So the season is over and it is time to reflect. Last summer we made a fair few changes in the transfer window. We brought in a whopping eight players last summer. We signed: Sakho Toure Aspas Mignolet Alberto Ilori Cissokho Moses Looks like big changes on paper. But were they. Sakho had a good but slightly inconsistant season with a lot of games missed with injury. Toure took over Carragher's role from last season, but despite a good start, played less than Carra and wasnt as good. Aspas was dropped after a poor start and barely even played. Mignolet played every match and had an overall posite season with a few errors dotted around. Straight replacement for Reina but not an improvement this season. Alberto is young and one for the future. He barely played. Ilori went out on loan, playing no part. Cissokho played a lot of games but a lot would say that that was a bad thing. Make your own judgement. Moses was sloppy and barely played. He got us a draw v Swansea though. Our squad depth improved. We really needed our full CB selection this season. But it was the players already at the club who stepped up and earnt this 2nd place the most. Sturridge and Coutinho are the signings that really made the difference. And ofcourse great team spirit. Which signing do you think performed best this season? I'll say Mignolet.
Interesting. Before we try and analyse how last years signings have faired over the season I think we should remind ourselves about why they were bought or taken on loan. Apart from Ming who was bought to play immediately, all of the others were brought in to act as back-up so that we had a far stronger squad than we had the season before. The emphasis was upon young players to complement the previous signings of Sturridge and Coutinho. It should also be remembered that what transpired this season drove us at least a season ahead of the Development Plan and therefore the opportunities for some of the signings were more limited than may have been the case.. However, my take on the 'newcommers': Sakho I don't know. Loves a tackle and I like that. Looks clumsy on the ball and his forward passing is poor - which I don't like. He had lots of opportunities, even allowing for his injuries, but I don't think he made enough progres to be counted as an automatic starter next season. OVERALL good 1st season. Toure Thank you and goodbye. He was brought in as back up and through circumstance played a lot more than was expected. However, after a very solid start the wheels cam off the wagon and he became a liability. Aspas Was always going to be the forward on the bench. He did have opportunities at the start of the season and didn't/couldn't take them. I think its a return to Spain for the lad. Overall Failure Mingolet was always going to be criticised by the Reina clan no matter how well he played! Has proved to be a great shot stopper but corners appear to catch him out. Needs to improve his distribution. Overall A good first season Alberto Very few opprtunities. The bits I did see suggest that he's a good technical player with a calmness on the ball that is rare. The question for me is if he fits our playing style. Overall one for the future. A keeper. Ilori. Was bought as one for the future. I'll leave it for others to comment on his season away. Will be interesting to see if Rodgers retains him in the squad for next season Overall no comment Cissokho I don't think I've ever seen a player more terrified when the ball comes near him! makes Jimi T look worldclass!! Luckily he's on-loan so send him back. Overall failure Moses Again brought in as cover and as a useful replacement off the bench. Just didn't work. Overall thank you and goodbye. One thing I will say for all of them is that they tried so thanks lads!
No debate there for me, it has to be Migs. Only Sakho has made a impact out of the rest but he's looked shaky at times.
Sorry Dave but what you said about Sakho is not true. Well, he does look clumsy but that's due to his frame and style. He's extremely composed for his size and his forward passing is top notch - it's accurate and fast. His passing accuracy is amongst the best at the club but he always looks to play forward. On the pitch - Migs and Sakho made contributions and the rest did very little. However, introducing the likes of Sakho, Cissokho and Toure (all have big club experience and have won league titles) have definitely contributed to this team (off the pitch at least) by helping to instill a winning, champions mentality. What Rodgers did very well was to improve the attack to epic proportions. SAS, Sterling, Henderson and Coutinho can all come away with their heads held high after carrying this team.
Have to agree with this, since his injury he didn't quite get back to his best. But his passing before his injury was statistically the best in our squad, and his fast passing from the back was fantastic. Hopefully a good pre-season and we'll see him back to his best.
I do not think any made a real difference but sahko was important on a couple of times due to injury in short. 1. Mingolet was not needed but was sensible but in throwing riena out the guy then was no 1. if he didn't throw reina out i am confident we'd not have earned a point MORE and certainly non LESS in either way. the kid did ok but reina would have been better. 2. sahko had to come in due to injuries to agger. see toure disaster!!! at LCB. 3. toure was good at the start but it didn't last long. 4. cissohko was awful really, lets be frnk a few decent games but mostyl awful 5. alberto and ilori were pointless but are "for the future" so we'll see if it was good or a total waste per coates in a year or so. 6. moses was muck 7. aspas should be shot. I do agree coutinho and sturridge in jan 2013 made this year possible.... the others acted as fillers
Honestly... only Mignolet has had what could be described as a Good first season- and I think he's a "small" step down from Reina. I wonder, and will never know, if Reina's presence in the team would have helped or hindered this year. Can't help but think he would have given us 3 or 4 extra points had he been in the squad... but who knows?!?!? We've had a great season, but it's mostly down to established players. A couple of good players for the future [Sack o' and Lorry] brought in but last summer wasn't a great one. Everyone else needs to be thrown in the river Mersey. Makes me want to hang on to Suarez even more. Our recent summers have not brought in much talent- wouldn't want any Suarez money wasted.
Sorry mate but I believe that what I wrote is true. He is clumsy and far more so than opposing CB's with the same type of frame. As for the off-pitch contribution then that is pure speculation on your part. Cissokho has been a joke since he arrived and is therefore hardly likely to have instilled anything but comic value. Toure did try but he too couldn't cope as he demonstrated admirably at Fulham. True Sturridge Henderson, Sterling, Coutinho and Suarez did great things but Rodgers has to accept that his formations were set to feed them and that the defence was often left exposed to look after itself. Hopefully those deficiencies will be addressed over the Summer. However, I will stick to my original comments as being a fair reflection.
Whatever last seasons signings produced the fact is that this summers have to be vastly superior and ready to fit into the first team immediately
Considering how **** we are at defending and how none of our new players were any good, we performed miracles to finish 2nd then Toure made a huge contribution at the start of the season. After 3 games he looked like a bargain, big, strong, composed and brought leadership and experience to the defence. Then it sort of went downhill a bit. Oh, and on Sakho he may look a bit gainly and awkward on the ball but he's just as good as Agger with the ball at his feet. Maybe not quite so much at bringing the ball out of defence but his passing is top notch. He looks to play the ball forward and even then he still finds his man with regular occurrences. He plays the ball in low and hard to peoples feet and trusts their first touch to get it under control and because of this it rarely gets intercepted.
For once, I agree with Jimmy. He rarely mis-places a pass. However, I would target him if I was a opposition manager has he does panic when under pressure.
I'm still struggling to understand the Illori signing for 7M. That is a huge sum for someone who may become first choice CB in a few years makes you think he was 3rd or 4th choice but deal done then Sakho deal came thru and we ended up with both by accident.
He was whoring himself out to Barca and would have left us in the lurch this summer with clubs knowing he wants out and we'd be desperate to buy a replacement adding a further £5m onto any potential transfer value. Plus he was part of the "old guard" that needed moving (along with Lucas/Skrtel/Agger/Johnson) and earning 100k a week. We're trying to meet FFP despite what some other clubs might be doing.
