As with a lot of our signings, put them in a confidant team that is winning games and watch them improve. For example if we were bringing Marko on to replace Sterling last year then I'd bet he'd shine playing up there with Suarez and Sturridge, once the belief is there he'd then cause problems himself.
It certainly does. I wouldn't like the youngster to arrive with the burden of being our saviour though.
I read somewhere recently that if Liverpool are expecting him to be their saviour they will be disappointed because Origi hasn't scored many goals in his career so far and one of the comebacks was that while that may be true, he's already scored more than Ronaldo at the same age. So .... 'the next Ronaldo' he is then
Its not always about scoring goals. Yes, that's be-all-and-end-all in football statistics but not when looking at individual players. I've mentioned Heskey a few times today but this time I'm using him seriously; he didn't score many goals but his presence in the side helped others (mainly Owen) score more goals, he was a team player. When we lost Suarez in the summer I said immediately that we shouldn't be looking to replace his goals, we needed to replace his energy. We needed is movement, pressing and even his aggression (toned down a touch though ), we needed his work ethic replacing because that was key to how we were playing last year. I mention Lavezzi a few times, he doesn't score that many but he works hard and makes good runs etc. If all players do this, chances will be created and the goals will come. I see Origi in similar light; he will work and make good runs to create space for himself and/or others but maybe not score so many.
G - you make some good points. We lost energy and goals in Suarez - there was no direct replacement [once Sanchez turned us down]. So we look to sign a player who has one of those qualities but not both and end up signing a 'replacement' who possesses neither - although tbf Balotelli does score goals - just seemingly not for us.
Its why the Balotelli signing frustrated me so much. We attempted to replace the goals and forgot about the style. The goals now won't come because our style as been lost. Brod has his philosophy and had spent two years working on it, why sign a player that doesn't not fit in any way shape or form and therefore effectively restarting from scratch?
One way of looking at it is if you sign a cherry picker/goal hanger there's a reasonable chance he will get the goals without using much effort - as the definition suggests. Maybe this is what Rodgers thought he'd signed.
i don't think he does much thinking lately, esp where the club is concerned anyway, all done with his cock
The Balotelli signing was a product of a scattergun approach and disagreements between committee and Rodgers. Lacazette is the target that committee wanted and one we should have pursued. He's not as good as Suarez but his style very similar. Missed out big time.
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Wasn't really though was it? We had Eto'o all but signed and switched to Balotelli last minute. What you said suggests we took the first person who agreed to join but we didn't, it was a calculated approach for Balotelli, turning down others on the way ... allegedly.
