The thing about Lovren is that he was bought as that decent leader! Even I find it hard to rate Liverpool players. From mid December on, most have done exactly what has been asked of them while not setting the world alight so I reckon your comments are about right.
How is Lallana a flop? 4 goals and 3 assists in 16 appearances? Creating almost 1 in 2 in his first (injury impacted) season. "We overpaid by £5m or so" does not equal "flop"
Sort of agree. Though those stats arent mind blowing, but EVERYONE overpaid on Southampton players this summer. They ripped all o'y'all off. The price you paid for Lovren, Lallana and the price United paid for Shaw were ridiculous. They did excellent business in the summer, I would rank their summer business as the best, followed by ours. Sold players at a huge profit, bought in cheaper replacements who turned out as good if not better, and they are left with a **** ton of profit. I wouldn't say Lallana is a flop either, Lovren certainly, but not Lallana.
Only he's made 31 appearances for you this season...with 18 of those being in the league. For £25m he's been a massive flop, the price is a key factor in deciding who's bombed or not. You could have got far better for that sort of dosh, same as Lovren - lazy buys the pair of them.
I disagree. I'm not saying he's been a success either though. He was initially injured and then, frankly, was playing in a team that couldn't string two passes together.....so while he's not been a £25m success, he's not been a flop either (yet). If he stays fit, I have a feeling that he'll show us his true worth.....whether that's £25m or ever will be is debatable.
If you spend £25m on a 26 yr old then you should expect to see something special imo. He's simply not a top drawer player for me, and whilst flop is maybe a tad harsh, he's certainly not been anywhere near value for money.
I have to agree with that. Buying the spine of a team that finished 6 places below you the previous season, and thinking it was going to spur you on? Thats some arguable logic right there. If Rodgers and the committee had looked further afield, they could have got much better players for less money I am sure.
TBF only 1 team finished above us and they pay their players millions so of course we could only buy from teams below us We did also buy Can, Markovic, Origi, Moreno, Balotelli and loan Manquillo from abroad
so if you spend 28mil on a 21 year old you should expect nothing? you'll get no arguments from me that lallana was way overpriced. just yesterday we had a discussion on hit or miss on players and i said just this. lallana is a miss for me, if we can say flop instead fine. However I wonder if tobes you can find it within yourself to admit lukaku regardless of age was a 28mil buy and hasn't got enough for that especially in the prem. sorry but your club can't afford to spend 28mil on potential..
I'm not sure he's worth £25m but he's not a flop either....there'd be quite a few on here that said as much before we bought him. he needs a run in the team tbh as do other players that get labelled quickly. Only Lovren and Ballo can be labelled disappointments and in both cases, they've shown improvements recently......it's no coincidence that just about every player got labelled poor when we played in a different system.....now even Migs is getting called world class (he isn't), our defence is transformed (with or without Lovren), Our midfield without Gerrard and Lucas bosses the champions and our interplay up front with only one (injured striker) is pretty good......In fact, if you judge every player since mid December, you'd be hard pressed to call any flops really. Best to judge next year, if of course, they're still here!!
oh an i'd also say... lazy buys? thats a poor way of putting it IMO. Poor buys I would agree but lazy? that suggests no thought at all went into it. I would contend much thought went into it and rank incompetance via use of stats in our recruitment team led to thier buys at that price. I feel we should have walked at the very mention of said fees on both players but the reality is if we'd gone elsewhere the savings most likely would not have been 50% for example. to get a good player now you have to be very lucky to get a low fee, get them at end of contract or buy very young and develop. thats my view. If LFC went to back arse for russia for a CB 10mil would still be fee i reckon. if we wanted to complete for example on hummels we'd get the 20mil player (according to press on release) but there's a queue a mile long were are not near top of. If we want anyone in the prem you can tag on 6/7mil just cos every club is awash with tv money none of this excuses buying lovern for the reasons he was bought or indeed lallana given a player like shaqiri could have been pursued.. or an eriksson etc. 25mil? mad fee for a one trick pony. thats all fine but i have to wonder if some folks can bring themselves to admit not all is rosey in their own gardens.
In the PL yes. Also most people who buy from lower teams, buy their one stand out player they think could make the step up in a better team. You bought their actual spine. (their main Defender, main midfielder and main striker). So not really the same.
It usually is some form of moving up... if a player is hot. If a player is on the way down then... well they can be moving down the way. like lukaku....
not sure who was their standout though.. jay rod? lambert isn't really main striker either at 32... shaw wasn't main man either... who was Southampton's Stevie Me?
We bought their spine but not to be our spine Their main striker is our backup, their main midfielder is an option and depth/rotation for our existing attack Only their main defender was supposed to be a consistent starter, since our defence was bad and we focussed on attack
I just hope it (buying so many players) was a one off, to get the squad up to an acceptable standard. Didn't look like it had worked initially but the signs are a little more promising now. Would love to switch into a different mode now; buying a couple of players of high quality....but I think that our business plan, given the stadium development, will be about player development, buying young talent and developing it....much as Arsenals was for a few years. When you consider that the average age of the team that played City was 23, who's to say that it's the wrong strategy?
