Liverpool signed Moroccan winger Oussama Assaidi yesterday in what looks to be a very shrewd piece of transfer business. For the price, the deal is something of a coup for the club, but reports in Holland suggest that Brendan Rodgers only turned to the 24-year old after losing out on Dutch star Ibrahim Afellay.
According to respected Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf:
"Oussama Assaidi was Liverpool's second choice. Brendan Rodgers was hoping for the arrival of Ibrahim Afellay on loan, but the winger had no appetite to come to Anfield, and rejected the club's offer".
To be honest, after Afellay's ineffective showing at Euro 2012, it's probably a good thing that he stayed at Barcelona. Plus, a full signing is arguably preferable to a loan, and if the Dutchman had come to Liverpool, the chances are he would've left after a year, and where would that leave the club?
Along with Cristian Tello, The €8m-rated Afellay is the second Barcelona player to reject a move to Liverpool. Realistically, who can blame them? Why leave the best football side on the planet to come to a team that finished 8th in the Premier League last season?
On the plus side, it means that anyone who signs for LFC does so for the right reasons, i.e. they really want to play for the club, and that can only be a good thing.
Jaimie Kanwar
According to respected Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf:
"Oussama Assaidi was Liverpool's second choice. Brendan Rodgers was hoping for the arrival of Ibrahim Afellay on loan, but the winger had no appetite to come to Anfield, and rejected the club's offer".
To be honest, after Afellay's ineffective showing at Euro 2012, it's probably a good thing that he stayed at Barcelona. Plus, a full signing is arguably preferable to a loan, and if the Dutchman had come to Liverpool, the chances are he would've left after a year, and where would that leave the club?
Along with Cristian Tello, The €8m-rated Afellay is the second Barcelona player to reject a move to Liverpool. Realistically, who can blame them? Why leave the best football side on the planet to come to a team that finished 8th in the Premier League last season?
On the plus side, it means that anyone who signs for LFC does so for the right reasons, i.e. they really want to play for the club, and that can only be a good thing.
Jaimie Kanwar
ur articles r fuking depressing
ReplyDeleteNo more midfielders we NEED a clinical strikers who don't waste so many chances
ReplyDeleteWe will never improve as a Team or a Club, taking the paupers route, which FSG have decided upon. Eagerly looking forward to the new season, until WBA 2day, I shudder to think where we go from here. What decent player in his right mind would want to come to Anfield, (yes for now its still called Anfield) but I must stress for now.
ReplyDeleteDelighted we didn't get Afellay.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Assaidi can get going soon.
Suarez better start finishing soon or it will be the same old story again. More than enough chances in the first half be be a few up today.
Didn't like our setup defending corners today. 10 Liverpool players within 12 yards of our own goal, with 2 opponents on the edge of the box.
Can someone tell me why we don't simply leave 3 players up the field? Then opponents must leave at least 4 back..... Penalty area much less congested, goalkeeper can command the area more effectively, and breakaways more dangerous. Really hate seeing Suarez, Borini etc having to come back to defend a corner.
I'll have a close look at what Barca do while defending corners tomorrow night.
Define paupers route.
ReplyDeleteIs it working within budgetary limitations like any business should?
Look what happened to Leeds, Portsmouth and ourselves a while back.
All American sports have salary caps and spending caps. They know that unfair advantage to a few mega teams will kill the "product"
Billionaire, capitalist owners practice a form of socialism amongst themselves.
FFP will address the current craziness in football. City wage bill is 130% + of turnover.
City and Chelsea are essentially cheating. Financial doping. It's equivalent to drugs cheats in Olympics.
Also it's ridiculous that big teams can loan top players to other premier league teams and the players are then ineligible to face parent club.
At that rate, City could strengthen as many teams as they liked in the league and never have to face the players.
Did you watch the match today? Suarez had a hatful of opportunities before West Brom score a belter of a goal. We should have been at least 2 up at a canter.
It will take time, and a slow start could cost us but we are rebuilding.
Why should any owner invest mountains of their own cash in head on arms race they can never win?
WBA painfully showed us the brutal truth..We are defensively lacking.Mediocre players signed and with no back up plan..we are a recipe due for failure.BR was so concentrated on strengthening the midfields that we have failed to find back up on the left side of defence.We have to get a left sided defender to cover for enrique just in case he got injured.And we really hv to sell stuart downing and JC.I see them both as a liability.maybe JC may provide the experience but downing is totally a failure.The problem is not entirely BR's fault but with FSG not wanting to invest.I hope my fears will not come to fruition as the next few games will be very tough and the transfer season coming to an end soon..BR please get it right.If you ain't got the dough..make full use of the reserves.Suso and sterling is a beter option than downing.We have to purchase the right players before the transfer window closes.
ReplyDeleteFirst game. Relax
ReplyDeleteSuarez coulda had 5. Shoulda been a stroll
Are you having a laugh Simon? We have just been stuffed by WBA 3-0 on the opening game of the season and we have the champions next to play.
ReplyDeleteOur squad is worse than last season and not long ago we won the CL with Reina as equal to europes best, carra best in england, gerrard, maschereno, alonso, didi, torres etc, etc.
Contact us again after the first 6 matches and let us have your expert opinion again!
Wake up, smell coffee, we stink!
No money, no CL, a Manager who wont attract quality players.
Amazing how you just dont get it.
Its the first game but i hope BR gets it right the next round cuz if not it will spell trouble.And i do hope BR will spend on the right player esp getting back up on the left side of defense cuz playing GJ out of position will equally spell trouble for liverpool.
ReplyDeleteHate to say it.....but has Stevie G left his best playing days well and truly behind...fail to remember the last time,if at all,when he gave the ball away as much as he did!!And Jamie Carragher...aahhh the old war horse,and it showed on goal #3...Man City next,shudder to think on this display what will happen......long,long painfull season ahead,would love to be proven wrong...will always keep supporting LFC......ps.Downing????don`t get me started....Suso,Stirling,Coates,Morgan,Shelvey have to now be considered more seriously!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBR seems to be obsessed with buying midfielders and wingers. Anyone who watched us play last season knows that all we needed was a poacher.
ReplyDeleteNot quite sure why we need wingers anyway, if he's got no intention of using Carroll.
Did you see the game William?
ReplyDeleteOpening series of matches is very tough alright.
If Suarez had been any clinical we would have been coasting well before they scored the sucker punch belter.
Then Stevie gives ball away, Skrtel slips, Agger red card - we folded.
What do you propose to be the solution?
Get a petro dollar owner to buy success? Business doesn't work that way. We have to grind it out for a while and hope that BR can get something going.
My response to Plank above, when it is authorised by Jaimie, states clearly my position and thoughts about FFP etc.
Don't get me wrong, at full time I was despairing a little, but upon reflection and watching all the missed chances on MOTD, I realise that we had the chances and blew it.
Joe Allen looked excellent today, Stevie G was awful
Reading sacked BR after 6 months.
ReplyDeleteIt took that long and players hadn't adapted.
The players appear to be buying into his philosophy. Buying players who know his methods appears to be the best way of fast forwarding the settling in period.
Hate to say it, but Berb for 5 million would be a good stopgap for a few goals
Just because someone has a different opinion to you doesn't mean they 'don't get it'.
ReplyDeleteWas there a match on today? Or was this written last week?
ReplyDeleteWell said mate.
ReplyDeletebarca just push and pull during corners. You need to have a look at that. They also have pique who commands the area. But mostly it is push and pull.
ReplyDeleteI am so relieved that I was not free to watch the game live. Here is what I got by watching the highlights. We were really good in the first have, controlling the game and creating chances, but we were wasteful infront of goal. We need to be better. That is one area that Rodgers needs to address. I think he should give Adam Morgan a chance.d
Don't think carra is going to ever be sold, no matter how old he is getting. He has much more to offer in the dressing room. If anything, why not sell skrtl? He was culpable for the second pen and his slip on the first pen contributed to aggers red card. If he doesn't want to be here then sell him - especially after performances like this, which he has every so often. How could he not know that Long was behind him chasing him down on the second pen....
ReplyDeleteI appear to recall these same words being used last season. The truth is we have and still have a massive problem with our players hitting the back of the net. They need to pull their heads out of the backsides and get on with it. Being unlucky. Should have won. Wont cut it with me again this season.
ReplyDeleteLast week? Could have been last season. Ive watched a few games now. After hearing all the positives about BRs new methods and how the players were settling into this new tika taka system. I was looking forward to the games. To be honest i dont see the difference between kk n brs teams at all. Except maybe we are even worse off than last season in terms of depth and player experience. Whats also apparent is the club needs to spend some major money on pyschiartrists to sort out their shooting boots. Its like they are cursed. This isnt a critique of br before any resident nutters lose it. Just that i dont think theres much difference in playing style. I guess it will take time which is normal. Just that all the media guff about tika taka appears to me to be 'the emperors new clothes'.
ReplyDeleteI think he realises we desperately need an injection of pace or players who can beat people. We only have one at present if you dont include assaiddi.
ReplyDeleteA bit harsh on Afellay JK, he was recovering from a broken leg and part of a typically dysfunctional Dutch side.
ReplyDelete100% inside Brendan Rodgers ya mean.
ReplyDeleteWe need berbatov... But that doesnt mean that afellay wouldnt have been a good signing... If we had both... I would have been delighted...
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes itz not abt the goals and more of luck... We missed that luck factor today cuz of poor refreeing decisions... Well, that doesnt ignore the fact that we were poor... What i want u to noe is that even on a bad day, we werent that bad.... Ignore steviez game... Alken ws awesome... Suarez was good apart from his finishing.... In BR I TRUST... And i think itz time u should trust too... YNWA
So dissapointed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you friend. Liverpool was worst last season and will be even worst this season. Liverpool is a great flop.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest it is a mix of bad luck, poor referee decision, lack of finishing ability and most importantly lack of urgency and determination to try to fight back when we are 1-0 down that cause us the match.
ReplyDeleteApart from that, we need to stay focus on the training ground and get things right. The passing from Liverpool were poorer than WBA. Liverpool really need to gel fast and have more determination and fighting spirit.
Moreover, clearly in the match itself shown that we need a PROVEN Goal scorer. Why not try to get Adebayor, Remy, Negredo or Damiao. We also definitely need a LB and CB to compete with the existing squad members. Competition means improvement. Oh Yeah!
Lastly, as a Liverpool fan, we must put the last match behind us and get behind our team. Hopefully things will change soon.
Best regards,
Ray
Priority must be 2 strikers and sell anyone else including Gerard if the price is right - how many times have these players disappointed by just not turning up and some of that has to be down to the captain - Yes I love him too but facts are facts P S Suarez is poor in front of goal - very poor bur Rodgers is the man
ReplyDeleteSi. Its the same old inconsistent players. Glen Johnson at lb is a big no no. This guy is a rw or rwb not a lb or rb. Enrique not in the team. An unfit Martin Kelly chosen at rb this was not fair on the player. Skrtel is not the outstanding player he thinks he is and he made countless errors resulting in aggers red and a goal. We are too big a club for skrtel. I would bring Coates in now as he was young player of the tournement in the last coppa america. Coates needs a season. Downings not confident.
ReplyDeletewhat chances half chances at best?we made wba look like brazil they ripped us to pieces nobody in there right mind can disagree with that and has for watching it again on motd are you a sadomasacist or what lol and we are not a business we are a football club fsg are a business who own our club to make money for themslves the club needs to be owned by someone who wants success not money if things do not change soon we will fall into the newcasle sunderland villa league big clubs loyal fans no tropheys we can not live on history alone br is not going to sell the club to big players like kd might have and to attract the next genertion of players we need to be playing on the biggest stages so that when some young kid in spain or france is watching the champions league they see the magic of anfield because the fans can also sell this club thats why we are still reguarded as a big club because the players remember there visits to anfield and the special atmosphere
ReplyDeletewe were poor indeed especially suarez he's too wasteful with balls doesnt score enough and plays as if he's lost his brain cell he had two clear cut chances yesterday he didnt even hit them on target yet he gets in Refree's faces and gets him booked its high time he started delivering the goods rather than being indisciplined.i would give suso a chance but not against man city,we need a clinical striker suarez,boroni,carrol aint good strikers we need a striker in Adebayo's mould,Damaio,Remy etc
ReplyDeleteWith the next "major" games this month I can only agree. I suspect perhaps 1 point from the opening 4 games!
ReplyDeletejust a bunch of overpaid amateurs...
ReplyDeletetop 4 ??? in which year ? 2020 ???
It just goes to show that we can't attract the really exiting players unless they by some reasons have strong feelings towards our beloved club, thats a good thing but its also holding us back, we gotta play attractive football and be a stronghold at Anfield stop making us look stupid to the rest of the world, Im really looking forward for Asseini to step in to the lineup but I wont allow meself to be to optimistic sadly the kast few seasons thought me that. GO ASSEINI HE'RS TO YOU! YNWA
ReplyDelete*last
ReplyDeleteReally people? Everyone crying after the first game of the season, sure it didnt go as planned but that doesnt mean the season is over- i mean look at arsenal lsst year. We are adapting to a new style of play and we are still not done in the transfer market so i expect improvement.
ReplyDeleteAs for yesterday we were up against a manager that knows our players and manager inside out and we still managed to control for large periods coming close to scoring. We were halted by a freak goal and a few decisions that didnt go our wa, another day, another game.
I see no reason not to feel optomistic and fully back rodgers at this stage, sure we had a bad game but so does everyone, give them time
Yesterday we looked very poor in midfield,Allen & Lucas
ReplyDeletevery liteweight,Stevie had probably his worst ever game
in the LFC shirt.Also i thought Suarez was selfish, trying
to score from impossible angles, when team mates in
better positions.Our worst opening fixture result in 73
yrs.Hopefully can only get better.
I think Brendan rogers has to get his reality check with the tactics, we were playing too high up the pitch, we got caught out all the time, we tried to start our passing from the defence which led us to loose the ball countless times, he needs to learn how a big team plays home and away and it will take time, so far his tactics failed, he needs to revise them
ReplyDeleteBorini 11.5m, Allen 15m, plus payoffs = approx. 37m.How many
ReplyDeleteother clubs have spent as much,not WBA or Swansea tfs.
Fair comment bro.
ReplyDeletethe thing that really disappointed me yesterday, was although 2 down at the time, and the first game of the season, nobody showed any fight; it was just can't wait for the final whistle. sad ???
ReplyDeleteIt all went #### up when Agger went off, &
ReplyDeleteCarragher came on.Carragher should never
be in the team again.
I find it unbelievable that some or even most of these comments state that we should sell skrtel. Didn't he win our player of the season last year? One bad game and we are all like let's get rid of him. That impatience seems to be summing up a lot of Liverpool fans right now. Everything takes time. You can't compare us to Man City and Chelsea. Even with Man Citys cash injection, they didnt win the league straight away. It took them like 3 or 4 seasons. Somehow these teams can spend money for fun. We can't do that at the moment. We have to look for these bargains and hopefully assaidi can be one of these bargains.
ReplyDeleteI think it's apparent from yesterday's performance that we need an out and out centre forward. I don't think there is any doubt that Suarez has the skill to frighten any defence in the world but his finishing and composure just doesn't seem to match his skill. I think he would be better off playing in one of the wide births with borini. Any Carroll proved last season that he is just like Suarez, needs about 6 chances in order to score one goal.
I think Berbatov would be a good signing for now. I also think Adebayor would be worth a shout. Very skilfully, good with the ball on the floor and can finish. Only problem being his wages.
The key message should be to get behind the team, we have some tough matches coming up early on and we need to give the team time.
Carra never best in Liverpool, never mind England.
ReplyDeletePatience is a virtue- Rome wasn't built in a day lets make sure the fans as well as the players make Anfield a fortress again and get behind the team, more singing less moaning, there is a reason why Stoke and Swansea do well at home.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you? Let's be havin you........... forevery game not just the top 4 games.
Very disappointed yesterday, the sending off proved the end of the match, Swansea and West Brom may have spent less than Liverpool but how many internationals do they harbour and how long have their players had to settle back in and train with the full squad, the Olympians haven't had time to get back in, Johnson was out of positiion but in the first half created good chances. I think we will have to wait about 5 matches in before we're more free flowing but first we're liking to face a pasting by City and Utd, the average age in the squad has reduced by about 6-7 years and we're implementing a new system. The overall stats hide how we played until the sending off. The posession was greater with us even with a man down but with the tiki takastyle, we didn't have the fitness come the end of the match to even hold off. It is early days and if we can come close to 5/6th come xmas I'd be satisfied as every other EPL team has progessed and I know we'll be stronger once everyone is settled in.
ReplyDeleteThere was no fight as the players were tired and struggling from being a man down, plus the new style will impact our fatigue until everyone is fully fit which obviously took it's toll, And anyway, 2 nil to WB is embarassing, trying to attack with 10 men easily exposes the defence, they had to calm down a bit otherwise it could have been a lot worse than 3 nil. Shame Suarez and Johnson didn't grasp their opportunites when they had them or we could have psychologicially had the edge before conceding the first which would have chnaged the outcome of the game as we could have tried to sit back rather than attack.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't want to comment on Gerrard being done just yet, maybe Carra (why didn't Coates or Flanno get on the bench), think Gerrardexcelled being thrown the ball about from our Alonso and Hamann days, with thne new system then SG will need to get used to it, for club and country ithas been a different style and once he gets his flow on, he'll be much better, I just can't agree with statementsof his decline after he came back from injury last year to really make an impact, and then to debate his England worth when not only being our standout player, he was in the team of the tournament, give him a break, he had a busy Summer and at his age it's harder to get back into it straight from the off. When he let balls go past him, i think he let them roll out of frustration from the earlier woes of losing our best CB and conceding.
ReplyDeleteIf Carragher just has value in the dressing room, then he should be a coach and not taking home some of the highest wages at the club.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the sentiment on Skrtel though, and it is not based on this one game. The guy has long been prone to extremely poor decision making, and to tie him down to a costly 4 year contract at this point, on the back of one good season (where he was very good when partnered by Agger, and not so good without him), would be a bad move imo.
tbf we were never going to get anything from the game with 10 men and 2 goals down, so it is slightly understandable why heads went down at that point.
ReplyDeleteYou need a fully functioning team to win when you're lacking individuals with the pace, power and skill to go it alone, which our team clearly does.
Our pre season last summer was abysmal, the season was abysmal and this summers pre season was as bad. Yesterday we looked slow, tired, and nowhere near the pace and strength of WBA. They could have had 7.
ReplyDeleteIn the week when Stevie G tells the press he is still the boss, ( don't make me laugh) he was slow, slowed the play, went backwards and consistently gave the ball away. Allen looked promising. We seriously need an injection of pace in the squad. Downing, Adam, Johnson, Spearing, Carroll, Skyrtel, Cole, Flanagan, are just not good enough.... Kenny and Roys handywork will take a long time to sort out. I wasn't a Rafa fan but wow, his team sheet looked amazing to what we have today. Why are we so bad in the transfer market? and I see Pep has also packed his bags he obviously thought enough was enough. I have no idea whats going on at Anfield
Last year we had loads of possession, but couldnt hit a barn door. 5 matches in, is 15 points and what Olympians are you referring to? Allen? It's great that you look for a positive slant on the match. Fair play!
ReplyDeleteThe FIFA Fair Play Economic Rules are at least partially in effect prohibiting expenditures from exceeding income. I only vaguely understand the rules, but LFC isn't going to be throwing money around. Everyone's management is going to have to be smarter and more frugal than in the past.
ReplyDeleteHansen made some good points last night. Unusual!!!
ReplyDeleteHe commented that Skrtel looked unsettled by the demands of having to receive the ball too often in tight situations.
When Long knicked in to win the ball, Skrtel was looking for a passing option instead of the normal default get the ball away punt.
Not fair to expect him to transform over night
Ahh, now you get my point I see, by comparing us to Swansea and WBA,
ReplyDeleteYou use the words, "shame they didnt score", "we could", "we should", "which woulda changed the game"
ReplyDeleteWE DID NOT, thats being realistic.
They had very few chances until after Agger's red card.
ReplyDeleteThey ripped us to pieces AFTER 2-0, when we had 10 men and we were pushing for goals.
You are out of touch with reality if you truly believe that our only way forward is to borrow and spend our way to success.
Football clubs are businesses. FSG will take a return when we start doing well, maybe they are already, who knows.
All the great teams are more than the sum of their parts. Our ethos and philosophy needs to make up the financial difference in the short term, until FFP kicks in properly.
"Big players" as you call them command £10 million per year in wages, NO football team can truly afford that. Man Utd are in panic mode now. The Noisy Neighbours have won. Fergie has provided the perfect sound bite to his own demise.
I watched it again to see what truly went wrong afterwards. It's easy to blame the referee etc in the heat of the moment.
My conclusions are
- Suarez should have scored at least 3, Torres at his peak would have yesterday
- Gerrard is getting very sloppy, gave the ball away umpteen times, including just before Agger was red carded
- Allen looked class, but we could do with 2 more of him
No doubt we need a reliable striker, BR has stated that Borini is a great finisher. Hopefully it shows soon.