Liverpool's loan signings are all doing well for their various surrogate clubs at the moment, and that includes Oussama Assaidi, whose influence is growing at Stoke City. The Moroccan barely got a look-in during his first season at Anfield, and Reds legend John Aldridge has suggested that Brendan Rodgers made a mistake sending him out on loan this season.
Assaidi - who cost Liverpool €3m - has four goals in eleven starts for the Potters this season, and in his column yesterday for the Liverpool Echo, Aldo argued:
"Hindsight is a great thing but we would have been better off keeping Oussama Assaidi. [He] has contributed a lot for Stoke during his loan spell".
Four goals in eleven games is an okay return, but it's not like Assaidi is tearing it up and the Britannia Stadium. However, he is doing a far better job over there than Victor Moses is at Anfield. Stoke left-back Erik Pieters certainly thinks highly of Assaidi's talents. On Monday, he told the Stoke Sentinel:
"Ossie's good, I can play balls to him and he's a good player with great technique. When he gets on the ball he's very strong and that's good for me as well because I can make overlaps. I like playing with him".
Last season, I regularly highlighted Brendan Rodgers' reticence to play Assaidi. Like Luis Alberto this year, the Moroccan was constantly ignored by the manager, and when actually included in the squad, he spent most of his time warming the bench.
Whenever Assaidi played, though, he performed quite well, with his direct running and willingness to take players on. As such, it made no real sense to continually ignore him, but that's Rodgers for you.
If he'd stayed at Anfield, he'd still be stuck on the bench, and would have to make do with 10-minute cameo appearances every now and then, just like Alberto.
Assaidi's situation is basically the template for certain young players at Liverpool:
* Arrive for a comparatively small transfer fee.
* Barely get any playing time in the first team.
* Dropped to the subs bench even after playing well.
* Repeatedly ignored by the manager for no apparent reason.
* Go out on loan in 2nd season after festering on the bench.
* Play well for loan club.
* Sign for loan club at the end of the season.
I suspect both Borini and Assaidi will leave Liverpool at the end of this season, and the Reds will inevitably make a combined financial loss on both players. Who is going to pay more than £13m for those two?
Next season, Alberto will follow suit. Some fans argue that he will 'come good' for Liverpool, but if Rodgers doesn't think he's good enough to play more than 45 minutes against a team 57 league places below the Reds, it means he doesn't trust the Spaniard. And let's not forget, Alberto is 20, not some 17-year old untested teenager.
Given the lack of depth in Liverpool's squad (another consequence of Rodgers' ineffective performance in the transfer market), is there a possibility than Assaidi's loan spell may be cut short in January? Would this be a good idea?
Author: Jaimie K
Assaidi - who cost Liverpool €3m - has four goals in eleven starts for the Potters this season, and in his column yesterday for the Liverpool Echo, Aldo argued:
"Hindsight is a great thing but we would have been better off keeping Oussama Assaidi. [He] has contributed a lot for Stoke during his loan spell".
Four goals in eleven games is an okay return, but it's not like Assaidi is tearing it up and the Britannia Stadium. However, he is doing a far better job over there than Victor Moses is at Anfield. Stoke left-back Erik Pieters certainly thinks highly of Assaidi's talents. On Monday, he told the Stoke Sentinel:
"Ossie's good, I can play balls to him and he's a good player with great technique. When he gets on the ball he's very strong and that's good for me as well because I can make overlaps. I like playing with him".
Last season, I regularly highlighted Brendan Rodgers' reticence to play Assaidi. Like Luis Alberto this year, the Moroccan was constantly ignored by the manager, and when actually included in the squad, he spent most of his time warming the bench.
Whenever Assaidi played, though, he performed quite well, with his direct running and willingness to take players on. As such, it made no real sense to continually ignore him, but that's Rodgers for you.
If he'd stayed at Anfield, he'd still be stuck on the bench, and would have to make do with 10-minute cameo appearances every now and then, just like Alberto.
Assaidi's situation is basically the template for certain young players at Liverpool:
* Arrive for a comparatively small transfer fee.
* Barely get any playing time in the first team.
* Dropped to the subs bench even after playing well.
* Repeatedly ignored by the manager for no apparent reason.
* Go out on loan in 2nd season after festering on the bench.
* Play well for loan club.
* Sign for loan club at the end of the season.
I suspect both Borini and Assaidi will leave Liverpool at the end of this season, and the Reds will inevitably make a combined financial loss on both players. Who is going to pay more than £13m for those two?
Next season, Alberto will follow suit. Some fans argue that he will 'come good' for Liverpool, but if Rodgers doesn't think he's good enough to play more than 45 minutes against a team 57 league places below the Reds, it means he doesn't trust the Spaniard. And let's not forget, Alberto is 20, not some 17-year old untested teenager.
Given the lack of depth in Liverpool's squad (another consequence of Rodgers' ineffective performance in the transfer market), is there a possibility than Assaidi's loan spell may be cut short in January? Would this be a good idea?
Author: Jaimie K
Don't thnik Borini will go out. And LFC will not lose money on Assaidi transfer so ...
ReplyDeleteAre we even going to sign a SINGLE player this Jan because I would lose all hopes for top 4 because the squad is just not good enough to sustain a top 4 challenge looking at their current state.
ReplyDeleteEven if we've players coming back from injuries doesn't mean we will be okay because that's not going to be the case. if Salah was such a priority for us then why hasn't he signed yet?
I am not happy with how we're going the market this Jan, even I though I've had fantastic news at a personal level and in my life the same cannot be said about my life as a Liverpudlian.
I fail to see a problem here. Assaidi was loaned out to get playing time at the PL level, Others loaned out have not gone to PL teams so there must be some higher regard for Assaidi's potential Apparently that regard was correct because he is not only playing well, he looks quite fit and confident. Without European football he was never going to get the playing time at Liverpool he needed to get better. Next year, assuming we get European football, there will be a need for experienced players all through the season. Thus Assaidi is doing exactly what BR wants him to do...get better at PL football. Whether it was a mistake to send him out and pick up Moses? Well Moses was already playing PL football so he was supposed to be ready now. Moses hasn't turned out to be 'ready' at all, Mourinho's whining notwithstanding. I am glad we won't be facing Assaidi this Sunday. I am hopeful he is called home for next year so we can send Moses packing...thank you very little Mourinho.
ReplyDeleteWhen we sell Assaidi we will make more than double his transfer fee?
ReplyDeleteThere could be some method to the madness :-)
I always wondered about Assaidi. He didn't perform very badly when he played, plus he came in Rodgers' first season when everyone was getting accustomed. Anyways lets not forget we didn;t have Europe this year and he may well benefit more by playing more at Stoke than the limited appearance he would have gotten here. In the trade with him and Moses, we got the worst deal. But its better Moses rots on the bench than a player we own. I think Rodgers will give him a chance when he comes back. To label Rodgers as not playing youth is wrong. We have one of the youngest squad in forever. Sterling plays all the time and is improving. We were knocked out of the league cup quite early, leaving us to focus on the PL and Alberto is behind Allen, Lucas, Gerrard and Henderson if he is played in Midfield in the pecking order. He played him against Oldham and it wasnt working, he didnt want a replay so he subbed him, dont see this gross unfairness. We cant take experiments in the league, we have to go all in to get back into the CL and perhaps even win the league. Its about the same situation for Suso. Rodgers called him in from Spain when they had their winter break to check on his progress. Borini is also improving. I think the main plus of these PL loans is get them used to playing against PL opposition. They will get plenty of chances in our system to score
ReplyDeleteGet him back now.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool's U17 team played in Indonesia today in front of 35,000 people, I watched the game on LFCTV live, the crowd was going mental with flares etc...............all that for a kids game.
ReplyDeleteThe window is open until 31 Jan so I would not get too antsy. Just as we would be hoping to tie something up as soon as possible, player agents would be interested in holding off in case better bids came in...Nerve wracking time, but it is what it is.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to moan about it now cuz Assaidi is doin well and Moses has been poor but I bet there weren't many moaning at the start of the season? Moses in on loan, Assaidi out on loan?
ReplyDeleteAlso no one knows how well Moses would of done if Chelsea had loaned him out to Stoke city, he would of started every game and arguably had more goals/assists than Assaidi.
Only 8 days in calm down.
ReplyDeleteI say its a good mistake if one was made. I hope being loaned out is just what was needed to fire O up. As I said before, it looks like the lad has been hitting the weights. He has put on muscle. Good for us. I hope he gets even more confident. I;m sure the stoke practices are scrappy. Good again. Hell prob add this balance to his skill set. I bet he was easily knocked of the ball here in practice similar to aspas. Now if we can get assaidi's trainer to work with aspas for next year. aspas may turn good. Lad needs to play with some extra coins in his shorts and socks. Much to light and easy to knock off the ball.
ReplyDeleterodgers will do with Assaidi what he did with Pacheco...... send him packing. Pacheco should have been given a run.
ReplyDeleteAnd er ..........Megson out the Prem, Fergie retired, Redknapp out the Prem and BIG fat Sam Allardyce about to be sacked. Fergies cronies all behaved attrociously towards Rafa after the 'rant'. What goes around comes around.
Hes surely better than allen alberto moses and aspas, and I hope he doesnt return, hes been harshly treated and Br been so disrespectful to him, let him shine where he is, he deserves that, here would be back at subs and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteHow about this.
ReplyDeleteHe is doing good because it was an good idea to send him to loan, in solid team in Prem, by the way. During the second part of the season, decide which 2 out of 3- him, Sterling and Salah can contributeon the cl level, and which will be sold, for profit if everything goes right?
Alberto should and could have gotten the chance, but his chances now are next to nothing.. Assaidi, might earn his chance in june. Or will be sold for 7-8 mill.
ReplyDeleteWe'd do well to get 7-8 mil, even if he keeps up his good form. If we are open to offers, it will be obvious that we're just trying to get rid of him and therefore wont be able to hold out for a big fee.
ReplyDeleteits actually working well for us. borini and assaidi were talented but didnt get much of a look in. borini was consistently played out of position which resulted in a huge loss of confidence. Anybody who saw the penalty he took will realise that his confidence is back. A couple of years on loan would do him good and us as well. Its certainly doing no harm to the likes of lukaku either. Chelsea will have one hell of a player when he returns to them.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with this article.
ReplyDeleteYou can think now what a luxury it is in the eyes of the third world for the Merseysiders to watch the first team play at Anfiel week in and week out.
ReplyDeleteI have to take issue with the term "no apparent reason". There is a clear implication there that because the reason is not apparent then it ultimately makes no sense. It may not be apparent to you or other fans but the manager surely has very good reasons for not using the player. Guys like Rodgers don't make gut instinct decisions based on nothing, they are dedicated students of game and steeped in tactical analysis and statistics to go along with their appreciation of the game at a higher level. That the reason some players don't get game time is not "apparent" is simply because as fans we don't have any view beyond the few minutes of game time we have exposure to. The manager knows the player personally, spends time watching them in training, spends time analysing their performances on post-match video with the rest of the coaching team ... if I was to guess I'd say the information a fan has is barely 5% of what the manager goes on and that's just how it should be. So to say the reasons are not "apparent" is quite redundant and pointless. Of course it's not apparent, we barely know anything about the player. It says nothing about the decision that fans don't understand why it was made, it doesn't make it any more or less a good decision. All it says is that we don't understand the decision ourselves. So what? Of course we don't understand it, we're not the manager of LFC.
ReplyDeleteDon't entirely agree with you on this one. As many people have seen and mentioned how good Suso is playing for Almeria. He will be back at Liverpool next season no doubt. He got his chance at another club and took it. Exactly what all players loaned have to do. Alberto could go to Spain next year and do the exact same thing as Suso.. and the door for him at Liverpool will still be open if he proves himself. With Assaidi.. i wouldn't cut his loan short. See how he plays for the rest of the year. If he can rack up 10 goals for Stoke..bring him back next year and he will get more games for Liverpool..especially if we get C/L we will need the depth. Same thing goes for Borini if he can get 10 goals this season too. (which for both players isn't impossible)
ReplyDelete