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What Role For Assaidi?

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LITTLE was known about our Moroccan winger, Oussama Assaidi, when he was signed not long before the previous transfer-window closed in August. So, many of us went straight to YouTube to find out whether we’d signed a bargain or whether he was cheap bench-warmer.

Sadly, so far, he seems to have been the latter but that’s unfair to the player and manager really, as the circumstances at the club haven’t exactly gone in his favour up to now. Chance has meant that both Suso and Raheem Sterling have stepped in when asked and earned themselves their first-team places and now Assaidi is fully-fit, he’s having to make do with a place in the side during Europa league and (as we’ll probably see on Wednesday) the Capital One Cup.

Starting in such games in the early stages of these competitions is traditionally left to the fringe players, with last Thursday perhaps being an exception. But from what we’ve seen of Assaidi so far, he appears to be a very handy wide-man.

It’s always hard to tell from such rare glimpses what you’ve bought but the little we’ve seen from Assaidi so far shows a player with a great turn of pace, tricky feet, an intelligent footballing brain and the desire to turn any situation into an attack for his side.

What we’ve yet to really see from the Moroccan trickster is any real end product. As with most of our wide-players though, it would be unfair to put that all entirely on the shoulders of Assaidi, as the profligacy of our forward players has only let him down. But I fully believe that Assaidi has it in him to take things up a notch once he’s properly bedded in at the club. He doesn’t lack confidence and he’s still only 24, so he hasn’t yet hit his peak either.

After his superb performance against Anzhi on Thursday, many people named him as their man of the match and it would be hard to disagree. If things were to go the way I wanted them to, then I would have found room for him to start in the derby but, alas, he was dropped to the bench once more. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, though, as he’s exactly the sort of player fans love to see come in from the bench to spice games up a bit late on, when the opponents are starting to tire.

The real question is, though, is will Oussama Assaidi go on to become a first-choice for Liverpool or is he destined to be one of those players that is used to fill out the squad with a little bit of quality and basically find himself being used as an impact substitution? It’s a tough call really, and he may have to wait some time for his big opportunity, given the form of Suso and Sterling. However, if he continues to put in the sort of performances he did on Thursday, I see no reason to not reward him with a run in the first-team before Christmas.

What do you think; does Assaidi have it in him to become a first-team regular? Or is he destined to sit on the Reds’ bench?
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I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

30 comments

  • Sungur says:

    I think he should be a starter, and will provide greater width which we have been crying out for years.

  • phil says:

    I really am pleased that you bring this up. I would love to see him given a start in a league game in place of Suso, no disrespect to Suso, but he is better in the middle whereas Assaidi is a winger and would better suit the front 3.

  • red33 says:

    Thumps up for our moroccan,now we have sterling,suso and him.

  • bob says:

    being honest , he is a cheap bench warmer . you get what you pay for , 10 – 20 million would have bought class , assaidi has pace and trickery but lacks quality when it comes to the final ball . 1 good game against poor opposition doesnt count fot much

    suso or even downing are much better

    • Okay says:

      You judge to soon. He’s not had nearly has much chance as any of our new first timers. Give him a chance and he’ll prove you nuts.

  • brenwils says:

    I’d play him in the cup against Swansea midweek see how he goes, then if he again plays well in wich he did against Anzhi I’d start him against Newcastle on sunday on the left with Stirling out on the right and Suarez central that would give us plenty of pace on both flanks, BR should give him a run to prove himself as suso was found wanting in the derby and although the changes were made tactically at half time I think BR new suso was struggling , so I say give him a run and see how he fairs YNWA !

  • realsteve says:

    i think br should give assaidi an oppotunity in the first team, i think it will be a good combination,sterling suarez and assaidi.

  • LFC_Fan says:

    Actually I tend to agree with bob (5:28 am). It’s a fairly even market across & you might need to pay over for a real deal, but hardly you get someone world class at 3mn. Every top clubs in Europe has good scouting team & had Assaidi been that good, I am sure, he won’t had been available at 3 mn, without contest.

    Being exciting as a winger is one thing, to beat the fullbacks with pace & trickery, cutting inside & dribble through the pack defense & finally take a deadly hit, either feet on target or push a tearing through pass is a bit difficult. There are many players with speed & little bit of skill, but the second group is rare & clubs like Real Madrid don’t hesitate to throw 80mn for them.

    @24, Assaidi might have time to develop, but at the same time he ‘ll loose speed. I think for that price, he is a good addition for the squad, but it probably ends on the bench.

    • Brad says:

      Well Ajax were in for him as well so can you explain that? Is Yesil crap, he was only 1 million?

      • simon says:

        ajax were not in for him , that was rumour probably spawned by heerenveen or his agent .yesil is cheap because he is unproven , young and wouldn’t sign a new contract .

        assaidi is not good enough for liverpool

        • Ajax says:

          Ajax were in for him, De Boer has spoken about it at the press, the technical director of Ajax. Ajax didnt want to pay his 1.6 million euro salary.

          Russian topclubs and Galatasaray also wanted to sign him.

    • hemanta says:

      ya by your statement downing should be a world beater and caroll should be on the top of the world, stop with the hypocrisy. Player are rated according to their performance on field not on their price tag.look at how much new castle paid for cabaye cisse ba ben arfa !! its time we as fan stop looking at price tag to judge them players

  • LFCkeano says:

    come on boys , get realistic . we should have higher standards than a 2nd rate playeer like assaidi

  • Harvey says:

    Why such in a hurry? It all depends on his performance simply put. There’s no player who is being brought in with a bench warmer tag or a starting eleven tag. Just depends on how well you play. As simple as that!

  • ody says:

    Assaidi is good come on guys,assaidi is far better than suso just give this lad time,
    You will see his quality .if he cost us 3million does not mean is not good enuff,
    Br is just play patient with him.He just want assaidi to get use to the physically of EPL.let him get
    Some game under his belt okay.

  • Cam on boys be fair, dis guy is by far better dan Carroll,henderson,downing and even borini who were bouth with big money but he was bouth just for 3m.

  • redrum says:

    ‘what role for assaidi ?’

    probably working in the burger stalls outside the ground on match days .

    our yank friends havnt realised ,that u must pay top money for top players , i couldnt see assaidi even getting into the southampton or qpr team . only 3m but a wasted 3m

  • Joseph Montant says:

    Seriously People! Whats with you??? this guy was great against the Russians, and showed constant treat, non stop. Its not caus you got him for 3M that he s sh–t!!! you ll see how much Liverpool will cash on him in a couple of years. We havent seem the slightest bit of what he s got to offer, so yes, i say he should be stared. He s definitely not a bench warmer! You shall see!!!!

    • LFC Dean says:

      we should have higher standards , the russians were awful , assaidi doesnt look liverpool class . nobody else wanted him – he has been playin for rubbish teams in eredivisie for years

      im sure he would be ok for a bottom half team , but i want and expect better players than him

      • Marvel says:

        ‘Slow and steady’ is the phrase. We had problems with width for a long time n Kenny tried to solve it by throwing money on Downing. well we all saw hw dat panned out. Now we have Downing, Suso, Assaidi, Sterling, even Suarez is very comfortable playing wide.
        Assaidi by no means has world class ability or potential but he’s a good player who’ll plug in a gap for us.
        I hope in the nearest future, we will have a (strong) squad where Sterling n Suso will be rotation players rather than starters. I hope there will come a time when liverpool fans will not be scared of Suarez getting injured bcos we have equally great players to come in. This is our hope but it can’t be achieved overnight. As FSG has clearly outlined, we will improve steadily, not overnight.
        Judging by our situation just 2 yrs ago, it is rash, ignorant and arrogant to criticize a player based on price tag, former club or ease of procurement.
        Just for argument sake, I’ll like to tell u that Tello n Pedro are just average/good players with nothing close to world class potential n ability but they fit in at Barca/Spain bcos of the style of play. Perspective.

  • almarssad says:

    What did downing added to the club? Haven’t we paid a huge amount on him? I dont understand those whom make money equal to quality..Assaidi before coming to reds he was too close to sign for turkish giant galatasaray and ajax though.. Varan of real madrid was cheap and young and he s playing now alongside with pepe and ramos …

  • Marvel says:

    I have said it times without nomba. Suso is NOT a (natural) winger. Also (despite his intelligence), he lacks the pace, directness n width to consistently pose a serious threat out wide.
    Assaidi is a modern day winger. Has got pace, trickery, directness n a very good scoring record for a winger. His link-up play, work rate n decision-making are average at best but he’ll still be a serious threat to any team we play against. I still dont understand why he’s not starting in the league in this small squad of ours.
    Make no mistake, Assaidi is more than good enough to grab a regular shirt in THIS current squad.

  • TayLoR says:

    Hello! ASSaidi is a very large player does not deserve a weak team like Liverpool we want to see in the Arsenal or Chelsea
    The Liverpool team is just a waste of time by the Moroccan player
    Because he’s a great player and very young and his current team has no great players understand

  • dan ward says:

    i live in holland 6 months a year , and see much dutch football . assaidi is not liverpool class and never will be . i wouldn’t even have him on the bench . liverpool need top players not cheap ones or we will be just like everton

    • Ajax says:

      Well Assaidi was the best winger in Holland, despite being in a shitty club.

      Dont u remember Bas Dost scored 33 goals because of Assaidi and Narsingh ?

  • kirbyking says:

    lets put this in perspective – wide players

    chelsea have hazard , mata and malouda
    arsenal – cazorla , chamberlain and walcott
    man ure – nani ,valencia , cleverly
    city – silva , milner , nasri and sinclair
    spurs – bale and lennon

    we have a talented kid sterling , and assaidi – a average 2nd rate player , playing for a rubbish club in a rubbish league . he is not even young at 24 .

    how are we supposed to compete with inferior players ?
    SORT IT OUT FSG !

  • He and steling will be great players for liver’p dis season and u critics will be ashaimed

  • RON says:

    the lad is very loyal as he played for fc herenveen for years ,he s tricky has speed pace team play and best of all doesnt do the “im a star ” thing he s so humble ,
    and we shall jusdge him for the price he came for ? remember caroll ?? downing ???
    wake up guys football lost its meaning ,
    i’d start him a game or two in the league to see , as long as raheem is not mature yet

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