The Curious Case of Oussama Assaidi
LIFE at Liverpool for Oussama Assaidi started fast; unfortunately for him this was only because he was observing Ramadan.
What makes matters worse for him is that the time he’s been granted on the pitch since his move has also been particularly lean.
Recent rumours emanating from the Dutch transfer gurus at voetbalinfo.nl have suggested that Oussama Assaidi’s time may well be up at Liverpool with the club looking to trade him in for the Man City-destroying Siem de Jong.
Of course this is the nature of the January free-for-all where any player can be linked anywhere. I mean Andy Carroll to Liverpool for £35m? That will never happen and Remy to QPR? Don’t make me laugh! But there is something suspicious about Oussama Assaidi’s Liverpool career so far and it would not be a shock if he departed the club only 5 months after signing.
If his Anfield career were to be cut short, then it would not be without some level of disappointment. Although his appearances have been brief and intermittent, his actual levels of performance have been promising.
He may well be the most one footed winger to grace the turf at Anfield but the trickery with his right foot sees him get the better of his man far more often than not. Not only that, he has not looked a player who is all deception and no end product. He has put some menacing balls in not least the assist for Sahin, another man with a mystery behind him, against West Brom in the League Cup.
However, a move may well be in Assaidi’s mind given his paucity of minutes on the pitch, particularly in a position where so many have been given the chance to try their luck. It must wrench the winger to see Enrique deployed ahead of him and then still not be given an opportunity once the Spaniard suffered injury.
There may well be mitigating factors to Assaidi’s plight. Raheem Sterling’s contract impasse no doubt encouraged Brendan Rodgers to play him as much as possible in an effort to ensure that the prodigy signed on the dotted line. Additionally, Fabio Borini was one of Brendan Rodgers’ first choice signings and was therefore preferred for the left forward role right from the start.
These arguments do not hold a great deal of weight though when one considers that Borini did not perform particularly well and then broke his foot; Downing was told that his future at Liverpool was under review and his other rivals to the slot were… Joe Cole and Jose Enrique? Surely Assaidi’s Herenveen record of 22 goals in 93 games was worthy of some sort of run in the team.
Assaidi did have injuries of his own, although they too seemed slightly suspicious, but to not even be tried ahead of Cole and Enrique appears an odd choice. That Enrique played so marvellously could not have helped Assaidi’s situation but there appears to be another issue behind the scenes as to why Assaidi has not even been afforded a single Premier League start.
To venture a guess as to why he has not seen more action would be pure speculation and while it is tempting to suggest all manner of ludicrous scenarios to answer the Assaidi puzzle, and privately I encourage everyone to do this, it is perhaps simply a case that he doesn’t quite fit into the Rodgers paradigm. Either way the mystery continues…
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January 21st, 2013
This is my observation. LFC does pretty well when coming to recruiting talents for its academy or purchasing young talents. However it failed miserably when coming to grooming them for the first team or EPL action. Tome Ince, Sebastian Coates, Ousama Assaidi, Samed Yesil,Suso, to name a few, have either been sold, loaned out or left to languish in the club. When they are allowed so little playing time in the first team, how are they expected to perform??
January 21st, 2013
Its not supposed to be easy to get into Liverpool team . Only players who can meet and perform the highest standards (not allen ) should get in
If they are not getting chances , they r not doing it , in reserves etc
January 21st, 2013
It seems that Liverpool’s once loyal and well informed fan base is being over-run by people who want success NOW, at any cost and if it doesn’t come then they abuse the manager, the players and even the owners.
Too often do these so called fans, believe the press speculation about this or that player and with no real information call for them to be signed up immediately.
BR and Ayre do know what they are doing, they have more information than all of you put together, they see the players in training every day, they know what potential transfers are asking for, and offering. I trust them to do what’s best for the club more than I would trust some of you
January 21st, 2013
Only a fool trusts a fool . I wouldn’t trust Rodgers to hang my washing out
Liverpool fans dont expect success now , not at all . We are however not happy with the direction the club has been taken and the people entrusted with taking us there
Most fans i know think Rodgers is not up to it , and is making us worse . If we had a proper manager i would be happy even with the current position ,because i would trust him to get it right – but we dont
As for Ayre , what a american asskisser , he is FSGs dog boy , and their intentions are not good
Give us a decent manager , and we will all be supportive and patient . I for one wont support a fool who is taking us backwards
January 21st, 2013
how is he taking us backwards? 7th now and with sturridge for the run in we will defo be in the top 6 which is an improvement on last year, he has also knocked 20 million off the annual wage bill, oh and were still in 2 trophys!! go away fool!!
January 21st, 2013
LOL what a plonker u are . havent beaten one top half team after 7 months , and after 3 games muppets like you think one player ( sturridge) will turn the whole team round . delusional fool
and ‘defo top6 ‘ ? you think top 6 is something to be proud of ?
open your eyes , and stop being such a biased clown
January 21st, 2013
Top 6 wont keep Suarez next season
January 21st, 2013
were should we be then scouse ed? at the moment we ca’nt compete with city,utd,chelsea or arsenal which means were playing for 5th with tott and blue *, now you open your eyes and see the reality of todays football and start supporting the club or just do one because your comments are pathetic.
January 21st, 2013
top 6 this season, maybe an fa or europa cup, thats better than last season, not were lfc should be but on the right path, 20mill knocked off the wage bill, 60,000 seats at anfield on the way, young manager,very young squad, surely the only way is up?
January 21st, 2013
Now i know you are a moron ‘pablo’ , or is it oz ? You believe anything your told , probably still believe in santa
Grow up , live just isnt something you read in a book , fantasising about something doesnt mean its going to happen
January 21st, 2013
answer the questions honestly, 1, will we finish top 6? 2, have we got a chance of lifting a cup? 3, is anfield getting redeveloped? 4, will a young manager and squad only improve with time? if you have a brain you probably answered yes to all 4 so how the f*”k can i be dreaming??? next question idiot.
January 21st, 2013
You are braindead Pablo . whats life like with the fairies ?
January 21st, 2013
Ignore Scouse Ed, he’s obviously upset, his mum probably grounded him so he couldn’t go to the match…. down at the rec with his mates on a Sunday morning! He’s better off there, knows nothing about football!
You make plenty of daft accusations Ed but none will wash with me. I have supported LFC for 48 years, go to Anfield plenty, have been to European Cup finals, have cheered Kenny Dalglish from the Kop…. I am as Red as they come.
So, what about our team? We got a new manager who plays things differently and who we all knew would need at least a season to get the team clicking and doing it his way. In less than that we are seeing the team play flowing and attacking football and now we have more than one option to get on the end of it to put the ball away.
we can get 4th this season if we keep pushing. Get the win over Arsenal and we’ll be right up there in the mix. One or two more players and we’ll start giving every team a game, no matter who they are.
January 21st, 2013
praise the lord, there are supporters who know football and have belief.
January 21st, 2013
‘praise the lord’ ? Your so dumb you believe in that nonsense too , ha ha ha ha
You make yourself look more stupid with every comment
See below > Bobs comment shows how ignorant you are about football
Well done
January 21st, 2013
Think back to late 2010. Liverpool under Roy Hodgson were in the bottom three and 48 hours away from administration, not to mention a subsequent 10-point deduction. Make no mistake, we were a whisker away from certain relegation. That my friends is what going backwards looks like.
Contrast that with 16 goals in 6 games and you see a team that is finding its feet again. Remember back when there were those who moaned that Liverpool struggled to beat the minnows? Where are they now? No doubt pointing out that we haven’t beaten anyone above us yet.
January 21st, 2013
Liverpool were never ever , with the players we had , even near relegation . Even Hodgson would have got us up to 8th or 9th minimum
January 21st, 2013
I guess all you negative guys are the ones who said the same as about Lucas and then the same about Benitez! I bet you all wish Benitez was back so with limited budget he can get us in the champions league again, and if you don’t then I guess ur just too stupid to realise what we had!
January 21st, 2013
i remember all the fools wanting rafa out, now they see how hard it is to stay top 4 year after year with limeted funds, now here they are again wanting rodgers out!! never never happy, some of them probably even whinged when we had paisley for christs sake, i ca’nt take it no more, im off to watch loose women!!
January 21st, 2013
Having seen all your many comments , you dont understand football and should stop telling fans how to support their team , its a bit cheap from someone who has probably never even watched Liverpool live . What you are doing is ranting aka trolling
January 21st, 2013
when idiots like you ‘pablo’ come on here shouting the odds , giving out to other people for their opinions , is kind of ok when you understand football and have a knowledge of the game , but you dont .
you asked what did shankley or ferguson do in their first 5 years ??????? really , are you THAT uneducated , you dont know ?
shankley won 2nd division in his 2nd full season and the league title in his 5th . are you such an idiotic fan you dont even know your own clubs history ?
i hope you are just a kid , ive rarely seen any adults know so little
come back and comment in a few years after you learned a bit
January 21st, 2013
league title in his 4th season , oops . FAcup in his 5th
January 21st, 2013
Well said Bob , hmmmph kids these days
January 21st, 2013
bob shankly took 4 years to win the title! purple nose took twice as long, whichever way you look at it my point is correct so what are you on? br is getting crucified after 6 months, give the man time is the point im making, every comment i make is justified and positive, thought id just have a laugh today winding some negative heads up and obviously you are one. cheerio old timer!
January 21st, 2013
Your point , like all your other points are rubbish , Bob just proved you lack football knowledge . Fergie got Utd 2nd in his first full season , after taking over team 2nd bottom
You dont have a clue mate , your just being ignorant
But keep it up , your givin everyone a laugh at how dim u are
January 21st, 2013
ha , pablo u dont know your stuff . ignorant no mark
January 21st, 2013
pablo ur coments are stupid . armchair lunatic
January 21st, 2013
English football is not just about speed and skill, you also need the strength to overcome the aggressive style of English football. Perhaps, he needs more time to build up his stature and strength. He could be a secret weapon for liverpool towards the end of the season when we are pushing for top 4 spots in the league. You never know. YNWA
January 21st, 2013
Dont think Assaidi is good enough at all . We had damn all players in his position and he couldn’t even get on bench most weeks
Rodgers thought with his system he could use cheaper lower quality players and get away with it . he found out the hard we you cant . Allen , Assaidi and Borini are all complete wastes and will be sold in summer
January 21st, 2013
I like you Red Baron, rather like the points that you make, and Pablo I do share your optimism, but sometimes displays like the first half at manure’s can be pretty life-sapping!
January 21st, 2013
There is no point being unrealistic thinking we are great because we were superb in one game . We are a long long long way away from where Liverpool FC should be . If you think everything is rosy in the garden ,you are being immature
January 21st, 2013
Some of you supporters are so dumb , we just hammered Norwich at home .. Norwich not utd or city … Norwich , who were dire . And what happens next , predictably we have fools coming out sayin ‘ yaaay were going to finish top 6 ‘ and “were going to win a cup” and next year we will do this and that …..
FFS last week we were the worst team ever , now we are great . Grow up people
January 22nd, 2013
why do i always read about some swap deals between players ??? how many times do they actually happen ?
almost NEVER,, really tired of reading rumors about swap deals.