Having the final say on a player, and picking a player out of thousands of other players are 2 completely different things. And yes - the manager might say 'I want a ball playing defender'. Does that mean he can identify which players can do that, and if they can ply their trade in a new country? This goes back to the whole 'Director of Football' argument we had before - there's a reason why they keep the roles completely separate - because scouting players is such a big job which require specialists. No chance. Rodgers wanted Williams and the committee wanted Sakho. Hence why Rodgers was so quick to drop Sakho at every given opportunity.
Even if you look at Alex Ferguson - legendary manager but it's not as if he was a great coach, or a great scout. He had a world class backroom staff to do it for him, where he would oversee everything. He world class coaches to develop players. He had world class scouts to find the best talents.
But at the same time they still had flops like Djemba Djemba and Kleberson, proving that they all get it wrong some times.
You telling me he'd sanction buying a player without seeing him play himself first? He was never a coach, he was a manager. He ran the job, but ALL the major decisions were down to him and his CEO
Exactly - there's no exact science. I rather have a manager who would focus purely on coaching and developing the team, rather than one who goes out to 20 odd matches in a different country to find out if some 16 year old could ever make it as a pro.
Not saying that - but there's a difference between identifying a player from scratch, and then judging the talents when presented in front of you. And yes - he made the final decision - based on information provided to him by EXPERTS.
So it was their opinion you've adopted then? There is no way the club or manager would say such a thing until years after and ties are cut
Do you believe Sakho was a Rodgers type signing? And the local journos like Barrett all reported that Rodgers wanted Williams. I'm just putting 2 and 2 together - the fact is, he drops Sakho when he makes a mistake. Yet he puts up with Skrtel - who he should have replaced in the summer, and he gave Lovren a great run in the side, and I wouldn't be if he starts tonight as Rodgers wants to prove us all wrong about his own signings.
Bollocks. You can either spot a player or you can't, it's a pre-requisite of being a MANAGER in the British game. Wtf does from scratch mean . You look at a player and can see whether he's a) any f**ing good and b ) the kind of player you're looking for. You're making scouts sound like gurus ffs, I know a few and trust me they're f**ing not
Sakho has come out and said he has struggled with learning English but is 'getting there'. I think this is the main reason why Sakho has struggled and has been out of the team a lot. His fitness has also been poor. Sakho fits what we were looking for at the time. A strong CB with natural leadership ability who can play the ball well with his feet. But unfortunately it has been near impossible for Sakho to be a leader when he speaks a different language to his team mates. In the summer we again wanted a strong CB with natural leadership ability who can play the ball. We signed Lovren. I think we need to show more sympathy, understanding and patience with Sakho. He was really good at the WC and was a clear natural leader in his first language. Language makes a big difference.
What we needed to do was buy an experienced RCB to partner Sakho. Possibly the only defender we have who won't be physically bullied. He hasn't reached his potential at Liverpool, I'll admit that but look at the experienced partner next to him who should be helping him i.e. Skrtel. Sakho is a top class talent but has been managed poorly.
It doesn't matter who first suggested it, Brod said yes to signing him!!! I'd believe the journalists as much as I'd listen to Livtor!!!!!!!
Unfortunately our recruitment policy wont allow that. An experienced defender is 28+ in most cases. Our recruitment policy wont sign players over 26 unless they are cheap or free. Toure could be that experience partner for Sakho though.
Then your recruitment policy needs to change. Buying "potential" is all well and good once you have an experienced settled team, untill that time you will just have a team/squad full of potential which may never come to blossom.
