I'm not saying it was Kenny or Comolli, I am saying it was both! Since both have to agree to signing a certain player then it is also irrelevant which components come first, second, third or last etc. This 'buy British whenever possible' thing is a bit of a myth really. Everyone seems to think that is the first tick box on their criteria. IMO, that is a benefit if the have two equal players that they are choosing between but highly doubt that would take a lesser British player over a better foreign player. Of the nine players to arrive under the Kenny / Comolli regime, we signed Suarez, Enrique (from a British club but not British), Coates and Doni, that is four non-British players (or 44.4% of signings if you prefer). I think the main reason we signed a few British players was to do with rulings stating you have to have so many homegrown players in the side. I realise that this is only in Europe at present but isn't it due to be adapted in leagues too? I could be wrong here so please feel free to correct me if so. Of the five British signings, I am happy with two of them (Bellamy and Henderson). We paid too much for both Carroll and Downing (would we complaining as much had we paid around £10m for each?) and Adam is not of Liverpool standard IMO. Of the nine signings made, one is a back-up, one is for the future (actually think it is more but basing this on games played this year) leaving seven others. Of those seven, I think Bellamy, Suarez and Enrique have been excellent with only Henderson with a question mark above his head. Three or four out of seven is not that bad IMO and the issue is purely based on the figures paid.
In his book, Kenny says Comolli had more or less signed Suarez by the time he took over from Hodgson. comolli still seeked Kenny's approval and Kenny was aware of how good Suarez was in the Dutch league and said absolutely. Kenny was also already aware of Henderson, bearing in mind the book was written before we signed Jordan
We should never have sold Bellers when we did and im made up we re-signed him and im in total agreement that him,Suarez and Enrique are the best of what we bought,the problem lies with what those 3 cost compared to what the others did and who we could have bought instead,i cant say i agree with those who say Henderson is 'one for the future' because we've got an academy full of players for the future that cost us nothing or close to it. Anyway whatever will be will be no matter what we say or think.
We shouldn't have sold Bellers but, given the situation at the time, I was glad we did as it helped us get Fernando Torres. If we had that time again with the current owners I think we would have had both
I think us trying to get Clichy stunk of Comolli too, btw. Nothing scientific here but he just seems like a Comolli type of signing. Looks good in stats with 1v1 duels etc but doesn't take into account how many times he is caught out of position or plays someone onside when he has a lapse in concentration. **** these ****ty chance creation stats and everything else involved with "moneyball", can't we just have a scout who watches a player and says if he's good or not good enough for us. Not being funny but I could've told you last summer that Adam isn't suited to a 4-4-2 and that Downing isn't very good. If the plan was all along to play 4-4-2 then why buy a player who was shunted out of Rangers purely because he couldn't play in a midfield due to alack of pace so was pushed out onto the wing in the hope his technique would make up for his physical deficiencies.
Thats spot on,there's a man getting paid Brewsters for seeing what we supporters see ie:-your point about Adam and Downing etc and hes buzzing like hes the dogs bollox of football scouts. I'd like to see a duel responsibility for this season if it ultimately costs Kenny his job,otherwise our next manager will be lumbered in the same way. Unless Rafa makes a comeback under his rules.
I just want to know what Comolli does to be honest? He's apparently a scout/negotiator. But how is it that we've paid top dollar for most players? Henderson/Carroll/Downing we overpaid on all of them by about double their actual worth. Its quite obvious he isn't very good at this negotiation malarkey, yet people talk about Kenny spending £35m on X and £20m on Y. If you've got a board that can't negotiate anything then you're obviously going to be paying higher prices for the players you want. He has indirectly caused a lot of pressure on the players and manager because he paid miles over what they were worth because he simply doesn't seem to be a very good negotiator. If he'd got Henderson & Downing for £10m a piece then Carroll for £20m then we'd have close to £0 net spend and people wouldn't really be expecting as much from us. So if he's not good at actually negotiating then where was he supposed to be scouting last season and this season, seeing as he didn't get us involved in deals with the likes of Cabaye/Ba/Cisse and Sigurdsson who went to two clubs that are miles smaller than us and don't pay half as much in wages. No way would these players have picked Swansea or Newcastle over us at the time, but somehow we weren't even involved. For me if Dalglish is to be sacked at the end of the season, which I feel there is a good chance of happening, then Comolli should get sacked aswell. Otherwise, as you say, then the next manager is going to be unfairly hamstrung by Comolli's poor signings and interference. I can see Rafa, if he ever comes back, and Comolli, if he isn't sacked, getting on like a house on fire!
It does work both ways, though. If Aston Villa/Sunderland say 'It's 20m or no deal', what can you do? Neither club were desperate to sell the players, while we were apparently desperate to get them. That said, of the 3, Downing should have been negotiated lower. He had less time left on his contract and indeed in his career. If Comolli said to Villa 'I'll give you what you paid for him (12m) plus 1m, because that's the best you'll ever get for him at this stage', maybe it would have worked. Although Arsenal were allegedly in for him too. Sunderland and Newcastle would have happily kept Henderson and Carroll. He did well to get Enrique for 6m or whatever it was, too. If Rafa came back, there'd be very little need for Comolli. He's a far better judge of player, it seems.
If they say that then you say no deal and find a better value transfer. Its no coincidence that we got bummed transfer wise in the summer. Meireles sold for 12m then Henderson in for 16? Aquilani out to the Italian champions on a try before you buy deal. Insua out for a measly fee now he's a key Sporting player. Paying Cole's wages to go to Lille and then spending 20m on Downing? As I say, bummed from all sides and thats down to our chief negotiater Mr Damien Comolli.
Depends on the stance of the club, though. If FSG gave the green light for £20m, then Comolli would do the business. Trouble is, if that's the case, you'd question FSG's judgement as much as anything. They're new to football so hardly know appropriate values of players. Maybe Comolli is the one who sets the upper limit? I don't know who's in charge of that one. Whoever decided that Downing was a higher priority than Mata is a moron, though.
Totally agree. As frustrating as it is though, we've built the back of the team now. Reina; Johnno, Skrtel, Agger, Jose; Lucas is a very solid base of players to build off. Then the likes of Gerrard and Suarez are very good attacking players to build around. People are going into meltdown when there's absolutely no need. Yes, we've been poor this season in the league but we've also gone to the Etihad, the Emirates and Stamford Bridge x2 and won. And we've won a trophy, something only 1 or 2 PL sides will be able to say at the end of the season. Our team is pretty much ****ed mentally after the whole Suarez thing and the amount of times we've battered teams only to lose or draw by conceding late goals. Our goal for this season should be win the fa cup then we should get a nice break, bring fresh blood in and forget about the negatives of this season. New season, new start. The fans should do the same IMO, give every player a clean slate fot the new season.
What a joke that was yesterday. I thought we played well the first 20 and they looked like a pub team to be honest but then the weak homer officials bottled making a decision that would have changed the game, Simpson should have been off and we would have had a pen and I cant believe that total ***** Pardew does'nt even have the balls to admit that it was a blatant pen and sending off. Then to top it all off Cisse was only about 12 yards offside for their second goal. Reina deserved to be sent off it was stupid in what he did but that cheating diving scumbag Perch should be ashamed of himself the way he acted, if Suarez did that he would have been destroyed in the papers but I suppose English players dont cheat do they? For me the game was decided by very poor officials not having the bottle to make big decisions in the game.
look guys all year we've looked good for about a half hour then faded. every game. the ref missed a pen and sending off, thats life. the only thing that would annoy me is the failure to address the bottling of it shelvey did following his yellow. he stopped playing and i would have hoped he'd have been moved more forward to try and get o nthe ball or we would have called gerrard over and told him to start running or start putting his tracksuit on... things like that. I don't blame perch, carroll did as bad, i blame pepe. He was thick. I really do think we are starting games with about 8 men on the pitch. carragher, gerrard and flanagan right now.... add that to the averageness or either spearing or henderson and you can see where the issue is. Get us fit and playing and we'll go do better but unitl then the manager is trying just about everything guys are calling for and its not working. If he makes 3 subs at half time next game they'll critisie for that too.
Some pictures from yesterday's game. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
