Are we rectifying the mistakes of last summer?

[Russ Atmosphere]

All teams have pretty much the same record in terms of whether a transfers performs on the field.

Show working.

[magicrat]

We are doing better at:

 

1) Getting deals done early.

2) Not low-balling teams which is often counter-productive.

3) Looking for value beyond the Premier League.

 

We are making no progress, from what I can tell, at:

 

1) Fixing the midfield.

2) Buying players clearly with a system in mind.

3) Moving on the dross.

About sums it up 

 

I could add getting a better keeper than Mig, I would still have gone for Begovic

What we have done so far is a lot better than last summer although I fear Ings, Origi and Benteke won't pull up any trees, 

[Baltar]

We still need a top class striker, a defensive midfielder and centre back. If we manage to get those 3 while offloading Lovren, Coates, Balotelli, Borini, Alberto, Sterling and Lambert, I'd be pleased with our transfer dealings.

[RoboRiise]

In terms of going in there & getting the business done early I think they've learned, as for what happens on the pitch, we'll have to wait & see, I like most of the signings myself but I'm not sold that they all make sense, we seem to have about eight No.10s at the moment & the gaping hole that is our DM position is being ignored again, pretty clear we're never getting one under Rodgers.

 

That's where I'm at pretty much.  I like every single player that we've signed so far this summer and I'm also impressed that I can talk about the group of players we've already got deals done for despite it not even being the second week of Wimbledon yet.  From that perspective, yes we have learned not to piss about and we seem to have stopped signing shite too.  Long may it continue.

 

What I'm struggling to put together in my head though is a picture of the team.  Like you said, it's all number 10s and in the PL I'm not sure a team should be in a situation where they have Coutinho, Lallana, Firmino and are now apparently scrapping with Bayern for Kovacic, all whilst still not having the player who is going to break up the opposition's play in midfield and win the ball so that all of those creative players can do their work.

 

It is the one thing that has consistently pissed me off about Brendan's tactical preference; he seems to treat the defensive side of the game almost with disdain but in the PL it is vital to be able to shore up your midfield at times and weather some pressure.  The signings we're making make me think that he wants us back to full on tiki-taka next season, his fabled 'death by football' which baffles me to a degree because he had by far the most successful period of his time here when he used the diamond and adopted a more pragmatic and direct approach.

 

My worry about his preferred posession game is that all too often with us it ends up being all fart and no shit, followed by a press conference in which we talk about 'bad luck' and having 70% of the posession when the other team took three points by virtue of having one shot and getting it 100% in the net.

[ritchie]

Clyne, Milner and Firmino are good players who could all improve the first XI. We didn't sign anyone last summer who improved the 13/14 first XI.

 

Yet again we haven't addressed the midfield though. Milner doesn't improve us defensively or creatively from what we've already got, though he's a good workhorse and all in all a better option than someone like Lallana, but he's not a deep midfielder.

 

And we'll live or die by the other striker we sign. Ings I don't see being much different to Borini as a player, whether or not he gets a fairer crack of the whip. Benteke will need to be very good, but his signing poses far more questions than answers. can he play alongside Sturridge? Because they're both far too expensive (Sturridge wage, Benteke fee and probably wage) to be on the bench. If they can play together then how do you fit in Coutinho and Firmino and balance the side?

 

What's the plan for Firmino and Coutinho? What's happening with Lallana? Who's the deepest midfielder? My concern would be yet again Rodgers gets all these players and doesn't really have a plan to use them effectively and just wings it trying various things until something works. That's where I think a more top level coach would have helped.

[Paco]

I think not signing remy was our biggest mistake last summer.

 

Once sturridge got injured again we'd've had a similar sort of player to replace him. Instead we bought balotelli probably as a foil for sturridge but he ended up having to be no.1 striker and what followed ruined our season.

 

We havent rectified this yet because we havent signed a striker who can play with or without sturridge and not wesken us.

[an tha]

I fear yet another bedding in period, which we seem to be constantly experiencing.

 

The fact we have signed 6 players and need more says a lot about our business last summer and the state of our squad.

 

We really need to hit the ground running this season, but that isn't easy with as many new players as we are likely to be lining up with...we really shouldnt be in this position after what we have spent, this should have been the season where we added one or two top class players to our team to improve an already established team and system.

 

We look like we are starting from scratch yet again.

[Razoray]

If Rodgers plays 3 midfielders he is at least one midfielder short especially when you consider

 

Naz da Gama ‏@Nazdagama 2h2 hours ago

1/ Since Allen moved to LFC in 12/13: JA was out injured 236 days (33 games). Lucas was injured 192 days ( 44 games) in the same period

12 retweets 3 favorites

 

 

Milner, Can, Lucas, Henderson and Allen

 

The more I think about they must be in the market for another midfielder let's hope he is good.

 

Benteke, Sturridge, Firmino Lallana, Ings, Ibe, Coutinho, Markovic.

 

I reckon one from Origi, Markovic or Ibe will go on loan if Sterling stays 2 out of the 3 will go on loan.

Didn't Coutinho play on the left of a diamond a few times in 13/14? He definitely did very Man City when he got the winner in the 3-2 game when he roasted Nasri in the 1st half. If Sturridge is fit he could play Firminho in the hole behind him and Benteke. If not Firminho could play in a 2 up from with Coutinho in the hole

[G Richards]

Clyne is the clearest improvement we've made to the first eleven. Beyond that it's all maybe...

 

Firmino is a good player, but if Sterling leaves Firmino will probably take his place. Maybe he will be better and maybe he will score more goals. 

 

Milner is a good player and offers some good experience. Gerrard is a legend, but old Father Time catches up with every player, and Stevie's level dipped quite a lot last season. Maybe Milner will come in and offer something more that what Stevie could do last season. 

 

Ings showed decent potential at Burnley. He's a busy player and he scored a few goals, so maybe he can come here and offer more than last season's back up strikers. 

 

Origi has pace to burn and looks hungry, but he's raw and has it all to do. Again, maybe he can come here and offer more than last season's back up strikers. 

 

Gomez is one for the future. I've no problem with this sort of signing. Maybe he will make the grade, but we shouldn't be looking to him to do much yet. 

 

Bodgan is a back up goalie. I'd have preferred someone to come in who could offer Mignolet some proper competition. Ospina would have been a good signing in that regard. Still, I've not seen much of Bogdan, and he is only a back up...

 

We need a top striker to come in and hit 20 goals for us. Will we get that man? It's a big maybe. 

 

Beyond all this I'm hopeful that some of the signings of last season will show us a bit more. Hopefully Can will grow as a player as if he does, he could have a big future here. 

 

I'd like to see another midfielder brought in, but the way the manager sets up the team probably means a defensive midfielder will just not be a priority for us. 

 

It's a maybe over the manager and a maybe over his assistant. There's some reason for hope, and I will back all of the players and hope they do well, but whether we will do enough to get into the top four remains to be seen. I don't think we can expect a title challenge, but we should expect to give it a good go for top four. The way last season started and ended was very poor, with a very good spell in between. Brendan needs to get the team playing more consistently to take us higher. Can he do it? Maybe. 

[ZonkoVille77]

No.

 

We still have Ayre around.

 

We still need a striker.

 

We still need a DM.

 

We still need a LB.

 

We are fuckin shite.

[TheHowieLama]

Show working.

 

eh?

[ben48]

The proof will be in the pudding.Will there be any plan,or will it be square pegs and round holes again.

[eeyore]

No we failed to buy a top striker last summer and it ruined our season.

 

Ditto

[TheHowieLama]

No.

 

We still have Ayre around.

 

We still need a striker.

 

We still need a DM.

 

We still need a LB.

 

We are fuckin shite.

 

And have been for far longer than last summer.

 

 

Fixed

[MOGLET]

I fear yet another bedding in period, which we seem to be constantly experiencing.

 

The fact we have signed 6 players and need more says a lot about our business last summer and the state of our squad.

 

We really need to hit the ground running this season, but that isn't easy with as many new players as we are likely to be lining up with...we really shouldnt be in this position after what we have spent, this should have been the season where we added one or two top class players to our team to improve an already established team and system.

 

We look like we are starting from scratch yet again.

 

This is the FSG BR way.

 

Buy to play, and then see what you have, then buy again, and again see what you have.

 

Sadly, this lot, along with their yes man (BR), do not in the slightest care about you me or anything remotely related to what this club is.

 

Money ball, whateverthefuckthatis, is all they see, do, want, and sadly, until they get what our football is all about, this is going to be the way of things.

 

Buy young, buy cheap, buy whatever fits the bill, we will never buy what we need at no matter the cost until this lot of shysters fucks off and we get an owner who is at least from a country who understands "FOOTBALL, not fucking soccer.

 

LFC died the day we sold to the cousins across the pond, we havent even come close to getting back to what we were since that happened.

 

parry and moores, I hope you are enjoying your windfall, you pair of cunts, you sold us down the river.

 

 I wish shithouse aids on both of you.

[Tyler Durden]

That's where I'm at pretty much.  I like every single player that we've signed so far this summer and I'm also impressed that I can talk about the group of players we've already got deals done for despite it not even being the second week of Wimbledon yet.  From that perspective, yes we have learned not to piss about and we seem to have stopped signing shite too.  Long may it continue.

 

What I'm struggling to put together in my head though is a picture of the team.  Like you said, it's all number 10s and in the PL I'm not sure a team should be in a situation where they have Coutinho, Lallana, Firmino and are now apparently scrapping with Bayern for Kovacic, all whilst still not having the player who is going to break up the opposition's play in midfield and win the ball so that all of those creative players can do their work.

 

It is the one thing that has consistently pissed me off about Brendan's tactical preference; he seems to treat the defensive side of the game almost with disdain but in the PL it is vital to be able to shore up your midfield at times and weather some pressure.  The signings we're making make me think that he wants us back to full on tiki-taka next season, his fabled 'death by football' which baffles me to a degree because he had by far the most successful period of his time here when he used the diamond and adopted a more pragmatic and direct approach.

 

My worry about his preferred posession game is that all too often with us it ends up being all fart and no shit, followed by a press conference in which we talk about 'bad luck' and having 70% of the posession when the other team took three points by virtue of having one shot and getting it 100% in the net.

To be honest that's how I've seen most his time here 'all huff and no puff', the difference was that 2 seasons ago we had 2 absolute killers playing for us up top and I can't see it working again here until he replicates that at least in part by having a prolific goalscorer, if your going to disregard the defensive side of the game to the extent he has while he has been here then you need to be great up top, if he doesn't sort that this window then he will be gone imo, whether Benteke can bring that to the team I don't know but I hope so for Rodgers sake.

[satansmutt]

Last season our big mistakes were not signing a decent striker and then we signed Balotelli,we couldn't put the ball in the back of the net and our season was a waste of time.

 

If we don't sign a proper striker this season all the other signings will be a waste of time because we still won't be able to put the ball in the back of the net.

 

Basic recipe for premier league success buy a striker score goals win games, the teams with the best strikers always finish at the top of the league.

 

So no we haven't rectified our mistakes of last summer(not yet anyway)

[stringvest]

I'd like to see another midfielder, but if we don't get one in its not the end of the world as long as Allen and Milner play regularly and are in good form. We really need a class goalscorer though.

[Jairzinho]

I fear yet another bedding in period, which we seem to be constantly experiencing.

 

The fact we have signed 6 players and need more says a lot about our business last summer and the state of our squad.

 

We really need to hit the ground running this season, but that isn't easy with as many new players as we are likely to be lining up with...we really shouldnt be in this position after what we have spent, this should have been the season where we added one or two top class players to our team to improve an already established team and system.

 

We look like we are starting from scratch yet again.

 

We've done this every year for about the last 20/25. We buy eight players, if we're lucky one or two of them are good enough. Rinse and repeat, with the better players we sign fucking off as they get sick of being surrounded by shite. We had a brief period about six/seven years ago where it looked like we'd signed enough good players within a relatively short period of time that we might actually be a really good team for a while, then obviously Cunty and Cunty cunted us.

 

We did it last year, and for some reason people bought into the "need to add depth" "need to bulk the squad" shite. 

 

You can make the perfectly reasonable point that we do need to buy about 15 players, but as we're not going to spend £500m this summer it would make sense to spend £100m on three. £50m/£55m on a striker, £30m/£35m on a DM, and the rest on a right back (pretty happy that we've done okay here).

 

Then next season, do the same again. Which three positions need upgrading the most? Buy three players that improve the first team then.

 

Stop buying half a squad every season, then using the fact you've done that as an excuse for us being shit. 

[TheHowieLama]

We traded on Rafa's credibility for that period.

[Jairzinho]

Indeed. I was trying not to mention him as tears often follow.

[ritchie]

This is the FSG BR way.

 

Buy to play, and then see what you have, then buy again, and again see what you have.

None of them have really got a clue what they're doing. They're all bluffers out of their depth just trying to wing it.

 

Says a lot that just by default it's set to be our best summer under FSG in the market (just because of the omni-shambles of all the others) and the jury is still out as we haven't sorted out the midfield and still have most of the defence (and manager) that again conceded close to 50 goals. Benteke could go either way as well. He could be another Sturridge or another Carroll.

 

I'm positive that if used properly Firmino and Milner would be two of our best players (Firmino off the striker, Milner on the right), but if one is stuck in CM and the other out wide or up front then they could struggle. We have to use the best of what we have if we're to rectify mistakes. One thing is to buy good players, another is to use them properly.

[Anny Road]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

At the time of signing Lallana and Lambert were banging them in for a team right up there. Markovic was a highly rated youngster and Ballotelli was a nutter but a talented player who had played for the richest team in our league and a first choice Italian international and worth a shot. Lovren was getting high high praise from all the pundits (like Carra)

 

The fact that some if not most have been shite is not the fault of scouting but more so management, coaching, injuries and probably a couple of other reasons.

[Tyler Durden]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

At the time of signing Lallana and Lambert were banging them in for a team right up there. Markovic was a highly rated youngster and Ballotelli was a nutter but a talented player who had played for the richest team in our league and a first choice Italian international and worth a shot. Lovren was getting high high praise from all the pundits (like Carra)

 

The fact that some if not most have been shite is not the fault of scouting but more so management, coaching, injuries and probably a couple of other reasons.

So what's your point? No one can complain if the management team (who are paid vast sums with infinitely more resources to scout/sign players then us) can't get signings right?

 

Its up to the management team to get the signings right whether that be by using data from performance down to mentality to adapt to being the right position for what we need, for instance signing umpteen attacking midfielders when we already had a few decent ones wasting vast resources and then fucking dragging Balotelli in as last resort for a key position was amateurish, that isn't hindsight it's common fucking sense.

[ben48]

There still does'nt seem to be any structure,Houllier and Rafas' teams always seemed solid.Now it seems any time this side is under any pressure it will fold.