AS a Liverpool supporter I’m a little down and apathetic right now, and I dare say I’m not alone. It’s not because Brendan Rodgers is staying. Well, it’s not just because of that. I can’t deny that the news of the manager keeping his job (leaked to the press unofficially in true present day Liverpool fashion) was met with a resigned sigh and a small shake of the head, but I was hardly raging about it.
I’d have loved a Jurgen Klopp to come in and provide some post-season hope and excitement, but Rodgers has been given another shot at turning things around so there’s nothing left to do but hope he can drastically improve next term.
It won’t be easy and, frankly, I have severe doubts that he can. The pressure will be intense from day one.
A majority of fans have already turned on him and you can bet that every defeat under his stewardship next season will be scrutinised to the Nth degree. He needs to get the side off to a great start if he is to win hearts and minds back again and avoid once more having his employment status discussed in the press.
But first he needs to oversee a summer of shrewd spending that will see an injection of significant quality added to his Liverpool team. There’s nothing like a couple of top-level summer signings to restore faith and renew optimism in even the most hardened football supporter.
And here we’ve arrived at the main cause for my current state of apathy regarding Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers.
While it’s admittedly early days right now, that much needed addition of top talent that this current team is crying out for doesn’t appear likely to materialise when you consider the players Liverpool are perusing at present.
It’s fairly obvious that the club have identified four primary summer targets and they all smack of being typical Brendan Rodgers signings. You know the type; established Premier League lads who cost an arm and a leg but aren’t actually all that.
James Milner’s signing has been confirmed this morning and it’s certain he will be joined by Danny Ings. Christian Benteke and Nathaniel Clyne are obviously also being courted.
Look at those four names for a moment. Does anyone seriously think that an initial outlay of over £50m and a king’s ransom in wages and signing on fees represents value for that group of players? Does anyone look at those four names and genuinely believe they are of the requisite quality to aid Liverpool’s push for a return to the top four, let alone what needs to be the ultimate goal of an unlikely run at the title?
Benteke is striker who has scored 10 and 13 goals in his last two league seasons. If he is to be acquired, the transfer fee will be approaching the one that Arsenal paid to secure the services of Alexis Sanchez 12 months ago. I won’t add much more on Benteke here as Melissa Reddy has already gone into detail about why the Belgian doesn’t look a good fit for Liverpool and I agree with almost every word she wrote.
Danny Ings is barely a one in three striker despite spending the majority of his playing days to date in the lower leagues. He’s had one half decent season in the top flight for a side that was relegated. I have absolutely no idea who he is supposed to be an improvement on. We already have a young striker arriving this summer who scored less than a goal every third game last season in the form of Divock Origi. Ings’ imminent signing appears to be a speculative punt at best.
James Milner is a good player but the reported £150,000 per week he will receive from Liverpool boggles my mind. He’s approaching 30 years old and seems set to become the highest paid player at the club. So much for the oft touted and much vaunted strategy of buying promising young players whose value will appreciate, eh?
While I’ll admit that Milner is talented, I can’t quite fathom where he fits in at Liverpool. Hopefully it isn’t in central midfield because there’s a reason he’s played there so sparingly for Manchester City. Maybe he’s the man who will be charged with swinging high balls into the box from the right hand side for Benteke to attack, who knows? Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll 2.0 perhaps?
The pursuit of Milner reminds me very much of the Adam Lallana situation last season where Liverpool brought in a decent player at a monstrously inflated cost despite already possessing more talented and younger players in his preferred position.
Clyne offers a little hope, at least. He’s certainly an upgrade on the departing Glen Johnson but when a 24-year-old full back from Southampton is the only player your club has been linked to that excites you you’re probably not looking at a great summer.
And that’s the crux of the matter.
This time of year is usually a period for new found optimism and hopes of a better tomorrow. While so many of us rightly scoff at the endless, monotonous speculation and despise all the ‘ITK’ rubbish that goes along with a transfer window, seeing solid links to top level players is exciting and gets you dreaming again.
Last summer we were hoping the club could get Alexis Sanchez over the line. It didn’t work out and the back up plans were horrendously inept and bewildering in equal measure, but at least the initial target of acquiring the Chilean made sense and got the blood pumping for a while.
Where is the ambition and appeal in the players who the club are chasing right now?
The only hope I have when I read the morning paper these days is that Liverpool have thought better of recklessly splashing another £30m on a mid-table striker and that Spurs do their usual trick and nip in to pinch Burnley’s(!) star man from under our noses.
Maybe new targets will emerge as the summer progresses and perhaps they will be of a higher quality and inflame the imagination, but as we speak Danny Ings, Christian Benteke, Nathaniel Clyne and James Milner appear to be the players that Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool have identified to make next season better.
Forgive me for thinking that that just isn’t good enough while I stifle a yawn.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda
“It’s fairly obvious that the club have identified four primary summer targets and they all smack of being typical Brendan Rodgers signings.” more like typical ‘transfer committee signings’.
rodgers is on the committee.
What? It was Rodgers who signed Lallana, Lambert and Lovren. Not the committee. Rodgers. And it’s Rodgers who has chased Ings since December. So what are you talking about?
agree with all of that.. mediocrity is the Liverpool default setting. thats purely down to FSG and rodgers.
Isn’t the problem though that the transfer targets are less ambitious because of knock-backs like with Sanchez? Hasn’t Lacazette said that he will only move to a club in the Champions League? It may turn out to be complete rubbish in his case of course, but unless you can offer regular CL football then I imagine you have to sniff around for cast-offs and overlooked bargains.
The club haven’t been able to replace Suarez, just as Spurs weren’t able to replace Bale and Modric. That doesn’t excuse Rodgers or the committee for buying poorly, but they operate within certain constraints. Liverpool have prestige of course, but that sadly only goes so far.
City didnt have Champs league, but they knew that they wanted a place at the table.. they spent the cash, over paying on wages to attract better quality players.. yet we’re still pissing about with FSP.
if you cant attract the best players by not paying for them, then attract a top manager, a tactical manager who can mould a winning team.. oh hang on haven’t we got one of them, the tactical genius who persisted with mario as a lone striker.. the battle for 7th starts today!!!
FFP not FSP
Agree with the article,we seem to have accepted mediocrity from the manager and coaching staff down to the players.Are people really enthusiastic about Milner being our major transfer target this summer,possibly on the highest wage?He’s going to get the number seven shirt isn’t he.
Wondering if this signing is under the new changes that we’ve been told the club will undertake after the shambles last season,maybe Rodgers will come out and say Milner was his sole decision,he will do if it goes well.
Still no sign of a proper DM (doesn’t include Allen) ,will Rodgers be able to stop teams walking right through us?The past three seasons have seen us concede about fifty goals on average,he’d get less grief if he could sort out the defence,after all it’s only his fourth season.
You’re correct and you know the biggest worry? At no stage have we ever been linked with a DM. At no stage has Rodgers ever suggested he wanted to buy a DM. Despite his appalling record in defense.
He can’t stop us conceding meaning he can’t stop us losing meaning he’ll be out of a job come November/December. I just hope Klopp is still available and FSG get their shit together and make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Am I the only one that remembers we once had a decent CDM in Nuri Sahin that was apparently not good enough for Rogers…
Hasn’t Lacazette said that he will only move to a club in the Champions League?
Unless you sign him and loan him back to Lyon for a year. He’s not going to leave his hometown club, which has CL football next season, for a team that isn’t in it. If LFC wants Lacazette they’re going to have to be creative.
That reply should be pointed at ShotgunEd’s post.
If the much maligned transfer committee and scouting network can only identify Milner, Benteke, Ings and Clyne then it’s time to get rid of them. A teenager with a half decent knowledge of football could identify these players. It’s not like they’ve scoured the Dutch/French/German league and unearthed some gem.
I think Milner will be a decent signing but if he’s the type of player were buying it will be a very disappointing summer.
Where’s the gold dust coming from?!
Perhaps wait for the signings to be confirmed, instead of adding to the endless reams of speculation that happens at this time of year.
I know you are trying to fill in at a time of little news, but all you are doing is adding to negativity currently surrounding the club.
If we sign Benteke then go ahead, fill your boots. But drop the negativity about something that hasn’t happened.
Milner is a very good player. One that will hopefully hit the ground running, but may also prove to be a great influence on players like Ibe and, to lesser extent, Henderson and Lallana.
He’s a good signing. Let’s see what’s next before putting the boot in.
Perhaps don’t try to dictate to people what they should do.
Perhaps don’t be so snarky to peoples comments, or those people may stop following/ reading your website.
Perhaps I’m prepared to take that risk.
I wouldn’t do that. Too much love for the Gutmann!!
I’m just trying to see this as the start of the new season, rather than the end of the last one.
It’s been a good start with Milner, hopefully we will bag the right targets and build on that.
I personally don’t think Benteke is the right man for us, but until we sign him I am just looking forward to that 30 goal a season striker that we are going to buy next week.
Didn’t mean to come across like that.
I just get a bit baffled when the club and manager get criticised for signings that they haven’t made yet.
The same people also criticise the club and manager for not seeking out every possible option that they can.
And the same people bemoan the atmosphere of negativity that currently pervades.
Ok mate. And to be fair, the club are trying to sign those players. So why can’t a fan criticise that if they don’t see those players as the answer? That’s not a new thing, and neither are the other points you make – check out any fanzine from the 80s or 90s! Cheers.
The guy makes a good point and is diplomatic in the face of a needlessly rude response.
I’m yet to find anyone who’d disagree on Benteke but the others are solid signings. The Milner wage is thought to be 125K (not 150K) which is fine by me. Ask Wenger or Pellegrini what they think of it. We are where we are. That’s a decent signing given the negativity surrounding the club at the moment. Ings is far better suited to us than Lambert and Clyne’s a vast improvement on Johnson. Origi was last season’s signing – not much you can do about it now even if he did underwhelm this season.
Like you said, Melissa Reddy already wrote about Benteke so the rest of your article just comes across as a moan. She also said in the same article that she hated this time of year because it gives everyone the opportunity to bitch and complain if they don’t get the signings they want. Sound familiar?
When did we last land a genuine “marquee” signing (assuming we discount Mario)? Andy Carroll? No. Suarez perhaps? He certainly became a marquee signing. Yet still come the summer we hear the clamour for LFC to chase targets we haven’t shown ourselves capable of landing for years.
The first step in any recruitment process is surely sounding out agents to find out who is in the market and who might be open to a move to LFC. If an agent gives the club encouragement, that isn’t necessarily a green light because they may just be looking to drum up interest in the player to drive out other bidders, or support a contract negotiation with the current club. (I suspect this was the case with Costa two years ago).
I suspect Liverpool are not being offered much encouragement by agents representing the players many of the fans would like to see as targets. Players who might be perfectly comfortable where they are, perhaps playing CL football, or perhaps with a clear idea and ambition for where they see their move being.
If the targets seem underwhelming, they do at least have the benefit of being achievable. Players we can get in before pre-season and integrate easily in to the team ready for the first competitive game.
Personally I’m perfectly happy to see Milner, Ings and Clyne as targets. I’m uneasy with Benteke, not because I think he lacks quality, bit rather I have doubts about whether we will play in a way that gets the best from him.
A flash marquee striker brought in from Europe is no guarantee of goals. Look at Falcao. Look at the top goal scorers in the Premier League last year. Harry Kane and Charlie Austin both outscoring Sanchez. Two young English players who would have been underwhelming targets if we had been in the market for them last year.
Agreed. Ibra / Tevez / Lacazette / Higuan / Benzema / et al will not sign for a club that can’t offer regular CL football, let alone consistently winning domestic silverware. Unless we break the bank, I guess.
We are better off targeting players at elite clubs who are discontented / surplus to requirements. I would be much happier to see us sign Hernandez from the Mancs, if that were possible, than Benteke or Ings. But I’m not a scout. I just have Sky Sports.
Instead of solid, PL players – overpriced, overrated & over here – would anyone object to us mining the rich seams that yielded Sturridge, Suarez & Coutinho?
I’d be happier to see us linked to OAPs, rejects, unfulfilled prodigies, rebels, nutters, & malcontents. There are some diamonds out there, surely?
Can’t remember the last time i agreed so much with an article. It’s fucking depressing the lack of ambition the club is showing right now and because of it we have absolutely no chance of improving on last seasons position in my opinion. Owners fucked us when they didn’t have the balls to sack Rodgers!
I keep hearing the atmosphere at Anfield is a bit flat these days and coupled with coverage such as this negative and cynical tripe as this it’s no small wonder. Yes after a damp squib of a season we are all entitled to periodicly feel a bit down and to be honest, by the sound of things half of us should be off to see the Quacks and have them prescribe some uppers to take the edge of our malaise or dare I say depression, I know I’ve been
to that particular party and you don’t feel like staying.
Look. frankly speaking there are a few loose screws rattling round the ground and by the sound of it they need tightening before there’s body parts flying everywhere. Naturally we are all entitled to our own warped opinions which get us through our day to day drudgery and that’s the great thing about football or should it be said the sad and bitter truth about the not so beautifulthat at times game. But just for once we need to get a grip at the expense of little or no thought of fuelling the fire and consequences which may arise for the Club when we have irresponsible wanna be journos everywhere condemning some very good players, such as Benteke before he’s even signed for us , and ok , yeah there are clearly better strikers on the planet but how many do you seriously think would sign for us right now, it boils down to the reality question and what planet are we all watching from next season if we think FSG are going to cough up $40m+ for any better alternatives, and here we are with smart know-it-all wannabe managers virtually willing very good players to fail before they’ve even agreed to sign, when the truth is if the likes of Benteke or whoever we may be chasing (rightly or not in anyone’s opinion) gets wind that the miserable shower at LFC have their own warped agendas and are waiting to see any new arrivals who don’t meet their approval, fall flat on their arse and get it in the neck from the getgo just because the club hasn’t signed a Worldy, then how sad would that make us look and if you think that caper is going to alter the landscape for signing potential Worldies then forget the uppers at the GP’s you better get them to sign you in for a spell in a darkened padded cell.
I want to add a bit to my earlier post. As we are all too well aware last week was the 10 anniversary of the Miracle Of Istanbul and I was there and I was also in Athens. Yeah Rafa did a hell of a job getting us there and is was fuckin brilliant! But do you know what, come August if we all keep the faith and back the Team and the manager with positivity so they can feel the love from the fans, because I do think we will emerge a far better side than we have shown this season due to all the well documented mitigating circumstances, reasons or just fuckin excuses, it depends whether you view the glass as half full or empty. And if we create a hell of a dinn with a great atmosphere at Anfield then our history tells us anything is possible. The positive signs and shoots of recovery are defo there with the talent we have at the club at all levels. We just need the experience of players such as Milner who’s a great signing although he’s not a Worldy. and 2 more strikers, one being top notch and we’ll hopefully have Lallana Sturridge and Flanno fully fit, Lovrens defo better than he’s shown and we have Wisdom who I hope he keeps as a squad player because I think the kid knows how to defend and by Christ do we need them sort of players!
If we start to look at the half full glass on the Bar then we’ll start to get that warm inner feeling (25 years ago that would be the piss down the back of your leg in the Kop) and before we know it we’re all be full of the joys of Spring in May as opposed to the misery of Winter in January.
COME ON YOU REEEDS!!!! Y.N.W.A
There is a moment in life when you ask what’s the point? For many reds fans we have had too many false dawns and we are worn out, jaded and bored and generaly we have all seen too much. Having too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing and sometimes one pines for the ignorance of our youth.
When you know what winning football looks like its hard to pretend and have faith in the future when the promised land is slowly disappearing into the distance like a life buoy floating gently out to sea. Its not that its far away either it just always tantelisingly out of reach. Until the day arrives that you realise it’s gone and that last glimpse will be the final one. maybe in years to come we will look back and call it the Sanches moment, the moment when it finally slipped through our fingers for good, the moment when the mediocrity suddenly prevailed and we settled for being a top 6 club.
Well actually the 5th or 6th club but not a top 4 club, to be top 4 is too difficult so we settle for 6th and when I say we settled for 6th I mean of course FSG settled for 6th, we as supporters have no say. That is not to say we ever did, but in the past we knew what we were and we had owners that wanted success and knew what success looked like, ( silver things that were carried across the anfield turf with red ribbons fluttering in the breaze). Today I don’t know what success looks like, the last time we won a trophy the manager was sacked, and the next trophy looks already out of reach, but we are only a couple of signings away, but at what point does that 2 become 3 or 4? Then 5 or 6?
It feels like we have reached that point, another manager treading water, yes he has been given a lifeline but he is not being swept ashore by world class players; there is no Alonso or Garcia coming to the rescue, only Danny Ings and James Milner, and where will they be in 100 players that shook the kop? Only time will tell but you would not bet on them being in the top 50. As the man in Madrid once said (the one not good enough for us) I asked for a table lamp and was given a lamp shade.
We laughed at Valencia for getting rid of a manager with 2 titles out of 3 and the UEFA Cup in his pocket, their loss is our gain we thought, and it was, until the Americans arrived and we became a franchise, or a commodity, or an asset, but not a football club, anything but a football club and certainly not Liverpool football club except in name only.
Players used to be bought to improve that team, ( the 11 on the pitch) now we have value, not sure what value is exactly or where he plays, he’s defiantly not a 30 goal a season striker but perhaps a useful squad player. Funnily enough I’m not sure what a useful squad player is either, apart from not being good enough for the first team. I don’t enjoy supporting an asset as much as I did a football club, I used to know what I was supporting then, I’m not sure what I’m supporting now. I must be getting old.
Hear! Hear!
Milner and Ings,not quite Gerrard and Torres more Jimmy Carter and David Speedie.
Onwards and sideways.
Thing about Milner, he took a pay cut and is missing out on Champs league, to come here, so that shows the hunger and desire, something lacking since Luis departure.He has the right mentality, never sulked at City and often made the difference for them, ask their fans, hopefully this will influence a young dressing room. He can play many positions and was boss in the center for Villa and I think rarely gets injured. But he ain’t gonna sell shirts, I guess that’s down to Couthino now, if Barca don’t come in for him, Ronaldhino already made the first move.
Now its Rafael Madrid, maybe be able to get favourable links with Madrid players, give us a hand Rafa.