So the season finished a few weeks ago. Rather than beast in to have my usual rant, I have given some time for the dust to settle and reflect. Unfortunately the post season shenanigans hasn't really given much hope for us going forward, which I will get to later.
Brendan Rodgers comments in regard to Tottenham a while back about when spending £140 million you should be winning the League came back to haunt him with a vengence. Think Halloween meets Alien through a 13 movie marathon!
We spent a £140million and got worse, 25 points, 49 goal for. Yes we even conceded more than last season. No thanks to the shambolic Britannia defeat. 6-1, our worst ever Premier League defeat and our worst ever defeat since 1954. Another Brenda record!
How do you go from missing out on winning the league by 3 points 1 season to performing so poorly the next. Well here is how as per Brenda Rodgers, Ian Ayre and the other 'Transfer Commitee' clowns.
1) Sell your best player because you have to and fail to replace him with 2 high quality players.
2) Sign 3 players from Southampton in an attempt to have a spine to build around and have all 3 fail miserably to perform and produce.
3) Fail to undertake any defensive coaching whatsoever......... AGAIN!
4) Sign Mario Balotelli as a panic buy on the transfer deadline day and watch him do fuck all for 9 months!
5) Waste more money on more kindergarten signings but still pay top money for them....
6) Start contract negotiations with your brightest prospect just after he has changed agent in November and still has 2.5 years on his current deal then remind the WHOLE World he still hasn't signed in January and watch him completely implode and want to get away so fast he will even go sit on the bench at Man City! Genius!!
7) Use the same tactic with your future captain....
8) Continue to think Sakho and Allen are good enough to wear the Red shirt....
9) Have no plan B,C or D.
10) Use midfielders as strikers despite having Lambert and Borini fit......
11) Go from scoring the most set piece goals to scoring the least.
12) But conceding the most...
Yep that's our season in a nutshell. Liverpool Football Club should be better than this. I am sure Fenway Sports Group don't run the Red Sox in this harem scarem way. The blood letting has started with Colin Pascoe and Mike Marsh going. Sami Hyypia and Bolo Zenden look to be favourites to fill the gaps. At least with Sami we will get defending, although his spell at Brighton wasn't exactly a success.
Not sure where that leaves Brendan Rodgers as the backroom staff will be Fenway's men not his.... Bit like a man marooned on a island in shark infested waters. I cant really sympathise too much. He sold the club on this vision of bringing in young players he can coach and develop. While he has done plenty of the former there has been little of the latter... Even Sterling is outside of his control now and will not be sold for full value as he continues to sulk and be influenced by his moronic agent.
I am not sure what FSG are hoping to achieve by the backroom change. It normally leaves the manager as a straw man, so whats the point of not just letting him go and then give money to the new man? Perhaps the unavailability of Jurgen Klopp was the main driver. Maybe they can line him up in Jan when Brenda has fucked it up again. Hopefully it will be to bring other ideas to the table that hopefully Rodgers will take on board.
I usually do a post reason review on a player by player basis but really when our best player has been Phillippe Coutinho at 8/10 what is the point??? The only bright spot in an otherwise abysmal campaign. Oh what the hell its fun!
Simon Minging-o-let 5/10- Well what can we say about this man. He started poorly, got worse , was replaced by Brad Jones, got back in, was worse still, before having a reasonably steady finish. Hence the 5/10. He isnt a footballer, he doesnt dominate his box, he doesnt inspire confidence from those in front of him. Not good enough. Still don't know if Brendan Rodgers wants a goalkeeper or a sweeper....
Emre Can 6/10 - Initailly sent back early from the pre-season tour to get fit..... Speaks volumes for our recruitment policy. Still he scored against Chelski and found a rather strange niche for himself at the right Brenda's back 3. That worked well until we played actual teams and his confidence and season imploded, much like the teams. A right back he is not, to easily beaten, largely out of position and no idea when to tackle. Glen Johnson's influence has been clear for all to see there! Looking forward to seeing him play in centre midfield going forward where he belongs. One for the future...
Martin Skrtel 7/10 - How this man is able sleep at night is beyond me. He is surrounded by idiots constantly dropping bombs, making fundamental errors with not defensive skills what so ever. If I was him I would be to scared to sleep for the nightmarish thoughts of Sakho, Lovren, Moreno,Can, Johnson, Toure, Mingolet. God how does he do it???? If he played for Chelski he would be keeping JT on the bench! Proper defender, our only one... Nuff said....
Dejan Lovren 3/10 - For £25million I expect to see a World Class centre-back arrive aged 26. While Lovren had a great season at Southampton world class he wasn't. He looked really good against Dortmund in pre-season he hasn't put a foot right since! Doesn't drift across to cover his fullback, doesnt mark, dives in, when jockeying is better. No idea if that's him or Brenda's lack of tactics...
Mamadou Sakho 1/10 - WHY OH WHY do we let this thing on the pitch???? We would be better off being a player short. He makes Djimi Traore look composed on the ball. I have no idea why Brenda thought this clown was worth £18mill. He can pass, header, mark and has no positional sense. Yep Glen Johnson clearly giving tips....
Alberto Moreno 4/10 - Used a left wingback or fullback, has looked good going forward but lightweight and positionally naive in defence. A theme across our whole defence. They are either all useless or they're not being poorly coached in the defensive arts.......
Lucas Lieva 4/10 - Largely injured and off the pace when he did come back. He is Ronseal, does what it says on the tin. But he aint a Matic or a Fernandinho. Club needs to decide what to do with him. I would keep him. If nothing else a bit of experience and hopefully a full season from him next season.
Jordan Henderson 7/10 - The duracell bunny has come good this season. Bringing finishing, astute running and some real quality passing and set-piece delivery. Finally emerging from Stevie G's shadow at just the right time. Not sure about him being captain, surely we have other leaders or men in the squad???? Er other than Skrtel NO!
Stevie G 6/10 - The longest goodbye to a true legend. Istanbul, the Stevie G Final against West Ham and teh million other amazing moments that have littered his long career. The only disappointment is the lack of at least 1 Premier League Medal. An indictment on our club not Stevie G... Its terrible that in his winding down season he still ended as top scorer but was totally outplayed in all the big games. Against Arsenal it was Carola knocking him off the ball.Against Chelski it was Hazard and Fabregas. Against ManUre he lasted 23 seconds after clashing with 'hardman'.... Ander Herrera...
We will miss you and good luck with the Galaxy...
Adam Lallana 5/10 - Like Can not fit at the start,suffered some injury issues, but has largely flattered to deceive. We have seen some of his potential in the last 6 or so matches but more needed from him going forward.
Joe Allen 1/10 - Absolutely Fucking Useless consistently. He got a run in the team at the back end of the season but other than the game against Man City he was his usual abysmal, overawed,overrated useless, sideways and backwards Welsh Hobbit SHITE self! Wouldn't get in a Sunday League team FACT!
Raheem Sterling 5/10 - This young man has been so influenced by things off the field that its amazing he still turns up every week. His family life is clearly not right, his management is a joke and his understanding of where he is his career is so far off piste it beggars belief. He needs to buck up his ideas. He has achieved NOTHING. 7 goals and 9 assists in the League does not make you a superstar. He just needs to look at Harry Kane, Patrick Bamford and Danny Ings and new teammate James Milner to see how to behave at his age. If he wants to see how not to behave - Shaun Wright-Phillips, Junior Hoilett, Adam Johnson, Scott Sincalir, Stuart Downing all wasted their youthful talent on big money moves early in their careers. 2 cant get a game at relegated QPR, 1 is on the bench at Villa, 1 is facing underage sex charges and the other is only happy being a big fish in a small pond... Your choice Raheem....
Phillippe Countinho 8/10 - The only real bright light in abysmal showing from our squad this season. Made the Premier League team of the season. What a little player, magic feet, cracking workrate and sometimes on a different wavelength to all the others. More goals would be nice but he has scored some crutial ones and has penned a new long term contract, see Raheem its easy....
Mario Balotelli -16,000,000/10 - What a waste time, money, organs,skin and oxygen.... I have no idea who decided this moody, angry, young man who has been every opportunity in life, can play football??? He cant pass, he never looks up. He never moves, he never runs, he has absolutely no 1st touch and his shooting is more likely to kill a member of the crowd than trouble the goal... He wouldn't even get in the SHITE Sunday League team that Joe Allen cant get in! How did they ever think this guy would replace Suarez??? EPIC FAIL BRENDAN, EPIC!!!!
No-one else has played or done enough to get rated. So its on to the outs and ins I would like to see. Some are left field and pie in the sky as usual.
OUTS
Glen Johnson and Stevie G - Leaving us, one with thanks and heavy heart the other with a long overdue boot up the arse!
Joe Allen - Please someone in the Championship take this clown back to where he belongs. £18mill for this really??? Be lucky to get a new kettle for the staff canteen for him....
Mario Balotelli - Back to Italy, bibs, cones and maybe a few new balls for him.
Mamadou Sakho - Back to France for some baguettes and few bottles of red wine.
Clear out of the underage SHITE that has and will never threaten the 1st team but that we have spent over £20mill on - Coates, Ilori,Yesil, Alberto and Aspas. Will get some Mothercare vouchers for this lot. Moneyball at work..... NOT.
IN 's
James Milner - Already done. Free Transfer a proper professional. Always gives 100% Can play in many positions. Hopefully with Can and Henderson forming a midfield trio that can dominate.
Yohan Cabaye - Sitting at PSG getting splinters in his arse. He left Newcastle to play in Champions League. He gets on as a sub or plays in dead rubbers.... If Pardew is sniffing around him for Palace we should be all over that.
Mateo Kovacic - looks close to being done. Yep you guessed it £18million! LOL WTF!
Danny Ings - He is free and available and suits the way we play more than Benteke. We dont cross the ball so no point in having him. Fits our model of young talent even if they arent any good. Looks to have his head screwed on.
Javier Hernandez - Yep totally controversial but he is quick, he knows how to win things and he scores goal something only Daniel Sturridge can actually do in the squad...
We need a left and right back - Itype this every year! For some season Rodgers hates Enrique as he never plays him. So for left back I would go for George Friend at Middlesborough. He is young English strong quick get forward well and can actually defend....
With Flanagan still in recovery mode we need a right back. Andre Wisdom is not the answer. Martin Kelly might have been but we let him go.... So is Nathaniel Clyne the answer?If so, you cant offer £10mill, especially when you gave the same club £26mill for Lovren.....
We also need centreback - A leader who can play football..... Think of any???? Nope me neither especially one that wants to come Europa League Liverpool....... Perhaps thats why we gave Toure another year.... Jesus cant wait to see more of hime and Sakho! LOL
On the plus side Jordan Ibe coming through looks good. Divock Origi is back from his loan at Lille, hardly set the world alight so not sure if we send him on loan again... We also have Jordan x 3 Sinclair, Rossiter, Williams coming through. Its still a squad that looks light even if we got these players in.....
With Europa to deal with. We need to concentrate on top 4 but with Europa League place getting Champions League place maybe its not something to be binned after Jan...... Our big issue is attracting players. With ManUre back at teh top table and having De Gea as a bargaining chip with Real Madrid (Benzema coming the other way). We are a long way from attracting that kind of player. Therein lies the problem. 3 years into Project Kindergarten we have no trophies, look further from Top 4 than ever, with no Sturridge until October whoever we bring in must start scoring immediately.
At this moment we are in yet another crossroads, we either make the jump forward or become Newcastle. Big club, big fan base, no chance of winning anything....
YNWA
Sunday, 7 June 2015
Monday, 2 February 2015
Rodgers the Transfer Bodger
I was looking to do this before Xmas to run through the money we have spent and what we have really got for our money. It wont make pretty reading and Robbie Savage has summarised this on the BBC Sport website. I include his link here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30516598
I will try and delve a bit deeper as to our ethos and approach rather than just focusing on the amount spent and the players bought, although that is key. Despite the title of this post the blame cannot be laid solely at Brendan Rodgers door. Ian Ayre bears a huge amount of responsibility for the over inflated prices we pay and not being strong enough to walk away from deals.
For those not fully au fait with Ian Ayre and his role at the club here is brief summary. He was headhunted by Hicks and Gillett in March to become our Commercial Director in March 2007. He was responsible for the Standard Chartered sponsorship deal. At the time it was one of the most lucrative shirt deals for a football team. When Werner and Henry took over Chris Purslow, the last of the Commoli,Dalglish triumvirate stepped down and Ian Ayre appointed as Managing Director in October 2010. So he is responsible for helping negotiate our transfers.
Our overarching ethos on transfers is to sign young players, preferably U23, then develop them further. While that seems like a sound long-term policy it does leave us open to vagaries of youth and the inconsistency in form of players of that age. Additionally you may not make a return on the investment as they may not develop as expected but as long as you are not paying over the odds that can work.
That for me is where we are failing. We are paying far too much for unproven talent or to use Rodgers favourite phrase 'potential'. We have signed lots player for sums in the teens of millions yet when we sell an academy player of our own between 20-23 years old we seem to be happy with £1-4mill. Surely that isn't right? Either we are underselling our lot or not negotiating properly for the incomings. The evidence would suggest both.
This transfer policy seems at odd with our goal of getting back into the top 4 consistently and ultimately challenging for the League occasionally.
I do think we can win the League as long as Chelski,Man City and ManUre have the financial clout that they do. Arsenal are equally dangerous under the new Fair Play rules as they are well within the rules and have dropped a £40million player into the squad the last 2 seasons (Ozil and Sanchez).
We are attempting a 'Moneyball' scenario but unfortunately we are not playing by the same rules as American sports do where everyone is in the same boat. There is no Draft and only limited financial constraints on how to conduct business.
In total we have signed 24 players since Rodgers took over. Eight of them have already left and several are on loan.... Not a good sign that 1/3 arent good enough. The issue isnt so much that they don't make it, its the fact that most of them barely get on the bench and have rarely even got on as subs..... So why did we buy them??? Its not like they get a chance and dont perform. Its almost like we sign them blind and then are disappointed that they arent what Rodgers thinks they are.....
So the 1st wave of players under Rodgers came in the summer of 2012.
The 1st of those was Fabio Borini for £10.5mill, ex-Chelski academy player whom Rodgers had worked with before, in from Roma. after havingThere he scored an impressive 9 goals in 20 starts at the Stadio Olympico club. Of course he had also been on loan at Swansea under Rodgers and scored 6 goals in 12 starts in their promotion push to the Premier League.
Yet from the get go with this lad Rodgers hasn't really given him a chance. He totals 35 appearances and has only scored 3 goal for us in 2.5 years. Ironically his best spell was on loan at Sunderland last year where he scored 10 goals in keeping them up and reaching the Capital One Cup. Who can ever forget his winner against Chelsea!
So you would think he would feature this season. Instead with only a week of the window to go and no real replacement for Suarez, he is told he can leave the club. Thankfully he has decided to stay and fight but again he has basically been snubbed by Rodgers. After signing Balotelli he can hardly then play Borini in his stead when Sturridge got injured. I think that is exactly what he should have done. He likes playing on the shoulder, he runs in behind and is genuinely lively in the box. everytime he plays you can see he is over trying. As a transfer its a fail but that's down to the manager for me. He clearly doesn't fancy him despite having lumped on him in the 1st place.
Next Joe Allen from his previous club Swansea for the ridiculous sum of £15million. Allen and Leon Britton had pass completion stats comparable with Xavi and Iniesta in the high 90 percentile. But seriously they were doing in front of the back 4 not on the edge of the opponents 18 yard box. Hugely over priced and even when fit is nothing more than a bench warmer. 79 appearances and 3 goal from the Welsh hobbit ticcy-taccy expert isnt good enough. Will expect to see him moved on in the summer for a huge loss.
Joining these 2 'Major' signing was Oussama Assaidi for £3mill from Heerenveen, Samir Yesil for £1mill from Leverkusen and lastly Nuri Sahin on loan from Madrid who had him on loan from Dortmund. The last was deemed so poor he was sent back to Dortmund in the January window and bizarrely played in the Champions League final that year! Assaidi was moved on this summer. Yesil is still on our books but is generally injured and I cant see him threatening the 1st team ever... So 1st window a disaster really.
January 2013 and the exception that proves the rule with Rodgers and Ayre. Yes we signed some decent players who actually play football in the 1st team! Daniel Sturridge from Chelski for £12mill and Phillippe Coutinho for £8.5mill from Inter. The former we could have had as part of the Torres/Carroll deal which still irks and I believe it actually cost us £120mill to fix that mess! Coutinho came with reputation of being injury prone but he hit the ground running and is by far our most creative player. 2 big hits, well done!!!
Then we come to summer 2013 when Brendan Rodgers really started to put his stamp on the squad. In came Kolo Toure on a free, Moses and Cissokho from Chelski and Valencia respectively. Only Toure is really passable as a signing from those 3.
Actual money spent and some of this will surprise you as to how much we have paid.
Aspas £7.7mill from Celta Vigo (in Spanish 2nd Div at the time - WTF), Luis Alberto for £6.8mill from Sevilla and last but not least Tiago Illoro from Sporting Lisbon for £7mill! These 3 have again not sniffed the 1st team much and are so good they are all on season long loans at Sevilla, Malaga and Bordeaux respectively. That is £21.5mill spent on 3 guys who will probably get moved on in summer for a couple of mill each. Epic triple fail!
But wait there is more £18mill for Mamadou Sakho from PSG and £9mill for Simon Mingolet from Sunderland. Initially the latter looked a good move with 4 cleansheets and that pen save against Stoke on the opening day. From there is has been slowing downhill to a man who is a trembling wreck anytime the ball is within 30 yard of him or the goal. As for Sakho if that clown is good enough to play for France they wont win a thing ever. Plays with his head down and looks like a less composed Djimi Traore! How is that even possible??? 2 more epic fails. So that's £50mill wasted in that window.
Thankfully we didn't trade last Jan, that was the start of our juggernaut start to almost win the league.
So we get to the summer lose Suarez after yet another biting incident and you would think the priority is to sign a new top notch striker. All summer Lambert and Lallana were coming so those were done deals without the Suarez money. £4mill for Lambert and yes £25mill for Lallana!! I have no issue with signing these 2 but the price for Lallana is ridiculous. Fabregas only cost £5mill more!
Lambert has looked totally out of his depth. he hasn't recovered from missing pen on pre-season and has been usurped by Sterling and Borini in the striker pecking order. Lallana has been injured and has shown some signs of being useful but currently warming the bench. 1 fail 1 undecided....
The 3rd Saint to join us was Dejan Lovren for another £20mill! He looked great in the pre-season game against Dortmund and had an OK debut against So'ton but its really not worked for him. He and Sakho are suppose to be leaders and tighten the back 4 all I see is chaos. Only 6 months in but he looks like another fail.
Dont look await there are more horrors to come. Lazar Markovic for guess.... Yep £20mill from Benfica! He is 20 for crying in a bucket!!! Somewhere between £5-10mill is reasonable. Not £20 you are expecting the finished article for that amount. Not fair on the kid either, there are signs he might be a decent player in the last month but unless he goes on to be John Barnes or Steve McManaman he will be a fail!
Then we have young Alberto Moreno for £12mill from Sevilla. Again a bit pricey but we did need a left back, thing he is slowly getting there. Looks happier as a wing back than a fullback. Undecided so far.
Emre Can £10mill from Leverkusen again only 20 despite his size. Not really got a look in until the last month. looked to be carrying some timber when he arrived so probably fitness related. Player as the right centre back in our back 3 at the moment. Not bad there but ultimately think he will sit in front of the defence. Can pick a pass, physical presence and is actually quite quick and skillful. Undecided on this one.
Divock Origi for £12mill from Lille, immediately loaned back for the season. think he might be an absolute gem when he comes. Like Sterling but with more goals. Undecide,d as we haven't seen him but might be a hit.
Javier Manquillo on loan from Athletico Madrid. A totally strange one. We have Wisdom, Flanagan, Johnson and at the time Kelly as right backs. How many do we need? Wisdom is on loan, Kelly gone to Palace and Johnson and Flano injured. But he is not being used much so expect him to go back without troubling the starter in the summer.
I have saved the best until last. Mario Balotelli for £16mill from AC Milan. What were we thinking? He doesn't fit the way we play. Man City actually advised us not to waste our time and money signing him. But no this is the best we could do to replace Suarez????? Really???? Completely uninterested in playing football. No touch, no passing no effort no goals. Enner Valencia cost £8mill we could have bought Pelle and had change... Where is this famed 180 page dossier on players??? EPIC FAIL of unmentionable proportions. Why, because who the hell is going to take him off our hands???
Rodgers backed himself into a corner when he signed him. He immediately had to play him ahead of Lambert and Borini when Sturridge got injured and he hasn't scored a league goal. All he does is lose control of the ball or turn and instantly shoot no matter what the ridiculous angle is.
Rodgers criticised Spurs for spending £140mill last season by saying you should be winning the league if you spend that much in 1 go. How that has come back to haunt him. Of course if we have spent the money on 4-5 decent players instead of taking chances on 8 we might not be where we are.
Ian Ayre and Brendan Rodgers need to have their heads knocked together by the owners. We cant spend money like we have and not get into the CL and compete, its shocking. Ian Ayre goes on wild goose chases to Ukraine (last Jan). You see a player is available for £Xmill and when we sign them its always loads more!!! Mental, We need to adopt ManUre tactic. 'There is the offer if you dont want it we will spend it elsewhere.'
Hopefully we have enough with Sturridge back, Markovic and Can showing signs of getting to grips with whats needed. Serious thought needs to be given to our strategy in the summer. There is likely to be a fire sale at Dortmund as they sit bottom of the Bundesliga with the wheels coming off the Klippity Klop wagon. So there should be bargains. Marco Reus, Hummels, Bender etc... But will we get any or will we pay over the odds. I fear the latter again.
In short if Brendan Rodgers and Ian Ayre went into Poundland with a fiver they would come out with no change, only 1 item instead of 5 and the bag it was in would have a hole in it.....
Ah well thankfully the window is closed and we wont have worry about Danny Ings joining until the summer!
YNWA
I will try and delve a bit deeper as to our ethos and approach rather than just focusing on the amount spent and the players bought, although that is key. Despite the title of this post the blame cannot be laid solely at Brendan Rodgers door. Ian Ayre bears a huge amount of responsibility for the over inflated prices we pay and not being strong enough to walk away from deals.
For those not fully au fait with Ian Ayre and his role at the club here is brief summary. He was headhunted by Hicks and Gillett in March to become our Commercial Director in March 2007. He was responsible for the Standard Chartered sponsorship deal. At the time it was one of the most lucrative shirt deals for a football team. When Werner and Henry took over Chris Purslow, the last of the Commoli,Dalglish triumvirate stepped down and Ian Ayre appointed as Managing Director in October 2010. So he is responsible for helping negotiate our transfers.
Our overarching ethos on transfers is to sign young players, preferably U23, then develop them further. While that seems like a sound long-term policy it does leave us open to vagaries of youth and the inconsistency in form of players of that age. Additionally you may not make a return on the investment as they may not develop as expected but as long as you are not paying over the odds that can work.
That for me is where we are failing. We are paying far too much for unproven talent or to use Rodgers favourite phrase 'potential'. We have signed lots player for sums in the teens of millions yet when we sell an academy player of our own between 20-23 years old we seem to be happy with £1-4mill. Surely that isn't right? Either we are underselling our lot or not negotiating properly for the incomings. The evidence would suggest both.
This transfer policy seems at odd with our goal of getting back into the top 4 consistently and ultimately challenging for the League occasionally.
I do think we can win the League as long as Chelski,Man City and ManUre have the financial clout that they do. Arsenal are equally dangerous under the new Fair Play rules as they are well within the rules and have dropped a £40million player into the squad the last 2 seasons (Ozil and Sanchez).
We are attempting a 'Moneyball' scenario but unfortunately we are not playing by the same rules as American sports do where everyone is in the same boat. There is no Draft and only limited financial constraints on how to conduct business.
In total we have signed 24 players since Rodgers took over. Eight of them have already left and several are on loan.... Not a good sign that 1/3 arent good enough. The issue isnt so much that they don't make it, its the fact that most of them barely get on the bench and have rarely even got on as subs..... So why did we buy them??? Its not like they get a chance and dont perform. Its almost like we sign them blind and then are disappointed that they arent what Rodgers thinks they are.....
So the 1st wave of players under Rodgers came in the summer of 2012.
The 1st of those was Fabio Borini for £10.5mill, ex-Chelski academy player whom Rodgers had worked with before, in from Roma. after havingThere he scored an impressive 9 goals in 20 starts at the Stadio Olympico club. Of course he had also been on loan at Swansea under Rodgers and scored 6 goals in 12 starts in their promotion push to the Premier League.
Yet from the get go with this lad Rodgers hasn't really given him a chance. He totals 35 appearances and has only scored 3 goal for us in 2.5 years. Ironically his best spell was on loan at Sunderland last year where he scored 10 goals in keeping them up and reaching the Capital One Cup. Who can ever forget his winner against Chelsea!
So you would think he would feature this season. Instead with only a week of the window to go and no real replacement for Suarez, he is told he can leave the club. Thankfully he has decided to stay and fight but again he has basically been snubbed by Rodgers. After signing Balotelli he can hardly then play Borini in his stead when Sturridge got injured. I think that is exactly what he should have done. He likes playing on the shoulder, he runs in behind and is genuinely lively in the box. everytime he plays you can see he is over trying. As a transfer its a fail but that's down to the manager for me. He clearly doesn't fancy him despite having lumped on him in the 1st place.
Next Joe Allen from his previous club Swansea for the ridiculous sum of £15million. Allen and Leon Britton had pass completion stats comparable with Xavi and Iniesta in the high 90 percentile. But seriously they were doing in front of the back 4 not on the edge of the opponents 18 yard box. Hugely over priced and even when fit is nothing more than a bench warmer. 79 appearances and 3 goal from the Welsh hobbit ticcy-taccy expert isnt good enough. Will expect to see him moved on in the summer for a huge loss.
Joining these 2 'Major' signing was Oussama Assaidi for £3mill from Heerenveen, Samir Yesil for £1mill from Leverkusen and lastly Nuri Sahin on loan from Madrid who had him on loan from Dortmund. The last was deemed so poor he was sent back to Dortmund in the January window and bizarrely played in the Champions League final that year! Assaidi was moved on this summer. Yesil is still on our books but is generally injured and I cant see him threatening the 1st team ever... So 1st window a disaster really.
January 2013 and the exception that proves the rule with Rodgers and Ayre. Yes we signed some decent players who actually play football in the 1st team! Daniel Sturridge from Chelski for £12mill and Phillippe Coutinho for £8.5mill from Inter. The former we could have had as part of the Torres/Carroll deal which still irks and I believe it actually cost us £120mill to fix that mess! Coutinho came with reputation of being injury prone but he hit the ground running and is by far our most creative player. 2 big hits, well done!!!
Then we come to summer 2013 when Brendan Rodgers really started to put his stamp on the squad. In came Kolo Toure on a free, Moses and Cissokho from Chelski and Valencia respectively. Only Toure is really passable as a signing from those 3.
Actual money spent and some of this will surprise you as to how much we have paid.
Aspas £7.7mill from Celta Vigo (in Spanish 2nd Div at the time - WTF), Luis Alberto for £6.8mill from Sevilla and last but not least Tiago Illoro from Sporting Lisbon for £7mill! These 3 have again not sniffed the 1st team much and are so good they are all on season long loans at Sevilla, Malaga and Bordeaux respectively. That is £21.5mill spent on 3 guys who will probably get moved on in summer for a couple of mill each. Epic triple fail!
But wait there is more £18mill for Mamadou Sakho from PSG and £9mill for Simon Mingolet from Sunderland. Initially the latter looked a good move with 4 cleansheets and that pen save against Stoke on the opening day. From there is has been slowing downhill to a man who is a trembling wreck anytime the ball is within 30 yard of him or the goal. As for Sakho if that clown is good enough to play for France they wont win a thing ever. Plays with his head down and looks like a less composed Djimi Traore! How is that even possible??? 2 more epic fails. So that's £50mill wasted in that window.
Thankfully we didn't trade last Jan, that was the start of our juggernaut start to almost win the league.
So we get to the summer lose Suarez after yet another biting incident and you would think the priority is to sign a new top notch striker. All summer Lambert and Lallana were coming so those were done deals without the Suarez money. £4mill for Lambert and yes £25mill for Lallana!! I have no issue with signing these 2 but the price for Lallana is ridiculous. Fabregas only cost £5mill more!
Lambert has looked totally out of his depth. he hasn't recovered from missing pen on pre-season and has been usurped by Sterling and Borini in the striker pecking order. Lallana has been injured and has shown some signs of being useful but currently warming the bench. 1 fail 1 undecided....
The 3rd Saint to join us was Dejan Lovren for another £20mill! He looked great in the pre-season game against Dortmund and had an OK debut against So'ton but its really not worked for him. He and Sakho are suppose to be leaders and tighten the back 4 all I see is chaos. Only 6 months in but he looks like another fail.
Dont look await there are more horrors to come. Lazar Markovic for guess.... Yep £20mill from Benfica! He is 20 for crying in a bucket!!! Somewhere between £5-10mill is reasonable. Not £20 you are expecting the finished article for that amount. Not fair on the kid either, there are signs he might be a decent player in the last month but unless he goes on to be John Barnes or Steve McManaman he will be a fail!
Then we have young Alberto Moreno for £12mill from Sevilla. Again a bit pricey but we did need a left back, thing he is slowly getting there. Looks happier as a wing back than a fullback. Undecided so far.
Emre Can £10mill from Leverkusen again only 20 despite his size. Not really got a look in until the last month. looked to be carrying some timber when he arrived so probably fitness related. Player as the right centre back in our back 3 at the moment. Not bad there but ultimately think he will sit in front of the defence. Can pick a pass, physical presence and is actually quite quick and skillful. Undecided on this one.
Divock Origi for £12mill from Lille, immediately loaned back for the season. think he might be an absolute gem when he comes. Like Sterling but with more goals. Undecide,d as we haven't seen him but might be a hit.
Javier Manquillo on loan from Athletico Madrid. A totally strange one. We have Wisdom, Flanagan, Johnson and at the time Kelly as right backs. How many do we need? Wisdom is on loan, Kelly gone to Palace and Johnson and Flano injured. But he is not being used much so expect him to go back without troubling the starter in the summer.
I have saved the best until last. Mario Balotelli for £16mill from AC Milan. What were we thinking? He doesn't fit the way we play. Man City actually advised us not to waste our time and money signing him. But no this is the best we could do to replace Suarez????? Really???? Completely uninterested in playing football. No touch, no passing no effort no goals. Enner Valencia cost £8mill we could have bought Pelle and had change... Where is this famed 180 page dossier on players??? EPIC FAIL of unmentionable proportions. Why, because who the hell is going to take him off our hands???
Rodgers backed himself into a corner when he signed him. He immediately had to play him ahead of Lambert and Borini when Sturridge got injured and he hasn't scored a league goal. All he does is lose control of the ball or turn and instantly shoot no matter what the ridiculous angle is.
Rodgers criticised Spurs for spending £140mill last season by saying you should be winning the league if you spend that much in 1 go. How that has come back to haunt him. Of course if we have spent the money on 4-5 decent players instead of taking chances on 8 we might not be where we are.
Ian Ayre and Brendan Rodgers need to have their heads knocked together by the owners. We cant spend money like we have and not get into the CL and compete, its shocking. Ian Ayre goes on wild goose chases to Ukraine (last Jan). You see a player is available for £Xmill and when we sign them its always loads more!!! Mental, We need to adopt ManUre tactic. 'There is the offer if you dont want it we will spend it elsewhere.'
Hopefully we have enough with Sturridge back, Markovic and Can showing signs of getting to grips with whats needed. Serious thought needs to be given to our strategy in the summer. There is likely to be a fire sale at Dortmund as they sit bottom of the Bundesliga with the wheels coming off the Klippity Klop wagon. So there should be bargains. Marco Reus, Hummels, Bender etc... But will we get any or will we pay over the odds. I fear the latter again.
In short if Brendan Rodgers and Ian Ayre went into Poundland with a fiver they would come out with no change, only 1 item instead of 5 and the bag it was in would have a hole in it.....
Ah well thankfully the window is closed and we wont have worry about Danny Ings joining until the summer!
YNWA
Are We Turning the Corner?
We had a terrible time in October and November. Other than Chelski we had fixtures against West Brom, QPR, Hull, Newcastle, Palace, Stoke and Leicester. Even without Sturridge you would have thought we would still get the results and it was great opportunity for Balotelli and Lambert to step up.
Yet again we were left feeling angry and disappointed. Despite the relative easy run of fixtures we managed just 4 wins. A brace as bookends to that particular run. The QPR win was bizarre. Own-goals all over the place in the last 7 minutes. We then managed just 1 point from the next 4 and managed to make a pigs ear of Champions League group. Other than Real Madrid and Basel in the away leg we should have made a decent fist of it. We scored just 5 goals conceded 9 and the only win was with a dodgy pen at home in the last minute at home to Ludogarets.
The reasons for this poor run are simple:
1) Complete lack of defensive organisation and confidence. We seem to have been picking a different 4 players every week. The goalkeeper was particularly dodgy and as far as I am concerned continues to be so. He is being asked to be a footballer which he isn't. That lack of confidence has spread to other parts of his game and ultimately to his defence in front of him and they have been panicky enough. Lovren has brought the stability and leadership desired.
2) Teams have worked us out. Simple really, press us when the ball is in our half someone is bound to give it away. If we are dominating the ball, drop deep with 2 banks of 4 and play on the break. oh yes and just wait for a corner or freekick for a free goal!
3) Lack of a cutting edge upfront. We have tried Balotelli but he clearly actually interested in playing football. I have said it before, I have no idea who decided this guy can even play football. He has no touch, zero tactical awareness, no work ethic and the worst attitude and demeanour on the pitch. Ricky Lambert and Fabio Borini have had to sit and watch this £16mill waster do absolutely nothing, its hardly helped their confidence.
So we stumbled into December with little hope or optimism and facing a trip to The Theatre of delusions and the Gunners at home.Ming-ing-olet finally dropped although Brad Jones isn't really a step forward. Despite the rather lopsided scoreline and the customary offside goal we utter smashed Manure. David De Gea continues to be their best player and the only reason they are not in the bottom 5 never mind the top 4. 9 saves and about 4 of them Worldies.
Having said all that Rodgers was convinced he had stumbled onto something. Playing with a back 3, using Markovic and Moreno as wing backs and playing Raheem through the middle. We had 19 shots and 9 on target against ManUre which is a vast improvement on the 7 shots and just 1 against Sunderland at home the week before.
So on to Arsenal and yet another bizarre encounter. We deservedly took the lead just before half-time only to go to sleep as usual injury time just before halftime. Arsenal then went 2-1 up through Giroud. Needless to say we threw everything at them and deservedly got the equaliser deep in injury time. A bit of Quid Pro Quo. Again we had an amazing 27 shots but only 10 on target.
Fair play to Rodgers he seemed to have found something we can work with. Since then we have gone 6 more league games without losing with just 1 draw and amazingly 4 clean sheets. Yes the opposition for the most part has been most mediocre but we have been less than clinical against the lesser teams. 2-0 up against Leicester, we managed to throw it away.
So have turned a corner? The proof will be in the next 3 fixtures. Everton away, Southampton away and Man City at home. We need 6 or 7 points form those 3 games as despite the run of 7 games undefeated we have actually only moved up 2 league places. More importantly we are just 5 points from 3rd place, so the games against the teams around us are critical.
The return of Daniel Sturridge is very timely indeed we must hope there are no re-lapses for the rest of the season. With him as our spearhead I can't see us not getting into the top 4. We cant afford to lose too many more games possibly only the City game and away at Chelski. The rest will have to be wins. Including Arsenal at the Emirates. We went on crazy run last season and will have to do so again.
Rodgers has also recalled Jordan Ibe from his loan spell at Derby where he seems to have done quite well. I would like to tell you his appearance, assists,goals and Man of the Match awards but neither our Website or Derby's makes any reference to his existence as a player there form a stats point of view! LOL So much for the information age!
Another good decision in this window is to leave Divock Origi out on loan. No point in bringing him back this season. Sterling is showing he can play through the middle if required. God help the League next season when we can unleash Sturridge, Origi, Sterling and Ibe!
So there are shoots of a recovery but I think we are paying for our transfer policy in general. You cant say you will sign and develop younger players and then expect consistency form them. That takes until their mid to late twenties to develop.
Lets hope we can build on our momentum and really push for a top place. It would be awesome if we could keep ManUre out again. No doubt they will come up with a cunning plan to allow their U9 kit to be sponsored by McDonalds for £150mill like they did with their training kit last summer to make up for the lack of Champions League football!
I will be doing another blog about our transfer policy and the various decisions we have made.
YNWA
Yet again we were left feeling angry and disappointed. Despite the relative easy run of fixtures we managed just 4 wins. A brace as bookends to that particular run. The QPR win was bizarre. Own-goals all over the place in the last 7 minutes. We then managed just 1 point from the next 4 and managed to make a pigs ear of Champions League group. Other than Real Madrid and Basel in the away leg we should have made a decent fist of it. We scored just 5 goals conceded 9 and the only win was with a dodgy pen at home in the last minute at home to Ludogarets.
The reasons for this poor run are simple:
1) Complete lack of defensive organisation and confidence. We seem to have been picking a different 4 players every week. The goalkeeper was particularly dodgy and as far as I am concerned continues to be so. He is being asked to be a footballer which he isn't. That lack of confidence has spread to other parts of his game and ultimately to his defence in front of him and they have been panicky enough. Lovren has brought the stability and leadership desired.
2) Teams have worked us out. Simple really, press us when the ball is in our half someone is bound to give it away. If we are dominating the ball, drop deep with 2 banks of 4 and play on the break. oh yes and just wait for a corner or freekick for a free goal!
3) Lack of a cutting edge upfront. We have tried Balotelli but he clearly actually interested in playing football. I have said it before, I have no idea who decided this guy can even play football. He has no touch, zero tactical awareness, no work ethic and the worst attitude and demeanour on the pitch. Ricky Lambert and Fabio Borini have had to sit and watch this £16mill waster do absolutely nothing, its hardly helped their confidence.
So we stumbled into December with little hope or optimism and facing a trip to The Theatre of delusions and the Gunners at home.Ming-ing-olet finally dropped although Brad Jones isn't really a step forward. Despite the rather lopsided scoreline and the customary offside goal we utter smashed Manure. David De Gea continues to be their best player and the only reason they are not in the bottom 5 never mind the top 4. 9 saves and about 4 of them Worldies.
Having said all that Rodgers was convinced he had stumbled onto something. Playing with a back 3, using Markovic and Moreno as wing backs and playing Raheem through the middle. We had 19 shots and 9 on target against ManUre which is a vast improvement on the 7 shots and just 1 against Sunderland at home the week before.
So on to Arsenal and yet another bizarre encounter. We deservedly took the lead just before half-time only to go to sleep as usual injury time just before halftime. Arsenal then went 2-1 up through Giroud. Needless to say we threw everything at them and deservedly got the equaliser deep in injury time. A bit of Quid Pro Quo. Again we had an amazing 27 shots but only 10 on target.
Fair play to Rodgers he seemed to have found something we can work with. Since then we have gone 6 more league games without losing with just 1 draw and amazingly 4 clean sheets. Yes the opposition for the most part has been most mediocre but we have been less than clinical against the lesser teams. 2-0 up against Leicester, we managed to throw it away.
So have turned a corner? The proof will be in the next 3 fixtures. Everton away, Southampton away and Man City at home. We need 6 or 7 points form those 3 games as despite the run of 7 games undefeated we have actually only moved up 2 league places. More importantly we are just 5 points from 3rd place, so the games against the teams around us are critical.
The return of Daniel Sturridge is very timely indeed we must hope there are no re-lapses for the rest of the season. With him as our spearhead I can't see us not getting into the top 4. We cant afford to lose too many more games possibly only the City game and away at Chelski. The rest will have to be wins. Including Arsenal at the Emirates. We went on crazy run last season and will have to do so again.
Rodgers has also recalled Jordan Ibe from his loan spell at Derby where he seems to have done quite well. I would like to tell you his appearance, assists,goals and Man of the Match awards but neither our Website or Derby's makes any reference to his existence as a player there form a stats point of view! LOL So much for the information age!
Another good decision in this window is to leave Divock Origi out on loan. No point in bringing him back this season. Sterling is showing he can play through the middle if required. God help the League next season when we can unleash Sturridge, Origi, Sterling and Ibe!
So there are shoots of a recovery but I think we are paying for our transfer policy in general. You cant say you will sign and develop younger players and then expect consistency form them. That takes until their mid to late twenties to develop.
Lets hope we can build on our momentum and really push for a top place. It would be awesome if we could keep ManUre out again. No doubt they will come up with a cunning plan to allow their U9 kit to be sponsored by McDonalds for £150mill like they did with their training kit last summer to make up for the lack of Champions League football!
I will be doing another blog about our transfer policy and the various decisions we have made.
YNWA
Sunday, 12 October 2014
A Case For The Defence?
Errrr no, there is no case since we don't have one..... There is more rigidity in a wet paper bag in a monsoon! In the month since I last blogged we have managed to win just 1 League game, a ridiculous 14-13 pen win in the League Cup to see off mighty Middlesborough and dodgy injury time pen to see off Ludogarets.
While our general play has been poor, lacking tempo, intelligence anything nearing a cutting edge. A blunt butter knife is more incisive. I don't think this is an excuse for a complete lack of defensive organisation. In the 6 games we have played since Villa we have conceded 9. In total we have conceded 14 in 10 games. If you want to get in the top 4 you cant concede that many goals. Especially when the team isn't firing at the other end.
This porousness has been feature of Brendan Rodgers management career to date. I understand that his 'philosophy' isn't overly concerned with the defensive side of things ala Wenger. How else do you explain the 1.18, 1.28 goals conceded per game in the last 2 season under him and now an alarming 1.4 goals conceded per game so far this season. You cannot keep having to score 2 or 3 goals every week to win games. That is a football fact. It doesn't work in the end.
The wheels came off at the end of last season and I think the players are still suffering from falling short and we haven't really done anything to address the issues. That sits firmly with the manager and coaching staff. Gianfranco Zola was in the studio for SKY during the West Ham debacle and he said Liverpool do not practice how to 'behave' without the ball. Absolutely amazing insight....
We dominate the ball in almost every game yet we panic as soon as the other team dares to have more than 8 touches and gets within 30 yards of our goal. Fullbacks have absconded because of our attacking tactics or don't bother to block crosses when they are there. Stevie G is too old and slow to be that defensive cover we need. Centre backs make terrible decisions, lunging in for tackles instead of shepherding and jockeying. As for Minging-o-let in goals he charges out when he should stay then vice versa and I have noticed he has developed the Reina syndrome. Flat-footed, going to ground too soon and generally spreading panic. Everyone makes mistakes but we do not seem to learn from them.
We have paid a lot of money for some of these defenders and that you expect a lot more quality. We are not getting it, there is a complete lack of leadership from the keeper and the 2 centre backs. Our approach to defending set-up pieces is abysmal. Our decision-making in possessional transition is atrocious. We have generally over committed to attack and don't wait until possession is secure before going gung-ho.
I accept that Moreno and Manquillo are talented youngsters and if our other fullbacks were fit might not have played as much.I think on the whole they are doing a good job and can see why they have been bought. They have pace and can deliver decent crosses and Moreno in particular looks like he doesn't mind a tackle or 20. Skrtel,Lovren,Sakho and Toure are all very experienced players at domestic and international level yet seem dazed and confused most weeks. How Sakho plays for France is beyond me. I would rather play a man short. Yet another Rodgers transfer dud. Where are the leaders???
Minging-o-let in goals is 6'6" yet is completely useless dealing with crosses and corners. Compare his 'presence' with 2 keepers of a similar height, Courtois and Krul. You rarely see those guys flapping and rooted to their lines when the ball is in the air. Victor Valdes rumours abound not sure he is any better to be honest. Not mentally strong enough for the Premier League.
Skrtel and Lovren are our best pairing at centreback but their communication is poor with each other and their fellow defenders. This needs to get sorted. Also the 2 of them seem obsessed with wrestling with the man they are marking at set pieces. If you aren't looking at the ball how do you expect to win it? Jamie Carragher said on SKY after the Basel defeat the other night that that is how Skrtel has defended since he joined the club. So we have had 5 managers since and NOT one of them has sorted it out!! Unbelievable Jeff! Might explain is random droppings from the starting 11
Corners are defended in the following way - Know who you are marking and where he is usual arms length away is sufficient and you attack the ball if its coming you way. If he out jumps you, so be it. If the ball is dropping anywhere in the 6 yard box between the sticks your Keeper must come and collect it! Simple. We do none of these things. The goals against West Ham, Middlesborough and Basel being cases in point.
If Brendan Rodgers doesn't understand defending (He spent a long time at the West London bus depot with Moan-inho!) he must bring someone in who does and soon.
From a general play perspective, we look like we did in the early part of Rodgers reign and the latter part of Roy Hodgson's. Lightweight, bereft of ideas and belief. Sure we are missing Sturridge but we have £30mill of striker between Balotelli,Lambert and Borini.Yet 2 of them look hopeless (Lambert and Stupid Mario) and 1 doesn't seem to be allowed to play (Borini).
Dropping Sterling for the Villa game has severely backfired beyond that particular 90mins. He has gone from our best player to now being error strewn and panicky on the ball. Lallana is getting there from a sharpness perspective and it was great to see him get off the mark against West Brom.
I suppose this Jeckyll and Hyde team will continue over the rest of the season. With injuries and the fact that we only seem to sign players under the age of 24 you are going to lack consistency. While that might benefit the club long term we cant really afford to only be a top 4 team every other season. We have an opportunity this season to truly keep Arsenal or the Scum out of the top 4. The Scum may have signed some impressive attacking weapons but I wouldn't take any of their defence over our sad lot!
Our fixtures this season are relatively gentle. We don't have too many top 7 clashes back to back. Arsenal and the Scum this season and some tricky away double headers later in the season. We need to put our house in order and make sure it is built from bricks and cement rather than the current twigs and wet paper we have at the moment,
Hopefully the return of Sturridge and possibly Can will provide a bit more backbone and dynamism to our team. On the plus side we have seen Jordan Rossiter scored on his debut for us in the League Cup and Glen Johnson still hasn't played! God knows how many we would have shipped with that Muppet in the back 4!
Let hope we don't have too many broken players after the International fixtures.
YNWA
While our general play has been poor, lacking tempo, intelligence anything nearing a cutting edge. A blunt butter knife is more incisive. I don't think this is an excuse for a complete lack of defensive organisation. In the 6 games we have played since Villa we have conceded 9. In total we have conceded 14 in 10 games. If you want to get in the top 4 you cant concede that many goals. Especially when the team isn't firing at the other end.
This porousness has been feature of Brendan Rodgers management career to date. I understand that his 'philosophy' isn't overly concerned with the defensive side of things ala Wenger. How else do you explain the 1.18, 1.28 goals conceded per game in the last 2 season under him and now an alarming 1.4 goals conceded per game so far this season. You cannot keep having to score 2 or 3 goals every week to win games. That is a football fact. It doesn't work in the end.
The wheels came off at the end of last season and I think the players are still suffering from falling short and we haven't really done anything to address the issues. That sits firmly with the manager and coaching staff. Gianfranco Zola was in the studio for SKY during the West Ham debacle and he said Liverpool do not practice how to 'behave' without the ball. Absolutely amazing insight....
We dominate the ball in almost every game yet we panic as soon as the other team dares to have more than 8 touches and gets within 30 yards of our goal. Fullbacks have absconded because of our attacking tactics or don't bother to block crosses when they are there. Stevie G is too old and slow to be that defensive cover we need. Centre backs make terrible decisions, lunging in for tackles instead of shepherding and jockeying. As for Minging-o-let in goals he charges out when he should stay then vice versa and I have noticed he has developed the Reina syndrome. Flat-footed, going to ground too soon and generally spreading panic. Everyone makes mistakes but we do not seem to learn from them.
We have paid a lot of money for some of these defenders and that you expect a lot more quality. We are not getting it, there is a complete lack of leadership from the keeper and the 2 centre backs. Our approach to defending set-up pieces is abysmal. Our decision-making in possessional transition is atrocious. We have generally over committed to attack and don't wait until possession is secure before going gung-ho.
I accept that Moreno and Manquillo are talented youngsters and if our other fullbacks were fit might not have played as much.I think on the whole they are doing a good job and can see why they have been bought. They have pace and can deliver decent crosses and Moreno in particular looks like he doesn't mind a tackle or 20. Skrtel,Lovren,Sakho and Toure are all very experienced players at domestic and international level yet seem dazed and confused most weeks. How Sakho plays for France is beyond me. I would rather play a man short. Yet another Rodgers transfer dud. Where are the leaders???
Minging-o-let in goals is 6'6" yet is completely useless dealing with crosses and corners. Compare his 'presence' with 2 keepers of a similar height, Courtois and Krul. You rarely see those guys flapping and rooted to their lines when the ball is in the air. Victor Valdes rumours abound not sure he is any better to be honest. Not mentally strong enough for the Premier League.
Skrtel and Lovren are our best pairing at centreback but their communication is poor with each other and their fellow defenders. This needs to get sorted. Also the 2 of them seem obsessed with wrestling with the man they are marking at set pieces. If you aren't looking at the ball how do you expect to win it? Jamie Carragher said on SKY after the Basel defeat the other night that that is how Skrtel has defended since he joined the club. So we have had 5 managers since and NOT one of them has sorted it out!! Unbelievable Jeff! Might explain is random droppings from the starting 11
Corners are defended in the following way - Know who you are marking and where he is usual arms length away is sufficient and you attack the ball if its coming you way. If he out jumps you, so be it. If the ball is dropping anywhere in the 6 yard box between the sticks your Keeper must come and collect it! Simple. We do none of these things. The goals against West Ham, Middlesborough and Basel being cases in point.
If Brendan Rodgers doesn't understand defending (He spent a long time at the West London bus depot with Moan-inho!) he must bring someone in who does and soon.
From a general play perspective, we look like we did in the early part of Rodgers reign and the latter part of Roy Hodgson's. Lightweight, bereft of ideas and belief. Sure we are missing Sturridge but we have £30mill of striker between Balotelli,Lambert and Borini.Yet 2 of them look hopeless (Lambert and Stupid Mario) and 1 doesn't seem to be allowed to play (Borini).
Dropping Sterling for the Villa game has severely backfired beyond that particular 90mins. He has gone from our best player to now being error strewn and panicky on the ball. Lallana is getting there from a sharpness perspective and it was great to see him get off the mark against West Brom.
I suppose this Jeckyll and Hyde team will continue over the rest of the season. With injuries and the fact that we only seem to sign players under the age of 24 you are going to lack consistency. While that might benefit the club long term we cant really afford to only be a top 4 team every other season. We have an opportunity this season to truly keep Arsenal or the Scum out of the top 4. The Scum may have signed some impressive attacking weapons but I wouldn't take any of their defence over our sad lot!
Our fixtures this season are relatively gentle. We don't have too many top 7 clashes back to back. Arsenal and the Scum this season and some tricky away double headers later in the season. We need to put our house in order and make sure it is built from bricks and cement rather than the current twigs and wet paper we have at the moment,
Hopefully the return of Sturridge and possibly Can will provide a bit more backbone and dynamism to our team. On the plus side we have seen Jordan Rossiter scored on his debut for us in the League Cup and Glen Johnson still hasn't played! God knows how many we would have shipped with that Muppet in the back 4!
Let hope we don't have too many broken players after the International fixtures.
YNWA
Sunday, 14 September 2014
Why Always Me???
So the transfer window is closed and we were successful in adding an additional striker. The surprise is obviously who it was. Mario Balotelli. My initial reaction was one of rage. I mean this guy carries more baggage than Rhianna on tour! Why sign him???
Dodgy temperament, off field weirdness, disruptiveness in the dressing room. On field displays of petulance and non-interest. His footballing ability for me is questionable. I don't think I can count 3 games I have ever seen him produce a World Class performance. I similarly cant count more that 5 that he has out in a good performance but can count loads more where he is completely useless.
So why has Brendan Rodgers plumped for him? I think it comes down to 4 things. Price,Potential and Previous Experience in the Premier League and Availability. He certainly tick those boxes. We were obviously scrambling around in the last few weeks after Remy deal fell through. Like everything if clubs know you are looking the price goes up.
Fortunately for us AC Milan have no money and were having a fire sale this summer. So £16Mill for Balotelli is probably decent value in the last few days of the transfer market. So what does he bring to the table? I am not really sure. He doesn't run in behind, he doesn't really hold the ball up. He can do the sublime but is more prone to the ridiculous. If Sturridge is out long term at any point, is this guy really going to produce? Time will tell and I will be the first to praise the manager if it works out. Its a big gamble but for Mario this is probably his last chance and a decent club....
We certainly cant rely on Rickie Lambert who now looks completely awestruck and out of his depth at Liverpool. It started with a penalty miss in pre-season and he hasn't looked anything like the player who displayed such poise and quality at Southampton. He is indecisive, leaden footed and has even forgotten how to header. He will be the League Cup guy and no more...
Fabio Borini refusing to go to Sunderland might actually prove a good decision. He is still raw but can score and he proved at Sunderland he can do it at this level either coming on off the flanks or through the middle. I like the kid. He really tries and is always looking to get involved.
Brendan Rodgers was asked by Ed Chamberlain on Monday Night Football before the Man City game what Balotelli brought to the team. The 1st word out of his mouth with that cheeky little grin of his was 'Trouble' . Fair play to him totally defused any follow up questions.Rodgers is backing himself to be able to deal with Mario's ego and idiocyncracies. He has previous in this working with the various lads at Chelsea and sort Raheem Sterling out. So we have to back his judgement and give it time. As you can above our alternatives are not great.
Our Summer spending left us with a net spend of around £58million. The 3rd highest in the Premier League. An investment we sorely needed as we were fortunate last year that with our limited squad we didn't suffer too many injuries to key players. With the added Champions League commitments we certainly needed more quantity as well as quality. For the most part we have done that. Have added enough to challenge again for the title, I think not. Top 4 is a more realistic target but will still be a stretch for this squad. I like the way Rodgers does his business, generally early and well.
It will take time for them all to settle and to be fair to Brendan Rodgers he has introduced them sparingly. Lovren, Manquillo and Moreno obviously straight into the team to attempt to fix a porous defence and provide more quality from out wide. The jury is still out at this early stage. As you saw yesterday, Villa were able to cause and force more Keystone Cop defending. Sakho is useless at this level and Moreno has shown in the 3 games that he can be brilliant (Spurs) or rubbish (City and Villa). We really need to field a solid regular back 4. Someone always seems to be injured or out of form.
Think Rodgers hand was forced to some extent against Villa yesterday with Sturridge being injured. Markovic,Balotelli and Lallana were chucked in with re-called Coutinho and you could see the 4 of them haven't played together. Additionally Villa under Paul Lambert deployed the exact same tactic they have used on the previous 2 visits to Anfield and unsurprisingly won the game. Brendan Rodgers pre-match comments about having a game plan and explaining his reasons for resting Sterling just didn't wash for me.
Clearly there was no game plan for Villa. We played 4-2-3-1, they pressed us in midfield kept a solid, tight midfield 3 and played on the break. There was no space for Coutinho to work in, Markovic vanished after a bright 10 minutes of so in the middle of the 1st half. Lallana clearly not fully fit and looked a yard short. Balotelli never made a single run in behind. Similarly almost no link-up play with any of the front 4.
Resting Sterling was stupid. He has been our best and most consistent player so far. Yes he played twice for England but that was Monday night. If we had a tough Champions League draw or fixture, I would have understood the decision. But we are playing some donkeys from Bulgaria at Anfield on Tuesday. Surely that was the game to change so much in the team?
Play Sterling get a couple ahead and take him off. Not bring him on and put that extra pressure on. He got absolutely clattered by Alan Hutton and we are lucky he didn't get injured. Villa completely out fought us and yet again their Champions League winner of a coach got the tactics spot on..... again. While ours was flummoxed. Any manager with half a brain will be using this as a blue-print for any games against us home or away.
Rodgers deserves a huge amount of credit for what he has done and is doing at Liverpool. We were going nowhere fast when he arrived. We play some of the most amazing flowing and devastating football in Europe when we are on song. He changes formations very subtly at times. Using midfield diamond, changing who as at the attacking point, 2-3 formation in midfield or 4-3-3. Its good and shows great grasp of whats going on.
However there doesn't seem to be a plan B when the way we play isn't working. Arsenal have been getting accused of this for years. We are similarly guilty of being a one trick pony at times. We start fast and if we don't score we play on the break and kill the opposition with the speed of our attacks. When faced with team that sit in. Hull, Southampton twice, Villa 3 years running and infamously Chelsea, we are devoid of options.
Perhaps that's part of the thinking behind bringing in Balotelli. That X factor the unknown. Sure last season we had Suarez who quite frankly, was unplayable and could probably have unlocked Fort Knox with his thinking and quick feet never mind an obdurate defence. They are different animals but we need Balotelli to produce those eureka moments when we aren't being allowed to dominate.
Yesterday was horrible day at the office. Brad Guzan didn't have save to make all match. Coutinho's curler that hit the post was the only scare they had. We had 18 shots but most of them were from long range and were blocked before they travelled 5 yards or were wayward. Our defending in general was poor and set pieces we were particularly woeful. Too busy wrestling with their players instead of watching the ball and attacking it.
We really need to sort out the defending as we have already conceded 5 goals in our 4 games so far. Mostly down to abject defending rather than any particular brilliance from our opponents.
I was confident we could claim 3rd this year but I am thinking that will probably go to Arsenal. If they can get Sanchez,Wellbeck and Walcott fit and playing together for any length of time they will destroy teams because they have the pace and weapons to get in behind. We will be a in battle for 4th with Everton and Man United. I cant see Spurs featuring, tehy lack big match temperament and character. They were woeful against us.
Here is a victorious return to Champions League on Tuesday against Ludogorets Razgrad. My starting 11:
Mignolet
Flanagan-Lovren-Sakho-Enrique
Can-Henderson
Markovic-Sterling-Borini
Balotelli
No Stevie G for this one, he cant do 3 games in a week. Hell he can barely do one.
Coutinho needs space and I cant imagine the Bulgarians will do anything but park the bus, so we must use the pace we have. Changing both fullbacks will give the new boys a rest and use our more experienced players.
Markovic showed flashes of what he can do. Needs to take players on more. He will also be one of the most experienced players on the pitch from a European games perspective after his exploits with Benfica last season. A potential goal fest against minnows will do him the world of good.
Yes I have left out Lallana for the simple reason he isn't match fit. If we are cruising at halftime, take off Sterling and bring him on. That way he isn't under pressure. Similarly Balotelli and Lambert. Mario needs to get off the mark.
The CL draw has been kind to us and other than the Real Madrid games we should win the other 4 although Basel away will be tricky.
Lets hope for a reaction and a barnstorming performance from the lads
YNWA
Dodgy temperament, off field weirdness, disruptiveness in the dressing room. On field displays of petulance and non-interest. His footballing ability for me is questionable. I don't think I can count 3 games I have ever seen him produce a World Class performance. I similarly cant count more that 5 that he has out in a good performance but can count loads more where he is completely useless.
So why has Brendan Rodgers plumped for him? I think it comes down to 4 things. Price,Potential and Previous Experience in the Premier League and Availability. He certainly tick those boxes. We were obviously scrambling around in the last few weeks after Remy deal fell through. Like everything if clubs know you are looking the price goes up.
Fortunately for us AC Milan have no money and were having a fire sale this summer. So £16Mill for Balotelli is probably decent value in the last few days of the transfer market. So what does he bring to the table? I am not really sure. He doesn't run in behind, he doesn't really hold the ball up. He can do the sublime but is more prone to the ridiculous. If Sturridge is out long term at any point, is this guy really going to produce? Time will tell and I will be the first to praise the manager if it works out. Its a big gamble but for Mario this is probably his last chance and a decent club....
We certainly cant rely on Rickie Lambert who now looks completely awestruck and out of his depth at Liverpool. It started with a penalty miss in pre-season and he hasn't looked anything like the player who displayed such poise and quality at Southampton. He is indecisive, leaden footed and has even forgotten how to header. He will be the League Cup guy and no more...
Fabio Borini refusing to go to Sunderland might actually prove a good decision. He is still raw but can score and he proved at Sunderland he can do it at this level either coming on off the flanks or through the middle. I like the kid. He really tries and is always looking to get involved.
Brendan Rodgers was asked by Ed Chamberlain on Monday Night Football before the Man City game what Balotelli brought to the team. The 1st word out of his mouth with that cheeky little grin of his was 'Trouble' . Fair play to him totally defused any follow up questions.Rodgers is backing himself to be able to deal with Mario's ego and idiocyncracies. He has previous in this working with the various lads at Chelsea and sort Raheem Sterling out. So we have to back his judgement and give it time. As you can above our alternatives are not great.
Our Summer spending left us with a net spend of around £58million. The 3rd highest in the Premier League. An investment we sorely needed as we were fortunate last year that with our limited squad we didn't suffer too many injuries to key players. With the added Champions League commitments we certainly needed more quantity as well as quality. For the most part we have done that. Have added enough to challenge again for the title, I think not. Top 4 is a more realistic target but will still be a stretch for this squad. I like the way Rodgers does his business, generally early and well.
It will take time for them all to settle and to be fair to Brendan Rodgers he has introduced them sparingly. Lovren, Manquillo and Moreno obviously straight into the team to attempt to fix a porous defence and provide more quality from out wide. The jury is still out at this early stage. As you saw yesterday, Villa were able to cause and force more Keystone Cop defending. Sakho is useless at this level and Moreno has shown in the 3 games that he can be brilliant (Spurs) or rubbish (City and Villa). We really need to field a solid regular back 4. Someone always seems to be injured or out of form.
Think Rodgers hand was forced to some extent against Villa yesterday with Sturridge being injured. Markovic,Balotelli and Lallana were chucked in with re-called Coutinho and you could see the 4 of them haven't played together. Additionally Villa under Paul Lambert deployed the exact same tactic they have used on the previous 2 visits to Anfield and unsurprisingly won the game. Brendan Rodgers pre-match comments about having a game plan and explaining his reasons for resting Sterling just didn't wash for me.
Clearly there was no game plan for Villa. We played 4-2-3-1, they pressed us in midfield kept a solid, tight midfield 3 and played on the break. There was no space for Coutinho to work in, Markovic vanished after a bright 10 minutes of so in the middle of the 1st half. Lallana clearly not fully fit and looked a yard short. Balotelli never made a single run in behind. Similarly almost no link-up play with any of the front 4.
Resting Sterling was stupid. He has been our best and most consistent player so far. Yes he played twice for England but that was Monday night. If we had a tough Champions League draw or fixture, I would have understood the decision. But we are playing some donkeys from Bulgaria at Anfield on Tuesday. Surely that was the game to change so much in the team?
Play Sterling get a couple ahead and take him off. Not bring him on and put that extra pressure on. He got absolutely clattered by Alan Hutton and we are lucky he didn't get injured. Villa completely out fought us and yet again their Champions League winner of a coach got the tactics spot on..... again. While ours was flummoxed. Any manager with half a brain will be using this as a blue-print for any games against us home or away.
Rodgers deserves a huge amount of credit for what he has done and is doing at Liverpool. We were going nowhere fast when he arrived. We play some of the most amazing flowing and devastating football in Europe when we are on song. He changes formations very subtly at times. Using midfield diamond, changing who as at the attacking point, 2-3 formation in midfield or 4-3-3. Its good and shows great grasp of whats going on.
However there doesn't seem to be a plan B when the way we play isn't working. Arsenal have been getting accused of this for years. We are similarly guilty of being a one trick pony at times. We start fast and if we don't score we play on the break and kill the opposition with the speed of our attacks. When faced with team that sit in. Hull, Southampton twice, Villa 3 years running and infamously Chelsea, we are devoid of options.
Perhaps that's part of the thinking behind bringing in Balotelli. That X factor the unknown. Sure last season we had Suarez who quite frankly, was unplayable and could probably have unlocked Fort Knox with his thinking and quick feet never mind an obdurate defence. They are different animals but we need Balotelli to produce those eureka moments when we aren't being allowed to dominate.
Yesterday was horrible day at the office. Brad Guzan didn't have save to make all match. Coutinho's curler that hit the post was the only scare they had. We had 18 shots but most of them were from long range and were blocked before they travelled 5 yards or were wayward. Our defending in general was poor and set pieces we were particularly woeful. Too busy wrestling with their players instead of watching the ball and attacking it.
We really need to sort out the defending as we have already conceded 5 goals in our 4 games so far. Mostly down to abject defending rather than any particular brilliance from our opponents.
I was confident we could claim 3rd this year but I am thinking that will probably go to Arsenal. If they can get Sanchez,Wellbeck and Walcott fit and playing together for any length of time they will destroy teams because they have the pace and weapons to get in behind. We will be a in battle for 4th with Everton and Man United. I cant see Spurs featuring, tehy lack big match temperament and character. They were woeful against us.
Here is a victorious return to Champions League on Tuesday against Ludogorets Razgrad. My starting 11:
Mignolet
Flanagan-Lovren-Sakho-Enrique
Can-Henderson
Markovic-Sterling-Borini
Balotelli
No Stevie G for this one, he cant do 3 games in a week. Hell he can barely do one.
Coutinho needs space and I cant imagine the Bulgarians will do anything but park the bus, so we must use the pace we have. Changing both fullbacks will give the new boys a rest and use our more experienced players.
Markovic showed flashes of what he can do. Needs to take players on more. He will also be one of the most experienced players on the pitch from a European games perspective after his exploits with Benfica last season. A potential goal fest against minnows will do him the world of good.
Yes I have left out Lallana for the simple reason he isn't match fit. If we are cruising at halftime, take off Sterling and bring him on. That way he isn't under pressure. Similarly Balotelli and Lambert. Mario needs to get off the mark.
The CL draw has been kind to us and other than the Real Madrid games we should win the other 4 although Basel away will be tricky.
Lets hope for a reaction and a barnstorming performance from the lads
YNWA
Sunday, 17 August 2014
The Ball is Rolling
Well what a summer. A great World Cup where the only negatives were, Pepe,Suarez,Cameroon falling out with each other, and KP-B and Muntari being sent home early. All probably to be expected!! The freedom with which the 'teams' played was joy to behold. By 'teams' I means those who the sum of the parts was greater than the whole. USA,Mexico,Columbia,Chile and Costa Coffee!
Tellingly not a European team in there, Holland over-performed under Van Gaal but other than Robben and RVP they are a pretty average side. His reward, another job with another bunch of over hyped never-wases, RVP,Mata and Shrek aside. After they got humped by Swansea yesterday he clearly has his work cut out. He only changed formation and tactics 5 times all with the same result. If he want to stick to 3 at the back and a midfield that doesn't press, good luck with that in the Premier League!
Germany fully deserved the trophy their team ethos under Jochi Loew was amazing. Playing without a striker mostly and using Manny Neuer as a bludgeoning tool for any ball over the top in behind! Their dismantling of Brazil is probably the 2nd greatest football moment of the last decade. Obviously nothing will ever beat our win in Istanbul. Even Rafa would agree that's a FACT!
So firstly lets deal with Suarez. In hindsight I think it has worked out well for all concerned. We no longer have to have our Club's name tarnished further by this degenerate and £75mill is pretty decent return on £20mill layout. We are moving up the food chain but we are not at the top table financially and doubt we ever will be. We can't match City,PSG,Monaco or Chelski or the dodgy debt driven finances of ManUre,Barca and Real. Arsenal could become the 1st proper superpower financially if the 'Financial Fairplay' is enforced correctly going forward. They have bought players for £40mill plus in 2 consecutive seasons now...
So with the funds we have received for Suarez we have sought to strengthen the squad, adding some sadly lacking depth. Although if you believe Brendan Rodgers, most of what we have spent was already allocated and the Suarez money is as yet untouched. That is just as well as we have not really replaced him with our signings so far.
Lallana and Markovic will give us extra craft and guile in midfield, either wide or centrally. At the moment that role is solely being filled by Coutinho. We have addressed our defensive issues to a degree. Lovren is an astute signing. A two footed Centre-half with a years PL experience under his belt. In the 2 matches he has played so far he looks like leader who reads the game well. Our defensive line is generally higher in our final 3rd which needed to be addressed.
Manquillo and Moreno add options at right back and at last we have a proper left-back. I would expect Enrique to be moved on now and possibly Glen Johnson and Flanagan covering at LB. Personally I would get rid of Johnson. He adds almost nothing defensively and is equally useless going forward these days. I have to admit was sorry to see Martin Kelly go, but with the new signings and 6 centre-backs was he really going to get a look in?
On the CB front I would keep Skrtel,Agger and Sakho and get rid of Coates and Toure not good enough.
Emre Can looks like a proper player. He was used in a few different positions on our US tour and looks accomplished in every one of them, He played out wide on the left, holding, as well as in the hole. With his size and deceptive pace, I cant believe he didn't start today against Southampton.
Lucas and Gerrard were about as useful as chocolate fireguard in front of our back 4 today. Gerrard is too old now. He is fine when we have the ball and are setting up attacks with his raking passes but I don't think he won a single tackle today. Much like the World Cup and some of his displays towards the end of last season he is struggling, his pace has gone. As for Lucas he could have sat in the stands for all the use he was.
Brendan Rodgers confirmed that there are a 'few more' to come in. Hopefully another quality striker to add competition and adequate cover for Sturridge. I was excited about Remy but perhaps its for the best. As things stand we keep Borini and can use Sterling or Ibe centrally if needs must. The names we are being linked with at the moment are a bit far fetched I think, Lavezzi,Cavani and Falcao! The 1st two I would gladly take either of them. The latter who knows if he is 29 or 45! LOL.
I am going to commit a heinous crime here. What about Javier Hernandez? He has explosive pace is a proper poacher and the Manc Scum don't want him, so he has a point to prove..... I know we haven't sold a player to each other since the 1960's but that would be an awesome signing.
So whats missing from our jigsaw, if Lucas isn't the answer as holding cover then we need one more there. Check Tiote at Newcastle perhaps? Up front we have discussed a little I would like Lavezzi as that give us a similar player to Sturridge but also someone who can play wide in front 3. Divock Origi has been bought and loaned back out for another season, so that's one for the future. him, Sterling and Ibe togther could be the most destructive things to hit the pitch in years to come.
There are rumours that Marco Reus might be on his way and the Shaqiri thing doesn't seem to be going away either. I would welcome Reus but if Shaquiri cant get in the AC Milan team that finished 11th in an Old man's League like Serie A what chance does he have in the PL??
An interesting 2 weeks ahead with games against Man City and Spurs away. Not an ideal start but probably not a bad idea to get some of these games against the top 6 done early. If we get the points then that's a big bonus. City weren't very convincing today although they appeared more awake than we were, so will need to up our game next Monday.
I would start with almost the same team as today against City. Just replace Lucas with Can, simples. City showed today against Newcastle they are vulnerable against the counter attack and if the game get stretched at high tempo they do give the ball away a lot. Right up our street...
So my bin list before the transfer window closes:
Glen Johnson, Enrique,Coates,Toure,Assaidi, Lucas.
Coming in Check Tiote,Marco Reus and Ezikiel Lavezzi or Hernandez. Sorted, show us the trophies!
YNWA!
Tellingly not a European team in there, Holland over-performed under Van Gaal but other than Robben and RVP they are a pretty average side. His reward, another job with another bunch of over hyped never-wases, RVP,Mata and Shrek aside. After they got humped by Swansea yesterday he clearly has his work cut out. He only changed formation and tactics 5 times all with the same result. If he want to stick to 3 at the back and a midfield that doesn't press, good luck with that in the Premier League!
Germany fully deserved the trophy their team ethos under Jochi Loew was amazing. Playing without a striker mostly and using Manny Neuer as a bludgeoning tool for any ball over the top in behind! Their dismantling of Brazil is probably the 2nd greatest football moment of the last decade. Obviously nothing will ever beat our win in Istanbul. Even Rafa would agree that's a FACT!
So firstly lets deal with Suarez. In hindsight I think it has worked out well for all concerned. We no longer have to have our Club's name tarnished further by this degenerate and £75mill is pretty decent return on £20mill layout. We are moving up the food chain but we are not at the top table financially and doubt we ever will be. We can't match City,PSG,Monaco or Chelski or the dodgy debt driven finances of ManUre,Barca and Real. Arsenal could become the 1st proper superpower financially if the 'Financial Fairplay' is enforced correctly going forward. They have bought players for £40mill plus in 2 consecutive seasons now...
So with the funds we have received for Suarez we have sought to strengthen the squad, adding some sadly lacking depth. Although if you believe Brendan Rodgers, most of what we have spent was already allocated and the Suarez money is as yet untouched. That is just as well as we have not really replaced him with our signings so far.
Lallana and Markovic will give us extra craft and guile in midfield, either wide or centrally. At the moment that role is solely being filled by Coutinho. We have addressed our defensive issues to a degree. Lovren is an astute signing. A two footed Centre-half with a years PL experience under his belt. In the 2 matches he has played so far he looks like leader who reads the game well. Our defensive line is generally higher in our final 3rd which needed to be addressed.
Manquillo and Moreno add options at right back and at last we have a proper left-back. I would expect Enrique to be moved on now and possibly Glen Johnson and Flanagan covering at LB. Personally I would get rid of Johnson. He adds almost nothing defensively and is equally useless going forward these days. I have to admit was sorry to see Martin Kelly go, but with the new signings and 6 centre-backs was he really going to get a look in?
On the CB front I would keep Skrtel,Agger and Sakho and get rid of Coates and Toure not good enough.
Emre Can looks like a proper player. He was used in a few different positions on our US tour and looks accomplished in every one of them, He played out wide on the left, holding, as well as in the hole. With his size and deceptive pace, I cant believe he didn't start today against Southampton.
Lucas and Gerrard were about as useful as chocolate fireguard in front of our back 4 today. Gerrard is too old now. He is fine when we have the ball and are setting up attacks with his raking passes but I don't think he won a single tackle today. Much like the World Cup and some of his displays towards the end of last season he is struggling, his pace has gone. As for Lucas he could have sat in the stands for all the use he was.
Brendan Rodgers confirmed that there are a 'few more' to come in. Hopefully another quality striker to add competition and adequate cover for Sturridge. I was excited about Remy but perhaps its for the best. As things stand we keep Borini and can use Sterling or Ibe centrally if needs must. The names we are being linked with at the moment are a bit far fetched I think, Lavezzi,Cavani and Falcao! The 1st two I would gladly take either of them. The latter who knows if he is 29 or 45! LOL.
I am going to commit a heinous crime here. What about Javier Hernandez? He has explosive pace is a proper poacher and the Manc Scum don't want him, so he has a point to prove..... I know we haven't sold a player to each other since the 1960's but that would be an awesome signing.
So whats missing from our jigsaw, if Lucas isn't the answer as holding cover then we need one more there. Check Tiote at Newcastle perhaps? Up front we have discussed a little I would like Lavezzi as that give us a similar player to Sturridge but also someone who can play wide in front 3. Divock Origi has been bought and loaned back out for another season, so that's one for the future. him, Sterling and Ibe togther could be the most destructive things to hit the pitch in years to come.
There are rumours that Marco Reus might be on his way and the Shaqiri thing doesn't seem to be going away either. I would welcome Reus but if Shaquiri cant get in the AC Milan team that finished 11th in an Old man's League like Serie A what chance does he have in the PL??
An interesting 2 weeks ahead with games against Man City and Spurs away. Not an ideal start but probably not a bad idea to get some of these games against the top 6 done early. If we get the points then that's a big bonus. City weren't very convincing today although they appeared more awake than we were, so will need to up our game next Monday.
I would start with almost the same team as today against City. Just replace Lucas with Can, simples. City showed today against Newcastle they are vulnerable against the counter attack and if the game get stretched at high tempo they do give the ball away a lot. Right up our street...
So my bin list before the transfer window closes:
Glen Johnson, Enrique,Coates,Toure,Assaidi, Lucas.
Coming in Check Tiote,Marco Reus and Ezikiel Lavezzi or Hernandez. Sorted, show us the trophies!
YNWA!
Sunday, 1 June 2014
End of Season 2013/14 Review
Wow what a roller coaster ride we have been given as Liverpool fans this season.Rather than diving straight in as soon as the last game was over I have taken some time to reflect on what was and what could have been before spouting forth in the Net. I know an unusual approach for me.
So lets look at the stats first:
We finished 2nd with 84 points, our largest Premier League haul.
We missed out on being Champions by 3 points.
We scored over 100 League Goals! Amazing.
We scored 3 or more goals in a total of 21 of our League matches. Unbelievable.
Sturridge and Suarez scored more than 50 goals in the League together not done since Toshack and St John!
Suarez won the Golden Boot,Premier League Player of the Year and Football Writer's award.
Suarez,Sturridge and Gerrard were all picked in the Premier League Team of the year.
Based on the above we have clearly been amazing and over achieved. We have a relatively small squad which in relation to our peers has been 'cheaply' assembled.
6 Defenders used with 15 or more appearances.
6 Midfielders used with 20 or more appearances (4 of those with over 30).
Just the SAS up front.
Its really not a lot. The other amazing factor Brendan Rogers consistently tinkered with the formation without really changing the personnel. Most weeks it was really only who was playing with Skrtel that was up for grabs otherwise it was Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Flanagan, Gerrard, Henderson, Sterling, Countinho,Sturridge Suarez. Towards the end of the season Lucas' return and Joe Allen got a bit more game time but really consistent selection.
A lot was made of our not playing in Europe being an assisting factor in us being able to recover and have 4 or 5 days every week to prepare for the next match. That being said the the players still have to focus and produce. For that they deserve a lot of credit, especially as other than Johnson, Suarez and Sturridge none of them have been involved in a title race in a Major European League before.
I have been ultimately amazed by what we have done this season. Yes we didn't win anything and in the end came up short and were naive at times but wow if this is what we are in for under Rogers then long may it continue, shredded nerves and all.
On the negative side, we really need to sort out our woeful defending. 50 League goals conceded, that is bottom half of the table defending. Only 10 clean sheets. We conceded 2 or more goals 16 times. Worryingly, 4 of those in the last 5 matches as we pushed to win it and ultimately what cost us.
Last season was the same but we lacked the cutting edge. We can't continue to have to score 3 or 4 goals every week to win this is not a console game. We will not have the same impressive run of results against the other top 7 sides. We beat all comers except Chelski and lost to Arsenal and City at their grounds. That was amazing, can we do it again surely not..
Our defensive frailty is down to several factors which Brendan Rogers must address. Last season was the same but we lacked the cutting edge up front resulting in a poor overall finish. We cant go back there.
Consistent back 4 - We haven't had one. This was down to several factors, injury (Agger and Sakho),lack of form (Toure,Agger,Cisskho and Sakho). No other options - Glen Johnson - we play him every week even though he is completely useless. Bizarrely Skrtel, who in the last week of the transfer window in August looked to be on the way out, has become a defensive stalwart.
Individual Errors - Far too many individual errors at the back. Toure,Johnson,Sakho,Mignolet and even Skrtel make too many poor decisions and errors. Week in week out.
Positioning - The way we play demands the fullbacks push on, fair enough. Glen Johnson however does it all the time, regardless of where the ball is or if possession is secure or not. That's not right. Flanagan on the other side only goes once he knows we have secure possession and he is 19 and playing on the wrong side as he is right footed.....
When is Johnson is 'defending' he doesn't jockey, show player the line, stay goal side, tackle with his right foot, block crosses, mark space, cover, anticipate danger etc. Basically he cant defend. In the centre we are equally as poor.
Defensive Line - We defend too deep in and around our box. The 18 yard line is your Alamo as a defender. The penalty spot is your last stand in the Armoury. All defenders at every level of the game know this but we don't seem to grasp it. We don't push out and pressure space.
Lack of Leadership - None of our defenders is a talker or a leader and I include Mignolet in that. If the centrebacks aren't talkers then the Keeper must be. End of.
Lets hope the lessons of falling short will stand them in good stead for next season. Not that I think we will be mounting a title tilt again. I think we should be sticking to the 5 year plan which is Top 4 for a couple and then have dart at it.
I know that appears pessimistic but I would say its realistic. City will buy heavily as always both in financial and quality terms.Chelski with have a Moaninho clear out and will actually sign a striker. Martin Skrtel and Jordan Henderson scored more League goals between them than all 3 of Chelski's misfiring miscreants.
So for me that leaves us on the next tier with Arsenal who must surely start spending now that their Stadium is paid for. In this era of 'Financial Fairplay' they must surely be financial heavyweights. Their unwillingness to loosen the purse strings cant go on for much longer, even under Wenger.
ManUre will come again but even under Van Gaal I cant see them being a Top 4 team next season. Their whole defence is poor, their central midfield is mediocre at best (Carrick and Cleverly will not win you a bean or get in the Fulham team). In attack they have impressive weapons in Shrek,RVP, Janouzai and Mata but harnessing them in co-ordinated way is the challenge. Big changes required and will take more than 1 summer to fix especially with a World Cup and the over inflated transfer market.
Everton, like us, have punched above their weight under Martinez. He has basically taken Moyes squad made a few shrewd additions and they have been excellent. Lukaku,Barry and Delafeau are 3 of the best loan signings of the season. Can they repeat it next season dont think so. Spurs have underperformed but that always seems to be their issue. Buying 6 players almost exactly the same with Gareth Bale money was insane. Most of them haven't turned up and don't look likely to thankfully.
So to individual performances and my traditional scores on the doors.
Mignolet - 6/10 - Started well with a pen save against Stoke and 4 clean-sheets. A great shot stopper but atrocious with his feet. A vampire at crosses. Doesn't dominate his 6 yard box which for someone his height that is shocking. Doesn't talk. He must work on these. I still think he is a better option than Reina. If Vorm is coming I would say his position is under threat.
Glen Johnson - 2/10. I have said more than enough about this over-rated clown. If he was providing assists and scoring you might give him a break but he hasn't delivered there either. He has been rinsed by the likes of Gouffran, Bolasie, Dejegah. England's best right back... REALLY?? He gets 2/10 because he seems to wear the right kit every week and his boots tend to match and look like they are on the right feet! Transfer list for me. Bacary Sagna is available.. just saying.....
Martin Skrtel - 6/10. A warrior who always puts his body on the line but not a leader. Not great with the ball at his feet and likes to dive in. He needs to sort that out. He would have scored higher as with 6 goals he has been awesome at set-pieces but he has scored almost as many O-G's.
Dan Agger - 5/10. Constantly injured, weak in the air against physically strong opponents. Doesn't lead when he plays which is Vice Club Captain he should at the back. Not sure if he will be here next season. No great loss.
Jon Flanagan - 7/10. Just 19 playing as a right footed left back, rarely out of position, rarely gets skinned, loves a tackle and scored a rasper against Spurs! Well done young man, great 1st full season. next season's 1st choice right back for me.
Mamadu Sakho - 4/10. £18 million defender, French International. REALLY??? He looks like a more awkward than Djimi Traore if that is even possible. Looks completely out of his depth with the pace of the English game. Doesn't look great on the ball, drops too deep. Only positive he has pace. Hopefully he will be better next season otherwise this goes down as another Rogers/Ayre transfer disaster.
Ally Cissokho - 1/10. Thankfully only on loan.Makes Glen Johnson look good. As unco-ordinated as Sakho if that's possible. USELESS!
Kolo Toure - 3/10. Brought in as emergency cover played reasonably well in the early games and was taking responsibility. Once he lost his place he never looked the same. Fulham away and West Brom clangers were his legacy for the season.
Stevie G - 7/10. Adapted to his new role really well. His crosses from wide free-kicks were awesome and he has even improved his corners which have been woeful for years, hence we have scored more goals from corners than most this season. At 34, can he give us 1 more season? With Champions League commitments we need proper cover here.Not sure Lucas is the answer.
Jordan Henderson - 7/10. I have and am still eating humble pie on this one. Finally starting to deliver on the promise he showed at Sunderland. He has added goals, killer passes and channelling his headless chicken running into intelligent closing down. Hopefully more to come for the lad.
Joe Allen - 5/10. Still not convinced that this is an £18Mill player or indeed a 1.8Mill player. A late season flurry showed some of what he can do but don't see him as a regular starter. Needs to do more or transfer list for me.
Phillippe Coutinho - 7/10. Not as spectacular as his half season last year but still effective. Probably needs more goals for the chances and shoots he has. Still 5 goals and 7 assists is pretty decent for the pint-sized player.
Raheem Sterling - 8.5/10. Breakthrough season for Raheem. After being over used last season and having too many off field distractions he has certainly blossomed. 9 goals and 7 assists is a good return, like Coutinho could probably get a few more goals. I have scored him higher because he has sometimes single-handedly destroyed teams. For me he should be a starter for England's World Cup games. Dont think the Itailians or Uraguayians want to see this guy running at them.
Lucas Lieva - 6/10. Ronseal player, does what it says on the tin. Lacks pace and goals but does a good job.Not sure if he will be at Anfield next season.
Victor Moses - 0/10. Another completely useless loanee. £10Mill to Chelsea, not making it there, get a chance with another big club and proceeds to do absolutely nothing. Needs to look himself in the mirror and across the training ground at Lukaku. Thats how a loanee should play....
Daniel Sturridge - 9/10. What a player. I have always been a fan since he burst on to the scene at Man City. Together with Suarez they are not far off the deadliest duo in Europe. Long may it continue.
Luiz Suarez - 9.999/10. Well you have to leave some room for improvement! What can you say. I donty like or agree with a lot of his behaviour on or off the pitch but what a player. Ronaldo,Messi,Suarez, That's where he is for me. We are very lucky to have him. If we don't win League or Champs League next season (both unlikely) he will be off. But £200 million will be a nice transfer fee!
All in all an amazing season for a relatively young and inexperienced squad. Brendan Rogers has said he wants to add quality IE players who will improve/contribute to starting 11. That seems to have started with the addition of Rickie Lambert ( not convinced other than as cover). Fabio Borini had a great loan season at Sunderland and certainly deserves more game time.
£25Mill bid on the table for Adam Lallana. A bit steep but that's what you pay for English players. A possible bids for Sevilla left back Moreno also looks promising.
I will post soon re transfers etc and my ins and out for the squad.
YNWA
So lets look at the stats first:
We finished 2nd with 84 points, our largest Premier League haul.
We missed out on being Champions by 3 points.
We scored over 100 League Goals! Amazing.
We scored 3 or more goals in a total of 21 of our League matches. Unbelievable.
Sturridge and Suarez scored more than 50 goals in the League together not done since Toshack and St John!
Suarez won the Golden Boot,Premier League Player of the Year and Football Writer's award.
Suarez,Sturridge and Gerrard were all picked in the Premier League Team of the year.
Based on the above we have clearly been amazing and over achieved. We have a relatively small squad which in relation to our peers has been 'cheaply' assembled.
6 Defenders used with 15 or more appearances.
6 Midfielders used with 20 or more appearances (4 of those with over 30).
Just the SAS up front.
Its really not a lot. The other amazing factor Brendan Rogers consistently tinkered with the formation without really changing the personnel. Most weeks it was really only who was playing with Skrtel that was up for grabs otherwise it was Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Flanagan, Gerrard, Henderson, Sterling, Countinho,Sturridge Suarez. Towards the end of the season Lucas' return and Joe Allen got a bit more game time but really consistent selection.
A lot was made of our not playing in Europe being an assisting factor in us being able to recover and have 4 or 5 days every week to prepare for the next match. That being said the the players still have to focus and produce. For that they deserve a lot of credit, especially as other than Johnson, Suarez and Sturridge none of them have been involved in a title race in a Major European League before.
I have been ultimately amazed by what we have done this season. Yes we didn't win anything and in the end came up short and were naive at times but wow if this is what we are in for under Rogers then long may it continue, shredded nerves and all.
On the negative side, we really need to sort out our woeful defending. 50 League goals conceded, that is bottom half of the table defending. Only 10 clean sheets. We conceded 2 or more goals 16 times. Worryingly, 4 of those in the last 5 matches as we pushed to win it and ultimately what cost us.
Last season was the same but we lacked the cutting edge. We can't continue to have to score 3 or 4 goals every week to win this is not a console game. We will not have the same impressive run of results against the other top 7 sides. We beat all comers except Chelski and lost to Arsenal and City at their grounds. That was amazing, can we do it again surely not..
Our defensive frailty is down to several factors which Brendan Rogers must address. Last season was the same but we lacked the cutting edge up front resulting in a poor overall finish. We cant go back there.
Consistent back 4 - We haven't had one. This was down to several factors, injury (Agger and Sakho),lack of form (Toure,Agger,Cisskho and Sakho). No other options - Glen Johnson - we play him every week even though he is completely useless. Bizarrely Skrtel, who in the last week of the transfer window in August looked to be on the way out, has become a defensive stalwart.
Individual Errors - Far too many individual errors at the back. Toure,Johnson,Sakho,Mignolet and even Skrtel make too many poor decisions and errors. Week in week out.
Positioning - The way we play demands the fullbacks push on, fair enough. Glen Johnson however does it all the time, regardless of where the ball is or if possession is secure or not. That's not right. Flanagan on the other side only goes once he knows we have secure possession and he is 19 and playing on the wrong side as he is right footed.....
When is Johnson is 'defending' he doesn't jockey, show player the line, stay goal side, tackle with his right foot, block crosses, mark space, cover, anticipate danger etc. Basically he cant defend. In the centre we are equally as poor.
Defensive Line - We defend too deep in and around our box. The 18 yard line is your Alamo as a defender. The penalty spot is your last stand in the Armoury. All defenders at every level of the game know this but we don't seem to grasp it. We don't push out and pressure space.
Lack of Leadership - None of our defenders is a talker or a leader and I include Mignolet in that. If the centrebacks aren't talkers then the Keeper must be. End of.
Lets hope the lessons of falling short will stand them in good stead for next season. Not that I think we will be mounting a title tilt again. I think we should be sticking to the 5 year plan which is Top 4 for a couple and then have dart at it.
I know that appears pessimistic but I would say its realistic. City will buy heavily as always both in financial and quality terms.Chelski with have a Moaninho clear out and will actually sign a striker. Martin Skrtel and Jordan Henderson scored more League goals between them than all 3 of Chelski's misfiring miscreants.
So for me that leaves us on the next tier with Arsenal who must surely start spending now that their Stadium is paid for. In this era of 'Financial Fairplay' they must surely be financial heavyweights. Their unwillingness to loosen the purse strings cant go on for much longer, even under Wenger.
ManUre will come again but even under Van Gaal I cant see them being a Top 4 team next season. Their whole defence is poor, their central midfield is mediocre at best (Carrick and Cleverly will not win you a bean or get in the Fulham team). In attack they have impressive weapons in Shrek,RVP, Janouzai and Mata but harnessing them in co-ordinated way is the challenge. Big changes required and will take more than 1 summer to fix especially with a World Cup and the over inflated transfer market.
Everton, like us, have punched above their weight under Martinez. He has basically taken Moyes squad made a few shrewd additions and they have been excellent. Lukaku,Barry and Delafeau are 3 of the best loan signings of the season. Can they repeat it next season dont think so. Spurs have underperformed but that always seems to be their issue. Buying 6 players almost exactly the same with Gareth Bale money was insane. Most of them haven't turned up and don't look likely to thankfully.
So to individual performances and my traditional scores on the doors.
Mignolet - 6/10 - Started well with a pen save against Stoke and 4 clean-sheets. A great shot stopper but atrocious with his feet. A vampire at crosses. Doesn't dominate his 6 yard box which for someone his height that is shocking. Doesn't talk. He must work on these. I still think he is a better option than Reina. If Vorm is coming I would say his position is under threat.
Glen Johnson - 2/10. I have said more than enough about this over-rated clown. If he was providing assists and scoring you might give him a break but he hasn't delivered there either. He has been rinsed by the likes of Gouffran, Bolasie, Dejegah. England's best right back... REALLY?? He gets 2/10 because he seems to wear the right kit every week and his boots tend to match and look like they are on the right feet! Transfer list for me. Bacary Sagna is available.. just saying.....
Martin Skrtel - 6/10. A warrior who always puts his body on the line but not a leader. Not great with the ball at his feet and likes to dive in. He needs to sort that out. He would have scored higher as with 6 goals he has been awesome at set-pieces but he has scored almost as many O-G's.
Dan Agger - 5/10. Constantly injured, weak in the air against physically strong opponents. Doesn't lead when he plays which is Vice Club Captain he should at the back. Not sure if he will be here next season. No great loss.
Jon Flanagan - 7/10. Just 19 playing as a right footed left back, rarely out of position, rarely gets skinned, loves a tackle and scored a rasper against Spurs! Well done young man, great 1st full season. next season's 1st choice right back for me.
Mamadu Sakho - 4/10. £18 million defender, French International. REALLY??? He looks like a more awkward than Djimi Traore if that is even possible. Looks completely out of his depth with the pace of the English game. Doesn't look great on the ball, drops too deep. Only positive he has pace. Hopefully he will be better next season otherwise this goes down as another Rogers/Ayre transfer disaster.
Ally Cissokho - 1/10. Thankfully only on loan.Makes Glen Johnson look good. As unco-ordinated as Sakho if that's possible. USELESS!
Kolo Toure - 3/10. Brought in as emergency cover played reasonably well in the early games and was taking responsibility. Once he lost his place he never looked the same. Fulham away and West Brom clangers were his legacy for the season.
Stevie G - 7/10. Adapted to his new role really well. His crosses from wide free-kicks were awesome and he has even improved his corners which have been woeful for years, hence we have scored more goals from corners than most this season. At 34, can he give us 1 more season? With Champions League commitments we need proper cover here.Not sure Lucas is the answer.
Jordan Henderson - 7/10. I have and am still eating humble pie on this one. Finally starting to deliver on the promise he showed at Sunderland. He has added goals, killer passes and channelling his headless chicken running into intelligent closing down. Hopefully more to come for the lad.
Joe Allen - 5/10. Still not convinced that this is an £18Mill player or indeed a 1.8Mill player. A late season flurry showed some of what he can do but don't see him as a regular starter. Needs to do more or transfer list for me.
Phillippe Coutinho - 7/10. Not as spectacular as his half season last year but still effective. Probably needs more goals for the chances and shoots he has. Still 5 goals and 7 assists is pretty decent for the pint-sized player.
Raheem Sterling - 8.5/10. Breakthrough season for Raheem. After being over used last season and having too many off field distractions he has certainly blossomed. 9 goals and 7 assists is a good return, like Coutinho could probably get a few more goals. I have scored him higher because he has sometimes single-handedly destroyed teams. For me he should be a starter for England's World Cup games. Dont think the Itailians or Uraguayians want to see this guy running at them.
Lucas Lieva - 6/10. Ronseal player, does what it says on the tin. Lacks pace and goals but does a good job.Not sure if he will be at Anfield next season.
Victor Moses - 0/10. Another completely useless loanee. £10Mill to Chelsea, not making it there, get a chance with another big club and proceeds to do absolutely nothing. Needs to look himself in the mirror and across the training ground at Lukaku. Thats how a loanee should play....
Daniel Sturridge - 9/10. What a player. I have always been a fan since he burst on to the scene at Man City. Together with Suarez they are not far off the deadliest duo in Europe. Long may it continue.
Luiz Suarez - 9.999/10. Well you have to leave some room for improvement! What can you say. I donty like or agree with a lot of his behaviour on or off the pitch but what a player. Ronaldo,Messi,Suarez, That's where he is for me. We are very lucky to have him. If we don't win League or Champs League next season (both unlikely) he will be off. But £200 million will be a nice transfer fee!
All in all an amazing season for a relatively young and inexperienced squad. Brendan Rogers has said he wants to add quality IE players who will improve/contribute to starting 11. That seems to have started with the addition of Rickie Lambert ( not convinced other than as cover). Fabio Borini had a great loan season at Sunderland and certainly deserves more game time.
£25Mill bid on the table for Adam Lallana. A bit steep but that's what you pay for English players. A possible bids for Sevilla left back Moreno also looks promising.
I will post soon re transfers etc and my ins and out for the squad.
YNWA
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