So far, have our summer transfer dealings a success or not?

i thought out marquee signing was sakho?

Well, if anyone watched the France v Ukraine game, then our marquee signing was definitely Sakho! By a country mile!

I think they have, not all of them, but they have. here's why;
Our Goalie is class, I know he's nervy on crosses and could do better coming out/distribution, he will improve no doubt.
Sakho is strong, doesn't dwell too much on the ball, he just wins it and passes it out in the most efficient way and looks very relaxed and composed, it's very deceptive and may come across as panic to some peoples eyes, almost clumsy on the ball but nope I like him a lot.
Toure, top move for peanuts and just quality and commitment, also a nice guy for team moral as is Sakho I think, even though he looks scarier .
Alberto, he may turn out to be a technical genius when the game needs to be adjusted to different tactics, an option which is great to have.
The two loanies, they are on loan so are useful and better to have the option there than not, Moses looks better of the two, he's been played out of position, something that BR is obsessed with doing not sure why.
I remember a Bob Paisley quote on that one, why make two changes when you can make one ( I think I got it close enough) in other words if we have a player in the ranks whos favored position is number 10 and through injury we need a number 10 player, play the number 10 not a winger who isn't used to that role.
I'm waffling soz.
Illori, we'll have to wait and see.
Ok we could have got Costa, and mikey finn whatever his name is, but they made the decision not to come.
I'd rather not buy a load of players, like lesser teams often do, and try fit them all in, it's unsettling and leads to a long period of instability.
We got just the right amount of cover and prospects, coz they were available and we snapped them up.
I'm glad we never wasted the money on Willian personally, as I think he's hyped up. So I'm glad on that one.
If we can just get a couple of big powerful and creative midfielders in January then that team is near enough ideal or me right now.
I keep thinking Suarez will go in Jan, so I'm not going believe he will help us all season, who knows. That will mean we need extra firepower obviously, if he goes.

Mignolet has been very good at the almost old-fashioned art of shot-stopping, he's very agile. Still a bit dodgy on crosses, and his footwork, kicking and distribution are woeful. Not really a modern sort of sweeper-keeper, like Reina or Llloris.

Toure has been good, experienced cover to make up for the loss of Carra.

Sakho may turn out OK, at the moment he looks very raw and we got stung at the price we paid. Will find it tough to get past Agger and Skrtel.

Cissokho is sh*t. Aspas is sh*t. Alberto is a squad player. Moses will be gone next season.

Mignolet has been very good at the almost old-fashioned art of shot-stopping, he's very agile. Still a bit dodgy on crosses, and his footwork, kicking and distribution are woeful. Not really a modern sort of sweeper-keeper, like Reina or Llloris.

Toure has been good, experienced cover to make up for the loss of Carra.

Sakho may turn out OK, at the moment he looks very raw and we got stung at the price we paid. Will find it tough to get past Agger and Skrtel.

Cissokho is sh*t. Aspas is sh*t. Alberto is a squad player. Moses will be gone next season.

I disagree here. I think he's shown enough to demonstrate that he might be a really special centre half.

I disagree here. I think he's shown enough to demonstrate that he might be a really special centre half.

The fact that that he is selected consistently for his national team and puts the goals away for them should be a cause for optimism - I would have thought anyway.

He's definitely not our marquee signing. Don't get me wrong, he's an excellent defender but what level would you say he's on? Same as Skrtel and Agger?

I would personally see a marquee signing as someone like Diego Costa

yes. i place him in that bracket of top class defenders with Skrtel, Agger and Toure.

a marquee signing doesn't have to be an attacker.. he is someone that excites the supporters, who makes us think "sh*t, we actually signed him". he might not have shirts flying out the door like a Mata or Coutinho but defenders hardly ever draw that level of excitement. a big money signing exactly where the team needs it, after the squad had been attended to. we could've put that money into a top class CAM and everyone would've naturally called that a marquee signing, I don't see what's so different about it being on a top class centre back.

if we signed Papadopoulos instead of Sakho, would that have been considered a marquee signing?

The amount of use of the words 'Marquee Signing' has depressed me in this thread.

Fair enough. Let's stop slating Cissokho and Aspas in the meantime then. Far too early to judge huh?

True C_R... and I suppose the same holds true, in praise, for Sakho, Simon (and or) Kolo too then.

If it's too early it's too early but "so far" (as you'd expect) it's been a mixed bag. In my opinion and only that; in the spirit of the thread: I haven't looked at any 'new signing' and thought "Yes. This is the one. The one who can make the difference."... "so far" anyhow.

The amount of use of the words 'Marquee Signing' has depressed me in this thread.

That phrase does make a few 'pitch a tent' though.

Value terms? 6/10
Improvement terms? 5 or 6/10
Ambition terms? 1/10 (Lets face it, many on here had pitchforks at the ready over the Summer..)

No disasters. Some will leave. A couple will become  regulars (Mign and Sakho).
I think our recent strong performance has been more about the continued devlt of the S and S strike force.
Effectively it was a "hold fire" transfer window.

How do we define success nowadays? Getting 4th? A cup final? Its not enough for silverware is it. Individually, the transfers varied in early success indication..

Value terms? 6/10
Improvement terms? 5 or 6/10
Ambition terms? 1/10 (Lets face it, many on here had pitchforks at the ready over the Summer..)

No disasters. Some will leave. A couple will become  regulars (Mign and Sakho).
I think our recent strong performance has been more about the continued devlt of the S and S strike force.
Effectively it was a "hold fire" transfer window.

How do we define success nowadays? Getting 4th? A cup final? Its not enough for silverware is it. Individually, the transfers varied in early success indication..

Ambition has to be tempered with reality. FSG are not as mind-bogglingly wealthy as Abramovich or the Arabs. Nor do they view their investment in Liverpool the same way, or for the same reasons.

So the reality is, unless we get new owners who don't care about FFP, and are willing to match City, United or Chelsea in the transfer market, we are very unlikely to win the title.

Wow, I have some optimism regardless of the lack of russian mafioso and arab money. I must be alone in this.

Ambition has to be tempered with reality. FSG are not as mind-bogglingly wealthy as Abramovich or the Arabs. Nor do they view their investment in Liverpool the same way, or for the same reasons.

So the reality is, unless we get new owners who don't care about FFP, and are willing to match City, United or Chelsea in the transfer market, we are very unlikely to win the title.

Well its been done to death already (by me, particularly...)

We all know the Fenway stance, but thats been proved to be bullshit especially the previous Summer.
There's also an inherent contradiction in the simultaneous claims of "sugar daddies" and the FFP whopper from Henry.

Ultimately, you need to invest big, for big following and returns. Otherwise your income will drop relative to Man C, Chelsea and all the rest. Fans worship Torres and Messi, not Aspas and Allen. Thats what makes big clubs, and successful ones.

Well its been done to death already (by me, particularly...)

We all know the Fenway stance, but thats been proved to be bullshit especially the previous Summer.
There's also an inherent contradiction in the simultaneous claims of "sugar daddies" and the FFP whopper from Henry.

Ultimately, you need to invest big, for big following and returns. Otherwise your income will drop relative to Man C, Chelsea and all the rest. Fans worship Torres and Messi, not Aspas and Allen. Thats what makes big clubs, and successful ones.

But the owners of PSG, Monaco, Chelsea and Man City don't want big "returns" financially, nor is that the reason they own those clubs.

Apologies for bumping a thread that is nearly a year old. I thought now would be an appropriate time to return to this subject matter, given we've had ample time to make a clearer judgement.

My early opinion on Alberto and Ilori remains the same. Neither had much or any game time throughout the season and both have been sent on loan this season. I suppose this was expected given their age. I've not been following them as loanee's, but if anyone else has, it'd be interesting to hear how they are getting on.

Mignolet I have been rather disappointed in overall. I feel that he made a relatively decent start, and built a good reputation on the opener against Stoke last season. As time went on, he started to make mistakes and the more he made, the more anxious he would appear. He now seems very indecisive and this has sparked panic in the Liverpool defense. It was well documented that he couldn't distribute a ball to save his life, fine, but his inability to really command  and gain faith in the Liverpool defense is an increasing concern.

Sakho is another I felt has been up and down. His headed clearance against West Ham was the epitome of our shambolic defending. For France he has also received mix reviews, but he's always looked more sure of himself alongside Varane than he has alongside Skrtel or Lovren. For £17m, I hope he improves. I'm starting to think maybe it isn't him, but the coaching he receives at the club. Surely he and Lovren are not as bad as they appear? To note, our best central defensive partnership last season was Skrtel and Agger. That's if statistics are anything to go by.

Toure and Cissokho were, imo, hit and miss. I actually think the two lads were used as scapegoats when things went badly for us. The two defenders were also part of the team that tore Arsenal a new one. Looked defensively sound that day, and even though they were part of a leaky defence (so people would have you believe), they were also part of a team that finished 2nd.

Aspas.. barely played, and when he did he looked awful. Same could happen to Lambert this season.

I think what the comparison in the two summer transfer windows has done is shown what would have happened if Suarez had stayed.
We'd have spent F**k all, and probably bought cheap sh*te again.

As it stands we have a group of young talented players that may or may not become World Class.

What we haven't done is bring in established World Class players to replace the best player in the world last season.

I gave em 1/10 for ambition.
Most of the players were cheap.
Lots have already fu**ed off.
Sakho has been ok.
Mignolet is now slightly below ok.

The rest, I thought were w*nk. And obviously considered to be w*nk by Brendan too, as of now.
(Ilori maybe is still one who could come good).

It was staggering to hear some bigging up L Alberto and Assgas.
The latter was about 27 and only ever had about ONE year of top flight football.

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Looking at THIS Summer now, if u look at Man C, Chel and Man Utd, its clear they are happy signing BIG players.
Even that snake Kroenke is now stumping up for players like Ozil, (the Luis bid hahaha!) and Alexis Sanchez.

Whats the nearest we've got to a "big name"? 16m on Balotelli (ie Ross McCormack plus 5m) or Andy the Ponytail Carroll for 35m.

And we're meant to be getting  top 4 every year?

Were 6 weeks in to the season id like to think we can wait a bit longer before making opinions on the new lads

Fair enough. Let's stop slating Cissokho and Aspas in the meantime then. Far too early to judge huh?

Players that were clearly squad players. 1 was brought in on loan for LB cover. The other was always going to be a squad member.

To the main question, its clearly too early to make any assessment.

I think as a topic be it good or bad, your only going to get a early knee jerk reaction so it's tough to analyse so early in the season.

One thing I would say on the subject however is, I question if money has been spent wisely when you look at players that could have been brought through from the youth. For me 2 possibly 3 of this summers transfers could have seen money pooled together and us look to bring in a higher level of player. I know some will point to the potential we have bought, but as much as the future needs to be in place so does the here and now especially what with being back in the CL.

The players I highlight I'm not saying I don't rate them as a player, but I am saying could we have saved this money and promoted from within, and at the same time used the money a little more wisely?

Manquillo was brought in on loan with view to a permanent deal, how much better is he than young Ryan McLaughlin?
Moreno I feel was a much needed addition.
Lovren, I'm taking it the Agger sale had already been sorted so I can see why this deal was struck. (Is he an improvement on a improving Coates or a star of the future Ilori???)
Can. We needed strenthening in this position, but could we have reduced the amount brought through and paid a little more to bring in someone who's a top level CL player? Add to this you have young Rossiter, who given games will be a excellent young Liverpool player.
Lallana/Markovic. For me I'd have been happy having one of these two, and have Suso come back into the squad.
Balotelli. We needed a striker and at the end of the day paid a good price for a very good player. (Can he fit into our team that's another discussion)
Lambert. We paid peanuts at the end of the day for a England International striker. I've no problem with that. (The same question I put re Balotelli though is again open for another discussion.

So that's 9 players, I personally think it's 2-3 too many. I think the Manquillo position didn't need money throwing at it, and likewise 1 of Lallana/Markovic would have been enough.

Take the Markovic, Can and loan money for the Manquillo deal and we could have spent £30-40M on a top rank midfield.

This alongside Suso and McLaughlin who have been more to my suiting.

The only other concern I have is, by spending so many double digit million pounds on so many players will we see it stunt the progression of imo, a cracking set of youngsters breaking through?

Way too early to even begin to judge the new players, however we sold Suarez who scored 30 PL goals last season. The players we replaced them with were expected to score a large proportion of the goals we lost because we sold Suarez.

So far only one of our new players has scored in the PL so far this season, and that was Moreno.

Need more goals from our new boys, even if it is early days. Hard to rely on an injury prone Sturridge to do all the heavy work.

Way too early to even begin to judge the new players, however we sold Suarez who scored 30 PL goals last season. The players we replaced them with were expected to score a large proportion of the goals we lost because we sold Suarez.

So far only one of our new players has scored in the PL so far this season, and that was Moreno.

Need more goals from our new boys, even if it is early days. Hard to rely on an injury prone Sturridge to do all the heavy work.

Look at the date this thread was created.