Liverpool's poor start to the season continued last night with a 3-0 home defeat to Real Madrid, and once again, none of Brendan Rodgers' new signings made any specific, measurable impact on the tame. So far, the net return on the club's £120m summer investment is three measly goals, which, by any standard, is extremely worrying. Much of that outlay is LFC's standard overpayment on players, and according to Southampton legend Gordon Watson, the Reds grossly overpaid for two specific players.
In a recent interview with the Daily Echo, Watson argued:
“We might have paid too much for Shane [Long], but Liverpool paid way too much for Adam Lallana. They also paid way too much for Lovren"
Prior to signing Lallana, I argued against spending £26m on him, and my view remains the same. Lallana is a very good player, but is really worth more than the likes of Kroos, and Rakitic, both of whom have hit the ground running for their respective teams? To be fair to Lallana, he missed pre-season, so he's still getting up to speed, but his one goal aside, his actual impact on LFC's games so far is negligible.
As for Lovren - it's typical LFC, really. The Croatian was heavily linked with a move to Anfield during the summer 2013 transfer window. The club dragged its feet, and he ended up joining Southampton for £8m. Fast forward a year, and Liverpool splurge £20m on a player they could've got for (comparative) peanuts.
To add insult to injury, LFC dropped £18m on Mamadou Sakho, so overall, the club has (arguably) wasted a combined £30m: £18m on Sakho, and the extra £12m on Lovren.
Abject fee negotiation aside, I genuinely believe that Lallana and Lovren (plus Moreno) are the most likely of all Rodgers' summer signings to be long-term successes at Anfield. Both are enduring tough starts to their Liverpool careers, but when all is said and done, they're quality players, and that will (hopefully) shine through with time.
It's a bit of a cliche now, but Jordan Henderson is a prime example of LFC seemingly overpaying for a player who eventually came good.
Here's hoping Lallana and Lovren follow a similar career trajectory...Rodgers' job may well depend on it.
Author: Jaimie K
In a recent interview with the Daily Echo, Watson argued:
“We might have paid too much for Shane [Long], but Liverpool paid way too much for Adam Lallana. They also paid way too much for Lovren"
Prior to signing Lallana, I argued against spending £26m on him, and my view remains the same. Lallana is a very good player, but is really worth more than the likes of Kroos, and Rakitic, both of whom have hit the ground running for their respective teams? To be fair to Lallana, he missed pre-season, so he's still getting up to speed, but his one goal aside, his actual impact on LFC's games so far is negligible.
As for Lovren - it's typical LFC, really. The Croatian was heavily linked with a move to Anfield during the summer 2013 transfer window. The club dragged its feet, and he ended up joining Southampton for £8m. Fast forward a year, and Liverpool splurge £20m on a player they could've got for (comparative) peanuts.
To add insult to injury, LFC dropped £18m on Mamadou Sakho, so overall, the club has (arguably) wasted a combined £30m: £18m on Sakho, and the extra £12m on Lovren.
Abject fee negotiation aside, I genuinely believe that Lallana and Lovren (plus Moreno) are the most likely of all Rodgers' summer signings to be long-term successes at Anfield. Both are enduring tough starts to their Liverpool careers, but when all is said and done, they're quality players, and that will (hopefully) shine through with time.
It's a bit of a cliche now, but Jordan Henderson is a prime example of LFC seemingly overpaying for a player who eventually came good.
Here's hoping Lallana and Lovren follow a similar career trajectory...Rodgers' job may well depend on it.
online survey
Author: Jaimie K
It is early days
ReplyDeletelallana looks good so far he was in pfa short list over silva 26m , nasri 25m ,milner 30m ,ozil 42m , mata 37m
lovren on the other hand has nearly cost us a goal a game he somehow keeps kicking the air ,
but i will give him time like henderson and allen he was very good last season
also i dont agree with this
ReplyDeletegoals or assist otherwise negligible attitude
modric and alonso don't get goals and assist but contribute to play a lot
lallana gets us up the field really well
lovren needs a time out
ReplyDeleteit was IMO that augero goal that probably ruined his confidence that was a poor goal to give away
henderson,sterling,allen,skrtel,coutinho, all benifited from time outs
what i want to know now is did we overpay for jordan henderson ?
ReplyDeletebecause IMO he is 100% worth it but at the time he was not he looked like a league one player now he is our most important
so that would be a nice poll did lfc overpay for jh?
I still dont understand in what way is lovren better than agger and markovic ii better than Suso.....instead of marko we could have bought Roberto Firmino he would have cost less and is far versatile......
ReplyDeleteI really feel Sakho has been hard done by. Has never been as bad as Lovren has been. If he doesn't get another chance we will lose the player who could arguably be the best of our bunch. His France form alone should hint towards that.
ReplyDeleteI think we probably did overpay for both slightly but we are only talking a few million so no biggie really. Of our new signings I agree Lallana, Lovren, Moreno and IMO Can are the most likely to succeed. Very hard to see any promise in Markovic it has to be said but I'm willing to give him time to prove himself, the kids clearly talented just majorly lacking in confidence at the moment.
ReplyDeleteLovren is too weak mentally to succeed at the top level, every time there s a bit of pressure he makes a mistake.
ReplyDeletei think
ReplyDeleteorigi,lallana,markovic,can,moreno and lovren will succeed because
they all were clearly scouted extensively
manquillo was a opportunistic signing as was balotelli that is why i do not think both will succeed at liverpool
We overpaid for everyone really!
ReplyDeleteRemember yesterday you were calling for Coutinho to be sold in January.
ReplyDeleteI think too much for Lallana but he's still a good footballer. But im not sure Lovren was even worth buying.
ReplyDeletethat would be a brilliant argument..if we supported france. sadly the only hint from his liverpool form points towards diabolical. still, a crumb of comfort, he isn't alone.
ReplyDeleteyour not wrong! our negotiators must have been trained by trigger from only fools and horses. start off with an offer of a fiver then decide that's too low and do yourself out of twenty. good job they don't negotiate hostage releases....carnage!!!!!
ReplyDeletea future captain by all accounts, a leader,say others. they should have an alcohol ban at anfield.
ReplyDeleteor his mother, at the moment.
ReplyDeletehe doesnt
ReplyDeleteWho does'nt, ?
ReplyDeletethe guy above you doesn't remember what he said yesterday
ReplyDeleteI think Michael Dawson at £6m and an England International would have offered us leadership organisation and dominance in the air even though he may be a little on the slow side. Then there is the Liverpool lad Scott Dann standing at 6ft 5inches. He had an incredible second half to the season with Crystal Palace and at £6mill I would have liked to see if he could have done the job we needed. Neither are any slower than Carra was when he retired and they are both leaders.
ReplyDeleteWe have spent £38 million on two center backs which is ridiculous when you consider alderweireld has hit the ground running and will only cost £6-8 mill. Ron Vlaar also made Villa's own 'Skrtel' Phillipe Senderos look a good player before getting injured so he could have also been a possible value for money signing.
Lallana was one of my favourite players even before we signed him he reminds me of Waddle, Mcmanaman and Le tissier rolled into one. Love watching him play.
Disagree. His form as far as I have seen has not been great for sure not not diabolical. Something like two errors leading to a goal scoring chance last season If I remember rightly none of which led to a goal. Both CB's have done worse than that this season. He has not fond the France form no but he has never been near as bad as the current incumbents are looking. Lesser evil perhaps but those are the options.
ReplyDeletePersonally I wanted fonte but after watching lovern in the world cup and looking back at some Southampton games I felt confident he could do the job. Lallana I think progresses every game, the cl game was the first time I felt he was out of his depth.
ReplyDeleteMignolet is scaring the poop out of me though. He is getting worse and worse. He looks absolutely lost and scrambling around for nothing. His lack of confidence I think is having a huge impact on our defense, players are over committing and trying to to much to often. We need a authoritative voice to control our shape at the back. One of our CBS need to step up.
I think Lallana is worth the money. The dedication you get on top of his skill and creativity is hard to come by. I don't think there are so many players out there who will run and press right to the last minute the way Lallana has shown he's willing to. That's not to say at all that these are his best qualities, he's otherwise a very good football player and I expect plenty more goals and assists from him through the season. Having the combination of skills and determination is what makes a good Liverpool player and that's why you pay the larger fees.
ReplyDeleteLovren is still debatable ... but he's clearly got the quality to be a very good defender. Like every defender at Liverpool he's just suffering from individual mistakes and a lack of confidence in the system. He needs to be better to justify the expense but it's not really his fault that the whole team is failing defensively.
Rubbish
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely we overpaid, there's no question about that. Lallana is a good player don't get me wrong, but not worth £25M.
ReplyDeleteFor that money we could have tempted Hoffenheim and Dortmund to sell their stars (Reus & Firminio). And Lovren as well, we over payed.
We overpaid for Markovic, Lallana, Lovren and even Balotelli, I don't beliee he was worth the £16M.
As an example:
Instead of Markovic= Depay or Firminio
Instead of Lallana= Reus, Draxler or Rakticic
Instead of Lovren= Benatia
Instead of Balotelli= Falcao
But I know transfer are not as simple as this.
One thing that gives me conform is that we went for Sanchez, he simply chose Arsenal instead. No begrudment there from me.
But just imagine him in our team, Sterling, Studge and Sanchez (Triple S)
Could it be that the top players ask Brendan Who? What has he won? Then refuse to come
ReplyDeletePEOPLE SAID WE PAID TOO MUCH FOR HENDERSON AND NOW LOOK HE IS WORTH EVERY PENNY
ReplyDeleteWe overpaid for Henderson, because in that transfer window we could buy some spanish or south american player for less money and much better technique.
ReplyDeleteLyon was happy to sell Lovren because against quality opposition he always made mistakes.
ReplyDeleteagreed theres a plethora of Cb in the 10m bracket out there ....i may get laughed at but i thought lescott on a free would have been ideal for our defence
ReplyDeleteAgreed. More than good enough for the prem....he's won the prem! with Kolo! The Everton connection may have been hard for some to swallow though.
ReplyDelete