A lot has been going through my mind, some good some bad and right now I’m not so sure I know where to begin. So this might come across as an unreasonable rant, but I feel I need to let some of my anger out.
What on earth has Kenny Dalglish gone and done with £100m pounds? Firstly, he starts off by spending £35m (transfer record) on a player who is meant to be good in the air, since when do you spend that amount of money on a player who can’t offer you anything else? And then when the player arrives you all of a sudden realise that he isn’t even good in the air at all. His movement is crap, he stands on the bloody football pitch, he’s lethargic, no pace, not a hope in hell of getting past a defender, and let’s not even start on his ball control. The guy lays-off a ball to a winger in the middle of the park, then stands there. He then stands there, WTF??? What the hell is Bellamy supposed to do when he gets to the by-line?
To top it all off, we went and overpaid on other players who were supposedly meant to get this guy firing. £20m on a “moneyball” signing (most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard) who is supposed to provide the quality ball for our one dimensional record signing to feed off. And more money on another chap whose set-piece alone was apparently worth £10m at some point. Not to mention £20m on some youngster who is supposed to be the next best thing. The most depressing bit is that we got rid of some perfectly good players to accommodate this lot.
What peeves me the most is when I go onto the LFC forums and I see someone saying they think Andy Carroll played well. He won a few headers in the air (around the centre circle, might I add) and laid off a few balls. Really??? Is that what it takes to be considered a striker good enough for Liverpool Football Club, is that what we should be expecting from a £35m investment? For some reason our management seem to think it’s fine to splash unheralded amounts of money on what I and many others would consider to be at best average players, players whom no other top club would touch.
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To think that Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam were considered to be the right kind of player to take us forward still has me scratching my head. Our management seem to be settling for for these second grade players and are happy to over pay for them, and we have a lot of LFC fans who also seem to think we are going on the right path by getting these second graders in. I feel short changed by our management at present, I don’t think they have made the best use of FSG’s money here.
Am I misreading something here? To me it seems like we are starting to accept mediocrity and that we can’t compete with the other top sides for the best talent around. I thought we were fucking LFC or do I have that mixed up as well.
Now you can point at the league table and say we are not is such bad shape but for how long are going to keep relying on Chelsea and Arsenal to keep dropping point for us to stay in touch? We ought to be doing much better. I happen to think that considering the amount we have spent on building this squad we should really be expecting more.
This article was written by Ngoni and is courtesy of our partner website ourkop.com. Read the latest news and blogs about Liverpool FC at Our Kop. – ed
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enrique has been the only player to impress although i have to say i think downing will come good (not great just good) carrol has to go adam just not good enuff henderson again might come good under stevie g but for over 100 mill i have to say even as a big kenny fan i think the english route is a bad one and he has wasted the money.
Craig, All the big clubs in Liverpool’s class have foreign players; really quality players too. I have no idea what has prompted Dalglish to go down this route, but, I know it is going to end in tears. He should have watched England play and the agony England – who continue to flatter to deceive – bring to the Manager and supporters.
The article is spot on. I mean what is with Kenny Dalglish’s obsession with British players? Apart from Bellamy who cost nothing, all of Kenny’s British signings have been rubbish. The only signings who are actually worth their prices are Suarez and Enrique. Liverpool will not win anything and will not finish in the top four with overpriced and overrated British players like Downing and Carroll who are simply not good enough. If Liverpool continue with this ridiculous transfer policy in targeting average British players then players like Suarez and Enrique will be off to Spain and Kenny Dalglish’s second reign at Liverpool will not be very successful.
And what exactly is Comolli’s job all about? To help Kenny find average British players? With his expertise in the transfer market why didn’t he sign Cabaye for 5m instead of Adam?
I can’t believe what I’m reading KENNY OUT are you joking !! Give him time.. I moan about the buys too, but to call for his head that’s ridiculous.. We’re playing nice one touch football again and when they start putting away the chances there’s no stopping us!
spot on Patrick – it seems we have a number of glory hunters on this forum – patience is in short supply, as is actual footballing knowledge!
Dalglish has an ideological belief on signing british players and playing a particular brand of attacking football. Dont be surprised if the next signing is british. In terms of player transfer performance, overall he’s miserably failed. Of Andy Caroll, Redknapp just wrote an excellent piece you all shud go and read. Basically he asks, why are we playing intricate football with andy caroll? why cant we play to his strengths? If we wana play intricate football, dont play him, simple as that. Superb sh!t.
Spot on ,I think the only good buys were Enrique and Bellamy ,paying 20 million for downing was pure madness,Henderson is worh 7 mill at the most,Adam is overrated and as for Andy Carroll we was robbed ,we needed to sign top quality players not second rate crap.we can forget about football in Europe for a long time with these players.I am not one of those fans blinded buy the Kenny daglish band wagon if results don’t add up then get rid of kenny”simple”
Said it from day they were signed, terrible the business done mostly. Only adam and left back worth the money.
Carrol and co are so over rated and their former clubs laughing all the way to the bank. KK to blame period, what excuse he got now?
KD saw potentials in Carroll and Hendo . . . . They r young U-23 . . . . They can cme good in the future. CARROLL was a panic buy so 35mil . . . Which is the worst buy of English Priemer league era . . ?
Bt he has the time to b a world class quality striker.
BUT DOWNING IS JUST PURE WASTE OF MONEY. . . . Zero Assits and Zero Goals. . . . He was never worth 20mil . . . Adam was bought for 7mil and he has shown the potential of a 7mil squad player.
The best signing by KD was Bellamy who cme fr free.
LIVERPOOL Fc must bring in worldclass talent nt alone british talent.
The Players from Spain and Italy r more skillful than players frm Scotland or Wales.
KD ALSO NEEDS GIVE CHANCE TO PLAYERS WHO R PERFORMING WELL eg. MAXI.
He is rarely give a chance , he shld play more games than Downing.
Its strange that Liverpool forked out the money on the kinds of players they did everyone knows there is no value buying English.
For all the rubbishing Rafa copped he would have got real value with that money buying from european clubs elsewhere.
All i can say is at least Bellamy and Enrique fell in the clubs lap many thinking they werent going to cut it.
Enrique & Suarez are possably the best buys in the premiership. Downing has added some dimension & has been unlucky with the woodwork at least 4 times. Adam has shown qualuty moments & Henderson is still learning like most young midfielders yet shows potential is definately there. I am 1 who will say Lucas in midfield took ages to really improve & with limited gametime Hendo is above Lucas level at the same age.
Carroll – I must confess lacks speed & seems limited but the thing that bothers me most with Andy is lack of movement OFF the ball. Is it the simple fact he lacks vision or is he lazy??
Really feel a fast instinctive striker with vision would make all the difference. Carroll WILL improve with Gerrards return but will it be enough??
You are one of the few voices of reason on here – most of the people slagging off Lucas now proclaim him excellent. We have played some good one touch footy but have had some bad luck – whatever happened to patience and faith!
Kenny Dalish is a out-dated clown, Who will & is holding back this great football club, Because he not a good talent spotter. Lfc will not qualify for the champion league, the europa league, And will not win anything this year or the next one as long as this man is in charge of this football club. Stop buying bums like Adam Carrol & Downing, Look abroad for players with good technical ability.
The only clown is you I am afraid. Have patience and faith, if you actually watched all our games this season you would see that the passing and movement has been much better and we have had some rotten luck. It takes time to bed players in and for them to adjust to each other – this is true even at amateur level in my experience. Lay off Kenny, he is doing a sound job as always and if anyone can bring back glory I’m sure it’s him.
How many of you were saying buy Ba and Cabaye in the summer? Very few. The truth is no-one knows how a player will do until they are here and have gelled with the team. I’ve been watching Liverpool since the 80s and yes although I question the cost of Carroll and Henderson in particular, I am encouraged by the incremental improvements we have seen. It won’t be long until we go on a run and I hope all of you calling for Kennys head wind your necks in.
No doubt you were amongst the idiots booing Lucas at Anfield during 2008, I couldn’t believe that so called knowledgeable fans were getting on his case. He has always been a decent pro (as have many of the players criticised within this blog and response) and we have to encourage our players and give them confidence. Isnt this what being a fan is all about?!
the issue is that the owners of lfc are less concern about what is going on in lfc if not kenny could’ve been shown exit door,last time he (kenny)were saying that benitez wasted so much money during his (benitez)rein,now kenny spend over 100 mill.within a short time he kenny took over and lfc is struggling if they (lfc)can be in europa league next season,pls the lfc owners should wake up and tell what they in the club.
For £100 million, the fans have the right to expect better than they what they have. Apart from Suarez (class) and Bellamy (FREE) the rest have been a major dissapointment. On the other hand though we have created a host of chances that have gone begging, and with our fantastic defending record, had just one or two of these chances being taken in each of the games, then we would now be sitting pretty at least third in the chart and no complaints. What K D does next in the transfer window will probably be the most important of his tenure.
Based on performances so far and taking into account potential for improvement, it is perhaps fair to say that we overpaid (heavily) for Carroll and Downing. On the other hand, Henderson has bags of potential and has shown that he has the quality to justify the price paid. The purchases of Suarez, Adam, Enrique and (free signing) Bellamy – not to mention the sale of an underwhelming Torres – were undoubtedly masterstrokes. In other words, overall a mixed balance.
At the same time, Damian Comolli and Kenny Dalglish appear to be building on the successful restructuring of the Liverpool academy during the reign of Rafa Benitez, adding players like Jordan Ibe and Marc Pelosi to the promising youngsters signed by Rafa (such as Raheem Stirling, Suso, Andre Wisdom and Jonjo Shelvey).
It is perhaps to early to assess the transfer record of Comolli and Dalglish. Overall it is neither as bad as some critics suggest – nor perhaps as good as fans had hoped. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that Comolli and Dalglish are having to persuade players to come to Anfield without the promise of Champions League Football.
spot on article mate. absolutely agree with you. i still can’t the beliebe the money we’ve wasted on absolute crap and the fact some fans still think they’d turn out could is just beyond me.carroll has here for more than a year and if one thinks thats not enough time for a player to get settled in, you must get you head checked.
and there those who say, we are in sixth place and much better off last year.but the point us we’ve splashed 100mil more than last year we bloody are supposed to be performing much better
crap players bought by a crap manager!
and you might all hate me now, I do not think Suarez is good enough for my beloved LFC!
I was just wondering, all things said and done our goal was to get back to the champions league this season. We’re three points behind fourth with half the season to go. Besides i don’t think kenny can do anything about the fact that we’ve it the post almost as much as we’ve scored. The crappy downing hit the post four or five times to.
not really l should say though l believe we could have bought those players like Downing and Henderson for less than what we paid for. We should have bought them for 12m each considering that we paid 22 for Suarez. Not to despair they r good players and we only need a wing/forward or am/forward , a midfield wizard as well as a goal poacher to gel all
Liverpool has used £100 million badly because of wrong decisions. If LFC have put half of that at a specific time i.e when we came 2nd in the league, well we would have won the league already with Benitez.