10 Jun 2012

'The squad is average' - Reds hero slams Dalglish's transfer flops...

Liverpool ended last season a disappointing 17 points off 4th place, and former Reds midfielder Patrik Berger is worried that the club just doesn't have the quality of player required to make up that gap next season.

In a recent interview, Berger - who played an integral part in Liverpool's 2001 treble-winning season - slammed the club's wastefulness in the transfer market over the last 18 months, and delivered a scathing assessment of the current squad of players:

"They need players because in my opinion Liverpool’s side is ­average. The squad is average and that’s why they finished where they ­finished. They have spent a lot of money in the last couple of years but the players haven’t delivered.

"They need four or five top class players but it’s going to be difficult because of where they finished in the league. The top players want Champions League year in, year out. That’s not going to happen at Liverpool at the moment".


Berger is undoubtedly right here - the squad IS average, and that was emphatically proven over the course of last season. New players are needed, but I personally don't think a top four challenge will be as difficult as many people seem to think.

There's surely no way that Liverpool will be as wasteful in front of goal as they were last season, and with the inevitable addition of some new players, and a new footballing philosophy, anything is possible.

History also favours improved performance next year. In the last 20 years, an extremely poor season for Liverpool has often been followed by a comparatively good one. Examples:

* 1993-94: Finished 8th on 60 points
* 1994-95: Finished 4th on 74 points

* 1998-99: Finished 7th on 54 points
* 1999-00: Finished 4th on 67 points

* 2002-03: Finished 5th on 64 points
* 2003-04: Finished 4th (albeit with a lower points total)

The last three seasons have been the exception, but things have to get better sometime, and right now, the only way is up.

Jaimie Kanwar


53 comments:

  1. we have some very average players who played belowed average last season.
    also our play was so static at times,no movement off the ball.midfielders not willing to get forward and get into the box and support the forwards.hopefully this is something that rodgers will work on.
    the lack of goals from our midfielders is a major problem.

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  2. I believe with a season under their belts players like Downing, Henderson, Adam and Carroll will all improve. If we can add a right winger and a goalscorer we won't be far off challenging for the Champions league spots.

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  3. Tell me something I didn't express 18 months ago!

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  4. Of course its average.
    And with BR looking to bring in sturridge, johnson, sigurdsson the squad can only get more AVERAGE.

    I am telling you guys Rodgers will be sacked come summer coz he is emotional about his transfers.

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  5. Mmmmm.....no actually they wont. Hopefully rodgers will sell carroll, henderson, adam, downing for a joint fee of 25 million and buy Eriksen for 20 Million who will contribute more than the group all together

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  6. Personally I think in order to get to top 4:

    Sell : Adam(6 million), Downing(6 million), Hend. & Shelvey(loan), Spearing (2 million).

    Buy: L. De Jong (13 million), Diame(free), Johnson(10 million), Van Buyten(free), Hoilett(free), Eriksen (20 million).

    Net spend: 29 million

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  7. opps sorry guys forgot to mention- carroll sold for 10 million and van Wolfswinkel bought for 15 million.

    Net spend : 34 million.

    Surely the owners will spend that much

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  8. IF tottenham can attract remy so can we

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  9. Kenny has a lot to answer for, he has single handedly overseen the singe biggest wasted transfer spend in the clubs history. for all the good he's done for the club, last season he balanced that out considerably. Even if just one of HiS buys actually came good, we'd have gained a few more points.

    The other side of that is that there is time for some of those buys to come good. for me, adam is done, he will never be a top class player and needs to be sold to boost the kitty. carroll is a big question mark, but i imagine, under rodgers, it will all depend on his dedication to learning and hard work. the signs are not all bad judging by the end of last season, and i feel its too soon to write him off.
    downing may well benefit from playing under strict instructions, and as part of a machine, as opposed to being expected to beat his man and provide flair, however, the 12m we could get for him now, would  buy us someone young and hungry. i fear that downing will never overcome his mental deficiencies. he just seems unable to play at his best at a bigger club, but we'll soon know. 
    Henderson can improve over time, if he mans up a bit, he's too worried about his hair and plays like a pansy. the question is, is he good enough to play CM along side lucas? in my opinion, rodgers will want a deep lying play maker to sit in a 4231, and that is not henderson. 
    that creates a conundrum, keep him and let him play some europa and other cup games, and provide sub cover(diame is 10 times the player and looks certain to be joining), or sell him for 9/10m , loose loads but be done with it.

    i have faith that rodgers will get more from the players than KD ever managed. KD had no plan whatsoever. rodgers will also bring through some youth players, AND bring in some, cheaper, lower risk, hungry players like sigurdsson and diame. that all points towards a better turn out next season.
    im not sure i believe the sturridge and johnson rumours, simply because, between the 2 of them,the whole transfer budget would be blown. sturridge is to wayward and is not the answer to our goal shortage. we need a goal machine.
    Johnson could be good, but again, for 17m, he's way too erratic imo.

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  10. *First of all you say Johnson is average then you want to buy him for 10 million

    *Van Buyten is rubbish. Pure rubbish, and he's 34.

    *Hoilett is gone to Borussia Monchengladbach

    *Stop playing Football Manager

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  11. Theycallmemrburt3:59 pm, June 10, 2012

    There are 3 players at Liverpool potentially capable of winning the Ballon'd.  Pacheco, Suso and "the artist formerly known as Sua**z"  If we don't adjust our transfer policy and start integrating world class INDIVIDUALS into team patterns rather than incorporating average TEAM players into TEAM patterns we will, and have proved, will always be left behind.Flair is the only way forward.  Rodgers could do very well here if he remembers that.  Tantalise and the trophies will follow if not for him then his successor.

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  12. Theycallmemrburt4:03 pm, June 10, 2012

    Well they can't do any worse can they.  The only way is obviously up but they still will never produce enough match winning moments to have Barcelona and Real Madrid pestering us to "name our price".

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  13. Just look at the south Amarican or African continent. You can get value for money players. And get rid of the access garbage.

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  14. Work permit issues (not saying they aren't possible to overcome, of course) for the 'bargain' ones from those regions, if a PL club tries to buy directly from there. 

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  15. Bernt Granbacke4:29 pm, June 10, 2012

     Adam and Downing are at peek age, and should have delivered.
    One of them never had any quality to qualify becoming a Liverpoolplayer, and Downing will only go downhills. Give both away!
    Carroll and Henderson has years to improve, and I actually think that Carroll will come good (even though the transfer fee probably never will be justified)
    Henderson will be better, but we do have players like Shelvey, Coady who all will be better. That makes the buy of Hendo very strange.
    Last years Transfer was a disaster!
    KD was behind the buying of Adam and Downing. For the others I dont know, but could guess that Comolli liked Hendos stats?

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  16. Out of curiousity, what do you mean by 'he is emotional about his transfers'?

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  17. Eriksen recently said he will stay at least for another season. 

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  18. its not the players so much its the lack of effort, and its not losing its how you lose. i put most of it down to terrible attitude and no confidence, which kenny has taken the wrap for. last season was a one off.
    each player can play alot better than they did.
    but for sure we need 4 top draw additions.
    carroll will be one to watch next year

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  19. It is always dangerous to sign players based on tournaments, but many a bargain can be found playing at the Euros.

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  20. ha ha ha so tired of hearing that line it is getting old now. If these overpriced mavericks Downing and Henderson and Carroll are not ready to perform at this level then they should be replaced.

     Each of us have to perform at our jobs and do a good job or we are replaced or simply get the boot. I dare you to go to your job tomorrow and for the next year just goof off and see how long you are still have your job. In the real world it doesn't work like that but for Liverpool it seem to work like that. We need to get rid of the dead wood if we are to be competitive again.

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  21. he wasn't really tempted by Liverpool let's be honest. He has a standing offer from Sir Alex and should he decide to play in England that would be his  destination.

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  22. hello news flash Eriksen doesn't want Liverpool he would choose Man U over us everytime. He is ambitious and wants that dreaded champions league thing that all the top players want these days. The rest of your choices are possibilities.

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  23. I think that the Liverpool scouting department should party more in Mexico and party more in latin America because there a lot of hungry young talent in that part of the world who are gifted with a natural flair for foot-ball and are blessed with a lot of pace. Pace is something I believe is missing in a lot of the Liverpool team . These players would come at a fraction of the price of what we paid for Downing, Adams and Carroll. I don't know who our chief scout is but that is where I would tell him to look.

    If I were chief scout I would go shopping in Argentina , I would go shopping in Boca Juniors to be exact. Boca Juniors is only one of the biggest clubs in Argentina and they just recently signed a contract to partner with this other club called Barcalona from Spain.  Boca Juniors has now become a feeder club Barca who has  first dibs on any player that the club wants to sell for big cash in the European market. I would shop all over Argentina and Latin America for cheap, pacy , skilled talent. At the same time keep an eye on stand out players in the lower leagues and other major clubs that can be bought for a fair price. I forgot to mention that Boca produce some famous world class players over the years two who we know as Carlos Tevez and Diego Maradona.

    I would love to see Liverpool wake the fuck up to a lot of potential talent across the globe that are available for a fair market price. I will keep waiting patiently for this sleeping giant to finally wake up

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  24. #Johnson's all we can get. I wanted affelay did you see him in Euro. I saw Varela play for Portugal, maybe we shud go for him instead.

    #Van Buyten is a good backup

    #Sorry about that i thought the deal was still on, We can still get Kalou i guess.

    #Actually no, I all these players have been linked to liverpool in the past and players like Hamsik is in team that has no CL football.

    #Try to see football games more often youll find good players and bad players easily.

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  25. I mean he wants players who he likes not players who are actually good.

    For Example: Before Sigurdsson was linked to us, we all told he was a one season wonder like adam, but instead of buying foreign talent, he is looking to buy HIS players who are not good enough for LFC. Be honest guys we have seen this before right. KK "exchanged" Hend. for Meireles. Can u believe it?

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  26. Diame is not available on free in Football manager

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  27. SO TRUE nobody wants to play for LFC nowadays.

    But how come MANU keep buyin players when they have 500 million or so pounds of DEBT. I dont understand-are they stealing money from Sheik Mansour?

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  28. We might loan them to french teams for the time being

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  29. Yep ozil played well in WC and real madrid bought him. Am i the only one who thinks Afellay wud be a good signing?

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  30. So true.
    Nowadays everyone wants to play for manu. How are they buyin players when they have 500 million pounds debt?

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  31. Did i mention players like Llorente and Higuain that you accuse me of playing football manager?

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  32. Hey I thing Miguel Veloso is a good replacement for adam, Downing must be SOLD maybe we can buy Varela or maybe NANI- he wants to leave Manu. Remy for striker perhaps, maybe a little expensive or maybe De Jong hes tall and can pass better than carroll, Honda or Dzagoev for attacking midfield. Diame and Van Buyten for cover.

    BY THE WAY WE DONT KNOW THE ACTUAL TRANSFER BUDGET.

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  33. Absolutely Right, thats what i was saying all along.

    He needs players that are atlest 'A-B' quality not C quality players like Sigurdsson.

    Oh God, i hope BR gets it right.

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  34. Okay maybe Carroll gets to stay, Henderson loaned to some other team.

    BUT.... Two players who dont deserve to wear that red shirt: DOWNING and SPEARING

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  35. Enam gerrado mate you should seriously stop playing football manager, cause all your comments are bizzare to say the least. What needs to happen is BR needs to get rid of a few deadwood players. There's no way the owners would allow him to sell downing or Carroll because of how much we purchased them for. So expect to see them in the team next season. Next BR is bound to purchase sigurdsson, who has proved himself under BR not only at Swansea but at reading to, so he would be a good purchase. Next he will get cover for Lucas and go for a free transfer in mohamed diame, which frankly he alot better than spearing for that position. Next he will be in for a winger (fw type winger) like Adam Johnson, giovani dos santos or Daniel Sturbridge which in my opinion all of them are better than kuyt and maxi. Before all of that though J.cole and aqualani need to be pursuaded to stay as they suit BR's football philosophy and he knows this. BR will keeps his 4-3-3:

    Gk: reina/doni. RB: johnson/Kelly. CB: skrytel/ carrgher. CB: agger/Coates. LB: Enrique/flannogan
    CM: aqualani/Henderson CDM: Lucas/ diame. CAM: gerrard sigurdsson
    RW: Johnson/Cole LW: downing/Bellamy. ST: Suarez/Carroll

    Out: kuyt, maxi, Adam (10mill for all of them)
    Loan: spearing, shelvey
    In: diame (free), sirgurdson (7mill), Johnson (14mill)
    BR will see how that goes till jan, if certain players do not improve he will have at least 17 mill to make any tweaks.

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  36. I agree Carroll showed promise I would keep him and see if we can capitalize on his new found aggression. He is started playing like a player who just realized that he is a big man and can impose his physicality on the game. He should come off the bench most of the time till he shows more consistent play

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  37. yeah what about them? Sir Alex also wants them too if that's what you are wondering . He has been linked with a host of top class players who don't want him.

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  38. i like Giovanni Dos Santos, Harry Whoodini doesn't want him for some reason we should go after him. He was suppossed to be transferred to Villareal but since they were relegated that transfer fell through. Spurs want to offload him and we should go after him. He can give Downing real competition on that left side of midfield

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  39. I don't know about the truth behind the standing offer from Ferguson but yep, even if he was available right now, we wouldn't have a great chance me thinks. 

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  40. Yep, as I said not saying they aren't possible to overcome. But it is easier said then done. 

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  41. coady!!!!!!! get real he is awful

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  42. I remember Berger as the being the exact thing he's preaching about "Average". He had his moments, but really when you look at his career and the career of most of that squad he played in Average does come to mind. This is why it pays to have a career of merit in not just football, but in every aspect of life. This does not necessarily mean medals, but effort and performance. You're views are then considered to have substance and given credence. If not your opinion doesn't hold much weight

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  43. It might make financial sense to sell Adam given what we paid for him, but all the other signings we paid £15m+ last summer should be kept hold of for at least another season.

    Carroll, Downing, and Henderson will always struggle to justify what was paid for them, but it was Camolli and Dalglish who agreed to the transfer fees not them. Selling any of those players now would mean selling at the bottom of their values, and I expect all three to improve next season. If they don't there will be no more excuses.

    I'd also say that I think all three struggled with the expectation placed on them last year, but as Carroll started show towards the end of the campaign there is a good chance they will come to terms with it next season.

    Finally, I don't see the point in loaning out Henderson, if the guy is going to have a future at Liverpool he needs to be given opportunities to play. Whilst Downing had a shocker last season he will surely improve and it also goes back to my original argument, if we sold him now we would do well to recoup a third of we paid for him.

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  44. We should have gotten Affelay when he was worth 5 million before he went to Barca. Barca had basically issued a hands off warning to Clubs after Affelay and Thiago Alacantra.

    We should have gotten Affelay, Arda Turan, Jelavic and Bojan Krkic when before they all moved.

    I think Dzagoev is looking very good for Russia so far. Russia, Turkey are relatively untapped and Croatia is also brimming with talent.

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  45. Strange. Couldn't edit my previous post.

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  46. And New Castle, Everton and Arsenal.

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  47. Eriksen come on Cavanni hands down for that money.

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  48. i don't really enjoy talking Man U on a page dedicated to Liverpool but I will if I have to clarify myself. By "standing offer" I mean that Sir Alex has said that should Eriksen decide tomorrow to leave Ajax he would be welcome, and go right into the starting line up. Sir Alex is in desperate need of a creative playmaker to replace Scholes he just signed Sinji Kagawa for that role. His first choice was Eriksen . He made the inquiries about him which were rebuffed by the player as early as last season. I only made my comment  initially because you mentioned Eriksen was staying for another season implying that he was one of our many possible transfer targets.

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  49. So to clarify for you very simply as its not hard to see how little I implied in the first place but strangely, for whatever reason, you seem to think I implied more.... anyway: my comment was on the basis of Enam's hope of us getting Eriksen, hence I was replying to him and I went onto say that he wouldn't be leaving this summer according to his recent comment (assuming it is a reliable quote), that is it. I repeat, that is it. A reply to Enam's hope/wish of us getting Eriksen. Nothing else. No mention of me implying or saying that he is on our list of possible targets, no mention (implied or explicit) of me hoping we would sign him, no mention (implied or explicit) of us, Manure, Tranmare Rovers, Stevenage & co being front runners for his signing, etc.  At the end of the day, I was replying to Enam's hope for Eriksen, thus take my comment to be in context to that, hence 'reply'.

    Like I said, I don't know the truth, i.e., the ins and outs about Eriksen-Manure. With all due respect, I'm unlikely to take a poster's word (i.e. you) on a forum as the truth about Eriksen-Manure, so I will treat it as mere speculation/'guesstimation' akin to a tabloid journo's musings.If you watched Dortmund, you would know that Kagawa mostly always plays behind the front man and sometimes on the wings (for Japan he plays wide, to make room for Honda in the middle), whereas Scholes plays deeper, a lot deeper. Big difference between the two roles and between Kagawa's attacking midfielder/second-striker style and that of a creative central midfielder. But who knows, Ferguson may try to convert him to play deeper as he has tried to with Anderson but I doubt it, as Kagawa is more of a last-third player with his final pass than a orchestrator from the middle a la Scholes. Again, who knows. 

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  50. The issue is not the level of debt. If a club has the income to service the ebt and still have a surplus, it is sound. Like it or not, Man U have been a superbly managed club and has a huge income.The debt is not a problem

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  51. Well the owners were pretty quick in selling Meireles who was a star performer to our rival Chelsea.

    And whats this about football manager again-Liverpool will buy a striker which u forgot to mention. About sigurdsson im just saying what other fans were saying before BR regime-is he another adam?I heard Michu is available for 5 million pounds which is lower than sigurdsson's price and he scored bags of goals Honestly i like adam hes a good assist provider. But Downing has to go, anybody you ask will say that.

    Finally, Im just disappointed that our rivals even Arsenal are buying players and we are just waiting. Maybe Im saying too much but it has nothing to do with Football Manager. Im just saying that it is possible to revamp the squad within the budget limit.

    Aquilani's just linked with 3 m pound move. If owners are willing to take 17 m loss for a world class player then why not for Downing who has proved an utter disappointment.

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  52. Enam, Johnson is a very good player and would be a massive improvement on Downing, he only started a handful of games last season but his goals/assists proved his quality.

    Sigurdsson would be a good signing too, performed consistently wherever he's played.

    Would like to see us sign Jordy Clasie from Feyenoord, hell of a player who would make a great partnership with Lucas.

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