I would say fair enough although I would imagine KK had sod all to do with what was paid and that was down to DC but ultimately the buck stops with the owners (no pun intended. Not only do they sign the cheques but they did employ both KK and DC as well. So wherever you stand on KK and DC they either ****ed up when they employed them or ****ed up when they didn't give them time to see it through. As I've said before if they do the right things then were all happy. If we go into next year having sold some of the older players and have spent on some young talent or improvements I will have no beef with their dealings this summer and will be more than happy to say so....but if they are forcing a situation whereby BR has to sell our best players who he wants to keep then as far as I'm concerned they can go **** themselves
I would say that when they signed KK and DC they were naive to the football business and went for the fan's favourite. I think all parties could have done better, our business dealings with transfers and handling of the media has been shambolic over the last 18 months. So far we have spent £25m with little income from sales so far. If we sold Agger for £23m+ and reinvested that money we would still have a decent net spend. Although it would still leave a bitter taste in my mouth... could we really really question our owner's if they still spent over £20m? I suppose it would depend on how we use that money IF it were to happen, also our league performance will factor in. It is easy to look at our transfer failings when things start to go wrong. My point being, if we sold Agger and went on to achieve more than we could have expected this season then it would be viewed as a good piece of business, and vice versa if it goes wrong. (not saying I think we should sell him btw) Bottom line is...I think we should hold on to him, and find funds from elsewhere. Personally I don't think it's unrealistic that we could bring in Sahin and Tello without having to sell anyone else. Adam and Cole would be a bonus.
I agree with a lot of this and its where my thinking is right now. The owners must take some of the responsibility for the money we overspent! It was their decision to bring in DC and attempt to replicate some of the moneyball strategies. Now it seems as Sir MuppetFinder quite rightly points out we are back to having to sell before we can buy and risk another period of stagnation due to THEIR own mistakes. We are not that far off closing the gap on the 3rd-6th placed teams; perhaps 70mil? If we spent that then we would also have four or five squad places in excess and could then sell some of the fringe players that are surplus. Perhaps a net spend of 40mil? Starting to piss me off a little to be honest, whilst I don't advocate splashing the cash like Chavs and City, we find ourselves in the same position when Rafa was having to play squad poker!
Possibly, although at that stage of the season we were going nowhere anyway so its not like we were relying on a striker to get us in the champs league or the title. In the end we bought a player who was injured for most of the rest of the season anyway!!!
We made some mistakes- we need to learn from them, not repeat them. I prefer the more measured approach to signings this time round, throwing money around is daft unless you know where it's going. Still hope we don't lose Agger, but even if we do, I'll still reserve judgement until I see how we shape up this season.
1. i agree with muppet that we look to be selling to be buying 2. i agree with gonzo that it would hel if rodgers didn't give the press one liners then have to come out for weeks after clarifying what he should have said. i must say to me about 30% of his time is spent hyping carroll and agger in a very lickup sort of way showing how much he loves them now. rodgers didn't say much either time but he set alarm bells ringing and the press hounds scrambling. If he tones this down to some no nondescript phrase like "he's an lfc player and that all there's to be said" or whatever he won't look a liar if a player is sold really nor will the press have an excuse to hype a story. agger was mooted earlier in the summer and the story died, the papers had printed city had moved on to other targets "interest cooled" 3. I'm still going to be the first to say it coates can be as good as agger. all i said above was he's got the potential.... fine he's not as good today but we have to back the guy too. the reality is if agger drops on saturday with a rib or knee or ankle injury has he has done who's coming in anyway? carragher? Coates is a fine young player who can really make the grade as a top top player. this is why if we sell agger i won't cry about it.
That's not strictly true IMO. Had they (or Kenny or DC) come out and said look we bid for a Carroll but Newcastle wanted £35 mill so we wouldn't pay that much I think the vast majority of us would have said fair enough. After all at that time they could point to Suarez and say...look what we have got for you No use crying over spilt milk and as I say all I want from them (and I'm sure we all want the same) is for them to do the right thing. Personally I do not think selling our best defender who doesn't want to go and the manager (says) doesn't want to go is the right thing. Do you?
I agree, if people were pissed off...it would only be for the short term anyway. We played the rest of that season pretty well without Carroll featuring much. Wonder what the summer would have been like then? Like you said...spilt milk and all that. #Moveon
Joe Cole yes, Andy Carroll no. I'll tell you why, our rivals don't have a player like him. He's our plan B and should be used as such. He's leaner, fitter and more determined than he's been previously. Its a massive season for him and he knows it. If he disappoints this season, sell him net summer. He deserves chance. Liverpool don't need the money for Agger, Brendan Rodgers doesn't want to sell and the player doesn't want to go. Although the speculation won't stop until 23.59 on August 31st.
A lot of people see Borini as Carroll's replacement in the first 11. But I think... Suarez---Carroll---Borini is stronger than... Suarez---Borini---Downing
I hear what you're saying but my concern is that we're willing to get rid of one of our best players in Agger, who fits in with our style of play just to raise some cash to improve other areas. I rather get rid of Carroll, who won't be used as much and use that money to improve the attack. I know it was only one pre-season match but you could see how the attack slowed down and the temptation to lump it forward when Carroll came on. I know this is not his fault - the other players have to get used to playing on the deck when AC is on, but this 'default' mentality of hoofing can slow our progress (i.e. adapting fully to BR's new style). I rather sell the Plan B to help improve the Plan A.
The Agger thing is mere speculation. Have you not heard what Brendan Rodgers has said? He's said ''all players have a price''. He never said he wanted to sell. Daniel Agger has said he doesn't want to go, but it may be over both his head and Brendan Rodgers head if he does move. However not once have the owners come out and said they want to sell Daniel Agger. They have been rejecting bids made by Manchester City. The positive news from Liverpools perspective is that its unlikely that Manchester City will match Liverpools asking price. In that respect we could see RVP staying at Arsenal, Luka Modric at Spurs and Daniel Agger at Liverpool. Nobody has met the asking price for these three players.
Good point in that context. In reality we would rather keep Carroll and Agger, but we would rather sell Carroll if one of them had to go.
I think Carroll would be more of a deadline day deal than Agger. Especially after the last comments made, it would really feel wrong if he was sold. Carroll has been for the most part quiet, Brendan not exactly totally encouraging, and his demeanor seems to have changed a bit.
The thing about the owners people need to get is that they can't just dump £100m in to the club account. FFP would not allow it. Liverpool have had money, whether it's come from the owners or not is irrelevant as the players that have gone have either been not good enough (Poulson, Jovanovic, Konchekey) or they didn't want to play for us and were clear on that point (Torres, Meireles). Rodgers has said that he is in charge of all transfers and FSG have NEVER taken a dividend out of any of their sports franchises and never will so the transfer has little to no interest to them - WE ARE NOT OWNED BY THE ****ING GLAZERS!!!! Rodgers has said that Agger is very important, he wants to keep him but everyone has a price (that price for Agger could be silly money like £40m but it's a price, much like if Wivenhoe Town were taken over by Bill Gates and they put a £1bn bid in for Lionel Messi, it would be accepted) Agger has said he doesn't want to go... that's the end of it. The press tried this with Andy Carroll and he is still with the club, they even went as far as to make up that we accepted a bid from West Ham for him; West Ham, Liverpool and Carroll's agent have all said it's bullshit. The press are desperate for something to upset our plans for the season and are clutching at any word they can but the truth is that our squad has improved, our play has improved and we look good for the coming season. Relax people!
Spot on. Brendan Rodgers has been looking to add players and not sell players. Okay there has been departures, but lets look at them. Dirk Kuyt is the only one that left for a new challenge. Maxi, Bellers and Fabio left to return home. Aquilani never settled nor was ever likely to settle and is suited to English football as Joey Barton is to La Liga. The average age of the squad has decreased too. Liverpool have just 3, yes THREE players in their 30s. Two of them came out of the academy and Joe Cole was a free transfer. Brendan Rodgers doesn't want to sell Daniel Agger becuase he's important for him to implement his philosophy which not only is about ball retention, its all about distribution. Two of Liverpools best distributors of the ball are Pepe Reina and Daniel Agger.
