8 Mar 2012

Is Charlie Adam right about this, or is he in extreme denial...?

With only 15 goals in 13 home games this season, Liverpool's inability to regularly score goals has become a bit of a running cliche. Everyone with any sense can see that the club lacks a natural, prolific goalscorer, and if the problem had been addressed during the January transfer window, the team might not be struggling to make the Champions League places right now. Despite that reality, Charlie Adam has a different view, and believes Liverpool don't need any more strikers.

In a recent interview with the Liverpool Echo, Adam argued that Liverpool 'have enough match-winners' in the squad, adding:

“We have Luis, Andy, Dirk and Craig. We have got enough players up there. It would be easy for us to make an excuse to say we need to buy this player and that player, but at the end of the day if the club felt they needed to buy a player they would have done it in January".

Let's take a look at Liverpool's alleged match-winning strikers:

* Andy Carroll: 33 appearances | 6 goals
* Dirk Kuyt: 31 appearances | 4 goals
* Luis Suarez: 26 Appearances | 10 goals

Bellamy has played up front about twice this season so I don't include him as a striker. What about the club's other potential match-winners?

* Stewart Downing: 32 appearances | 1 goal
* Jordan Henderson: 33 appearances | 1 goal
* Charlie Adam: 32 appearances | 2 goals

Bellamy is the only attacking player consistently doing the business for Liverpool in the final third, and he achieves this despite being in and out of the team on a weekly basis.

Clearly, Liverpool are lacking in the goalscoring department (!) especially from midfield, so a few more genuine match-winners are definitely needed, but according to Adam, the club has enough players. He argued:

"They [the club] never bought anybody [in January] because the manager feels we already have good enough players to hurt teams".

That's the problem right there: failure to acknowledge the obvious, and persisting with players that are not doing the business in the futile hope they'll suddenly 'come good'.

If Liverpool had enough players to hurt teams (and by 'teams' I mean comparable opposition, not inferior, lower-league teams), then the club would not have dropped 19 points at home this season.



Jaimie Kanwar


74 comments:

  1. having played with such titans of the game as dj campbell and marlon harewood before joining lfc he must think he's in heaven.
    comments like that and carroll saying him and suare play well together make you wonder what actually goes on at melwood on a daily basis.

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  2. 100% in agreement on the poll!! Wonder how long before someone comes on and says we've just been unlucky?

    Not putting away inferior teams has been our problem for some time now, too many draws, not enough guile, poor finishing.

    Athletic Bilbao, now there's a team!!

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  3. anyone else see the reserves play against everton on lfc tv this week?
    plenty of pace,guile and skill.rodolfo borrel has them playing real good football-would love to see some of those players get a chance next season.coady can't do any worse than henderson and sterling already looks like he could offer more than downing.they should at least be worthy of a place in the squad.

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  4. I wouldn't listen to anytihng that pudding adam has to say. Awful player and one of many woeful Dalglish signings.  

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  5. Llorente was brilliant with a great centre forward display, got both the touch and physical aspect. Yet we have £35m Andy Carroll...yay(!)

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  6. Adam has been great for us this season!! And Carroll and Henderson are still very young.. They will turn to be Kennys "super signings" in couple of years

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  7. hope to see suso sterling play for 1st team asap

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  8. Apparently Bilbao's squad (around £15-20m mark) cost less than we paid for Andy Carroll. That is a sobering thought eh.

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  9. Regardless of how the team, or individuals in that team, are playing, belief is an important thing. It spurs you on to greater things. Adam would hardly come out with a statement with negative comments in it. We've played poorly at times and have the dreaded woodwork to blame but a trophy in the cabinet and still being in with a chance for CL football - admittedly a slim one - things aren't that bad.

    Sweet victory for Athletico Bilbao but any game were the scum get their arses handed to them is.

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  10. See, its not about spending big on one player, its about spending wisely and right. So fans should stop crying about how we can't spend big again in next summer, as we could easily end up with another Carroll if we had big money. 

    Bilbao have been a wonderful side to watch for most of the season so far. Brilliant pressing against Barca earlier in the season. Tonight wasn't a one-off, the likes of Muniain, Susaeta, Llorente, Herrera (I'd take the former 4 over our attacking players) and Martinez are a talented bunch

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  11. Yes, although, apparently, Bilbao are the Real Madrid of the Basque world, so they pinch a lot of the promising youngsters from places like Osasuna and Sociedad and get them on the cheap. My ex girlfriend is from Bilbao and I have a mate over there from that time and also a mate in my local who is a Sociedad supporter and he always complains about it to my ex, even though she has no interest in football at all! He hates Bilbao with a passion.

    But definitely would have been good to pay 25 million or so for Llorente last year. His hold up play was fantastic this evening. With some of the crossers that Spain have in their squad, Mata, Navas, he gives them serious options this summer as well. Bilbao look like they could become a really class outfit if they can keep that team together for another couple of years. Can see how they gave Barcelona such a hard game earlier this season.

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  12. And Mikel San Jose at the back, guess where he came from?

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  13. if the King swallowed his pride and swapped Henderson(£20m) for Oxi Chamberlain(£12m) with us recieving £8m on top,if he swapped Carroll £35mfor LLorente £25m wuth us recieving £10m on top,swapped Downing £20m stright swap for Ribery no cash changing hands,and swapped Adam£8m for Ericcson £12m with us paying £4m out the £18m off the other sales,leaves us £14m to put towards the purchase of Bale,then and only then could i say the King has well and truely put LFCs interests before his stubborness.

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  14. Bielsa teams have a brilliant work ethic and attacking tempo, we saw that with Chile at the last WC. Basque 'community' feel that the club has and Bielsa mentality, proving to be a lovely combination. 

    Bilbao, under Bielsa, and Atleti under Simeone, are very good teams at the moment.

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  15. Yes, Chile were good at the World Cup, better than England anyway!

    Been to San Mames, unfortunately not when a game was on. Bought a third shirt in the club shop, though. Their supporters were excellent this evening.

    Yes, both teams are strong at the moment, can definitely see Bilbao getting into the Champions League next year, might even catch Valencia, was hugely impressed with them. The Spanish league looks very strong at the moment, much stronger than ours.

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  16. Those prices that you have posted are heartbreaking. There's about 30 million wasted, even before talking about the respective merits of the players you have named.

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  17. They have a good reputation their fans and strangely( ;) ), proud of the English part of their club's history. 

    I think its the oldest stadium is Spain?
    Will be interesting to see if the new stadium is as boisterous and intimidating as the old one.

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  18. Do you really watch games or are you just winding??

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  19. Llorente even runs like a centre forward!!

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  20. Yes, they have connections to Sunderland, don't they? Think Martin O'Neill probably wishes they still had links with Sunderland!

    A lot of teams find moving tough for the first couple of seasons, hope it goes well for them. They pride themselves as the anti establishment team, as far as Madrid goes, but in the Basque country they are considered the establishment! Hope they go on to put Man Utd out and win the trophy.

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  21. I understand entirely what Adam is saying: the solution to our problem is not to find some magical new player who will start banging in the goals, it's for our current players to score more goals from the chances we already create. In every other aspect of the game we're playing well. Creation of chances seems to not be an issue, it's just that last touch. Adding one player doesn't change that. A new striker won't increase the conversion rate or Carroll, Suarez or Kuyt. How would he? So we'd still have those guys missing the same number of chances. And in order to accommodate a new player, someone else has to miss out. Given that every other aspect of Liverpool's game is solid and working well, what do you risk by bringing in someone who's focus is only on scoring goals? Who misses out? What element of Liverpool's do we sacrifice to accommodate a new player who will just stand in the 6 yard box waiting for the ball to fall at his feet? It just doesn't make sense. 
    Obviously if you bring in some player who is just as effective as the player he replaces in terms of tactics including defensive duties AND he scores more goals then that's ideal. But it's such an idiotic suggestion: we should get a player who is brilliant at everything and scores lots. Duh. Really? I'm such club managers would love it if things were that easy. 

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  22. Liverpool tried to buy Llorente. They were knocked back. Look it up. 

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  23. A prolific striker papers over so many cracks, look at Arsenal.. 

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  24. Reina
    Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique
    Gerrard Lucas Adam
    Lavezzi Soldado Suarez

    YNWA

    (still dont understand why we sold Aquilani and Meireles)

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  25. So Carroll was all we could get for 35 million?

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  26. I've still yet to work out who is creating all these great chances that we are missing. Obviously, some of our poor signings in midfield have actually been quite good.

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  27. Alan Pardew isn't finding it too difficult.

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  28. There was Cavani, Falcao, etc. Plenty alternatives out there. Alternatives who have more than half a season as a first team regular in the top tier, that were more worthy of such a price tag than bloody Carroll

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  29. Adam must be mad 
    enough scoring is a joke 

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  30. BTW did anyone see Insua yesterday ?

    This we are the best crap is coming from Dalglish he's trying to do a Shankly by telling them they are the best.
    The difference being that Shankly would not have bought any of these Turkeys that KD has

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  31. One of the teams in the Premier League with the least goals scored. Doesn't that tell you anything? And as for chances, Adam has lost his touch. He didn't put a single ball right in that Arsenal game. And has been horrible in the last 10 games and he is hoping that Liverpool go on a winning run? He hasn't once come out and said his form has dipped and he will try harder, he seems to be content with his performances. 

     "What element of Liverpool do we sacrifice to accommodate a new player who will just stand in the 6 yard box waiting for the ball to fall at his feet?" 

    We have a player like that already in Andy Carroll. He can't play with Suarez at all. The most he can do is play a simple pass, or get a head on the ball into his direction, but apart from that he cant play those nippy passes Kuyt did when they played against Arsenal. He doesn't chase down players, and is just a extra head in defending corners which is about it. So in my mind, we get a striker who can pass the ball, and score goals, a little speed won't hurt either, as well as the guy NOT being British and watch how the team will be transformed. I would also get Adam replaced. He doesn't have the right build for a player IMO, but we bought him for his touch and passing, but he has never shined plaudits in that category this season. 

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  32. Maybe Borrel should replace daglish.

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  33. Look guy's Adam is a small club and average player so his vision and comment are suit to small club,wonder what he's doing in a big club like liverpool and giving stupid comments,so is henderson who believed that we can still make it to the top 4.Just can't w8 to get rid of this fxxx 4

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  34. With you Shankeruon.... but he could improve his crosses/ penalties to Blackpool days standard again!
    The naysayers were the ones trying to push lucas out two years ago I bet.

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  35. Let's face it. We are playing in a weak league and not doing that great. Aside from missing sitters, the glaringly obvious problem in our attacking play is that nobody is actually getting into the box.
    Adam is miles out of his depth - by the way, he was coming anyway, not a Dalglish signing, he's down to Comolli. 
    Watched the reserves the other day on LFCTV and one thing that kept crossing my mind was we need to get Aldridge on the staff to COACH the players about their positioning when we're on the attack - the obvious stuff like the far side winger getting to the far post, strikers getting to right places, midfield following in .. nobody is there when the ball gets lose in the box, pouncing on rebounds - it's rare these days that a goalkeeper holds on to the ball. I'm surprised that Dalglish isn't getting this across to them. We already have Rushie on staff. Surely we should be looking to tap into his experience, He may not be a coach, but I'd have thought he must have some useful advice to give?
    There seems to be too much reliance on 'talent' and a distinct lack of thinking in todays game.

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  36. Charlie Adam is not Liverpool quality. At best, he can become a squad player for Liverpool. Don't understand why Kenny sees future in him.

    His problems are:

    Lack of pace

    Very clumsy in tackling as a midfielder's standards

    Very low pass rate, Giving away ball when he has a lot of space around him and in no pressure from opposition ( A sign of Championship player)

    Too greedy. He always wants to score himself though other player is in better position of scoring if passes the ball. In turn, he losses the ball and blows a good chance.

    Rowdy attitude on pitch (example - tapping on balloteli's head)



     

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  37. he has to improve his vision, pace of passes, decisions, tackling, speed, marking free kicks, shooting yeah maybe then he will be decent. my opinion get him on a wheel barrel and drop him off to whoever takes him and let's go for Javi martinez from bilbao

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  38. i still don't understand why Adam is in you team, i like the rest but Adam?

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  39. absolute rubbish. Martinez is valued more than that, as is Llorente, and Munain ...... its not about what they paid for them, its about their worth in todays market

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  40. Adam has been disappointing. But the worst performances this season, again, has been the fans who only bother for the big matches. Anfield is as quiet as the Emirates and Old Trafford, which is unacceptable. Better support the team than spend your time whining on here, grow a set.

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  41. right, cos Mereiles is clearly brilliant, right, ask a chelsea fan lol, he's a waste of space

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  42. a prolific striker papering over cracks leads to one thing --- his departure

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  43. you must be the new one in The Monkees ? Daydream Believer .....

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  44. Agree with you re Henderson and Carroll - they can go on to be top players, but Adam 'has been great' , no .... he has been awful

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  45. The spin coming out of anfield is almost as good as that of the prime minister's office. sounds to me like they are all trying to convince each other that this current bunch of players are doing well. 
    This is the worst bunch of purchases since houllier brought in cheyrou, diouf and diao. Not one single player bought under the new management structure has been a resounding success, and that includes suarez, who, while being the best snake in the EPL, has a very poor goal scoring record. 
    How long the KD spin can continue is a mystery, but sooner or later, someone from within has got to point out the obvious. 
    Moneyball has clearly not worked this time, considering henderson, adam and downing were all bought as a result of topping various charts. Small minded players who come from mid table sides are often not mentally upto the job, as is the case here. carroll is just a dumb drunk who's ego got carried away with him after a few good games in the EPL.
    As much as rafa got way too involved in politics , he did improve players, while all of our recent buys have gotten worse since they moved to us-only KD and SC can be held responsible for that part.

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  46. i never wanted lucas out,ultimately his bad treatment rested at rafa's door.was bought as an attacking player and was expected to fill in for masch and alonso-2 absolutely brilliant players.no wonder he struggled.

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  47.  same place where ayala and whitbread are now playing an extremely good passing side at norwich.

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  48. has adam really been great?
    tell us when and where exactly.
    'super signings' my arse,they're the kind of signings that could get a manager sacked.

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  49. Who cares about Chelsea? Meireles was doing good for us last season and that is what matters. Secondly, if you watch Chelsea, their whole team is a shambles at the moment tactically, so to write off players is absolutely laughable and naive.

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  50. The reserves have been playing good football for years now - they were winning more too before Borrell took over though...

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  51. I remember wanting the club to take Martinez a few years ago before his value skyrocketed. Funny that he was a great defensive midfielder back then, and now looks just as good as a centre-back!

    That's *proper* versatility right there...

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  52. Massively over the top. We are playing good football and outplayed Arsenal for the full 90 minutes last weekend. We have not outplayed Arsenal with pass and move football since about 1988.

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  53. Rose tinted spectacles. that was not special or penetrative football,
    looked like mid table dross to me. Yes we had lots of possession, but
    its the same old story. since the end of kennys first reign, aside from
    periods under rafa(real/man utd/barca victories)we have struggled in the last third terribly. How many times are you going to use the same reasoning?


    We are not better than fulham, sunderland etc, mid table.

    dress it up how you like, but facts are facts. there is no such thing as luck.

    all those draws at home and awful buys are the reason we are going to be on channel 5 next season.

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  54. It's not necessarily the striking dept that is a problem! I think Liverpool are not being brave enough. Some of the players are afraid of hurting themselves when they play and that's not fair! We need brave players with a big heart! We need players that are gifted and can spark and influence their team mates. We need to batter those coming to Anfield to defend so that no one comes with that mentality when playing against Liverpool.

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  55. Yep, this is a vintage Wenger-Arsenal side(!) Anyhoo, we generally do well against big sides for many a year now. So nothing to get excited about.

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  56. Spot on especially the greedy comment, can think of 5 matches where he has done this! Poor footballer.

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  57. kenny kenny kenny the problem is you have continued to play average players week in week out ,let me tell kd something henderson is and never will be world class and age is no excuse the lad kelly is the same age and shows quality and heart when wearing the red shirt unlike hendo,adam had one good season with blackpool before that rangers couldnt get him far enough away from them and he was playing second division football in scotland,why on earth wasnt kuyt played before hendo the mans a legend works his socks off and get goals a world cup finalist,maxi was scoring for fun last year and hasnt been giving a run this year, kd + DC spent 100 million on rubbish and let the likes of aquliania and cole go, both are thriving at there current clubs ,in a year that we dreamed of champions league football  its with  buys and silly team selection that we find ourselves hoping next year might be the year but unless kd drops or sales these average players ie carroll adam hendo downing champions league football will never happen,i would love to see rafa back instead of having them two yanks on his back and sale to buy policy he would bring back the once feared anfield and get us into europe with the backing and funding of the current owners ,,say what you want about the man but all i remember is founder times and a team able to beat anybody ,maybe some of his buys werent good enough but he did get alsono torres reina masco kuyt agger skrtel johnson all world class unlike the tripe kenny has. BRING BACK RAFA  ASPA

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  58. Still, anyone know who is creating all these great chances that we are missing?

    And if our players are not the problem, then their coaching is, someone has failed badly this season and we are entitled to know who it is. The management have to take responsibility, because huge funds have been wasted.

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  59. Yes, it is frightening, Arsenal were outplayed but even they had the fight, the resolve and the nous to come back and beat us.

    Wish people would realise that you get no points for outplaying people and that is especially true when that excuse is rolled out for the last 5 years. The best teams get it right in both penalty areas, whatever goes on around the rest of the pitch is important but far less important.

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  60. erm, that wasn't the point I was making. Therefore, your point and your interpretation skill here is absolute rubbish.

    I am illustrating with good scouting (Herrera who is good as anyone in La Liga, in terms of technical ability, apart from Messi, was bought for peanuts from Zaragoza) and good set up, you don't have to spend £30m+ on each player to get quality. So all this crying and excuses about how 'City have spent a lot more than us, so we can't expect to be in the top 4 straight away, just because we spent a lot of money last summer' bla bla bla bla bla, is just a load of desperate nonsense.

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  61. Leaving Enrique and Bellamy out, because they have done well, the rest have been questionable at best, and that includes Suarez. Enrique and Bellamy cost 6 million between them, by the way, so another 4 or 5 signings like that and we've spent very little and go better player than the team spent 100 million for.

    As for the rest, Carroll cost 35 million, looked useful for Newcastle, looks worse for us. Is is the coaching or is he just a bad buy? Downing looks much worse for us, even looks better for England, Henderson looks about the same, wasn't impressed with him at Sunderland either, so I think he is just overpriced, Adam looks to be playing worse, so it is coaching and the fact that he was overrated. Wonder how much Coates is improving, being behind Carragher in the pecking order after being voted youngster of the last Copa America? Could you imagine the young player of the Euro 2012 tournament sitting on the bench for virtually every game? A combination of poor buys, poor decision making and poor tactics will lead, inevitably, to a poor finish to the season. The Sunderland and Everton games could well shape our season in the league and if we don't get good results in those two games, we could be looking at midtable, like 9th or 10th.

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  62. Adam is a prat! He plays like a prat and talks like one too! Fat and lazy and about as talented as a rheumatic hedgehog ( may the 'hogs forgive me!).

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  63. Adam is not the player he used to be.

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  64. I know, but not good enough for us apparently, not even as back up. This is what makes me wonder if it is not just poor signings but also poor coaching.

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  65. here we go again. obviously you should be managing liverpool. dalglish out, kanwar in! anybody?...no

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  66. Exactly, all top players become worth over 30 million nowadays, but they were not always worth that much. In years of watching our team I've seen Mcmanaman, lost for nothing, Owen, sold on the cheap, Fowler, got a fee, fair enough and, now, Gerrard and Carragher, so some pretty good home grown stuff, but our scouts never pick up anyone. Let's hope Sterling will change that, but outsiders seem to struggle when they join our club, particularly when they are young. The players that Rafa bought were all established, but why can't we ever find a Fabregas, Anelka, Szczesny, Bale, Ronaldo, even. We buy in the way that Chelsea and Man City do, established name stars, but Arsenal and Tottenham and, even, Man Utd, have found youngsters all over the world to come and improve and become huge stars. Once every 3 or 4 years, we need to pick up a Ronaldo or, even, a Ji Sung Park, who would be a star player in our squad. Our scouting system is nonsense.

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  67. On Adam, he's been inconsistent but has put in some good games, notably Man Utd home in October. However, I think its a bit of a 'pass-before-looking-for-options-player if that makes sense :) He's also a liability without Lucas playing as neither he or Gerrard possess the pace to track midfield runners.
    Carroll should look to model his game on Llorente. The Spaniard doesn't possess skill on the ball but holds it up brilliantly, worries defenders(rather like Carroll did for a spell at Newcastle) and has a fair amount of pace for a big cf.

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  68. Adam has been a total disaster! Brought in as an alleged 'dead ball' specialist he has done nothing. Very very disappointing with corners and free-kicks, and don't even mention penalties ! Out of his depth. Can't understand how he gets the nod for the first eleven every week just for turning in mediocre performances.

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  69. r u kidding me adam is shocking

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  70. the problem with adams is that he is deluted in the head even to speak about or even allow to play for liverpool, where not good enough for 4th spot because we bought crap players obviously he still think he playing for blackpool and it shows.

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  71. There aint many teams that have played us of the park this season....how many opposition goal keepers have been named man of the match..(9)...how many times have we hit the woodwork (25)....how many games have we drawn when we deserved the win.....Now..how many times have UTD collected 3 points when they should have had 1 or no points....So yes...Luck has a very big part to play in the game....stats dont lie!!!....Kenny is the right man....YNWA

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  72. Has he ever been a player

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  73. Today's result at Sunderland could not have been more predictable. That's why I had ten euros on it. Dalglish has made an absolute and complete fool of himself, unfortunately. Sadly, when he leaves his terrible signings will still be at the club. Who in their right mind would pay anything to buy the likes of Carroll, Downing, Adam and the simply terrible Henderson? KD keeps playing these apologies for players because once he benches all four of them he's owning up to the fact he made four gigantic mistakes. His ego won't allow that so they're in the team every match. Personally I would have far more respect for him if he came out and said "I got it terribly wrong and I am deeply sorry."

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  74. Sadly you won't see it whilst Dalglish is in charge !

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