Nothing wrong with a bit of early season analysis of our summer signings, especially when we're in the middle of another shoddy international borefest (although i must admit i always like an England Germany game). Besides most of us have to admit we make early judgements on players and then stand to be corrected, Cissoko is a great example of that although he is shi.....te ;-)
Mignolet - Probably the most controversial signing given how popular Pepe is with the fans. I actually felt that Pepe was back somewhere close to his best during the last 4-5 months of last season BUT there is no denying he was very inconsistent for a long period prior to that and I do believe that Mignolet has been an upgrade for the position. He started a little shaky in terms of claiming high balls and some of his decisions at corners but this aspect has improved and given our susceptability at corners it was important to have a keeper with a big physical prescence and he has certainly brought that. His shot stopping has been excellent, I can't recall too many goals this season where we have had to ask the question "could the keeper have done better there?". The obviouos trade off has been Simon's ability with the ball at his feet. If you take the Saints game earlier in the season, they figured we had 4 centre-halves on the pitch that day so they simply pressed the hell out of us safe in the knowledge that our big goalkeeper was about as comfortable on the ball as the guys he was passing out to. Reina is a classic sweeper keeper and is very similar to Vorm at Swansea so it was surprising to see Rodgers opt for a less technical (with his feet) keeper such as Mignolet BUT ultimately it is about stopping goals so i am very happy with our goal keeper. I would liike to see him a little more composed when the ball is rolled back to him though, he does tend to play it safe with a long kick downfield when there is an option to slip the ball out to one of his centre-halves.
Toure - What a signing he has been, and on a free as well. Inspired bit of business for me. Not only has he played better than many of us expected, his touch is better than I realised and he is still very quick for a 32 yeard old. He has also brought a wealth of experience and LEADERSHIP which was massive given that we have lost the most vocal player at the club over the last 10 years. I klnow a good few posters think that Toure might now be eased back to being the squad player we all thought he'd be when he was signed but I think he will win his place back in the side despite the competition.
Sakho - I like this lad. Big, strong, alert, committed in both the tackle and in the air. He is a real defenders defender. He doesn't look particularly comfortable on the ball, in fact he reminds me of Traore with the ball at his feet BUT despite this his passes tend to find their man and he very rarely gives the ball away. His game does need a bit of tweaking but already i think we have seen some improvements in the short time he has been at the club, and i guess some of this has to do with his lack of a full pre-season and regular playing time. He does need to stay on his feet a little more and also to pick and choose his moments to step out and get tight to players and obviously he will need to gain a better graps of the language but by this time next year we could have a real player on our hands.
Moses - His appearances so far have been fleeting and it's hard to make much of a judgement because we haven't really seen him play in his best position (on the left of a 3) all that much. He played a few games in the 10 shirt when we were playing 3-5-2 but this really isn't his spot, he doesn't look particularly comfortable playing centrally from a technical or tactical perspective but he does offer pace and power and a directness lack we lack in other areas if he is played on the left wing with the option of cutting in onto his stronger foot. It would not surprise me to see Moses have a decent season and secure himself a permanent move by the end of the season. Obviously we wanted Willian but Moses was a pretty savvy signing I think.
Aspas - Must admit i really liked what i saw of Aspas from the footage that was out there prior to the season and he seemed to confirm it during a strong pre-season but it hasn't really worked out so far and without league cup or Europa league action i'm struggling to see him getting many games between now and the end of the season tbh. I like his movement and his tenacity but he looks a bit lightweight in this league and i would not be shocked to see him loaned back to La Liga in January if we can bring on a player to replace him. so as things stand, he looks a bit of a flop.
Alberto - A real head scratcher for me. Looks a real technician, a pure passer of the ball, very easy on the eye, the sort of player your average LFC fan likes to watch. But hold on a minute, didn't we already have one of those in Suso? Suso showed more on his debut against United last season than Alberto has shown so far this season so it is strange that Suso is the one who has been sent off to get more experience only to be replaced by a player who is making his debut in top flight football in a league that is alien to him. That's not to say that Alberto won't make a player, i actually quite like him but when we were struggling to get past the loss of Coutinho Suso was the player who could have stepped in and partly filled the void. Alberto is very much a developmental signing but again, with the absence of any European football there isn't really an avenue this season for him to actually develop. Particularly as Brendan seems to like him in central midfield despite his background as a wide player in a 4-3-3.
So all in all, some hits and some misses based on the season so far. The hits haven't been as big as Sturridge and Coutinho and the misses haven't approached the dark days of Carroll and Downing so i'd say it's been a fairly solid start for our new players. Clearly we could do with a couple more in Januaray. A couple to match the impact of last January and i'd fancy us to go and win the bloddy thing BUT that would take some doing.
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