4 Dec 2014

'Shining light': Redknapp hails €20m star who 'talked to Agger' about LFC move. BR Fail?

Last year, I consistently pushed for Liverpool to sign Tottenham star Christian Eriksen, and felt sick when Spurs snapped him up for a ridiculously low fee. Whilst most of former boss Andre Villas Boas's signings have failed to make much of an impact, Eriksen is an undoubted success, and former LFC midfielder Jamie Redknapp has hailed the Dane's growing influence at White Hart Lane.

In his column for the Daily Mail this week, Redknapp enthused:

"I’ve been critical of Tottenham in the past, but they were good against Everton. They have made some poor signings but Christian Eriksen is a shining light for them".

* Since signing, Eriksen has 27goals/assists in 52 games for Spurs (goal/assist every 1.9 games), which is more than worth the paltry comparatively meagre £11.5m transfer fee.

* Compare that with revered LFC fan-favourite Coutinho - who has 24 goals/assists in 66 appearances for LFC - and it's clear that the Dane is doing fantastically well.

* Also, when it comes to chance creation this season, he's right up there with LFC's midfielders:

* Sterling: 32
* Gerrard: 29
* Eriksen: 28
* Henderson: 24 chances created.
* Lallana: 8
* Coutinho: 6

Eriksen was definitely interested in a move to Anfield, and there persuasive evidence exists to support that contention:

May 2013: Former Ajax and LFC star Ryan Babel tweeted the following:

"I am convincing [Christian] Eriksen to join Liverpool. He asked me about the club and I hope he joins"

May 2013: In an interview with Danish newspaper Sporten.dk, Eriksen made explicitly clear his interest in signing for Liverpool:

"Liverpool is definitely an option. It is also one of the clubs that is a step-up from Ajax, and it's a different league and a different caliber. It sounds very exciting, but we'll have to see. I don't know if there is anything specific, but I've even talked to Daniel [Agger] about it".

July 2013: Babel reiterates that he is trying to convince Eriksen to join the Reds:

"For the LFC fans who have questions about Eriksen, I've gave [sic] him enough information about the club during past season, so he understands LFC. In my opinion, it's LFC who have to make the real effort to get him, then I'm confident for a good ending".

What exactly does 'Liverpool is definitely an option' mean? It quite obviously means that Liverpool WERE one of the clubs in which Eriksen held an interest (!)

It seems ridiculous to state the obvious, but I still encounter Reds fans who perpetuate the myth that Eriksen 'didn't want to join Liverpool'.

Alas, as is so often the case with transfers, at the time Eriksen became available, Rodgers was asleep at the wheel, and decided (in his infinite wisdom) that £15m on Aspas and Alberto was a better deal.

I'm still gutted Liverpool failed to sign Eriksen, who is now rated in the €20m range. To be honest, I'd take him over Lallana and Markovic every day of the week, and I predict that by the end of the season, the Dane will have more goals/assists than either of the aforementioned players.

Author:


125 comments:

  1. Just take a goood look at BR transfer history,it's always average player for a average manager,reina for mignolet,lovren for agger and gerrard can't play every game,we have hard working midfielder like allen and hendo but honestly they don't have what it takes to run the midfield like a top player for top team and now liverpool look very much like a bottom half team.All because of BR and his transfer.

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  2. Why buy Erikson when we can waste 20 mill on Markovic or 25 on Lallana that would be too sensible.
    What i can say is get rid of this transfer committee and bring in a DOF its a complete waste of money.

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  3. Liverpool didn't want him, that seems kind of obvious.

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  4. Still think Lallana, Lovren and Balotelli were the biggest mistakes this season. Apart from Balo, Lovren and Lallana were both players Rodgers would have known about and we clearly could have got more value for money elsewhere.


    Compare the situation of Markovic who does not have any EPL experience, younger than all three of the above mentioned players and a new lifestyle/country to adapt to then I think we are being way to harsh on Markovic because of his price tag. Plus he has been frozen out by Rodgers. Surely the only way the kid will have a chance to become better is to play and had an opportune moment to get some minutes vs Leicester. Even Emre Can seems to be in the naughty corner for some reason when he actually performed extremely well in recent matches when he has played but the likes of Skrtel, Johnson, Lovren and Gerrard who have been below par all season are and have been first choice no matter how they have performed. Go figure.

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  5. How much more proof does one need to know B.R has not a clue what good footballers look or play like.He is yet again a example of a manager Liverpool have wasted their time and money with.Hopefully Liverpool will finally find the proper manager they need to take them back to the top of the league,where they belong.

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  6. Coutinho's ability to bring out the ball from deep positions and his excellent footwork which mesmerises the oppositions ending off with a defence splitting pass to me indicates that he should be part of our central midfield. He has never been great on the wing or at no 10 for us. His creativeness will give our midfield the upper hand.

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  7. The club missed out on him big time. I think every Liverpool supporter thought Eriksen would be a Liverpool player.

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  8. Small game player goes missing against big boys
    Lallana is better

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  9. You are a fucken germ jamie . If suarez did wat balotelli was doing u would be writing bullshit articles about him non stop. Not a peep about marios behaviour I wonder why u wog hatting racist motherfucker I hope u get hit by a bus u cocksmoker!

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  10. You win some you lose some. If you only pick out the (short term?) "failures" at Liverpool and the so called successes at other clubs it will look bad. Yes it is right to be critical of specific failings but is it realistic to compare only with successes elsewhere?. I am not too envious of Spurs overall

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  11. Jaimie doesn't know what a wog is Chris...and Suarez isn't a wog anyway.

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  12. Coutinho is a playmaker. Nothing more nothing less. If he is used to his strengths then he will shine. He does not quite have the pace to play on the wing and also does not have the killer instinct to be a no 10 but he will thread a ball through the eye of the needle and his footwork and ability to escape challenges combined with mobility suggest he should be deployed as a central midfielder.

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  13. According to 'Code' the reason Can isn't playing is cos after Rodgers signed him he realised he was Muslim- then he decided it's cos he doesn't like Turkish people. Ain't seen any posts since perhaps he's on holiday in Marmaris

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  14. If we had the players to do a Barcelona-like system Coutinho could be our Iniesta.

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  15. Yeah I concede this one. Erikson would have been a good signing but I would be interested in seeing goals/assists by minutes. Cout has largely been a sub this season and was swapping with Sterling last.

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  16. We are not Barcelona and clearly the Barcelona 'model' does not work in the EPL. Rodgers unfortunately thinks otherwise = stubbornness. The first half of his debut season as manager of LFC was proof that tiki taka does not fit in with the English game and the second half of his debut season and last season was proof that the first half of Rodgers debut season the reason why we are where we are this season = struggling.

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  17. I don't necessarily disagree with you. Let me put my point across this way: if Coutinho was at Barcelona, he'd play a role similar to Iniesta. My point was about Coutinho's strengths as a player, not anything else.

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  18. Once again Stu hits it out of the park.

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  19. Saying that Rodgers failed to sign Erikson is again unfair and hars. You are constantly blaming Rodgers for poor transfers. Do we know it is him behind signings? did anyone confirm this? Until this is confirmed the only one to blame for (poor) signings is LFC transfer comity and FSG.

    So please stop blaming Rodgers.

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  20. I think the comparison of chance created is interesting. Sterling wad hailed By Cara and on this site it was adjudged to be a an indictment of the rest of the players as he has not been doing that we'll. Gerrard had also not been setting the world alight and both these players have created more than Erikson. Henderson who again has been lambasted many times for his lack of creativity is not too far behind. Only the two players who haven't had much game time a very far behind. Surely if we are going to covet players of other teams it makes sense to look at those well out performing ours.I would like to know if he outperformed Lallana last season?

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  21. Sorry Jaimie but Erikson saying Liverpool was an option indicates we were interested. If it is an option for him then we were one. Choice he could make. I am pretty sure we did drop out of the running but the quote you use doesn't indicate that in fact it suggests the opposite as we were an opinion he didn't take.

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  22. I just wanted to make a point that La Liga and EPL are on two completely different wave lengths. In La Liga you do not have the physicality and pace and in La Liga players has much more time on the ball to showcase their fancy moves.

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  23. He has last say but the rest of the work needs doing by someone else. We really don't know who assigns values to players etc

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  24. Spurs were more attractive at the time anyway.

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  25. Kolo it Muslim too

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  26. I don't think he stops to think before posting- also said it applies to Assaidi and Sahin. Rodgers may be a lot of things but he's no racist that's for sure

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  27. Are you telling me that it was smart to send Jordan Ibe out on loan and replace him with Markovic?

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  28. Spurs fans dont rate him that much - useless last night

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  29. Did he actually say that? That guy has so many contradictions in his post it is not even funny. One day he says that Manquillo is the worst ever player to play for Liverpool and the next he says that he is one of Liverpool's best players. It just does not make sense.

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  30. He sure did I'm surprised he got to post it cos I tried to post 'Yawn Allen' and it instantly up for review or whatever they call it

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  31. He's turned into a Sheikh.Now that codes cracked, maybe he will set another.

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  32. I don't know, it's always difficult to judge Eredivisie players. A lot of them excel in that league and look like world better but struggle massively in England and Germany as well.

    For every Ruud, Van Persie there is a Kezman and Alfonso Alves.

    It really is a gamble, like Babel, Kromkamp etc...

    Ericksen was playing well for Ajax but hardly setting the world alight, I'm glad he settled in quickly but it could have easily been a fail based on other Dutch imports.

    Holland have a good crop of players right now, like Narsingh, Depay, Classie, De Vrjril etc... whether they will adapt to other leagues is to be seen.

    I do think that BR can't really be trusted with money after his failure in the transfer market. I would much rather have an experienced director of football call the shots rather than BR, some of his signings have been appalling based on their contribution: Aspas, Alberto, Illori, Markovic (so far seems poor), Sahin etc...

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  33. He sure did I'm surprised he was able to post it cos I tried to post 2 words during the Leicester game one was yawn the other was Allen and it instantly went up for approval- in fact tried to post it 2 min ago and same happened

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  34. No that is not what I am saying. All I am saying is that the price Markovic has come at is not a reason to criticise him. He did not ask to be signed at that price and definitely would not have said no to LFC. You need to ask Rodgers your question not me.

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  35. Wow 27goals/assists in 52 games thats brilliant for a midfielder

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  36. The Dutch league is a goal scoring paradise and as you say, anybody can succeed there and easily fail in other leagues. The prime example would be Jozy Altidore. Eriksen is an interesting case. While he is a good player, he tends to go missing when the team requires him and has never hit the marks for his country. It would be difficult to predict what impact Eriksen could have had. But, instead of Aspas and Alberto( who was never given a chance), Eriksen would have sure been a much better option. As fot the transfers, it does not make sense to me. Why spend up to 50-60 million in players and never play them. The only plausible reason could have been they were not Rodgers signings. But, then there is denial from him. SOmething is not right here and we deserve to know the truth.

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  37. Man, and my simple posts barely get past the filter!

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  38. The DoF doesn't even need to have full control. Traditionally they would make all the signings and the first team coach just accommodate them. IMO, they should appoint someone who is making deals all the time, every single day, and then Rodgers can consider the individual player and the price and say yay or nay. That way it's just a bit of help and not a dictating role that some managers oppose.


    Having said all that, it didn't work out last time with Damien Comolli who got sacked.

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  39. And smoking is bad for you I don't care what it is

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  40. But Comolli did not last at Spurs either. He probably is just a very good salesman. If you get someone like Cruyff who is 100 more times suited to the role of DOF then we will be made.


    Rodgers will not be sticking around if a DOF had to step in though, especially one who will put his foot down.

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  41. Some things come down to Rodgers and others, the players themselves. Lallana for example, plays well and gets dropped. He has started and made an impact so let's see if he gets any momentum.


    Lovren on the other hand has been rubbish. You wouldn't stop talking about him last season so it's hard to pin Rodgers on that one.

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  42. I did not mention Lovren last season.

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  43. I've been trying to post 2 words and they won't allow it 1 of them is Allen

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  44. Is the other Flanagan?

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  45. hahaha we could sign him about the right age

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  46. That's the full backs sorted and we could then move Ash's Nan (bless her soul) to DM

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  47. Its always the same with us...we buy some X player for a premium price and then someother club sign some Y player for cheaper price and then we realize how good he is and then the usual blah blah blah......Something needs to change or else its will be the same for next 25 years

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  48. The other word is another word for pandiculation

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  49. We went to buy Mkhitaryan and then willian first
    as our main playmaker
    so when we failed only then was Eriksen an option for us
    at that time spurs looked more attractive selling elvis for beatles
    and us being bullied in market by Arsenal

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  50. Like i said to you before, why would FSG be willing to waste 100 's of millions if they knew the transfer committee and Rodgers did not see eye to eye or majority of the viote was against Rodgers? That would be negligence on behalf of FSG. I am pretty sure before any of the players were signed that FSG made sure that Rodgers was happy with spending LFC's money.

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  51. Mkhitaryan is much better then Eriksen
    so we cant blame Rodgers

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  52. Ah I see the problem now. You're coming up against the SA filter. It happens to me sometimes even before I finish ty........

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  53. Imagine how hard it would be if we were Ar#enal fans and wanted to rave about Ar#ene Wenger.

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  54. What i am saying generally is why pay 20 million for a kid who is not ready to go and who you are going to have to loan out to get better.
    I suppose too i doubt he will ever be a world beater either he could of stayed in Portugal another season easy other wise i pretty much agree

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  55. Pete must admit myself i thought we over paid for Lovren but really thought he was going to star myself.

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  56. I always suspected Comolli got a reputation through luck and Bale and Modric did it for him i think its apparent for all to see he is not the man he was built up to be.
    Actually not sure where he is now but i doubt it is at a high profile club.

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  57. Remember Vic and Bob did their version - Mulligan and O Haire

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  58. If Mkhitaryan is so good why are struggling Dortmund trying to dump him.

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  59. im 1000% sure he'll be back soon

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  60. don't really think they want to dumb him... Mkhitaryan is a really good player, but i don't think we need another OM

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  61. I am just going on something i read the other day possibly not creditable but yeah dont need another A.M.

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  62. Does he have last say? Are you sure? Do you know this is true? Did you read about it somewhere?

    People think and journalists and Jamie claim this all the time. But who is right? What is the truth?

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  63. In australia hes concidered a wog, as am i so eat a fat dick

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  64. In what role though? Deep lying like Alonso? Does he have the strength for that? And in that role he needs to get in the occasional tackle as well. I can't see him do it. Or like Xavi? I can see how he could play the same short game but Xavi also makes long and high passes with absolute precision. I can't see him do that either. And that requires a DM. So that would leave us with a makeshift DM covering a makeshift playmaker. I'm sure he could play there. The problem is that I don't think he can play there as well as a specialist in that position.

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  65. Chelsea had first option to buy Markovic so if that is the case then I am sure they rated him. Unfortunately for him the price tag and the way the team gets picked at the moment will get the better of him.

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  66. Did I say a DM? I said a central midfielder like he has played before for in the '2' ahead of the '1'.

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  67. He did say it and Are said someone making decisions for the manager is crazy but like you I think this is blovation.

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  68. Obviously Chelsea never rated him more highly than what they had he needs to go play in a league where he gets constant game time he is going to go nowhere at Liverpool.

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  69. Pool should craft another Origi type Loan deal. With an option to cancel after 1 yr or 2yr mark.

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  70. I hear smoked salmon is good for the brain.

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  71. Guess he got hit by a bus. Looks like we're free to say whatever we please.

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  72. They were, but it's still a transfer that upsets me. When we were looking at him the quote was in the 20mil area and I was all for it at that price. Next thing you know Spurs have him for almost half the cost and we're welcoming Luis Alberto to Anfield instead...mind boggling...

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  73. -ing your shoes?

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  74. Difficult to light as well

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  75. That is the nature of the game these days, the big premier league clubs stockpile young players in the hope that one or two will shine and make it.


    Problem is managers are always about 5 games from the sack with the knee jerk nature of fans and owners these days, doesnt exactly make for an environment where managers are willing risk playing alot of young players. Sad but true.

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  76. Can to me shows adequate promise and really should be getting decent game time.

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  77. Mkhitaryan was never a reasonable expectation to come here once Dortmund entered the picture.


    And Willian was never going to come here once Spurs and Chelsea entered the picture.

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  78. Liverpool transfer dealing have ben very poor for the last couple of season we miss out on players all the time and get rid of good players and replace them with average players at best and how we did nt buy buy Erikson
    is unbelievable

    look at the players Rodgers has bought only a couple have been a good buy

    look at ,reina for mignolet,lovren for agger
    both are not an improvement and the whole point of buying is the improve or add to the squad and these do nt do either
    we are always very slow to buy and end up in a panic and seem to just buy whoever what has happened to our scouting dept really seem to be lacking at the moment

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  79. I remember that post. Ridiculous

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  80. If they're consistently not good enough, then that means LFC's scouting system is failing. Either way, there's a problem.

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  81. Yes, Rodgers has last say. He has stated this categorically on several occasions.

    http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2014/06/debunking-lfc-myths-16-rodgers-final-say-transfers.html

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  82. who has been a success who he signed Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho but the rest are non starters

    hoping lallana gets more time as he is one that stand out but still think we over paid

    also why we sell Kelly for next to nothing good young player played for England before injury and a good option of not better then Johnson (at times)

    seems we spend or pay crazy prices for average player or ones who may turn out to be great so buying potential but sell our young player ones with potential for next to nothing not the way to do business surely

    I mean what the hell are we doing of late

    we almost knew Suarez was going but still made no move for a big money striker until weeks after he left why did nt we wrap up a deal before he left to make sure we was ok if he indeed did go or if he did nt we have great options up front as we only had 2 anyway and needed to buy one other at least even if suarez had stayed

    please add your views on signing who Rodgers has signed that are any better then the one s he has sold or got rid of

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  83. Thanks for stating the obvious. Of course LFC were interested. After signig for Spurs, Eriksen basically confirmed that Liverpool didn't follow up interest:

    "here were not that many clubs to choose from in the end and no-one were closer than Tottenham. There were a lot of rumours, but I only felt right about the approach from Tottenham. The club followed me for a long time and really showed intent.”



    Just like several other proposed deals in the past, LFC didn't pursue Eriksen hard enough. Players like to feel wanted, and Spurs obviously wanted him more.

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  84. Yes, and if I provided goals/assists per minute, and the results didn't meet your expectation, you'd probably request goals/assists per second, and keep drilling down until a stat appears that fits what you want to see.

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  85. Short-term failures? 95% of LFC's transfers under Rodgers are failures, and/or underperforming.

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  86. Jaimie I would thank you for not shutting me down and presuming to know what I would or would not do. It is not part of the debate can we stick to the topic please. Thank you.

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  87. I think after some of our poor performances, Rodgers has gone back to the players he knows he can trust and have a previous track record of performing (Johnson notwithstanding) for a few games and to be fair, we've won our last two games

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  88. This is your last warning. If you post one more sniping comment you will receive a 7-day ban. Based on previous stats discussions, my comment is perfectly fair, and has everything to do with what we're discussing. You are a sniper; someone who pops up on every thread disagreeing for the hell of it. I know the type of poster you are, and I've seen it 100 times in the past. It wouldn't surprise me if you're someone I've banned in the past who's back with a different username.

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  89. Cheers that is what I was looming for. Did you know when we were after Sanchez Rodgers was apparently on holiday with his new bird. A manager getting in the mix shows the player he is really wanted. I think there must be far too much deliberation that hoes on amongst are club as transfers should and could be done with much less fuss than the prolonged and eventual failures we had.

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  90. Yes, but those are players that have stepped in because the players are not working like Kolo for Lovren. Why sign Markovic when you have Ibe and Harry Wilson? I would understand if we spent the money on proven quality like Xherdan but spending money on Lazar is weird because we all know he needs an adjustment period so why take such a risk. Players like Can are worth a place in the worst team instead of players like Allen and especially as he has been in good form as of late. Lambert has done good and deserves to play. But, Johnson playing is really mysterious because he has adequate replacements. I do not think it is the trust but because the players are just better than what were playing before.

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  91. 1. no one has been an unquestioned success other than Sturridge and Coutinho.


    2. I agree with you on Lallana. He's shown enough that he deserves to be playing consistently.


    3. The key phrase there is "before injury". He's not the same player.


    4. We really haven't spent crazy amounts on too many players. We overpaid for Lovren and Lallana. Markovic was at market price. Everyone else was at or below market value.


    5. Suarez - We had no leverage. And it was a chicken or the egg question... if we sell him before we bring in a striker, then other teams know we need the striker and upcharge us. If we sell him after we bring in a striker, other teams know we need to dump him and lowball us.


    In my opinion, I don't have a problem with the transfer business in general, at least from the standpoint that I agreed with the moves at the time they made them. They haven't worked out.

    I do have a problem with the way that Rodgers has implemented those players into his plans. Too inconsistent, and doesn't rotate nearly enough considering the sheer amount of games we have to play.

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  92. To be fair to both Lallana and Markovic neither have been given a good run of games, especially Markovic.

    I really feel for Markovic as when he has been given a chance for example RM he did well.

    Why BR did not give Markovic 15 -20 mins against Leicester I do not know. It was the perfect opportunity for him but no.

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  93. Markovic looked very good when he debuted as a sub against Man City. Linked up well with Moreno.


    Has he played on the same side as Moreno since? Not that I can recall.

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  94. Sterling mins 1184 Chance created every 37 mins 169
    Lallana mins 555 Chance created every 69 mins 185
    Coutinho mins 713 Chnace created every 118.8 mins 713
    Erikson mins 1101 Chance created every 39 mins 2202
    Henderson mins 1092 Chance created every 45.5 mins 218
    Gerrard mins 1186 Chance created every 40.8 mins 296

    From these stats we can see that Erikson is outperforming all but Sterling. One argument is that Erikson tends to take set pieces and that aids his chance creation as it does Gerrard who has played more in a withdrawn role this season yet has created more chances than Erikson but taking slightly longer on average to do so. Henderson too playing more withdrawn than Erikson but not too far away in creative stats which is a surprise to me. The others who it could be argued would benefit for more time on the pitch are nowhere near. So at least this season Erikson is generally outperforming them by some distance in chance creation.

    Now as there tends to be an emphasis on goals and assists on this site we should add those too. I personally think chances and especially clear cut chances mean more than assist as an assist could be to pass to someone on the half way line and they shoot and score or you cold be making lots of clear cut chances that are not getting put away due to the incompetence of a colleague. But for clarity

    Sterling 7 goals/assists in 14 games 0.5 per game on average or one every two.
    Lallana 3 g/a in 8 games 0.375 pg or 1 every 2.6 games
    Coutinho 713 1 goal no assists in 8 games pg 0.125 1 in 8.
    Erikson 5 goals no assists in 14 0.357 per game or 1 every 2.8
    Henderson 3 g/a in 13 0.23 per game or one per 4.33
    Gerrard 4 g/a in 14 0.285 per game or 1 every 3.4.

    Here we see Sterling way outperforming everyone and even Lallana equaling Erikson. Coutinho still doing very poorly and the others showing the fact that they are playing deeper and Henderson showing why Jaimie is so critical. Erikson not recording any assists is a slight worry but his goals make up for that.

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  95. Yeah he could do with a run but I think Rodgers is seeing the perils of trying to integrate a young player in to a struggling side and may be just going back to basics to get a run together before getting them in. He could do with a bit of bulking too which I hope he is doing. Moreno too. xx

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  96. Sorry Jaimie please stop presuming to know what I will or won't say. It reeks of you trying to shut me down for doing nothing but debating the subject.

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  97. Really is boggling when you consider the Alberto deal. Rodgers never seemed to fancy him much and talked at the time about needing first teamers. I have no doubt Erikson would have been on much more money but considering the failure that was Aspas someone somewhere should have lost a job.

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  98. To my recollection, I do not think so. If this is true that Markovic only struggles on the right then this is more incompetency on behalf of BR. He did well when coming on against Spurs on the left as well. Could be an interesting obeservation.

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  99. He has tended to play on the left and Center previously to coming to Liverpool. Rodgers has played players in other positions before. Remember he is a coach first and foremost and may feel the need to make players more rounded. Unfortunately that may not help in the short run.

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  100. Code is nuts. Have you not realised that yet?

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  101. Putting the squad rotation issue aside for a moment, my biggest issue with Rodgers has been his inability to put players in positions to succeed, namely positions that are suited to their strengths.


    And he's done it with almost everyone in the midfield and attack.

    Stevie simply hasn't been successful in the holding role. Mario wasn't successful stranded by himself. Sterling is more comfortable as a 10 as opposed to playing out wide. Henderson is a CM, not a wide player. Markovic looked better on the left, and has consistently played on the right (when he's played at all).


    All of these are just examples of where Brendan has got it wrong. Part of me thinks he was trying to use a system that he could simply plug Sturridge into when he got healthy, and Sturridge obviously has been hurt far longer than anyone expected.


    But even then, why would he play Sturridge by himself and not with Balotelli. After all, our best performance was at Spurs when the two played up top together.

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  102. They don't let me have shoelaces in here

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  103. Oh that's right blame it all on me for being so reasonable

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  104. I can't argue there mate.

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  105. I personally think someone sat down and said “we don't need to sign world star players if we can just instil our tactics, good work ethic and cohesion in the team.” and I’m sure it all sounded good until they realized that the gulf in the talent we were buying and the talent we needed to compete was too great.
    To your point, when they realized they had spent Eriksen’s fee and wages on two players (Alberto and Aspas) that we would farm out on loan a year later, someone should have been fired as it clearly wasnt what BR originally wanted.
    I admire how FSG have sat back,
    backed the club, and let the club run itself. But I would love it if we could get discussion of some sort where John Henry talks about how he feels the club is being managed from transfers, to philosophy, etc) and if there's anything that needs to be altered to make us a winning team - because he's won a lot already in the states. Because I think he has a lot to say but is keeping it to himself – like all good owners should imo

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  106. Yeah it would be good to find out these things. There are runours of another reshuffle of the transfer process but nothing but rumours up to now apart from two fellas being let go. I think they were getting advice and trusted those giving it but that hasn't turned out for the best. I would imagine there will be some kind of change before the summer somewhere, be it manager or committee or both.

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  107. My thought exactly.

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  108. That's my point Ghost Rider, according to Jamie every youngster linked to Liverpool should be told not to join as he'll never break through to our first team.
    There's a lot that goes into a youth development and for a number of reasons the individual may or make it through but we would not be aware of the full process. Big clubs now are under huge pressure to perform and therefore will go out and buy big names in order to keep pace with Europe. That in itself makes it even more difficult for youngsters but that does mean that the stop trying to bring through the next Steven Gerrard etc.

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  109. I have asked many times if you could not accuse me of things that are not true. You keep deleting my post so could you at least be a gentleman and instead of abusing your power just delete the part of the post that is nothing but presumption. Oh and odd that you would accuse me of such things for a man who talks of Henderson not producing enough and a heavy lean towards goals and assists that you would go for chances created instead of goals assists. Is it because it doesn't suite your point? Do you see any hypocrisy here? Delete away my friend. Delete away.

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  110. Elvis for beatles, good one..

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  111. Mateja Kezman... Fastest red card in the history of WC, by the way...

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  112. thexcuriousxwanderer6:57 pm, December 04, 2014

    Yeah even Suarez rates him.

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  113. to be truly racist requires an ideology and a level of sophistication..rodgers has neither

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  114. i for one had nether really heard of lovren

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  115. the jury is out yet on Ibe but for the most part we buy crap in then loan crap out ...usually at a substantial loss

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  116. Fair enough. I'd say the key difference is that La Liga teams focus more on technique and less on violence. Of course, I'd love to see the EPL evolve into a more cerebral league, so I applaud people like Wenger and Rodgers for trying to jump-start that evolution. One does need to be pragamatic at the same time and sign players that can 'get stuck in' as well as play one-twos all day.

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  117. Yeah the EDL are noted for their sophisticated ideology.......not

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  118. You should not listen to that cat of yours

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  119. you're right. he's p!ssed most of the time.

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  120. Where to find such a manager?? Naples.

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  121. Alonso wasn't a DM either. You said playmaker. There are two types of playmakers. Deep lying and free role. For the second type you need a DM. For us that DM is Gerrard who is a makeshift DM. So there is quite a bit of risk to rely on a makeshift DM and a makeshift free role playmaker. Especially considering the fact that our attacking midfielders (the third position in that midfield) are not really setting the league on fire either.

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  122. I'd be pissed too if I was constantly set on fire, chased round the house, urinated on and then put out .Smoked salmon wouldn't be enough for me either

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  123. there not truly racist ...they are just disillusioned and bored and feel the need to blame there inadequacies on others

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