So who should we thank for the current depth of the squad?

[xerxes]

So basically you twat Kenny for the transfers you deem average to poor and give credit to Comolli, Benitez and Steve Clarke for the hits?

 

FYI: There's not a top club in Europe who hasn't paid attention to Suarez since he moved to Ajax. The hard part wasn't "discovering" him, but to get him to Liverpool.

 

Ridiculous.

If I had meant that, I would have said that. But I didn't.

 

I don't think that any of Kenny's purchases have been average to poor, bar Carroll on whom the jury is out, and for whom we probably overpaid in extraordinary circumstances .

 

Comolli and Kenny got the job done - which is more than can be said about some of our recent transfer attempts.

 

Who said discovering Suarez was hard? The point I made was that Suarez had been scouted for several months ( would that the same rigour had been applied to Carroll)- again Comolli/Kenny got the job done.

 

Ridiculous best describes a reply which had so little to do with the OP, which you either didnt read, or didnt understand.

 

You may be interested to know that we came close to losing Suarez after seriously pissing off Ajax with our negotiating strategy, the Carroll deal being an extreme reaction to that.

[stevienando]

Not to put a downer on the thread but we're 6th in the league, level on points with 7th and trailing Newcastle, having produced a number of abject displays this season (and some very good ones). This squad hasn't proved anything yet.

 

I think we've done very well to shift the dead wood and certainly there are less cases (perhaps none) of players who offer absolutely nothing on the pitch clogging up the wage bill but we still look short of quality in a number of key areas, some of which we've spent massive amounts of money on with little visible improvement.

 

Where do we look short of quality? Right wing is the only place that I'm not really chuffed to bits with.

 

A number of abject displays? Those came at the beginning of the season, with a new manager and a bunch of new players who never played before, with our best two players just returning from Copa America.

[dirk grout]

Rafa? Why Rafa?

 

Kenny, Commolli, Broughton for bringing in FSG and FSG themselves.

 

Rafa obviously takes credit for the players he signed that make up part of our current squad. Namely Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Lucas, Maxi, Kuyt. All good buys. The difference under our new owners is that Kenny does not have to think about who he is gonna sell before he thinks about who he is gonna buy.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Houllier got slammed by fans for taking credit for Istanbul yet the same people want to credit anything good now with the former former manager. Rafas a link in the chain not the beginning of it, he had a fantastic few years I love the guy but some fans need to get a grip they found a guru and won't let go.

 

Shiiiiiit why bother getting involved in this thread.

[dirk grout]

Houllier got slammed by fans for taking credit for Istanbul yet the same people want to credit anything good now with the former former manager. Rafas a link in the chain not the beginning of it, he had a fantastic few years I love the guy but some fans need to get a grip they found a guru and won't let go.

 

Shiiiiiit why bother getting involved in this thread.

 

Weird. Who thinks rafa is their guru? This isn't rawk.

[Guest LFD]

The question is who is deserves credit for the 'depth'.

 

Benitez left us with a poor bench and I don't think he deserves credit from the turnaround we have seen since we got rid of Hodgson and Hicks / Gillett.

 

Since then we have improved each both transfer windows and that is thanks to FSG, Comolli and Dalglish.

[dirk grout]

The question is who is deserves credit for the 'depth'.

 

Benitez left us with a poor bench and I don't think he deserves credit from the turnaround we have seen since we got rid of Hodgson and Hicks / Gillett.

 

Since then we have improved each both transfer windows and that is thanks to FSG, Comolli and Dalglish.

 

With owners like hicks and gillett its a miracle we had any good players left by the time kenny arrived. The biggest diifference is that we now do not have to sell to buy.

[Redshadow]

cuppatea? It's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes to see or who watches football properly? That right now at our Very best? We're a class above Any of the sides around us with the exception of Spurs who much as it annoys me to say we still have a little to do in order to catch. We've also made Both the sides occupying positions 1 & 2 in the league (the Champions And Favourites) look little more than ordinary in recent months. To add to this? We've only gone & done a couple of powerful numbers in their Own Stadium on the supposedly 3rd best side in the league who had such Great Trophy Winning Prospects that our former star left us for them in January for Guaranteed success only to find that rather than being greener on the other side? Sometimes the grass is hiding a swamp or quicksand.

 

Further to all of the above? I'll just say that of the teams around us? We're clearly a class above that side I just mentioned in Chelsea; Arsenal are one injury to their Only decent striker away from a crisis; Newcastle will Not keep up what they've done for Another 6 months & have shown signs of heavy-legs in recent weeks as pointers to the exhaustion bound to come upon them sooner or later. Who else? United veer from sublime to shambles and even City will be tested by the African Cup of Nations soon coming up with the heart of their supposedly all powerful squad travelling back to play in their Home Tournament Very early next year whilst Both looked utterly ordinary against us and were lucky Not to leave our stadium on the back of serious beatings in recent months. That leaves just Spurs who I admit we've a bit to do to catch up with but who are still well within our sights in terms of us being able to Pass them again and sooner or later? Pass them we Will, Mark my words...............

 

Other than that slightly irritating point re' Spurs? Consider, We're operating at maximum output, getting the best we can out of all we've got and (Crucially unlike in recent years) have the resources required to reinforce when needed & the solid base of players to cope with injuries that we've cried out for for So long now. What's not to like right now? Or to put it another way - If you want a Real Crisis involving us? Look back just over a year - The difference in personnel, attitude, situation and prospects is like night and day -Don't forget back then? We ended up feeling we'd be lucky to get through all this With a club left To support. How things change in just over a year......................

Edited December 2, 2011 by Redshadow

[stevienando]

Redshadow... I was so excited when I scrolled down and saw no bolded words, but you went and spoiled the party.

[Brownie]

 

Rafa obviously takes credit for the players he signed that make up part of our current squad. Namely Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Lucas, Maxi, Kuyt. All good buys. The difference under our new owners is that Kenny does not have to think about who he is gonna sell before he thinks about who he is gonna buy.

 

When Rafa left, most would have been happy to see the likes of Johnson, Skrtel, Kuyt, Agger, Maxi etc go with him because they were playing shit. They were also playing shit under Hodgson.

 

Now they're seen as good players again. There's a clue in there somewhere and it has nothing to do with the ability of spotting a decent player, more about how you get them to play.

[dirk grout]

When Rafa left, most would have been happy to see the likes of Johnson, Skrtel, Kuyt, Agger, Maxi etc go with him because they were playing shit. They were also playing shit under Hodgson.

 

Now they're seen as good players again. There's a clue in there somewhere and it has nothing to do with the ability of spotting a decent player, more about how you get them to play.

 

Obviously not true. I'm not going to go into the finer points of your post as it has nothing to do with this discussion, it just seems to be another pointless dig.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Where do we look short of quality? Right wing is the only place that I'm not really chuffed to bits with.

 

Up front, left wing, right wing, defensive midfield. We could probably do with an attacking central midfielder, too. When Gerrard gets injured, we need a quality player to be in there for him.

[Guest TK-421]

i think brownie has a good point. what happens is that kenny has magical powers

. when he lays his hand of wonder on them they just get better, for some reason. there's no scientific explanation - it's genuine sorcery . so, how it works is that kenny touches the players in special places during training and in the changing rooms before and after the game. you can all see the results - 10 games unbeaten.

[WaltonRed]

Spot on Brownie

[JohnnyH]

Anyone who has responded with a pissed off, mildly annoyed, or made reference to Rafa or Hodgson to the clear WUM of an opening poster needs to stand in front of a mirror and repeatedly punch yourself in the face until what's left of your brain slips out your nose.

 

Christ almighty, are we that easy of a forum to get all pissed off about former managers once one bellend mentions him in a thread? Move the fuck on for jazus sake and stop being such an easy fish.

[Unrighteous]

When Rafa left, most would have been happy to see the likes of Johnson, Skrtel, Kuyt, Agger, Maxi etc go with him because they were playing shit. They were also playing shit under Hodgson.

 

Now they're seen as good players again. There's a clue in there somewhere and it has nothing to do with the ability of spotting a decent player, more about how you get them to play.

 

Exactly. I've got huge credit for Steve Clarke. Our defensive unit is pretty fucking solid this year, despite individual errors.

 

Also, the King is the fucking King. He's won everything. He's got experience doing it as a manager, and as a player, as well as being a genuinely likable guy that the squad can easily give their belief.

[Brownie]

Just to add as well, that when Rafa left we had poor squad depth. Under Hodgson we had poor squad depth. Now we have good squad depth.

 

The two things to have changed since then? New owners and a new manager, so there's the answer.

 

But it's a pointless question anyway, in my opinion. Our club isn't about taking individual credit any more, it's about all working together towards a common goal so no single person takes the limelight.

 

Long may it continue.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Just to add as well, that when Rafa left we had poor squad depth. Under Hodgson we had poor squad depth. Now we have good squad depth.

 

It certainly does help when you're able to spend 35m, 20m, 13m, 24m, all in the space of 6 months.

[Brownie]

 

It certainly does help when you're able to spend 35m, 20m, 13m, 24m, all in the space of 6 months.

 

Exactly, so FSG obviously deserve credit for stumping up the cash. Management deserve credit for identifying the players, but as I said it's the club as a whole who get the credit, no individuals.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Exactly, so FSG obviously deserve credit for stumping up the cash.

 

Yep, as I said earlier, they've allowed us to function like a normal big club. That might not sound like a lot to some, but considering the precarious position we were in, we're doing pretty well.

 

Maybe people expected them to be like Man City; for us to put 100m bids in for players and pay them 300k a week. If we buy carefully, there's no need to spend that sort of money.

 

Management deserve credit for identifying the players, but as I said it's the club as a whole who get the credit, no individuals.

 

I'm not sure how much credit the management should get in regards to the procurement of players, a £35m Andy Carroll or £20m Downing isn't the same as unearthing gems for next to nothing. Regardless of how good or bad they are, it's not a difficult task.

 

The management - Kenny and Steve - have done pretty well on the pitch. We're becoming a unit and we're growing as a team and squad. Player purchases are the only thing that's a question. A good next couple of transfer windows will wipe those problems away. We just need to make sure we spend our money really wisely.

[stringvest]

When Rafa left, most would have been happy to see the likes of Johnson, Skrtel, Kuyt, Agger, Maxi etc go with him because they were playing shit. They were also playing shit under Hodgson.

 

Now they're seen as good players again. There's a clue in there somewhere and it has nothing to do with the ability of spotting a decent player, more about how you get them to play.

 

C'mon Brownie, that's unfair; you know that isn't true. Kuyt is still playing shit.

 

This is a bit of a wind up thread, and JH is correct. All managers have made good buys, and all have made mistakes. There is nothing to be gained (apart from a Gerrard-type infection) from trying to open that wound yet again.

[Jairzinho]

I certainly wanted Maxi, Agger and Johnson fucked off. The shit cunts. Obviously they're not shit cunts now.

[Gym Beglin]

What an odd thread. A lack of squad depth has been a major finger wagged by many reds in the last 12 months, so this doesn't make much sense.

 

Oooh I almost started typing then, nah, not falling for it.

[Biscao]

If I had meant that, I would have said that. But I didn't.

Yes you most certainly did.

[Biscao]

I'm not sure how much credit the management should get in regards to the procurement of players, a £35m Andy Carroll or £20m Downing isn't the same as unearthing gems for next to nothing. Regardless of how good or bad they are, it's not a difficult task.

 

At the same time we got a ~£7m Charlie Adam, £6m Enrique and a £22m Suarez. I'd say those qualifies as unearthing gems for next to nothing, so in average we should be fine ;)