ONE of the main questions Brendan Rodgers had to answer at the press conferences during pre-season was about expectations for the coming season. To be frank, Rodgers’ response of “building the team that could challenge for top 4 and ultimately for the Championship” was clever, but not too encouraging. Why not come out and say that we are going for the league? I know that it may sound too optimistic, or some may say crazy, but this is Liverpool! One of, if not the greatest footballing institution in the world!
Second was never good enough for the likes of Shankly, Paisley, Fagan or Dalglish. That’s why LFC were winning championships for fun and were feared all over Europe. But as one certain Portuguese manager said: “Better eggs make better omelettes.” So let’s look at what Brendan has to cook with.
Aurelio, Kuyt, Rodriguez and Bellamy left making way for Fabio Borini, Joe Allen and Oussama Assaidi. There’s talk about one or two coming in and out but let’s focus on those who are here already.
Fabio Borini came in as a striker who’s expected to score lots of goals as it was a main concern last season with numerous chances created every game. But his stats aren’t the most encouraging to say the least. Nine goals in twenty-four appearances in an average Italian league is not too impressive. Although he is highly rated, Brendan knows him well so let’s wait and see.
Joe Allen is one of the most talked about midfielders in England with good passing and possession stats with a mediocre Swansea side last season. Also he’s one of the key Welsh players and Rodgers also knows him extremely well having worked with him for a couple of seasons at the Liberty Stadium. But is he good enough to walk into the first team of one of the top European teams after just one top-flight season having finished eleventh-best? Time will tell.
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To be fair I knew as much as nothing about Assaidi when his signing was announced but after that I looked into his stats. One of the main men for an average Dutch side Heerenveen. A prolific goalscorer at that level, but will he be able to replicate that in England’s top-flight? Remember, with all due respect to the Dutch, the Eredivisie is Championship level at best. But let’s hope for the best.
So far these are the additions who Brendan Rodgers believes can bring LFC back to the top. There’re still some to come and to leave but I believe we know the first team Rodgers is going to go with already: Reina in goal, Skrtel and Agger at the back, Enrique and Johnson at fullback. Lucas and Allen will be two in the middle with Stevie G in front of them. And three attackers: Suarez up top, Borini left and Downing right, subject to switches during games.
Personally, I’d like to see big Andy as a frontman as he’s a nightmare for any defender with his power and physique. Also, Charlie Adam in the middle, as he brings fantastic determination and work-rate to the table, plus he’s got a hammer of a left foot (also applies for Carroll). The squad is big enough to cope with injuries and suspensions and the season still looks bright to me, Saturday’s result notwithstanding. But the main thing is spirit and determination; and obviously aiming for the top.
“If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing” – Bill Shankly.
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This squad is not better than Spurs or Newcastle, let alone Manure, sh-itty, chelski and Arse, so looks like battling it out with the rest of the chasing pack for seventh, unless by some miracle Rodgers can get in messy and Ronaldo before the end of the month.
well we need a gun man,period.we need to sell downing,spearo,adam,cole,wilson,pacheco,doni,jones and raise 26m to buy a gunman and another w for back upinger.gulasci is a good goalie
Personally, with this squad, we would be good for a top 10. There are not enough goals in the squad. Maxi, Kuyt and Bellamy had around 20 goals a season beetwin them! Agreed as much?
So, is Borrini and Allen capable of delivering that? I’m not convinced at all.
Secondly, let’s look at the transfers. Unsettled players. Carrol, Adam and please let it be Jo Cole and Spearing (simply not a premiership player). It is not a solution to keep these guys in the bench. The dressing room wont be united for a starter and they won’t contribute to higher than a top ten finish. So, why keep them still in our books. I know there is the wages to be earned and it is difficult to offload them….but then again, that’s why we pay millions for a manager. Tell me im wrong.
Moving on to the current transfers. If Adam is to stay, as he says. Did we need to spend another 15 million on a mf player?
There is still 10 days left, let’s hope mr Rogers does something good. If status quo is the order of the day. We are in for a very , very long season. YNWA
i thought it was a good article until you said CHAD should play in the middle???? U MAD BRO!!!!! CHAD IS SH***
why cant liverpool fc see what everyone else can see we need a striker no excuses and why do all the liverpool managers make excuses when we lose we all can see it sort the players out when we aer not good players play for club not money we spend all our money hoping for some thing new get it right
look at our fans suffering please liverpool fc we should nd be talking about finising in the 4th spot its liverpool fc for gods sake
Come on mate get a grip for gods sake. Plenty of people in the world suffering more than you from much more serious problems. It’s one game and ten days go in transfer window. Sit back support the team and you never know there just might be a couple of surprises before the transfer window shuts.
We won’t finish 4 spot.. Just look at the other squads directly challenging us. We’re trying to emulate Barcelona one of the most talented teams ever assembled on a shoe string budget. Besides Suarez we have no one capable of unlocking a defense.. And if we do create a chance we don’t have someone to stick the ball in the net. I predict more of the same as last season, loads of possession and not much else. I hope I’m wrong.
I don’t know about aiming high but id Rodgers goes for Adam Johnson he is doing as big a mistake as I said when Dalglish went for Charlie Adam! Johnson will prove to be just as useless. We NEED a clinical goal grabber – end of…….
We seem to be missin out on striking opportunities! Anyone remember Jelavic, Pappi Cisse, Luuk de Jong, Huntelaar etc last season all linked wit liverpool. I clamoured for Jelavic to be bought then. As u all know, the rest is history… We need strikers now!… Besides, there are cheap prolific strikers in Spain…
hope we get one top scorer.
The way swansea played on saturday next season we r going for laundrap who is buying players to fit the epl. With cole,downing,carrol,spearing, adam and henderson their is no way we goin to be on top.
Hahahahah very funny!!!! On a serious note…As an ex-lfc fan, i feel for you guys, i really do. i could see this coming even from last season!! and why is that? well other lfc fans have explained it on other forums so i wont belabour the point..
Ex-lfc fan? Good we don’t need fickle fans like you, you can go support man city.
Even better, in case you’re not blind, i support Real Madrid, club values and way of doing things meshes very well with my life values.Furthermore its a natural progression since, Owen, McManaman, Arbeloa and Alonso moved from LFC to Real. Ive been supporting LFC for 25 years btw….and i stopped supporting LFC due to the immense stupidity that exists in this club…case in point…you
Things can only change if we qualify for ucl,no prolific striker will come to a club like lfc when we are not in the ucl.but still the likes of dempsey who can beat two players and create chances and score can still make a differEnt for uS.if lfc fail to make a different these season,it a pity they will loose a lot of their fans to their rivals..
I understand what your saying about not being able to attract the best players but at the same time saurez came plus Newcastle , spurs and everton didn’t do too bad with new signings which helped them finish above us . Dont you think some of the signings those teams I’ve mentioned signed were better than what we bought ? Moderic, bale ,Van de vaart cisse , Ba, jov etc none of those teams have champs league either. I think with the right manager and the club willing to pay the wages I’m sure we could get better than ex Swansea / chelsea reserve players.
I have a similar opinion as you with our new signings. I personally dont believe Allen and Borrini will be anything special , certainly not good enough for a top 4 team . Seems to me Rodgers has signed players he would of gone for if he was still in charge of Swansea but surely being in charge of a bigger club should enable him to sign better quality ? What’s so special about Allen ? I really don’t understand how so many people thought what Rodgers and Allen did last season was so amazing compared to say Norwich and west brom who finished on level points. Those 2 teams didn’t use Tika taka style nor did they have that amazing Allen playing for them or that amazing manager Rodgers yet they finished level. Allen got a 91 % pass success rate because ge just plays simple balls back to defenders all day. Sounds great keeping the ball but at end of the day last season for all that amazing pass success rate it was not enough coupled with his amazing managers Tika taka style to finish the season on any higher points than norwich or west brom. So why was Rodgers season so great last year but not lamberts for instance ?I hope I’m wrong but I can’t see us getting a top 4 spot.our new signings so far are not top 4 standard players , no way. As for charley Adam I will have to disagree with you there . I don’t think he should be in our team.his tackling us the worst in the league for starters, secondly he has no pace and thirdly we bought him from a relegated side ? Who was talking about how great Adam is the season before Blackpool scraped through the playoffs to get to the prem in the first place ? I do agree that carrol should be in the first team . Height and strength for set prieces and to hold the ball up for 2 nippy finishers along side him could work well .