Transfers? Who Needs Transfers!?!

FOLLOWING another weekend in which [insert player name] signed for us/having a medical/not heard from us/Spurs want him etc, etc, I thought I would put together a piece on my thoughts concerning the transfer window.

First and foremost, the way things are being conducted are correctly labelled as The Liverpool Way; everything is being conducted behind closed doors and I actually doubt many people outside of Anfield actually have a clue where the club is on signing new players and who they want, despite the claims of numerous In The Knows (ITK’s)!

This is how a football club should behave, and for a long time we screamed for Liverpool FC to stay out of the press and keep club matters within the club. This is exactly what we are getting at the moment from the club and I for one want more of the same.

Do I want to know who we want, who we are negotiating for? Of course, but I’m pretty sure Brendan Rodgers isn’t about to ring me anytime soon (despite my continued pleas for a playing contract), so we have the fabled Liverpool Way back – let appreciate that the club is behaving in the correct manner and not crucify them for it.

Of course the club has little control of the ‘bull in a china shop’ that is Twitter and the continued musings of ITK’s as we have seen with the Sigurdsson saga and over the last weekend Gaston Ramirez. I must confess that I did have a chuckle that Sigurdsson went from a brilliant prospect to catapult us on to a waste of space half season wonder we didn’t want anyway based on tweets. Did anyone else notice @arlarse having fun starting rumours that made it to Talksport and Sky Sports? Crazy.

I prefer to look at positives and one thing to take from this Sigurdsson nonsense is a renewed belief that the club is moving forward and not being mugged off. The Icelander, as we are led to believe by Rodgers, changed the terms he previously agreed with Swansea and we refused to match. Some have seen this as a weakness and that we can’t compete – I disagree entirely. It shows strength, and that Rodgers wants players who want to play for the club first and foremost, and not the almighty £. For me, Sigurdsson remains a good player and a prospect but it’s his loss that he went to Spurs.

From the whole Sigurdsson saga I began to see more and more people tweeting John Henry (dear oh dear) and pointing out that United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs were buying players and we weren’t. What’s going on?! Now I may be in the minority here, and this may sound like I need mental help but, I believe the clubs mentioned have a more pressing need to sign players than we do, and I will explain why. Firstly looking at the aforementioned clubs:

United have a fragile squad the constantly punches higher than they should due to organisation and managerial workings of Fergie, love him (I don’t) or loathe him (I do) has worked wonders there unfortunately. They have signed Kagawa, excellent signing on and off the pitch, as they had to coax a former player out of retirement last year. They are losing talented youth players left right and centre and you would suggest are in need of an overhaul in playing staff; primarily Evra and Berbatov.
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Chelsea, despite finishing the season on an astonishing high, got there with an incredible amount of fortune as well as tenacity. Di Matteo did a good job but papered over the cracks by caving in to the big names and in return getting world class performances from the likes of Drogba. AVB was brought in to overhaul an ageing squad but wasn’t given the time or the backing. This hasn’t changed so Chelsea desperately needed to spend to avoid another poor league season. Worrying for them is they have added more egos and more wages!

Arsenal papered over cracks with a once in a lifetime season from van Persie. His goals got points the performances didn’t deserve (whereas we didn’t get the goals and points some of our performances did deserve). With him openly declaring war on Arsenal and kicking off in-fighting, Arsenal desperately need to appease fans and declare their intentions. For me, Giroud and Podolski were signed in the belief that RVP was off.

Spurs needed investment in playing staff in January but only got Saha and Nelsen. As it stands they have one recognised forward in Defoe, lost King at the back and are likely to lose Modric this year and I would suggest Bale if they don’t get top 4 next year. They need players and AVB will want his own signings to pad out the squad.

Take note that City also has not ventured into the market as yet, and why? I would suggest that they are mostly happy with the squad and it only need tinkering, which brings me to Liverpool. The second half of last season was a disaster undeniably but the first half of last season was a breath of fresh air. We played good attractive football, dominated possession and created chance after chance but our downfall was the lack of goals scored.

This will undoubtedly have impacted on confidence and contributed to the poor form after the Carling Cup win. Yet if you look at the squad now, we have a player in Carroll that looks to have settled and is re-finding his form and a continuation of this and more playing minutes should see him return to his very best. Captain Fantastic got through a gruelling Euro’s unscathed and looks like his injury nightmare is behind him. The return of Lucas, Cole and Aquilani (if he stays and is settled) are like new signings, and Cole in particular will have benefited from a decent year with Lille and working with a manager who plays the football he likes and has worked with him previously.

I think we will see Henderson kick on this year as his game is very much pass and move. The style Rodgers sets his teams out to play will also see Johnson and Jose Enrique used more offensively. We have the likes of Sterling and Suso who will be looking for more playing time this year, and again, fit the mould of how Rodgers plays, as does the returning Pacheco. Likewise, as it stands Maxi and Bellamy are still at the club and would suit the football Rodgers plays. I think, and this very much echoes comments made by Paul Dalglish, that first and foremost we need to retain. As it stands we have a solid core in Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas, Gerrard, Suarez and Carroll that is absolutely key in any team, and retaining these guys is crucial. It also sends out a strong message that the club is moving forward, especially when someone like Arsenal keeps losing players like Fabregas, Nasri and potentially RVP and Walcott despite Champions League football.

Of course like everyone I want Liverpool to sign new players; they bring excitement, potential and generally unite fans but I would not be devastated if we got nobody. I think we have a strong squad that contains match winners all over the park and players suited to the football Rodgers wants to play and we want to see. The first half of last season we were close and only needed a tweak which could have been as simple as Carroll or Suarez hitting an RVP level of goalscoring form and the year would have been very different.

Agree or disagree I hope you enjoyed the article and would love to talk further, come find me on twitter @timdibs
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