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View from the Kop

It All Boils Down To Quality

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EVER since I can remember, us Liverpool FC fans have been a spoiled lot. So often treated to mouth-watering displays of the beautiful game played just as it should be.

Up until recently, this style and philosophy also gave quite a good return as far as goals and results were concerned.

We were dominant, we were easy on the eye and we were victorious 9 times out of 10.

The 2009/2010 season changed all that. We were still dominant in matches, we played the better football most of the time but that last bit, the most crucial member of the trio, had wandered off into the unknown and stalemate and defeat were now more often than not the reward for a good 90-minute display. Honestly, it was quite sad to watch Rafa, Hodgson and King Kenny grasp frantically at the straws that were labelled “positives ” from games that we inexplicably lost.

Our recent victory over Gomel was a reverse of the situation that has plagued us these past three campaigns. We were overpowered, outplayed and riding our luck from pretty much the first whistle. Somehow though, a single moment of individual brilliance (from an unlikely candidate might I add), saw us walk away with a lead and a crucial away goal going into the home leg. It wasn’t easy to watch, but the job got done.

That in mind, the questions begging to be answered are: should we really bother with team chemistry? Is Tiki-taka football really the way forward result-wise? Can we be contented by results alone and should we accept it if beautiful football is a luxury that we can currently no longer afford? Building a team that plays with a high level of understanding is ideally the way to go, but what about the Chelsea and City way?

As far as chemistry goes, City and Chelsea are leagues behind the likes of Arsenal and Barcelona but they have still managed to crack top tier football through the sheer quality of individual players. Rather than a 10-man outfield unit, these teams rely on a collection of effective 2 and 3 player partnerships merged with the individual ability to “pull rabbits out of hats”.

Chelsea played probably the most unattractive football ever in both the semi’s and final of the Champions League last season but still walked away with the ultimate European honour. A feat achieved mostly through individual moments of pure genius from the likes of Ramires and Drogba (and a good amount of dumb luck).
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Looking back on our more successful campaigns of the decade, we always possessed a good number of players with these spectacular tendencies. Cisse who could run at defenders, Baros who was clinical and in the right place at the right time, Alonso who could smash them in from distance, Sinama-Pongolle, Benayoun and Riera with their fancy footwork, Hyypia with his aerial presence, Hamann with his distribution.

This is seemingly where our new additions to the club have been falling short or underperforming. They can keep the ball, they can pass it well and help out in defence when it’s all hands on deck, but they either lack, or have been unable to show the instinct of the players they are compared to in a similar role. The early crosses, long passes over the top, reflex shots into the top corner and the dummy runs among others that we expect from them have rarely (if at all) been exhibited.

Even if it means paying truck loads of money, sometimes we should be prepared to invest in proven, top class players. Constantly recycling and re-stocking on average players and gambling on the potential players have shown will surely cost us even more in the long run. The Andy Carroll saga is a perfect example. We’re saddled with a player whose potential was gambled on and whose value (both to the team and on the transfer market) cannot be fully established due to the inconsistency of his performances.

Our current squad, in my opinion, needs at least another couple Suarez’s or Gerrard’s. My hope is that players brought in because they showed the potential to fill those voids step up to the plate soon (no pressure guys but this season would be a real treat). Tiki-taka should still be the underlying principle of our game but when it fails, I believe we should have enough players of absolute quality who can individually produce those moments of magic for us.

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9 comments

  • ken08 says:

    Hate to hark back to the past BUT how many times did we anhialate teams at Anfield (specially Rednoses teams) only for Sparky or other goal poacher to nick in and steal it for their teams??
    i always feel we just need an Aldo type predator and you can play any system you want cos when its failed Aldo or Beardsley or McAllister or Benayoun or Baros or Smicer or Karl Heinz might just nick in and steal it for us 🙂 but who and where is this player??? YNWA

  • danno says:

    LETS GET ONE THING STRAIGHT ? FOOLGLISH IS TOO BLAME FOR THIS DISGRACEFUL MESS !!! CARROLL DOWNING HENDERSON ADAM ARE NOTHING SHORT OF SHAMBOLIC SIGNINGS ? NEITHER ONE OF THEM HAS BALL CONTROL,NEITHER ONE OF THEM PREMIER LEAGUE CLASS,AND WILL NEVER BE WORLD CLASS EVER ? WHAT A COMPLETE MUPPET FOOLGLISH WAS,AND HE DESERVED ALL HE GOT { SACK AND MADE UP } HOW ON EARTH DO YOU GIVE A NEW CONTRACT TO SPEARING YOU IDIOT FOOLGLISH ? WE HAVE ONE OF THE WORST MIDFIELDS IN LIVERPOOL HISTORY ? DUE TOO YOU FOOLGLISH :{ I HATE YOUR GUTS FOR DESTROYING ARE FOOTBALL CLUB…

    • McWikid says:

      Are you a Liverpool fan? Some of the b0llocks you have just wrote sickens me. Your disrespect to a LFC legend is staggering. Have an opinion but articulate it in a clear and concise manner without name calling. If you can’t do that try supporting a team from Manchester I’m sure you would fit in there!

      • danno says:

        NAME ME ONE SIDE ABOVE LPOOL WHO WOULD WANT TO BUY MEDIOCRE PLAYERS IN ADAM HENDERSON DOWNING CARROLL,AND GIVE SPEARING A NEW CONTRACT :{ WHERE STUCK WITH THIS PATHETIC BUNCH…CARROLL IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE BAR NEWCASTLE :{ ADAM WONT EVEN BE PUSHED OUT,NEITHER HENDERSON OR DOWNING ? CHEERS FOOLGLISH FOR WANTING MEDIOCRE BRITISH TALENT { MY ASS } STUCK IN THE WILDERNESS BY FOOLGLISH…

  • Victor says:

    Lts b clear keny is a legnd of lfc. Shut ur trap. As bad as his signngs wer. Our motto is 2 walk thru the stom n we shal. Br get ramirz n swap hende 4 alen. Alow ur yungstrs suso,sterlng, pacheco, morgn, texeira,coady tyme on pitc. We shld 9 ok in 2 sisns

    • danno says:

      who do you think your talking too ? foolglish is an idiot for buying crap british players FACT…adam carroll henderson downing had all played in premier league ? and all was shocking last season ? dont want to hear they need a season to bed in,FOOLGLISH wanted them all.and couldnt get them to play together idiot ??? i dont want to hear we was unlucky hitting posts & bars,not interested ??? winning games is,and im chuffed the idiot FOOLGLISH was sacked…SHOULD HAVE BEEN SACKED SOONER ? and will any other team above us want CARROLL ADAM HENDERSON OR DOWNING anytime soon no ? because they was shocking signings FACT…FOOLGLISH ISNT A LEGEND,HE,S AN IDIOT !!!

      • Baz says:

        Danno you are nothing but a * why don’t you just * off back to goodison or whatever sewer you crawled out of. We do not wan’t you here

  • Mike says:

    As much as i do not take to majority of dalglish’s signings, abuse is NOT the way.

    In my humble opinion, i believe with some extra work and a little more luck, downing will be a key member. Not one for fancy tricks, but could easily have a return of 12 goals and 14 assists across all competitions. Same goes for henderson and shelvey. Spearing i’m afraid along with joe cole, danny wilson, doni, jones, adam, have to be shipped out. Their sales on’t bring in more than about £14m, but along with the departure of maxi, kuyt, aurelio, should free up about £575k per wk. I believe FSG have funds for transfers, they just need the wage nill trimmed. With this, we just need to bring in allen, ramirez, vargas, fer, and we’re good to go.

  • Red$4eva says:

    Agree with Mike Downing could wake up from his long standing slumber this season and smell the coffee in and refresh his career at long last. Henderson I am not sure about he may not be given a chance he hasn’t actually chosen a trade- I mean is he a winger attacking mid defensive mid? Hendo what do you actually do for Liverpool except make the tea? As for the freed up wedge well a two or three quality addition are well within our grasp albeit doubtless there are likely to be leavers too. As for quality some class has to come in to shake up the stragglers cuz Spearing, Lucas and Adam just ain’t applying the pressure for their places.

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