I would have said wait till all the newbies are settled like the Spuds lot, but since they're only 1pt ahead of us can't really use that either
tottenham sacked their manager... we've not done a tottenham. tottenham were 3 points off the position they were the year before with bale.... we are not going to do a spurs.... end of if anything we are returning to 6th/7th where we were under rafa, then hodgson/dallish, dalglish then rodgers... one seaosn in 2nd... thats the danger, back to 6th/7th
I still think that our signings have definitely strengthened the squad depth - I do feel we could have spent the money a lot better but hey ho. The problem we've had is that we've had to integrate Lallana, Markovic and Balotelli all into the attack at the same time due to injury to Sturridge and Allen, and also the poor form of Coutinho. Once we get Sturridge and Allen back, our team ethic and style will also return. I have no doubts about that. I just hope the confidence and swagger comes back as well.
For goodness sake! Stop panicking. We are not doing a Spurs. Things will settle down and a number of our signings will show their value before too long. Let's get Sturridge back and that will help raise the confidence levels. Then all things become possible again. Salutary lesson for both us and Spuds - never again get so dependant upon 1 player!
A Tottenhaam is where the owner and director spend ridiculous money on players the manager doesnt want because their name look good on the team sheet. The manager then doesnt know what to do with his random mash of players and gets sacked. Pochettino isnt doing much better so far. At least we sign with a degree of logic. We needed two full backs, a CB, a defensive and energetic midfield option, an attacking midfielder and a striker. Maybe we have signed to man though. Should we have left it at just Lallana, Lovren, Moreno, Manquillo, Can and Balotelli?
If we have to rely on Sturridge (fast becoming a sicknote) and Allen (????) to get us top four again then Rodgers has seriously ****ed up this summer. Hearing the "players need time to settle" argument is so frustrating JS (how many times have we used that excuse) I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's a managers responsibility to ensure players who need time to settle get the chance to do that without reducing the teams performance. It's all very well "building for the future" but the more often you find yourselves doing that, the less often you actually win things in the present. Buying top class players is never a guarantee of success but if there was one summer we had to buy big it was this summer. If there was one summer in the past five years we've been in a position to buy big it was this summer. We might not get the chance to attract CL class players again in the near future. Ask a simple question about players that need time to settle,has Costa needed time at Chelsea, Sanchez at Arsenal or Di Maria at united? Rodgers spent the window trying to be a bit too cute and it isn't working. Baloteskey is so far removed from what we needed (as a first choice player) it's untrue, Markovic shows some nice touches but looks as lightweight as a paper plane, Lallana is half decent but the price tag was madness, Lovren I still think will come good but why not keep Agger until Jan if he needed "time to adjust". As for some of BR's other recent signings Sakho looks more like Djimi T every week that goes by, Ming is still riddled with errors and the full backs are both talented but totally inexperienced at Prem level. For me Rodgers had one job this summer and that was to solidify us defensively and he's (so far) failed spectacularly. We all knew we couldn't get away with gung-ho footy all season without Suarez didn't we? The fact that we need two players to make our team ethic and style function suggests surely that we haven't "strengthened" the squad depth we've just made the squad bigger. Massive difference unfortunately mate.
"Maybe we have signed to man though. Should we have left it at just Lallana, Lovren, Moreno, Manquillo, Can and Balotelli?" i stopped there, hope i am wrong but our strikers worry me, Borini is not very good, Lambert looks lost, and Ballo just looks frustrated to me. 2 we shouldn't have got in the first place,maybe, and borini sadly we couldn't get rid of.
I can see where you are coming from. Hard headed realism. The players you mention (*and I could add Bale, Ronaldo to that list) who settled almost instantaneoulsy at their new club were at a different price level, weren't they?. It is also true that many players do come good eventually after a period of adjustment to the pace of the prmiership. And our new players could be among those. The thing I cannot understand with Rodger's strategy is the "gambling" bit which he admitted. We have finished 2nd and nearly won the league itself (most would say we SHOULD have won it). We got a huge budget. Many managers would reinforce with just a few quality players as Rodgers said himself in an interview in summer. Now was not the time to gample. We should leave the gambling to those whose budget is very limited and had no choice but to gamble. I have nothing against Rickie and he did play well for the Saints against all expectations after coming up through the ranks. But did Rodgers really think he would improve our strikeforce? I see the transfer window as a huge missed opportunity. All is not lost. Fingers crossed, the new players can still come good.
I've said this before, but nobody took me up on it- too many players at once. It's not about us having been a "one-man team", or looking at individuals elsewhere who have settled quickly. These things are relevant, but they're details, and we need to look at the big picture. It's simply that changing half your first team wholesale in one step hardly ever works. We've had starting line-ups containing 5 or 6 new players, it's no surprise that they struggle to work as a unit. It's all very well pointing to the likes of Costa, but he's one individual. Sometimes they fit (Sturridge), sometimes they don't (too many to mention). Bringing in so many at once will result in one of three things: a) They miraculously work together from day 1. - Well that horse has obviously bolted. b) They take time to gel. - Then it's a matter of how long, and how far we've slipped by the time they do. c) They never do, because they're not the right players. - Then we're ****ed. Whatever the reasons, it's pointless saying what we should have done- we can't turn back time, so we have to move on from here.
I mentioned Balotelli but we could have got a different striker. Lacazette was my first choice. How is Bony doing this season?
I hear you Billy but we did go for Costa last year but rejected us. We couldn't compete with Chelsea on 2 fronts - a) money and b) Chelsea are more established and are more likely to win titles and compete in CL than LFC (despite us finishing above in one season). I think Rodgers did want some big names this summer but attracting them was always going to be difficult because that's the market we're in. Some people assume that just because we have CL and finished 2nd that anyone will join us. We are still seen as a risk and Rodgers is relatively unknown on the continent. There is no shame on relying on the likes of Sturridge and Allen to get this team back up and running - these two played key parts in our team last season so they'll be seen as 'seniors' to the new players who need to be bedded in. Once these new players are up to speed with the style and philopsihy, then we'll find ourselves relying less upon the likes of Sturridge etc. You can't expect us to transition smoothly with all of the injuries we've had this season. My concern is that Rodgers really doesn't have a clue about the defence or defending in general.
The premise that we could buy the Costas, Di Maria's of the world overlooks the small but important point that every indication is that these players didn't want to come. Even if we assume players are mercenary that still means they'll only go to the more sure thing. Which is why even with 100+ million in our pockets both us and Spurs only managed to buy the level of players we did. We, with our first year back in the CL but now without a player that had a large part in getting us there, was never going to be more attractive than Chelsea, Munich, Arsenal Real And yes even United who while not in the CL it could be argued that a blip out is a safer bet than our blip into the comp if you are a foreign player looking in. It's why, despite sneering at it seemingly being the only goal he has you have to commend Wenger for staying in it buying the same type of players as we have until recently. Having said all that, I believe the players we have bought are good enough to compete for 4th spot. Mistakes have been made. Ballotelli is Rogers Andy caroll, I.e. not attracting a Costa and then listening to us whinging about only getting a Remy. So went for a name that he could get to say yes. He should have trusted the majority of us. Remy was a better fit. **** names.....buy for the team not the fan blogs. Can's injury has been important....he's Gerrards replacement or more accurately part of the midfield three that will replace the one that Gerrard currently plays in. Can't judge a player as not hitting the ground running when's he not been available more than one game. Markovic was bought with the knowledge that he was young and foreign. On past history that must have been with the knowledge that this year wouldn't be his year. We and Rogers could assume that having sterling, Allen, Henderson and coutinho he might not have been immediately vital....**** happens Lallana is showing already why we bought him. He didn't hit the ground running because he too had a big injury just before the season. Now he's fit, his influence is growing quickly. Moreno and Manquillo...I think have largely hit the ground running...they've been the better players on the team in recent games. The odd mistake? Yes but an improvement to the positions? A definite yes. Lovren....while he has added to the calamity at the back I think it's structural rather than the individuals...I think we need a proper defensive coach and I yes, yet again point to a current midfield constantly exposing our back four.....so didn't matter who we bought back there....same goes with the keeper....they're are nervous because they constantly feel like the thin blue line rather than part of a team.... So I'm not defending BR regarding the performances he's got us but it's not I believe down to the majority of the players he brought in. Or those he couldn't. It's not dealing with the midfield question that has effected us most with a mistake made in buying Ballotelli a distant second. Now he has to make that decision on the back of poor performances, I'm guessing some tension in the dressing room and us all disappointed and restless. If he makes no decision I think this continues but with returning players just maybe it gets masked again for a little while. Even if he is brave enough to make the decision it may be too late for him and a series of losses afterwards could be job ending anyway..... I hope not as I think he could build a great team post Gerrard.....a great team rather than relying on saviours.......saviours leave or get old.
We signed the same amount last summer. Mignolet, Sakho, Toure, Aspas, Alberto, Illori, Moses, Cissokho. Interestingly only 3 are in our squad this season. Mignolet, Sakho, Cissokho, Moses and Aspas all came in and played prominent role. Though some were dropped and forgotten about pretty quick. I'm pretty sure Rodgers intended to use Alberto but he obviously was not ready yet and has been loaned. Ilori could be a star of the future. - This season Lovren, Manquillo, Moreno, Lallana and Balotelli have come straight in to the first 11. Manquillo, Moreno and Lallana are doing well and looking like good signings. Lovren I really hope just needs time. Balotelli, who knows.... Hopefully Rodgers is as brave as he was last season to drop unperforming signings. Even loan some in January if he has to.
you can get anyone with money jimmy, we are playing the tight ass card, our most expensive purchase was an over priced english man. i fear this may be repercussions of the Carroll **** up, we could have gone out and got quite a few £30 mill plus players if we had tried hard enough, why didn't we, wages, ayre haggling for that extra £1? its not all down to being unattractive. teams we are trying to compete with pay decent wages, we want to keep up with them we have to do the same.
Its our owners policy. Dont buy stars for huge money, by the stars of the future for less. We saw how strict they are with the Dempsey deal, and that was only £7m for a slightly above average PL striker aged 29. No way would they allow £19m for Lavezzi (29?) or £38m for Cavani (27?).
Don't get me wrong - we massively overspent on Lovren and Lallana but you get the sense that those were the players that Rodgers was desperate for so we would spend anything to get them. But we don't have the resources to compete with the likes of Chelsea or even United. Can we afford to spend approx £12m loaning a world class striker for a single year? It's madness. Costa is probs on around £100k a week as well plus the £30m they spent for him. Not only this - we had one good season. We don't want to commit to big contracts when we could easily drop out of the CL next season and end up with the Johnson,s Kuyts, Maxi's on our wage bill. (The flip side is you spend on better players and they will keep you in the CL).
What I prefer us to do is target the 22-24 year olds - players who are established but not quite at the top class level. Just like we did for Suarez and Torres - promising reputations but the bigger clubs weren't prepared to take the risk on. Costa was the man last year when we first targetted him and we just couldn't close the deal. I think Lacazette is the next one ..
