Good post Si
Most important summer?
Its a very important one but im not sure it could be classed anymore important than any of their previous ones myself.. Last season was arguably a very important one and it seems to me it lacked any real clear thinking.
You know what though ive been thinking since the Cup Semi the other day constantly, its like a fog over me how poor we were and how insipid the display was. Now ive watched enough football for long enough to know that you can have a bad perfomance at any time and that underdogs can raise their game to beat you on any given day [Istanbul anyone].. But the whole way we went about it showed me numerous things.
That the fact have been poor for all bar say 10 weeks of the season shows a real lack in quality in the squad
The fact the manager cant settle on a formation week to week and even in game shows he doesnt have the quality in the squad
The fact we are getting overun in games shows thereare no real leaders in the squad.
Whoever we choose to 'blame' for that lack of quality and leaders in the squad doesnt take away from the fact it is there. I personally think that everyone has an element of blame attached to them.. FSG for their strategy and 'company' structure, the committee and the manager for the squad we have ended up with
So to look at them.
FSG came here, saw a bargain that they could trim down and ultimately turn around to make them money.. But they came here with no football knowledge, no idea on what this game is.. They came with the naivity that FFP would level the playing field but ultimately all it does is allow the clubs already up there to pull the ladder up after them and pull away.. Look at Utd and their 'lack of CL football' and how it affected their spending.. Look at the likes of City, Chelsea and PSG using 'clever' tricks to get around investment.. Now there may well have been the odd fine thrown at them but they are already there and it wont affect them staying there, but those fines or punishments dont make it easier to close tha gap either.
So they came here with a lack of knowledge on the football side too, but people obviously had their ear to start with.. Purslow and Ayre must have had them over Rafa for example.. But not just Rafa but the idea of a coach/manager having too much control and power with the fans.. I remember them doing a call in show on LFCTV when they first came in and you could see their lack of knowledge there and when a few reds got through, probably using a different question prior and had them over that owl c**t that they saw what we thought of him [Purlsow's man].. The attendances went down because of him and they showed him the door.. They brought Kenny back but with a DOF but soon scrapped that..
The spending under Comolli and Kenny scared them i think, moreso the Carroll and Downing signings.. But those were signed off stats that Comolli presented.. Yet to a man we all winced at the idea of spending 55m on those two.. I think we all probably knew how that would turn out.
So again that scrapped and we start again with anew structure, but ultimately to try and enforce the Moneyball system on the club.
They brought in a young unproven coach who i will openly admit i didnt want, i felt we were too big for that, that a show of ambition goes everywhere down the line and that a young manager from a newly promoted club who didnt have any CV to speak of wasnt the ambition i felt we should be trying to show.. Now as soon as he got the job he gets my ultimate backing, as thats how i was brought up as a red, that the manager and the title should get my respect and backing, and that what i have done and still continue to do.. I have issues with him, but i have had issues with most Liverpool managers in my time, but ultimately he gets my backing.
Then under them for me Ian Ayre, a commercial man, and a very good one at that has too much influence over the football side.. He isnt a football man, he is a figures man and for me that affects the club.. You only have to look at the contract F**k ups in the last three years to see its no coincidence, you only have to look at the agents of Mikiteryian and Salah essentially refusing to even talk to us anymore because of essentially him and his low balling and dallying.. The same happened through the summer with Moreno but that one got over the line.. But maybe more to the fact that no one else was in for him and Sevilla didnt overly want to keep him rather than it being a 'win' for Ayre.
In their time we have lost many leaders and shining lights of the squad, we all know who they are so there is little point dragging them into it again but it for me still shows a hole in the strategy.. Now we can all argue that for example selling one 'star' for 50m at that point was the right time to sell him..And ultimatly it proved srewed but its how you replace whoever is leaving.. We can say that allowing some other high earners leave was the right thing to do but we havent replaced their experience and that costing us.. You only have to look at Sunday to see that we lack a leader, that we lack players who have been there and done it.. We were the bigger side there Sunday, but when you look at the 11s can you say that we had anymore big game expeience than Villa?
I love youngsters coming through, i really do, its great to see them develop in front of your eyes, when thereare 3/4/5 in a sqaud its great.. When they have other guys to hold their hands and show them the way though, to drag them through games where by nature as inexperienced players they will struggle for form here and there, they will need rest from time to time, they will need the big players to look up to.
Its a known fact that Steven trough his formative years learnt so much from Gary Mac in that '01 season.
Look at Raheem this season, he shouldnt be our main ma, he shouldnt be at this stage of his development the man we look to as our main match winner, but he is and thats too much to expect and rely on, and the policy of buying and developing has led us to him being that. Its too much for the lad.
Growing up you always had hero's within the squad, as you got older they turned into players i just wanted to watch, that i couldnt wait to watch at the ground or that did stuff that got me off my seat or just got me excited that they were in the team that day..
There isnt really any in this current squad that i can think that my lad will worship or that get me that excited that i get from my seat.. Arguably the only one is Phil and he is still developing his game now is is still raw in patches and does go missing still from time to time.. And in the past, even the recent past if say Xabi had an off day like we see from Phil then Stevie in his pomp, or Torres or little Luis or Macha would step up..
We have a squad of babies or players that who are that little older who have never played at a club like this, who are at times wilting under the pressure of expectation.
Its sad that we have got like this.. The last 10 years after Istanbul and Cardiff have felt like a lifetime, and this current Liverpool on the pitch to that one and the ones previous is frankly not good enough.. We have a buying policy of a small minded team and that what we are turning into. Yes one or two of these may turn out to be world class.. But when they are under this current Liverpool other teams will witness them at that peak. And im sorry filling in around it and expecting the likes of Lovren and Allen to drag us through games is sad to watch.. As par of bigger better squads maybe an Allen but as a vital cog in the Famous Liverpool Football Club's midfield..
F**k.
What i dont get with the whole structure is that we have apparently been prudent with certain signings and 'wont be held to ransom' yet go and spunk 20 million on Lovren.. Whoever wanted Lovren, when the price is 20 million you walk away and look elsewhere..
The policy shouldnt be this falible.. If a proper player who makes the difference costs 30million then go get him.. But why the F**k spend double on someone just to get him? Lovren was never worth 20m and because of that tag people want him to be perfect and wont allow slight mistakes and then the pressure becomes so much on the lad that his time here becomes almost impossible.. But at that price he never should have been signed.
But the types we are getting over the line dont get your juices flowing do they.
This summer we are likely to lose more experience, we are losing the skipper, who yes isnt in his prime anymore but thats not the point, we are losing Steven Gerrard.. We are losing Johnson on a free.. Again not that im suggesting we keep him but the fact is that we will beleft with a 20yr old Manquillo who is so raw its frightening and an academy product who has essentially had one season under his belt, is still raw ad has just missed an entire season through injury.. Or we play a DM at RB who looks uncomfortable there.. What we are losing isnt the point its what we are left with.. Liverpool football club, filled with inexperienced players.. We wont replace Steven or Johnson with ready made quality and experience.. With leaders.
So most important summer? Maybe.. But i dont for one second think it will be one that is any different to the previous 5. It F***ing sad to be honest.. Liverpool football club that i have known all my life isnt the same.. Ill still support it, ill still go through the gates, so FSG wont care as they still get my money but it really is sad the state of a football club now.. We have tried to be too clever and we have fallen short.. This squad lacks real quality and real experience all the way from top to bottom now.. To think we were in 2 European cup finals in 3 years just under a decade ago.
We wont spend any more than 25-30 net and im affarid that isnt enough [whether we can or not] to get us what we need.. We can shift fringe players to bulk the spening to an outgoing of say 60 but net 25-30 and that wont bring in the experince we lack as we stand now let alone losing more and more of it during the summer.
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