Something of a ramble on a another boring 'no news' day.......have avoided any Carroll talk too Lot's of speculation linking us with Dempsey the last weeks.....appreciate it's only speculation but that's all we have to go on for now! Thing is, I think he's a good player.......just not great....and we need great! He's 29 too so possibly his last major contract......I'd rather keep Bellamy tbh. Was hoping for something a little but more exciting, even Borini doesn't get my juices flowing.... There's a reason why Barca can play like they do; They have Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, et al. We will only ever be able to play 'like' them when we have that type of quality in the team.....funnily enough, the best chance of that may come from our youth set up.....the result of the vision of Rafa, no less. Meanwhile Spurs & Chelsea, two of the teams that we need to finish above are spending BIG in order to improve, both seem on a mission to spew money everywhere.....not sure when the fifa financial fair play comes into effect or how it 'limits' the strategy of the top clubs but I was kind of hoping that we'd see the end of the ridiculous, over-inflated days....apparently not! While BR has been talking a good show, I do hope he walks the talk......Sure, I'll give him time, I would of given Kenny another year at least as I saw progress......but I will not accept us becoming another Swansea, in the same way Roy tried to make us another WBA....I like Swansea, don't get me wrong but we need to think much bigger that it seems that we are right now.......We won the CL in 2005, back in the final in 2007.....all seems a very long way of at the moment if I'm perfectly honest.... Some have suggested that FSG have simply bought us to get us 'in order' to sell on for a profit; Who knows the truth....Kenny always spoke highly of them and we trusted him. What now? I'm a business man, I understand the need to run a tight ship and have a long term vision and strategy in place so I'm prepared to also give them time.....but how much? I have no idea. I do know that the quickly approaching new season fills me with equal amounts of apprehension and intrigue....my expectations are not high; make no mistake, with the mooted signings, top 6 will be high! So, back to Demspey; you see to me, his signing would signify conformation of our decline. A realisation that we, in fact, are no longer top 4 contenders; absolute evidence that we are playing a bit part....at least while we manage our transition.....Dempsey, or Borini (yet) for that matter, will not sell shirts like Hazard will for Chelsea, they will not excite a new generation of fans to 'jump aboard' and we know that these days, marketing off the field is as important as success on it; unfortunately the two go hand in hand. Hence why Suarez is so critical to us and securing his long term signing more so.....what can a marketing guru do with a Dempsey? No Suarez, no hope off the field.....or on it for that matter! So good luck BR, I fear you'll need it as much as Kenny did - I hope you actually have some!.....oh, and i truly hope that you unearth another iniesta, god know's we need one
I disagree mate, Barcelona didn't play the football they do now straight away. Players need to be nurtured into the Barca style and we should give Rodgers and his team time. I think the problem is we get on the backs from the start and this must make the owners sit up and think "Wait a minute, somethings not right so we need to change it!" I really feel this was the reason behind KD moving on. I thkn we have the right to make a noise if we don't seem to be going in the right direction but it is far too early to make that judgement IMO - Only time iwll tell but they have my support for the time being!
I'm inclined to agree with everything you've said OP. Barca's players are conditioned to play as they are for a small extent, but then again they pick players who are good enough to adopt that style if its not native to them (Mascherano for instance). Players as good as Iniesta will play well in most set-ups.
I agree that we need to be patient mate; my expectations are not that high. However, signing Dempsey would, to me, be the wrong move.....Barca didn't make the step up over time by signing players like him did they?
well i can't see any reason to argue with anything the OP has said. time for seeing actions is now, time for judging those actions is about 5 games into the season. why? FSG have to start walking the talk as well... rodgers will either have signed or not signed and will have the window closed and honeslty you can form a fairly accurate opinion of where the club is going by end of august.
If we can continue to secure young talents like Borini who are technically very good, with the right attitude and have experience at big clubs prior to joining, then I would be happy. But I'm unsure about Dempsey ...
ATM its hard to attract great players and invest safely in large fee's with out Champions League football. Right now we need a team that can get into the top 4, as getting in the top 4 will be the catalyst for us to move to the top level. Last season, our defense was good enough for a title challenge, but our attackers lacked composure, togetherness and as a result goals. Dempsey and Borini could fix those issues and score us the needed goals.
Spurs are not in CL but are linked with top signings; you have to sell the vision a little more but you can still make top signings. No, I think our strategy is a little longer term - more frugal, fiscally sensible......frankly, more boring - but that's just my opinion because nobody really knows! I'd actually really like FSG to clearly spell out their vision, it'd make it much easier to understand why some decisions are made, even if we don't like them!
Well they've always said from the beginning they're here to win titles, and Dempsey is just the guy to win us the PL
Actually, reminds me of Rafa's last year in charge - he knew what we needed but had to buy mediocre players for middle money. 18 months earlier, we were top of the table at Christmas and looking good.....underinvestment is the mother of all evils.......
I think Spurs will get a large fee for Modric which enables them to spend on top signings (as mentioned, they have only been linked so far). They have however bought Sigurdsson and Vertonghen which are good signings. I wonder what else is up Rodgers's sleeve ...
I am in total agreement with Kenny_Kop_King and LFC-009 as regards to Dempsey. He's just one of those players who are utilitarian. Yes he can do you a job but he's never going to get you excited. He's also 29 and there are equally good younger players out there. Now Borini doesn't set me alight either but he's 20 and has time to progress. I too would like a statement from FSG setting out their aims. I doubt that they would add a timetable (well not in public anyway) as they would then become objectives. Such a statement would help us to put into context those things that happen and those things that don't. As for our rivals. Let them look to themselves. They must make their spending decisions and live with the consequences in exactly the same way that we will. I think we all know that we cannot match-spend City or Chelsea. However that has not stopped us from being competitive with them. Instead of focusing on the top end perhaps we should be focusing on improving our performances (especially at home) against the so called 'lesser clubs' as that's been our Achilles heel for a long time.
Wise words! It's obvious that BR has already recognized this and with the teams that visit Anfield for the first 5 games, he'll have a great chance to show us what to expect!
you mean its high time FSG want back on LFC TV and did an hour long interview, spoke openly and frankly o nwhat they've been up to for the past 6 months... including taking someone 3000miles sacking them then sending them home? I thin kthe fact they got away with that proves us fans are giving them every chance honestly. It'd do them no harm to recharge the positive column on the balance sheet with a proper interview.... they hardly came for rodgers appointment, Warner barely spoke. I think building cpaital in terms of support would be no harm at all. Also agree on the bascis of a home form that delivers 12 wins at home not 6 and beating the side that ought to be handed their heads every time we meet them... I would hope the game talk rodgers is on about is delivered as i felt urgency and work ethic with a smaller side was in town lacked badly.
mito - kind of. I'm not talking about rhetoric though, any fool can wave the flag. It's really more of a 'laying out the vision' and putting some things into perspective so that we can easily rationalise some decisions/signings (or lack of them) - I don't necessarily have an issue with them having a ruthless streak if they think we've wondered from the vision.....but I'd like to know that.....if that makes sense!?
We are not Barcelona or Swansea, we are Liverpool Football club and we have our own style. Rodgers has already stated that he is not going to attempt to copy either brand but implement a style that fits in with the Liverpool way of playing Personally, I think part of reason we will buy Dempsey (if we do) is precisely because of that, he will get the american market on our side a bit like Park and now Kagawa have done for Man Utd in the Asian market
I think you may be right, more news today that Dempsey's going to sign. At 29 and a reported £10m it's a mistake imo. They'll have to sell a million shirts over the next 3 years to recover the money (assumes a £10 net profit per shirt fro the club)....no idea if that's feasible.
James Pearce from the Echo said this rumour is false. He does go onto say that there is a definite interest but no formal bid has been made. And I agree - £10m for a 29 year old with 1 year left on his contract is far too much.
Ten million on Dempsey? If only we had a young power-house centre-foward with the potential to bully defences.
