far but splitting up the midfield trio of Allen-Gerrard-Shelvey seemed odd especially when he was bringing in Sahin. A youngster from Real Madrid who hasn't kicked a ball in anger in over year. Needless to say the game passed him by and once we were 2-0 down did he bring on Shelvey. The young man immediately set about Arsenal with more vigour and purpose than the rest of the team. (Sterling aside). Sure Arsenal had taken their foot off the gas but he has 3 or 4 shots and did more than the other 3 combined.
We created almost nothing and got deservedly stuffed. We have shipped 8 goals in 3 games and with Sunderland and ManUre on the horizon I don't see many points there. So we will be bottom after 5 games and so 3 Managers in 2 and a bit years after parting company with Rafa we are far worse off than we have been since the mid-sixties when we we were languishing in 2nd Division and constantly missing out on promotion (ala modern day Cardiff).
Steven Gerrard look totally disinterested, again....... He cant seem to pass 5 or 10 yards. He gave the ball away for the 1st goal when he was required to simply roll the ball into Surez's path on the edge of the Arsenal box,instead Podolski wins the ball and he and Cazorla tear us to pieces
Pepe Reina was again culpable for their 2nd, thats his 3rd clanger of the season sofar and we have only played 7 competitive matches!
As mentioned previously,we are threadbare.Only Chelski and Wigan have submitted similar size squad lists and thankfully we didn't let Pacheco go on loan in the end. Squad listed below with their homegrown status and there are 4 keepers in it and Lucas and Cole are injured!!!
1 Agger, Daniel Munthe No
2 Allen, Joseph Michael Yes
3 Assaidi, Ossama No
4 Carragher, James Lee Yes
5 Coates Nion, Sebastian No
6 Cole, Joseph John Yes
7 Marangon, Donieber Alexander No
8 Downing, Stewart Yes
9 Gerrard MBE, Steven George Yes
10 Gulacsi, Peter Yes
11 Henderson, Jordan Brian Yes
12 Johnson, Glen McLeod Cooper Yes
13 Jones, Bradley Yes
14 Sanchez Diaz, Jose Enrique No
15 Kelly, Martin Ronald Yes
16 Pezzini Leiva, Lucas No
17 Reina Paez, Jose Manuel No
18 Sahin, Nuri No
19 Skrtel, Martin No
20 Suarez Diaz, Luis Alberto No
I can't see how the remainder of this bunch above plus the likes of Shelvey,Sterling,Flanaghan, Morgan and Borini are suppose to get us up the table at all.
The Owners have seen fit to post an open letter in light of the outrage and despondency voiced by fans and media alike in the aftermath of the deadline day shenanigans and the abject surrender against Arsenal.
They hold their hand up to admitting that it taking longer than expected to fix the mistakes of the past and indeed have compounded it by making some of their own. A clear reference to the appointment of Commolli and allowing and King Kenny to waste £140mill in 2 transfer windows.
Unfortunately this has hamstrung Rodgers in what he can achieve this season. I seriously believe that Premiership survival is all we can hope for......
I see almost no creativity in the above bunch and there isn't a goalscorer among them. But at least we now know that until we start to achieve success on the pitch, there wont be anymore money from the owners. So its self-funding and focusing on the youngsters already at the club and those we have brought in like Sahin.
13 goals from Suarez last season wasn't good enough and from what we have seen so far he doesn't look like scoring even that many. Too many missed chances and he doesn't look for others in the box.No Bellamy,Rodriguez or Kuyt. That's roughly 20 goal there as well we need to replace. Henderson and Downing have dropped to subs which is again showing how overpriced and completely overrated they were.
Rodgers is stuck with what he has until January and I would expect Henderson, Downing and Cole to go in that window.Hopefully we will see the sense of bringing Andy Carroll back by then.
As mentioned in my last post we have missed out heavily on some bargains which is slightly disappointing. I would have thought that Rodgers with his 180 page dossier would have had at least some knowledge of the like of Snodgrass, Michu,Rodellaga and Aruna Kone. All of whom would have strengthened our squad. I cant see how his preferred tactics can work with a squad so devoid of pace.Hopefully he realises he needs to modify things a bit. Everyone worked Swansea out for the most part in the 2nd half of last season so if all he is going to is exactly the same thing them we have no chance.
Another long hard season of toil awaits us. No doubt we will rise to the occasion for some of the bigger games and continue to be clueless against the Wigan's of the League.
All we can hope for is that all our players return from the International break without injuries.
YNWA
If you had watched any of Arsenal 1st few league game you would have seen, like us, they are creating chances and just needed a bit more composure to take them. With Podolski,Carzola and Giroud anyone with a brain would agree it was just a matter of time. Unfortunately that time arrived early on Sunday afternoon.
We were hopelessly outfought in every department. I haven't criticised Brendan Rodgers' tactic so far but splitting up the midfield trio of Allen-Gerrard-Shelvey seemed odd especially when he was bringing in Sahin. A youngster from Real Madrid who hasn't kicked a ball in anger in over year. Needless to say the game passed him by and once we were 2-0 down did he bring on Shelvey. The young man immediately set about Arsenal with more vigour and purpose than the rest of the team. (Sterling aside). Sure Arsenal had taken their foot off the gas but he has 3 or 4 shots and did more than the other 3 combined.
We created almost nothing and got deservedly stuffed. We have shipped 8 goals in 3 games and with Sunderland and ManUre on the horizon I don't see many points there. So we will be bottom after 5 games and so 3 Managers in 2 and a bit years after parting company with Rafa we are far worse off than we have been since the mid-sixties when we we were languishing in 2nd Division and constantly missing out on promotion (ala modern day Cardiff).
Steven Gerrard look totally disinterested, again....... He cant seem to pass 5 or 10 yards. He gave the ball away for the 1st goal when he was required to simply roll the ball into Surez's path on the edge of the Arsenal box,instead Podolski wins the ball and he and Cazorla tear us to pieces
Pepe Reina was again culpable for their 2nd, thats his 3rd clanger of the season sofar and we have only played 7 competitive matches!
As mentioned previously,we are threadbare.Only Chelski and Wigan have submitted similar size squad lists and thankfully we didn't let Pacheco go on loan in the end. Squad listed below with their homegrown status and there are 4 keepers in it and Lucas and Cole are injured!!!
1 Agger, Daniel Munthe No
2 Allen, Joseph Michael Yes
3 Assaidi, Ossama No
4 Carragher, James Lee Yes
5 Coates Nion, Sebastian No
6 Cole, Joseph John Yes
7 Marangon, Donieber Alexander No
8 Downing, Stewart Yes
9 Gerrard MBE, Steven George Yes
10 Gulacsi, Peter Yes
11 Henderson, Jordan Brian Yes
12 Johnson, Glen McLeod Cooper Yes
13 Jones, Bradley Yes
14 Sanchez Diaz, Jose Enrique No
15 Kelly, Martin Ronald Yes
16 Pezzini Leiva, Lucas No
17 Reina Paez, Jose Manuel No
18 Sahin, Nuri No
19 Skrtel, Martin No
20 Suarez Diaz, Luis Alberto No
I can't see how the remainder of this bunch above plus the likes of Shelvey,Sterling,Flanaghan, Morgan and Borini are suppose to get us up the table at all.
The Owners have seen fit to post an open letter in light of the outrage and despondency voiced by fans and media alike in the aftermath of the deadline day shenanigans and the abject surrender against Arsenal.
They hold their hand up to admitting that it taking longer than expected to fix the mistakes of the past and indeed have compounded it by making some of their own. A clear reference to the appointment of Commolli and allowing and King Kenny to waste £140mill in 2 transfer windows.
Unfortunately this has hamstrung Rodgers in what he can achieve this season. I seriously believe that Premiership survival is all we can hope for......
I see almost no creativity in the above bunch and there isn't a goalscorer among them. But at least we now know that until we start to achieve success on the pitch, there wont be anymore money from the owners. So its self-funding and focusing on the youngsters already at the club and those we have brought in like Sahin.
13 goals from Suarez last season wasn't good enough and from what we have seen so far he doesn't look like scoring even that many. Too many missed chances and he doesn't look for others in the box.No Bellamy,Rodriguez or Kuyt. That's roughly 20 goal there as well we need to replace. Henderson and Downing have dropped to subs which is again showing how overpriced and completely overrated they were.
Rodgers is stuck with what he has until January and I would expect Henderson, Downing and Cole to go in that window.Hopefully we will see the sense of bringing Andy Carroll back by then.
As mentioned in my last post we have missed out heavily on some bargains which is slightly disappointing. I would have thought that Rodgers with his 180 page dossier would have had at least some knowledge of the like of Snodgrass, Michu,Rodellaga and Aruna Kone. All of whom would have strengthened our squad. I cant see how his preferred tactics can work with a squad so devoid of pace.Hopefully he realises he needs to modify things a bit. Everyone worked Swansea out for the most part in the 2nd half of last season so if all he is going to is exactly the same thing them we have no chance.
Another long hard season of toil awaits us. No doubt we will rise to the occasion for some of the bigger games and continue to be clueless against the Wigan's of the League.
All we can hope for is that all our players return from the International break without injuries.
YNWA
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Dealdine Day Dross - Part3
For Liverpool Football Club tranfer deadline day has become nothing but an unmitigated disaster since Fenway Sports took over the club. Its like watching The Blairwitch Project, alone in your caravan in the middle of nowhere.
Part-1 - January 2011. King Kenny and Commoli contrive not only to pass on £40mill and Sturridge to insist on £50mill. Why because it made good business sense to give £35mill of this windfall to Newcastle for their injured 6 foot 6 inch giant who had score a hat-trick against Liverpool in the November League match. Brilliant........
Part-2 - August 2011. Still armed wth some £15 from the Torres /Carroll thing rumours abound in March that we are looking to sign Enrique from Newcastle to solve our 6 year old leftback issue.IE we sold Riise for some reason and never really replaced him. See Warnock, Aurelio and Dossena (Another 8mill wasted).
So the season finishes and suddenly Charlie Adam,Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson are linked with the club. No real problem with the 1st 2. Adam would not be expensive and Downing solves another left sided problem. IE we dont have a winger. But things again start to get stranger. Some haggling over Adam and we get him for 8mill. Initial offers of £12mill each to the other 2 are rebuffed.
So you would think that we would go and look elsewhere. After all we are LFC and can go get players anywhere and lots of clubs would take £12mill for any of their players. But no like the myopic sage at the Emirates we blindly plow ahead for 2 players who between them hadn't scored 5 goals in the 2010/20111 Premier League season. Result £20mill for each. Ashley Young a far better player than Downing goes to ManUre for £16mill????? Man City buy David Silva for £22.2mill we get Jordan Henderson for around the same????
While all this is going own we sell yet another player to Chelski in Raul Mierles because we decided to renage on gentleman's agreement between Hodgson and the player over a wage increase.(Player took a £20 cut to come to Liverpool). Then Kenny confirms in a press conference that Aquilani was our 'best player in pre-season' so naturally the next day he is loaned to AC Milan for the season!!! Next is Joe Cole is off to Lille as a wage refugee this finally allows us to sign Enrique.
Alarm bells should have been ringing already if e have send player out on loan just to make a gap in the wage bill what ridiculous salaries are we paying to players who finished 6th and spent most of the season not trying a leg and languishig in the bottom half of the table?
So we stumble through last season. Other than Enrique none of the otehr signings including a now fit Carroll really make any impact whatsoever.
Charlie Adam goes from running games at Blackpool and delivering set-pieces to drool over. To huffing and puffing aimlessly and suddenly can't beat the 1st man or wall with crosses, free-kicks or corners.
Stewart Downing proved what any of us with eyes and and brain knew all along. He cant beat an egg, cross a 'T' or pass water. He is so bad he has been usurped by a 17 year old and teh manager has told him he 'might' have future at leftback.
His Northeastern sidekick, Jordan Henderson, proved equally as ineffective and resembled a Duracell bunny with its head cut-off.
So we get rid to Kenny and Commoli and make the extremely brave decision to appoint Brendan Rodgers. A decision I fully support and still believe he is the right man.
He wasted no time sorting the wheat from the chaff. The ever reliable and loyal Dirk Kuyt lasted 3 days. Aurelio and, Maxi were soon to follow. Excitment started building would we actaully sig osme wingers and attacking players. During our pre-season tour romours abound about Dempsey and Ramirez.
Part 3 - August 2011. Rodgers decided he wants Joe Allen but he has a £15mill buy-out clause so surely we are not going to get burnt again. But no the money men throw the £15mill at it. I have o be honest I have actually been surprised by him and he looks decent, but £15mill???
So on Sunday we played a blinder against the Champions only for another defensive error to cost us all 3 points. Brendan Rodgers staes afterwards that 'the players here need help' and we are looking to sign a few more players. as we have not eve replaced the numbers that have gone out. So hopefully we would see a raft of newsignings but come Thursday nothing other than that Demspey is almost a cert.
So just beore the Hearts game news comes through that we are loaning Carroll to West Ham for exactly the same terms that were on the table 2 weeks before???
On Friday it all starts to fall apart.
Charlie Adam is sold to Stoke. Spearing , Ecclestone,Pacheco and Wilson all leave. So that's 6 out when the manager has already said we dont have enough! So who did we sign???? Thats right, not a single player!!! In fact Ian Ayres and Brendan Rogers left Melwood before 8pm!!!
More galling is the fact that we tried to haggle with Fulham over Dempsey. In the end he goes to Spurs for a mere £6mill. Are you seriously telling me that we did not have £6mill to spend on a player who can play in 3 positions and has consistently scored 10 or more goals almost every sesason he has been at Fulham??? Absolutely shocking.
I fully understand that the owners feel they wasted enough money last summer on duds and may have been reluctant to part ewith more cash and if Joe Allen was the 'marque' signing then why not sell Adam or Henderson sooner and at least give us a chance to bring Dempsey or someone else in?
It is completely unacceptable that we only have 1 misfiring strriker in the squad. On Thursday Suarez again had is clown feet and brain on. Do we really expect this guy to play 3 times a week from now until January with support from 17 year old (Sterling), a unproven 21 year old Italian (Borini) and young Adam Morgan.
Is that really going to propel us up the table?????
I look at all the team who finished above us and they are all stronger. I look at 3 or 4 of the teams below us (Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke, QPR, Swansea, WBA) and they are all stronger. I am honestly extremely concerned about where we are headed. You cannot go into a Premier League campaign with a squad this young and threadbare.
I cant see us finishing in the top half of the table unless Suarez learns to pass in box to others or suddenly starts to score every 2nd or 3rd chance he gets (at the moment its 1 in 10). I seriously believe that we are going to be involved in relegation battle..........
We lack quality, experience and depth. Unless Sahin and Assiadi are some kind of wonder kids who can get 15 goals each I can't see how we score.
I didnt think we could get worse than last season but really we have. Nothing to do with the Manager, I think he has agreed to sell players on the understanding others are coming in but nothing has come to fruition.
Its doing to be hard enough to bed in the new style without having any experienced players. Rodgers stystems relies on wide players with pace. We only have Sterling........
1) Lucas out for 4 months and we let Spearing go!
2) No replacement striker and we let Carroll go!
3) No width or pace and we let Eccleston and Pacheco go!
If you made those sort of decisions on Champie Manager you would get the sack and relegated and thats just a game.
Look at the value that has been available this window:
Berbatov - £4mill. Michu - £2mill. Dempsey - £6mill. Hernandez - £5.5mill. Rodellega - free. Aruna Kone - £3mill.
The £12mill spent on Allen could have bought us Ramirez or Fletcher.........
We just dont seem to have a joined up approach to buying and selling. You only have to look at Everton and Spurs both of whom have strenthened their squad for a net profit in this window.......
I really fear for us we can only bring ina free agent, what money for an Anfield return for Michael Owen????? I'd sign him tonight before someone else does........
I cant bring myself to type the usual ending to this post.......... As clearly we are walking alone into the abyss.......
Part-1 - January 2011. King Kenny and Commoli contrive not only to pass on £40mill and Sturridge to insist on £50mill. Why because it made good business sense to give £35mill of this windfall to Newcastle for their injured 6 foot 6 inch giant who had score a hat-trick against Liverpool in the November League match. Brilliant........
Part-2 - August 2011. Still armed wth some £15 from the Torres /Carroll thing rumours abound in March that we are looking to sign Enrique from Newcastle to solve our 6 year old leftback issue.IE we sold Riise for some reason and never really replaced him. See Warnock, Aurelio and Dossena (Another 8mill wasted).
So the season finishes and suddenly Charlie Adam,Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson are linked with the club. No real problem with the 1st 2. Adam would not be expensive and Downing solves another left sided problem. IE we dont have a winger. But things again start to get stranger. Some haggling over Adam and we get him for 8mill. Initial offers of £12mill each to the other 2 are rebuffed.
So you would think that we would go and look elsewhere. After all we are LFC and can go get players anywhere and lots of clubs would take £12mill for any of their players. But no like the myopic sage at the Emirates we blindly plow ahead for 2 players who between them hadn't scored 5 goals in the 2010/20111 Premier League season. Result £20mill for each. Ashley Young a far better player than Downing goes to ManUre for £16mill????? Man City buy David Silva for £22.2mill we get Jordan Henderson for around the same????
While all this is going own we sell yet another player to Chelski in Raul Mierles because we decided to renage on gentleman's agreement between Hodgson and the player over a wage increase.(Player took a £20 cut to come to Liverpool). Then Kenny confirms in a press conference that Aquilani was our 'best player in pre-season' so naturally the next day he is loaned to AC Milan for the season!!! Next is Joe Cole is off to Lille as a wage refugee this finally allows us to sign Enrique.
Alarm bells should have been ringing already if e have send player out on loan just to make a gap in the wage bill what ridiculous salaries are we paying to players who finished 6th and spent most of the season not trying a leg and languishig in the bottom half of the table?
So we stumble through last season. Other than Enrique none of the otehr signings including a now fit Carroll really make any impact whatsoever.
Charlie Adam goes from running games at Blackpool and delivering set-pieces to drool over. To huffing and puffing aimlessly and suddenly can't beat the 1st man or wall with crosses, free-kicks or corners.
Stewart Downing proved what any of us with eyes and and brain knew all along. He cant beat an egg, cross a 'T' or pass water. He is so bad he has been usurped by a 17 year old and teh manager has told him he 'might' have future at leftback.
His Northeastern sidekick, Jordan Henderson, proved equally as ineffective and resembled a Duracell bunny with its head cut-off.
So we get rid to Kenny and Commoli and make the extremely brave decision to appoint Brendan Rodgers. A decision I fully support and still believe he is the right man.
He wasted no time sorting the wheat from the chaff. The ever reliable and loyal Dirk Kuyt lasted 3 days. Aurelio and, Maxi were soon to follow. Excitment started building would we actaully sig osme wingers and attacking players. During our pre-season tour romours abound about Dempsey and Ramirez.
Part 3 - August 2011. Rodgers decided he wants Joe Allen but he has a £15mill buy-out clause so surely we are not going to get burnt again. But no the money men throw the £15mill at it. I have o be honest I have actually been surprised by him and he looks decent, but £15mill???
So on Sunday we played a blinder against the Champions only for another defensive error to cost us all 3 points. Brendan Rodgers staes afterwards that 'the players here need help' and we are looking to sign a few more players. as we have not eve replaced the numbers that have gone out. So hopefully we would see a raft of newsignings but come Thursday nothing other than that Demspey is almost a cert.
So just beore the Hearts game news comes through that we are loaning Carroll to West Ham for exactly the same terms that were on the table 2 weeks before???
On Friday it all starts to fall apart.
Charlie Adam is sold to Stoke. Spearing , Ecclestone,Pacheco and Wilson all leave. So that's 6 out when the manager has already said we dont have enough! So who did we sign???? Thats right, not a single player!!! In fact Ian Ayres and Brendan Rogers left Melwood before 8pm!!!
More galling is the fact that we tried to haggle with Fulham over Dempsey. In the end he goes to Spurs for a mere £6mill. Are you seriously telling me that we did not have £6mill to spend on a player who can play in 3 positions and has consistently scored 10 or more goals almost every sesason he has been at Fulham??? Absolutely shocking.
I fully understand that the owners feel they wasted enough money last summer on duds and may have been reluctant to part ewith more cash and if Joe Allen was the 'marque' signing then why not sell Adam or Henderson sooner and at least give us a chance to bring Dempsey or someone else in?
It is completely unacceptable that we only have 1 misfiring strriker in the squad. On Thursday Suarez again had is clown feet and brain on. Do we really expect this guy to play 3 times a week from now until January with support from 17 year old (Sterling), a unproven 21 year old Italian (Borini) and young Adam Morgan.
Is that really going to propel us up the table?????
I look at all the team who finished above us and they are all stronger. I look at 3 or 4 of the teams below us (Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke, QPR, Swansea, WBA) and they are all stronger. I am honestly extremely concerned about where we are headed. You cannot go into a Premier League campaign with a squad this young and threadbare.
I cant see us finishing in the top half of the table unless Suarez learns to pass in box to others or suddenly starts to score every 2nd or 3rd chance he gets (at the moment its 1 in 10). I seriously believe that we are going to be involved in relegation battle..........
We lack quality, experience and depth. Unless Sahin and Assiadi are some kind of wonder kids who can get 15 goals each I can't see how we score.
I didnt think we could get worse than last season but really we have. Nothing to do with the Manager, I think he has agreed to sell players on the understanding others are coming in but nothing has come to fruition.
Its doing to be hard enough to bed in the new style without having any experienced players. Rodgers stystems relies on wide players with pace. We only have Sterling........
1) Lucas out for 4 months and we let Spearing go!
2) No replacement striker and we let Carroll go!
3) No width or pace and we let Eccleston and Pacheco go!
If you made those sort of decisions on Champie Manager you would get the sack and relegated and thats just a game.
Look at the value that has been available this window:
Berbatov - £4mill. Michu - £2mill. Dempsey - £6mill. Hernandez - £5.5mill. Rodellega - free. Aruna Kone - £3mill.
The £12mill spent on Allen could have bought us Ramirez or Fletcher.........
We just dont seem to have a joined up approach to buying and selling. You only have to look at Everton and Spurs both of whom have strenthened their squad for a net profit in this window.......
I really fear for us we can only bring ina free agent, what money for an Anfield return for Michael Owen????? I'd sign him tonight before someone else does........
I cant bring myself to type the usual ending to this post.......... As clearly we are walking alone into the abyss.......
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Jeckyl and Hyde
Well a mixed bag in our opening 3 games. I have to admit I was expecting to right a wholly negative piece but today's performance against the Champions has give me heart.
The fact that we are disappointed with a draw shows that we are moving in the right direction. Yes we have historically generally performed well against the big teams so its maybe premature to be judging anything at this stage. However the quality of what we showed today was impressive. More so considering that 6 of the team are under 22. (Sterling,Allen,Kelly,Coates,Borini and Shelvey).
I was really worried about today after last week's result at West Brom but having finally watched the game yesterday, I have to agree with the manager's assessment it was 'bad day at the office' and if we played that game a thousand times we couldn't have had a worse outcome. Again our lack of precision in the final 3rd after creating a plethora of chances was our downfall. Suarez had 6 or 7 chances, 3 of his own creating the other 3 more clear cut. It has resulted in a outpouring of views on his scoring ability. Sure he does miss a lot and he probably needs to work o his heading!
A good article in Saturday's Independent where he speaks quite frankly in the interview about his general attitude and behaviour on the pitch. A quite refreshing and honest view. I think we do still need to strengthen in that department. Suarez, Borini and Carroll aren't enough for challenging in 4 competitions. Rodgers said as much in his post match comments today that would still be looking for a few players this week.
The Dempsey thing is still lingering and with Sahin in, it looks more likely that Adam will be used as a sweetener for Fulham. With regard to striker to a lot out there but in the spirit of the current policy of signing young British talent why not spend the £6mill and go for Jordan Rhodes? Or probably more controversially re-sign Micheal Owen on a pay as you play deal.....
We certainly showed that we lack depth on Thursday night against Hearts when the 2nd string was totally outclassed by a a bunch of youngsters with Templeton in particular tearing us to pieces. We were fortunate to come away with a win and indeed to still even be in the tie. If Hearts had won 3-0 it wouldn't have flattered them.
Thankfully the tempo and commitment today was a far higher quality and you can see what Rodgers is trying to do. Man City knew they were in a game today and they looked more tired than us at the end of the match. They created very little and both their goals came from our mistakes. Reina and Kelly getting caught out for the 1st one and Skrtel was fast asleep with his blind backpass. He dawdled on the ball last week against West Brom.So he really needs to think about what he is doing in possesion and realise that sometimes hoofing it up the field is still an option. Other than that he was a candidate for man of the match.
On that subject Niall Quinn picked Joe Allen which I couldn't really disagree with. Thnik it was the 81st minute before one of his passes went astray! Young Sterling was majestic and had Milner and Kolo Toure in particular at sixes ad sevens.He got a few hefty challenges but simply got up and got on with it.
So although we still appear to be commiting the same transgressions that have plagued us over the last 18 months. I see a lot of positive signs. Think we are all realistic enough to see that Top 4 fiish is probably just a bit beyond us this season but certainly we can get another 15 to 20 points this season and get 5th or 6th. We have to be rational, almost all the teams above us have strengthened ad we have a shallow squad in comparison. So we ae going to struggle to compete.
Let hope we have a good performance on Thursday against Hearts and follow that up with a similar level we saw today and I reckon we can get our 1st league win ubder our new manager and really move the season forward.
YNWA
The fact that we are disappointed with a draw shows that we are moving in the right direction. Yes we have historically generally performed well against the big teams so its maybe premature to be judging anything at this stage. However the quality of what we showed today was impressive. More so considering that 6 of the team are under 22. (Sterling,Allen,Kelly,Coates,Borini and Shelvey).
I was really worried about today after last week's result at West Brom but having finally watched the game yesterday, I have to agree with the manager's assessment it was 'bad day at the office' and if we played that game a thousand times we couldn't have had a worse outcome. Again our lack of precision in the final 3rd after creating a plethora of chances was our downfall. Suarez had 6 or 7 chances, 3 of his own creating the other 3 more clear cut. It has resulted in a outpouring of views on his scoring ability. Sure he does miss a lot and he probably needs to work o his heading!
A good article in Saturday's Independent where he speaks quite frankly in the interview about his general attitude and behaviour on the pitch. A quite refreshing and honest view. I think we do still need to strengthen in that department. Suarez, Borini and Carroll aren't enough for challenging in 4 competitions. Rodgers said as much in his post match comments today that would still be looking for a few players this week.
The Dempsey thing is still lingering and with Sahin in, it looks more likely that Adam will be used as a sweetener for Fulham. With regard to striker to a lot out there but in the spirit of the current policy of signing young British talent why not spend the £6mill and go for Jordan Rhodes? Or probably more controversially re-sign Micheal Owen on a pay as you play deal.....
We certainly showed that we lack depth on Thursday night against Hearts when the 2nd string was totally outclassed by a a bunch of youngsters with Templeton in particular tearing us to pieces. We were fortunate to come away with a win and indeed to still even be in the tie. If Hearts had won 3-0 it wouldn't have flattered them.
Thankfully the tempo and commitment today was a far higher quality and you can see what Rodgers is trying to do. Man City knew they were in a game today and they looked more tired than us at the end of the match. They created very little and both their goals came from our mistakes. Reina and Kelly getting caught out for the 1st one and Skrtel was fast asleep with his blind backpass. He dawdled on the ball last week against West Brom.So he really needs to think about what he is doing in possesion and realise that sometimes hoofing it up the field is still an option. Other than that he was a candidate for man of the match.
On that subject Niall Quinn picked Joe Allen which I couldn't really disagree with. Thnik it was the 81st minute before one of his passes went astray! Young Sterling was majestic and had Milner and Kolo Toure in particular at sixes ad sevens.He got a few hefty challenges but simply got up and got on with it.
So although we still appear to be commiting the same transgressions that have plagued us over the last 18 months. I see a lot of positive signs. Think we are all realistic enough to see that Top 4 fiish is probably just a bit beyond us this season but certainly we can get another 15 to 20 points this season and get 5th or 6th. We have to be rational, almost all the teams above us have strengthened ad we have a shallow squad in comparison. So we ae going to struggle to compete.
Let hope we have a good performance on Thursday against Hearts and follow that up with a similar level we saw today and I reckon we can get our 1st league win ubder our new manager and really move the season forward.
YNWA
Sunday, 12 August 2012
European Passport
Well, what difference 7 days makes. After a lifeless fortunate away win the 1st leg, we were treated to an exhibition performance in thw 2nd Leg at Anfield against FC Gomel. There was some personnel changes and most of the recognised 1st teamers back, that certainly made a difference built they still have to produce.
Luis Suarez was in one of his mercurial moods and was unplayable, yes it was modest opposition but I think any defence would have struggled with him. Great home debut for Borini capping it with an excellent volley and 1st half performance that showed he is on the same wavelength as Gerrard and Suarez. He had a quiter 2nd half but that was more down to a tactical change which pushed him inside.
Shelvey looks better and better everytime he plays regardless of where or what role he is asked to play by Brendan Rodgers. He is certainly knocking on the door for a regular start, unlike some of his alleged betters (Henderson & Adam) who seem to knocking on the exit door. Alas I fear that Shelvey wont get the chance with the arrival of Joe Allen which I will discuss later.
A consumate team performance on Thursday which also saw Dan Agger back sporting his new YNWA knuckle tattoo.He has also said he doesn't want to play for another Premiership club. Loyalty like that is to be admired. Lets hope the owners hold their nerve and dont bite on whatever sum Man City may offer. Lets hope they give him a nice new contract as centrehalfs of Agger's quality do not grow on trees.
I think we can all see the influence of Rodgers' philosophy already. We are more patient with the ball. Any longer ball in generally aimed directly at a player or where someone is making run to. Which is ten times better than the headless chicken stuff we showed throughout last season in the final 3rd of the pitch. Sure we arent creating 20 or chances but we are starting to score the ones we do create.
Today saw a the welcome return of Sami Hyypia to Anfield a place that was his castle for the best part of a decade. Fortunately his defenders are ot quite of teh same ilk as Raheem Sterling's first 4 touches bamboozled 4 of them and curled into the far corner. 1-0 and barely 3 minutes on the clock! He played the whole 90 minutes and form has done enough to be on the bench for the West Brom game.
We were even treated to a bit of freekick invention which turned into a farce but somehow the ball made its way to the completely unmarked Lucas for the easiest 5 yard pass into an empty net you could ever hope to see.
Halftime brought 5 changes brought Carroll, Spearing,Adam,Henderson and Robinson into the fray. As often happens we lost some of our momentum and pace of the game dropped.Shelvey again asked to play out wide now and did a great job. Carroll was excellent whether holding up the ball, closing downor tackling players by his own corner flag. He was rightfully rewarded with a left footer from outside the box that the keeper made a mess of.
On the whole I think we can look forward to some very entertaining football under Rodgers and hopefully a lot more home points that we saw last season. One person who has gone missing is Danny Pacheco which I dont undersstand he had 2 decent gamesin the States lets hope we arent letting him go.
On the negative side Adam really looks like he knows his days are numbered. Yet again his corners and freekicks were woeful, so much so that the crowd were groanng when he continually gave the ball away or gave poor delivery.The rumour is he will be a make weight for Dempsey at Fulham. Thats probably a deal that would suit both club,s they get a replacement for Danny Murphy and we get our wide left player who can also play up front on his own if required.
So to the one thing that is realy annoying me. Joe Allen £15mill................
Have we not learned anything from Carroll,Downing and Henderson transfers?????
British 'talent' is over priced and almost always never delivers. (Walcott, Bentley, Jenas, Dyer, Barry) The list goes on.
Sure we need more 'home grown players' and sure we obviously want buy younger ones that will someday have resale value (something the Academy has failed to do over the last 20 years) or will be a longterm servant of the club. I get that, totally. I just dont think I would include Joe Allen in top 30 British midfielders in the UK under the age of 23. So why the persistance. Sure Rodgers trusts him.
If we were prepared to spend that kind of money why sell Aquilani?
Is he really £7mill better than Adam and £14 mill better than Shelvey? Never mind that Santi Carzola cost Arsenal only £12mill.
We always seem to pay over the odds for mediocre players and seem relentless inour pursuit once we identify our target. I dont get this approach. ManUre make an offer, if the club refuses, they find another target and take their money elsewhere. We just seem to have tunnel vision.
I hope I am proven wrong like with Lucas, but Team GB's best midfielder at the Olympics was Ryan Giggs.........
Bring on West Brom next weekend and lets hope we get another 2 or 3 players in and get rid of the Joe Cole's in the squad.
YNWA
Luis Suarez was in one of his mercurial moods and was unplayable, yes it was modest opposition but I think any defence would have struggled with him. Great home debut for Borini capping it with an excellent volley and 1st half performance that showed he is on the same wavelength as Gerrard and Suarez. He had a quiter 2nd half but that was more down to a tactical change which pushed him inside.
Shelvey looks better and better everytime he plays regardless of where or what role he is asked to play by Brendan Rodgers. He is certainly knocking on the door for a regular start, unlike some of his alleged betters (Henderson & Adam) who seem to knocking on the exit door. Alas I fear that Shelvey wont get the chance with the arrival of Joe Allen which I will discuss later.
A consumate team performance on Thursday which also saw Dan Agger back sporting his new YNWA knuckle tattoo.He has also said he doesn't want to play for another Premiership club. Loyalty like that is to be admired. Lets hope the owners hold their nerve and dont bite on whatever sum Man City may offer. Lets hope they give him a nice new contract as centrehalfs of Agger's quality do not grow on trees.
I think we can all see the influence of Rodgers' philosophy already. We are more patient with the ball. Any longer ball in generally aimed directly at a player or where someone is making run to. Which is ten times better than the headless chicken stuff we showed throughout last season in the final 3rd of the pitch. Sure we arent creating 20 or chances but we are starting to score the ones we do create.
Today saw a the welcome return of Sami Hyypia to Anfield a place that was his castle for the best part of a decade. Fortunately his defenders are ot quite of teh same ilk as Raheem Sterling's first 4 touches bamboozled 4 of them and curled into the far corner. 1-0 and barely 3 minutes on the clock! He played the whole 90 minutes and form has done enough to be on the bench for the West Brom game.
We were even treated to a bit of freekick invention which turned into a farce but somehow the ball made its way to the completely unmarked Lucas for the easiest 5 yard pass into an empty net you could ever hope to see.
Halftime brought 5 changes brought Carroll, Spearing,Adam,Henderson and Robinson into the fray. As often happens we lost some of our momentum and pace of the game dropped.Shelvey again asked to play out wide now and did a great job. Carroll was excellent whether holding up the ball, closing downor tackling players by his own corner flag. He was rightfully rewarded with a left footer from outside the box that the keeper made a mess of.
On the whole I think we can look forward to some very entertaining football under Rodgers and hopefully a lot more home points that we saw last season. One person who has gone missing is Danny Pacheco which I dont undersstand he had 2 decent gamesin the States lets hope we arent letting him go.
On the negative side Adam really looks like he knows his days are numbered. Yet again his corners and freekicks were woeful, so much so that the crowd were groanng when he continually gave the ball away or gave poor delivery.The rumour is he will be a make weight for Dempsey at Fulham. Thats probably a deal that would suit both club,s they get a replacement for Danny Murphy and we get our wide left player who can also play up front on his own if required.
So to the one thing that is realy annoying me. Joe Allen £15mill................
Have we not learned anything from Carroll,Downing and Henderson transfers?????
British 'talent' is over priced and almost always never delivers. (Walcott, Bentley, Jenas, Dyer, Barry) The list goes on.
Sure we need more 'home grown players' and sure we obviously want buy younger ones that will someday have resale value (something the Academy has failed to do over the last 20 years) or will be a longterm servant of the club. I get that, totally. I just dont think I would include Joe Allen in top 30 British midfielders in the UK under the age of 23. So why the persistance. Sure Rodgers trusts him.
If we were prepared to spend that kind of money why sell Aquilani?
Is he really £7mill better than Adam and £14 mill better than Shelvey? Never mind that Santi Carzola cost Arsenal only £12mill.
We always seem to pay over the odds for mediocre players and seem relentless inour pursuit once we identify our target. I dont get this approach. ManUre make an offer, if the club refuses, they find another target and take their money elsewhere. We just seem to have tunnel vision.
I hope I am proven wrong like with Lucas, but Team GB's best midfielder at the Olympics was Ryan Giggs.........
Bring on West Brom next weekend and lets hope we get another 2 or 3 players in and get rid of the Joe Cole's in the squad.
YNWA
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Manhattan Transfers?
So Brendan Rodgers has had a couple of months in the job and has over seen 3 pre-season games and 1 competitive match. Clearly too early to be passing judgement on him in any way other than what I have said already in previous blog.
He has already made some big decisions.Dirk Kuyt only lasting a few days before he was told he could go.Maxi followed shortly after and Aquilani has left yesterday for undiclosed fee. I have no issue with the 1st two and not surprised by the 3rd after a lacklustre pre-seaon tour from a player who alledgedly wanted to stay.
As mentioned would expect Joe Cole to follow and possibly Jay Spearing who struggled with the possesionpart of the game required by Rodgers on tour. The media abounds with Carroll and Agger rumours daily and until we see anything concrete cant really comment on the decision. Worringy Rodgers has come out on LFCtv and justified why Agger didn't play against Gomel so that might indicate there is some substance to some of the rumours.
I dont get the Carroll thing at all. Yes he was a waste of money, yes he doesnt really loook like he is ever going to be a Liverpool player but I dont see how loaning him back to Newcastle helps us? If he goes there and does well (he will their way of playing suits his style), we have assisted a direct rival to stay ahead of us by providing them a goal scorer.
Secondly, selling him makes no sense. We wont get teh £20 mill we are expecting at the moment. He still has 3.5 years on his contract to run. If we loan him then a team lower down the league must be destination. A team that isnt a direct threat. At the moment that the 3 promoted clubs, Wigan, WBA, Norwich, Swansea. Everyone else is a threat, everyone else has strenghtened their squad (Man City aside). I see no reason why he cant stay, we have Europa League this season and a League Cup to defend, plus he can be used as a plan B off the bench. That should give him enough games and opportunity to build his confidence and increase his market value. If we are at this time next season and he still isnt performing then sell him and we might get more value than now.
We also aren't blessed with strikers at the moment with only Suarez,Borini and Carroll on the books. Thats not a top 4 strike force, Suarez gets injured and its barely Championship level.
Thats my one bugbear art teh moent we dont seem tobe getting anyone in Rodgers is talking to lots of players it seems but nothing at all. He has also when commenting on Agger mentioning he hopes to have few by end of August in. Not great to get new players in once season has started especially when we have 3 of the top 4 in the 1st 5 games. You want players bedded in.
To make Rodgers tactics work we need pacy wide players and another goal scorer. We have a plethora of central midfileders and appear to be looking to add Joe Allen for £12mill . Why? He isnt better than anything we already have from what I saw of him last season and the Olympics and the price is hugely inflated. Just looks like a Henderson/Downing type transfer - too much money for too little player.
I fully appreciate Rodgers has inherited a bloated, unbalanced squad from a wage and personnel point fo view and it will take time to weed out the chaf. He has certainly started that process but its thw lack of inward, sure I dont imagine their is much money after what Kenny and Comolli wasted.
Hopefully he has a few rabbits in his hat otherwise challenging for 4th is going to be improbable before we kick a ball. Everyone above and around us is improving, we are only shedding players and Borini is not Neymar so pinning everything on a 21 year old is not clever.
YNWA
He has already made some big decisions.Dirk Kuyt only lasting a few days before he was told he could go.Maxi followed shortly after and Aquilani has left yesterday for undiclosed fee. I have no issue with the 1st two and not surprised by the 3rd after a lacklustre pre-seaon tour from a player who alledgedly wanted to stay.
As mentioned would expect Joe Cole to follow and possibly Jay Spearing who struggled with the possesionpart of the game required by Rodgers on tour. The media abounds with Carroll and Agger rumours daily and until we see anything concrete cant really comment on the decision. Worringy Rodgers has come out on LFCtv and justified why Agger didn't play against Gomel so that might indicate there is some substance to some of the rumours.
I dont get the Carroll thing at all. Yes he was a waste of money, yes he doesnt really loook like he is ever going to be a Liverpool player but I dont see how loaning him back to Newcastle helps us? If he goes there and does well (he will their way of playing suits his style), we have assisted a direct rival to stay ahead of us by providing them a goal scorer.
Secondly, selling him makes no sense. We wont get teh £20 mill we are expecting at the moment. He still has 3.5 years on his contract to run. If we loan him then a team lower down the league must be destination. A team that isnt a direct threat. At the moment that the 3 promoted clubs, Wigan, WBA, Norwich, Swansea. Everyone else is a threat, everyone else has strenghtened their squad (Man City aside). I see no reason why he cant stay, we have Europa League this season and a League Cup to defend, plus he can be used as a plan B off the bench. That should give him enough games and opportunity to build his confidence and increase his market value. If we are at this time next season and he still isnt performing then sell him and we might get more value than now.
We also aren't blessed with strikers at the moment with only Suarez,Borini and Carroll on the books. Thats not a top 4 strike force, Suarez gets injured and its barely Championship level.
Thats my one bugbear art teh moent we dont seem tobe getting anyone in Rodgers is talking to lots of players it seems but nothing at all. He has also when commenting on Agger mentioning he hopes to have few by end of August in. Not great to get new players in once season has started especially when we have 3 of the top 4 in the 1st 5 games. You want players bedded in.
To make Rodgers tactics work we need pacy wide players and another goal scorer. We have a plethora of central midfileders and appear to be looking to add Joe Allen for £12mill . Why? He isnt better than anything we already have from what I saw of him last season and the Olympics and the price is hugely inflated. Just looks like a Henderson/Downing type transfer - too much money for too little player.
I fully appreciate Rodgers has inherited a bloated, unbalanced squad from a wage and personnel point fo view and it will take time to weed out the chaf. He has certainly started that process but its thw lack of inward, sure I dont imagine their is much money after what Kenny and Comolli wasted.
Hopefully he has a few rabbits in his hat otherwise challenging for 4th is going to be improbable before we kick a ball. Everyone above and around us is improving, we are only shedding players and Borini is not Neymar so pinning everything on a 21 year old is not clever.
YNWA
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