There's been much talk on here about money being "wasted", "p!ssed away" and the like. People are basing those assumptions on a fairly small sample size (14 league games) and are talking with absolute certainty that so and so was "a complete waste of money". I've argued that we won't know for a while yet, but it's time for me to be honest here and say exactly why I'm more confident than most that many of them will come very good indeed.
I'm going to start with a fairly controversial point. Dejan Lovren will in my opinion be recognised as one of the best centre halves in the league within the next twelve months. I think he's an excellent player who is going through a confidence crisis (much like the rest of the team really), but I've seen enough to be convinced not a penny of his 20 million quid fee was wasted. Actually, in my opinion we nicked him. He's good in the air, decisive in the tackle, has a turn of pace and uses the ball well. At the moment our defensive unit is a shambles and with it his confidence has crumbled, but he is strong enough to turn it around both for him and them. He's the best centre half we've had at the club for many a year in my view and I don't say that lightly. I've a hunch Sakho will be the better partner for him with his no nonsense approach, and I'm also convinced if he were allowed to get rid of it up the field when pressured he'd look better, but Lovren will come good. When? any game now is the answer. He's such a good player in my opinion that I always expect him to play well and am surprised when he doesn't, he'll probably be MOM against Palace on Sunday. Failing that, VERY SOON people will change their opinion of him, I'd be surprised if it's not before Christmas if he continues to be selected.
Next up is Adam Lallana . I thought we overpaid for this lad, but having seen him and what you get these days for a similar fee I'm not so sure. He really has lovely feet, puts a good shift in and has a goal/assist in him all day long. To me the hardest thing for Adam is that he missed all of the pre season and the first month of the season through injury. Given it's only November that's a lot, and I don't think he's quite up to speed yet but he is getting there. An absolute quality player who is easy on the eye, he'll be a Liverpool player for the next five seasons at least.
Emre Can is another player who's career at the club so far has been blighted by injuries. Not only that, he's been asked to come into a misfiring team and he's 20 years old. He was out for six weeks with an injury, but he's come back and is surely ahead of schedule in that he's now pressing for a place in the first choice team (he'd get in mine). Didn't look out of place in the Bernabau or against the best team in the Premiership, and anyone who any experience of how much young blokes grow between 20 and 24 will know this lad is going to be a real unit. Seems to have a turn of pace and a bit of on the ball arrogance about him, I like him a lot. Potential future captain, and at 10 million quid a snip.
Alberto Moreno is a typical modern fullback in that he is a bomber going forward but can't actually defend. Fortunately you can teach one but not the other, and he's very good at the bit which is simply a natural gift. I see him as a young Patrice Evra without the c***ish tendencies, and I think that by this time next season people will be putting plans together to stop him damaging them going forward. Over a reasonable distance this kid is like lightening, and I'm not yet totally convinced he'll end up playing at full back. At 12 million quid though to me he looks like a very good buy indeed and could develop into a superstar.
Rickie Lambert . I liked the idea behind the buy, but it looks like we got him 18 months too late.
Lazar Markovic . A boy in a mans body, Markovic is IMHO the signing with the biggest potential upside of all. If he uses the pace, power, dribbling skill and trickery he has he could quite easily become a World Class player. At the moment he's a mile away from that, but you have to remember that players such as Markovic have never looked good in a poor team (which right now is what we are). To flourish he needs to be in a good side who have teams on the back foot, a good side who isn't overly concerned about losing possession. Stick him in the Sunderland team and you'd have Kevin Kilbanne reincarnated, put him in the Chelsea team and he'd look an apprentice monster. He still needs to discover what type of player he is going to be does Lazar, but he really could be anything. 20 million quid is a gamble alright, but waste of money? This one we won't know until the end of next season. If the gamble comes off though, this kid could be phenomenal. In the meantime, we won't see too much of him for the rest of this season I don't think, just cameos and cups.
Mario Balotelli . I was all for this signing too, and I was wrong. It hasn't worked out for him or us, but it's time for a bit of pragmatism here. Brendan will have worked out by now that the sooner he can replace Merio and the Italian f*cks off into the sunset then the better it'll be for everyone. IN THE MEANTIME THOUGH, we ought to speed that process up by while we have him, playing to his strengths. Lets hit him from distance more often and play the way HE wants us to play (I know it's annoying but I'm convinced we'll get more points that way). It'll only be until we get a credible striker that suits our style before we can jib him off.
Origi . I've barely seen him play, but you can be sure that at 19 years old he will improve. We'll see.
Xavier Manquillo . On loan, and I quite like the young fella. He's a bit of a throwback in that he can actually defend but looks like a defender when he goes forward. I'd have him in front of Johnson right now given the choice, and he's a tidy player for a kid who's 20 years old.
So there's this seasons signings off the top of my head. I think they definitely will come good, and I think they come good quick enough for us to get into the top four this season. I know many don't agree with me there and talk about percentages of wins, how many hundredths of a percentage point goals per game we need to score and other such nonsense, but little in football changes over the years. In each match, to get three points you need to put the ball in the onion bag more often than they do to get the three points. If they don't score any you only need one, if they score four you need five and so on. Usually the team which prevails is the one which has the most character, desire, will and talent, although not necessarily in that order. As our new people begin to find their feet, and as Stevie, Coutinho, Hendo and the like begin to find theirs, we'll find our character again. When we do we'll start to win, a lot. When that happens we'll be a good team again, and in this league we are comfortably IMHO amongst the four best teams, therefore we will finish in the top four. This is where you heard it first.
What is this positivity your sprouting? Are you allowed do that on this forum?
Fully agree.
This team will come good. And a lot of "supporters" will look very silly.
How do we come good?
Skrtel - common denominator of the defensive issues. He prefers to defend on the 18yard box and pulls the rest of our back line back 10 yards. This season for some reason we are 20 yards deeper than we were last season. That means 20 yards to make up on a fast counter or 20 yards more to pass out of trouble, or 20 yards less to clear trouble. Hes a joke and must be replaced.
Gerrard. Hes not a DM. This is another reason why we are doing so poorly. Its no coincidence that Arsenal, the only other team without a DM, have the 2nd most, we are 1st, defensive errors made in the league. We need Lucas or Can to sit in and Gerrard to push on for 30mins at the end of games. 50 yard holywood passes have to stop. Legend or not, the time has come.
Rodgers. First off I'm a big fan and dont want the man sacked. His continual favoritism is killing us. His EGO appears to be out of control. But yet not big enough to make the biggest call and drop Gerrard. He said a while back that the teams are all picked months in advance, and barring injuries they all play. That is madness. MADNESS. Continuing on that route is devastating. I dont blame him for playing Johnson over younger easily targetted Manquillo, that I can kind of understand, but Sakho will not get back in the team ahead of Lovren. Lovren will come good but needs time out of the team to get his head straight and come back at it. Sakho is arguably better than Lovren. Committee buys vs Rodgers buys.... MADNESS.
How do we move forward?
Gerrard drops. Hard to say, but it has to happen.
Rodgers gets a new assistant manager. FSG/Board need to put a list together and hand it to him and say "suck it up and pick one".... His mates are not questioning him enough or offering the correct solutions we are ALL screaming. I believe Rodgers has the attributes to be a great manager... hiS mates dont.
Buy a DM at xmas and replace Lucas with him end of Jan.
Buy another keeper.
Forget about trying to make the team more compact. Revert back to hatchet football. Fast counter. Push the team forward 20 yards. Score early, score again and close up shop. We need to score 1st. So why not go hatchet? Press high again. We were 3rd in the league for most presses last season. We are currently 13th. F**k ME.
Scouts sacked - I believe this has already happened. Just to be clear, MOST of our signings this summer will become GREAT. Balo, Lambert, Carroll, Moses, Mignolet, Dempsey, Salah, Konoplyanka and loads more have either been awful signings or close shaves we tried our best to get and thank f**k didnt. We need to improve and A LOT.
Jesus christ sort out the players minds. They are better than this sh*t. Sort out the route causes, score goals again and pride/confidence will return and then and only then will we be able to judge how good our signings are.
