I don’t know who of you was watching sky sports last evening. I waited and waited and waited but no striker arrived. We got a left back who should be able to cut it in the prem. But still we don’t have a backup striker. Babel went all the way to London by helicopter but no deal. West ham stuck to their guns and asked for the cash. Plus in any case they probably would have had to pay Babel more than they are paying Cole.
Gomes wanted big baller money. 125000 pounds per week is no joke! For a bench ouen!!!!!
I guess Torres came back to bite us. There is no player in worth buying who would be happy just being a bench ouen. I have more respect for a player who leaves a big club in search for more game time than one who moves to a big club for the money.
Just an aside. I read that Plessis has been sold to Panathainikos and another youngster has also gone that way. El Zhar has been sent to POAK on loan with an option to buy. Vincent Weijl has been been sold as well.
Looks like RH is culling the foreign youngsters in the reserves. I think this is the culmination of the new Prem laws. I hope though that it doesn’t symbolise a reversal of the youth policy we had just started. RH doesn’t have a track record of blooding youth players or of building clubs up. He is much more a coach than a manager. He looks at the 1st team as his job. The rest of the matters are for the club admin. This is a big shift from Rafa who was involved in almost every aspect of the club.
At this stage I don’t know whether this is a good or bad thing. I look at Fergie and he is involved in a lot of what happens at Man U. Then I look at Wenger and he likes to be involved in the playing aspects (the 1st team and the youth teams and transfers). In the rest of Europe you are only a coach and there is a director of football who looks after most of the rest, i.e. transfers, facilities, academies, sponsorships etc.
What are your thoughts on which is the best model for us?
p.s. an interesting thought just crossed my mind as I finished this. Imagine King Kenny as director of football at Liverpool…Like Johan Cruyff was at Barca!
Thank the heavens above that we didn’t get Cole. I think we have an issue up front but I guess now is the time to just trust what we have and hope that we have enough…especially with Babel going in the opposite direction, it’s a no-brainer to me….ill take my chances with Babel any day…
Been reading some of the blogs and there is some interesting reading out there as to our transfer policies for this window and what is expected to lift the Liverpool side back to its great heights….one point highlighted that I tend to agree with is, why buy 3 10million pound average signings when you can get maybe 1 world class 20mil signing and a youngster for development?…Surely, this should be our focus, especially in light of the new laws…Cole is a good example of this, fine he is English and yeah he has a proven track record in the EPL, but if we had to make a change and throw him on, how much influence or change would he bring to our game? Unfortunately for me, I don’t think much at all…. Well at least not much more than our boy Babel or even Ngog would do….
Which brings me to the point of Torres…Taf you right in saying that Torres and Stevie do create workarounds for us….we are constantly buying players to play around these okes…Maybe a solution could be to play the diamond in mid with 3 full backs…(thinking Chelsea here….) I think we have enough quality in mid and defense to play this system and ample for backup in these departments.… that way we can play 2 upfront, Torres and maybe Babel… I really feel Babel should just be given a run of games upfront… he has the pace, skill and shot to trouble most defenses….C’mon RH give him a chance…
As for the hierarchy of the squad, I think it’s a blessing in disguise that RH only seems to have a coaching role… what we need is a hands on oke to deal with the teams issues only and to leave the other stuff to the powers that be… also, we are forgetting that Fergie and Wenger are now established premier league coaches with a years of experience… its only obvious that once you have proven yourself as a coach first, that you would be given more lee way…
For now, I think the best thing for livers, is to return to the basics…get that team and fighting spirit back and win a few games…. And then come end of season hope that we have done enough to at least get into the top 4….
Why not have another top striker, he would hardly be warming the bench for Torres. Do you think Torres is going to last all season and play every game? Do you think he wants to? Every striker needs a rest in order to stay sharp. All top Euro teams have at least two top strikers who get rotated as and when required. We have a great striker who is replaced by Babel and Ngog who will dont produce the goods often enough.