15 Jan 2013

LFC flop to leave? Reds plan swap deal for exciting £9m Ajax star. Good move?

For whatever reason, Reds winger Oussama Assaidi has struggled to make an impression at Anfield since arriving in the summer. It's clear that Liverpool FC coach Brendan Rodgers obviously doesn't rate the Moroccan (even though he signed him), but a solution could be on the horizon though, and it may involve a new player arriving at Anfield. Liverpool fc credit card

Reports in Holland today claim that Liverpool are currently working with Ajax in a bid to engineer a transfer swap deal, with Assaidi going back to Holland, and Ajax captain Siem De Jong coming to Anfield. VoetballInfo reports:

"Ajax are negotiating a swap deal with Liverpool, with Siem de Jong moving to The Reds in exchange for Oussama Assaidi, who is unhappy in Liverpool"

The Moroccan has been heavily linked with a move to Ajax over the last couple of weeks.

£9m-rated Siem De Jong - the brother of regular Liverpool target Luuk De Jong - is an attacking midfielder/striker, and recently scored three goals in two games against Manchester City in the Champions League. Newcastle are also reportedly interested, but given their precarious league position, Anfield must surely be a more attractive option.

Brendan Rodgers' transfer policy isn't looking too effective at the moment. Nuri Shain only lasted five months before being dumped; Assaidi barely plays, and could also follow the Turk out the door; Joe Allen is struggling, and Fabio Borini is yet to make any real impression.

Should LFC go through with this swap deal? It's a no-brainer really, isn't it?
Liverpool fc credit card


Jaimie Kanwar


125 comments:

  1. I would love to see him in LFC but would be disappointed if Assaidi left.

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  2. Wow! He is an interesting player. I think we should swap him if Assaidi is not going to play.

    He certainly has more experience than Assaidi. However let's hope he does not miss easy seaters like he did earlier :oP

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  3. Oh and he can operate behind the striker which is exactly what we need.

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  4. Yes please!
    Shame though, I really wanted Assaidi to do well...

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  5. Oh come on sign some experience player man. You can't have a whole team of youngster and think they will play well. Put some experience player as say by Gerrard then you can have a more stable team.

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  6. liverpool4life5653:26 pm, January 15, 2013

    I would do it. De Jong looks good!! :)

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  7. Who's to know what the situation is with Assaidi, it maybe that be just hasnt settled in the city of Liverpool and maybe finding it hard to adapt to life over here and nothing really to do with football. I would rather we have a player who we can use so a swap deal would seem a good option.

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  8. He clearly would be an upgrade on Assaidi.

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  9. No wonder they want rid of Siem de Jong:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2013/jan/14/remarkable-miss-ajax-siem-de-jong-video

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  10. Yeah, really. This guy is only 24 in a few weeks and has only around 200 games to his name. About 40 of those in Europe. That's hardly more than some of our starting elevens in Europe had all together this season. Totally inexperienced.

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  11. Me 2. Imagine if we had paid £10.5M for him?

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  12. i also agree, Assaidi looks technically gifted but he is a little light weight at the moment, but i would also like to see De Jong at LFC looks like he could do a job, (finished Article) and from a good pedigree, is what we need right now...

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  13. just why should a player of such quality come to liverpool in its current state?? it makes no sense and whats more he probably wont be as effective cause lets be honest our team has mediocre players for the most part, as dayz go by i think its becoming apparent that one thing that rafa brought to liverpool was the ability to attract world class talent, the best we have done since he left is suarez and i wonder if he will still be around come summer

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  14. i think we should seriously upgrade on downer

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  15. yes please. lets get both luuk and siem =P that would be just great. both will be great players i think

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  16. Why not go for Kolbeinn Sigthorsson instead?

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  17. Yep, or he has problems coming to grips with the language. There are many possibilities why it hasn't worked out for him so far.

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  18. Looks a good player, but, would we get him?

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  19. True, but I'd like to think that Ajax wouldn't be interested in a swap including Downing.

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  20. looks good! A swap would be great, we need goal scorers! BR transfers to date have been very light weight, only Sturridge has been one to get excited over, thats a no brainer..

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  21. We should remember that Rafa took over at a club that had qualified for the Champions League for quite a few years. Now we are a club that hasn't qualified for quite a few years. That surely makes a big difference when it comes to attract world class talent.

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  22. Who says there's any truth to this story? It annoys me when people get airiated about totally unsubstantiated rumors. Shouting and balling oops bawling gets us nowhere. Liverpool thank god no longer talk to the media if there's nothing to say, so let them do their thing, and then moan if you dislike what has been done. Do you honestly think Rodgers is going to listen to Jaimie or any of us? Yeh as if.

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  23. They play in different positions. Kolbeinn might be a promising prospect, but he is quite a bit younger and has only a few games to his name. Furthermore he seems to have some serious injury problems.

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  24. We've got Suarez, too, so why not?

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  25. If theres any substance to this story i,d be happy, liked this player a lot when i saw him v citeh, he really stood out, not just the goals either, have to wonder just what is going on with our transfers, loans etc, were still making loads of b***s ups by the look of it & frittering money away

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  26. Did Kuyt look this good in the Dutch league..?

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  27. The more rumour are out there, the more reasons to moan occur. :-)

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  28. The transfer policy is in tatters 'cos Rodgers has no idea of what does or does not constitute a good player! Assaidi is too classy for Rodgers to get along with - simple tcheee!

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  29. Why would jong come to Liverpool? A swop deal would be more embarrassing for him. Another not gonna happen deal.

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  30. Quality player although i think this article is rubbish, why would Aiax even consider this De jong is their captin ffs???

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  31. Assaidi aint going no where lazy reporting!!! he is a quality player who is yet to be given a chance, the games he has played he has done really well, why would we sell him?????

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  32. why i try not to speak ill against our manager it is hard not to sometimes. There is just a lot going on that can't be ignored. If he gets rid of Assaidi a player he signed in the summer it would seen that he has made yet another bad decision in the transfer market. Makes you wonder if Brendan Rodgers and our scouting department are actually researching their transfer targets. Are they simply just buying a player simply because he is dirt cheap? Or do they actually look beyond the cheap price tag? Makes no sense what so ever to get rid of a player who was only signed last summer and hasn't been given even 5 starts for the club total. It sometimes feels like Rodgers is still trying to learn how best to manage Liverpool. Almost like it is not quite the comfortable fit we would have hoped for in the stage of the game.

    I am not gonna complain about the choice of Siem De Jong. I saw the player play on a Ajax team that ran riot against an inexperienced Man City team at the Etihad Stadium last year. Sami Nasri opened up the festivities with a goal. Mancini's men where clearly pumped up. Suddenly Siem De Jong restored parity with a beautiful powerful low driven effort that gave Hart no chance at all. Niklas Moisander headed Ajax ahead and Christain Eriksen put the final nail on the coffin for Ajax. It was the closest thing to total football i had seen. Siem De Jong was a trouble maker for the City defense all night. Even ex Liverpool man Ryan Babel proved a handful. De Jong was really impressive in that game and I feel is already the complete player that Sturridge aspires to be. I enjoyed to see Mancini's men be put in their place. You can' t just buy a winning tradition and class it is something that is developed over the years.

    I am no Einstein but i can see that Daniel Sturridge is not the answer to our scoring problems. So obviously can Bredan Rodgers. He Sturridge is a good solution but not the final solution. De Jong and Sturridge both 23 years of age but I think that the Swedish born Dutch national De Jong is a better overall player pound for pound.



    Happy with this transfer choice and i think Liverpool is more than deserving of a clinical finisher like De Jong. His acquisition would give Rodgers options in attack he hasn't enjoyed for a very long time. Let's make this happen Bredan.

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  33. I hope we buy him, so we can look forward to this kind of finishing:


    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2013/jan/14/remarkable-miss-ajax-siem-de-jong-video

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  34. really hope this happens. we can get rid of downing as well and get someone like leo baptistao or son-heung min or another versatile forward capable of playing in a front 3. assaidi has looked good and i liked him before he came to liverpool, but hes obviously not favoured and wont get a run in the team (a bit like babel). de jong is class though and i have wanted liverpool to buy him for ages (doubt this will happen though). on another note in the eredivisie, i really like the look of locadia and depay, but especially locadia.

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  35. AndWithSuchSimplicity4:34 pm, January 15, 2013

    I take it that was sarcasm? You're going to have to be a bit more sledgehammer than that mate, or nobody will know if you're agreeing or not....

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  36. i said months ago assaidi would not make it at lfc another rodgers signing bites the dust,talk about turnover by this rate sturridge will be off in the summer oh well we will always have allen

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  37. Hi Chib,


    I think that BR has def made some transfer errors:


    Borini - Too expensive
    Allen - Way to expensive
    Assaidi - Why buy a player if your not going to give him a chance to play
    Sahin - Waste of money
    Striker- Oh wait, what striker...


    I think Sturridge will do well for us, we lack the directness we once had and players running at peope.

    De Jong sounds good to me but not for a swap with Assaidi, let's keep Assaidi and buy De Jong.


    This Summer is going to be big... But to be honest BR needs to step up his transfer game.

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  38. Ajax are a selling club. A good one at that, that's how they survive.

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  39. Looks a good (in time) replacement for Gerrard. Plays in same sort of areas stevie does..

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  40. Why should we...(Ajax)..let one of our better players leave for a 2nd rate EPL team, and accept pure crap in return??? He wouldn't come to Ajax in the first place...let him rot on the Anfield bench...we'll keep de Jong..he is our skipper!!!

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  41. Ajax is a selling club I'm afraid and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way.

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  42. i dont think anyone thinks it will be a straight swap i am sure we would be offering money on top,unless its a new fsg stratergy swap bad for good and hope we can find clubs who,s owners are as clueless as ours

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  43. if am not mistaken we had only qualified twice before once goin as far as the quarter final and next being knocked out in group stage ironically by rafa's valencia , and even if we did qualify for it then which world class player did we attract??? Cisse??? our first two world class signings Alonso and Garcia, and jus look at the players that wanted to come and we were linked with silva, villa the list is endless, if u were a top player or a promising one would u want to player at liver, If things stay the same Pepe, Agger , Suarez, will leave remember when Gerrad wanted to leave what was the main reason, lets face it liverpool have fallen into obscurity ... we such a laughing stock, even fergie was saying he does even know where we are on the ladder, if rafa had stayed no way would be where we r right now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  44. BR has a poor record when it comes to signings, this deal would be a very good deal however. What has Assaidi done wrong though?, baffled.

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  45. Assaidi's problem is Liverpool did not pay £!5m for him to pass the ball five yuards sideways. If they had, Rodgers would insist on playing him even if he clearly wasn't up to it

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  46. I am happy with DS, LS and FB for now. Would like one heavyweight/muscle player in midfield this January.

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  47. i think you will find luis saurez left to play for "2nd rate" liverpool. you will lose all your top players im sorry but nobody wants to play in the dutch leage.

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  48. Yeah FdotM we can both agree that none of Brendan Rodgers signings have lived up to expectations. Current players on the squad other than Suarez who anyone is actually talking about hasn't been a Brendan Rodgers signing. He can't take credit for Raheem Sterling, nor can he take credit for Suso's signing or Jonjo Shelvy's for that matter. He inherited all of Liverpool's current star players and has so far failed to bring anyone in of the same quality.

    Sturridge is a house hold name in England and has already played on four different clubs. Though he hasn't been able to really break into the England set up on a permanent basis. He is a player who is like a lot of Liverpool talent clearly at the developmental stage of his progress. With Liverpool needing goals from anyone other than Suarez, signing someone like De Jong make a whole lot of sense. He is getting done at the highest level, the champion's league so you know he has no confidence problem.

    If we are indeed serious about De Jong we need to make an offer in a hurry because according to the "Dailymail" newspaper of today January 15th 2013 Newcastle is set to bid 9million pounds for De Jong as they try to replace a departed Demb Ba. Love to see Rodgers pursue this player with the same aggression as he pursued Borini and Allen.

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  49. 2nd rate? Most of your players would still jump at the chance, the dutch league is dog sh**e

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  50. maybe rodgers thought his head ing abbilerty was not much cop unlilke allens

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  51. I also think Sterling done ok so far. Assaidi cannot do much worse then him, would play Assaidi, Sturridge and Suarez upfront with Borini, Sterling coming off the bench.

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  52. argh... assaidi looks so tricky. I'm astonished he hasn't played more. He's probably played about 8 games now, perhaps more, but hasn't scored, not even sure he made an assist? so I suppose that's the bottom line...

    But wow, I just thought front line with him and Suarez would be dynamite... now with Sturridge as well?

    Smells bad to me, but if De Jong is a better player (which one could argue is debatable), then I'm all for it...

    *sigh* us mere mortals and our lives of speculating...

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  53. FdotM, Rodgers won't keep Assaidi and buy De Jong because Rodgers and FSG are mainly concerned about saving a buck. They will do anything if it means making saving money. The club's bottom line is more important than anything else it seems like.

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  54. made me laugh but so true. allen is the biggest flop so far. he is too lightweight and unlike other lightweight players like modric, silva, fabregas etc who have played in the premier league, he has nothing special about him. can't contribute defensively and doesnt add anything going forward. gutted that he is clearly a favourite of rodgers.

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  55. Kanwar talking shiit again, joe Allen struggling? Isn't one aloud to have a bad game? You gimp kanwar

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  56. you will be banned and not for bad mouthing jaimie,but for talking crap about allen having a off day ,its the norm for joe

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  57. Those blue noses must be laughing their heads off..Southampton! need I say more?? We are fast becoming a joke. The Muppets are running our once great club again. I hate to say it but we may have to get used to be hanging on to the coat tails of Everton, for the next few years at least. God that hurt!   

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  58. Suarez also captained Ajax during his time there

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  59.  rogers will probably offer henderson and lucas in a swap deal so he can play allen.............

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  60.  Rogers thinks allens price will double...it will from 15m pound to 30 million peso.....but its okay as he was only brought in to pass the ball 5 yards ?

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  61. Ive heard rogers has got a corase of roids for Allen

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  62. Assaidi is a fantastic player and would start every game if i were manager, unfortunately i'm not, De Jong looks a wonderful player what a pity we can't have both sell Downing(if anyone is daft enough) and Sterling who is so over hyped it's not funny.

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  63. Assaidi was never given a chance . You need to give players a chance to adapt to the premiership . The pace is EPL is very fast , but a talented player will adapt and I Assaidi might have given a proper chance .

    Brendan Rodgers is clueless in the transfer market . At this rate no one will want to come to Liverpool . You need to give them a chance in the role they shined in. Sahin was played out of position . Remember Gerard looks poor when playing Brendan's side ways passing game . Gerard excels at the penetrating through ball , under Rodgers he is half the player we know. So Liverpool will just become a turnstile of players passing through .

    Brendan needs to walk , so that Liverpool can fly

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  64. yeah Jason it is becoming apparent that our 15 million pound man won't be another Alonso. He is average player who sometimes will have a very good day and not the other way around. Clearly not worth the price we paid for him

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  65. No offense Ian ...The prem is for the bigboys Hollands for stag does

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  66.  your kidding i wouldnt trust rogers to buy a loaf from the corner shop...

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  67. it wont happen because they are clueless

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  68. would you trust rogers to buy a player he couldn't pronounce..hed end up signing the tea lady

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  69.  perhaps thats allens excuse as hes welsh

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  70. Dont forget the players are getting studied everyday in training, BR probably gauges opions from senior players as well, fair enough but why are these guys signed in the first place, often on the strength of a few dvd,s it would seem, our scouting network is hopefully getting its act together because its been p**s poor in the last few years

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  71. Think a really good investment would be to fit revolving doors & a rubbish chute at melwood the way were going on :)

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  72. Yes, it was. Sorry to have caused confusion.

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  73. So am I, at least a part of me. Stop being xenophobic towards the Welsh.

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  74. Houllier surely thought that Cissé was world-class.

    Garcia, as much as I liked him, was not world-class. The same goes for Reina (at least on his form in the past few seasons) and Agger. Good, yes, world-class, no.

    Rafa did well to keep us qualifying for the CL, but world-class Alonso and Mascherano wanted out. I don't want to take anything away from Rafa and I am grateful for quite a few exceptional memories, but he took over a team that had qualified for the CL and left a team that hadn't. That's where the rot started.

    And as for laughing stock, may I remind you that plenty of opposition fans (most notably many of Man U) had hoped that we would keep him forever?
    We've been a laughing stock for ages, basically because of the entitlement for success some of us have ingrained. Don't get me wrong, I too want us to be the top team we once were, but we've fallen into obscurity some time ago. Houllier put us back onto the European map, and then Rafa pushed us even higher, only to lose something on the way. The owners at the time didn't help at all and I mostly blame them for our demise, but Rafa, too, has had his hand in it.

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  75. Interesting that you consider Assaidi as a crap player, as some on here write about him as if he was the next Messi. Guess you've seen more of him than most of us.

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  76. I wonder whether the guy who thought Voronin and Degen were good acquisitions is still at the club.

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  77. funny how rumors get swallowed as gospil.....

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  78. Now there's a lad who's been disappointing! Started off so well, holding possession, linking up play, winning the ball back... but recently - I'm confused, how can such a solid player degenerate into absolute shyte. It's just been game after game where he's just not made the grade, letting the team down.


    What irks me even more is that he still gets played after a string of bad performances!

    Rogers needs to reassess his selections, because I'm sorry - that's just not good enough! Not good enough for fans or the team!
    Pull those socks up BR!

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  79. You could rattle a list off a mile long of flops who should never have been seen in our jersey except maybe for a testimonial, its bloody depressing mate

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  80. It would be interesting to find out why Assaidi didn`t get games if he does leave. Was there some training ground bust up? or did he just not fit right? 

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  81. I haven't seen anybody acting like Assaidi is Messi. Just that he deserves more opportunity to prove himself when the players ahead of him are so consistently failing to impress.

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  82. it's not like Sterling and Downing are exactly muscle men though...

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  83. Many of these comments regarding Brendan Rodgers and his transfer policies are off the mark. For a kick off he inherited a pathetic squad dismantled by Dalglish and Comolli, as if that wasn't bad enough, the knock on reaction from the owners was, 'no more money'. How can you list Rodgers purchases 'any of them' as being expensive in comparison to the money that our so called King Kenny spent, and yet another whammy wasn't just the money he spent on the players he bought, but the talent he let go, sold on, for next to nothing. Unforgivable. His tenure was a disaster.

    Assaidi makes Sterling look light weight, Sterling is lightweight and I don't think he is anywhere near good enough. His stats prove that, he offers little, doesn't score and goes missing, he was appalling against Utd, Assaidi played in Europe, looked strong and fast, he frightened the life out of the defenders and left them for dead time and again, something Downing has never done.

    So perhaps where Rodgers can be criticised is how he is utilising his purchases. Someone here said Sahin was crap, listen, Sahin was the master playmaker in Dortmunds double winning team, he was pure class, that's why Madrid bought him. He broke his nose over here, didn't play many games, but lets face it, why do managers buy players on the basis of their skills, and then decide they know better and play them in different positions. Dortmund are delighted to get Sahin back, over the moon.

    Liverpool have a few problems in that we are trying to accommodate Gerard in that midfield and we have 3 players in Lucas, Allen and Henderson all kinda doing something similar, but none really going forward. It's all so slow and predictable. Dare I say it Aquilani had great vision but Dalglish made sure to ship him out also. We need someone else in that midfield going forward, De Jong could be interesting.

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  84. True...but i t feel that at the moment we can get bullied off the ball a little too easy at times mostly in midfield area of the pitch.
     Bar Gerrard and Lucas who have skill and bite in the middle we don't really have that aggression which must be combined with skill.
     Second half at Man U is really what i'm talking about i suppose it's a mentality thing IMO, does a player wan't to get bullied(victim)?, or does he wan't to be the (victer)?...that is the question...!!! YNWA

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  85. Seems like everyone expects instant results from new players. Could it be possible that a player is bought with a view to him growing into a regular role in the team? United spent truck loads on Nani and he wasn't a certain starter in his early career. Have some patience FFS and give the player time to actually develop. He was a cheap buy who Rodgers obviously fancies as having some potential. 

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  86. How was alonso befor he came to liverpool? He was a now body. Give a chance to Allen. He may became as good as alonso or maybe better only time will tell. This is his first season at liverpool.

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  87. The same Dutch article says the Assaidi-De Jong swap comes from the English media, but which English media group has reported it is a mystery to me...  Jamie, do you know which is the source in the English media that reported this according to VoetballInfo?

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  88. Sturridge has scored 2 in 2 and he's not fully fit. Put the toys back in the pram and have some patience.

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  89. Hahaha that made my day! 

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  90. Alonso won Spains player of the year before turning up at Anfield he was cheap at 10 mill i thought though.

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  91. Well done if its true...4 players signed n 2 leaving even before the season ends, what great foresight BR has. Pls the person to go should be the mediocre BR!

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  92. Next season LFC need to spend bring in new 2 wingers.Christian Tello and Erikson will be the best and long term project.LFC need to invest for high quality not just quantity.Quality need to break the account bank,not to stingy to build up the team.Sterling,Suso performance not consistent like a yoyo...up and down.Downing and Henderson never can give biggest impact and an effective for LFC.Both this players need to be sell out because high salary without best performance.Lucasand Joe Allen also just not stable show up.They cannot playing together,it's will be horible the games.

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  93. Assaidi has gone for the African cup of nations. So, you won't see much of him. I think he's got talent and needs to be given chances. If BR gets rid of him, I'll question his transfer targets. If he screws up in the transfer market, the club needs to set up a panel who can decide the transfer targets for the club, kinda like what Chelsea does.

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  94. Pls my friend, if he can't deal, can't do much better than Woy, uses increasing limited vocab to praise the team in both wins n defeats, talks of playing football that apparently is beyond our player...I ask what else can he do? They say King was a hands off coach, I don't see this supposed hands on manager is doing better. Get rid of him to stop the rot!

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  95. The way some people on here praise his ability they clearly have seen another player than I did. He has a few tricks in his locker for sure, but he ran down blind alleys most of the time and looks as if he needs to put on some muscles. Don't get me wrong, I, too, would like him being given more of a chance, but I think he will get that, if he shows enough on the training pitch.

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  96. It's depressing indeed.

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  97. I'm pretty sure that they've installed them revolving doors during Rafa's tenure.

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  98. Unfortunately patience is a virtue alien to most modern football supporters.

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  99. Best Spanish player in 2003, but yes, really cheap at 10m. If he was English, he'd have cost at least twice that amount.

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  100. While I agree with you that we should sign some players of real quality, I also understand that we need some quantity after losing quite a few players last summer. As we are not one of the biggest spenders, and probably won't be until we find some oil spring at Melwood, we need to take a risk in buying rather cheap players and try to get the best out of them.

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  101. If a 3m signing doesn't turn out to be the next Messi/Zidane/Beckenbauer/Müller/Barnes, this shouldn't automatically be considered as screwing up in the transfer market.

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  102. And bring in whom? (Realistic targets only please)

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  103. hes got more chance of being the next jenson button

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  104. Yes, our entire team is weak, so to single out Assaidi as if he is the only one and this validates the decision to not even have given him a real chance in the team strikes me as a bit odd

    (fwiw, I don't even think Lucas (nor Gerrard, to a lesser extent) has enough power for that midfield enforcer role)

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  105. Assaidi is a fighter unlike Downing. 'period'

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  106. What about the competition for fourth spot getting harder

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  107. De Jong is overrated. He's the best player of his generation at the academy but that's mostly a matter of the rest of them not being much good at all. Average player, not close to being worth 9 million. Just read QPR are about to sign m'Vila for 7 million though. If that is true than why are we still peshing about with Lucas???

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  108. No he's at Chelsea now

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  109. I doubt that Rafa personally scouted Voronin and Degen. Or is that particular scout at Chelsea, too, now?

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  110. Yep, that surely has taken it's toll, too. We've finished second in 2009 and seventh in 2010. So within one year five teams got so much better that they finished above us. One of them were Aston Villa.

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  111. It would be a shocking situation if he left, the guy has bags of skill and looks very natural playing on that left wing, if he goes then i may have to question BR managerial credentials because there are mistakes and then there are almighty cock ups.

    yes ur right, i've been saying it for a few seasons now, since mascherana left it was good bye enforcer, or as i like to call him...the destroyer in the middle. we really need to address this, it's so obvious even Stevie Wonder could see it...

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  112. I've been advocating for us signing M'Vila for quite some time now. Hardly anyone seems to agree with me though. He probably isn't well-known enough yet. At 7m he's a steal.

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  113. I like ur argument though, u have got to consider this, even though rafa left us and we hadn't qualified for champs was the team that bad i mean yes we did finish 7th but how many points away from 4th  it something like 4 these days we finish 7th how many points r we off? the team rafa left was still not bad but needed reinforcement consider this when alonso left he left a big gap in the dynamic of the team, and aqualiani being injured didn't help,  and whats more there were problems even before alsono left- we didn't have a good enough squad (good first team who could beat anybody in the world) we jus didn't have a squad that could sustain a title challenge  and losing alonso who had been pivotal to rafa from day 1 did not help at all plus in house board fight behind the scenes, this not to say that alsono could not be replaced. all in all rafa last season was tough but we could have made fourth if he better backing from the board plus look it we made the europa semi final where in the first leg we were disallowed a clear goal and just finshed a few points off fourth was it fair to fire rafa, u say  manchester wanted rafa to stay, do know how scared fergei was of rafa, until city last season which team has scored and humilated utd at OT, utd fans and fergie were happy to see rafa go one less big headace, plus rafa was also quetioning how utd hav board members in the fa, look how suarez was found guilty with little to no evidence, look how utd and fergie get away with things, and who has been the only one to question this, utd feared rafa. Anyway my point really is why would a quality player come to liver? whats the prospect, we have an inexperienced manager still coming to grips with the league, we dont have any world class players by ur standards, if garcia is not world class than suarez cant be either (his miss ratio is outrageous)  gerrad and pepe are no longer that great why come to liverpool? 

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  114. At the end of the day he signed them so I would say he thought they were good aquisitions.

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  115. Agreed. He would put an end to opposition midfielders laying down the law against us.

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  116. I'd consider Suarez as world-class, even if his miss ratio is outrageous (to use your words).

    While some points Rafa has highlighted, like the influence Utd have at the FA, were valid points, I'd like our manager to leave criticising things like that to a person like a managing director. Otherwise it might back-fire on the manager and on the team. I honestly don't think that ferguson was scared of Rafa. He knows that he is virtually untouchable and he possibly had sympathy for Rafa, but nothing else.

    While the first-team Rafa left behind wasn't bad at all, he surely didn't do himself or us any favours with the signing of Aquilani and the alienating of Alonso. Mascherano wanted out, too (even before Hodgson was appointed), soon to be followed by Torres. Those three, plus a much younger Gerrard and a much more in form Reina were the back-bone of our team. I nearly wrote success, but we didn't win any competition, not even the League Cup, since our FA Cup win in 2006.

    Which team has humiliated Utd at OT you ask. Don't know, as I don't follow their results to closely (and hardly ever memorise them). Lets have a look at how well we did there in the last years (league matches only, our score first).

    2012-13 1-2
    2011-12 1-2
    2010-11 2-3
    2009-10 1-2
    2008-09 4-1 (quite memorable)
    2007-08 0-3
    2006-07 0-2
    2005-06 0-1
    2004-05 1-2
    2003-04 1-0
    2002-03 0-4
    2001-02 1-0
    2000-01 1-0
    1999-00 1-1
    1998-99 0-2

    Of our last 15 visits there we've won four, drawn one, lost ten. By managers it reads as follows:

    Rafa: P 6, W 1, D 0, L 5
    Houllier (with Evans in 1998): P 6, W 3, D 1, L 2
    Others P 1 L 1 each.

    My point is that we weren't exactly humilating Man U at OT on a regular basis under Rafa at all.

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  117. He probably did. And it will be interesting to see what happens for him after Chelsea.

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  118. Yep, he's strong and can pass the ball too.

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  119. Everybody was going on about M'vila a year or two ago, for ridiculous prices. Most fans are sheep though and so simply because the media narrative now is that he is useless, fans everywhere are writing him off as useless too.

    We desperately need ballwinners and muscle in the team, as it is so easy to bully us - it looks like we're just replicating the mistakes Wenger has made in rebuilding his new Arsenal team. M'vila is one of the better DM's around, and would be an instant upgrade over Lucas/Allen for a very reasonable fee.

    I'd still prefer someone bigger, stronger & more dynamic like Capoue/Diame/Sissoko, but for the prices being quoted atm, M'vila should be a no brainer.

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  120. well i guess we agree to disagree, though i will take u back to my initial reason of writting why should a player of de jong quality come to club like liverpool, what attracted the likes of macherono, torres were the prospects of competing and winning marcherano and torres left after they saw this was not going to happen, ironically they are both at clubs that have won the champs says alot plus they both left when rafa did, coincidence or was it clear that firing rafa and not getting a decent replacement showed the club was headed no where again, so i ask again why should de jong come or any other top player what prospects to does liverpool have? 


    sidenote: y do u consider suarez world class and not garcia, i know one thing for sure garcia scored better and more important goals for liverpool and he even played for barca and he was let go because they signed ronaldino!!!! jus how is he not world class and suarez is?????? 

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  121. Agree with most of what you write, though Capoue hasn't really convinced me. Have to admit that I am not an expert on French football.

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  122. Shy should any other top player sign for us. Well, right now I can't see any reason but our heritage. We are talking about the alleged world-class players right? I wouldn't consider him to be one of them right now yet to be honest. And for aspiring players we are an interesting proposition. We have a good name, a good history, an interesting project, despite all the criticism he gets we have a young aspiring manager. That's just what I could tell you from the top of my head.

    To make sure that you don't get me wrong I probably should tell you that I have a shirt with Luis Garcia 10 on the back. I rated him very highly at the time and he is, amongst Alonso, my favourite Rafa signing. I just think that Luis Suarez is a better player. Garcia was very good, but Suarez is not only very good, he is really special. Given the opportunity he too is able to score important goals. Maybe not as spectacular ones as Garcia, but  that alone shouldn't be the criteria. I would put Suarez among the top ten forwards on the planet right now. Not sure whether I realistically could put Garcia in there too.

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