They ultimately blew their chance to sign one or two top quality players while they had the attraction of CL football. Instead they pulled a Spurs, which many Liverpool fans were in denial of during the summer.
Liverpool 2014/15 | WARNING: Contains strong amounts of Scouse nonsense
- Thread starter Wumminator
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Do remeber they wont have the Suarez money this time, so their owners will have dig in their own pockets.
Basically Liverpool needs to start parying in a hope.that every player they sscot.and sign turns into Suarez.
They won't be signing quantity or quality this Summer. They don't have the budget to sign quantity (unless Sterling is sold) and they don't have the pull to sign quality.
It'll most likely be 3-4 younger players from abroad at £7-15m each.
True, it wouldn't have been an easy finish. I still think even Balotelli and his wretched form would have scored there though. Definite goal scoring opportunity, either way.
They'll be finishing in right around the same place as this season if that's the case.
I keep reading that but I think that's a wrong perception, ignoring the real underlying problem here. Last year was a freak season, it's not like we built a side that was going to compete for the title for years to come. With Suarez gone, our main attraction disappeared and our pulling power definitely went down. No matter what some Liverpool supporters might say on the matter, duplicating our league form was always going to be very hard and players from other teams probably knew that as well. The real superstars available went to established contenders or to clubs that can almost guarantee CL football year after year, Sanchez to Arsenal for example.
Fact is, we need to qualify for the CL a couple of seasons in a row and build a strong side that isn't too reliant on one player. Before that happens, we won't have a chance to sign 'top quality players'. What we need to do now is buy 'em young and develop them ourselves like we did with Suarez and even Torres to a lesser extent. More in the range of Lacazette/Vietto kind of players instead of Cavani/Higuain.
I see no reason why you couldn't compete for the league again if you kept Suarez. The Lpool attack was pretty nice in that diamond formation you had, if you strengthened defensively and kept Suarez, you probably would have easily finished in the top 4 this season and likely competed for the title again.
Yeah of course, I might've phrased it wrong. I mean that our team last year without Suarez wasn't title contenders material. With him and a couple of defensive additions, we would be challenging again this year, no doubt.
Suarez would have been suspended for the whole beginning of the season anyway, and the context of last season wouldn't have been the same. They might have done a bit better in Europe and might have been a bit better in the league, but they wouldn't have been challenging for it.
The main reason we will shop in that category is the belief that we can unearth hidden value in the market there. Despite the loads of busted signings. We are serial punters.
Playing Gerrard wasn't the sole reason they lost but it was a massive mistake, definitely. Villa sauntered past Liverpool's midfield so frequently, without any real indication that Rodgers knew how to remedy it, it was remarkable. That was down to having no bite or pace in there and it showed.
As I say, I'm not sure Gerrard's exclusion would have made all the difference yesterday, as Villa's gameplay in that area was fantastic, but he certainly didn't help things. I think even the commentators knew he was playing poorly - they didn't even throw in the obligatory "GERRAAAARRR...." shout as he popped a free kick straight into the 'keeper's arms towards the end.
The only attraction to most teams in the world are the wages they are willing to pay. Liverpool went with the blunder-bus approach of getting 8 player's with a combined salary of around £300k a week, instead of 2 or 3 top class player's on big salaries and then player's with small salaries to fill in the squad position. Their approach was the Newcastle/Spurs approach of buying young players with resale value or "Premier League proven" in the hope that they'd slot right in. They should have aimed far higher and adopted the approach of Arsenal in recent years: a couple of big name signings on big wages, bolstered by cheaper imports.
Going into last Summer with the knowledge that the salaries of Johnson/Gerrard were coming off the books, Liverpool would have some serious spending power. Around £120m in transfer fees and around £500-600k a week in wages being freed up they could have been very dangerous.
Instead of Balotelli, Lovren, Lallana, Markovic for c.£85m they should have been far more serious and held Barcelona to ransom with Sanchez (for example instead of £65m for Suarez, £20m and Sanchez with over £200k a week offered). Failing that they should have tripled the salary offer from Atletico for Griezmann and gone all out for the likes of Moutinho, Jackson Martinez, Marchisio, Tevez - quality player's that are on modest salaries that Liverpool can blow out of the water due to the League they are playing in.
If Liverpool had gotten 2 or 3 of those 5 player's they'd have been a scary proposition.
Which is fine to do with 1-2 player's a year (Origi and Manquillo for instance). The problem is if you make that your M.O. you end up like Newcastle/Spurs. It's a feeder club approach.
Last edited:
On the contrary look at how many managers claim there is a conspiracy against them or their clubs now ! If we say, purely for the sake of argument, that there are currently 2.5 major mistakes per match by the officials, then reviews could easily reduce that to 0.5 just because so many of them are clear cut when seen on video, and so the correct decision must be given. Those that are still disputable would still be regarded as biased by some managers no matter in which direction the decision went.
To be honest you only have to watch Rugby to see how replays can be used professionally and accurately, down to fingertip touch. Sooner or later football will join the 21st century and , IMHO, it will be to everyone's benefit bar the divers, thugs, cheats and conmen.
That's why last Summer was so important for them. They had the guaranteed CL revenue of around £40m, as well as £65m from the Suarez sale and their standard Summer transfer budget. Not only that they had over £450k coming off their wage bill over the next 12 months (Suarez £200k, Johnson £120k, Gerrard £150k). They should have been able to bring in 3 top quality player's and 3 good squad options. They just about covered the latter if you're being generous... For £120m
This was a chance to really get some quality player's in and build a great team; they totally blew it. They spent £75m on forward player's and still need a quality striker and £35m on defenders and still need 2 defenders.
Now they'll have a modest transfer budget of maybe £35m net and they need several positions strengthened to compete for top 4 - striker, full back, goalkeeper, DM, central defender.
I think you need to watch the reply again, no-one stopped including Given .... not that it matters one iota now.
That just creased me up!! Choked on my tea...LOL
The defenders stop chasing the ball/ Balotelli, and Given barely tries to save it. It wouldn't have been a goal if play continued.
It is not a 'feeder club' approach. Clubs outside that financial elite (which includes Liverpool, even though they are ahead of the rest of the pack in that regard).
There is only one way to compete (or even be near those clubs) and that is to do exactly that. You have to take 'punts' on players because there is no way to directly compete with these other clubs.
I think people have a very unrealistic expectation of what clubs in this position can actually do.
There is only one way to compete (or even be near those clubs) and that is to do exactly that. You have to take 'punts' on players because there is no way to directly compete with these other clubs.
I think people have a very unrealistic expectation of what clubs in this position can actually do.
You take punts on those players, hope they come good and bring some kind of success and sell them on at a profit. It's exactly a feeder club approach that the likes of Porto have perfected down the years.
This. It's the thing that annoys me most about him. He looks like a proper tit when he does it.
No because the aim of clubs like Porto is different to the aims of clubs like Liverpool and Spurs.
Neither Spurs not Liverpool buy players with the ultimate aim of selling them on for a profit. Despite what people may think on here, they would prefer to not sell their best players. They sometimes don't have the resources or the pull to do so though.
A concept which is seemingly lost on many fans on here.
If one was being resulted-oriented, one would conclude there's very little difference to Porto's approach.
And if one were to look at the situation in a logical manner and within context, one would conclude there's a very large difference to Porto's approach.
So the difference is that the likes of Porto are "willing feeder clubs" and Liverpool/Spurs are "unwilling feeder clubs".
How many have worked out? I can only think of Coutinho and Sturridge. In comparison, I can name about 7 or 8 off the top of my head that haven't.
Pretty much if you wanna force it into those words.
Porto's mode of operation seems to depend on selling players for high profits (which I believe one or two of the Porto fans on here have previously said before too).
Neither Liverpool nor Spurs need to do that. We didn't want to sell Modric, Bale, Berbatov or Carrick (Carrick is slightly more questionable I think). Liverpool didn't want to sell Suarez. It becomes rather difficult when 3 of the top richest and currently most successful clubs in the world come calling though. I think if those players did not make a fuss, they would not have been sold, which cannot be said for Porto.
Ultimately the buying club paid a fee you find acceptable (or forced to accept), I'd categorize Dortmund in that category too, if that makes you feel better.
@Damien photoshop opportunity I feel...
Agreed. They simply haven't the resources of the top 4.
That's one thing I've noticed with Liverpool, no one is ever sure what their objectives are. There doesn't seem to be any agreement for what is par for the course for them. Maybe they just don't want to admit the serious issues they have and instead blame it on specific events like a summer of bad spending and the manager.
It isn't about making me feel better, I don't feel bad or sad about it. It is the reality of how the world of football works.
Realistically, pretty much every club outside of 3/4 clubs in world football have clubs that can poach their best players off them (and even then, sometimes a certain club in white can ruffle the feathers a bit there too).
Some of the clubs outside have decided to build their financial model based on finding cheap young players and then willingly selling them on later once their asking fee is met. Other clubs keep onto those players if they can but those richer/ more attractive clubs have a way of twisting their arm even if they don't want to sell.
The end result is pretty much the same. The maximum realistically Liverpool/ Spurs/ Dortmund/ Atletico can keep a player that wants to leave is one season but the intention is different.
Realistically, pretty much every club outside of 3/4 clubs in world football have clubs that can poach their best players off them (and even then, sometimes a certain club in white can ruffle the feathers a bit there too).
Some of the clubs outside have decided to build their financial model based on finding cheap young players and then willingly selling them on later once their asking fee is met. Other clubs keep onto those players if they can but those richer/ more attractive clubs have a way of twisting their arm even if they don't want to sell.
The end result is pretty much the same. The maximum realistically Liverpool/ Spurs/ Dortmund/ Atletico can keep a player that wants to leave is one season but the intention is different.
All imo of course, you are more than welcome to disagree.
Pretty much agree with that...
Complaints flooding into Liverpool police stations about a very annoying fat lady singing.
These are all very good points but I'd argue our case is slightly different, we still carry some (very little) weight in Europe these days, but the amount of money we've squandered on hopeful punts is astonishing, this money would've been better served going towards top players that can improve the team and would provide us with extra 30/40/50K needed to secure these players. We have had money available we've just invested it extremely poorly. Why spend 20mill on Markovic (who i actually think is a fantastic talent just not needed) when any avid youth/reserve team watcher would tell you Ibe was ready to break through, why spend 20Mill on Lovren when we have or had two superior defenders in Sakho and Agger. Why choose to spend 25Million on Lallana when everybody knew Suarez was going and we'd need somebody to replace his output. (Lacazette anyone?) It's just sheer ineptness and naivety from top to bottom, they've tried to prudently spend there way in to the top four but it's just bit them and there pockets on the arse, although I expect they're still making a tidy profit. We just don't look to have a clear vision or goals we just appear a shambolic mess, but when the goings good we'll pat ourselves on the back and delude ourselves in to thinking everything's peachy. The manager can't even play his favoured 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 because he A) Can't coach a back four and B) the players still aren't entirely confident playing it out from the back, this after 3 seasons of implementing his "philosophy".
He is a good coach but we need to give him the necessary tools and somehow slice his enormous ego in half and get him to listen to experienced football people (David Dein anyone?) If not get rid and hope that klopp's brain malfunctions and he mistakes us for Real Madrid, it might take him a while but I'm more than prepared to wait as long as there's a coherent plan and vision, having someone with that pedigree always helps you have faith and his name and knowledge of the Bundesliga would help us tap in to a woefully under utilised market and maybe even bring some big names to grace Anfield again. Whatever happens huge summer coming up.
Seriously, I would fecking love it if we'd get Klopp but I can't see it happening.