Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has done an amazing job at Anfield this season, and what makes it even more miraculous is that none of his summer signings have had any significant impact on the club's title challenge. For the most part, it's the same players who underachieved last season who've blazed the trail from 7th to 2nd, and earlier this week, Reds legend John Barnes underlined this key point.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Barnes praised Liverpool for 'moving in the right direction. but dismissed the impact of Rodgers' summer signings. He mused:
"They [LFC] bought Iago Aspas, Mamadou Sakho, Simon Mignolet, and Luis Alberto [combined cost: Approx £42m], but they aren't the reason why [Liverpool] are where they are. That shows how good a job Brendan Rodgers has done and how much the players have come on".
I've made this point for much of the season, and whether fans choose to accept it or not, none of Rodgers' signings last season have had any significant impact on the club's push for the title. Using Barnes' examples:
Iago Aspas (£9m)
* No Goals/One assist in 14 Prem games.
* £9m for one assist? Money well spent!
Mamadou Sakho (£18m)
* 1 clean sheet in 19 games with Sakho in the team.
* Team concedes 1.7 goals per game with Sakho in defence.
* LFC concede more, and win less with Sakho.
Luis Alberto (£7m)
* Barely played all season.
* Dumped from the match-day squad for 10 games in a row.
Simon Mignolet (£9m)
* Best of a bad bunch, but still not a convincing debut season.
* Conceded 49 league goals, which is 6 more than Reina for the whole of last season.
* In his 8 years at LFC, Reina never conceded more than 43 Prem goals in one season.
For me, the key question is this: If the above four players were missing from LFC's squad this season, would it have made any difference? Not at all (IMO). Replace those four with similar players, and Liverpool would still put in a serious title challenge.
None of these players are integral to LFC's success. Mignolet, for example, could be replaced this summer, and Liverpool would not skip a beat. Ditto Sakho. They're simply not players who make an indelible impact on the team, and in Mignolet's case, his mistakes - along with those from several other LFC players - have cost LFC the title.
And no, I'm not going to stop raising this issue :-)
Spending tens of millions on dross is not a trivial issue, and LFC managers have made the same mistakes for over twenty years now, and unless something changes, Liverpool will continue to come-up short on the trophy front.
Bottom line: If Rodgers had spent that £42m properly last summer, Liverpool would be league champions right now.
Author: Jaimie K
In his column for the Daily Mail, Barnes praised Liverpool for 'moving in the right direction. but dismissed the impact of Rodgers' summer signings. He mused:
"They [LFC] bought Iago Aspas, Mamadou Sakho, Simon Mignolet, and Luis Alberto [combined cost: Approx £42m], but they aren't the reason why [Liverpool] are where they are. That shows how good a job Brendan Rodgers has done and how much the players have come on".
I've made this point for much of the season, and whether fans choose to accept it or not, none of Rodgers' signings last season have had any significant impact on the club's push for the title. Using Barnes' examples:
Iago Aspas (£9m)
* No Goals/One assist in 14 Prem games.
* £9m for one assist? Money well spent!
Mamadou Sakho (£18m)
* 1 clean sheet in 19 games with Sakho in the team.
* Team concedes 1.7 goals per game with Sakho in defence.
* LFC concede more, and win less with Sakho.
Luis Alberto (£7m)
* Barely played all season.
* Dumped from the match-day squad for 10 games in a row.
Simon Mignolet (£9m)
* Best of a bad bunch, but still not a convincing debut season.
* Conceded 49 league goals, which is 6 more than Reina for the whole of last season.
* In his 8 years at LFC, Reina never conceded more than 43 Prem goals in one season.
For me, the key question is this: If the above four players were missing from LFC's squad this season, would it have made any difference? Not at all (IMO). Replace those four with similar players, and Liverpool would still put in a serious title challenge.
None of these players are integral to LFC's success. Mignolet, for example, could be replaced this summer, and Liverpool would not skip a beat. Ditto Sakho. They're simply not players who make an indelible impact on the team, and in Mignolet's case, his mistakes - along with those from several other LFC players - have cost LFC the title.
And no, I'm not going to stop raising this issue :-)
Spending tens of millions on dross is not a trivial issue, and LFC managers have made the same mistakes for over twenty years now, and unless something changes, Liverpool will continue to come-up short on the trophy front.
Bottom line: If Rodgers had spent that £42m properly last summer, Liverpool would be league champions right now.
Author: Jaimie K
Some mistakes aside, Mignolet has earned us numerous points throughout the season. An inescapable fact. Learn to live with it. He most certainly has not cost us the title.
ReplyDeleteThe Mignolet analysis is unfair in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYou can compare him to Reina, sure, but it's not apples to apples.
Different styles of play. Different defenses in front of them.
How many goals this past Monday were Mignolet's fault? Zero.
It was just a microcosm of the season.
Mignolet made match winning saves against Stoke, Villa, crucial saves at crucial times away to Southampton and Utd, was man of the match away to Everton. Just off the top of my head
ReplyDeleteYou said that not signing anyone in january would seriously damage our chances of finishing in the top 4 and look what hapenned. You can't just come out of nowhere and state that we would of won the league with better signings, even though it is true that BR needs to do much better this summer.
ReplyDeleteyour an idiot... for all of mignolets mistakes he hasn't lost us any point, in fact he has earned us points... a couple of mistakes and your all over him...... I'd love to see how good you are at playing the game... probably not very good at all, that's why you criticise instead.
ReplyDeleteever the critic,, never has anything good to say here, I have never read a positive story here, he only ever picks up on the mistakes and other ex players criticisms
ReplyDeleteAll our signings in reality have not improved our first XI. Sakho has given us that bit extra quality and depth in the CB positions, but for the reported 16m, we could have done much better. Mignolet is not a better option than Reina, although Reina had to go with all the Barca' rumours, his wage, and him wanting that move; hence we was replaceable. The rest in reality have taken our squad depth backwards in terms of available quality options, taking into account the loaned out players like Borini, who is a better option than Aspas.
ReplyDeleteThe next window is a critical one for us me must buy real quality whether it is known players or unknown. We need at least need 3 to 4 quality players to come into first team to help increase the quality of the first XI or to help maintain it.
these players have improved vastly the teams training games, better training competition is worth any of their transfer fees... the season is proof of that fact
ReplyDeleteBreaking news on sky sports we want to sign lallana before world cup
ReplyDeleteI generally agree with you Jaime but I want to bring up this point in defense for Sakho because it is not talked about. I think a huge factor why our defense concedes more goals with him in the team has nothing to do with his playing abilities but down to communication skills. This part has been brought up by other people but the wrong aspect of it. I personally think he does not speak english that well and that does not allow himself to be a leader this year for the back 4. He has played in france his whole career and has never had to speak any other language. That shows when he is in the team because there are always big spaces in the back 4 and I think it is down to lack of communication between the back 4. You can see when he plays that he is a beast in the air and is good at passing out of the back. I think he gets unfairly criticized because he is not a smooth mover and that makes people nervous. But if this is how people think, then they should get nervous in a negative way whenever Suarez gets the ball because he is not the most graceful mover either. I agree with you that he has not been worth the money this year but I think he has the potential to be a great buy. He needs to learn the language better so he can reach that potential with Liverpool.
ReplyDeletestart of a HUGE rant here :) totally agree with jamie for once and anybody who doesnt on this matter is on crack , rodgers has done a superb job and im so happy with how he has us playing but ignoring his faults are as bad as people who ignore his qualities. he has been AWFUL in the market, one of the worst track records of any liverpool manager. mignolet has saved us points but has cost us points aswell and even when hes not making mistakes the defense has zero confidence in him and drop deeper and deeper aswell as going for balls they should be leaving 4 him, that unease at the back has crept in as his form dipped. sakho has big potential but has been very poor so far, 17 million is a huge some for any defender especially when you consider our best central back 4 in recent years of hyypia agger skrtel and carra had a combined fee off 16.5 mil. allen assidi moses cissoko sahin borini alberto ilori aspas sakho mignolet cost almost 80 million pound and thats a DISGRACE. bar studge and coutinho the rest have brought nothing to the team that wasnt dere before. can you honestly tell me mignolet ilori and alberto have brought more than reina wisdom and suso. hes a top top manager but hes wasted a fortune. as far as 100 mil of new players improving training matches... haha give over mate. thats the least that should happen with that money invested
ReplyDeleteMignolet/Sakho will improve in my opinion, alberto a strange one thought the lad had talent but obviously is not impressing in training, he'll prob be loaned out to improve. Aspas has not cut it, had a great season at Celta but has not stepped up.
ReplyDeleteReally shockingly poor article.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Jaime on this topic. BR needs to do better at bringing in players but based on how he has used certain players that you bring up, it makes me question how much say he actually has in this transfer committee. Don't get me wrong, as manager you no doubt have a say but how he has used the likes of assidi and alberto makes me wonder how much BR really wanted them as opposed to the committee taking a chance on young talent. Like I said he deserves his fair share of criticism but I do not think he deserves all of the criticism for the wasteful spending.
ReplyDeleteYes Ilori is better than Wisdom, definitely, seen a lot of him this year, an excellent prospect, voted Man of The Match against Barcelona recently.
ReplyDeleteAgree, forget the price tag, he should improve next season and is only 24, as you pointed out grew up with PSG and was a big deal for him to uproot and move abroad, Hopefully he will emerge into the central defender that France believed he would. Just have to look at Henderson to see how a so called 'expensive flop' turned it around, he is arguably one of the players we need to build around now and we missed his energy last few games.
ReplyDeletetrue, this "committee" has some serious questions to answer. if rodgers is not making the decisions than i hope his new contract gives him full control because this is a HUGE window 4 us. lallana on the way according to sky. that would be a good start
ReplyDeleteAlberto has been found drunk driving, twice the limit, thats why he has been dropped from the squad.
ReplyDeleteJamie, name a team who has done well in the transfer market, ??.
Signings weren't great, but even 42 million on one player like Ozil for Arsenal doesn't guarantee improvements. Also, some signings take time to make the grade such as Henderson, Lucas and Carragher. I think we need 2 quality fullbacks, and a commanding centre half to play with skirtel. Our attacking force is clearly fine and we have proved we can play with one or two forwards which will accommodate injuries. How many more points would we have if our defence weren't so fragile, error prone and lacking a leader?
ReplyDeleteAspas has done nothing wrong to deserve tha bad press he is getting. He has been very professional and just got on with his job coming on for the last 3,4,5 mins every now and then and on occasion has been in great positions but his team mates failed to pick him out for a pass on a few occasions. Also Alberto another who has always done a job when called upon,and the manager has stated he is one for the future. You also forgot to mention other signings made by Brendan ie Borrini and Assaidi who are both putting themselves into contention for next season And we have some other young lads out Suso Wisdom Adjordan etc. So with all the extra games we have next year surely dome of these lads deserve a good run out so we can see what they can or cannot do before we slate them.
ReplyDeleteIn this transfer window we need three 4 really top class players who wont be cheap and combined with the squad we have go and see what we can do
Completely agree. For the way BR likes to play, we need to add multiple attacking options so we can rotate our squad next year with quality. Because when you play a high pressing high tempo style, it takes a lot out of your attack talent so we need the fresh quality bodies to make sure our team stays fresh and as injury free as possible
ReplyDeleteExpensive training games,Everton & Utd would have popped in for a kickabout for that money.
ReplyDeleteIve read about this topic so many times on this site I didn't even read the whole article as I'm so familiar with the rhetoric. Snore
ReplyDeleteCaptained psg as far as I can remember
ReplyDeleteFor the money spent on Sakho, he should be able to play with both feet. Sadly he is incapable of even controlling the ball on his right foot. let alone pass . Rodgers got it wrong with Sakho. But time will tell if he can improve his right foot.
ReplyDeleteI think the two signings that have contributed to season is Mignolet and Sakho, but the others have been a waste of money.
ReplyDeleteMignolet(25) is a great shot stopper but everything else he is quite pathetic at: Kicking, Distribution and at corners.
B Rodgers should bring in A Mccarthy(24) Of Reading or A Marshall(29) Of Cardiff to compete with S Mignolet(25) this summer, so Mignolet can up his game or take the bench.
Sakho(24) is young and has all the attributes to become awesome centre back but he needs time and he is too similar to Skrtel(29) , they are both mad man like centre backs, both are not leaders and both do not look comfortable on the ball. That is why D Agger(29) complements playing with Skrtel(29) as he is composed and the best footballing player centre back in premiership, just Agger lacks mobility, pace, speed and strength and in premiership that is exposed.
B Rodgers needs to bring in D Lovren(24) Of Southampton for 12-17M to play alongside Sakho(24) this season and B Rodgers should keep D Agger(29) and M Skrtel(29) as champions league partnership( Experience) And Lovren(24) and Sakho(24) in the Premiership.
Aspas, Alberto, Cissokho, Moses, Toure were all pointless signings.
Llori (20) is going to become a star in next 2- 3 years if he can stay fit and injury free, B Rodgers should have spent the £15-£17M on the first 4 players on these 2 players : Y M'Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan for £8-£10M and at the time L Remy(27) Of QPR we could have got for cheap in summer before Newcastle got him on loan for £5-£7M
Those two players we should bring to club this summer still they are both of champions league class and quality. But now L Remy's fee will be more in the £9-£14M bracket
Y M'Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan , B Rodgers should bring to club for £8-£10M
Too true Jamie, Rodgers has been awful with his transfers, Sakho in for Agger really killed our dream, also what happened when he bought Borini ( "the fans will love him" ) still can't see him making it at Anfield. Aspas, Alberto, Assaidi and his loanees Moses and Sissokho just can't get a game, they wont next season either. Sturridge and Coutinho have paid off for him (fortunately). I am amazed at how well we have done this season with the quad we have. So FSG are giving Rodgers £60 million to spend, sell the signings from last summer and a few others, hopefully Johnson and Lucas and it could be £100-£110 million, like you Jamie, i hope we don't waste it this time.
ReplyDeleteMignolet looks dodgy to me, still it's his first season, just hope he gets some stiff competition next year, so he has to fight for his shirt.
ReplyDeletei agree that most of rogers signings havent made much difference to the team but how do you know these was even rogers signings? apparently he wanted more controll of the signings if he was to sign a new contract, i like sakho personally but i doo think its a lack of comunication between sakho and skrtel why they havent played well together, im not saying drop skrtel because hes been our best defender this season but im it would be a btter idea to play toure with sakho cos im sure they both speak french
ReplyDeleteI have to respectfully disagree with you on this. How many times has Gerrard picked up the ball in the middle of the park and passed it with his left foot? When Agger is in how often does he play a pass with his right foot? The answer is not a whole lot. Many liverpool fans always go on about how well they pass the ball but they are average with playing the ball with both feet. So this is not a fair criticism. We spent the money on Sakho to be able to handle the physical forwards, pass the ball out of the back, and lead the back 4. He does the first two well but needs to improve on being the leader which I think will come in time. Again I just have to respectfully disagree with you if you think BR got it wrong with Sakho because he is too left footed.
ReplyDeleteMan City
ReplyDeleteExactly, could not have said it better
ReplyDeleteAbolutely not
ReplyDeleteHave to admit it, but had BR bought one quality player that could have come off the bench to affect the games against Chelsea or Palace, for example, we would be champions.
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem with the aim for bargain buys! You only get it right a few times like Coutinho and Sturridge! I still think the owners felt unjust with the price of Carroll and Downing and to a degree I don't blame them!
ReplyDeleteI can give you Aspas but i disagree on the other 3.
ReplyDeleteSakho is being asked to come to a new club & play in a setup that offers little to no midfield protection, all after a serious injury at PSG if i remember correctly. A 90%+ pass accuracy implies that he controls & distributes the ball well & he wins a lot of his ariel duels so the only point anyone has is his command of the backline. Would Skrtel & Agger allow him to command is the question & there are lots of arguments to suggest that they wouldn't initially! Also, i'd note the comment regarding the language barrier as well but imo all Sakho needs is time, support & less of the preconceptions that come with his price tag. Regardless, to say he is a flop is totally inacurate.
Alberto was clearly signed for the future & BR said as much from day dot so i don't get how he constitutes a flop?! Again, imo he needs time, support & less of the preconceptions that come with his price tag & Barca education.
Mignolet clearly has issues dealing with balls in the air which makes everyone nervous but he's saved us plenty of points & this is his debut season at what is a huge club. Certainly needs better competition than Brad Jones & he still looks a bit 'caught in the headlights' to me but that could be exagerrated by so many things this season, from the teams setup to the Hillsborough memorial! Regardless, to say he's been a flop is, again, totally inacurate!
There's lots of nuances to all of their respective situations & even Aspas gets my 'sympathies' for dealing with the situation in the manner which he has... proffessionally! Imo, you make some sweeping statements & like many LFC fans, your quick to write a player off. Have faith, show them some support & give 'em time, they'll come good!
Brendan Rodgers has to do better with his transfers. Not good enough (and he know it very well)...
ReplyDeleteIf...now. All supposition and not worth addressing. You could just as easily say if the refs hadn't robbed us victory on Boxing Day Liverpool would be League Champions right now. It's water under the bridge. There is a transfer window right around the corner. I'm looking forward...not backward.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you. Really disappointed with how Sakho has performed. Hopefully Mignolet will continue to improve but still not great
ReplyDeleteOn the button Jaimie
ReplyDeleteNo, that's not why Alberto was dropped. That incident happened on March 31st; at that time, he'd already been out of the squad for 6-7 games in a row.
ReplyDeleteYour news headlines all end with three precise full stops and a question mark. Why ...?
ReplyDeleteThis season for Napoli, baby.
ReplyDeleteI would have preferred it in Latin. More authority.
ReplyDeleteHis driving was so out of control, that was the first opportunity they had to catch him.
ReplyDeleteLike a shark. Just as Rodgers would want.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, completely, Jaimie.
ReplyDeleteThe fact BR threw Aspas in as an additional attacker in the Chelsea match highlighted the failure of his transfer activities till date. Or should I say that whatsoever 'transfer committee' is hugely responsible as well? The transfers made by BR/transfer committee simply leaves too much to be desired. Apart from DS and Coutinho, none of that huge long lists of players made impact, positive impact I mean, to the team. Or has the game's economics improved that much to make myself look 'archaic', thinking a 16 mil pounds defender (obviously Sakho) should contribute positively to the team pretty instantly rather than maybe 2-3 seasons later.
We are close, this season, a very close one indeed, to be the league champion after many years (I have not given up hope completely though). I don't know if we can get the same external help from other teams like we have this season ever again, the destabilised Man Utd after SAF, toothless forwards of Chelsea, ever-injured Sergio Aguero of Man City, unrecognisable first team of after-Bale Spurs etc. Still, LFC has performed way over expectations coupled with some breathlessly beautiful attacking football. But the failure in the transfer market certainly cost us a couple of points here and there, latest one being the match against Crystal Palace.
If we are to re-establish ourselves as an elite club in England and Europe starting from next season, we have no other way out but to get it right in this summer's transfer activities. Failure again may make this beautiful 13-14 season looks like a one-hit wonder.
Breaking news on my brain:
ReplyDeleteLiverpool secure deal £22m for Lallana before WC. Lallana sustains cruciate ligament damage in first WC game. Liverpool can't replace him because of Financial Fair Play.
Our transfer activities have been mystifying at times under Rodgers. Under Dalglish/Comolli they were bad (understatement), but I could more consistently see what they were at least trying to do. You can't even say that under Rodgers.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting the idea of this committee. We'll never really know the mechanics until a disgruntled ex-member spills the beans. Maybe our performance will improve transfers because Rodgers will be afforded more faith to choose his targets or maybe the committee/owners will see our success as vindication of their strategies.
Interesting summer ahead. Ultimately I fear that UEFA getting tough on FFP has came at the wrong time for us. I don't see how we could spend £50mil plus players sales (as has been suggested by the Beeb and one broadsheet- the Independent or the Telegraph, I think) and not fall foul of it.
I'd prefer German over Latin anyday
ReplyDeleteIt will always be possible to say we should have done better in the transfer market. Best case scenario is that we have a transfer window where we only sign a couple of players and they both work out. Then maybe the next window someone comes in and doesn't have the desired impact. I think that's just how it is for every team and every manager, and the notion that we would be better off if that money has been spent on someone else ... well that's debatable because you can never know if another player would have worked out. They could have been an even bigger flop. To say that we should have bought players that would make a bigger impact is just redundant and obvious. Rodgers didn't do any of this intentionally and if a player doesn't work out it's because no one can really control these things. What exactly is the point of saying that we would have been better if we had better players? Of course we would, but there isn't anything that we can do about it. The club will learn from what went wrong and try to do better in the future.
ReplyDeleteAs for Sakho and Mignolet ... no, they haven't been world beaters but I'm not sure anyone can specifically say they have cost us anything. Sakho has kept Agger out of the team, that says he must be doing something well. Mignolet has made a few faps during the season but what keeper hasn't? I don't agree that either of them have been particularly bad and I don't agree that it would have been easy or even possible for us to find better players to take those spots. I consider them both to be above average players in their positions, both are recognised internationals and they deserve plaudits for the good work they've done during the year. They've been a part of this team, this brilliant football that we've played and the best PL finish LFC have ever produced. I think it's incredibly unfair to dismiss the impact they've had in that regard. Saying that they could have been better is not a valid reason to dismiss the contributions they actually made.
Both have improvements to make but that's a good thing. Neither player is at their peak and I think we'll see them both improve next year. I would not advocate selling either player and just assuming we'll get an upgrade. Every transfer is a risk and we should focus on positions where we have a higher degree of confidence that we can do better. Improving the players we have is often preferable to risking more money that, given FFP rules, we can't afford to spend.
Believe what you want,B.Rodgers should take the blame for throwing away the title in those last two games. A experienced manager would have known what to do in the position LFC found them selves in the last two games. Barnes is right B.R signings are dross. Hope B.Rodgers,as he says,learns from this season and comes back next season bigger and better.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I agree with you on this JK but I hope that it's mostly a matter of having to sign those who wanted to come rather than those we wanted to come but didn't because we finished 7th last season. I'm convinced the Sakho signing would have never happened had we signed Willian, Mkitharyan or Costa. It never made sense to me that all summer we were chasing attackers and on deadline day we, out of the blue, spend a fortune on two centre halves. So I'm curious to see what happens this summer when there are no excuses of players not wanting to come.
ReplyDeleteIn what way did BR throw away the last 2 games?
ReplyDeleteWas it BR fault that Gerrard made a mistake?
Was it BR fault that the players could not find a way pass 11 Chelsea players who have the best defensive record in the league?
Was it BR fault that against Palace after they scored a lucky goal to get to 3 -1 that our defence and midfield completely switched off?
Some people say that we should of played for a draw against Chelsea, well if you ever want a example of why you do not play for a draw that game is it as anything can happen at any point.
If Gerrard did not make that mistake do you really think Chelsea would of scored?
Against Palace we were 3 - 0 nil up and we had to score more goals to make up the difference against City so sitting back and playing out time was not an option.
In football many strange things happen and whilst mistakes were made for all 3 goals I do not like the fact that no Liverpool supporter I have seen so far has given the Palace payers any credit for fighting back.
I think you're right. We'd have seen Kolo play a few more games and maybe that would have been OK. The thing is, for all our efforts to sign an attacking player it turned out that our problems are defensive. We have no issue scoring goals and you do have to wonder if Willian, Mkhitaryan or Costa would have made a difference?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand maybe in order to score those goals we've had to sacrifice defensive positions in order to get them. Maybe with better quality in midfield or up front alongside SAS we could have scored those same goals without sacrificing positioning at the back. Better midfielders and attackers don't need to have the whole team sitting so high to support them ... or would it have made no difference?
I find the whole thing fascinating. We've been brilliant scoring goals, suffered in defence, but we missed all our attacking targets and our marquee signing was a CB. It's like the whole thing is backwards but in a way it doesn't even matter. Honestly I wouldn't trade it for anything else. We might miss this title shot but it's been an incredible ride.
I agree. The match has been dubbed Crystanbul ... Liverpool fans should understand the irony. We've been on the other end of a more important 3-0 comeback and I don't know of too many people who today would talk about Ancelotti being at fault. These things happen in football, it's why it's such a great game. If there is any "blame" to be assigned then let's agree that we melted down as a team and it's a team failure. Rodgers has some responsibility for perhaps not giving the team the tools and experience required to know how to shut down a game while all 11 players have their own personal responsibility for whatever they failed to do on the day.
ReplyDeleteWell ghost rider,The Chelsea game,BR new Mourinho was going to close shop so why not match him at his own game and take the point that still gives us a good chance.Crystal palace,after they scored twice why did he not try and save the win instead of the draw,and go all out against Newcastle?
ReplyDeleteNo good to Liverpool if he's doin it for Napoli, he should have been doin it for us at some point in the last two years
ReplyDeleteThe new TV deal for the Premier League clubs virtually immunises them from FFP, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteWe will have a wage cap of I think £60m next year (£56m this year, another £4m next, isn't it?), and a potential transfer limit of at least that amount, probably more, without breaking FFP. I think the FFP threshold for our transfer activities will be far above our available revenue.
Thinking about it, we'll be back in the top 10, maybe top 5 richest clubs in world football next season with the Champion's League income. Less and less of the club's revenue is tied up in servicing external debt. It's a pretty rosy picture and I can see why the club have finally moved on the stadium plans. Good times.
He was that drunk he almost crashed his delorean in 1955.
ReplyDeleteIt may be an indicator of his attitude though.
ReplyDeleteI believe I read somewhere (don't quote me) that they don't apply to us because we were not in the champions league this year, so they won't apply till the following season or something like that? Hence why we are not being punished for making a loss this year
ReplyDeleteI think Mkyharian or Willian would have made sure we wouldn't have had to play Allen and Lucas for the last three games which is, not coincidentally, when we lost the title. But I agree with you that in hindsight it would have made more sense had we given more priority to defense rather than making two panic buys on deadline day.
ReplyDeleteLast season Liverpool finished 7th with little sign if challenging for champions league anytime soon. This hampers signings. Look at who we lost out in and to whom and you will realise BR had to make do with gambles. Ericsson, willian, mkyrtan, all chose teams they believed would challenge ECL soon. We will be in a position to attract players based on the style of football we play as well as our recent challenge for honors.
ReplyDeleteWRT Sakho. One of the greatest centre halls in French history rates him highly enough to lead the French defense..... Cannot be bad ( please no jokes about the French defense during the war please). We have also charged forward often leaving the defense exposed.
Mignolet is young for a keeper. He will mature and grow to command his area. It is difficult for a 22 year old keeper to shout at his defenders if they are all full internationals!
Patience guys. Rome was not built in a day. Remember some if the howlers Rafa made, so too Houllier. Let's not mention Dalglish, Souness etc. there are many players that are good players in foreign leagues who fail to make the grade in England due to the pace etc....
I've heard that about the TV money too, but I don't know the specific figures so it may or may not be true.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it is true!
It wont apply to us next season, but it will the season after that. You can lose £37m a year over a 3-year period and comply. I've read we've lost about £90m over the past 2, but I imagine most of that was in Rodgers' first season due to overspending under Dalglish.
ReplyDeleteI'm not completely up to scratch, info-wise, myself, I must say. Just an ongoing concern.
Great Scott!
ReplyDeleteTrue dat, baby.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry too much, we will get to see how much of a joke FFP is when City find a way out of it.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, PSG have been pretty heavily punished (only allowed to sign 1 player!).
ReplyDeleteSakho and Mignolet have also had game saving moments each.
ReplyDeleteFor me, and much like JK I've been harping on about it since game 3, is Mignolet's poor poor distribution ALL season - and if anything it is getting worse.
ReplyDeleteI am simply getting fed up of a goal kick going out to touch before the half-way line - why can the majority of fans be happy with that? Everyone keeps saying he is a great shot stopper - but unfortunately that is not enough for a modern keeper. He needs to be able to control and penalty box and relieve pressure on the defence from high balls as well as be able to kick beyond the half way line to his own player.
absolutely true...This is the time BR proves that he gets quality players not quantity.
ReplyDeleteI agree that too much has been spent on dross who have made little to no impact. With CL next season we will have to improve our squad significantly. Gerrard can't expect to play every single game and injuries might become more prevalent with the added number of games.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot afford to get the transfers wrong this time around. We need to go for top notch players. Players like Ashley Cole, Caulker, Mbia, Adriano are probably not the answer.
OUT:
Reina
Agger (would be missed the most if sold)
Toure
Coates
Wisdom
Enrique
Kelly
Cissokho
Johnson
Assaidi
Moses
Suso
Alberto
Lucas
Ngoo
Aspas
IN:
Within 60M (+20M-35M player sales depending on who and how many we sell)
GK: One of Robert Zieler (24 - Borussia Monchengladbach), Keylar Navas (27 - Levante), David Marshall (29 – Cardiff), Michel Vorm (31 - Swansea)
Est. Cost: 5-9m
CB: Kyriakos Papadopolous (22 - Schalke), Martin Hinteregger (21 – Red Bull Salzburg), Mehdi Benatia (26 –Udinese), Eliaquim Mangala (23 – Porto), Dejan Lovren (25 - Southampton), Cheikhou Kouyate (24 – Anderlecht)
(2 if we sell Agger, release Toure and loan out Ilori again)
Est. Cost: 7-16m for 1
LB: one of Alberto Moreno (21 –Sevilla), Marcos Rojo (23 – Sporting Lisbon), Ricardo Rodriguez ( 21- VFL Wolfsburg)
Ashley Cole is too old, Adriano is overrated....Shaw is too expensive.
Est. Cost: 12-15m
RB : one of Danilo Luiz da Silva (22 – Porto), Marcel Schmelzer (26 - Dortmund), Sime Vrsalijko (21 – Genoa) if we sell Johnson
Est. Cost: 8-15m
DMF: one of Yann M’Vila (23 – Rubin Kazan), Fernando Reges (26 – Porto), Alex Song (27 - Barcelona), Maxime Gonalons (24 – Lyon), Diame (26 – West Ham), Lars Bender (24 – Bayer Levurkusen), Romulo Borges Monteiro (23 – Spartak Moscow)
Est. Cost: 3-20m
CMF/AMF: one or two of Roberto Firminho (22 - 1899 Hoffenheim), Ivan Rakitic (25 – Sevilla), Adam Lallana (25 - Southampton), Daniel Parejo 25 - Valencia), Kevin Volland (21-Hoffenheim), Ilkay Gundogan (23- Dortmund), Hakan Calhanoglu (20 - Hamburg), Granit Xhaka (21 - Borussia Monchengladbach)
Est. Cost: 16-25m
Winger/Fwds (1or2 of): Pedro (26 –Barcelona), Alexis Sanchez (25 - Barcelona), Antoine Griezmann (22 – Real Sociedad), Xherdan Xaqiri (22 – Bayern Munich), Alexandre Lacazette (22- Lyon), Juan Cuadrado (25 Fiorentina/Udinese), Yeven Konoplyanka (24 – Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Nicolas Gaitan (26 - Benfica), Andriy Yarmolenko (24- Zenit St. Petersburg) , Adem Ljajic (22 - AS Roma), Balázs Dzsudzsák (28 – Dynamo Moscow), Lazar Markovic (20 – Benfica)
Est. Cost: 18-30m
Fwds/Strikers: one of Juan Iturbe (20 - Hellas Verona), Rodrigo Moreno Machado (23 - Benfica), Abel Hernandez (23 – Palermo), Loic Remy (27 - QPR – on loan at New Castle), Christian Tello (22 - Barcelona), Alvaro Morata (21 - Real Madrid)
Est. Cost: 9-22m
Would be great but unlikely due to many factors (price, club rivalry, not on market, just transfered recently, integral player in latter CL round, elite class, current or future star, fan of another Club):
Hummels, Vertonghen, Shaw, Coentrao, Montoya, Kroos, Reus, Muller, Draxler, Koke, Isco, Barkley, Turan, Mkhitaryan, Diego Costa, Cavani, El Shaarawy.
Disclaimer on estimated prices due to our terrible track record on average of negotiating deals and my optimistic ｅｖａｌｕａｔｉｏｎｓ．
ReplyDeleteSakho has been the most massive transfer blunder since Andy Carroll. How on earth did we end up paying 18m for a CB who was not good enough to be in PSG's starting line-up (and that under several consecutive managers)? I doubt anyone would pay more than 5m for Sakho at this stage as he is clearly a liability and will hopefully be gone come next season. I would just donate him to Old Trafford, that would wreck them for years to come.
ReplyDeleteAspas did not work out, but the loss we will take on him should be minimal compared to Sakho. Luis Alberto will hopefully turn up next season and show his worth.