IN a little over 24 hours the transfer window SLAMS SHUT and football clubs up and down the country will have to make do with the footballers they have. Well until January 1 at least.
Liverpool may ship out a few more before then (any hopes Mario?) but it doesn’t look like we will be bringing any in. It’s a long time since we’ve had an exciting transfer deadline night, with Andy Carroll in a helicopter and 100,000 Reds with Torres 9 Liverpool shirts praying the fax machine broke at Stamford Bridge.
The last few transfer windows have seen an anxious Sky Sports News reporter desperately trying to pretend something might happen at Liverpool as the security lock up around him.
It would be nice perhaps, for once, if the powers that be work until midnight this time, just in case. Tottenham Hotspur once signed Rafael Van de Vaart from Real Madrid out of nowhere as the asking price suddenly tumbled. Now this won’t happen every time, of course. But you’ve got a better chance if your Chief Executive is in Melwood thinking rather than Popworld drinking.
But, unless something appealing comes up last minute, Liverpool will be going in with roughly what we’ve got. Which Jack Lusby from This is Anfield helpfully summarised in a tweet today as thus:
This is what the Liverpool squad is likely to look like on September 1. Good enough to finish in the top four? #LFC pic.twitter.com/oaFPE4cbqS
— Jack Lusby (@jacklusby_) August 30, 2016
Alright isn’t it? Some good players. Some very good ones. Some that might develop over the year. Seems a bit light in certain areas though, doesn’t it? Left back. Centre back and probably central midfield. Which incidentally are all areas most Liverpool fans wanted strengthening in May…still though. New goalkeeper!
In terms of what we have spent, it depends who you listen to on prices. Who knows exactly when you consider add-ons, signing on fees and the odd dropsy for the agent. But the site Transfer Markt have us spending £67.92m and recouping £63.16m.
This is before the Luis Alberto transfer, which, should it go through as expected, puts us on about £0 net spend. Now I don’t know if they are perfect, but anyone who lists Brad Smith’s transfer fee as £3.06m certainly has an eye for detail worth taking seriously. Plus they are neutral (I think) so we’ll go with them.
So what does this all mean? Well it looks better. But I remember saying that in 2010 when I thought Joe Cole and Milan Jovanovic would be an upgrade on Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera. So you have to be careful on these things.
But overall it is difficult not to be a touch underwhelmed. During the spring the papers were full of talk of a Jurgen Klopp revolution this summer. Of potential £100m war chests and signings to revolutionise the club. Now the numbers discussed seemed fanciful at the time, but I expected them to be higher than zero.
Everyone accepted that it might take Klopp time to succeed at Liverpool. However, by spending modestly in the summer everyone at the club is arguably putting more pressure on themselves. It can be frustrating, in times of unparalleled Premier League wealth and Championship clubs spending eight-figure sums almost routinely, to see Liverpool reluctant to splash the cash. Especially as others that have done just that in the Premier League start strongly.
Football fans would rather see the money on the pitch, not in the bank. Especially given the common consensus that certain positions have needed sorting forever. It is one thing waiting around for the perfect left back, but surely something is better than nothing?
Fans are more patient if we have something to buy into. They’ll give time to a Brazilian left back who comes with a big reputation if he needs time to settle. They’ll give less to the idea of trying to convert a right-footed midfielder who doesn’t seem to fancy playing there.
Maybe this is silly, but football fans are emotional and the current manager understands that better than anyone. They equate low spending and gaps in the squad to a lack of ambition. Fans start talking about how TV revenue is being used to pay for the new stand, rather than interest-free loans. Or that owners are trying to make the books look good to attract investment or a sale. Check Twitter, it’s happening already.
The argument against all this is that this is what Klopp wants. That he could spend money but doesn’t wish to. I remember that argument being used about Arsene Wenger. As soon as their stadium was paid off he spent £42m on Mesut Ozil and £35m on Alexis Sanchez in successive summers. Football is a lie, and it’s hard not to be cynical.
FSG know that disappointing ends to a transfer window can cause unrest in Liverpool. They’ve had to write open letters to the fan base before stating how hard they are working to bring players in. Klopp understands momentum at a football club and the power a support base who believes can have. I’m surprised that between them they aren’t more interested in bringing in one more belter. Somewhere on the pitch. That shows the supporters, players and everyone else that we mean business this season.
They can’t tell me that there isn’t money knocking about. They can’t tell me that some of the money they have managed to get for outgoing players hasn’t been a bit of a shock (nice one, Bournemouth). There must be a temptation, not just to buy anyone, but to use it to push the boat out on someone they like. Maybe throw a few more quid on a player you have earmarked for the future and get them in now.
If they don’t then I hope, for everyone’s sake, but not least theirs, that Liverpool have a good September and October. If not then pressure might come a bit quicker than people expect. Why don’t we have more points? Why isn’t the squad better? Why didn’t we improve it more when we had the chance? We all knew we needed a bloody left back!
If that happens then a few extra quid might become turn into something very costly indeed.
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This comment section could be interesting….
1. There’s money available
2. Clearly Jurgen isn’t spending all of it
3. Maybe the right players aren’t available or don’t want to play for lfc right now? So what’s the point just buying for the sake of it? We have done that for years – mario, anyone?
4. Wouldn’t it be nice to use that shiny, expensive academy and not block chances for Sheyi, TAA, Cam and Ben?
When you say Jurgen isnt spending it, given this window looks the same as every other shit FSG window, we can be confident its fucking MIke Gordon and his clueless comittee spending it,(trading really, not spending) not jurgen,
Pretty much sums up my opinion on this. Jurgen had his targets, some he got, some he missed and he feels that the current squad has enough quality to be successful this season; rather than do a ‘Mario/Carroll/Llori’ on deadline day.
I know we all want to win the league immediately but it’s important to consider Klopps progression with the other two clubs he’s managed and see the parallels.
I still think this team can do top four and a cup run…
So would you have preferred that Klopp keep all that deadwood he has just got rid of so that the ‘net spend’ looks good to the twitter tits?
No I’d prefer it if the money was reinvested in the playing squad instead of sat in the bank
Reinvesting the money is all well and good but Klopp is very specific in who he wants, if those players are not available does he just buy some one for the same of it or wait for his first choice to become available?
WHo would you like us to buy? Not what position, what Player?
A specialist left back certainly. Of the ones linked Ricardo Rodriguez has the best profile
Chelski just bought Marcus Alonso for more than £20 million from Fiorentina. That’s a specialist left back that per Transfermarkt was worth £9 million in July 2016.
So, I take it that’s what you want?
@koolhand21
Unbelievably pathetic logic mate.
Fair enough but is he a dramatically better than what we have? Klopp obviously sees something in him? I think we need to let Klopp do his stuff and see what happens. He must see something in Alberto!!!
If he see’s something in him then why isn’t he starting him?
we cleared out the deadwood to give Klopp a squad size he felt he could manage over 40-45 games.
That clearout has created a profit as these things should do when selling 10-15 players and you have the money in the PL these days (although it gets missed that 32m of that income will be used to cover the 32m deficit buying Benteke caused in the first place).
So, we’ve cleared out and klopp has the squad size he wants…so what’s the point in spending 50-60m on 3 or so lads to increase the fucking squad size again?
Because those 3 or so lads give us extra depth, redundancy, flexibilty and increase the possibility of actually finding players possessing the quality to enable us to progress….and attract quality.
Is there an academy left back who looks like he could be looking at getting first team games at some stage though? Fine if so. Well not fine, but better.
I’m not sure about a lot of this season tbh. The left back situation, the Sturridge weirdness, the Sakho sideshow, Henderson visibly struggling in a position even Allen would’ve been better suited to playing never mind anyone we could’ve brought in.
We haven’t even played our first home game yet and I’m worrying about us. I fear just having a good league cup run or whatever but then getting to March playing out league games that are meaningless for the 7th time in 8 seasons. I’m exasperating myself just thinking about it.
It’s not skepticism we have been here for the past 25 years so we know the hall marks – round pegs square holes freebies cheapies and now a virtual nine or is it rather false
As per, I think I’ve already made these points on here over the summer.
We see the accounts published every year. We know FSG have improved income and got rid of dead wood blah, blah, blah. We’ve seen the -£50m, £1m, £60m climb. We know the background, H&G stadium plans, couldn’t spend the Suarez money, £30m annual net spend and whatever else.
We also know the tv deal amounts. With that in mind I’m absolutely certain we could have spent £100m this summer and still had enough left in the coffers to buy cocktails in watermelons, M&S lager and calamari.
It’s seems like complete lunacy to end up in the black (£2.71648m in my estimation prior to Alberto) and buying only 2 players over £5m bearing in mind some of the squad deficiencies.
My point is along the same line as yours but if we get top 4 or top 3 and have a fairly decent season in the cups then it might all blow over. If we don’t get top 4 then whether it’s Klopp who prefers to do it like that or they felt they wanted to buy but no one was available to fill the positions long term is irrelevant. It’s gonna go off big time and right or wrong it’s gonna be FSG who cop for it. It’s already happening amongst the less stable in our fan base (although I’ve been relaxed about things as of yet).
It’s utterly baffling and a huge gamble to allow it. Truth is, I fear the fall out from this at the end of the summer. This Sakho news today has made me realise the extreme behaviour LFC fans show and how patience and loyalty don’t really exist. The kids today are from a generation where they get what they want then they throw it away and get a new one. I pray for the good of the club and unity that we have a good season because they’ll be no talk of transition, thank god or time to settle. Klopp’s already put an end to that. It’ll be war and it won’t just be the unhinged amongst us.
So buy players so the idiots in the fanbase don’t get upset? I have never heard such crap. if players are not available then how do we buy them? Who are these players we should be buying? has Klopp said there are players he wants but we won’t buy them?
We have bought this season and i like the look of the players so far this early in the season. The fact that the net spend is not high is nonsense. We have sold well. Surely part of the job Klopp has take on was to offload the dross we have accumalated over the last few seasons. He is doing that and the club are still getting it in the neck.
It will be war! really? for fucks sake.
We’ve got a midfielder at left back who isn’t that good there because he’s right footed and so as a result can’t cross the ball without coming inside. Everyone we’ve played so far this season has clearly had a game plan to exploit our left side. Don’t tell there isn’t a decent left back around. I don’t get paid to scout the world looking so therefore I haven’t looked for one. It’s stupidity to suggest there aren’t any available though. We did try to get one but he was 17 and has never played a Premier League game. He was clearly a player we wanted but guess what, we didn’t offer enough.
Here’s a question for you. Let’s say Clyne gets injured today. Who do you play at right back?
In case you haven’t noticed our rivals look strong hence 3 wins out of 3 for them all. We’ve won one and got battered by Burnley. As far as I can see we’ve only strengthened one position. I could understand your point about the net spend through clearing the squad of players who are unlikely to play if we had a good first 11. We haven’t though, let alone no back up in defence at all. It’s no surprise to me that we’ve conceded 6 goals in our first 3 games.
The bottom line is, we’ve left holes in our squad. If you can’t see the dissatisfaction in the fan base over it then you need to open your eyes. Is that what you want? Fans kicking off with the club? I certainly don’t but that’s what will happen if we come 6th, 7th or 8th again after having so much cash available to spend and neglected key positions.
Gloss is over all you want mate but it’s extremely poor planning.
Unbelievably pathetic vision mate.
We have sold well!
You have to laugh.
That’s it then. “We have sold well”
Victory is assured.
The only idiots on here are the ones who think like Ben Johnson.
The ‘No defence, No worries’ crowd, who point blank refuse to acknowledge empirical evidence that shows defenses do matter.
Maybe all you can all hold hands together and give us a rousing redition of Kum-By-Yah… such is your faith in our profligate defense delivering a successful season.
The “instability” you talk about (I presume you refer to the march on Anfield and the chanting of “YOU GREEDY BASTARDS” is loyalty displayed.
Loyalty to the club and not a shower of fucking American corn trading greedy bastards.
The notion that the people of Liverpool are prone to instability or spontaneous outbursts of passion is frankly absurd.
Well, no, aside from the fact that I don’t remember mentioning ‘instability’ which you seem to have based a large part of your reply on that wasn’t what I was referring to. I was referring to the idiots among the fan base who have turned on Klopp today over Sakho. That’s what I meant by loyalty and patience. I’ve absolutely no idea why you feel the decision to get rid of Sakho is an FSG one, It’s not. In fact, I can’t see how your reply relates to my comment at all. It’s almost like you’ve got an obsession with FSG that manifests itself whenever anyone mentions any aspect of the club they’re not happy with.
My point was – Klopp doesn’t want Sakho which on the surface appears odd and Klopp didn’t want to strengthen certain positions or buy back up for others. I was saying, another poor finish in the league and some of our fans will blame FSG for that and not Klopp. The fallout will be huge. I can sense people readying themselves already and we’re only 3 games in. I’m not talking about people like you who have an agenda largely based on false allegations and misunderstanding of how the club runs either. I’m saying the majority of fans will voice their dissatisfaction.
Sakho jeopardised the club by acting irresponsibly. He should have checked his medication would lead to a suspension before he took them.
We need to get shut. On principle.
I think it shows great compassion that Klopp didn’t sack him on the day of the suspension and discipline his medical staff for not testing/educating or putting in place process that ensures players don’t get drugs suspension.
I am 200% behind Klopp. He deserves unconditional support both by the punters and owners, and should be allowed to identify his own targets and financed to get them.
How do you know Klopp isn’t allowed to identify his own targets and financed to get them?
Sakho didn’t take a banned substance. It was freely available over the counter in France.
Klopp has been calling all the shots this transfer window,
To suggest it’s been driven by Mike Gordon/committee is nonsense,
No contract extension would be signed if that was the case.
It’s been a disappointing summer transfer window. I woulda expected Klopp to be able to pull in more talent. The way it seems to me Klopp has a different mindset compared to other established managers. Klopp pointed out that business in transfer window is not the only solution to fixing our problems, it can be done on training pitch. Now Klopp with his record with Dortmund has all the right in the world to follow his strategy. However, I feel PL is different. Unlike bundesliga here there are several clubs fighting for title and they all follow the strategy of good business during summer transfer window. Of course other clubs have a European games so need more depth in the squad compared to us. But we still need at least 11 fit players to beat each of those other title contenders. Given the high intensity game that klopp expects from his team having reasonable depth in squad is just plain pre-req to competing for title or even top 4. And the thing that bothers me the most is not just talent we need some leaders in team who can make everyone in locker room believe that we fight for title. Unfortunately we don’t have that kinda leadership in the locker room. While other clubs bring in players who are not just talented but also believe they deserve to win the title. What we have is our fan base and how we stand behind our club. Let’s hope that we can motivate them to compete for ultimate glory. YNWA
that’s all fine but you’re looking at Dortmund for what they became not what they were when he took over.
They were something like 7-8th in the league, so they had a decent chunk of sides to overhaul.
he had to rebuild the whole squad from bottom up – this took him 2 windows. his first 2 seasons at Dortmund were something like 7th and 6th.
then he got it just as he wanted it……young lads picked up from off the radar or from the Dortmund youth set up.
Its been said a ton of times but imagine if we started this season with a polish lad signed for 4m quid from a no-mark league – and if that lad took a season to really settle in.
Spot on KM,
We wanted Klopp, let’s leave him at it for a few Windows before having collective meltdowns.
‘What we have is our fan base and how we stand behind our club.’
Hmm.
We have spent a shedload of money this summer. Three months ago, everyone had major and diverse lists of what we needed and now there is pretty much consensus that we need a left back and a central midfielder, albeit that some want an Alonso and some want a Masch.
It is very early but there is nothing so far to suggest we have bought a Dossena, a Lambert, a Balo, a Benteke, an Illori, an Aspas – man this list could go on all day. We are in the black because we have raised 60m from selling a group of players in which the only one we will miss is a squad player with 1 year left in his contract.
If I could think of a left back or a midfielder that we could likely get who would immediately improve us, that would be different. As it is, I am more concerned that we are playing top 4 competitors without firing our biggest gun.
The cost of addressing the lack of left back and holding midfielder situation should be spoken of in terms of points.There will be precious few points between 4th placed club and the rest. Let us hope that LFC will be on the right side of the points tally! If we are not we can compliment the clubs balance sheet while watching Europa league or perhaps with our slippers on in mid Winter watching Eastenders.Time will tell
Everyone was delighted that our selling was good this year and we extracted 32m from palace, over 21m for Bournemouth.
Now, it seems to me that if we’d got 15m rather 53m in and ended up with a “net spend” of around 30m then fans would actually be happier than if we hadn’t got that money in – as if somehow a decent deficit is the only true statement of intent, whereas being ruthless and culling a huge squad is a statement of intent that maybe mediocrity wont be accepted. you’re either good enough or you’re gone – and for Klopp’s first window that was always the likely scenario.
I think the argument is that, having brought this money in, we should have spent it. But I agree. For me, our policy suggests an end to stop-gap buying. We have brought four players JK seems to see as starters, a midfield prospect and a player who looks well suited to being 4th choice CB.
No – well this will have to do signings. Presumably the money is still in the bank and will allow Klopp to go large on players he really wants when we are 10 points clear in Jan.
We could spend 45m on Dossena for LB, Poulssen as DM, Mario as a striking option and Aquilani to boss midfield.
That’s what we spent on them back in the day. And it would mean we have spent over 100m gross and about 50m net – so there’s your statement of intent.
Klopp might not want them and think they are all shite and never play them – but that doesn’t seem to be the point any more.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SPEND. THATS WHAT MATTERS!!
Exactly what he did after his first season with Mainz.
some good points here regarding pressure build up etc. I do think our situation is slightly different to arsenals as in we have brought in 7 players. If the same happens in the next couple of windows (net spend) then we could maybe worry.
I think this one comes under trust the manager. He has a plan and I have no doubt he would spend money if he thought it was necessary.
The cost is the same as previous FSG seasons.
The cost is progress, whilst the top 4 and a couple of other teams get stronger (spurs) on the back of investment.
We are bona fide mid table under these shit owners.
Mid table in a getting to the EL final beating the world’s richest club and Dortmund in the process kind of way?
In a thumping Man City home and away and not losing to Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea in the league kind of way?
yeah, right.
A finishing 8th kind of way and a pathetic Europa final kind of way.
A throwing away a 3 goal cushion to goons, a battering by Burnley and being unable to score against Arsenal kind of way.
Right?
*****
A throwing away a 3 goal cushion to goons, a battering by Burnley and being unable to score against Spurs kind of way
We didn’t throw away a 3 goal cushion else it would have been 4-4.
And what’s the point of a cushion if you’re not going to use it?
So we are a mid-table team because a bunch of players no longer at our club lost a few league games at the end of last year?
This we “finished 8th last year” stuff does my head in. Inside the box, outside the box, beside the box, on top of the box, whole holding a box – it doesn’t matter. Any kind of thinking will do here.
Obviously, we are mid table because of a transfer policy of speculation FSG put in place that even extended to the manager hired.
Young, dynamic, hungry and cheap instead of proven and experienced.
This policy sees us having to get shut of shed loads of punts, shed loads of dross and sees us mid table, after finishing 8th and getting battered in the second half of a Europa final.
A zero net spend is hardly inspiring.
Feel free to see reality differently if it doesnt do your head in.
Proven & experienced is no guarantee and you can’t lay absolutely everything at FSG door,
We weren’t so hot before there arrival.
“Mid table in a getting to the EL final beating the world’s richest club and Dortmund in the process kind of way?
In a thumping Man City home and away and not losing to Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea in the league kind of way?”
When’s the parade?
It’s sad what people will settle for now.
What isn’t mentioned in the article is that our best players were sold in back to back seasons, their ‘replacements’ are now gone and we’ve been left with nothing.
And still you get people declaring Benteke to be a ‘good bit of business’.
Where’s European golden boy that’s been bought to replace him?
Where’s the Suarez replacement?
I think Jurg is doing tremendously well in getting the most outta the squad and he’s still doing it
But I think the priorities before the window started was a GK, a left back and a central midfielder who can pass and playmake with a bit of creativity. We only did one of those
When we’ve made more money than we spend it is a bit frustrating that we didn’t solve the problems in the squad, it feels like we’re handicapping ourselves
Having said all that we can still have a terrific season, but if we have a good LB and good starting CM I’d be far more confident
We got in Grujic as well. he’s a midfielder. So is Winjaldum.
So isn’t that 2 done? Whether Klopp wanted a LB is not really even a question now.
Gruijic is about ten years old and needs time. Gini is an attacking midfielder who plays centrally or wide, not a central midfielder.
Gruijic is the same age as Dahoud…..
A couple of random bits of information that provide some shading to the debate about whether we are spending enough to complete…
Only 7 other clubs’ record transfer is higher than the fee we paid for Wijnaldum.
Spurs net spend looks very similar to ours, and they need greater squad depth this season to complete in CL. (This is expected to change today!)
Two clubs broke there transfer records this summer buying our cast offs.
City and Guardiola have got 6 in this summer (incl a freebie – surely they should have paid 25m just for shits). They’ll probably have about 11 out by the end of the day. But the outs are loan deals with city subsidising the wages.
However this makes their net spend huge due to not so much money coming in. If they’d sold all the outs they’d probably have a net spend of less than 50m if you consider how much they could get for nasri, bony, mangala and hart.
is this better or worse than us getting cash in through the door for the same net result of trimming a bloated squad?
We could easily have spent more, but Matip was free and Karius under valued and without CL football it is difficult to attract that next level player. Mane looks good and we seem to have sold well and bought well. I always think we need an extra player to score goals (another Mane) but with Ojo comming through and if Gomes can regains fitness then I think we are fine. One of the problems of world class players is that many of them are not hungry, some are, but i am not sure we could attract those type of players without CL football. Players like Grujic need to play and if he comes through then we have another good player on our hands. Players like Whelan, Hanson and Alan Kennedy came young with potential and were given a chance, Klopp in my view is doing the same, finding young good players that he can mould,
I don’t understand the winging. We bought 7 new players, plus we have Gomez and Ings to come back from injury. That’s 9. We gout rid of a lot of poor but expensive ( especially salary-wise) players. Now let’s get behind the team. Remember Leicester. How many new players does the average fan want us to buy each summer? 12, 20- seems wierd
Fucking brilliant, brilliant piece. I’m cynical, Lord knows i am, but theres definitely some book blancing going on here. i don’t think for one second Jurgen would not spend on another player, he’s already missed out on several.
My worry is – if things go tits up, or we have an injury crisis (like last year) we’ll be forced to play players all over the shop or a load of youngsters and if the results arnt favourable it will be Klopp who takes the weight of criticism in only his first full season.
Theres simply no excuse for how this summer has panned out, none at all. The weaknesses have been there for as long as i can remember and i’m disappointed but not surprised under FSG that yet again we look short and have not given ourselves the best chance at success.
Klopp is playing the long-game, biding his time in the knowledge he has many transfer windows to come so there’s no point bidding for alternatives who he does not believe as as good.
and you simply cannot plan to have a squad of 70 players to cover every eventuality. Take CB for example…
all of the top 6 have 3 CBs and utlity players to cover…
Spurs have 3 CBs + a utility – vertonghen, Alderweireld and Wimmer + Dier when needed.
City have 3+2 – Kompany, Ottamendi and Stones + Fernandinho and Kolarov.
Arsenal 3+2- Gabriel, Kosielny and Mustafi + Coquelin and Monreal
United have 2+3 – smalling and bailey + blind, carrick and jones
Chelsea have 3+1 – terry, zouma and cahill + ivanovic and mikel if needed
So, in that context, our current numbers are ok. we have a 3+2 ratio in line with everyone else and no Europe to worry about – there is no need for 5 true CBs. Same goes all over the pitch
Arsenal also have Mertesacker with Chelsea actively searching for another centreback.
Mertesacker was omitted as he is out until next year at the earliest – and if he returns before next summer I’ll be amazed.
Chelsea may get another CB – but the point still stands – clubs are not as stocked with cover in these positions as we might think.
Is Javi Martinez still on the bench at Bayern? I’d have him since he’s two players in one, centre half AND centre midfield. Our last big Basque signing worked out ok…
The left back situation is bizarre. If Klopp was satisfied with Moreno I’d accept his judgement, but he’s dropped him in favour of playing Milner out of position. Surely that means Klopp recognises a gap that needs filling and he must know of a potential signing who can do a better job there. Maybe not the perfect player, but a good upgrade. If it’s a stopgap, so be it. There’s nothing wrong with a short term solution,
inferring from what JK has said before I’m sure he is using this time to train Moreno to improve him so we will see whenever he comes back, maybe he can do a lovren, if he does not have it in him to defend then that will be impossible.
on the lighter side maybe they are fitting him with a sat nav so he will not loose his bearings on the pitch but I dont know how they will get him to stop diving in that will be a challenge
a question – who are Spurs back up FBs? or City’s? Or United’s? Or Arsenal’s?
Who are the 20+m specific position players who provide cover at these clubs? It doesn’t seem to work that way any more – that players are bought for one job only. Flexibility is the way it seems to work these days so players moving roles is going to be the norm.
Fernandinho covering CB at City, Valencia or Blind playing FB at United, Vertonghen covering LB at Spurs. Chambers playing CB or FB at Arsenal. Azpilicueta moving to LB at Chelsea.
Its the way these managers like to work.
a sure way to succeed is buying top quality players that are firing on all cylinders for 2 or 3 seasons running, yes people will say you are buying the league, better be holding the trophy aloft whilst fending off bitters than finish eighth and look like mugs.
cost and value are not directly related and that is where we have suffered the most as a club we have spent near silly money on useless players when another 5M on top of the cost could have brought us more value.
We are also plagued with poor choices. When we should be avoiding players we go in with alacrity to pay for him when we should be busting a gut we dither.
Aguero 38M Carrol 35M
who shouted jeeezzz? be careful
For the last few seasons our defence has been a problem, we’ve been conceding 50+ goals a season. It certainly hurt us in our recent title chasing season.
We’ve tried to upgrade our keeper situation with Karius which is good work.
It’s looking like we’re gonna be entering the rest of the season with 3 centrebacks, 2 of which are new to the league and the other still has question marks over him. Our first choice leftback is actually a right midfielder and our back up is a player most fans would like to see moved on. He’s our only actual leftback. Our first choice right back is great but if he gets injured who steps in?
I can’t say I’m happy with our defensive options which, for me, was a priority.
Liverpool are becoming quite professional at always being the underdogs when it comes to squad depth or squad quality.
For how long?
Riise to Insua to Fabio Aurelio to Dossena to Konchesky to Jose Enrique to Cissokoh to Moreno.
Huh?
From Sinama Pongole (autocorrect) to Milan Baros to Benayoun to Babel to Riera to Voronin to Jovanovic to Joe Cole to to N’gog to Borini to Lambert to Aspas to Balotelli.
Why we always on the outside looking in?
If I wasn’t a Liverpool fan.. I’d easily write Liverpool off. Easily.
Will always be grateful to John Henry and FSG, but at the end of the day they are a hedge fund, taking peoples money, investing it and giving them a return and starting all over again.
They are not THAT interested in winning things (OK it might increase the value of the club a little, but nowhere near as much as new Commercial Deals) so in turn they are not that interested in huge net spends to purchase players for ridiculous sums to do what – win things ? Well that’s something they don’t necessarily want.
There is so much money in the Premier League you don’t even really need to get into the Champions League for a football club to make ridiculous profits – just don’t get relegated
They need to put the club up for sale, take their profit, distribute it to their investors and move on.
this is nonsense. Increased commercial deals are best attracted by winning things which increases global reach.
As for spend – we’ve spent about 10m less than arsenal, about 50m more than Spurs (who balance the books at a minimum every fucking year! – what does that tell us???) – who gives a fuck if that money has come from clearing out deadwood? Why not use Klopp to get us top 4, get CL and then use the cash next summer when we should have CL football as an attraction? Why not have 50m spare that could seal the deal for a Reus or whichever other headline name who wont join us this summer?
This whole thing is an unwinnable argument. Its pointless really – none of us are right, none of are wrong.
But if winning things was FSGs goal,you think they would have sorted out LB and GK by giving the club an interest free £80m…
It Clearly isn’t nonsense as we have increased all of our sponsorships having won nothing in recent times!
The game is not about winning things or about the supporters (our season ticket money doesn’t pay one player’s wages for one morning in a year!
As for waiting to sign players, do you not think we need a left back and a holding midfielder RIGHT NOW – cos most of the rest of the LFC Fanbase do?
Mane, Wijnaldum, Matip, Klavan, Grujic and Karius could all turn out to be class signings. Mane and Wijnaldum are BPL proven. Matip, Klavan, Grujic and Karius are bargains. I don’t think too many people can find fault with those signings.
Players who left, for the most part, had to go. Ibe, Sinclair, Canos, Skrtel, Alberto, Benteke, Balotelli, Wisdom and Allen. What boggles the mind is why we would choose to let Flanagan and Smith go without so much as signing a proper LB cover.
If the net spend is truly zero and we could easily afford another LB, then FSG is not telling us the whole truth or Klopp sees something we don’t. Things could’ve looked so much better if only we had signed Hector. If only.
Here’s hoping Klopp proves us wrong.
I never want to see the day when this club spends £93m on a player it sold for £800,000 a few years earlier. Incidentlly, ONLY Ferguson could get away with that one. Imagine the stick if Rafa had done it.
Anyway, I find City, Utd and Chelsea to be plastic, grotesque and boring. I don’t like them, their fans, their stadium, their way of doing business, their dull, painfully obvious style of transfers – Zlatan? Pogba? Stones? Oh do fuck off. Who ever thought of those signings? So left of field…..
I was so pleased to hear Klopp talk about how training means more to him than transfers. What he did at Dortmund was sensational and that is what I want for this club. I am willing to wait for it.