3 Oct 2014

Aldo warns: Struggling £20m LFC star 'has to do better' for Liverpool. Harsh, or fair?

When it comes to player recruitment, Brendan Rodgers' performance in the transfer market leaves a lot to be desired, and as I've argued repeatedly for over a year, Sturridge and Coutinho are the only two inarguably successful transfers during Rodgers' reign (though Coutinho's early promise seems to be fading). The pattern has continued this summer, with very few of Rodgers' signing hitting the ground running, and Lazar Markovic in particular seems to be attracting a lot of criticism.

Prior to Liverpool's 1-0 Champions League defeat to Basel, Reds legend John Aldridge tweeted:

"Markovic has to do better for the team. Hopefully his season will start tonight"

Well, Markovic made zero impact against the Swiss side, and with a hefty price tag of £20m, the pressure is just going to mushroom until he starts contributing on a regular basis.

£20m is a lot of money for a 20-year old, and it's not Markovic's fault he has that price tag on his head. Some may argue that he's 'one for the future', and that he shouldn't be expected to hit the ground running. Well, I can see that point of view, but I reject it outright.

When a club spends £20m on a single player, then it's perfectly fair for fans to have a legitimate expectation that said player is capable of going straight into the team and making a difference.

The manager creates that expectation by spending a massive amount of money, and in this case, it's down to Rodgers to ensure that any £20m players coming into the club are equipped to meet the inevitable expectation.

As such, irrespective of age, 'one for the future' is not an excuse that can credibly be used for any player signed for £20m+. That may sound harsh, but if the manager is spending that amount of cash on players who may or may not come good at some point in the distant future, then there's a serious problem with the transfer policy (IMO)

That said, in this case, a little perspective is needed. Markovic basically missed LFC's entire pre-season schedule with injury, so he's already behind the rest of the squad. He has an legitimate excuse for (comparatively) underperforming, and should only really be judged once he's properly up to speed.

I doubt we'll see the best of Markovic until Christmas at least, and he'll need to perform because Rodgers' job may well end up depending on it.

Author:


110 comments:

  1. B.R is being found out for his recruiting & his managerial experience,unfortunately It's LFC who are paying the price for it.
    He's had ample time to get it right and still has blown it in a big way.
    I'm so over hearing his crap excuses for his own failings,stop blaming the players you brought in that are not good enough for LFC team.You just have to look around at other managers in the Premier league and see where their team is at because of their good management & recruiting skills.Wenger for example didn't want a bar of Ballotelli and got Wellbeck instead,who's crying now B.R.If B.R takes LFC for a nose dive this season then it should be his last.YNWA

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  2. Some people are saying that it is too soon to judge but why didn't we buy players who can hit the ground running? Costa, Fabregas, Mata, Ozil, Sanchez, Di Maria....these kind of players are required when you are back in the title mix. Our 100mn transfers might come good in a year or two but what if its too late by then? I wouldn't mind buying them if we had resources like City or PSG, they can buy young and proven both at the same time, we can't...so we should have only bought proven players...!!! Lallana looks decent but no way near a 25mn price tag, its a big waste IMO.

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  3. I cannot believe BR is making so many excuses regarding Balotelli.

    .

    “I always said it was about availability and affordability of players,” Rodgers admitted.

    “Mario was the one right at the very end who was available for that. I said when he came in that it was a calculated risk and it’s something I have to work on to try to make it work for the team.

    “You assess what the group had. We brought in Rickie Lambert as someone who can play some games for us and come off the bench and be an impact player for us in certain games.

    “We had attempts for other strikers that didn’t materialise for one reason or another so it left us right at the end of the window with a decision on whether just to go with what we had, when experience told us we were too light, or take a calculated risk on a player who has quality and then could we get it out of him consistently?”

    .
    What is Balo suppose to think after these statements? BR will soon run out these lame excuses.

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  4. YES buy him Brendon as soon as he is man of the match drop him like you did with Stirling and Lallana - then blame something else for the bad result.

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  5. To be fair we r only 3 points away from 4th. Everyone else, bar chelski, is doing crap too. I will be happy just finishing above utd come the end of the season.

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  6. That is the most ridiculous man management skills i have seen yet he(balo) has not even played 10 games and you go ahead and criticize a signing you made youself saying it was a calculated risk that is very very stupid by Rodgers, and then sayin origi will come back next summer and be world class, well at this rate you won't be around next summer to see him become world class what a joke of a manager Rodgers is turning out to be, now that he is under pressure and there is no suarez this is when you earn you money rodgers show us you are a good coach or I won't be bother if you are sacked because you are sounding really pathetic now.

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  7. BR is behaving like a manager who is about to get sacked. First he said Balo was not the first choice (its obvious, but he don't need to be vocal about it considering Balo's attitude), now he is saying we couldn't bring Origi because of the deal and he has the ability to be world class?? Is BR saving his job till next season by banking on the signing of Origi? World Class seriously? He is making lot of mistakes by talking sh!t about players in media. First Lovren, then Mignolet, now Balo...he will soon lose the dressing room. His inexperience can cost him his job....he need to get back his confidence and composure. Talking too much unnecessarily.

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  8. It's not a case of judging individual players - it should always be about the team, I am considering the position of the team.

    For whatever reason the team has not gelled, and that has a lot to do with how we spent the £100m. We're missing cover up top, which is why the loss of Remy as a potential Sturridge stand-in would have been good. So when we missed out on him, what was plan B?

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  9. IMO he is definitely feeling the pressure but this is not the right way to handle it. He should let the results do the talking and stop making mockery of the club.

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  10. Look I get the optimistic fans out there.. it'll get better soon once ... brigade - BUT the reason we spent the £100m was to avoid having that conversation, to have bench strength.

    If we can all agree that experiment has failed then let's move on.

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  11. Great post, Balotelli has been asked to play a new role which will take time for him to adapt. Time BR realises he may not have owing to the massive amounts spent, the higher expectations of the board & fans. He possibly thought that he was a manegerial genius last season but the reality is that Saurez & Sturridge carried an average team. By this I mean they were so good as a partnership it papered over the cracks, no consistent goal scoring from midfield, toothless midfield & disorganised defence. Fact is you put £150 mill in mourinho or Wenger's hands you get a better outcome. The curse on LFC is the persistent shafting in the transfer market. Had we bought a more robust DM (Song, Diame, Wanyama) & a more dynamic striker eg Remy in addition to bloodying Ibe & Suso we'd most likely be better off. No hindsight needed!

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  12. Nothing has failed at all.

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  13. 20m pound..God that is the same amount Chelsea paid Andre Schurrle....Other than a FIT Sturridge all of BR buys are average...certainly not top 4 quality..It would be a miracle if we make it to top 4 this year...

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  14. Spirit of the Shadows9:03 am, October 03, 2014

    look at our record with sturridge and without him, he makes a world of difference. Once he is back upto speed we'll be better. His movement and expertise in 1v1 situations is sorely missed, and he brings the best out of the players round him. Rodgers' new signings need time, esp markovic. people tend to forget he is only 9 months older than sterling. He'll do better in the latter part of the season

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  15. List of players Mourinho bought - Willian-30m, Matic-22m, schrrle-18m, fabregas-28m, Costa-32m...Total for a sum of 130m...10m more than what BR has spend in this window..I dont need to tell the quality of those Chelsea players...I am sorry I have lost trust in BR's ability to bring in top players...If this continues he might go....

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  16. 18mn for Schurrle, Chelsea also had an option to buy Markovic at 16mn but they didn't, obviously.

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  17. There is (understandably so) a lot of negativity very early in the season. Performances haven't been great, new signings haven't yet gelled with the more senior players, most of which aren't picking up the form that they showed last year, plus we've had some really disappointing injuries. At this stage, almost every player in our squad has picked up some kind of injury at some point, whether in preseason or the season proper and that blows. What people don't take into consideration when criticising players, BR and the team in general is that we are only coming up to our 7th league game, our 3rd of 6 group stage games and we have been at probably less than 3/4 strength the whole time. I encourage the fans to try to keep in mind that the reason we are so disppointed is because we were so invested in this season. We had our best season in a long time in 13/14, bought a whole bunch of promising, young, attacking players, back in the champions league for the first time in a billion years and we've decided to build the team around possibly THE most talented youngster in the PL, Master Raheem 'The Dream' Sterling, and when all of that doesn't end in 18 points in the league and another 6 in the CL groups, we are naturally left looking for answers and pointing fingers. Truth is we are 3 points off 4th, teams above us like (and no offense to) Southampton, Swansea, Villa, United, Palace, WBA, Stoke, Leicester and West Ham are not going to stay that high in the table, and there are SO many games left it is just crazy to panic now. If we are in 14th in December/January, then panic is necessary, but to freak out this early is jumping the gun a wee bit. Get off the teams back and get behind them, once D.Studge is back, we'll be back to the form we enjoyed against Tottenham (hopefully...). Keep the faith. Peace, YNWA

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  18. i hope he doesn't turn out like henderson. now i know that hendo is vital and has improved exponentially but he took some time getting there. and i dont want a repeat scenario where a player takes a good year and a half to reach that level while the team under-performs and other teams have already pulled ahead of us in the race.

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  19. Lots to get off my chest, so here go.

    Markovic - no pace, no ability to beat a player so why worth £20m. We were in for the Russian lad and Saleh, both would have been a better bet. On current assessment, keeping Ibe and developing him would have been a better bet.

    Lambert - cheap at £4m, but again on current evidence a complete lemon. No movement, poor touch cannot get into the game. Not an impact player coming off the bench.

    Caan - two injuries. Have we signed an Agger upgrade?

    Mario - decent player, very moody floats in and out of the game. Main problem we are playing a system that does NOT suit him, If BR does not change style of play, we will not get best out of him.

    Lallana - decent player, over priced. I think the reason we played over the odds for him is I believe BR saw him playing in a midfield 3 of Hendo and SG. Meaning he had two pacey wingers alongside a central #9. However that plan has been shot to pieces with only 1 pacey winger who is being overworked @ age 19.


    Manquillo looked good initially but has been poor - may still come good.
    Lovren - Again high hopes he may come good - not the commanding missing link we needed up until now - wait and see.

    Moreno - long on/off story to buy and worth the wait. Best of the buys by far. Can and will only get better.

    Overall, not a glowing success of spending the £100m.

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  20. Not that I am BR's biggest fan, but we tried to buy Willian, Fabs and Costa and all three turned LFC down.

    Fabs for me was the big miss in the summer and was available. If we had gone all out and told him he's the main man and the one to take over SG's mantle and we would build the team around him, sold the Kop to him, we may well have succeeded.

    Not sure BR or LFC did that, cos I think they thought he was a spent force. How naive.

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  21. You can say a lot of things about Markovic but no pace is not one of them. I do not see how Manquillo has been poor. He has been our most consistent perfomer.

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  22. Um.. Chelsea has the wages and the attracting power to lure these players. We spent less money than that and are being investigated. We would be in even more trouble if by some miracle we got those players so your point is moot.

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  23. I do not know why but BR has become a different person since the start of the season. His man management and talking has gone and his selections are baffling. Something has happened. I know people will say Suarez and all but I think there has been a change in BR's attitude and approach which is making us lose. I think he has gotten apprehensive from the media garbage and started to believe it.

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  24. I too would prefer Higuian, never been Benzemas biggest fan but we do need another top Striker so if he is available and we sign him i will be happy.


    Not fair to judge this summers signings yet so i will reserve judgement.

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  25. Can everybody just give the players at least 10-15 games of the season before writing them off. Everybody wants everything now, football is not like FIFA or Championship manager players take time to settle in new systems and new countries.

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  26. Why has it failed? Moreno has been ace, Manquillo is looking good, Lovren we know is way better than he is currently showing, Lallana is starting to come into form, Balo looking decent despite having very little service, I'd say the experiment is very much still ongoing. I dont consider myself an optimist, but a realist, I don't think we'll win the league, I'm not even sure we'll get top 4 but I'm definitely not saying we wont. Once again, keep the faith. Peace, YNWA

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  27. When he panic bought Balo his plan A was already out the door- Lambert was plan B - first big budget he's had and he's blown it on ' one for the future' which he's forced to play now- I expect W Brom to beat us and be in bottom 3

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  28. Rogers is in trouble here. The team needs to start performing as we are in a huge slump. The biggest issue is our legnd but unfortunately failing captain. BR does not have the guts to drop him and faze him out something JM or AF would not hesitate to do. As for Marcovic, hes come into a team devoid of creativity and is surrounded by low confidence and new players. You can see he has a nice touch and speed but his final ball is poor. I think he will come good although he does remind me of smicer which can't be good. This is a huge season for BR and could ultimately shape his career because if he blows it with us, his credentials will be damaged and it will be back to the Swansea's of this world to manage

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  29. Hope that everybody includes BR. He is talking too much nonsense.

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  30. Hope that everybody includes BR. He is talking too much nonsense!

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  31. Totally incorrect of course to lay the blame for Liverpool's crappy start to the season at the door of any one or two players. Our failings so far have been collective ones; comedy defending at set-pieces, an issue which reared it's ugly head yet again on Wednesday night, and a lack of precision in the final third which has blunted us as an attacking force. Rodgers is also part of that collective failing. To an extent his hand has been forced by injuries to key players such that he has tinkered with formations and starting line-ups. He has a lot of new players and they take time to settle, people. When we discussed the possible transfer of Markovic to Liverpool on this site a number of months ago, many of us highlighted that his decision making and final ball was the area of his game that needed work, so it is of no surprise whatsoever that he has yet to become a World-beater in the three or four games he's played. Let's give the bloke some room, for pity's sake.


    On another note, it saddens and angers me when I hear the more reactionary fans amongst us calling for Rodger's head so soon in to the new season; 'we're doing a Tottenham!' they scream; 'Rodger's out!'. Idiocy and ignorance is not a good combo. This season is clearly going to be Rodger's 'difficult second album'. Let's not forget that this is the guy who nearly brought the title to Liverpool not 5 months ago, so at the very least he has earned chance to show that he can turn things around. Sack our manager after a few dodgy games and our metamorphosis into Spurs will be complete.

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  32. We tried to sign Fabregas? When? Costa was playing in CL when we tried to sign him and we didn't go again this summer. Willian didn't turn down LFC, Chelsea paid few millions more to Anzhi to get him.

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  33. We didnt even bid for Fabs...

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  34. Iam not saying we should have bought them all...iam just pionting out the difference in quality of buys...

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  35. Totally illogical post regarding investigation. In fact, despite spending so much, we have an average squad and making losses to buy that average squad. This is the mismanagement of funds. Liverpool could have signed great players but we are not willing to spend 40mn on one players but instead 50mn on 3 average players.

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  36. According to the ever so reliable media we have agreed deals for:

    -Valdes
    - Benzema
    - Delle Ali

    If these were to happen, would you be excited?

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  37. I think we spent money on 3 average players because none of the world class players wanted to come to us. I hate to say but money talks and we are unwilling to splash it at greedy players and that is why we have to settle for the average players and hope they become great players.

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  38. I would be but it aint happening.

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  39. Valdes yes. Benzema no. Delle Ali maybe, but he's another one for the future.

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  40. Completely unacceptable argument! Surely the emphasis on this summer's transfer should have been established quality who could fit in straight away. We had to kick on from last season. Ballotelli has never will never defend relentlessly from the front so why did we expect otherwise. I'm going to harp on about Remy because for 10mill here was someone accustomed to playing the lone role with a decent scoring record. Ballotelli can't do it on his own, he can't carry teams. Remy carried the Geordies!
    Markovic for 20mill is expected to do more the way Schurle has done for Chelski. The minimum requirement is top 4, we really ought to be challenging not languishing in mid table obscurity!

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  41. No! The cycle of wasting money continues ! Benzema won't come & isn't the answer! Higuain is better.

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  42. It's terrible the season is over already. We are out of all competitions and all we can hope for is to try to salvage some pride and avoid relegation. Sack everyone now then sack the one doing the sacking.

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  43. Agree sack him - YNWA

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  44. was just about to rant oh here about exactly that. he brings in a player with possibly the biggest ego in present day football and every chance he gets to talk about him he goes on about how he is a risk, how the club is bigger than any individual, how he needs to step up his game already, etc. balotelli wont take that kinda sh*t for long irrespective of his impact on the games.

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  45. You get a vote just for the YNWA bit.

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  46. We're doing a Spurs!!!!!!!!

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  47. Yes we're not short of arses :-)

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  48. The criticism is completely acceptable even if its this early in the season. We have already lost 5 points from the fixtures (Everton/West Ham) where we won it last year. This was mitigated by Southampton win but last year we had an unbelievable winning run which does not happen every season. It will be very difficult to crack into top 4 IMO. Its not just about the disappointing results so far but the way Liverpool is playing has been cruel to say the least. BR's team selection, tactics and media talks has gotten worse. I hope we will come out of it soon because another year out of ECL will do a lot of damage for the club. FSG will not invest ever again after seeing their money wasted by KD and BR. The transfers could have been much much better.

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  49. Some ridiculous comments here about sacking. Progress in any cup comps including CL is not a priority - getting in the top 4 is and we are still definitely in the hunt for that as there are loads of points to be won. The other teams fighting for 4th - Utd, Everton, Spurs all struggling also. Still very early in the season. A win tomorrow will be a good boost before int'l break.

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  50. B Rodgers should not waste £38M on K Benzema(26) , B Rodgers should offer £47-£52M in January for the combined duo of P Aubamayeng(25) and M Reus(25).


    Those two players would bring class, creativity, goals, mobility, pace and speed to attack and always keep teams stretched.


    The likes of Aubamayeng(25) and Reus(25) alongside Sturridge(25) would work wonders for side. The class, creativity, goals, mobility, pace and speed team would have with these 3 at top of attack and Either Sterling(19), Coutinho(22) or Lallana(26) feeding/providing for them would cause teams problems after problems.

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  51. Some of the criticisms are entirely acceptable and justified and some are OTT.

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  52. And it is not as if we are out of the CL. If we beat Basel and Ludogorets and nick a point against Madrid, we will still be through.

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  53. Yes, sacking is completely over the top reaction but criticism is run of the mill stuff and is completely justifiable after the transfer farce.

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  54. If? Do you think with the current form we can win? The way we won against Ludogorets (complete fluke...loads of luck) makes me think we won't get 3 points against them (away fixture). Madrid struggled against them as well so it will be very very difficult.

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  55. Frankly I worry about Madrid making through:-)

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  56. It staggers me that some fans think mediocre is still OK despite having spent £100m over the summer - the most we've EVER spent.

    Yep I'm willing to be patient to see if it works out. But anything less than 4th this would mean BR should walk.

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  57. That depends on Sturridge. If he performs and galvanises the team to previous heights, we can beat anyone.

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  58. Yes but we also recouped 80 million so our net spend is not our highest ever. Everyone is saying BR should walk but who would come in and if someone does, he will add new signings and it will become a full Tottenham.

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  59. Sturridge alone cannt be the answer...the whole team is under performing.. the whole team and BR have to up the game..

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  60. after spending so much we look to find answers in injury prone sturridge!!

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  61. Did you just call Balo "one for the future?"

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  62. If we had to sell Raheem, I'd rather we had a swap with someone like Isco, or Illara, or even another of their youngsters + Xabi.


    Not gonna happen, I can dream :D Raheem will definitely have the influence of Gerrard and co. when making this decision though, so whatever he chooses I will support.

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  63. No but I wish his future was with another club

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  64. Henderson, Sterling...both needed some time before starting to contribute.


    Only time will tell how good Markovic will become but thrashing him after under 10 games is just unfair.

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  65. In Rodgers' first season he publicly criticised Jose Enrique and Downing.They both responded with improved performances.
    That kind of management tactic only works on some players.You have to be selective because if you pick the wrong player it creates problems.A big personality like Balo won't put up with Brendan Rodgers talking to the media about how he must improve.Especially when most of the team are playing like trash and some are escaping public criticism.
    I don't think Mario Balotelli is the kind of person that will react in a positive 'roll up my sleeves' way.Balo is more likely to throw his toys out the pram.If you tease a lion by putting your hands near his mouth you shouldn't be surprised when no gloves are needed in the winter!
    Balotelli needs a arm around him management.If Rodgers has anything negative to say about his game it should be behind the scenes.

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  66. some of the BR signings don't even make it till the 10 games. Assaidi, Aspas, Alberto, Ilori, Lambert...... (thats 30mn)

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  67. 6 strikers... that has to be some kind of record I think.


    Rather put that money to a world class defensive midfielder. Because that is what we really need.

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  68. you cant slate our club for sending Ilori out on loan to progress ...
    as for lambert he was cheap and is still a good backup!

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  69. Nicolas Chamberlain1:32 pm, October 03, 2014

    Exactly. I'm the first to admit that we are playing really bad, but its way too early to say that everything is lost and our so called 'experiment' has failed. Let's win tomorrow and hope that we can finally take a step forward. We need intensity and believe otherwise its going to be long season, but I will never ask for Rodgers to be sacked or any other short-term, emotional decision... Like spending 38M on a player we probably don't even need. Benzema is a class player with great statistics and he is even a creator of scoring chances but I don't like his attitude nor his workrate.

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  70. We also need a mobile quick tough tackling midfielder:
    Yes


    But the lack of goals is there to see as we lack class creativity goals and mobility pace and speed in the attack. Something ( Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez brought to attack last season)


    The front three of Sterling Balotelli Lallana does not offer enough mobility, pace or speed in behind teams to create so many chances.


    And B Rodgers should spend £50M in January on signing P Aubamayeng(25) Of B Dortmund for £18-£23M


    And Pedro(27) Of Barcelona for £23-£27M


    Both these players would be a bigger threat than K Benzema(26) and both players have more mobility, pace, speed and also guarantee the club goals.


    B Rodgers should also spend £6-£23M bringing in one of these DM to club:


    L Bender(25) Of B Leverkusen
    J Martinez(27) Of B Munich
    B Matuidi(27) Of PSG
    Y M'Villa(24) Of Rubin Kazan( Currently on loan at I Milan)
    C Tiote(28) Of Newcastle


    Whilst B Rodgers should sell these players in January and bring in sales of £23-£26M


    B Jones(32) GK G Johnson(29) RB L Leiva(27) DM


    K Toure(34) CB F Borini(23) FD

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  71. Eto is better than Lambert and was available for free. Lambert is a decent backup I agree but so far he hardly had any impact. Ilori has contributed nothing and that 6-7mn spent on him is yet to realize its value. It's common sense not to block money in future potentials if the present itself requires investment,

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  72. Lambert was bought for sentiment. Simple.

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  73. And Agger was sold for sentiment. Liverpool need to get back to being a professional club.

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  74. there are 100 reasons why i'd take lambert over Etoo anytime
    the present itself got enough investment to buy some future potentials and loan them straight back. No one but the new player himself (at that time sakho) is at fault for failing to improve our team

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  75. So who bought Sakho and how exactly he is an upgrade on Agger? 100 reasons Lambert is better than all conquering Eto??? He scored on his debut against Chelsea for Everton, in Europa league as well. He has hit the ground running and is not getting any more game time than Lambert either. Give me one reason how Lambert is better than Eto?

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  76. preach brother. I think you hit the nail on the head.

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  77. Sakho signing was neccessary at the time because we only had an out of form Skrtel, an aging Toure and an injury prone Agger at CB. Nobody expected Skrtel's rise and so Sakho was a mistake. Brendan dropped it by trying to accomodate Sakho when he should have just eased him into the team. Lovren was unnecessary but everyone was slaughtering BR to buy a new CB so here we are. Now, Rodgers made two big money signings at CB and therefore one had to be shipped out and then went Agger.

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  78. What other choice do we have now?

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  79. In my opinion, there are two reasons for our struggles this year:


    1. We've changed our style of play too much to try and protect the defense, and overcompensate for the loss of Sturridge.


    Balotelli has been stuck by himself up top too often whereas we thrived last season because we were often playing two up top (Suarez and Sturridge).
    Obviously it helps when we have a player like Suarez, but Balotelli is no slouch. He hasn't exactly hit the ground running, but I don't believe there's been one game where I'd say Mario has been bad.

    He was unlucky to not score against Everton last weekend. And our whole game would have changed on Tuesday if Sterling could have settled himself when he got into the box.


    Once Sturridge comes back, I think our style of play will adjust and we'll become more attack-oriented.


    Just a minor addition: Another injury that I think has taken a toll on this team is Joe Allen, who for his warts, has taken on an integral role in midfield.




    2. I think BR has completely mismanaged the roster thus far. I understand that there are injuries, but there is simply no reason why players should be forced to play 3 games a week right now. I think Henderson and Sterling looked absolutely burnt out against Basel (Sterling in particular).

    I understand we want to put out the best team possible every game. But I've said it here before and I'll say it again... this summer was all about replacing Suarez with depth (as opposed to one player). What's the point of having that depth if it's not used?

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  80. You get a vote for the new pic. Long live Ash. And remember: shop smart...shop S-Mart.

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  81. The team hasn't gelled, but very few have. Man U haven't gelled. Arsenal haven't gelled. Everton haven't. Tottenham. Even City haven't hit top gear. Only Chelsea out of the 'bigger' teams has started the season at a decent pace.

    There may well be deeper problems with our squad, and the lack of a direct alternative to Sturridge is particularly troubling, but it's too early to tell right now.

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  82. I hear Moyes is looking for work ;)

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  83. Alan Shore... nice

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  84. nope. still bob...just a darker version.

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  85. Follow another sport then. Because in football you have to wait if you want success.

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  86. Who would you buy then? We went in big for some players - Falcao and Sanchez, who didnt want to come to Liverpool. If we were top 4 sitting pretty you wouldn't be commenting at all, so keep quiet and support the team. Rogers will come good, just like he did in his first season, we had a great second half of that season.

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  87. To go 'full Tottenham'. I like it. This should enter the slang dictionaries immediately.

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  88. Well, hello Mr Fancy Pants! This new pic thing is infectious, no?

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  89. im ready to wait for a player to be a success if he is in the youth team or is a virtual unknown bought for a small sum. but if you are buying someone who is labelled as first teamer for a sh*tload of money and does take that long to mature into a success then i dont think im being unreasonably impatient.

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  90. Sorry would disagree with you on both counts. I have yet to see Markovic skin someone like Sterling does.

    With regards Manquillo, he has been all out of sorts both in defence (positionally) and attack (touch and crossing). I will however concede, he is at least trying to get up and down the touchline - so has the energy, just needs to add to it now.

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  91. B Rodgers needs to spend £50M on these two world class attackers to club in January that he should have brought to club in summer:


    1: P Aubamayeng(25) Of Borussia Dortmund for £17-£23M FD
    2: Pedro(27) Of Barcelona for £23-£27M RWF / LWF


    These two players would suit B Rodgers system down to a T as they both are mobile, have pace and speed to burn, both like running in behind defences and both of them have the energy and fitness to implement the high pressing to their game.

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  92. I take your point. If we were to have this conversation in Dec when we could be out of the CL and have little or no chance to finish top 4, what is the point?

    Now I am not calling for BR's head. No. I simply would like LFC to adapt their play to suit the players who are on the field, accept we didn't do so well in recruitment, and focus on fixing it - rather than hope for everything to come together when it clearly will not until Sturridge returns.

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  93. In my opinion, Lambert has always been brought on about 15-20 minutes too late each game he's been included off the bench.


    He's not the type of player who's going to inject energy over the last 5 minutes of a game (i.e. Bellamy). He's the type who will need a few minutes to settle in. He can't be brought on in the 80th minute when we've been down since the 52nd. He should be on no later than the 65th minute in a similar scenario.

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  94. Riiiiiiiight... the Ownership who let us spend above and beyond what we sold is the problem.

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  95. It is. I blame Stuart. Bad dog!

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  96. I wouldn't be excited. I'd be asking about why the latter two weren't wrapped up 45 days ago.

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  97. Markovic has been too centralized. He needs to be out wide. Look at what he did against Man City when he and Moreno were running up and down the left side creating opportunities. Markovic hasn't played on the left since then.


    Manquillo has been very good defensively. He doesn't offer enough end product/threat offensively, but I'm ok with that as long as he holds down his side of the field (which he's been doing).

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  98. What you're leaving out are the wages that Mourinho had to pay for those guys, which I imagine are significantly more than every single one of the BR's signings.

    Not an apples to apples comparison.

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  99. Yes, it is. I blame Stuart. Bad dog!

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  100. I read the comments on Mario last night, I couldn't believe what was being said. Maybe BR got nudged into signing MB after all or maybe BR is deflecting... either way his approach lacks class which is something I have not been able to label at him since he arrived.
    Also, why all of a sudden does Ricky Lambert have a virtual walking stick? He played 39 last year scoring 14. I dont like target men, I've made that pretty clear but when does anyone buy a player like they are a field kicker in American football just to wheel them out?

    I believe this period will make a man out of young Rodgers. He will make a lot of mistakes this season no doubt because this is his team in his image and its currently sinking. If we stick with him I think next season will see us tighter as a group.

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  101. Yes I agree with you that Markovic cannot beat a man but to state that he has no pace is to say he is a donkey which he quite clearly is not. I do not know how Manquillo has been out of sorts in positioning when he has kept the opposition wingers quite in most of the matches.

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  102. Markovic has been truly terrible and if he has pace I have not seen it.
    I do agree that on Manquillio I like what I see from him.

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  103. His new girlfriend, maybe?

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  104. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure Benzema was quoted as saying "Liverpool are not a big enough club for me" so WTF would we want him ??

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  105. Xabi signed for Bayern Munich...

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  106. He's not clinical enough...

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  107. I was going to bring that up but wasn't exactly sure if he really said it.

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  108. You're right to be unsure - Benzema didn't say that.

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  109. ...Well it's a start then. Anyhow, if Benzema were offered to me, I'd still take him straight away.

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