15 Dec 2014

Transfer Fail: Angry Fans boo 'Monster' £20m LFC star after 10-game flop. BR to blame?

After months of ridiculous, overwrought hype, it all seems to be going wrong for Divock Origi at Lille, and on current evidence, it looks like the Belgian is turning out to be the latest in a long-long line of Brendan Rodgers transfer flops.

I repeatedly make this point, and I'll keep making it again and again for as long as fans/managers etc continue to recklessly deify Liverpool players: gross overpraise of young players is counter-productive, irresponsible, and damaging to the extent that it leads to a loss of competitive edge.

We've seen this with 19-year old Raheem Sterling, and it's now happening with 19-year old Origi, who hasn't scored for Lille in 923 minutes of football.

Like Sterling, Origi is in the midst of a barren spell, and it's no coincidence that it's happening at a time when the hype over his ability is at fever pitch. The fawning over Origi is embarrassing, and as usual, Rodgers is at the epicentre of a tornado of execrable ego-massage. Here are some examples of comments I deem to be irresponsible:

Brendan Rodgers: "We took a player in Divock Origi who we believe will be world-class. Now he is a top player. He has everything — the speed, the profile and so on"

Vincent Kompany: "He is very gifted and talented [and] an outstanding worker in training. Technically, he’s a monster, and in a few years he will be become one of the five or ten best strikers in the world"

Stan Collymore: "Liverpool must move heaven and earth to get Divock Origi now and save their season. If the price to sign him is £10m [on top of the £10m already paid] it will be worth every penny"

Rene Girard: “He's going to continue improving...and show he's one of Europe's greats. He's a boy who has the makings of a great player. He has all the attributes."

Simon Kjaer: "Origi is one of the greatest talents I have ever played with. He could be a truly great player for Liverpool and can become on of the best players in his position. A special thing about him is that he has no real weak spots".

Rodgers, Kjaer et al should be ashamed for putting such intolerable pressure on Origi. It's impossible for him to live up to all the irresponsible superlatives being thrown around, and as I argued two months ago, if he can't handle the pressure, he may crash and burn. Well, right now, both Origi and Sterling are crashing and burning at their respective clubs:

* Origi: 4 goals/2 assists in 23 apps.
* Goal every 413 minutes.
* No goals for 923 minutes (10.2 games)

* Sterling: 3 goals/5 assists in 23 apps.
* Goal every 648 minutes.
* No goals for 1461 minutes.

I don't blame Sterling and Origi for their creative paucity; they are teenagers, and inconsistency goes with the territory. I blame Rodgers, Kompany, and anyone else who carelessly fans the flames of unrealistic hype with sycophantic outpourings of irresponsible overpraise.

It seems Reds legend Alan Hansen got it right about Origi. Over the summer, when Rodgers and his praise-whores were putting the youngster on a pedestal, he seemed less than enthused by striker's talents. He told Telegraph

"Origi has a long way to go before being the finished article. He has genuine pace, but he is also raw and displayed some wayward finishing. He is young and has potential, but you cannot ignore his rawness".

Is Origi another Rodgers transfer flop? Time will tell, but as I've argued in the past, I doubt the Belgian will ever turn out for Liverpool. Next summer, Rodgers will probably be out of a job, and Origi will go out on loan again once the new manager brings in his own players.

Author:


41 comments:

  1. It's like Rodgers has that career destroying touch- sign for us and your form vanishes

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think hyping players up is not nearly as bad for a young player as writing them off.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe the rantings are way over the top but at some point of his career he will have to deal with expectation if he is ever going to make it at the top.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think they call that the 'Sadim touch'

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nevergonnacrackthecode10:10 pm, December 15, 2014

    Bony 30m
    Song 18m
    Lloris 36m ( so andy carroll is no longer our record signing)




    that is all we need , this is what chelsea do buy three top players rather then lots of players

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, 'praise whores'..... that's quite strong isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I wouldn't be surprised to find out, for Jaimie, the term 'praise whores' isn't strong enough.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, okay thanks - I think I'm starting to get the gist then....

    ReplyDelete
  9. Devil you do; devil you don't.....


    Positive reinforcement happens to reap dividends in most humans - I wonder if footballers have landed from Mars and only told Jaimie.....

    ReplyDelete
  10. 17 games without a goal! He couldn't hit a barn door if his nose was resting against the barn. Like so many LFC players over the years, he is hugely overrated. Very much doubt if Madrid would bother with him and if they do he will be bench material. Might go to Chelsea or City.

    ReplyDelete
  11. As Collymore often says "excellent point, well made". I'm sick of footballers and their "contracts", I'm fuming that Suarez was out the door 6 months after signing a new deal and having the team set up around him as the focal point, he is as much to blame for this seasons demise/ failed transfer dealings as the rest of the board/management and I'm glad he now is Messi and Neymar's support act and under pressure. Perhaps he will realise one day just how good he had it here with the fans. Torres comparisons immediately springs to mind...if this guy re-signs after walking out on us after thinking he was better! the board better baton down the hatches. I'm a fan not a consumer!

    ReplyDelete
  12. After a long day I'm actually giggling at my computer.....


    Thank you...

    ReplyDelete
  13. 36m for a keeper? utter madness! every day you come up with another brainf*cked idea

    ReplyDelete
  14. You can blame B.R for pampering Sterling so much he actually thinks he's a great player,and so does his agent.The manager should be the one keeping it real to the players,and not over praising,especially when it's not deserved.Some old school ways need to be brought back in and let the players know where they stand.A manager & club need to have the balls to tell the players how it is or get the .... out.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I haven't been posting for long enough to know about the last bit of that statement regarding said poster, but, having a conversation with someone today we were going over the merits of our strategy, buy millions of players or stick with say three really, really good ones.


    I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I also know most would have understood we were woefully short on personnel last year and just about got through one competition (premiership) hence the wholesale buying.


    But somewhere in that man's post, in the deepest cavities, I think there lies something....

    ReplyDelete
  16. If Sterling is simply asking for more money then I 100% agree and think he needs to pull his head in. It's a very good contract offer and I really can't understand what he's doing. Perhaps his agent is managing the whole affair and Sterling is deciding not to be involved himself, but at the end of the day it's still HIS contract and he needs to show a little bit more humility.


    I think we should keep him here, he's a talented player and he's doing well. He continues to improve certain aspects of his game and apart from the finishing he was excellent against United. Of course goals are what are important but at times it was mere inches that meant De Gea could deny him and perhaps on a different day he'd have had a hat trick. Sterling is obviously a talented footballer and he's the kind of player we need here.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Crack has a point (I never thought I'd say it) but Sterling was actually moving about, taking on players and getting into scoring spots. No other player did that, except Balo when he came on. Lamberts actually gone whole games without looking threatening at all. The 3-0 result was very deceptive, didnt play out like a 3-0 at all.

    ReplyDelete
  18. What's the problem? Do you expect us to believe that those selected comments are actually responsible for Origi's poor form? Otherwise it seems like all you're complaining about are the comments themselves, but you didn't even believe them yourself at the time. What exactly are you proposing is happening here that is a genuine problem and not just something that you personally are uncomfortable with? You repeatedly say that it's "counter-productive" and "irresponsible". Why? What effect have those comments have?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sterling isn't good enough to carry a team. Now Ross Barkley on the other hand... there is a proper player. If we can get silly money for such an overated player lets do it and do it now. Sterling's inflated stock can and will only fall from this point onwards.

    ReplyDelete
  20. great shout. Real quality. He looks like he has all the time in the world on the ball and his final ball is second to none.

    ReplyDelete
  21. i agree with you in that i dont think such comments would be directly responsible for a players decline in productivity. but i do think that origi will follow the usual script at LFC and flop as I have not seen anything so far in his short career to even suggest he could one day be world class.

    ReplyDelete
  22. i have seen that even with past LFC managers where they manage to sign a more than capable player who then magically turns to crap. my man utd mates named it the "liverpool effect" and i still believe its very much in effect at LFC.

    ReplyDelete
  23. the title actually reminded me of a dave chapelle bit where he holds a newspaper that says : "asteroid coming : black president to blame" :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hes good but its not worth that kinda salary and i feel FSG new contract talk of $70k is a bit high actually, he score quite a handful of goal last season but when you really look at it its suarez who spoon feed him with those easy tab in,now suarez's gone and he can't even score on one on one occasion.overall hes good but not deadly,$60k a week is more like it.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sad that such a young player was booed off the pitch, I think that has alot more effect on a player than words said in the media. A few soundbites from friends and colleagues wouldn't put too much pressure on a player, I think it would be worse if we signed him for £20m a la Marko, or paid over the odds to get him back and heralded his arrival as the second coming. It's all speculation though, no one knows what effect these things have except the player, some players react positively to pressure, some don't.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm not wasting my time responding to this because the answer is obvious. If you're so inflexible of mind that you fail to see how constant overpraise can affect a player, then there's no point discussing the issue.

    ReplyDelete
  27. LET ME REITERATE FOR THE NTH TIME;

    1. Shoot our front office
    2. Hire Southampton's front office
    3. Have a big buy general manager with player and league credibility and an eye for real talent not just speed with little else attached.
    4. Send Ian Ayre to scout the Iceland league
    5. Only keep Rodgers if he doesn't pick the players. He gets a boner of fast players but this is not a track meet. You need touch, finishing and passing skills to go with speed or else it alone is useless. (re Markovic)
    6. God I wish we had signed Rakitic in the summer instead of the 'crowd of mediocrity we did sign.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Would have been nice if you could make a reply without feeling the need to question my state of mind. Typical response from you when you don't like the response - you discuss the person, not the argument.

    I'll take it as agreed then: you believe that these kinds of comments from Rodgers and other players/managers have directly impacted on Origi's and Sterling's form and have resulted in them playing poorly. That's really all I wanted to confirm.

    Clearly I don't agree with you and for me a handful of comments cherry-picked from the media are probably the least important factors in determining the mental state of a player.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:49 am, December 16, 2014

    Man utd paid 20m for DE gea
    Bayern paid 30m for Neur


    if you wanna pay cheap you get Mignolet

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hèhè fair point that. I think Origi has everything Sturridge does minus the injury problems. His head is at LFC now and he sees what is going on and that has thrown him off balance. Hes starting to wonder did he make the right decision in joining us and at the same time he feels he could be doing a job for us right now. It would be best for both parties if he moved now but not under Rodgers.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Its called the burden of pressure man,

    Its really hard to hold it together when you have to play in front of 45, 000 baying fans along with all the expectation involved, also then on top of which the player has to pay his weekly rent and shopping........



    ....you have any idea how tough all that is and how it plays on the mind when you're only getting 100 quid a week....?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Rakitic is a real conundrum for me - he's got the pace of lucas with the touch of a master - my brain never computes it properly when I see him play.....


    P.s. did I miss the first 8 times....?

    ReplyDelete
  33. I completely agree with you except that Rakitic or any player of that calibre would never head to Anfield until and unless FSG gets rid of Rodgers and their foolish scouting team.

    ReplyDelete
  34. BR doesn't know on what merits should a player be praised.
    It's funny the person he chooses to praises and the degree to which he showers it.
    BR praises Joe(joker)Allen, Glen(no idea)Johnson , et al.
    What a joke !!

    ReplyDelete
  35. It's because LFC seems clearly lacking a footballing philosophy

    ReplyDelete
  36. I see your Lallana (who is a very good player) and I'll raise with one Lovren.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I nipped round to our local store and would you believe it they were clean out of guns.
    Ah well. best just keep muddling along with fingers crossed hoping that things will get better all on their own ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  38. Sooooooooo, what this guy is saying is you never, ever say that a player may become world class, because if you do then you're putting too much pressure on him? Well, I'd say every player that's remotely decent has had that said about them at one point in time. Origi IS still young, and Kompany may be right, in a few years he may be great. What's so wrong with that?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Absolutely right. WTF is this guy thinking saying "Never, flop, done?" What a joke of an article.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Unfortunately, Rodgers won't be at Anfield next season when Origi will join up with the rest of the squad. If we lose tomorrow against Bounemouth, i'm sure Rodgers would be gone before our next EPL game against Arsenal. I feel for Brendan though!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Lallana is indeed a good player but he is definitely not worth 25 millions.
    For 25 million one should get a proven midfielder such as Fabregas,Rakitic,Cabaye etc.
    But again Lallana is worth more than that he is playing at the moment. The fault lies with the manager who was chasing him all summer and still hasn't got the confidence to give him regular play time.
    I reckon Lallana would have been good performer by now had he been poached by the likes of chelski or city.

    ReplyDelete