6 Feb 2014

'We can do it': After £68m waste, BR explains what LFC 'need' to win title.

Prior to the ill-fated Christmas period, Liverpool were in superb form, and were hammering teams left, right and centre. Consequently, the Reds were top of the league on Christmas day, and fans began to dream about the possibility of Liverpool winning the league. Two defeats later, and the reds plummeted to sixth, and since then, the reality of the club's current situation is - for most fans - hitting home. Liverpool just don't have the squad strength/quality to win the league this season, but Brendan Rodgers believes he knows exactly what needs to change to break Liverpool's 24 year title drought.

During his pre-Arsenal press conference today, Rodgers reiterated that finishing in the top for is Liverpool's 'main objective' this season, and when asked what the club must do to win the title, he told reporters:

"We need to strengthen the whole squad, and look into getting more quality. We need to develop the squad, and then we can do it [win the title]"

Pretty standard reasoning, but if Liverpool did win the league this season, it would be one of the biggest overachievements in Premier League history. The prevailing view seems to be that last season's Man United squad is one of the worst to win the title, and the same would be true of the current LFC squad if it went on to win the title. A league winning team with Aspas, Alberto, Moses, Cissokho etc in the squad? No chance.

I personally don't think the Reds can win the league, but the mild tragedy of the situation is this: if Rodgers had spent the club's transfer funds wisely over the last 18 months, then Liverpool would definitely be in a position right now to win the title.

Since arriving at LFC, Rodgers has signed 15 players, and only two (Sturridge and Coutinho) are game-changing successes. Mignolet could be argued to be a success, but none of Rodgers' other buys have made any significant impact on the squad.

Just imagine if, instead of bringing in Allen, Sahin, Assaidi, Borini, Aspas, Alberto, Ilori, Moses, Cissokho, and Sakho (Combined cost: Approx £68m), Rodgers had spent that money on three or four players capable of making a Coutinho/Sturridge-like impact. Liverpool would probably be top of the league right now, and well-in with a chance of winning the title (ahead of schedule).

Not that it's a major problem. Prior to Rodgers' arrival, I never expected Liverpool to win the title in his second season; like most fans, all I expect from this season is Champions League qualification, and the Reds are absolutely on track to achieve that, so right now, everything is going according to plan.

Additionally, even if Rodgers had spent his transfer funds better, expecting a title win this season still would not have been a fair or reasonable expectation, especially after the last four years of comparatively poor points totals at Anfield.

After all, it's unheard of for a team to jump 25-30 points from one season to the next to win the title. It just doesn't happen that way; it's an incremental process, and the signs of progress for LFC are plain to see, even with the odd setback along the way.

Rodgers has to make this summer's transfer business count, though. Continually bringing in duff players is not sustainable, and hopefully the manager's transfer success hit-rate will improve in the next window.

Author:


52 comments:

  1. Very reasonable summation; although Utd did win the PL with any number of duff players in their squad. Would Anderson be any better than any of the players you mention. Or Fabio? Even their 1st teamers, Cleverley- would he have made a difference this year if he played for LFC?
    I think not...

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  2. Allen - Still has time and does a job
    Sakho - Better than Toure and will be better next season
    Alberto - For the future
    Ilori - For the future
    Aspas - probably not good enough
    Moses - Not good enough but loan cover
    Sahin - Didn't cut it in the premier league
    Assalidi - Could do a job if we only make Europa and was cheap
    Borini - Could still make it
    Cissokho - Emergency cover


    The key will be can get and select 1 or 2 first 11 quality players if we get in the CL to get on the upwards spiral. 2 centre midfielders that make Henderson and Lucas squad players and mean we can replace Gerrard in the long run.


    A winger would be nice but Coutinho can in front 3 as can Suso to support Sterling. Midfield is the biggest issue.

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  3. Easier said than done. If we'd bought 4 big names, odds are that 2 of them wouldn't have made the grade. Harder from the board's perspective to sanction something like that. Too risky. They are business men, like it or not.
    The squad is deeper now. Hopefully there will be a clear emphasis on quality rather than depth (which seems to have been the case in the past two windows). For all the talk of Aspas and Alberto contributing nothing, which is a fair point, their purchase didn't stop us from trying (and yes, ultimately failing) to bring in Costa, Willian, Mkhitaryan, Salah and Konoplyanka.
    I think more troubling than the quality of signings is the logic behind them. You'd have to hope that players like Alberto and ilori are going to be as peripheral as it seems. We'll see. What is notable about the players Rodgers has bought is how many are 23 and under. He has repeatedly intimated Borini will be brought back in an unusually definite fashion, so hopefully Rodgers is going to take an unusual and refreshingly long-term approach to the development of these players.

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  4. For us to be challenging for CL qualification this season having been so far off the pace last season BR deserves great credit but, for us to take that next step and challenge certain things have to change. Firstly, and BR probably wouldn't like this, a director of football needs to be brought in, someone like Van Gaal who I believe has been approached before. Someone who is known and respected throughout the football world who can determine where the team needs strengthening and go out and identify potential recruitments who will improve us. Rodgers and this committee we have just isn't working, we continue to waste money on average footballers and we can't carry on like this. Secondly Ian Ayre needs to be taken off transfer negotiations asap, with him in charge of our transfer funds and negotiations we are a laughing stock. The list of players we have tried and failed to sign is endless and something has to change. The fact that we failed to strengthen in January given the injuries we have and the position we are in is scandalous. We can blame the Ukraine teams owner or whatever else but the fact remains that we had a full month to get on with it but left it til the last few days. For me Ayre should be made accountable for that. Finally, I would like to see a change in our transfer policy, by this I mean I would rather us sign just one quality player for £20m that three players who might improve us for £7m each. Like JK rightly says none of the players bought in the summer with the exception of Sahko IMO have improved us and will probably be sold at a loss next summer. Imagine if we had saved that money wasted and spent on just one quality goal scoring midfielder (michtaryan or whatever his name was?).

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  5. I agree. We also have to remember that (fingers crossed) if we ge that 4th spot we'll be competing in 4 competitions. Aspas, Borini, Assaidi, and the rest will prove their worth there because it will be those players who get us to the semi's of the FA and Capital One cups while also playing their parts when fatigue creeps in with the schedule congestion.
    As for the summer, I just want them to sit down and ask themselves "looking at the first team squad, is BRs first choice the best person we can get in that position?".
    Strikers, yes.
    Wingers/AM no (I say we only need one)
    CM yes (between gerrard in a deeper role, allen and hendo i think we're covered)
    DM no
    LB no
    CB yes (It would be stupid to buy another and after a year and another pre-season we can strike a perfect partnership right???)
    Keeper yes
    So that's at least 3 FIRST TEAM (BR read the caps) players we need to bring in to take our team to the next level....now the wait is to see where we land this season and whether we can get more competent people to run our transfer business.

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  6. It seems like that (planning long term) is what the club want and then players like Alberto and Ilori don't seem so odd. Especially when every other team does it (buy young squad players)and there is hardly a whisper about it.

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  7. I read on a transfer site that the reason we didn;t go in for a DM/CM in the last window was due to the club thinking the best time to do it would be summer. We would know if we are a CL team and could buy players accordingly as well as having a bigger selection (more turnover in summer) of players. How accurate or in INK this site was I am not sure but seems logical.

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  8. You 've just summarized what 99% of the people over here wanted to say, but in a better way :)

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  9. Just because you disagree doesn't mean the argument lacks validity.

    You say that Allen and Sakho 'add something to the team'. Okay, what? Please outline the specific, measurable impact of both players on LFC's progress over the last year.

    Also, the argument that LFC could've bought better is not redundant in the slightest. Rodgers has spent tens of millions on players who, de fact, make no impact on the team whatsoever, i.e. Borini, Assaidi, Aspas, Alberto, and Ilori. That's £35m right there that could've - and should've - been spent more wisely.

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  10. I think we easily should be at 58 points now. We dropped 2 points to Swansea, at least 1 to Soton, 3 to Hull, 1 to Man City because we easily should have won that game with the sitters we missed and Sterling's off-side goal...but I'll only say we lost a point, and we dropped 2 points to both AV and WBA. That's 11 points we should have if we are winning against the teams we should beat and getting the point at City. A little more intensity all around and we easily could still be at the top.

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  11. The difference is we've spent £13mil and they're of an age where you would expect them to have some impact on the first team. Usually young players are being bout at 17 or 18.

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  12. Play 4-5-1 please...tighten our midfield...draw is good. .win best...top 4 the aim..come on lads. YNWA

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  13. Joe Kinnear is available... but I just cannot see BR accepting a director of football. I am tempted to say if we looked to sign a director of football through the committee we'd probably end up with Joe and then have to loan him out in due course. But I won't say that.

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  14. I understand the logic behind that because the DM we need to take us to the next level is probably somewhere playing for a CL team and we'd need that lure to attract them. However, I still think the club should have got a DM in Jan, even on loan, because Lucas' injury is going to be very telling. While Gerrard is doing a fine job in that role, when we play the top clubs, I fear that his age will be exposed with the speed those teams possess in the final third. I really hope I'm wrong and it comes down to Allen and Hendo stepping up and not leaving him exposed starting this weekend

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  15. I undestand where you're going but I'll play the other side and ask whether 17-18 is really a good age to bring in talent for significant money? I mean, the age for a "youngster" keeps dropping every year but how many of them are anywhere near developed enough for scouts to make an accuarate judgement on their talent. Remember Freddy Adu? I would rather us buy a 21-24 year old at the same cost because, while scouting them, its much clearer whether they'll make it. Signing 17 year old for big money is playing with house money and most clubs lose out
    Just to be clear I'm not against signing youngsters in this argument, just paying even 4-9mil quid for them vs. the same price for a 21-24 year old

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  16. Only if we had not dropped points against teams that are below us, we would still be in race with top dogs. The way I see it, Liverpool takes so called weaker teams too lightly at times and we end up paying the price for it. Liverpool needs to play more attacking football against so called weaker teams.

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  17. I agree...and the point is we have the players now that should have us at or near the top...now...We play to the level of our competition. We have to maintain the consistency we showed against ManU, Spurs, Everton and City when we are playing lesser capable teams...it's that simple. It isn't a physical thing...it's mental thing.

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  18. the old saying if your good enough your old enough needs to be put into action with Texiera - Mclaughlan - Ibe.

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  19. i think in certain games, we should have thrown caution to the wind and chucked ibe on, for a bit of raw power. he is young, hopefully hungry and has done pretty well whenever i've seen him. i could be wrong, but the away defeat to hull, was crying out for an impact player to wake the others up. desperate to make a mark and do something unexpected. sometimes a gamble like that from brendan, may just work out, rather than a safer option where we don't get anywhere anyway.(hull, wba?)

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  20. 'only if we had not dropped points'

    No matter how many times we rue that, It's going to almost be that way all the time when you have a squad that's basically only able to achieve a 4th/3rd finish. This is why teams like Arsenal, city and chelsea drop less points. They just have better squads.

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  21. Our attitude should and should have been "its now or never". The reason we get results like West Brom and have a history of similar results is plain simple - At Anfield the crowd wont allow 85% from certain players so they give 100%. Suarez of course always gives 100%.

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  22. It;s the "imagine where we could have been if" thing that has no place really. It's easy to say without having to talk about the complex issues of actually acquiring those players, the difference in little specifics like agents fees, actually scouting those players and big things like the difference in wages, filling necessary positions in the squad and the fact that any transfer no matter how much we pay for a player isn't guaranteed to work out. Like someone else said we buy fewer players for more money and they don't all work out is it better or worse.

    As for Allen and Sakho there qualities are plain to see but unfortunately neither has had enough game time (due to injuries and a run in the team) to really affect our season. Having said that our best defensive pairing this season was Sakho and Skirtle. As for measurable impact you would have to be more specific. Do you want all of Sakho's tackles and blocks? All Allens key passes etc?

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  23. True but they are young players non the less and are in a new country and league for the first time and occupy positions we are relatively stocked in. I have found it annoying that those players have not had more game time but that maybe due to the lack of cup competitions we have and the extra seriousness Rodgers has had to take FA cup as a result. How much did Bale and Walcott cost when they were first bought? The difference is they didn't ave to get used to a new culture. Yes they were younger but acclimatisation is still a factor.

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  24. Jamie K, there are so, so many things I could pick apart in this. But, I won't. Because whenever I Google anything about LFC, I come across other articles like this one, written by you. Each, and every one, is so ill-informed it is unreal. I wouldn't even know where to begin on this article, so i'll stop there. Football writing/journalism is certainly not your strong point.


    P.S looking forward to your next drivel!

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  25. Are you sure you support Liverpool?

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  26. Sakho pass success 91.8% compared to Agger's 86.1% Toure's, 85.7% and Skrtel's 91%. A team that passes it out needs players who can do it. He passes more than those players Toure makes on average 37.7 passes per game, Agger makes 39.3 and Sakho makes 50.6.

    He wins more Ariel duels 2.7pg than Toure and Agger who are 2.2 and 2.6 respectively.

    Sakho's tackles are comparative to Toure and Agger's Sakho's being 1.8 and theirs being 1.8 and 1.6 respectively but does much better in his interception stats where his is 2.1 compared to Toure and Agger's 0.9. This shows he is playing on the front foot and reading play better.
    8.1 clearances compared to A's 6 and T's 6.9.



    I have left out offesnive stats as it is not a primary goal of a CB and I have left out others that were the same by 0.1 as I got bored. Now the stats themselves are almost meaningless as they have played different teams and comparing Arsenal and City games to Norwich and Everton (he he) is not fair. But there is an indicator that after Skrtel, Sakho has been our best CB and has show he is probably the best passer of the lot.


    Is that the kind of thing Jaimie?

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  27. The point I was making, and I didn't make this clear, is that younger players are usually brought in at a younger age for less money.

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  28. Thanks for stopping by, champ.

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  29. What worries me about this is that he says he needs to build the squad. No more squad players please. Two or three straight into the first team is what we need. Our youngsters can cover the rest. If you just look at young Flanagan you can see that these kids, just for their heart and guts they give, are as good a backup as any of the 7-10 million quid wastes of space.

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  30. lets be honest rogers has had two possibly 3 good buys...sturridge if he keeps fit ( and i mean if ) a very hit and miss tino and a goalie who who look world class as long as it doesn't involve him getting down quick to heels ..best players have been suarez, lucas .hendo and skirtal with Gerrard and others in support....ill give credit to rogers for getting the best out of what hes got but his transfers are on a par with kennys when it comes to value....

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  31. Hey, glad I could be of service :-)

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  32. Jeez, please, for the love of god, come up with some new material! After 8 years of the same schtick, a little originality wouldn't go amiss!

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  33. To be fair, 'ayre of despondency' was well played...

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  34. Gotcha!
    Really just bored at work and wanted to make a counterpoint :)

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  35. Good stats, and I agree with your points, but how do you reconcile the stats with LFC's defensive frailty this season, for which Sakho is partly responsible? With, say, Sturridge and Suarez, you can see the impact because they score goals. With Sakho, is there a comparative defensive improvement that justifies a €19m fee?

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  36. Off topic:
    Did anyone hear what former ref Dermot Gallagher said about Fergie?
    He pleaded with him one time to call a game off when it was raining because it was going to give Utd a better chance to win the title from Arsenal. He pleaded after they were 3-1 down at half time....wow.

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  37. You never know unless you ask :-) Typical Fergie though. Another ref might've said yes *cough* Howard Webb

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  38. I've always been skeptical of the Fergie stories. But that's just downright embarrassing for Fergie. 'Can do you me a favour'...come on Fergie!
    Utd received on average 77 seconds extra more stoppage time when they were losing under fergie, compared to around 40 secs for Moyes. Incredible.

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  39. JK, you don't buy into those Webb Utd-bias theories though do you?

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  40. Nah, not at all. It's just fun to joke about it.

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  41. People go on and on about Duffs and players who are not up to par but that is black and white. If you look at any team, they are filled with in between players, neither star nor dud. You put 2/3 super star players on the field then the rest will look better than they are because those 2 or 3 players demand so much attention. I always hated buying squad players. I'd rather every window we go for 2 top qualoty players and relegate the incumbents to the bench if they don't step up, simple in my opinion. In any case i think its way too early to judge 60% of the players Rodgers has bought. Most of them are young players. Or should we go back to buying 28 year old Robbie Keane and Voronin type players?

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  42. Like I say we probably payed too much but he looks better than the alternatives and therefore was a necessary buy. Goals are easier to quantify than things a defender does.

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  43. Defensive frailty is an overstatement.

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  44. Almost every championship winning side has a mixture of strong individuals and hard workers, and just bodies in the squad who may add a lot of value on the training pitch etc. There are a few exceptional sides which had real quality in every position but these teams don't come around too often. It's about chemistry, momentum, tactics and confidence.

    I think the whinging about transfers is just crazy really, I don't see the sense in it and I've given up arguing.

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  45. I would like to know your opinion on exactly which players,proper quality players mind,could he have bought with all this wasted money?I mean its not like he didn't try in the summer to bring in proper quality players (costa,willian). For me,the reality is that Liverpool not competing in the CL is not an attractive proposition for most top class players so he is reduced to tryin to fill the squad with the likes of aspas and Moses. His 2 biggest mistakes were payin about €7m too much for Allen and signing borini. The rest were borne out of necessity and let's not forget Rodgers is only one voice on a selection committie but that's a different argument.

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  46. We still gonna win the league?

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  47. All managers have good and bad transfer choices. Unfortunately Rodgers have until now, 1 good choice for every 3 bad choices (or something like that). Dalglish had I little better ratio (at least we got Suarez and Henderson in his 2nd time) and Hodgson, was the worst by far (even now I have nightmares with Paul Konchesky). Benitez had probably the best choices (Torres, Alonso, Reina, Arbeloa, Matcherano, Kuyt, Agger, Crouch etc), better than Houllier's as well. But even Rafa couldn't do everything right (Aquilani, Keane, Voronin, Morientes etc). I think that the biggest problem is that Rodgers is very young and unexperienced, with limited funds (compare to Man U, Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham) and no market area that he is well known and respected (Wenger = France, Mourinho = Portugal, Benitez = Spain etc), to bring some players maybe in bargain prices. Anyway this year we have to make it and break into the "Top Four". Then I will say that I'm OK with Rodgers. Without Champions League football next year? For me he is out...

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  48. Sakho mignolet coutinhio sturridge all first team players rest were bought as squad and hopefully future players retaining most of cheap value. Remember we had no champo league so smaller market for us at time. Rodgers also improved many previous liverpool players such as Henderson and promoted gd youngsters sterling wisdom suso etc . Only players to prove himself now is Joe Allen , Rodgers had a three year plan to get us back into champions league and he could end sussceesing in 2 great manager so far for Lfc

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  49. Champions league this year could help us bring the quality of konoplyanka,lallana,Montoya clyne mvilla etc into team. Make us a team too challenge in all competitions

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  50. Personally I don't get the flack that Allen receives, before his injuries he did a very tidy job, the sort of unnoticed graft that only Lucas is really capable of. Stevie is adjusting to the role of holding midfielder whic means he can utilise his positional play and unleash his passing repertoire to the best effect. With Hendo playing the energetic surging box to box midfielder that role seems adequate. Loaning Assaidi and Borini out has proven to be a shrewd decision as both are finding their footing in the prem, Fabio is getting the game time and goals he would not have gotten due to the brilliance of the SAS. Cissokho and Moses have been loaned in to provide temporary cover, and should they fail to impress ultimately they will be allowed to return, so no unnecessary expenditure there. The only real signing failure, if he can be called that is Aspas, and even he still needs to find his feet in the Premiership. The next step ought to be to get some first teamers if we can, secure European football this season and go from there, hopefully.

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  51. Yes. And then next year, with the right additions, we'll win it comfortably.

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