Following on from Chris Severs’ article on Liverpool’s prospects next season, I felt it might be interesting to elaborate on his point of squad depth. For any team to compete at the highest level, and to really be in contention for trophies, a large squad is required to battle in all fronts with the best part of 60 games in a season if a team is successful. It is one major area which Liverpool have fallen down in recent years and can be attributed to the lack of investment in the playing squad by the American owners.
The lack of investment is certainly apparent in some cases. For example after Robbie Keane’s departure after just six months back in January 2009, the £12million attained from the deal seemingly vanished into thin air and never was re-invested into the squad to find another striker. A lack of funding is not always been the case for departures though as back in the summer of 2008, Peter Crouch was allowed to leave because he wanted first team football, and the same may also be the case with Javier Mascherano who wants to leave the club to join up with his former manager Rafa Benitez at Inter Milan.
The lack of squad depth is no less aptly demonstrated than the squad that was announced today for the club’s pre-season training camp in Switzerland:
Diego Cavalieri, Alberto Aquilani, Albert Riera, Lucas Leiva, Emiliano Insua, David Ngog, Jay Spearing, Philipp Degen, Stephen Darby, Martin Kelly, Peter Gulacsi, Steven Irwin, Nathan Eccleston, Daniel Ayala, Martin Hansen, David Amoo, Lauri Dalla Valle, Thomas Ince, Jonjo Shelvey, Victor Palsson, Sotirios Kyrgiakos (not arriving until July 15), Milan Jovanovic (travelling direct from Serbia).
Shorn of the club’s World Cup stars, there are few who we would consider high quality. Of course, any team lacking its World Cup stars would struggle to put out a decent side, but if we compared our reserves to those of Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United or Chelsea, we just can’t compete. Certainly we can clearly see a great deal of young talent, but it lacks the experience required for a full Premier League season.
While City can afford to leave a 17.5m striker in Roque Santa Cruz on the bench, United can leave a 18.6m midfielder in Michael Carrick as a sub while Tottenham Hotspur can afford to loan out a £12m signing in Robbie Keane to Celtic. This is of course fundamentally a financial problem, and it is has led to the fact that beneath the first eleven, our squad lacks experience and quality. With the lack of investment, the only way to really address that is to wheel and deal. We can’t compete with Manchester City financially and the players we are being linked will not be at the same level, they just can’t be with the amount of money at Roy Hodgson’s disposal.
That is why I am not as opposed as other Liverpool fans to the rumoured move for Paul Scharner. First of all he is a free transfer, but second and most importantly he is a player who can increase the level of experience in the squad and give the manager options in different positions. As a substitute, the Austrian utility player can do a job for us, just like Kyrgiakos did last season.
If money does comes available though, in the guise of Javier Mascherano’s sale for £30m, then it must be used to add squad depth. 3 players at £10m each could really make a difference in the long hard season. A couple of free transfers on top of that and other players bought from the sale of other unwanted players could really help the team. The squad has been unbalanced for far too long with a quality first eleven with really nothing beneath, but this needs to change. Some may believe that youth should be given a chance considering the young nature of Roy’s training camp squad, but I don’t believe it is a risk Roy will be taking, especially considering the pressure for him to succeed next season. Talented as they maybe, they are untried and I believe Hodgson will look to experience above everything else to arrest the Reds decline.
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I’m not sure I agree with this article. If Roy does as you suggest and goes for experienced signings, they will still need time to bed in. He may well decide on giving a couple of the youngsters a chance because although they have limited experience, if their involved all through pre-season, they really should’nt take too long to bed in….either they’ll be a success or a failure. As long as you get an opportunity, that’s all anyone wants.
Phil, although I see where you’re coming from, I have to agree with David on this one. In the case of signing Scharner vs. trying a youth player, which would you rather have to fill in come the home stretch of the season? For example, if we lose a central defender in March or April, when the one game can change the season, and we have to play a strong side i.e. the likes of Villa, Spurs, etc., who would you rather have in the side? Scharner or Daniel Ayala? Scharner or Martin Kelly? Not to say that these youngsters aren’t great prospects, but I would rather have the experience and solidity of a player like Scharner in those circumstances.
We won’t know how good some of these fringe players are unless they are given a chance. And they need to be given a proper chance not just 2 minutes at the end of games.
Will need to be mixed and matched properly alongside experienced players and Roy is probably the best man to do that.
Use them then lose the ones not good enough.
Cisse!!!!
martin kelly is ready now but of course the more proven experienced players like sharner the better, if we get sharner a left back and another quality stiker are all we need if we dont sell more than one first more teamer,could not kyriakos be tried at left back if we cant buy one, gary o’neill was good in that position and he would fly at the chance to come to liverpool,
who appointed roy hodgson or rather who picked him ? i hope roy is very successful and wish him the best of luck but liverpools board consists of people who know absolutely nowt about football so i can only assume that kenny dalglish made the decision but i doubt it.
What we need more than most is a break. We need a break from the shenanigans around us and the added pressure of history. We need to give Roy and the squad a chance to grow. If looked at thus, we need a mix and match of vets and youth. A free like Warner, as the author’s pointed out, is not necessarily unwelcome. Soto came almost as a free and look at his impact. I won’t even add Maxi!
That said, we also need our youngsters, Dalla Valle, Pacheco, Ayala, Spearing, Ecclestone and Kelly. Our vets will give back their knowledge while the youth will build on it using their energy. What we need most of all at Anfield is TIME. We need to give ourselves that, the manager, and everything this great and awesome club stands for. We’ll get there in the end. Belief.
Where is Dani Paceho????????
Experience is fine if it’s tied to ability. Gary Mac had loads of experience, but it was his qualty that made him effective. Scharner has loads of experience, but he lacks quality – he’s deemed surplus to Wigan! If we have to buy cheap, then quality like Maxi is what we need, not lard tubs like James Beattie or the underwhelming Scharner.
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/our-complete-swiss-squad
Dani Pacheco is not included as he is currently on international duty with Spain.
Pacheco is currently with the Spanish U-21 setup
the season we had Kyrgiakos instead of Hyypia “doing a job” as you said in this article we came 7th instead of second.
i have to say i totally agree with Sam Wanjere we as a club and a group of loyal fans really need to stop and take time to assess the situation and take the time to make the proper adjustments to the club, we need to rebuild, a house built on sand is quicker and easier to build but is nowhere near as solid as the house with which is built on rock. we need continuity, belief and youth system which can support the future of Liverpool
Is Nemeth away on international duty too? If so, I’m surprised Gulacsi is available to us.
I notice the reserves are supposed to have a game against Wrexham in less than a week. Given that Roy seems to have all the reserves in Switzerland, they might struggle to complete that fixture.
re the torres situation i have only one worry as i never expected him to leave, my worry? when asked about the rafa situation at the beginning of the world cup, he was quoted as saying the chairman is in touch with me every week or something very similar – if this is true it is very disurbing.
it will be interesting to see how our esteemed board support Hodgson. The acid test is about to happen and if by the end of August the same old story turns out to be the way of things then we will continue to slide down the table till we are relegated.
what was purslow doing talking to torres alone after hodgson left ? informing him of offers ?
your new share!