A lot has been going through my mind, some good some bad and right now I’m not so sure I know where to begin. So this might come across as an unreasonable rant, but I feel I need to let some of my anger out.
What on earth has Kenny Dalglish gone and done with £100m? Firstly, he starts off by spending £35m (transfer record) on a player who is meant to be good in the air, since when do you spend that amount of money on a player who can’t offer you anything else? And then when the player arrives you all of a sudden realise that he isn’t even good in the air at all. His movement is crap, he stands on the bloody football pitch, he’s lethargic, no pace, not a hope in hell of getting past a defender, and let’s not even start on his ball control. The guy lays-off a ball to a winger in the middle of the park, then stands there. He then stands there, WTF??? What the hell is Bellamy supposed to do when he gets to the by-line?
To top it all off, we went and overpaid on other players who were supposedly meant to get this guy firing. £20m on a “moneyball” signing (most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard) who is supposed to provide the quality ball for our one dimensional record signing to feed off. And more money on another chap whose set-piece alone was apparently worth £10m at some point. Not to mention £20m on some youngster who is supposed to be the next best thing. The most depressing bit is that we got rid of some perfectly good players to accommodate this lot.
What peeves me the most is when I go onto the LFC forums and I see someone saying they think Andy Carroll played well. He won a few headers in the air (around the centre circle, might I add) and laid off a few balls. Really??? Is that what it takes to be considered a striker good enough for Liverpool Football Club, is that what we should be expecting from a £35m investment? For some reason our management seem to think it’s fine to splash unheralded amounts of money on what I and many others would consider to be at best average players, players whom no other top club would touch.
To think that Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam were considered to be the right kind of player to take us forward still has me scratching my head. Our management seem to be settling for for these second grade players and are happy to over pay for them, and we have a lot of LFC fans who also seem to think we are going on the right path by getting these second graders in. I feel short changed by our management at present, I don’t think they have made the best use of FSG’s money here.
Am I misreading something here? To me it seems like we are starting to accept mediocrity and that we can’t compete with the other top sides for the best talent around. I thought we were fucking LFC or do I have that mixed up as well.
Now you can point at the league table and say we are not is such bad shape but for how long are going to keep relying on Chelsea and Arsenal to keep dropping point for us to stay in touch? We ought to be doing much better. I happen to think that considering the amount we have spent on building this squad we should really be expecting more.
This article was written by Ngoni and is courtesy of our partner website ourkop.com. Read the latest news and blogs about Liverpool FC at Our Kop. – ed
Introducing the neat little app that’ll pay you to view content tailored to your interests:
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.
It seems everyone forgets that we were told that the squad was rebuilding and that we would not challenge this year. The idea was to build a squad that would work together and grow – as we cannot do a City or a Chelski and buy a title. Too many people slag the project off when they do not seem to know what they are talking about. Carroll may one day be a great player but I fail to see shy we bought him fof the money. David Villa with a broken leg would seem better value!!
Rebuilding doesn’t mean bying crappy over the odd’s expensive english players for £100m.
The idea must be to buy better players than we already have. If the £100m where used wisely and on quality like Suarez, we would have been a big step closer to rebuilding a strong team.
Two points behind Arsenal and three behind Chelsea is improvement. After sales, FSG laid out something like £30m (a little less than the interest on H & G’s debt!). I agree Carroll, Adam, Henderson and Downing aren’t top drawer and apart from Henderson, shouldn’t have a long term future at Anfield. However the signing of Enrique and Bellamy has been outstandingly successful. Coates looks decent too. The first step was to close the gap with the top four and then to make a determined title challenge. Phase two will depend on the quality of this year’s signings.
Not forgetting the money we saved in wages on our transfer business since Kenny came back estimated to be £25-30m a season, so by the time summer comes back around our net spend will be in the region of £5m!
Not bad when you think of the state we were in when Woy departed, We’re only short of a striker! If RVP or Ba had been playing for us this season we’d be the title race.
you don’t rebuild squad with 100 mil. You spend 100 mil to be in the top 4
we didnt spend 100m so this comment is irrelevant. Thanks.
The gap to 4th place is not that great through no effort from us. The gap hasn’t closed due to us improving but more due to Arsenal and Chelsea deteriorating.
Why dont you tell us all something we dont no!!! People write that heading up everyweek….
plus we have a “new signing” of Steven Gerrard who may make a difference!!!!
Kenny has been in charge for just over a year and if you think how far we have come then you will realise that the money is on its way to be justified. If you have watched our games this year then you would realise that we are not a million miles away from the top. There is probably one or two games we have played this season that we have not deserved to win. Whatever you say about this team you cannot say our buildup play and attacking threat isn’t one of the best in the league. We just have to look at what Kenny did at Blackburn to regain hope. He built a team around the superstar that was Alan shearer. Who had heard of players like Stuart ripley, David batty, Chris Sutton, and Colin hendry before they were part of a team that worked together under kenny’s guidance? We should wait another couple of years to judge how much of a failing his signings have been. There is no doubt that Carroll is overpriced, but he is young and if in a couple of years he becomes a Liverpool team player as dalglish would like, then he will be well on his way to justifying the fee.
It sounds like you’ll rather be in the Hicks and Gillett bleak era just over a year ago. This time last year we were in a much worse place and Kenny has significantly improved the standings this season. He made us aware that it wont be a quick fix that will win us the league or get into the top 4, and anyone who thinks this is quite simply a fool.
As for the signings, over priced? Yes. That’s only because Mike Cashly saw the £50mil transfer of Torres to Chelsea and demanded more money. But Suarez cost around 23mil, he’s more of a 35mil player. Jose Enrique cost us around £5mil and we know he’s worth a whole lot more. Craig Bellamy was brought in on a free. So this shows you that you win some and lose some.
The ‘quality’ that you speak of – It’s not like we can buy the likes of Higuain, Aguero, Cavani as we don’t offer Champions League football. You have to take that into account.
The title of this article is horribly wrong, “£100m down”? We sold Torres (50m) Babel (6m) NGog (6m) Meireles (13m) and we’ve shed a load off our wage bill. I saw the figure to be around 20m-ish. So the figure stands at about 75-80mil raised. So we’re not really 100mil down, are we?
“The most depressing bit is that we got rid of some perfectly good players to accommodate this lot.” – Some perfectly good players who didn’t want to be at LFC? Look past that, please. I’d much rather have people who want to play for this club, rather than spoilt cry babies who want out.
We’re 3 points off 4th, in the semis of the Carling Cup and in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
If people spent more time backing the players rather than constantly slating them, then maybe they’ll have a bit of self belief?
So lighten up a little, please. It could be a lot worse.
Of course we are not actually £100m down its only £50m (or are you forgetting Torres?) Suarez, Enrique, Bellamy – did we overpay for them?? I totally accept Carroll & Downing have been disappointing so far but I also see a different Caroll when Gerrad has been on the pitch too.i still see Henderson as a great prospect and Adam as a useful acquisition for £7m. Most of all, I would much rather watch the football Kenny is serving up than the garbage we saw under Hodgson. Who by the way are the “perfectly good players”? Cole, Babel, Acquilani? The last one maybe never had a fair chance but that was hardly Kenny’s fault. I wish we could have kept Alonso, Mascherano, Arbeloa and even Torres but all wanted out – again nothing to do with Kenny. So where were we a year ago and where Are we now – still a long way to go but I would call it acceptable progress – lets get real & let’s see where we are come May ( assuming the FA leave us alone.)
100 million spent and still have to rely on gerrard
He didn’t so much buy Carroll for £35m as swap Torres for Carroll plus £15m. It was all part of the same deal. If Newcastle would have taken £5m for him, you would be complaining that Torres only went for £20m.
Spot on.
I could have written this article.
Why make a fuzz about the 100m spent. Its the net spend that counts. The net spend was around 25-30m, which seems fair to rebuild a squad. LFC also cut their wages.
spending: 100mm (adam, downing, henderson, carroll, suarez, enrique)
proceeds from sales: 66mm (torres + meireles)
thats a 34mm net spend. Suarez is worth more than that (you have to think we have made a big gain on him). Enrique was a bargain. henderson has great potential and will get better. given his age you can write his fee off over 10 years.
Caroll has clealry not worked out.
Adam is so so
In my view Downing is good. If you lok at his stats he is getting the crosses in. We just dont have anyone clinical enought to finish them off.
All told, they have done ok. Not a disaster AT ALL. Even Caroll bought at age 21 has 10 years to run. Thats the advantage of buying young. You have time on your side.
Of course mistakes have been made – theres no club on the planet with perfect forseight!!!
Liverpool are doing fine with transfers. Its a 3 year project.
be patient.
ok our net spending is not 100 mil. But i expect better players to be honest. Its funny nowadays people pay 35 mil for player similar to big Duncan. I think maybe Kenny doesn’t have the network and influence to purchase better players especially foreign players. The thing is we don’t know if the Americans will spend more so if these are the players that we are stuck with then we are facing a gloomy future.
Reina
Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique
A.Johnson Gerrard Adam Downing
Suarez
Carroll
YNWA
Funny how liverpool fans spend money on mediocre endlish players. Sorry I am liverpool but live in United States. I was thrilled an American bought LFC. The article is pure perfect. Suarez and Bellamy(30) are the only decent signings. Carrol is a joke that cant run nor use his feet. Poor positioning and zero ball sense. Henderson(overated), Adams(runs without direction) downing(one way traffic) and Enrique is a little decent. Coates still doesnt undetstand what Epl means and now they want sign more players again. Ridiculous….Stingy Arsrne wenger is performing better with low budget and av rt age players. If arsene wenger had 100 million, he will be topping d table. How come Carrol is more expensive than Dzeko, Aguero, chicharito, Mata, fabregas, gervinho, ashley young, balitolli, david silva…i can keep listing. We the english hype our pkayers so much. Pool should have gone for mata,
Enrique is a little decent? You clearly have no idea mate. You only have to read that quote of yours and the rest of your opinion is not valid.
You listed all the players that we could’ve bought instead, but hasn’t it dawned upon you that maybe because we’re not in Europe we can’t purchase them along with their hefty wages?
Just think a little deeper than what’s on the outside, English players are more expensive because there is a cap in this country of how many foreign players a squad can have.
You go on to say that we could’ve bought Bent, another “over-rated British player” you just slaughtered in your previous sentence? Yakubu played for Everton, are you serious to think we’d take him? You talk about quality then mention Yakubu…
…diego forlan, bent, and probably yakubu…guys that can score any kind of goals.
Can’t believe people are giving excuses of purchasing crap players, we are crazy if we think these players can compete in champions league and I dont see how we can get the fourth place. Please people the Liverpool brand is fading, I can see the younger kids are supporting teams like man u,chelsea and city. We need marque signing so kids can be proud wearing their heroes jerseys. So if you think this is a 3 year project it makes no sense to me as downing (winger that cant pass fullbacks)is already 27, charlie adam is 26, If its a 3 year project then we should buy players age 20-24. So why are we happy with this owner if they are giving same excuse of not building a new stadium and can’t provide the funds to compete with the top clubs. Im sad that we are contented of being mediocre.
Can’t believe people are giving excuses of purchasing crap players, even if we get to top 4, we are crazy if we think these players can compete in champions league. Please people Liverpool is loosing its brand, I can see the younger kids are supporting teams like man u,Chelsea and city. If you think this is a 3 year project it makes no sense to me as downing (winger that cant pass fullbacks)is already 27, charlie adam is 26. And why are we happy with this owner if they are giving same excuse of delaying building a new stadium and can’t provide the funds to compete with the top clubs. Im sad that we are contented of being mediocre.